The CATification of Indian Public Service Industry

The Ho-Halla over the online CAT exam in India has just started. It's the beginning of the phase where lawsuits and open appeals will start pouring against the IIM's and various experts (so called) will start giving their (unwanted) views. Poor students will suffer and Prometric will  make money. The IIM's may or may not decide to revert to paper pencil test which is favored by many as the only way of judging talent. But the point of this article is entirely different. I just saw the other side of the coin....

It started like this.....

A guy wanted to give CAT to join IIM. So he just waited for the CAT advertisement in the papers. The day advertisement was published, he went to purchase the form. What he got, to his surprise, was a voucher. so the rumors of CAT going online were finally coming true. The first step; filling of the forms went online. So for the first time, he was allowed to make a mistake and correct the same without losing a single penny. There were some mistakes in the software which were solved by PROMETRIC after few mails and paper articles. India got its first public sight of working on its toes and issue resolving.

The admit cards were generated on time and were mailed promptly. The need to run from pillar to post in case of lost admit cards was long gone. The admit card was available on click of a button. Even if you delete the mail, second mail will reach you in seconds. If there were any mistakes, concerns; Resolution was just a mail away. Quality concerns and customer satisfaction were never cared at this level before.Well the game had just begun!!!!!

The day of exam came and the guy entered the exam hall. The all time trusted copy materials like Pen, Mobile, Wallet, Rs 10 notes etc etc etc were all outside the hall. Even the water bottle had to part away. So there was no option of copying. Papers were different for everyone. So even if you manage to peep into neighbors machine, you were bound to come back empty handed. The principle of fairness was holding true to the utmost level. The ones who actually poured their hearts into preparation of the exam were happy to the core.

So after entry into the hall, the documents were strictly (really strictly) checked and the folks were moved to next level of screening; The Biometric Checks. Cameras, finger print scanners, PC's and all the required hardware was lying there. The photo was taken and matched with the one on ID-Card. No fake personification allowed mate. Finger prints were taken quickly and the machine was allotted online. The guy went to his allotted machine and was hardly prepared for one more surprise. His machine displayed his details with the photo just taken. No escape routes, no loopholes. May be Nandan Nilekani can take some clue from here. The process was just perfect. There was absolutely no chance to say, "Ye India hai... Sab chalta hai yaha pe" (This is India and anything is digested here).

The guy finally settled down in his chair and waited for the process to get over for others and the start of exam. He was looking at the facilities installed. Every center was provided with at least 12 cameras and they were functional too. :) There was a separate server room from where these camera feeds were monitored. The colleges were allowed to use these facilities for the whole year. So colleges were provided with hi-tech gadgets to stop the practice of copying in the exam. This will make the students strive more and the general efforts level will go high. Indian talent just got one more reason to be smarter.

The servers were maintained at the best level. Though there were some virus problems, the issues were resolved within a day or two. Working on war footing. That's what was shown to the Indian Babus. The exam went smooth with 10% rate of failure. That is a good ratio for the first timers. It happened for the first time in the world. 2 lakh and 75 thousand students gave online test within 10 days. What was more impressive is the accountability that PROMETRIC showed. They accepted the fault in the face, they apologized for the same in front of whole world without pointing fingers, came out with a firm plan to resolve issues. Set up a call center to quench the queries of thousands if not lakhs. Everyone was provided with a channel to vent out their anger, questions, feedback and all feelings.

That's something worth a pat on back. The PROMETRIC just raised the bar of professionalism and accountability. What they have done should be an inspiring story for the others to follow if not surpass. It just took the Indian Public Service Industry by storm. It may have been in news for all the wrong reasons but it sure has done enough to explore the new heights of providing service with quality.

Prostitution... The Legal Way!!!!

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Outsourced Murder............

Let me start the the story with few imaginary characters. Gurmeet Singh (A Son of Indian farmer), currently a successful businessman in England. Manpreet Kaur, Wife of Gurmeet (Currently a housewife). Kartar Singh, Close friend of Gurmeet (Currently in UK working with Gurmeet). All of them migrated to UK some 3-4 years back. All in all a happy family and a friend circle. All three are very good friends and spend time together whenever possible. Manpreet and Gurmeet are also searching for a nice girl so that kartar can settle down and live happily. Manpreet and Kartar feel like real brother and sister.

