All News Planted?

Vasu Reddy From Chicago

vasureddy@aol.com

If you read any of the web based news it is nothing short of unbelievable and often sensational.  Typically the level of believability is often tested, and the reader has to interpret the reality verses fabrication or imagination of the writer.  As there is little protection for the receiver, and the ability of the writer to simply name unnamed sources, there is little to lose for the writer.  Just about any speculation can be made and corrections can be posted on an ongoing basis, and by the time the story gets told, it can be exactly the opposite of what was originally reported.

From movie reviews to personal stories, news columns to financial reports; all of them come out first and then get verified.  All the time unnamed sources are quoted as the real source of information, and anyone and anything can be targeted for negative news.  All the stories typically when flashing will get corrected over the days that follow and each of them have a disclaimer that they are still evolving and unnamed sources.

From not so important story such as Rahul Gandhi’s private life to massive coal or telecom scams get sensationalized first and then as the reality or facts come out in the open the story will be retold with new information, and typically the life of a story completely gets changed over the real life of the story.  From sensational news of reporting breaking news to a final report on the facts of the matter is really very different, as different as day and night.

From real reporting of the news papers that had real reporters with sources that fed them proper information, and did real reporting on the breaking news, we have become a society that feeds on sensationalizing the issues rather than the worthiness of the report.

Just that there are too many channels and web based reporting that are all trying to wyes for the eye balls of the readers or listeners, all of them simply trying to have as many people as possible paying attention even for a short span, thereby enhancing the survivability of the channel.   I still remember reading Illustrated Weekly and waiting to read Kushwant Singh would write, or waiting for Hindu to catch-up on daily dose of the news, read Veerendranath’s Telugu weekly and sensational writings of the time or such wonderful magazines and news papers before the advent of the TV and Internet.  For a fact I have read the same stories and books many a times and I still read them regularly, and never get tired of them, and they continue to be exciting and interesting read even after a generation of time passing away.  I am in no way trying to belittle writers of today or the abilities of the writers, as I myself in my own small way write all most every week and try to take pride in original writing and unbiased views of my India.

The problem is with reading so much with almost all of them sensationalizing every aspect of the daily reporting; simply to attract more eyeballs is overbearing and often tiring.  A reader or viewer want to get real information and facts of what is transpiring in the world, and want very little sensationalizing with the reporting.  Life by itself provides daily dose of sensation so there is no need for so much biased stuff pushed at people 24/7/365, as reality often gets blurred with what we see or read.

Going back and reading the literature of yesteryear, or trying to weed through the barrage of reports that are from all kinds of unknown sources and making sense out of what you hear, and being able to keep a track of what is actually happening is an art by itself.  Much can be said about the agencies that report as they do invest heavily into the happenings around the world, and are trying to be ahead of the others who are competing for the same audience.

The audience is quite loyal to a channel, news paper or periodicals and seldom tries to waver from their regular sources for their daily dose of news or reading, and the channels can be realistic and true in reporting to keep their audience interested, and also provide factual and real reporting.  Perhaps it is asking too much from one or the other channels as they are all of the belief that creating sensation is what keeps the audience glued to them, rather than the facts and reality.  The problem lies in so much speculation on reporting which is far from facts, rather unnamed sources to make up for airtime.  Perhaps a bit of trying to get the facts right might allow people to see what is real, rather than wonder what really is happening?

Depending on the Government?

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Be it democracies or communist countries or dictatorships, the value of the government is in planning the process of education, success and enterprise which dictate the daily habits and life of the citizens.  Prosperity is not a relative term to a country or a class of people; rather it is the way of life for organized and hard working folks.

Each country has its own share of unemployment, poverty and desperation, which is not a choice of those who face it, rather circumstantial to the conditions they are forced to be in.  There is no denying that some portion of the people will always choose to not to work and hang on to the programs that are afforded to the public by the governments.

In general majority of the population of the earth would like their families to live in dignity and comfort.  People would like their children well educated, live a life of cause and goodness, and almost all the time a better life than their own.  The world has become more mobile with people moving from place to place and sometimes from country to country, and trying to look at the best possible place for them to work and also raise a family.

