Market Dynamics or Disproportionate Assets

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Last night’s arrest of Jagan was expected by everyone who was watching his political life especially since the death of his father in 2009.  He was behind the scenes and worked away from the spotlight building his businesses and enterprise, and never a public figure until his father’s untimely death.  His troubles started when his defiant stand against the congress in Delhi, and formation of an independent party to challenge the incumbent congress in the state.  To begin an analysis of his meteoric rise in business and politics, and what lead to his arrest on disproportionate assets is the making of a blockbuster.

His continued insistence that market dynamics and not favors doled out by his father to help build his businesses has merits if other high flying Indian enterprises can be compared to his own business expansion.  There are dozens of cases similar to Jagan’s business enterprises, raising extraordinary amount of private capital from investors, and naming them will not serve any purpose for this column, but just about every Indian who follows the economics and politics of India can easily name a few in every state.  Every one of them requires help from the private markets as well as the government in the state and the country.  Private enterprises cannot flourish without government favors and benefits that are otherwise unavailable to normal citizens.  Who you are and who you know is of 100% value to developing an enterprise.

Signaling out this one man for disproportionate assets after e rebelled against the ruling party is a signal for anyone who is a businessman with inordinate growth in the business enterprise, who is against the wishes of a ruling government.  They can dole out sops and as easily send the CBI after you.  The case of Jagan is that his father is dead and the son doesn’t want to tow the ruling congress party’s line.

The interesting case here is that they are also after industrialist’s who prospered in the congress regime under YSR, and they certainly were well connected in congress to receive favors and also invest in companies owned by YSR’s son.  They did not lose money by investing with Jagan; rather they have received fantastic returns on their investments, while making great progress on their own enterprises which were put in place during the time of YSR.  Now they are targeted as paying for favors received during a dead man’s regime, and further questioning the investments they made in Jagan’s companies, from which each of them have benefitted.

When YSR was alive and well and in the chair, no one questioned him on the decisions he made along with other politicians and bureaucrats.  He was given high praise for the schemes he introduced and programs he undertook, and every one of the congress politicians were at his call.  His death has caused not only his son to walk away from the ruling party, but pose a threat to the government, and within the next month there is a show of strength which the ruling party is bound to be defeated with wide margins.  There is a threat to the party’s position in the state and the outlook is not so great for it countrywide.

The precedent being set for the case of Jagan is really unprecedented.  Here is a young man who rose in business and politics quickly, and his influential father helped him to get into the business and get the basics in place quickly.  Jagan developed his network quickly and was successful in doing whatever he did, along with throwing his hat into politics.  No crime committed here, but using influence as does everyone else in the place of power and influence.  His ambitious political play is what is stressing the government which had to find ways to stop him from power.  For now it doesn’t seem to be working and with his arrest the public sympathy to his family and his father’s continued popularity will only further dent the ruling party’s chances in the next month’s elections, and eventually the case/s against Jagan will get their fair hearing.  In the mean time the congress would have lost their seat of power in the state, and have created a vast emptiness for investors who are looking for politicians t help with businesses, and investing in high flying ventures.  Nothing is won by the ruling party or the state for the drama being played out, and everyone one is a loser here: congress, state, people, investors and general public who are witnessing the drama.

Investor’s Nightmare

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

It must be frightening for an investor to even consider making a valued investment in the Indian market.  Every aspect of the country’s economy is being pulled sideways by the continued impact of political witch hunting and uncertain policy making.  Even some policies that have been successful in implementing are being overturned to go back to the time when the country was run more or less as a socialistic state.

The never ending scams are the highlight of daily news in the country.  From the center to the states, and to local governments, they have become so common; it is difficult to imagine there will be any segment of the policy making or business that doesn’t involve a scam.

The government has no qualms in making changes to policy and procedures, despite the implementation of approved procedures for industry.  Some of the latest developments to change tax structure and make it retroactive to encompass the past transactions are beyond reasoning.  Such decision making by the government shows disregard for global investors, and will be of little value to global investors.  Incompetence in framing guidelines should not penalize the investors who have put money into the economy in good faith.

The entire process of government’s day to day survival is so uncertain that no one wants to make any predictions on what can be done and what cannot be done.  In democratic societies elected officials have fixed time in office until they commit serious offence to be terminated from office, and even then there is back-up to fill in the shoes of an elected official who has done disservice to the office.  India seem to suffer from constant back stabbing by the parties own elected officials, and definitely by the opposition.  The day after they get elected they don’t want to take-up the agenda of the people. They start plotting the down fall of the government.

There are distinct differences in center and state agendas, and often conflict with the policy making.  If the elected officials of the state are different from the center, there is constant bickering and posturing about their individual party agenda, and most times there is rhetoric rather than action on public needs.  It is amazing that the country survives despite these agendas that are often destructive to public’s interest.  Also with so much uncertainty in the government, and disregard for policy nothing gets done, and whatever gets done is undone when a government changes.

The constant investigations are taxing on the system and people who are looking at them.  There is not a single person in government both elected or appointed who is not under the scanner.  What will be investigated if everyone is under the scanner?  Who is determining the investigation initiative, or is it politically motivated to get people who don’t listen to the government to get under the scanner?