The things look pretty for sometime until a day comes when Gurmeet faces the recession and starts getting tensed about the business prospects. He starts getting annoyed with every little thing. Manpreet and Gurmeet start fighting over smallest of issues and often Kartar has to step in to calm the situation. But his intentions are misinterpreted by Gurmeet and he starts suspecting the relationship between Manreet and Kartar. Gurmeet starts harassing manpreet and the relation takes a worst turn when Gurmeet openly asks Manpreet about the same. She strongly denies and goes into a sobbing mood. This was never enough to convince Gurmeet. He thinks that she is avoiding the topic and comes up with a plan.

He takes Manpreet and goes to his native, a remote Village in Punjab, India. Manpreet thinks that this trip is to improve their relationship. So she is enjoying her stay there. She makes few friends there and starts visiting places. One day the whole family goes to visit the family temple and while returning, their vehicle meets with an accident. Some of the family members are injured and poor Manpreet loses her life. Gurmeet goes into depression and decides to go back to UK. The family members want him to stay but he just can't tolerate the bad memories and goes back to UK. Kartar consoles him and helps him get back to Normal. That's all which is visible to a normal person. The reality is a bit harsher and has lot of twists. Lets explore the reality.

Things were normal as they should be before Gurmeet suspected Manpreet and Kartar's relations and then the happenings took an ugly turn. Gurmeet decided that this has to end, even with brutality. So he searched for a contract killer in UK. It was too costly and too risky considering the Law and Order situation in UK. So he called his friend in Punjab, India and narrated the whole story.

His friend in Punjab, let's say Balbeer was a honcho kind of a person in the village. He knew the local police folks very well. He had bribed them number of times in last few years from time to time so attitude of Police was friendly towards Balbeer. He contacted a Sub-Inspector of Punjab Police and asked for help. The SP then caught hold of a local criminal who was involved in theft and all small cases. He threatened the thief and also lured him with some amount of money. The thief finally gave in and agreed to perform the job given. The information was conveyed to Gurmeet via Balbeer.

Gurmeet planned a trip to Village after hearing the news. Manpreet was more than happy to go to her native. The couple arrived in India and went to Punjab to visit their families. Everything was picture perfect till then. One fine day, whole family went for a trip to nearby shrine. They enjoyed the day and decided to visit a lake nearby. Gurmeet and Manpreet stayed back as Gurmeet suddenly started feeling dizzy. He however convinced his family members to go ahead and enjoy the trip to lake. After everybody was gone, Gurmeet decided to take rest and slept in the car only to wake up after 10 minutes and demand water. Manpreet recalled that water bottles were in the bag taken away by rest of the family members so she goes out of car to purchase water bottles.

She walks for a distance and then BANGggg comes the shot to her head. The thief, who was there with the family as a car driver, suddenly comes out and hits Manpreet to knock her unconscious. He again hits and keeps hitting her on forehead with the wooden rod till Manpreet seizes to be alive. He then picks up Manpreet with help of Gurmeet and puts her back in the car. Gurmeet covers Manpreet's head with Dupatta (A Sort of Indian Scarf) and cuddles her up in his arms to show the fake affection towards his now dead wife. The thief drives the car towards lake and Gurmeet ends the trip of everybody saying that even Manpreet is not feeling well so they got to go home. People get in car and make sure that they don't disturb Manpreet, comfortably resting in arms of Gurmeet.

The driver then starts driving towards their house only to listen constant shouts from Gurmeet to drive faster. He goes on increasing the speed and finally on a turn, barges his vehicle into a truck standing. The panic takes over for a few minutes and when everybody comes back to their senses, realize that Gurmeet and Manpreet are nowhere to be found. They search frantically and find both of them still inside the car. They pull the couple out of the car and find that Manpreet is having a severe head injury. The ambulance is called and police report is filed. Doctors declare the patient, dead on arrival. Police do the crime scene investigation and find the reason of death as accident. The good old SP friend of Balbeer can't do any better. So the case gets closed and the rest is history. Nobody bothers about the driver or the happenings. Everyone consoles Gurmeet and the life moves on. Gurmeet is now a settled business man in UK. He broke the partnership with Kartar after a pity fight over business decisions. He established himself hard and firm in UK business circle. He marries again and is a proud (????) father of two children.

