Lukewarm 2G bidding shows how wrong CAG was….

The CAG started a vicious attack on the telecom sector (and I use these words carefully) with its bizarre report alleging that the Government lost Rs 1.76 lac crores by not auctioning 2G spectrum in 2008. That vicious attack was followed by the opposition converting the loss estimate to a corruption estimate. It was as if Raja (or the Congress) had pocketed Rs. 1.76 lac crores (and that’s what the common man on the streets today believes). Then the Supreme Court added to the blunder by canceling en masse all 122 licenses that Raja had allotted, putting at risk investments of several corporates as well as India’s image as a safe destination for investments. Foreign investors wont be able to trust even the sovereign Government of the country in the future. All this – and the flawed “revenue maximization” auction policy of the Government – will ensure that the telecom “revolution” and one of the most successful policies of the Government ever becomes a “disappointment” and its biggest failure.

What was it that the CAG had said? That had the Government auctioned 2G spectrum, it could have got Rs 1.76 lac crores? And how did this brilliant accountancy body arrive at this conclusion? By comparing 2G with 3G airwaves. Silly as this sounds now, this is exactly what it did. This was akin to comparing the high-toll expressways with the cheap-toll national highways, forgetting that the two were inherently different value propositions. The expressways were fast, and the few who had a need for speed, would have to pay a high toll. But those who couldn’t afford the high tolls and still wanted to travel could use the cheap-toll national highways. The CAG’s report forced the Government to make the tolls on the national highways same as those on the expressways. Well guess what? The people will soon be forced to stop traveling. They will be restrained to their centuries-old hell-holes rather than being able to explore the delightful new-world of opportunities. For the telecom revolution was just about that; empowering hundreds of millions of poor who no one could help. It was the 2G revolution that lifted them from the morass of inhuman poverty. And now, thanks to the CAG’s obnoxious report, that revolution is about to be undone. Pat yourself on your back, Mr. CAG.

I have written about this earlier. When spectrum becomes so expensive (Rs 14000 crores reserve fees), it leads to an increase in call rates. As rates increase, subscribers start to drop off. Not you and me, but the ones who are on the fringe. Already our subscriber base has come down by some 25 million in the last few months. As subscribers drop off, telecom companies feel relieved of burdensome obligations. They also need lesser spectrum. They start to actively “cull out” low value subscribers. The Government which is now party to this crime can’t push the telcos any longer for “inclusive” growth. The telcos cock a snook at the Government and tell it to decide whether it wants their money or inclusive growth? The poor have no hope. I fear that the subscriber base could shrink to less than 500 million in the next few years.

Of course, the CAG won’t accept its mistake. It didn’t when it ludicrously compared S-band spectrum with 3G spectrum and alleged a Rs 2 lac crore loss. When it realized its mistake, it went silent, but it never apologized. Now again, the CAG won’t apologize. Instead, we can expect it to say that “in 2008, the Government could have got Rs 1.76 lac crores”. Really? The fundamental illogic of the CAG’s report cannot be overturned by such silly assertions. The CAG has to answer itself now. Since it is accountable to Parliament, let is present its defence to Parliament now. Let it explain why its inference – that led to the Government changing its policy of cheap spectrum – was so wrong. Let the CAG address the poor of the country on prime time TV and admit it was wrong and had taken away the powers the telecom revolution had presented them. Like I have written in the past, the CAG has mixed up issues. It has created a concoction of really bad accounting with really strong political ambitions. The institution has been abused to no end.

The BJP also must apologize. The policy it assailed the Government for has been overturned by the Government desperate to prove that it was not corrupt. Had the BJP supported what was primarily its own policy, we would not have had to do this. But the BJP sought to play cheap politics. It somehow made the creative leap of converting the CAG’s “notional loss” into Congress’s “mota maal”. Well, it should be clear now that there was no mota maal there at all. All the slogans they raised – that there was corruption above and below the surface of the earth – are now going to bite them. Because the BJP has to count itself as a party responsible for the destruction of this vital sector. For snatching away the one chance the poor had to help themselves.

The Anna brigade also has a lot to answer. By demanding that all national resources be auctioned, and by demanding that the Government maximize its revenues, they have contributed to encouraging an anti-people policy regime. On the one hand they are solidly Leftist, but on the other hand, and maybe without understanding the issues, they are capitalistic. If resources are to be given only to the richest, then how will new entrepreneurs emerge? Will India forever remain in the grip of the Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis? Will that not be “crony capitalism”?