The western countries which for the better part of the last 100 or so years have been places where people would want to migrate to, looking for professional growth and greener pastures continue to still be attractive for countries with limited opportunity for education and professional advancement.  In fact last 20 years or so have been witnessing a portion of the migrants wanting to go back to their roots and contributing to their ancestral communities.

Migration from place to place is not a new phenomenon nor will it become passé, as people since human inception have always moved from place to place in search of opportunity and advancement, and also better weather and living conditions.  No one should claim to stop or start this process as it as a normal process as human evolution.  There are political issues and national issues that at times drive people from their natural surrounding and forced to move from where they are comfortable, but when they move they quickly adapt to the new surrounding and build a new life.  There have been extra ordinary circumstances where brutal regimes have displaced millions of people, who at first face the tyranny and brutality of an individual’s desire to enforce conditions that are inhuman on them, and move on to safe guard their families and rebuild a life anew.  These brutal circumstances have been witnessed quite often in the past century and continue to be so even in this age and time.  Most of the world when it has to receive people who are forced to evacuate their own homes, embraces the misfortunate who are forced to leave all their worldly belongings and go somewhere new.

No country, no people and no community would like to have a government dictate the life or what they should do next.  The politics of a nation or a state might influence the living standards of the people, but there is no real reason for them to depend on the government, rather they become victims of the politics.  The desire for politicians to retain their seat of power as long as they can, and remain empowered to dictate the political and policy of the state often dictates their political ethics and policy making, which in turn reflect on the community they represent.  Seldom people want hand me downs, rather they are forced to making political choices that best suit the politicians.

Communities and people in general want to be independent of any government or politicians, and also want to make independent decisions relative to their life and families.  Only the politics of a nation that are either imposed on the citizens and force them to make limited choices or have no appropriate choices.  No one on this earth wants to depend on a government, or an individual, or a society; if given a chance to make their own independent decisions.  People like to think for themselves, and live their own life on their own terms, just that the politics impose the difficulties of limited choices on them.

Insulting the Prime Minister?

Vasu Reddy from Chicago

vasureddy@aol.com

Until he was appointed as the prime minister of India, Dr. Singh was one of the most respected economists and policy makers in the world.  His leadership in leading Indian economic engine to grow and prosper is the story of legend and will forever be remembered for the decisions the finance ministry took and implemented.  There was no question of his decision making and policy implementation in leading India into the new century with astonishing results.

The past week saw him called a few choice names by a US publication, which were quickly rebuffed by the Indians, and asked for an apology of sorts for calling the Prime Minister a do nothing wimp in kind words.  We all know anyone can write anything they want in any country and just get away with it, and even heads of state are not an exception to the sharpness of the language being used by the writers.  The truth of the matter in making a story on Dr. Singh is new to the international media in a negative light, but there are no short stories on him in the Indian media.  There is a constant attention to his style of governing and his inaction on many of the issues that continue to plague India, specially referring to the ongoing and ever expanding scams of the government at the center and in most states.

While no one accuses Dr. Singh of any wrong doing of the nasty kind, he certainly is at the helm of the party that has made India popular for scams, and each passing one getting bigger.  The party identifies the scams and throws a few of the politicians involved into jail for a few months, and profess to be taking action.  In the first place why is the government allowing the elected officials to scam the country?  And only after a massive abuse of people’s resources happen is when you take action.

No money has ever been recovered from the scam leaders yet, although some of them have been sent to jail.  A few have been sent to jail because they no longer want to listen to the government’s prophecy anymore.  Those landing in jail claim total innocence and also claim that they were acting according to the law, and only implemented the policy of the government.

Everyone including babies know that people in power cheat, lie and steal, and only to the degree they do these things once they get elected is for the record.  With each passing election the cost of getting elected gets higher and higher, and once elected the recovery of the investment also is at a massive scale.  Politics has become as if people investing in education and training to get good jobs and get a life of comfort after initial sacrifices.  Politicians have become so used to cheating as much as possible to recover their investment into to getting elected.  There is only one political agenda in India that is to get elected and steal as much as possible as quickly as possible.