Well....... This is 90% similar to what is happening now-a-days in India, the new outsourcing giant. Wealthy families in UK, US and many more countries are outsourcing the murders to India. It helps them in avoiding the legal procedures in their countries. The legal system in India can be compromised with a little amount of money which might be 1/5th of what will be required in the other countries. The Indian police are also ill-equipped to tackle the problem of nabbing the culprits who fly out of India. The sentiments associated with the incident and the dead person also make it difficult to question the relatives about anything and everything in near future.

This harrowing trend was unearthed by Scotland yard police while probing various cases associated with missing people who went to India and never returned. Parents of the girls who went missing filed complaints which made Scotland yard police dig out the truth. This disturbing trend claims at least 100 innocents in a year. The British detectives and investigation agencies can't do anything without support from their counterparts in India who are very reluctant to let out any information for the fear of getting caught by the govt or by the people who have committed the crime. So the culprits roam around freely only to return and commit the same crime again.

The most disturbing part is, this outsourcing phenomenon is witnessing a boom due to recent economical crisis and the stress which couples had to undergo because of it. The low costs and lowest risk also added the necessary ingredients to the outsourced murder recipe. Though British law makers are committing to punish the guilty folks, it's unlikely that without India participating wholeheartedly in the investigation process, anything can be done to gather the evidences and seek the justice.

IPI Pipeline..... The good, the bad and the worse

The big news which had to make rounds in India but was unfortunately ignored is the dilly-dallying on the IPI decision. There are so many questions surrounding the IPI pipeline and here is a little effort to dig out some facts and the their internal linkages.

What IPI deal stands for is IRAN-PAKISTAN-INDIA gas pipeline. The deal is to get gas supply from IRAN via pakistan till 2025. The deal had its roots in an early as 1989 when the discussions started. The project is still in the discussion phase due to varied facts and figures.

First thing which is hindering the pipeline deal is the pakistan angle. Pakistan as many people know is the best from of India (sarcasm at its best). The fact is proved by the Mumbai attacks and the constant effects of infiltration and pumping in fake currency to de-stabilize the Indian economy. So the gloomy thoughts are bound to loom over the security of the pipeline. Pakistan will have the control over India's energy security as the pipeline passes through pakistan and pakistan can cut the supply anytime when the situations get tense between India and pakistan. The pipeline passes through Baluchistan. That is the part which is rarely under control of Islamabad. Its ruled by Baluchistan Liberation Army and they are in complete disagreement with Islamabad hence the pipeline security rests with the internal peace situation within pakistan. With many centers of power like Islamabad, ISI, Army, Al-Qaeda etc the situation always remains volatile. Hence the security concerns will always stay to haunt India.

After security comes the affordability. The cost of building the pipeline is approximately USD $7.5 Billion and the costs will increase for sure when the anti-social elements will place their bet on pipeline for money extortion. The gas which will be available to India will be at double the cost at which is sales in India. That will make it the costliest available fuel in India. So the viability and affordability of the gas is at risk. Add it to the carbon credits which India will lose and the amount of money required to purchase them. The cost then goes out of the roof and government will have to subsidize it heavily increasing the burden on tax payers shoulder. Purchasing so costly gas at the risk of pakistani control is enough to make the Indians jittery.

After all the cost and security concerns comes the political angle. That is the biggest factor according to me which is working against the pipeline deal.

First objections come from the mighty USA. They want to control the decision making power of IRAN and hence want to isolate Iran from rest of the world. So the USA is against the IPI deal as the deal will earn unwarranted support to IRAN from India and then US will find it difficult to act against Iran.

The second objection comes from India's long time friend. The Russians. Russia has a long time project running. The GAZPROM project is earning Russia crores of Rubles. Russia purchases gas from armenia and other small countries at a lower cost and sells it at higher or famously called as European cost to the European and other countries. They want to extend their net into Asia and Iran can bomb its dreams in one go. So the Russians are also a bit wary when it comes to the IPI deal. They have shown their anger and unhappiness by increasing the cost of Gorshkov; The warship which India was supposed to be getting at much cheaper cost. Russia is also the biggest supplier of arms to India and hence their wrath cannot be welcomed.