Where do we go from here? I think the Government needs to take a u-turn. Maybe it should think about “Right to telecom” ahead of “Right to Food”. Maybe it should reduce Reserve fees drastically. Maybe, it should release all the spectrum that was vacated post the SC order. It should adopt auctions as the method for allotting scarce national resources, but it should abandon revenue maximization as its goal. Even the SC hasn’t asked for this. In fact, it has stated that “maximization of common good” should be the primary objective of the Government. Its policies must ensure that the poor don’t have to drop off because of high rates. I will now wait to see how it handles the situation.

The real truth is the failure of the 2G auctions will prove that the CAG, the BJP and the Anna brigade were all wrong. There was no loss when the Government gave away spectrum cheap; no “notional” loss either. It was a conscious Government policy….a policy that ensured that a billion Indians benefitted; most of all the poor. It may not be too late even now. The Government must replace its revenue maximization goal and substitute it with a maximization of the common good…..

Making CAG a 3-member body is a very good idea sirji….

Institutions change over time. Institutions change when, based on their performance, a need is felt for them to change. It’s a good suggestion that the CAG should be made into a multi-member body. There are several reasons for this.

The first is that in the true spirit of democracy – and we’re seeing such demands being made of the Executive all the time – no one person should wield so much authority that he becomes a veritable power broker. The essence of democracy is preserved through a system of checks and balances. This should be especially true in the case of “appointed” personnel who end up owing no responsibility to anyone. Take the case of the CAG. Technically, the CAG owes accountability to the Parliament and if the CAG conducts his office callously, can be taken out via an impeachment motion in Parliament. The same process applies to removal of judges and we know exactly how many judges have been impeached since independence by Parliament. For all practical purposes, the CAG has become completely totalitarian – issuing statements (more like gibes really), conducting reports with no respect for protocol and standard restrictions of staying within his mandate and in general behaving indecourously. In a massively divided Parliament, putting together 50% of support is difficult; what chance is there for getting a 2/3^rd vote to impeach someone?

The second is again related to the conduct of the CAG under Vinod Rai. The CAG is making fundamental mistakes. The CAG has no business getting into policy decisions of the Government. For example, the Government gives subsidies on diesel, kerosene and LPG. This costs it about Rs 2 lac crores a year. If one were to add up such costs over the last 10 years, this number could exceed Rs 10 lac crores. Given the penchant of this CAG for sensationalizing matters, he may well call such costs as “losses” (“notional” perhaps). Once that happens, the opposition would spin it into a scam. But the CAG would be wrong. If that loss is a Government strategy, aimed at providing relief to the poor, it would be constitutionally valid. The Government likewise kept 2G pricing low and elevated at least 500 million careworn people – who would otherwise not have been able to afford this revolutionary technology – out of the vicious grip of poverty, joblessness and disempowerment. For this, the Government incurred a “loss” on spectrum. Big deal. That loss was dutifully passed on by the telcos to the public because of the severe competition in telecom. The “loss” did not result in profits for the corporate sector, but was an efficient transfer of national resources to the poor. Yet, the CAG had no qualms in putting out such a flawed analysis. It’s the same story with the coal “scam”. Giving coal free to power utilities and steel and cement producers is a Government prerogative. What is not a Government prerogative however is implementing such policies in a corrupt manner. There is no doubt there was corruption in 2G and in the coal allotment as well. But that’s the tragedy. The CAG is so interested in the big numbers that the real problems that the CAG should have highlighted get lost. Worse, as a result of the flawed reports, the Government ends up replacing its pro-people policies with wrong ones. Just wait and watch what happens to telecom. The poor will soon be disempowered again. The CAG can then gloat with joy.

The third reason the CAG must not be given unfettered powers is that this particular CAG has forgotten the rule all auditors follow. That they submit their reports only to their bosses, the audit committees in the corporate sector and the PAC in the Government. But this CAG loves to “leak” reports to media. And worse, he even likes to address press conferences, spitting out boilerplate criticism of the Government. If this is not breach of a well established and understood protocol, then what is? The fact is that the CAG has fallen in love with his own image in the media; and he’s lost all sense of balance and proportion in the process. This needs to be immediately corrected.