While Dr. Singh personally may not be interested in wealth creation, his party certainly has been quite aggressive in scamming and cheating while in power.  No matter how you define his personal qualities, he as the head of the nation has not been able to rub off any of his personal qualities on his fellow party men and women to work for the benefit of the people.  If the US papers call him names, it is difficult not to question Dr. Singh’s abilities rather than the news papers that raise the issue of inaction against corruption.  Judging his personal abilities is no longer important as he is the head of the largest democracy, and he should be responsible for the actions of his party at all levels, and should impose the same standards he has on all of his colleagues.

Scamisthan or Scamdia

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

I had to find some satire on Hindustan and India, and with all the scams (unending and continuous like a soap opera on the USA day time television) going on and on, and the most valuable resources of the country, both real and political being abused to no end, had to name this week’s column with satire.  The entire nation both at the center and at the state levels is embroiled in some irregularity or the other, and it is never ending.  Every resource of the nation be it visible, invisible on the ground or under it has been subjected to massive misappropriation.  The people of the country, who enjoyed quite a ride for sometime as a developing nation and with information services as one of the main drivers pushing along with telecommunications, suddenly seem to be embroiled in scams and scams, and there is no end to the abuse of democracy by politicians and bureaucrats.

The government at the center is oblivious to the issues that are plaguing the country and no one seem to be in charge of controlling the misuse of office and national resources.  The highest office of the country seems to simply challenge a trust motion verses owning up to the issues that are continuing to be of issue to the national interest.  By having a coalition of parties to form a government that simply survives is not a basic model for democracy.  The fundamental principles and rights of the nation and its people should be upheld in democracies while protecting the basic rights and the national interests.  India has simply forgotten these in the past few years.

The intelligent and intellectual leaders of the nation seem to be helpless in managing the resources and the cabinet colleagues.  Everyone is only interested in how much they can scam in every aspect of the resources of the nation, and nothing else, and the powers in control cannot control the abuse, nor act to stop any future misuse of power.

Democracies are meant to be placing people in power to manage the country’s resources and maintain a stable and developing economy and protect it from internal and external strife.  For India there seem to be threat to the country from anywhere but from within, and that too from the people in power.

It took probably forty years of independence and democratic rule (if we want to call that) to start seeing economic development in the country, but it took just a couple of years to scam the people of hundreds of billions which could have been best invested to educate, feed and develop the infrastructure to global standards.  The country has simply squandered the opportunity to be a global leader, rather choosing to be a loser of opportunity.

In a country god is sacred and revered, people simply will want to bribe him also to get favors, rather than display hard word for rewards.  No one can save the place until the people in power start thinking of people and stop stealing.

Intolerance

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

India as a largest democracy on earth has over a billion people, and very large population of various caste, creed, religion and color which adds to the diversity of the country.  People simply refer to each other with single word syllables such as Hyderabadi, mumbaiya, Bihari, benarasi, Punjabi, madrasi or whatever the term that defines the original place they belong to within India.  Most of these terms are endearing and quite affectionate.

There is absolutely no difference in people from various states or regions and they all live happily together in large metropolis areas or small colonies, and when displaced from their native habitat to work in other parts of the country they readily pack-up and move and quickly make a new home in the new environs and typically learn the language and ways of the natives and quickly intertwine with the locals.  Even the smallest towns have people from various parts of the country who do specific type of work and are readily accepted in the community.

Adding to the people being displaced because of work, India also has a massive population of various religions who once again intertwine into the fabric of life in big and small towns and villages.  The beauty of the variations of people and their religions and languages makes a fantastic panorama of life on a daily and regular basis.  Rarely would you see people have difficulty with each other, their way of life, religion and language.  They are all Indians and live happily together and do their work and be great neighbors and friends.

The entire country is one great mosaic of variations in living and how people are happy despite their habits and color and religion and language.  Every once in a while some incident happens and disrupts the whole life of entire communities, in some instances something as simple as the internet can cause mass exodus of people simply leaving their homes and going back to their ancestral roots.  As strange as it sounds the entire community of people simple pack-up and leave everything they have, worked for and live for.

