Indian and Sectarian Violence

I am especially proud of my motherland and its fundamental freedoms, especially since India is comprised of so many cultures, religions and traditions.  So it pains  me everytime I hear of sectarian violence back home.  The latest examples of such activities, this time against Christians, are rife in the Indian media these days.  Apparently, radical Hindus are the perpetrators of these violent acts and are actually quite proud and public about their handiwork.  Now, I can understand idle uneducated people engaging in such acts when instigated by unscrupulous politicians and religious leaders.  But what really scares and surprises me is to find that there may be lots of educated Indians who feel such strong animosity…whether it be towards Hindus, Christians or Muslims.  See the comments that followed this post on Sister Alphonsa’s canonization.  What drives such intense hatred…especially amongst the educated?  I struggle to understand…especially in this modern age where it’s pretty clear from history that such racial and religious tensions are simply not worth holding on to.  When will people understand that this kind of behavior does not result in a permanently winnable zero sum game?  When one group loses, another might win…but only temporarily.  It’s only a matter of time before simmering hatred and resentment rears its ugly head and the tables turn.

Isn’t it time that we just accept that the best situation for all is to live and let live?

Yaay – Lesser Poor in India

I just saw this report that says that India’s reduced the number of people who live on less than $1 a day by 2 % points.  This is driven by the phenomenal economic growth that the country has seen lately.  Yaaaaay.  It’s good celebrate the victories even if they’re relatively small, right. .  Here’s the link to the report.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=332669

India, Pakistan and Afghanistan

I read a very interesting article in The Atlantic recently.  The crux of the article deals with why Pakistan’s ISI has an interest in disrupting the growing Indian influence in Afghanistan.  It also goes on to suggest what the U.S. ought to be doing in this regard. 

What was enlightening (and frustrating) is the extent to which countries will go to get a political or military edge over one another.  So much for the ideal of a harmonious global existence. I suppose humans simply live to gain an edge over each other.

India and Food Prices

I recently blogged that the increased food demand in India and China had to also be a contributing factor in the increase in food prices…implying that the furore in India about President Bush’s remarks was overkill.  The world bank recently put out (inadvertently it seems) a report that analyzes this.  And the results…

Here is a link to a Yahoo news report on this.

It turns out that 75% of the increase in food prices comes from Bio fuels.  So much for all of President Bush’s remonstrations.  And yes, my hypothesis has been proven incorrect.

So then the question becomes: Are we willing to use food for energy to power machines when there isn’t a surplus of food to go around?  Seems like quite an unreasonable thing to do…the aftereffects of going green without thinking I suppose.

India Shining a Little Less?

There have been several articles recently about some sputtering in the growth story in India.  See this story from Business week.  When I ruminate on the reasons for some of the struggles here, I keep coming back to the same conclusion: weak government.  Saying that we have a weak government is probably not a statement of particularl depth, since we have a coalition in power.  And our government is a particularly dissonant one with parties that have  completely divergent philosophies such as the Congress and the Left.  And that’s at the Union level.  At the state level, there may not be as much weakness, but there certainly is a lack of economic prowess and policy.

So what is the government doing wrong.  Well, much of it as you might imagine are decade long issues such as corruption, poor legal and infrastructural conditions.  But there are some issues that the government could and should have addressed appropriately.  For example, the nuclear deal with the U.S.  This was a no-brainer, especially given our increasing hunger for electrical power.  It is more important now given the spiraling costs of hydorcarbon-based fuel.  But the coalition is blackmailing the government into a standstill on this.  Prime Minister M. Singh, to retain any semblence of international credibility, has to go forward with it.  And he has rightly threatened to resign if it doesn’t.  But there are other things.  Giving out monetary freebies to the population, not reigning in inflation by pushing up interest rates, continuing to subsidize petrol/diesel and not actively taking a harder line against corruption at every form of government.

I feel like a broken record.

I think that something drastic needs to happen.  We need to change our system of government to adopt the Presedential System of government.  At least for 10 years.  This gives an elected President enough time and enough powers to make sweeping changes.  Granted, the elected legislature may not be in sync with Presidential policies.  But this is a problem only for new bills that need to be passed.

Short of the above, maybe we need some sort of benevolent dictator.  As I think about this, I do realize that there’s probably no such thing.  So this is more a pipe dream.

 

PS: This postscript is an afterthought, having read this on Rediff: This is a classic example of someone our government needs to be helping.  I know…it’s easier said than done.  But this kind of person doesn’t need pity or charity.  Just a fair shot of making a decent living.  In his case, and the multitude of agrarians, it’s a strong hydro-infrastructure, power-infrastructure and perhaps loans to help them industrialize themselves.

PPS: when I read about people mentioned in the above article, I realize just how lucky I am…Just because I hit some sort of genetic lottery by being born into a family that could give me the right opportunities in life.