And finally, this particular CAG has messed up big time in even understanding the complexities of today’s business. He failed to understand that S-band spectrum, spectrum though it is, cannot be compared to 3G spectrum. It’s like comparing a flat in Malabar Hills with one in Virar and then suggesting that the pricing for the two should be the same because they are both the same size. Yet, this is exactly what the CAG did with S-band. He pegged the “loss” at Rs 2 lac crores. And yet when the fingers were pointed at him for this whopper, he didn’t apologize. He just scooted. Given the generally “benevolent” attitude our media and public take to any government basher (calling them whistleblowers), he even got away. Likewise, in the coal mining sector, he has made completely flawed comparisons between easy-to-exploit mines and tough ones. In the mendacious report against RIL, he has shown complete immaturity in understanding a technology-led business like deep-sea drilling. Why, he has even made the most fundamental of errors – that of failing to consider “time value of money” in arriving at notional loss figures. And when grilled on this, his reaction was not to accept the mistake but to attack by saying that he could have chosen a higher loss figure. What are we saying here? That the CAG is God who chooses a particular figure rather than another one? That he cannot make mistakes?

With such a disastrous experience, all political parties should think of the problem that this CAG has created. If the CAG had been a multi-member body, maybe it would have reined in its politically ambitious head. Maybe a sane voice would have prevailed over an imprudent head. Maybe the gaffes could have been avoided and the reputation of this Constitutional body protected. Today however, the CAG has become a political body. There is a need to provide checks and balances in the CAG’s functioning and making it a multi-member body would be the right decision. No one would mind it, least of it the Anna brigade. Remember, even they wanted to make the Lokpal a multi-member body. The Election commission (EC) and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) are both multi-member bodies and I dare say they perform far better than the CAG has performed in recent times.

Unfortunately, the Government has not shown the spine to stand up and look the CAG squarely in his eyes. It buckled under the CAG and SC pressure and agreed to conducting 2G auctions, when it should have sought a review from the SC. It is now likely to defer the talks on the CAG’s structure as well.

Rather than making it a political issue, the BJP (which may well suffer at the next CAG’s hands – now that it has been convincingly established that the party is at least as corrupt as any other) should support what is inherently a good thought. The BJP often thinks of itself being a party that is destined to be in the opposition. It looks at all changes as being motivated to help the ruling party – which is the Congress in its minds. The BJP has to remove such an inferiority complex and has to believe that in the future, it may well rule the country for half the time.

The real truth is one only learns through experiences; this CAG’s experience has been so distasteful that it has provided the opportunity to make changes. Correcting something that is wrong is a good idea; no matter what the political overtones may be. If we had a thoughtful media, maybe we would have had a better public debate on this. But shying away from facing the truth is going to hurt the country. I strongly urge that we have a robust discussion on this….

Did Sushma Swaraj just complain about the “Radha” song from Student of the Year???

Now I know that the BJP can be exceedingly orthodox when it comes to religious matters. From doing pujas when the rains fail to making singing of Saraswati Vandana compulsory in schools in MP, the BJP has shown a penchant for high order and aggressive Hindu orthodoxy. But to suggest that the name “Radha” is reverential for Hindus and hence films must treat it with respect is going a bit too far. I for one have always believed in a more liberal outlook towards religious matters and thought that they should be strictly limited to one’s personal space. It doesn’t matter which religion it is, but it should be kept confined strictly inside one’s home; if not just inside one’s heart.

Unfortunately, the BJP’s preference for Hindu culture and rituals is not designed to be voluntary or optional; it is sought to be imposed on one and all. Had the effort been to explain and spread the several virtues of Hinduism through an honest outreach which included the naysayers, it would have been far more successful and effective. But instead, there is usage of force and a lot of unreasonableness. The BJP ducks charges of being too Hindu oriented by saying that it’s not Hinduism but Hindutva that it actually supports. Till date, I haven’t understood the difference between the two. If Hindutva is a “way of life”, then shouldn’t Hindutva attempt to showcase the more inclusive and liberal parts of the way of life that I know for a fact most Hindus practice? Many Hindus I know are happy to eat beef, albeit on the sly. Many others are devout, but don’t publicly display it. Likewise, most Hindus don’t attach any “religious” symbology to names like Radha, Kaushalya and Sita – the three names that have raised the hackles of Sushma – treating them on par with other names.

Sushma has objected that Radha has been shown in the film as not knowing how to dance and being invited to the dance floor to learn to dance. So does she mean that all Radhas have genes that make them expert dancers – if so, then maybe this is something that geneticists should research! Actually, if Sushma heard the lyrics of the super cool music of the film carefully, she would find much more to be upset with than Radha’s dance prowess (or its absence). The lyrics of the song “Radha” actually put the words “sexy” and “Radha” together. Surely Sexy Radha must be appalling to Sushma! Not only that, but apparently, Radha likes to move that sexy Radha body. Man that’s going too far, isn’t it Sushma??!! And when Radha wants to party and Radha wants more, then that must be going over the top for most BJP leaders!