This doesn’t have anything to do with communal violence, religious intolerance or any international incident that provokes or makes people do inhuman deeds.  Simple misinformation makes them scared and leave everything they worked for all their life, and going back to their native land, which probably is not as hospitable as they believe it is as things might not be the same now, as they might believe to be, but the fear of persecution in their adopted regions within their own country makes them flee in mass and just go back to what they believe their home is.  In reality where they live are their home and they should never feel that they are in danger from others in the community.

This happens too often in India, and somehow the fear factor is fed so quickly and dramatically for any sane action to be taken.  Neither the politicians nor the law enforcement foresee this happening and take appropriate actions to help ease the fear factor.

India with its great people’s fabric must learn to be sensitive to everyone and everything, and every way of life.  To see people get scared and simply leave everything and move back to what they feel is their ancestral land is crazy, as this is a country they all belong to and where they live is their home.   Neither politician nor fundamentalist should dictate to people on how they should live and why they should fear each other.  Stop the nonsense and let Indians be Indians, and let them live in peace and happiness.

More Than A Billion Without Gold

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The Olympic Games in London concluded yesterday (12^th August2012) and they were a fantastic spectacle from beginning to the end. 204 nations and almost 11,000 athletes competed for sixteen days, and competed for 4,700 medals (gold, silver and bronze).  For almost all through the games the city of London, in USA NBC coverage and overall organization and competition was as expected, Olympic in nature and competitive in spirit.  Barring a very few instances the athletes were competing in good faith and did their best to win a medal.  The very fact they made it to London to compete and gave their best to the competition is itself a great reward for the individual and the country they represent.

Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and Gabby Douglas, along with everyone competitor who won a medal in the 2012 Olympics made me very happy.  Whatever color the medal was the great thing is the spirit of competition and the work that went into the sport.  Whenever I got a chance to watch the games I did, and enjoyed them.  Once the games were over is when it sunk into me that not a single gold medal was won by an Indian. We have probably more than 1/6 of the global population but we could not get one gold. Man that has been bothering me since the games ended, and I keep thinking what in the name of god are we capable of?

We should not take away the medals won by Indian athletes no matter what color the medal is, and each one of them deserve the compliments of the competition and spirit of the games.  It is the country that really should introspect on what it does on the global stage.  We keep calling India emerging nation or developing nation, and for how long shall we be developing or emerging.  What are we developing and what are we emerging from?  Decades of using the same words must be tiring for the politicians, bureaucrats and people who think of the country in such terms.

It is not just the Olympics but in every aspect of the global stage we continue to show poor attitude and performance.  The only thing India is well known for is the scams and suitcases, and none of the politicians are willing to tackle the real issues head on.  The majority of the country’s resources and wealth goes to funding political coffers, and a few businesses.  There is no proper planning for the country’s needs except occasional flash of planning to show that we are doing something.  There are individuals who display brilliance politically, but it is limited to their state and tenure, and once they are out of power the development plans go back to normal, which is simply do the minimum to keep people happy and get elected one more time.

The Olympic results made me think about our country and its abilities.  Absolute mediocrity with everything we do, or we don’t do is displayed on the global stage every day.  The big news on India’s Olympic team was some woman gate crashing and walking with the team in casual clothes at the opening ceremony, and no one noticed her, and even after the most disrespectful behavior by an Indian, no action taken to prevent such disregard for the nation.

With the next independence day coming in a couple of days, I am sure we will hear a lot of rhetoric and language to address the nation, but we should really look for actions that make the nation proud within the country and on a global stage.  Hopefully in the next Olympics we will win a gold medal and get started with the attitude of winning globally.

Blackout

Vasu Reddy in Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

More than 600 million people were out of power for most of the days in two consecutive days, last week in India.  The government did not offer any specific solutions to avoid any future such outages, but blamed misuse of power by the states.  As incredible as it the excuse sounds, there was not much political backlash about the outages.

The most amazing aspect of the blackout was there was no reported abuse of any kind in the two days that six hundred some million people were affected by the electric outages.  I followed the news constantly to see what the cause was why it would happen in such a mass scale, and how so many people, states, businesses could and everything and everyone involved, no one so far has been able to offer solutions.  No one is even offering a plan for resolving the outages if they happen again, and if there are even corrective steps being taken.  One thing that made me happy is that there was no looting, no mass destruction, no communal incidents, no unwanted happenings, no killings, stabbings or anything that was typically front page news in the world.