Politicians show total disregard and indifference to reality even after they get caught red handed with money or assets in their homes.  They simply claim innocence or say they don’t belong to them, and walk away from the possessions.  It takes enormous amount of investigative time and money to show the connection between the inappropriate assets and the person, and most times the changes in government erases the impact of the findings.  Even when a person gets caught with the stuff on hands they will plead ignorant, and with a straight face deny that they have done wrong.  Better yet when someone goes to jail and comes out there are celebrations and utter disregard for what the person did to go to jail.

The media gives outrageous attention to every detail and the media itself is divided in their coverage, where the person who is responsible for a scam or someone who got caught with money, is given spin after spin either positive or negative.  There is disregard for the truth, and it is hammered into the media outlets that the person is guilty or innocent in public opinion, irrespective of what they did.  There is so much attention given to time but not reality, and no one cares to check the facts of what they are reporting.  Most times the media outlet is aligned with a specific party, and they will invariably side with their political affiliations.

Everything that lead India’s economic drive for 20 some odd years seem to unwind as quickly as it was embraced.  Hundreds of billions were invested into the Indian economy as it was being opened up for investment and economic openness (so called reforms), and all of them are evaporating as quickly.  How can anyone without help get into big business and not have an affiliation or association with someone or the other?  If it fails to reform the system that has been globally embraced, India may go back to pre-independence stages of the Raj where everyone is looking for a handout.  Better shape up and start behaving like an open economy that doesn’t politicize every business interest, and every business interest doesn’t involve a scam.  The politicians should focus on their people’s agenda, and businesses on running the business, and stop the witch hunting and everyone should clean their own house.

Utopian Dreams

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Elections are coming again and we will start hearing promise of a great place with benefits for all and uplifting of the poor and everything for everyone.  It is not just in India but all over the world the election time promises of Utopian life for everyone, and the best promises typically gets the majority of votes.  The just completed elections in France saw a change in leadership, the about to come USA elections are gaining momentum.  There is no stopping the election cycle in India, with continues mid-term or by-elections and the soon to come general elections.

The title includes dreams along with Utopia, so there is no promise of delivering Utopia as a dream, but simple promises which brings the moon to the hearing public, but not very sure even the person who is making promises believes in what is spoken.  The promises are so farfetched that they are unrealistic to implement and impossible to sustain.  They sound melodramatic and so filmy when promising everything to people, and villainous when criticizing the opposition, and sometimes the people of one’s own party.

The days of canvassing for votes with promise of good governance and planned development are long gone, and in a democratic society they are hard to find.  People are hearing so many things that have to bearing to reality or truth, but they are delivered with frequency that is alarming and with such force that the person delivering lies with so much conviction.  Every state is in a state of turmoil and none of the politicians seem to want to give up power, even when they get voted out.  They continue to plot to dethrone whosoever is in power, and simply want to get back into power.  Even democratically elected leaders continue to face dissidence while in power, and in most cases from the first they take elected office they face grave digging.

No one even the president or the prime minister is devoid of the abuse meted out daily by their own party men or opposition.  The language is beyond just foul, it is outrageous in addressing the leaders, by men and women in politics.

There is constant opposition to better governance and there is constant abuse of the office when in power.  When in opposition the daily barrage of criticism is aimed at everything under the moon, and it is never ending.  With so many TV channels and Internet and communications available, it is a daily soap opera of accusations and abuse.  None is spared in the barrage of foul language that transcends from our leaders, and it only continues to get more and more imaginative in negative connotations.  There is also a great deal of truth with the idiotic behavior of elected and wannabe politicians.  There are endless corruption allegations and personal infidelity of leaders, and most of them are getting caught because of the cameras and telephones following them wherever they go and whatever they do.  The irony is the guys who get caught and the guys who do it and don’t get caught are all getting caught on camera or on telephone, and their deeds being recorded for the wild ride the public are being taken for.

We are being fed with scams and escapades, rather than public programs and policy.  The communications channels constantly barge into our life with one more and more scintillating scandal or impropriators, and it is never ending.  The scandal only gets bigger and bigger and scams get larger and larger.  No amount of policing or investigation seem to bother the thick skinned politicians, and they keep thinking of more and more ways of siphoning the public resources for private gains.  They ought to loot enough while in power as the cost of elections keep getting bigger and bigger.  There is no way of stopping this, and my utopian dreams will just be that, dreams.

Impossible Diplomacy

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

It is perhaps called diplomacy because it is impossible.  Every country has diplomatic channels and diplomats trying to convince people, parties and countries to listen to their agenda for handling things in a fashion that is in their opinion diplomatic.  With so many countries, so many political agendas, so many religious beliefs, and so many people who really don’t see eye to eye with anyone else, diplomacy is practically impossible.

Diplomacy is, defined as the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations and skill in handling affairs without arousing hostility.  The word diplomacy has been used since the year 1796, and has been generously employed by nations since then.  Every nation has had eminent and competent people represent the interests of their own nation, some as secretaries of state, some as foreign ministers, some as career diplomats, some as special envoys, and whatever name and fashion as required by the instance and incidents.  The United Nations which came into formation in 1945 is full of diplomats that represent their own nation, but also participate in the global efforts to control aggression and find common ground for countries to live in peace and harmony.  The UN was formed in 1945 immediately after the World War II, which saw destruction and death beyond human comprehension, and the nations needed a forum to bring the diverse agendas of many nations into one forum and find common ground for living in peace.