Sushma is planning to take up the matter in Parliament. Now, that surely makes the absurd assumption that she and her party will allow it to function! And if it is allowed, then of course how can there be anything more important that debating Radha! And then of course, there is “Oh My God” which I must admit, I haven’t seen. But I have seen the play (with Paresh Rawal doing an outstanding job) and I can understand why Sushma is so livid. The movie points at various aspects of Hinduism that modern Hindus find unacceptable. The waste of tons of milk in temples in ritualistic practice, when there are millions who could make much better use of it. The “fear” of God rather than the “love” of God. And of course, the ghastly act of “suing God” that the comedy is primarily based on. What irreverence; this is an assault on Hinduism!

The BJP has always been paranoid and extreme about Hinduism. Hindutva is just a worn out fig leaf. One worries that if they ever got a majority on their own in Parliament, they  would forget all about governance and dive straight into building temples and promoting Hinduism. Maybe there would be a 5-10% reservation quota created for the sadhus and sants. Who cares if women get their reservation or not; sadhus must! And then, India will officially change its name to Republic of Bharat! And in those five years that they get, the BJP – backed up ably by the Bajrang Dal and the RSS – would make up for lost history by demolishing even more Babri Masjids. They may even prescribe a dress code for us. Delhi could be renamed Indraprastha or Hastinapur and Ahmedabad (oh, what an awful name!) Karnavati (so beautiful!).

Now I know I am exaggerating, but the point is that when the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha finds her sensitivites tickled by an innocuous song and thinks it is an attack on the religious fabric of the country, she needs to be derided. Religious bigotism is even worse than destroying freedom of speech which we often see happening in India in the form of banning books.

What I would like Sushma – an otherwise charismatic and level headed politician – to do is to focus the country’s attention on more relevant topics. To offer an alternate model of governance. To attack the Congress on corruption charges but to act on corruption within the BJP itself. She should tell us her preferred economic model, her party’s approach to Pakistan and Bangladesh (against who they love to rant), their attitude to nuclear power (their stand on Kudankulam is inexplicable); to subsidies and how to reduce them; how they would handle fuel pricing (remember if they had their way, diesel prices would have been Rs 20 more than what it is at present), FDI (first supporting, then opposing) and inflation in general. That’s what I want the BJP to focus on. Not on religion which should remain inside the hearts of people. India is a tinderbox of emotions and religious passion, and when a public leader supports one religion – that too the majority religion – it is dangerous.

Sushma may well want to look at atleast one aspect of the recent US polls. The fact that Republicans represent the conservative point of view on religion (they are against abortions and gay marriages for instance) and strive to secure the dominance of the Whites has worked against them in an increasingly heterogeneous and modernizing country. If the Republicans don’t modernize, they wont ever succeed. The message cannot be missed by the BJP. Or by other parties (including sections of the Congress) that support ultra-orthodox viewpoints.

The real truth is that Radha may or may not know how to dance and she may well have to be taught to shake her booty. But Sushma surely needs to learn a few steps as well….!

Joker goes off his Ro©ker….! Mukesh Ambani might sue him for alleging such a small number!!

I am of course referring to the Joker in the political pack, Arvind Kejriwal. Being an ultra Leftist (or as someone called him recently, an Urban Maoist), he finds the smell of money worse than the smell of the Mahim creek. He makes Mamata Banerjee look look like a true-blue capitalist! Since the days of his exit from his IRS job, he seems to have lost his sense of proportion – are we really talking of the Ambani brothers having Rs 100 crores in some Swiss banks? Rs 100 crores???? C’mon Joker….wake up and smell the coffee. Today, India is a Rs 1 crore crore economy ($2 trillion) and the Ambani brothers are together worth more than at least $50 billion. That’s more than Rs 2.5 lac crores. Did you really say Rs 100 crores????

In fact, this news about Mukesh Ambani is old hat. That’s another thing about Joker. In his desperation to be the weekly entertainer that he has become, he is now clutching onto alleged, published, dissected, and chewed up information. He got Vadra’s information from the Registrar of Companies, no less. He got the “content” of his last show – the “full of gas” charges against RIL – from published reports. And now, he’s “revealed” the 700 names after the same has been in discussion for more than a year; and which the Union Government had already submitted in a confidential manner to the Supreme Court. The SC had in turn agreed that the list could not be made public. Whether these ten names are a part of the 700 or not, we will never know. Even if they were, what’s the big deal? Like I said, the Ambani brothers are together worth more than Rs 2.5 lac crores.