Politicians have not even harping about the failure of power grid.  Even the opposition parties have not made a big deal out of this for some reason.  In a country even the smallest thing gets blown out of proportion, power failure seems to have come and gone as quickly as it happened.  I am still trying to smart it out in wondering why the guys are not yelling and screaming for the government to be replaced.  This time even the power minister has not been castigated for non-action.

The problem is that we don’t have any power plan for the needs of the country.  The majority of power is generated for the needs of the industrial houses and big cities.  The rural and agricultural needs are probably not even considered in the power planning of the country.  Even if there is a plan for power generation, the country doesn’t have the hydro electric capabilities nor the natural resources to generate the power that is required by the country, and may not have for many decades to come.

We have too many people, too many demands, too many loopholes and too many of everything that is beyond the capabilities or the resources of the country.  There are so many problems with managing the power grid that a large percentage of the power generated might be lost in transport, further adding to the stress on the power grid.  People have no sense of community, simply their own needs and businesses and agriculture also watch out for their own needs.  No one cares about the next person, just the whole country has “ME” syndrome.  There is absolutely no overall plan for energy independence, no plan for meeting the demands for foreseeable future or how we can even plan for future.  Politically it is disastrous for parties to start offering blanket solutions for power or energy management as it is impossible for meeting the demands of the country.  We shall save the energy planning or suggestions for some other time.  This time it is to reflect on the country, and its reactions to the power outages.

It made me feel proud that the country survived two days of outages, but people simply took it in stride and went about their lives.  India is incredible despite of its issues which are complex, but the country’s resilience is incredible and unbeatable.  Jai Hind.

The Energy of Live Concert

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Mani’s madness concert was hosted by Devi Foods on Saturday 28^th July 2012 in Copernicus Center in Chicago.  It was a well over three and half hours, and full of energy from the crowd and the performers.  It has been some time since I have been to a live concert and I have missed a few great performances.

First the organization was very well orchestrated by Devi Foods team (www.devifoods.com).  They had snacks prior to the beginning of the concert and food at half time for all the attendees, and the polish bar was pretty well stocked.  The concert started right as scheduled and the performers did not waste any time with trivial issues and got right to business.

Mani Sharma seems like a happy man with a smile continuously through the program, and the men and women performers seem to like what they are doing.   What makes it wonderful is the crowd immediately enjoying the performance from the get go and continuing to have a great time through the program.

Mani Sharma has orchestrated over fifty live concerts in USA and with each passing one he seems to get better and better with each one.  Right in the middle of the program they had a local girl perform a full dance sequence to a song, and the young girl was perfectly comfortable performing to an audience which I estimate at 600 to 700 people.  There was no personal banter or any political or unnecessary discussions, just music and sound.  The singers both men and women were no classical singers but were great performers.

One thing that touched my tunes is the remix of the golden oldies and they were certainly in my highlights of the evening.  Also, the musical medley was also the high energy performance of the evening.  Many memories of the times in India are always recounted with the performance.  It is hard to tune into the newest songs as they are high on volume and low on lyrics, but the constant exchange of the old and new made for the entertainment to be whole.

The little ones made little fuss and the younger and older lot seems to stay put through the evening, making for a great evening.  With the ticket prices of movies zooming up and up each day, the cost of a live concert seem very small considering the length of the live performance.  Mani Sharma has several more concerts planned in the USA on this trip, and everyone should go and see them live.  It is worth the money and time.

Planning for the Future

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The current political situation with the timing and the presidential election of Pranab Mukherjee in India is quite well timed by the ruling party.  One of the most experienced and seasoned politician in the Indian National Congress is being sent to the presidential suite, while his services to the cabinet and current party could have been well served considering the tactical wisdom Mr. Mukherjee has displayed in his illustrious political career.

Is the congress party really gotten smart finally and placing a seasoned politician in the presidential suite by estimating the political uncertainties that they foresee in the near future, and with the next election cycle?

It is a fairly long question that political analysts and political observers have started to discuss.  For a man of Mr. Mukherjee to leave the ministerial position at a time of many crises in the party and nation, there has to be a plan.  The political observers have not yet started analyzing the impact of him leaving the cabinet into the president’s role.  While his election was far from a simple matter of vote, and had some dissent from the opposition, his election was simply a matter of record once his candidature was announced.