The alternatives are also plenty. India has entered in a deal with India. This will ensure the supply of nuclear fuel and technology to India. The nuclear energy promises to be more greener and cheaper than Iran gas. It will also eliminate the risks associated with pakistani control over the fuel supply and will keep energy hungry India's energy supplies secured.
One more option is the TAPI; The deal involves pakistan but is supported by Russia as well as USA. So the pakistani threat is minimized to a greater extent. The gas cost is also much cheaper compared to the IPI gas cost. So the gas becomes much more affordable and the project becomes viable. And with Afghanistan emerging as strategic partner of India, India also gets control against the pakistani monopolistic gas pipeline control.

The last factor which is emerging recently is the chinese interest in the IRAN gas. China is going all guns blazing to beat India in the IPI deal and getting the Gas rather than allowing India to have it. China is willing to pay a better price for the gas and also offering bilateral ties with Iran to ensure safety of Iran as a nation. China with its largest inventory of US Dollars, can beat India cost-wise at any given point of time.

Given the odds against the IPI deal, India had decided not to enter the mad race of cost wars and risky terrains of pakistan and baluchistan. The recent developments give out a signal that Indian interest is rebuilding. The basis is unclear but the hope is that Manmohan and team will be working out a deal and will come out with a surprise package which will be a win-win situation for all and if that is not the case, its better to let go the deal and look for other greener and beneficial options.

Plastic Currency Notes.... One step towards economic security

The Pandora's box has been opened by the Reserve Bank of India. The outcome was not really that surprising to say the least. People were expecting it. The question actually was "When" and not "What". But finally the plastic currency is here.

The need for plastic currency in India was put forth by experts way back in 2000 and the RBI took the pleasure in denying any plans to introduce the plastic currency. There was perhaps no need of plastic currency and the benefits of investing in plastic currency were pretty unclear. There was no information available about the volume of counterfeiting of the currency. So the RBI was least interested in the idea of plastic currency.

The need was severely realized when CBI made a breakthrough discovery that the secret template used by the RBI to print notes was in fact compromised by the ISI and the neighboring countries. The template was now used to pour fake notes into India and that too without leaving a trace. The fact which was more disturbing for India was the assistance of Nepal, India's long lived friend in the racket of counterfeiting. Even the royal families were involved in the racket of money making. So the bilateral relations were given a hard pinch by the discovery.

Now the RBI went behind the so called bad guys and unearthed some of the details of the fake money racket. The details revealed facts which stunned even the best of the economists. If the figures way back in 2005 were disturbing, the 2009 figures uprooted the confidence of Indian law makers and the economic experts. There was virtually a parallel economy set up by using the fake currency notes. 1 note in every 6 notes was fake. The economic tremors were starting to show their ugly face. No part of India was left untouched.

And where was this money primarily used? To give to poor farmers committing suicide an economical uplift (that even government of India doesn't do) or may be to sponsor child education or simply to have fun with the money in hand by the so called waste youngsters? Unfortunately not!!!!!!!
The money was used in all the anti-India activities. The arms and ammunition purchase was done using this money. The drugs racket was setup and operated using the fake currency. The ministers and officers were bribed to compromise with the national security. The money was put into stock market through systematic infusion only to take away the support when needed the most. Youth was lured into terrorist camps by offering the amounts which were beyond their reach in the whole life. Terrorists camps were setup right inside Indian territory. Divisive forces like maoist were supported both financially and on the weapons front. Various routes were exploited to unsettle the developing economic superpower. The racket reached to such an extent that even the ATM machines started distributing the fake notes. The signs were really ominous for an economy which had just started reaping benefits of constant and dedicated efforts towards becoming a superpower.

The RBI policy gives away more than one point. It shows the stance which developing India is ready to take. The plastic currency notes decision sends out a loud signal that India is wary about the threats across the border. It also portrays India's capability to accept the facts without any inhibitions and the versatility to move the things around pretty fast. It also makes one point clear that India is not immune to new technologies and has the infrastructure to implement anything and everything. One very important signal that India has sent out is rather than going to UN and running from pillar to post behind pakistani authorities submitting endless list of proofs, India has decided to tackle the problem head-on. This is really what a socio-economical superpower should do.