Mani Shankar Iyer’s Stanford Speech

I read this very interesting commentary about India’s rapidly increasing economic divide between the haves and have-nots.  I think that he’s got the right ideas here…Check it out at:

http://www.hindu.com/nic/mani_stanford.htm

India Responsible For Increased Food Prices? Yes and No!

There’s been much furore in the Indian press lately and a fair amount of negative commentary by politicians and academics alike about President Bush’s and Condoleeza Rice’s recent statement about world food prices.

W and Condy went on the record to say that food prices are increasing primarily due to the increased wealth of the middle class in India. Since they have more wealth, they can afford to purchase more food – resulting in increased global demand due to their sheer size (estimated around 300-350 million).

Of course, this elicited much indignation back home. And continues to do so.

But was what W and Condy said completely wrong? In my estimation, I don’t think so. There are certainly several factors that have gone into food prices moving up. I can think of three primary ones: the weakened dollar, the use of corn to produce ethanol-based fuel, and of course the growing demand coming from the increasingly wealthy middle-class in India. A fourth is maybe the increased financial bets that are made of prices of food (through the commodities futures markets).  The fact of the matter is that when 300 million people (and perhaps another 300 million in China) now have increased purchasing power, there’s going to be an increased demand on the food supply chain. I reflect on how life was in Chennai when I lived there over 10 years ago. Entertainment did not consist of bowling alleys, mega-malls, movie cineplexes, coffee shops, and goodness knows what else. Also, a striking realization during my trips back home these days is that eating out has become a standard form of weekend (or weeknight) entertainment. In addition, food purchased in India/China for home consumption has also probably increased, for both meals and snacks. Now all that I describe is no different in the U.S. or anywhere else in the developed world. Purchasing food is an integral part of entertainment activities in the developed world and the Indian middle class is basically catching up with this fact. And the developed world wastes a TON of food. I see it every day in the U.S.

But when W says that increased food prices stem from increased demand from the middle class in India and China – I think there’s a huge amount of truth to that. He never said that the U.S. doesn’t waste food. He never said that the U.S. public needs to be more deliberate about what they eat and how much. In fact, I’m sure he’ll agree that there needs to be a lot of focus in the developed world on curbing waste, especially given our limited natural resources on the planet. But in the immediate present day, I have to side with him when he says that food price increases were driven higher by increased purchasing power/demand in the developing world.

First Shreya, Now Mallika

In an earlier post, I had ranted about the sheer silliness about a hue and cry that had been kicked up in Tamil Nadu about an actress’s attire while attending a function.

Yesterday, I read an article on Rediff that was deja vu. Except the perpetrator this time is Mallika Sherawat. Okay, so if you see a picture of her in this outfit, I will admit that it’s somewhat racy by Chennai standards. But again, who cares! Apparently, someone does…and claims that <get this!> Mallika caused the people of Tamil Nadu Mental Agony by exposing her back. Now, I’m not sure if this is mental agony that is akin to having to watch your children cry for food because they’re hungry – and not being able to do anything about it due to a lack of financial resources. Or is this mental agony by the thought that there’s this smoking hot woman that’s reminding the complainants that they’ll never get close to anyone like that. Yes, I know that’s mean…sorry.

But for crying out loud…where’s your perspective, Mr. Secretary!

PS: I realize that I may be overly harsh.  Yes, I’m sure there are many people in Chennai that would be scandalized by people wearing such outfits.  But to file an official police complaint is taking things a little too far…

India Uncut

I read a blog the other day that I particularly empathized with. Amit Varma, the author, talks about this guy, whose only purpose in life is to sue people who he deems to have degraded the Indian flag. Apparently, he sued Sachin Tendulkar for cutting a cake that had the colors of the flag, sued Sania Mirza for wearning something that had the flag on it and goodness knows what else. Where do these good-for-nothing people come from?!

Sheesh. Anyway, Amit does a far better job than I can explaining how ludicrous this all is and how our constitution does a less than stellar job in protecting freedom of speech and expression in our country.  Check it out at India Uncut.

Let Shreya Wear What She Wants…

There’s been a bit of furore recently in the Tamil Nadu assembly about the clothes actress Shreya chose to wear to a film’s Silver Jubilee function.

First of all, it was hilarious that the politician who raised this as an issue chose to term the offending piece of clothing as a ‘frock’.  This is so Tamil Nadu

But more seriously, who on earth gives a darn about what Shreya’s wearing?  Why don’t our politicians and statesmen spend their time in the legislative assembly trying to figure out how to educate, feed and clothe the poor, not to mention improve the crumbling infrastructure in Chennai and reduce the crazy levels of corruption rampant in the city?

Arrrrrghhhhh!!! Who cares about what Shreya is wearing?!!!?  Stop the insanity and focus on the important, people!