With the usual drama of the opposition parties and also some internal bickering between the INC and its allies in the current government, Mr. Mukherjee’s election and elevation to the presidency was just a matter of a few days to complete, and he will be sworn in as the 13^th president of India this week.

Is it a seasoned politician who well deserved the appointment to the presidency, and or was it a calculated move by the congress party to place a long devoted congressman as the next president of India is the topic for discussion that might not be answered if there is no political strife in the country until the next election.  If there is a problem with the allies and the current government faces problems in continuing to hold on to power in the center, then the appointment of Mr. Mukherjee is a master stroke.  But, we might never know the value of his appointment until the country really goes into an emergency situation.

Mr. Mukherjee however is probably one of the best suited politicians and statesman India has to represent the largely ceremonial post of the country’s president, and also probably the best person to handle any crisis situation that might arise from the political uncertainty that us expected with so many issues facing the coalition government.

While he is elected as the President which is a very well deserved position for a man of his stature and statesmanship, Mr. Mukherjee is also a very loyal and obedient congressman.  While one will not want the country to go into a political crisis and face another emergency situation, it is also tactically a well planned positioning by the ruling party to have a tactical person in position of power, and while it may not be necessary to worry about an emergency situation, it is good to have someone who can handle the eventuality, and for congress it is one of their old hands in charge.  Mr. Mukherjee definitely has the political and tactical experience to manage the role of the President of India with ease.

India United?

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

So many people with so many languages with so many religions and so many traditions, and we can go on and on about so many of this and so many of that, and India would be a prime example of so many of everything.

Adding to the vast diversity of the country, there is political diversity in every part of the country that further fuels the real agenda of each of these parties that completely acts as counterproductive measure for any type of developmental activity.  After the independence in 1947, the primary focus was on planning for the country’s development and catering to the vast diversity of the nation, which was poor from being vandalized by the occupiers for centuries.  Indians never behaved as one nation prior to the independence in 1947, and they don’t seem to behave as one nation after that.

For a while after 1947 the freedom fighters were rewarded the leadership positions as they were the only alternatives and Indian National Congress was the party mostly made up of self made leaders who after the independence turned into the politicians who were the first representatives of the newly independent India.  The glory and aura of being the leaders of the independence movement sustained their positions of power for many elections and perhaps to this day the Indian National Congress banks on the glory of the leaders of Independence and the relationships to the Nehru and Gandhi family.

It is difficult to put value of the past sacrifices of people on obtaining independence for the nation, and the many leaders and their followers and families who sacrificed their lives for the country.  The nation in return continues to pay rich homage to their contributions, and will always do this.  The independence leaders should be paid homage by the nation as long as it remains independent and there is no denying the importance of their contributions to the freedom of the nation.

The decades of independence and multiple elections that have passed through the time have shown as a nation that is so different than the country that fought hard for independence form invaders for centuries.  Every section of the country with their own agenda for their own benefit, and no one seem to think of India as one nation.  The selfless attitude displayed by the independence leaders has disappeared with each cycle of politicians, who are enamored with their own self-benefit and self-indulgence.

National interest is just a thing of the past, and no one seems to really care about what is really national interest.  If anyone speaks of national interest it really makes no real sense as the national interest has been forgotten many elections ago.  Now we only have leaders who are there to rake in as much money as possible and grab as much resources to their own as possible in as short of a time as possible.  Too many political parties with absolutely no public agenda to work with, except the self-interest of the politicians and their own money making agenda.  It is difficult to make any political sense with the current crop of politicians as they really have only one agenda, which is self-interest.

If we are one nation, it does not look like we are striving for the benefit of the nation.  We are different people who really are not even a loose federation that work for a common goal.  We are not even able to represent a single agenda for the nation together, and not even the best interest of the people as a nation.  We are so divided in our agenda; it is even difficult to make any sense of a plan for the nation.  Politically we are in rock ages and don’t even represent the state, party or people, except ones self-interest.