The plastic notes have been in circulation in countries like Australia, Mexico etc and have proved their mettle in tackling the counterfeiting problem. The lifetime of plastic notes is 5 times more than the traditional paper notes. So the step has been welcomed in India by all the sectors of social hierarchy. They say "Well begun is half done"...... Well the start is here and the results are awaited.....

I know what you did last moment........

"Well....... I am a bit of an introvert. I do not like to mingle with people and I don't want anybody to know where I am and what I am doing..."

This is a reaction of at least 30% people in the world. People are more concerned about their so called "Private space" to the extent that now-a-days houses have two master bedrooms. The corporate giants ask their associate not to peep into each others private life. People bluntly refuse to give information saying that "Its Personal". Everyone has personalized their orkut, facebook accounts. This is the era of digitalisation and privacy.

Really????? I must say that unknown to most of us, all our privacy is being compromised. A normal day begins. I turn on my cellphone (People can disturb me now..Too bad). So now my network provider knows my exact location. I turn on my TV. A brand new digital MPEG4 technology master piece. I get the best picture quality with the help from satellite transmission. One more thing is happening which is completely unknown to me. All my usage data is being sent to the cable provider. He is using the same to offer me the best combo package (he is luring me to watch what I am already watching but at a higher cost in the name of exclusive combo package). So I take bath (Hussshhhh One real private moment) and get ready to go to office. I order my breakfast from John's Kitchen. John's software is tracing all my orders to keep me happy (and his business going) . Did I mention that my mobile operator added one entry to the list of local calls so that he can make a trace and offer me the best package? I called my friend to accompany me to the office (one more mobile operator entry).

I stepped out of my house. Out comes my GPS enabled handset. I love to use my "Take me to My Car" gadget. It has one piece located in my car and other in my handset. So now my GPS operator takes over. He has information about my every movement. He can know where I am at any moment along with my mobile operator. So now they can track me and mark the usage statistics. The same information is shared with the car makers, law departments and many such agencies. Car makers use it to make user friendly cars (at least they say so). Nevertheless car manufacturers have devices already fitted into my car to steal those statistics. I drive through many signals and all the cameras (thanks to google maps, terra explorer, bhuvan etc) took my snap. Now the agencies know whether I am drunk, on drugs. Finally I reach my office.

I enter the office premises and swipe my I-Card. My employer knows that I am in the office. The security camera's smile at me and take my snaps quietly. I reach my desk and login. I want to read the news. So my employer's software is tracking the usage of bandwidth while the news websites are building the algorithm depending on the news I am viewing so that they can find my areas of interest and put all sorts of advertisements to earn higher revenue.
I work hard and now I am hungry. I go to the cafeteria and place my order. Remember John's kitchen? They have one branch in my office also. So capturing of my choices goes on. I swipe my credit card to make payment. So credit card company knows where I am currently. They also know what are my spending habits and they can now call me for better credit card offers.

So tired after my days work, I leave the office. The camera's smile again and the card swipe machine makes a buzz. My car GPS operator is still working and so are the traffic light cameras.

I now go shopping with my girlfriend and the cycle of cameras, credit cards, GPS goes on. They can't track my GF though (because she never pays :-)). The big brands now respect me as a valued customer as they know my spending habits (or I should say my girlfriend's spending habits). They exactly know what should be presented before me and how to earn profits. They also use my cell number to let me know all the exclusive offers.

I return to my home and turn off my mobile. My operator marks my last known location. He has also built a plan to offer me a missed calls alert plan. I activate my house security system. No one can enter or leave my premises without alerting my security agency. So they also know that I was in the house for the entire duration. Next day I again wake up and turn on my mobile.....