But coming to the list itself. The story’s been in the air for a long long time now. In fact, I wrote a post on this on Nov 1, 2011: “Mumbai businessman admits to Rs 800 crores in Swiss bank???”. At that time, the story did not specifically mention Mukesh Ambani by name. Apparently this top Mumbai industrialist had “accepted” that he had a family account in HSBC Geneva containing, not Rs 100 crores, but Rs 800 crores actually. The “acceptance” had caused much furore in people like Joker. But my point was that “For someone who is this seriously rich, what is the big deal about Rs 800 crores?”

What I also wrote was that “I am not sure if the industrialist has admitted this is “black” money (as in money stashed abroad illegally). It could very well be legit money kept internationally as per Indian rules.”. Well that’s exactly what at least one bunch of the accused,  the Burmans have said:  “The accounts were opened by the Burman family when they were NRIs… amount was officially remitted through official banking channels” (source: TOI). The two Ambani brothers have likewise clarified that their business empire spans several countries and their firms own money in several international banks, but all of it is as per Indian law. What makes their claim credible and Joker’s absolutely ridiculous is the small size of the supposed deposit. Like I said, Rs 100 crores is something like what Gadkari’s driver could possibly keep in an account in HSBC on behalf of his master. Mukesh Ambani would feel seriously insulted and cut to size being in the company of such lowly souls! Remember his house in Mumbai has apparently been built at a cost of Rs 4000 crores? Seriously, Joker, are you going to next claim that he should surrender his home and convert it into a slub rehab? 

The BJP has latched on to the Joker brigade yet again. Now that they have been unable to stick the corruption tag cleanly on the Congress (they have smudged their fingers in the process). But here again, their hands are like to get dirty. Last night, the “Lokpalesque” anchor on Scam TV was demanding an explanation from the BJP as to what they had done when Hassan Ali (the Pune “businessman”/alleged smuggler) had increased his wealth from just some small figure to some claimed $8 billion during its tenure between 1998 and 2004. The BJP had not answer to give. Forget the BJP. The key questions are: Was black money generated and siphoned off abroad in the past? Of course it was. The marginal tax rate at the highest slab was some 98% or so. Why would anyone have kept his money “white” in those days? 

But today, there is zero incentive today for any black money to lie abroad. Over the last twenty years at least, India has been on a fast track to growth. Just like the brain drain that characterized India prior to 1990 has reversed itself since then, the flow of black money has also reversed its direction since liberalization began. Post 1990, tax rates have been made reasonable – lesser than in most developed countries. And opportunities for growth have abounded in India. It can be said with near certainty that most of the money has returned back to India. And is still returning back every single year. The recent report by Kotak Institutional Equities is interesting in this context. It analysed the export performance of India over the last few years and found that the export numbers reported by the Government are not backed up by numbers reported by top exporters in the country (bottom-up calculations). While engineering goods are reported officially to have grown by some 79% in the last one year (growing by some $30 billion), the figures of the top engineering exporters show growth of a much lower order (some $1.5 billion or so). The report hints that this could be a case of illegal money coming back into India in the form of exports (but is actually capital stashed abroad returning back). The existence of black money abroad today is more with politicians; industrialiast have long got it all back. 

The real truth anyways is that Joker (Kejriwal) has gone off his rocker. His “stings” don’t have any venom any longer. His fire is more like that of a cannon that has gone wild, firing randomly. Well, this cannon’s already starting to hit Joker himself. One day it will annihilate him….

Crucify Gadkari for his corruption, not for his IQ remark….

As Hindus often believe, there are “good days” and “bad days”. These are obviously bad days for Gadkari. He’s been crucified for alleged corruption charges (and they do look credible). He’s been pushed to the wall by the Modi brigade (Mahesh Jethmalani quitting is just one more evidence of the tirade against him). And now he’s being targeted for what was a very ordinary (even correct maybe) remark he made on the IQ levels of Dawood Ibrahim and Swami Vivekanand. Unsurprisingly, this remark has been blown out of proportions by the Modi brigade, yet again putting pressure on him to resign. The Congress has happily joined in in the public demolition of the BJP President.

But what did Gadkari really say that was so offensive? As per the TOI, he said “If we compare the IQ levels of Vivekananda and Dawood, it could be the same”. Now there’s nothing wrong with this. This could well be a factually correct statement. By making this statement, Gadkari is merely saying that a) Swami Vivekananda had a great IQ (implied….since no doubt he holds him in high regard) b) Dawood Ibrahim also had a great IQ (implied….though he is careful to use the word “could”). He has not said that both are alike or both are comparable. In fact, there is nothing about comparison at all. It’s like saying Tendulkar and Kasab have the same determination to succeed. That would be true, no matter how grotesque the juxtaposition of the two names next to each other may sound. We cannot crucify Gadkari for this.