While the UN continues to present a forum for nations to work together and find common ground in promoting peace and harmony, the diplomatic efforts seem to be limited to the people on the floor of UN and not being followed by the people who they are representing.  While the cause is noble the following is difficult to implement for the member nations, and the last couple of decades the diplomatic channels have been working overtime and still there is strife all across the world.

Every country has its own agenda and its own internal issues to deal with.  Every part of the world has population growing exponentially and the even the wealthiest countries are struggling to meet the demands of their own population.  Employment, hunger, weather and seasonal issues, disasters, economic issues and anything else that is possible in each of the countries, big and small are continuously fluctuating and challenging the best of administrations.  No nation is reporting clear budget surpluses and until you are a dictatorship or a closed economy there are global signs of greater demand for products and services, way beyond the supply chain can provide for the demands.

Beyond the imbalance in supply and demand, the continued religious strife, extremism and terror continues to dominate the daily headlines and places a great demand for the diplomatic channels.  Things only are getting worse and out of reach for the normal diplomacy as the extremists have no channel to work with for understanding the issues and coming to peaceful and meaningful resolutions.   Many of the extremists do not represent a country or a region, but they represent beliefs that are taken in context of their own reasoning, and whatever agenda they represent broadly support extremism in nature, and destruction of communities.  Most times this destruction is embarked on the very communities they represent, and also cause harm to unsuspecting civilian life.  No one has ever won by destruction, as everyone is a loser when things gets destroyed or people get killed, and the hatred only gets broader audience by including the newly destroyed community into the unwarranted events that lead to the destruction.

The diplomats or their channels can work overtime, but when there is no way to bring people together to find common ground, there is no possibility for diplomacy.  The communications channels that are available give extremist’s easy access to send messages that reach a vast audience, and drives the fear factor in unsuspecting communities.  How do you handle the fear that comes from fundamentalism, and communal differences?  With all the hatred in making the communities to fear for each other and force the invisible enemy to fight in the guise of religion or fundamentalism, how can diplomacy be possible?

People are fearful of everyone and everything and specially when the normal life gets disrupted in life of people who have no experience of fundamentalism, and if such disruptions reach to every part of the world it is not possible to contain the impact to a select few areas of the world, rather the whole world is an open space which has unexpected and unwarranted disruptions to normal life.  The cost of the disruption in life and destruction of wealth is really unimaginable because of the unmanageable groups of extremists making diplomacy impossible.

Advice Is Free

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

There is so much of it available in the world; it is the equal to free air.  Human beings love passing on advice to everyone with or without asking for it.  Actually most times advice is unsolicited; it is simply given by everyone and anyone.  With Internet and Mobile telephony at a minimal cost and far reaching, it has become so common to see advice being dished out in every language and every instance, and everyone has an opinion on everything in the world.

When solicited advice is useful and sometimes paid for from reliable and resourceful and experienced people, who still do the same as they did before the advent of communications.  But whenever we open the channels of communications, people are dishing out expert advice; be it through twitter, face book or any other medium that is a form of free and mass communication.

From politicians to cricketers to movie stars and movie makers and wannabe stars have become experts at pasting their advice to the general public and websites are dedicated to makeup stuff for consumption of general public, and with so much conviction on what they are saying, it really is difficult to separate the reality verses gossip.

As much as we enjoy the daily dishing of information on just about everybody it is on overdrive to see a recognized person tweet or talk, and the followers fussing over the details of what it means.  If every person who tweets or writes something can make everyone understand what they exactly meant when they wrote the sentence, it would be a fantastic way of communicating, but typically one writes on impulse or at the moment and goes on to the next minute.  A lot of times when a statement is made or a sentence is written it are a general reaction to the moment, rather than a serious study in time.

When someone gets nominated as a member of parliament, it is not the first time or the last time a recognized personality gets the nomination.  No single person will make the entire parliament a new place to look up to, as the house is itself a democratic entity that functions in its fashion and environment.  Each parliamentarian in their respective term add their efforts to make it a live and vigorous environment that caters to the needs of the public at large, and when they leave they leave a legacy of what they have represented in the years they spent at the house of representatives.

No one person can drive the value systems up or down, nor make immediate or effective decisions for the well being of public.  They all do it collectively while disagreeing with each other, and also agreeing with each other.  For fact they are all voted in or appointed with the public’s interest in mind, rather than selfish or personal interests.  What happens from the time they get elected to the time they complete their term is always questionable as election promises or appointments based on competence in other areas of life, typically may not match; as they are multitude of factors to get to the parliament and then delivering to the promises made to people; as the availability of resources and support for making the available resources are entirely different in reality.

We can spend 24/7/365 in dishing out advice to the politicians and bureaucrats, but how far are we from reality of foreseeing the reality.  A old saying from a wise man was “you can tell me whatever you want and I will do what I believe is the best thing to do”, which is true to just about everyone.  Perhaps we should dish out a little less advice and if we do, first practice it on our own and see if it works.

Reforming the Mind Set

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The day of reckoning is here for the Indian democracy to face the challenges of leadership and guiding the vast country’s population and its diverse needs.  The transparent democracy that was destined when it achieved its independence from the UK simply has remained a paper democracy.