The point here is, I have not talked to any of these entities. I may not be even aware that all these things are happening but my privacy is being compromised to a very big extent. The data is noted everywhere and by everyone. There are many who have access to data. The cases of data misuse are plenty. The Indian BPO case was very famous sometime ago. There are 90% who record data to improve their business and provide me with the latest and best gadgets but the very fact that this data can very well be misused can not be ignored. MMS scandals using the hidden cameras keep showing their ugly face every now and then. A sudden bonus given by my employer can be tracked by my credit card operators employee. My networth can very well be seen by bank employees. It can very well go against me in cases of extortion etc. Anybody who has an intention to harm me can get the details literally every second about my location and folks accompanying me.

The question still remains as "Is there a need to know who I am?". I can as well be termed as a card holder with number XXXY. Do I know all this is happening with my privacy? And if yes then am I being overly ignorant about the fact that my privacy is being compromised? Am I acting like an ostrich in desert storm? The questions are plenty and the solution doesn't seem to be very simple..........

Class 10 exam scrapped.. What lies ahead?

Well with all the big ticket reforms shaping up the Indian economy, the education sector was more or less ignored until last week. Last week the HRD ministry came with a brave plan to scrap the class 10 exam at national level. This was something which was discussed or I should say churned by the educational pundits. The decision was condemned, appraised, discarded, regarded the best and what not......

But finally the future is here. The decision has finally been made and the class 10 exams have been scrapped. The decision has been taken by ministry of HRD and there is no challenge to it. People who were part of the traditional educational system may find it hard to digest but the decision really stands out from the normal government jargaon and will benefit India in real terms.

The traditional system was very good when it was introduced. It provided the means to differentiate the talent and allow the students access to various fields of their interest. The system started gaining weight when the population of India started increasing. More and more people started competing and the competition became so called "cut-throat" at a point of time. The education system was now-a-days used to provide the access to very limited source of higher education. India has taken a big leap in providing the basic education. With the schemes like mid-day meals for students, employment guarantee for the parents of students etc, the government attracted large number of students and the states clocked literacy rates of around 60%.
The elite section of higher education however failed miserably to match the ever increasing need of educated population. The class 10 exam in a way became a filter to give admissions to only the best of the best. So every parent started forcing his child to learn / mug up and produce results. This pressure took its toll and suicides were reported from the student section. Every little child was bogged down by this pressure to score and get admission to the higher education courses.

This thing was fueled by the misconception that India has least number of higher education institutes which is good as its increasing the competition and allowing India compete with the developed nations like US, UK etc. I don't know when will the Indian government understand that those (US etc) who have the national level competitions of maths puzzle can't even thinking of competing with nations like India where every daily newspaper runs the maths puzzles just for entertainment. The need of the hour is to allow the real profit making institutes to make a foray into the field of higher education rather than allowing the current pseudo charitable ones to control the whole field. This will not only allow students to have varied set of opportunities but will also fetch the forex for India.

The ending of class 10 exam in a way symbolizes many things. It suggests the end of mugging up era and it also allows the real talented students to forecast their talent in various competitive exams where one has to understand and answer rather than mugging up. The new system suggests taking the comprehensive exams every 2 months. These will be objective kind of exams and will focus on talent of the student as one has to understand the concept so that he can mark the correct option.

The exam will take a lot of burden out of shoulders from young citizens of India and will allow them to pursue their hobbies. This will transform students into balanced and talented personnel. This will help in a nation building process rather than creating the army of bookworms who lack common-sense. Well the decision is to be appraised. Only daunting which remains is to allow the army of well talented an access to higher education which in turn will help the nation grow. The change has already begun. Its just a wait and watch phase to see if it bears fruits...........

Challenge before the Middle Finger

Indian democracy is one of its kind. A kind of unique yet managed democracy.

Now the word "Managed" has to meanings. One is a bit simpler and easy to understand. The other is a bit complex and complicated. The country has still retained its "Unity in Diversity" tagline proudly and looks as if it will maintain the same for years to come. The Indian economy has came out of recession and growing at a rate so that it can become the world's second biggest economy. Population of billions of people is sustaining and happy (By the way India comes on 4th rank in world's happiest countries). India is showing signs of development with all the new technologies coming to India; name a brand and its here. Audi, BMW, GM, Toyota, Mittal, Google, Microsoft and all the worlds leading brands. The metro is here, flyovers are here, super fast trains are here, bullet train will be here shortly.