Not only is there no comparison, there is in fact a purposeful contrasting of the two personalities built into the sentence itself. The second part of his statement is thus relevant here. The full sentence reads: “If we compare the IQ levels of Vivekananda and Dawood, it could be the same. But Vivekananda used it in nation building and spiritualism while Dawood used it to excel in the crime world.” Notice how the word “But” is used. If he wanted to compare, he would have used the word “And” and completed the sentence accordingly. Further, the two are clearly mentioned as being achievers of two totally different kinds. Dawood Ibrahim is shown as being one who excels in the crime world. So that there is no confusion, Gadkari has over-elaborated by also specifying the field in which Vivekananda used his IQ. C’mon guys….give him a break!

This entire episode would have been very funny, had it not been for the way the BJP’s Modi brigade has disparaged Gadkari and the way the media has given it prominence. Quite clearly, its impossible to be honest in India. If one has to talk about Dawood Ibrahim, it would appear that one has to talk about him in absolutely the most derogatory language. One simply cannot acknowledge that he can be a very cruel despot….and also have some great strengths in him (his IQ maybe….the way he has evaded arrest). But such “gray” characterization is not permitted in our very black-and-white society. If someone is bad, he has to be painted totally black. It’s like when you see a woman smoking in a Hindi film, the woman has to be a negative character….even maybe a vamp. This is perhaps why so many of our police chiefs (and indeed the bulk of the lower ranks) feel that women who wear smart (daring in their lingo) clothers are responsible for the rapes! India is about black and white stereotypes…..Gadkari just made the mistake of forgetting that!

Unfortunately, this attitude of ours comes from our history and religion. Let me explain that. It’s Diwali time now and the annihilation of Ravana, the ten-headed “demon”, has just been concluded. Actually Ravana was a “gray” character in the Ramayana. He had his good parts apart from his very well known cruel parts. He was actually a devout follower of Shiva, a great scholar, a capable ruler and a maestro of the Veena. Some of his apologists believe that his six heads symbolized his thorough knowledge over the 4 Vedas and 6 Upanishads, which made him as powerful as 10 scholars. Yet another interpretation of the ten-headed Ravana describes him to be a complete man with nine of his heads representing nine emotions that a man may possess (viz.anger, pride, jealousy, happiness, sadness, fear, selfishness, passion, ambition) and one representing the intellect (all of this taken from Wikipedia). So Ravana was a great scholar and king, who was avenging the insult heaped on his sister Surpanakha (the cutting of her nose) by Ram and Lakshman, by kidnapping Sita. Now given that Ram is God, any such act is bound to be considered evil. And I have no problem painting Ravana black….but can we say that he was a good man in parts and a very bad man as well? No way! He has to be shown in the single color of black.

Likewise, there is no chance of showing the better side of Surpanakha as well. Look at the “politics” of description even in those days! Valmiki describes Surpanakha as “a) An ugly woman (gora mukhi), b) pot bellied and cross-eyed. c) Thinning, brown hair d) A grating voice that is harsh on the ears and e) Oversized breasts—which can be translated to mean a heart full of wickedness.” After this, there could be no confusion that she was the vamp! But look at how the Tamil poet Kamban, differs in his description of Surpanakha from Valmiki, describing Surpanakha instead as a) a very beautiful woman with long, beautiful, fish-shaped eyes (validating her given name of "Minakshi" at birth), b) a slender shape and c) a bewitching personality. In addition, d) she possessed magical powers and could assume any shape or form (all from Wikipedia). Kamban was being realistic and pragmatic. Sometimes, the evil comes in the form of a saint. In fact, mostly!

Renuka Chowdhury of the Congress had no business saying “Why should he link Vivekananda to Dawood Ibrahmin. Gadkari can have Vivekananda in his heart, we accept. But he also has Dawood there. He should answer why so?” Well, Gadkari did not “link” the two. And whether he has Dawood Ibrahim in his heart or not, she will never know. This is just plain dirty politics….

The real truth is that this controversy has nothing to do with what Gadkari said. Its all to do with his stars and the “bad times” that he is going through! Maybe he should do a puja to assuage the gods! However, if one looks at the matter more seriously, it appears to be just another weapon fired by the Modi brigade against Gadkari…..to oust him and clear the way for their “boss’s” ascendency to the number 1 position in the BJP. I won’t be surprised if Modi is chosen as the President of the BJP as soon as Gadkari is gone. Then Modi could claim the PM’s position if the BJP emerged the victor in 2014….