To start with the country’s initial leaders were part of achieving independence from the UK, and had tremendous acceptance for their contributions to achieve the country’s independence.  They were freedom fighters and philosophers, and men and women with ideals for a independent India, but not administrators and politicians of experience to handle a vast nation with complex social structure, many language and traditional differences and demographically challenging population; all of which with many more complex issues to deal with, immediately following the pillaging of national resources by the occupying forces.

There was a lot of leverage for the initially elected leaders of independent India, and it continued for a couple of decades with the romance of the leaders efforts in delivering independence to India.  While the process of independence was lead by a few, the entire nation was in full support and made great sacrifices in driving the British out of the country.  A great deal of respect was bestowed in the leaders who came into the power in the independent India, despite the lack of political or constitutional leadership, as it was in the case of the USA, the initial leaders of a independent nation are typically freedom fighters who command great respect for their sacrifices and leadership in achieving the independence of the country.

The case of the USA is a great example of leaders truly guiding the nation for peace and prosperity and accounting for national integration, development and proper planning.  India could have taken a similar route to becoming a great democracy by establishing a transparent policy making government that truly had its people in the planning, rather than the people in power determining the use of the country’s great resources.

India’s population was so used to hearing to rhetoric of pre-independent leaders and forgot that the post-independence rhetoric should have been totally different as it should have been towards the well being of the country rather than fighting an occupying force.  We continue to hear great voices which sound far too familiar to pre-independent speeches rather than achieving objectives of today’s needs.

It is the people of the nation who really should stop hearing to long winded speeches of plans that can never be achieved, and banter about the other guy who is so bad, and needs to be replaced by the new guy who can be worse.

There is really no prescription to what the country needs to do to find the right leaders, as even great promise the new leaders seem to evaporate as soon as they get into a seat of power.  People really need to stop listening to banter, focus on their well being without the politicians taking them for a joy ride every time there is an election year.  It requires a reform of the Indian mind, rather than any system.  Once we start to stop believing the absurd promises and blatantly absurd promises, we will probably begin to see that there is no truth to what we hear.  There is no immediate prescription to changing the system, except pushing for meaningful delivery of basic needs of the population.  Perhaps the Amish mindset is what the Indian communities need, so they become self sufficient in small groups, and really don’t care about what someone else is going to do for them, rather work as a great big family to tend to the needs of overall community.  If every village, town, municipality, city, and on work towards self sustainability by having people work together and achieve sufficiency, the country will see progress.  First we must reform our mind on not worrying about just me, but my community, and the rest will be progress.

Blockbusters without the Block

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Many of the previous movies are being made with the new generation of actors and some of them are bringing in audiences in great numbers to see the newer version of the great movies.  At least for the first few days people are watching them; one for the curiosity factor of comparing the newer version to the original, and the newer generation of movie goers for the hype preceding the release of the movie, comparing the newer version with the older.

Having been avoiding the newer versions of the old blockbusters, recently I saw two of them, both of the movies of my favorite actor Amitabh Bachchan.   I still remember seeing the movies of Mr. Bachchan as if it is this week and the experience of the entertainment still fresh in my mind.  I purposefully have been avoiding watching the newer versions of the great entertainers of a generation or so ago after watching Sholay in its newer form.  Such massacre of the entertainment is unparalleled, and absolutely no regard for the intelligence of the audience.  Typically movies such as Devdas, are made and remade again and again, and also in multiple languages, and have been successfully adopted for the newer age versions.  Actually Devdas was adopted quite well and enacted quite well and was entertaining and also true to the original adaptation.

The movie going experience was one of fun and excitement in the days where movies were released with regular intervals, and the many stars delivered major movies with regularity.  Very few movies came out from major actors in all languages, that failed to enthrall the audiences, and when there was a bad movie people rejected it outright and immediately looked forward to the next one.  There was no DVD or Internet that immediately put the movie for viewers to see, and the audience was the sole judge of the movie’s box office performance.

Heroes delivered fantastic entertainment with movie after movie and directors and producers were involved in making movies with such alarming regularity, the quality of the movies was quite high in bringing people to see the movie again and again and ran for weeks and weeks.  Personally I used to see the same movie several times and still enjoy the experience of the joy of entertainment despite seeing the same again and again.

For a fact the actors delivered six or more movies every year despite their star status and character actors acted in many more movies, and were absolutely true to the director’s guidance.  Movies did not take years to make, and were completed quickly and on schedule, and within reasonable budgets.  When the big stars were involved typically the movies delivered to the expectations and the producers and distributors were rewarded accordingly.  Many directors were part of fifty or more movies, some more than a hundred, all the while delivering quality and profitable entertainment.

While there is no grouse against making a good product repeatedly, the value of the entertainment should be considered.  The grace of the heroines, the song and dance routines, the dialogues catered to each role, and the hero who carries of the role as prescribed were all part of great story and presentation in delivering movies.  If we tale today’s actors and try to duplicate the work of the yesteryear’s actors, and try to recreate the magic of the playback singers, writers and technicians with just a lot of money and publicity, it is not possible.

While today’s audience might see the movie for curiosity of the newer version, the makers are unable to capture the essence of the originals.  The actors want to hype the newer versions based on the success of the original versions, they don’t deliver the product that is original.  Most times it is not possible as the selection of characters suited the personality of the actors, and support characters.  We don’t have the larger than life actors who suit the roles played by the originals.