India has taken a great leap in technology sector with its flagship IT sector leading the world, ISRO launching all sort of satellites even for other countries and planning to send a man on moon. DRDO coming up with tejas aircraft, arjun tank, brahmos missile and going on for the worlds biggest power sector deal. Nuclear R&D sector launching the arihant; India's first nuclear sub-marine, designed and built completely in India.

Talk about the common man, there are world class hospitals present with their 24*7 service. All international mutual funds are here to provide high returns on investment. The Nano is here to fulfill the dreams of lakhs to own a car. Suzuki Hayabusa is also here to quench the thirst of power hungry Indians. "Right to Information" is here to empower the common man. It pledges to bring in the transparency and reduce the efforts (and bribe amount) by common man to get the work done. The offices are all inter-connected with vast network of wired and wireless networks. Information is available at finger tips.

These are the things one finds in party manifesto of a political party. They really make one feel that you are witnessing the transformation of a country which was not even independent 70 years ago and is now poised to take over the world. But as every coin has the other side, the growth story also has brought its own challenges.

Looking at the elections statistics, it becomes an evident fact that 50% of the Indians consider voting as a holiday and do not venture out of their houses to cast their vote. Elections campaigns are more of an entertainment than being an informative trip for the voters. The candidates give only promises and they keep on repeating the same year on year. The target for all these elections to lure the rather uneducated and poor class of voters.

Let me quote on incidence here. When there were elections last time in India, one of my roomie happened to ask the house maid whether she voted or not. She happily showed the Ink on finger as the proof of voting. She happily told about the process taught to her and all the women in her colony. The "XYZ" party candidate told all of them how to handle the new machine for voting. The process goes as "Press first button so that red light flashes and a beep sound comes. Then press the button in front of the candidate for whom you have to vote and done..... Your vote is registered." Poor lady. Little did she knew about the machines and voted happily. No prizes for guessing that the first button to so called "turn on" the machine was actually the button to vote for "XYZ" party candidate. The guy won with thumping majority. And now the candidate will serve those people whom he cheated already. Better nothing said about it.

There is much apathy about joining the main stream in so called educated people of India. According to the latest survey of Times, approximately 38% of politicians in India have not even passed 10th standard exam. This is the crowd that decides policies to be followed by Harward, stanford MBA'a and business tycoons. These are the guys that decide who does what and how the hard earned tax amount will be spent. No need to mention about how much will be kept by the Babus themselves.

The same set of people support the government which decides Indian foreign policies, tax structure, defense strategy, education system, law and order management structure, Farming policies, Import / export policies and all those things which affect one's day to day life.

The challenge is to select those people who believe in democracy. Those who do not love to safeguard their vote bank by playing caste politics. The regionalism and minorities are not their weapons to garner sympathy. They do not abuse the talented ones by implementing the reservations everywhere to increase their fan following. The ones who are ready to declare their assets to display the clean character. They do not believe n VVIP culture and running on the roads with their sirened ambassador running at speeds compared to flight.

This can be implemented when the educated ones come to out and vote for the good. They should participate as good citizens to educate others who do not have privileges. The politicos can play around the illiterate but the dream should be to become the worst nightmare for the politicos who are even worthy of calling themselves the Citizen of world's 4th largest economic power. The dream should be to do one simple thing... VOTE. To make the middle finger proud some day.....

The 62 years of confusion

Scene 1 - Place - Wagha Border (India)
Screams.... "Bharat Mata Ki Jay"

Scene 2 - Place - Attari Border (Pakistan)
Screams.... "Pakistan Zindabaad"

Scene 3 - Place - Patriotic Movie in any theater in India
Screams.... "Doodh Maango Kheer denge.. Kashmir maango cheer denge"

Scene 4 - Place - Any cricket stadium in pakistan with pakistan almost to India
Screams.... "Ye match tumhara par poora kashmir hamara hai"

Some of the very common sites in both the countries....... A combined population of 1.5 billion, successful in confusing self for 62 years and still enjoying the same. Both of them claiming Kashmir to be theirs and fighting for it vigorously. Spamming orkut, facebook, twitter, youtube or any public forum for that matter. Hacking into each others sites. Governments spending probably the biggest chunk on defense purchases(leave aside the share of politicians and middlemen). Testing nuclear weapons, launching nuclear sub-marines, missiles, Indians coming up with biggest military defense deal ever in history..... All this only for one cause. To save each other from each other and fighting for kashmir. Children in both the countries learn K for Kashmir to keep the patriotism going.