Indian National Congress changes to Indian National Reforms Congress….

So now there should be no doubts in anyone’s minds. The Congress is re-positioning itself! It’s realized that it is the only party which bats for Reforms and rather than being sheepish about it, it is making a public grab for the Reforms space. I had written some time back – in fact on the 24^th of July this year – that the Congress will treat the FDI in multi-brand retail matter like it did the Indo-US nuclear deal during UPA-1. It will position multi-brand retail FDI as being beneficial to the huge farmer community (some 700-800 million in number) as well as the increasingly important urban middle-class (much of the rest). It will squeeze out the “baniya” community – incidentally the core support group of the BJP. Yesterday’s rally at Delhi was nothing but a public proclamation of this new positioning.

The other major Reform the Congress wants to usher in is moving the leadership of the party to the youngsters. Apart from Rahul being anointed as the future head of the party, it has also made some noise about “half” the party’s leadership coming from the “under 40s”. That’s a good statement to make, considering the demographics of the country. Riding alongside this emphasis on the youth is the war cry similar to Obama’s “Yes we can” in the 2008 US Presidential elections. Today’s TOI shows how Rahul Gandhi is disassociating himself from the “old” system and attempting to create a new order. Take that Kejriwal!

The Congress is indeed today the only party pushing Reforms. In the last twenty years, since it started reforms first in 1991, there has been bi-partisan support for Reforms. The BJP itself was a Reforms oriented party and during its six years of rule, did continue with them. As a result, India’s politics appeared to be stable, at least as far the economic policies were concerned. That gave confidence to investors and the India story began. All that has changed in the last few years. By first opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008 and then opposing FDI (and other Reforms) in almost all forms under UPA-2, the BJP has pretty much shed the Reforms tag. One increasingly gets the impression that the BJP is a little jammed – deep within, it wants to support reforms, but finds itself unable to rise to the occasion and put the nation before the politics. Ergo….the Congress has grabbed the Reforms space for itself. I wrote about this a month back (“October 5, 2012: Recapturing the Reforms space…..Congress’s political strategy clear), and yesterday, it was there for everyone to see.

The Congress is right. There is a simple logic for seeking reforms. Reforms bring in investments and more than anything else, this country needs investments. The more the better. It is not about preferring foreign capital to Indian capital. Its about wanting both. Some commentators talk about the deep rooted (almost genetic) fears that Indians have against foreign companies (some politician once said that Indians still fear the East India company). This is so much baloney! Indians today don’t have any such fears. They only care for  jobs, money and financial security. If reforms can be positioned to mean that, then they will vote for Reforms. People have seen the benefits of modern retail already. I don’t know of any kirana shop that has closed down. And yet, so many lacs of new jobs in retail have been created in the last ten years. Besides, foreign retailers have a lot stacked up against them when trying to operate in India. Will they ever be able to become as big as Indian retailers have become? I doubt it…..Opposing retail FDI is nothing but a part of the general opposition to anything the government proposes. That’s why Yashwant Sinha said once “We are the opposition. We will oppose!”.

So Delhi is likely to be the first city when a multi-brand foreign retail chain comes up. Had it not been for the politics, that could have been Ahmedabad. But poor Modi cannot abandon the party line. Delhi deserves the honor. It’s the one city that has grown the fastest in the last decade with world-class infrastructure emerging visibly in front of its people. Today, Delhi-ites boast of a world class airport, a rapidly growing modern metro network, and roads that don’t give back-aches. For the common man, such progress is the face of reforms. The retail revolution has enormously benefitted people; made shopping a delightful experience. Indians are value seekers and these shops provide value like how. Ask any urban middle-class woman whether she supports retail FDI and the answer will be a resounding yes. Is the BJP not reading this signal?

Retail FDI aside, the Congress’s new found determination to brave it alone on Reforms gives it the unique identity that it wanted. Today, it is the only right-of-center party. Everyone else is cramming the left space and the extremes of leftism are being redefined with every new party that crops up. First it was Mamata, now it is Kejriwal. All of them are pulling to the extreme left. If they had their way, there would be no business left. Some of them even call “tax rationalization” a sop to the rich. Some others call this too to be corruption. In the frothy political environment of today, anything goes. In such choppy times, some may call it brave to swing the other way. I call it smart political strategy. Especially if it can be shown to benefit the farmers….