While there are quality movies made by today’s generations of movie makers, it is best we try to leave the yesteryear’s movies as they are, and enjoy them on DVD or cable.  The money and effort will be better spent on new products and new stories that can be told in today’s time.

In Search of a Good Leader

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Time has come for India and Indians to look for a good leader who will lead the nation to greater heights to satisfy the populations demand for better everything in the country.  From the village level to the metropolis, high raises to slums, from children to the very old, the educated to the rural folks, everyone is looking for a leader who will work on the people’s agenda rather than the master of the next scam.  For a country of some 1.2 billion, we must have a few good leaders we can find, but for some reason the country is suffering from the lack of a strong and democratically ideological leader who is not involved in any scam, but just lead the country into the next cycle of prosperity.

If we simply add-up the losses incurred by the country because of mismanagement of its resources the country would have had enough resources to provide education, transportation, telecommunications, rural development, basic facilities for all people and enough money for world-class (better best of the world) infrastructure without adding and new taxes or burden on the general population.  Sadly the money is going into a few people’s bank accounts in tax havens or being spent on getting reelected to government.

The magnitude of taking the money into pockets is so huge that the counting the zeros in any currency cannot be fathomed.  People are being caught and sent to jail, but so far none of the money has been recovered and brought back into the government coffers.  There are large numbers thrown out in public as losses to the exchequer but so far no money has been recovered that has been added to the national spending.

All political parties including the ruling and opposition parties at national level and state and local levels are all pointing fingers at each other, and everyone has some taint of impropriety attached to them.  Everyone is screaming about the other’s scams but no action is taken to bring the money back into the government or reclaim the lost resources.  Except making a huge deal about this in public and parliament, no concrete action is being taken to get the money back into the public.  The greatest misuse of resources is spoken about for a long time, but except hurling insults and referring to CBI and sending some of them to Tihar, nothing is done to get the money back from the miscreants.

In YSR AP had a leader who was forceful in implementation of programs that were popular and industrial and infrastructure development that was needed by the state.  Until his accidental death and for some time after he was hailed as the great leader who provided leadership for implementation of both populist and strong decisions that progressively affected the state and was a benchmark for the national leadership.  Since his death and a few months after, and when his son became a difficult nit to crack for the national leadership, he all of a sudden became a point of contention as someone who doled out favors for his son’s benefit.  It is tragic to first associate great leadership while alive and in death the exact opposite.  Politically the reaction of the public will never reconcile with the center that project its own image as a party that first enjoys the power of an individual leader while alive and tarnish it when he is dead.

The country needs a few good leaders who are not in for the money nor get elected, but for serving the country.  There is no individual benefit except the value of public service, and there is no need for money power but only the power of the people.  As a true and largest democracy the country needs a new breed of leaders, and India needs them now.  There is no immediate or magic trick to find someone, but the nation needs to embrace the faithful services of a true leader.  Only when people are able to welcome the leadership without the taint of money, rather with the vision of future that is full of promise of independence, we would have truly become a democracy and will see true prosperity that is becoming of a great nation.

All Systems Needs Grease

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The latest CBI charges against Jagan and multitude of senior level officers in the AP government was expected.  The pressure of politics adds to the charges that are superficial and mainly aimed at crippling the newly found vigor in campaign of a new party against the incumbent party, while the incumbent party is struggling with keeping the power.  What is ironic of the latest CBI charges against Jagan are that the late YSR is being projected as the person behind siphoning resources to help fund his son’s businesses by providing benefits to companies that became investors in them.

The big issues with the current set of charges are multiple:

The person behind the accusations has been dead for some time – The gentleman has been dead, and when he died he was the king maker for congress.  Unflinching in his attitude and policies that gave power to the party twice, while facing serious issues with regional issues within the state, he helped the party t retain and remain in power.  The INC is the oldest Party in India, and should at least respect its dead leaders.  Let the gentleman should be left to rest in peace, and not drag him into the dirt.

YSR single handedly instrumental for Congress retaining power in two elections – He was the pride of congress and always was beaming with pride while he handled the governance and politics.  It is for sure he raised money for the party as does everyone else.

What about the entire cabinet and bureaucracy that functioned under YSR while he was making these unilateral decisions – While dragging a dead man into accusations, what happened to the cabinet, party leaders at center and the bureaucrats who were all in power.  There is no absolute way YSR could have done something wrong by himself.  The party takes credit for all the good he has done and now blames him for wrongdoing?

The central leadership received the benefit of YSR’s leadership and also his ability to raise money – If a few favors were done to benefit Jagan’s companies what happened to the benefits received by the center?  India is full of dynastic politics and taking care if ones people while in power.  It is ironic that the INC accuses YSR of helping his son, as INC if full of nepotism from the day it was formed, and should look at its own self even today.  If the family did not help it’s own, and itself the government would have been democratic long time ago.

What happened to the advisors who were with him if he made these deals that benefited his son’s businesses – Where are the team of experts and leaders who followed YSR while in power and making decisions?  For sure we don’t see their names in the current accusations.

YSR could not have done the deals by himself in two successive governments without the blessings of the center – For all the things that are being thrown at YSR, no possible way the gentleman could have done anything without the help of the party and its leadership.  He remained loyal to the party throughout his life and died doing his job.