How can we be united?  How do we address the vastness of our requirements?  What is our agenda anyway?  How do we present our self as one nation except in concept?  How do we discourage the looting of the nation by every politician?  What has independence given to us except a great big population with great set of problems?  So many questions and they keep getting larger and larger with every election cycle.

If the nation is only dealing with constantly reoccurring scams and politicians bickering, when will they have time to deal with the very demanding requirements of the nation?  It might take several election cycles and 100% clean government to minimize the impact of what has been happening in the last few years of complete disregard for the national interest.

Elevation of People’s Champions

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The time when individuals who were really leaders with people’s agenda were elevated as lights of hope in the society has long gone in the world.  One last remaining and living leader might be Nelson Mandela of South Africa.  The leaders of yesteryear had nothing but human wellbeing in their hearts and mind, and spent all their life working tirelessly to better their brethren.  For most of mankind’s existence we have had great men and women who devoted their entire life for betterment of fellow human beings and advancing the humane aspects of societies.  For centuries every nation on earth has had exemplary leaders who lived their life for societal well being and advancing the human tolerance and intellect.  By simply mentioning a few names, there would be a disservice to the names that will be missed, so the reference to the men and women who strived for others is where we leave it at and remember the peaceful, non-violent and great harmony they advocated for fellow humans.

Every nation on earth is going through its own commotion in varying degrees with unemployment, depression, scams, internal strife, bombings and murder, and every imaginable difficulty that has been invented by human race.  People simply killing each other and those in power trying to retain power at any cost, and scamming or looting whatever they can, and trying to preserve the power they have both politically and financially.  Every major market has some scam that is intertwined into the decision making process, and no one and nothing is being spared from taint.

We perhaps need a telescope to find a few good men and women who will be selfless in leading the society, and a fairly long and powerful machine to find them.  No one is teaching fairness and proper etiquette to the young ones who are constantly being barraged with the news of someone or the other doing something illegal, rather than pointing to a progress of politics, business and nature.  It is difficult to find the examples for the young ones to look up to and think positive in their outlook.  India is not alone in guys scamming and going into judicial remand, the world over the process has become so common that major leaders of the society seem to be going into custody and their lifelong work of generosity and leadership is question because of the actions they have taken during their distinguished careers.

Many people in our own community both in India and in the USA seem to have similar issues of doing something that is not appropriate at the height of their successful careers.  Although the long distinction of social service and professional success somehow get entangled in disturbing detail of impropriators suddenly putting them under the legal scanner, and diminishing their contributions.  We perhaps don’t learn from the issues the Indian community faced with years of scandal both politically and financially.

It is time for the leaders both in positions of power, or those who are aspiring to become leaders should look closely at the last few years of irresponsible behavior of people in positions of power.  Perhaps it is time for countries to look at their pre-independence time where selfless service was the daily theme rather than me only attitude.  It is time for a few good men and women to come forward and champion the good causes of human race.  It may not be a bad idea to look back at each of our nations at least a hundred years or so, and start to appreciate the individuals and their aptitude for fair and decent societies.

National Past Time

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

India is a country where the population is voracious in reading the news papers.  Its guaranteed each page and each line get read every day with the diligence of a student preparing for final exams, and not only read but also get discussed in the normal discussions following the news reading.  We not only love to read but also discuss the news and the scuttlebutt that goes with the news and make up our own assumptions on what is being reported.  Added to the news papers we also have television and now the internet adding the feed to the ever curious public which is always interested in continuing to follow the story, however long and old it might be.

Prior to the television and internet bombarding people with mostly hearsay and gossip as news, the news papers were the only source of fodder for people, and they were read very diligently by the public.  Many folks waited for the paper to arrive, as it was as addictive as the morning coffee.  Not a day would go by without going through the new paper from page one to the last, and then sharing the same with everyone around.

When television become a common medium to dispense stories, people were still interested in news papers, but their daily dose of gossip was now not limited to one news paper being delivered daily but along with the daily paper, the 24/7/365 barrage of journalistic melodrama.  With so many channels and so many agendas, it is difficult to believe what are throwing at us at breakneck speeds, and if you flip the channel the exact opposite of the story will be communicated.  There is 100% affiliation of each channel to a particular political party or individuals with a certain caste or religious affiliation.  The conviction that is shown in delivering gibberish without facts is absolute to the audience that it is catering to, and absolutely no bones are made in just throwing accusations and innuendo, without any facts.