The real truth is that its official now. The only reforms oriented party is the Congress. Sure, it will balance all its smart reforms with big doses of populist socialistic schemes, but at least it is not shy of pushing Reforms. There are others who push populist programs without even looking at Reforms…..

Haha….Mamata now OK with her government taking “foreign” loan!

Media reports indicate that Mamata Banerjee has agreed to certain “onerous” conditions from the ADB (Asian Development Bank) while accepting a $400 million loan from it. The onerous conditions are a commitment to increase taxes, no less! Unbelievable how the stormy petrel of West Bengal has so quickly had to eat humble pie. The last bastion against anything foreign, this “revolutionary” sure has had to madk a quick 180 degrees U-turn!

But then this is classically what happens to rebels who spend a life time doing nothing but opposing authorities and governments, no matter which party the governments belongs to. Mamata has been a part of both the NDA and UPA, and she has given much pain and embarassment to both coalitions. Even while she was in the Government, she was most at ease when opposing something the Government proposed, rather than in proposing something of her own. For the record, she’s opposed any fare increase in the Railways (in fact, she sacked her Railways minister when he dared do that), any increase in petrol prices (even though it doesn’t hurt the poor) and any increases in diesel prices as well (because it hurts the poor). For Mamata to agree to increasing rates of taxation in her state after opposing every rate hike at the Center is a complete volte face. And a farce. How will she reconcile her opposition to the Central government’s actions with her own?

What such people as Mamata forget is that reforms in India have always happened in the backdrop of some or the other crisis. They have never been voluntary. The reforms of 1991 happened in the background of the well known forex reserves crisis. And more recently, the reforms of September 2012 have happened in the background of Indian bonds being relegated to “junk” status. In-between, during UPA-1 and during the NDA regime before that, reforms were slow and staccato – mostly because India was doing just fine without them. When Mamata faced her own financial crisis in Bengal, her first reaction was to pester the Central government into giving her a “special package”. Basically, a re-structuring of the debt already taken and a deferment of the interest charges for three years. This would have been a political masterstroke had she succeeded. She would have claimed that she managed to protect Bengal without increasing any rates or taxes. Unfortunately, such sugar candies are hard to get in real life. The Center has its own troubles; if it has to expend such luxuries, it might as well demand political loyalty in return. Hence UP it is that got what could have been Bengal’s!

So now Mamata Banerjee will increase taxes in her state. Just look at the irony of this. The one who opposed even a small hike in railway fares – and those fares have not increased for nearly 10 years – has agreed to increase taxes, the most difficult of all difficult decisions to undertake. Even the Central Government has almost never increased taxes in the last twenty years. Mamata will perhaps be the only CM to increase taxes on her people. The one who demanded that the Central government cut customs duties on imported petroleum so as not to have to increase retail rates has now agreed to actually increase taxes in her state. This is really funny! At last, Mamata is getting some lessons in economics finally!

She will probably now understand why her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was not such a bad guy after all. In fact, he was miles ahead of her in his thinking. By wooing industrialists, and by encouraging FDI in some ways, he was trying to move his party out of the deep dogmatic freeze it had fallen into. Had it not been for Mamata, he would have succeeded, and Bengal might have progressed. However, that was not to be. Mamata attacked him every which way; abused his “capitalistic” leanings (though it could hardly be called that) and the Left Governemnt learnt the lesson. The wrong lesson. That reforms were bad. People of Bengal can continue to suffer, but no Government of Bengal will ever again seek private capital. Definitely not foreign capital. Mamata’s attacks on the Tatas in Singur took them to industry-friendly Gujarat. Who lost? Today, the Tatas are laughing their way to the bank (the Gujarat government has reportedly given them land dirt cheap); and the CM of Bengal is having to beg the Asian Development Bank to give her cash (and vision) strapped government a survival loan!

Its always easier to criticize from the outside. It’s when you get inside that the reality hits you. That compromises start to get made. I know people in my company (who are not in sales) who always complained about the sales guys yielding too much to clients. A time came when a few of these people were compelled to work on some sales deals. Guess what they did? Surrendered to the clients! Being in the field is totally different from being in the cosy comforts of the office. Likewise, its easy to be a mutinous rebel and complain against everything, but it’s a whole different world when the shoe goes to the other foot and the rebel is forced to run the ship!

The real truth is that Mamata is becoming like a character on Comedy Central. She’s been losing face almost every other month, if not week. No one wants to take her in its coalition. Forget the UPA and NDA, even the third front (if there is something called that) doesn’t want to touch her. It would help Mamata if she took a few lessons from her astute capitalistic finance minister, Dr. Mitra…..