India is full of systems that need grease constantly, and although there is no public support for helping raise money for the party, it is a common practice to having to fund the party activities.  The scale with which this government has been exposing its own party men involved in scams is unprecedented.  While every political party involves in raising money and keep the party functioning, the current leadership in center seem to be forgetting that it needs to govern the country and its resources, rather sending its own leadership to Tihar, after realizing the benefit of their politics and fund raising.

The country really needs to introspect on top down and sideways of its leadership, and find ways to curtail the misuse of political power, and find democratic ways to manage politics and policies.  It should first stop witch hunting dead men and its own support structure when they revolt, and put forth policies that provide open governance and stop looting public resources.

Alternatives Are Hard To Find

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Political turmoil in democracies are common and to a certain point natural.  People should be given the opportunity to elect who they feel best represent their interests and should always have a choice of majority vote in placing someone in power to handle both domestic and international affairs that best suits the needs of the country.  Tracking the countries that are natural democracies and comparing them to dictatorial or communist countries clearly represent the value of elected democracies.

India except for a brief emergency rule, has had democratically elected government since its independence from Great Britain in 1947.  The period of emergency was full of atrocities against people of a democratic country, and it saw power wrested from the government in the next general election.   While it saw a credible opposition in the form of BJP established born out of the emergency in India, and some regional parties also establishing themselves as forces in their own states, they quickly lost focus of catering to the national needs and gave back the power to Congress.

While each election costing more and more money to win, politicians who are getting elected and the ones that are losing; both are finding ways of making the money to spend on the electorate.  The biggest spenders are by no means are guaranteed electoral wins, and the ones those win have to find ways of recouping the cost of getting elected and are taking extreme measures to get their money back, and while no one is really focused on managing the day to day affairs of the country and its people.

The just finished regional election demonstrate that the regional parties are able to convince people of their intentions in localized elections, but will they be able to communicate a national message that is coherent and achievable is not in the horizon.  While states focus on local issues, the broader and national consequences are of greater importance for the well being of the country.

Dramatic and vast projects are all embroiled in controversies and scams.  Telecommunications, sports, buildings and transportation, defense and just about every major industry is involved in some major scam, and there seem to be endless issues with siphoning vast resources into politicians and their associate accounts.

With all the controversies and scams, the economy seems to chug along, although it could be with a much higher growth if not for the scams.  The private enterprise continues to find ways to grow despite the difficulties with politics and policy, and sometimes taking in stride the enormous burden of the scams, and demands for a great chunk of the monies involved in funding the projects.

All said and done the country is lacking in a credible and nationwide opposition to the ruling party that can deliver to election manifesto that will foster the economy, and also stop the bleeding of the resources of the country.  Although regional parties are strong in localized elections, they are not able to neither deliver a credible opposition nationally, nor also muster enough national attention to become an alternate to the incumbent government.

The political outlook is quite bleak in the current scenario, and there is no immediate fix to the political system.  There is no prescription to solve the political owes of the country, and how to find opposition party that will provide a national platform.  The new generation of politicians rely more on money and muscle, rather than reforms and policies to foster economic growth and clean government.  Except dynastic politics and promoting the sons or the past leaders, the country is lacking in new leaders who come from outside of the political system, and with new ideas that address the needs of the county.  Searching for alternatives in current political environment to deliver progressive and clean government is hard to find.

Nation of Cricket

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

With all the scams and politics in the country people get a full dose of the escapades of the select few who engage in national scavenging.  There is no end to the political power plays and financial plundering.  One has to wonder if there were no kickbacks and scams what will be Indian infrastructure look like and if there would be a poverty line in India?

It is getting tiring to write about scams and politics, and there is no end to the new and improved scams and political games.  For a while Anna was a hot topic with his proposals for ombudsman in India and that too fizzled out for the time being.  Once again old and renewed political players come back, and this is like a cat has nine lives, as they keep coming back.  There is not enough space to write about their escapades and continued support of their political aspirations.  We have to find some way of finding things that are not political and not involve a scam, thus talk of the nation of Cricket that India really is.

The retirement of Rahul Dravid a few days ago is of no surprise as the gentleman gave most of his adult life to cricket, and admirably.  He could have hung on for a few more series but it was time to call it quits in his own opinion and good for him to decide on what to do with his time.  There is a lot of praise and admiration for him across the global cricketing base, and a well deserved break from the rigors of the daily grind of cricket and the demands of a billion people.  Now he can just be domesticated as the rest of the married men.  As admirable as he has been on and off the field, he immediately displayed the same class when he announced his retirement.  Once again a wonderful career and a wonderful gentleman of class, and he will be missed.

Right after Rahul Dravid’s retirement came Sachin Tendulkar’s 100^th 100.  It is perhaps a feat that will be unparallel for generations to come.  While India lost the match (again when a great milestone is achieved) to Bangladesh, Sachin’s achievement once again has a universal applause and no greater feat in professional sports can be in the same category.  It made not just the Indian public but also the global cricketing nations unanimous in its praise for the gentleman.  For the time Sachin has spent playing cricket and his continued performance and his demeanor has unparallel support world over, and simple cannot be valued in any monetary terms.

Sachin lost a great partner when Rahul Dravid retired, but in the last couple of games young Virat Kohli is displaying the flair of a great one day player who has quickly raised hopes of the cricketing public with his performances.  While we cannot count his proficiency in all forms of cricket like Rahul Dravid did, he certainly has started off with the flair for a long innings.  No doubt that he can be groomed for filling the big shoes of Rahul Dravid.