Every political party has their mouthpiece in every language and they constantly badger people with glory of their affiliates while constantly batter the opposition or people who are not of their following.  Incredible stories are relayed as if they are facts, and no one goes back to recant their obvious lack of verification.  The international standards in presentation are the only truth to the journalistic behavior, and everything else is made-up on the fly.  The congressional and bureaucratic agencies selectively leak information to their favorite channels regularly, without identifying themselves, and the channels sensationalize the leaks as facts.

The glory is in who sends the most accusations out into the media as quickly as possible, rather than journalistic reality or verification of facts prior to reporting.  Amazingly the people who are at the receiving end simply brush it off rather than bring the reporting to justice.  Then again what justice can be delivered in a society that is so polarized in the lines of caste and religion, and much of the time influenced with political affiliations.

At the end of each day it is a national past time to devourer the gossips of news and try to filter the reality, and when you go to bed with a overdose of arrests, scams and investigations, along with some spice added with international activity added for the benefit of nationalists, you must have nightmares of the daily life that people go through in a society that can’t find bright spots in the vast wilderness of news reporting.

Book Building Exercise

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Just about every company that is formed and wants to continue to be in business develops their plans to build the asset base and raise capital.  The founders or promoters of a company typically plan various levels of raising the capital to meet the demands of their business plans and after the business takes off the expansion plans and growth plans.  World over the same exercise of developing plans and raising capital is the most common method of doing business.

Also common practices are using contacts to raise private capital.  Many times you go to family and friends and extending the same to their families and friends.  Much of the private capital is also raised by approaching wealthy individuals through contacts.  The practice of raising money is similar world over and especially private capital has a lot to do with who you know and how to get to them at the right time to seek investments.  Also comes with such capital is quid pro quo of help with other business interests that might have common investors or common interests.  Typically investors stick to one type of industry so that the help required by one another can be easily associated through investment or common shareholders.

Private equity investment is a major part of getting a business ides out to the market and fostering the viable ideas until they mature into sustainable businesses which are self funding and profitable, and eventually become public enterprises.  There is a process of value addition to each stage of the business, and the early participants do benefit from their risk, and with additional round of funding and business development the value proposition grows for the early participants.  The success of the business is paramount to protecting the investors and only when the business is a successful enterprise the investors receive their money back and some, and the rate of success of the start-ups is not too great the world over.

Irrespective of the type of kind of investments made, the risk of losing the money far outweighs the returns, and the percentage of successful enterprises is quite small.  For whatever reason private investments are made, he investor takes a great risk in placing bets on an unknown and untested business, purely based on the potential of the business presented.  If an investment is made based on the favors received then the money is spent in just returning the favors rather than risking the money.  No real businessman will risk large amounts of money just to return the favors rather they will just pay for it and get it over with.  If a well known and respected industrialist or industrialists are placing large amounts of money into a new business, they must have spent enormous energy in understand the risks and rewards and then only put forth their investments.  Also, if they were somehow paying back for the benefits received then they cannot be well planned businessmen.  If they have invested in a growing business and add value to the ongoing operations, it is rather obvious that they appreciate the value of their judgment and experience in making investments.

The whole matter of public interest should be why anyone would invest money into a new enterprise without placing appropriate value for their money.  Will they not just pay for any favors that they might have received through middlemen, rather than putting themselves in the glare of CBI or any other authorities.  Will it make any sense for big businesses to approach governments for permissions and permits and not be asked for return favors?  What were the corporate policing bodies doing when the books were being built and the value of the shares being publicly registered?  What will happen if every major corporate house was to be vetted out for book building or returning favors scenarios?

It would be difficult to believe that major business leaders would make large investments without properly thinking through the process of investments.  It is also inappropriate to believe that big businesses do not need any help from government in developing the infrastructure they need to continue doing business.  While the decision making is normal the moral policing are looking at the market dynamics rather than the decision making of the policy makers.  If the government starts to contend that book building can be done without quid pro quo then there will never be big businesses and never be start-up businesses with any potential.

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.