The nation is happy with the cricket team’s performance and when they win even meaningless games, the public is full of pride and joy.  There is no telling if they win series after series and create records after records as individuals.  Just a day or two away from the current series decider, and once again against Pakistan, which is a hot contest.

While wishing for a successful campaign in the current series, Cricket does keep India together, and cricketers in special places of Indians heart.  All we need is the Indian team keep winning and perhaps people will forget about the scams and politics and even the hard work they put in everyday to make ends meet.  Good luck Indian team and keep making the nation happy.   

Rahul Dravid

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

His retirement was hardly unexpected, but brought our unanimous praise and applause on a career that was extraordinary.  He had another gentleman of world cricket Anil Kumble at his side when he made his decision to retire public.  There was no need for one last series or one last test, just done with an overseas tour that was ordinary for Rahul as a cricketer, and disastrous for the Indian cricket team.

He is 39 years old, young in years but in cricketing terms is not so young.  Many of them retire in mid thirties, and very few go on as Rahul did over the years, and especially the statistics of the last few years belie that the age was a factor in his decision to quit all formats of professional cricket, barring IPL.

The retirement was not a surprise knowing the drive and dedication he has shown throughout his professional career, and continued stress on perfecting the art of batting, fielding, wicket keeping and also great dignity and respect for the gentleman’s game of cricket.  No outbursts, no emotional grandstanding, no arguments, no over jealous appealing, no sow of emotions, nothing that dissents from the spirit of the game; is all Rahul Dravid did all through his career, while delivering world class performance year after year for cricketing fans.

While in the company of the likes of Tendulkar, Sehwag, Laxman and other greats of cricket, Dravid always stood his ground; with performance and attitude that befit the great game of cricket and a great world class performer.  The years that he spent playing are full of extraordinary performances by many greats of cricket in the Indian team and also the global test teams.  None as polished and professional as Rahul Dravid, and when he announced his retirement, there was unanimous praise of the man who personified professionalism and personality that befits the game and its spirit.

One thing that stands out in Indian cricket is that the cricketers who come from Karnataka, Anil Kumble, G.R. Viswanath, B.S. Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna, along with a long list of other who have represented the country, are all great performers while being gentleman cricketers.  Most of these cricket greats let their on-field performance speak volumes and leave their emotions out of cricket.  Not to underline the state that delivered such gentle giants of cricket, but their performances are commendable in the annals of cricket.

While it is difficult to replace Rahul Dravid in the cricket team, he made the right decision to quit on his own terms.  The most endearing things to hear from is the appreciation for the game he has and continues to have, and his desire to find a simple and common mans daily chores to do that he has not been able to do with the dedication to the game he loves and played with great dedication.

While his slot in the cricket team will be difficult to fill, India will find outstanding cricketers to come in and contribute.  We still have a few more greats that are nearing their outstanding careers and we will see them exit the great game on their own terms, while we will see new and outstanding performers emerge into the international scene.  Rahul Dravid is a special man whose dedication is unmatched, and will certainly be in the minds of all budding cricketers who aspire to be a part of the Indian team.  He will forever be a role model to emulate and learn from.

Here is wishing him the best in retirement and all the happiness for a normal and fruitful life.  Rahul Dravid will continue to be a model for hard work and dedication for everyone in Cricket and for fact a great model for a dedicated and hardworking man in life.

Is there a Lack of New Leaders or Lack of Interest in Politics?

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Old wine in a new bottle saying doesn’t apply to the politicians of the world who seem to come back into the pictures despite the past election losses, or the ones in power seem to try hang onto their seats by any means they can.  Democratic elections make no difference when a politician wants to win power back or come back into the lime light.

Elections get more expensive with every cycle and promises to the public become more extravagant to come back to power or retain power.  The available funds for spending are always less than what is allocated and the allocated monies get diverted into scams.  The cost of lections and getting reelected is in unstated amounts, but the politicians are willing to gamble the money to get back into power.  The cost to get elected is typically coming from the public’s money in one form or the other, and each time the numbers being siphoned get to be greater and greater.

Every local, state and central politician is somehow or the other involved in making decisions that cost the tax payers enormous amount money, and typically the decisions are to support the reelection and getting wealthy while on the job.  Every politician in India after PVNR, seem to get caught up in the cycle of scams and kickbacks, and none is sparing the public coffers from scams.

The recent elections in several states in India reflect a clear lack of direction and leadership in the state and central levels.  People are essentially voting the old cadre back to power and showing indifference to the deeds of the past.  Also, there is a clear lack of any new vision or diversity in political parties.  We get nothing but the same people on the ballot, same agenda, same intolerance to others, and indifference with the public who go to polls, and nothing new being offered to protect public interest and create opportunities for growth.

Typical of the politicians someone will accept the responsibility for the loss of their party in the elections, and immediately start blaming the others for spending money to buy the elections, and their inability to communicate their agenda to the common man.  The truth is that every party spent money that they have on targeted voting blocks, and made promises that are impossible to deliver.  The loss of elections typically come with the worst performing government, and people despite being fed the pre-election gimmicks and gifts, will still vote for change and hope to bring positive developments to their location, city, state and center.  We the people are eternal in optimism and while we take the benefit of pre-election gifts and promises, will still vote for change that might surprise with performance.

Following the cycle of elections and overall development in the country, the time with Rajiv Gandhi and then PV Narasimha Rao as the leaders of the country, which both saw serious inroads into the globalizing India’s resources, opening the economy for investment and information and telecommunications advances, the rest of the governments seem either oblivious to the global developments or unable to appreciate the democratic country’s standing as the largest such country on earth.  Even MMS, who is the chair of the PM, is unable to achieve objectives he set out and foster as the FM of the country.

There is no quick fix to election process and getting reelected in India or anywhere else, but people typically look for change in government when the government becomes overbearing.  While India’s election process is commendable in its vast enterprise and the changes public vote in, it still needs new blood to get into the electoral main stream to bring in changes of openness to the process.  We definitely need new set of leaders in either the incumbent parties or new parties who will eliminate the political graft (if not minimize it to simple political contributions that can be accounted), and really push for social agenda without money bags attached to it.

Looking at the past few cycles of elections it doesn’t look like we will be able to find new leaders who will push for a graft free agenda.  It looks like recycling the old faces again and again, and each time the government changes there is an emergence of scams of the past.  There are no immediate and logical steps to foster a transparent and open government at any level as the incumbents are entrenched in the political and financial system of the country.  We have to find a bottom up solution for changing the electoral process to eliminate the loop holes, stop the fostering of electoral graft and create a new set of leaders who are in for really serving the people’s agenda.  It might be asking too much at this stage of India’s political system to become a totally free electoral process and drive only the public’s agenda, but it is always good to dream of such a society.

Celebrity Bashing

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com
 
With television and internet covering every move of personalities and commoners at the same rate, it has become difficult to separate the important events and nonsense.  Things are blown out of proportion, or continuously covered until the next incident happens.  Every opportunity that even remotely resembles a conflict or a confrontation gets blown out of proportion.  The latest incident involving bollywood actors and a businessman was sensationalized for days, and both parties claiming that they were provoked and the other party was guilty of enticing the fight.

It was a fancy restaurant to have guests of repute and importance, who were able to afford the expensive environment.  The place demanded affluence of the pocket but never of the heart or reputation.  Both parties could have avoided the confrontation at the late hour of the night, but they chose to use verbal abuse and fist cuffs to demonstrate the street fights, rather than cordial deviation of conflict.

One party asked for the CCTV footage to demonstrate the guilt of the party that started the confrontation, but the restaurant conveniently claims that it was not in place to give privacy to its guests.  It is the biggest farce of an excuse to either cover-up the incident or reveals the real culprit.  The restaurant should be held accountable for having equipment that did not capture the events as they unfolded, or having dysfunctional equipment in place.  The restaurant should have equipment in place to avoid such brawls and when they happen bring the guilty party to task so the next time someone starts a brawl or misbehaves in public places they can be held accountable for their actions.

Celebrities are as human as the people who make them celebrities.  They are not immune to insults or barbs when they are in public places.  They deserve the same privacy as every other citizen does, and they don’t need to be subjected to any abuse by the people around them, especially when they are in a restaurant or a place where they pay for services.  The expensive restaurants or hotels should provide the comfort of service and privacy to all, along with the ability to have a good time by all the guests.  People pay for high quality ambiance and service with these places and celebrity or no celebrity, when one can afford to pay for eating at the place they deserve the same attention.

It is expected that all these places have a certain decorum with people who attend the place, but they must be well equipped to avoid and personal confrontations on the compound and should have the equipment to capture any kind of altercations that might happen on their confines.  Not having the equipment or not having working equipment is never an excuse to provide the guests with adequate protection and security on the premises.  These places should publicize that they have the security equipment in place that is to protect the guests and provide protection, rather than invade into their privacy, and such equipment is to provide protection.  By doing so and clearly making a point of having such equipment as a protective environment, rather than an invasive process, the public places will be able to better serve people who are guests who are really innocent of provocation.

The media also should stop making a huge issue of just celebrities that get involved in altercations, as everyone gets involved in personal aggravation.  The constant attention to trying to make someone guilty should be avoided, as stop bashing the people who name recognition until they are found guilty of a transgression.  Make the places comfortable and also secure by having the proper equipment in place, not give excuses of equipment not working or not having equipment.

Having an environment that provides same level of comfort to all guests should be the most important aspect of stopping the celebrity bashing.  After all the celebrities are people who pay for the services as anyone else, and they don’t need to be abused for just getting out to town, and at the same time just because of their celebrity status they cannot abuse people who are around them in a common place.

The celebrity bashing is to an extreme by simply using an incident and trying to read into the psychology of the person involved, and trying to dig every intricate detail of the person’s behavior.  Whatever happened to the information prior to an altercation, and was it not relevant to the public to know about the celebrities’ background until a fight ensued.  The level of guessing and prying into the personal past and what transpired at the particular instance gets in such guessing exercise; it becomes such invasive and almost abusive process.

The celebrities should be given the same attention as any other citizen, and no conclusion should be drawn until the law takes its own course.  The places of public domain, especially when they charge a whole load of money to their guests should have the personnel and equipment that protects the privacy or their guests and also attempts to keep them safe.  The celebrity bashing should stop until the whole truth comes and the media should not try and becomes psychoanalysts.  Outside of entertaining people, celebrities are human and they should be afforded the same respect and privacy as anyone else in a public place.