But who really owns kashmir which was once called as HeavenOn Earth or Switzerland on India. Is it the oh so non violent Indians, so called failed state pakistan? The views are diverse and there is justification for everything and from everyone. One line of experts (loll) search the pages of history and claim that kashmir belongs to India. Other experts claim that pakistan won the kashmir in 1947 war (to which Indians love to refer as Insurgency). so both the sides are in a stalemate. but the reality is twisted and partially hidden.

Kashmir was as independent as India and Pakistan when it was formed during the partition. India and Pakistan parted their ways and Kashmir joined none. It was under king Hari Singh, the ruler of Kashmir at that time. He was pretty confident or may be overconfident about his abilities to run a state without help from India or Pakistan. His confidence was short lived as Pakistani army entered Kashmir and ran through Hari Singh's army to reach Srinagar. Hari Singh knew that his time was up and he surrendered Kashmir to India. Pandit Nehru was quick to use Indian army and the insurgents were pushed away from kashmir but not completely. Before the insurgents from whole kashmir could be cleared, the newly formed Republic of India made a vital mistake. They asked UN to intervene and accepted the cease fire decision. So Pakistanis stayed where they were on the day of cease fire and Indians occupied the remaining part. India declared Kashmir as special state and made it a special child. Later India and Pakistan fought many wars and accepted that Line of Control is the border. Issue solved???

Not at all. It just began. Pakistan claimed again. Hari singh was not the ruler of Kashmir when he signed the papers for merging Kashmir into India. Its as good as selling a house when the bank already took it over or Hitler merging Germany into China when Russian and NATO forces were in Berlin. So according to this theory, India was morally and legally incorrect when they attacked pakistani forces. India on the other side claims to have got the signature on merger papers before complete fall of kashmir. So pakistan has no rights on Kashmir. So again a stalemate.

Even though both the countries have internationally accepted the Line of Control as border, nobody allows their citizens to do the same. Indians still call the pakistani side of Kashmir as POK(Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) and take objection to pakistan calling Indian side as IOK. The first and only agenda for any pakistani leader has been kashmir. The leaders know they can't have kashmir but still keep fooling poor pakistani fellows and so do Indian leaders by claiming to join POK to kashmir to form "Akhand Bharat". So what's the solution???

The simple solution is to accept everything that as decided after the war with complete faith and follow it loyally. This will help both the countries cut down defense budget and help them grow faster. The home grown conflicts like Terrorism, parallel economy etc will be completely eliminated and so will be eliminated the election manifestos, big long speeches of politicos, the reasons to ask votes every election, reasons to earn money from every defense deal, reasons to get and praise martyrs, reasons to shout during cricket matches, reason of digging grounds before India-Pak matches and reasons to get confused. These same reasons have forced the politicians from both sides to let the issue be where it is for 62 years which could have been solved in less than 6.2 minutes if solved willingly.

The "FLU"ent business

Once upon a time, say 100 years ago when the USA was still a racial country, "THEY" said that the day a black man becomes US president, pigs will fly. Well that wasn't completely false either. Exactly 100 days after Obama rule, the swine FLU. Hot mexicans and the mighty US started it. UK followed the trend as a loyal supporter. They reported 50k cases every week. So the world was now witnessing a pandemic and since US was experiencing it, it was a worldwide tragedy :).

So how will the next superpower, the great democracy "INDIA" will stay behind. India also shared the pride and the IT hub of India started reporting the flu cases. 300 cases a week. Whooaaaa. A big number compared to the others. 1 death and pune pressed the panic button. The multiplexes went silent, festivals seized to be the fun, malls went quiet and the ever so buzzing streets witnesses the self declared curfew. Media went frenzy. Every person who sneezed was now a potential swine flu threat. Every sneeze would make the person skip a beat. The atmosphere became scary. Everyone was scared.

Or I should, "THEY" scared everyone and they were very successful. First relief came when the news came out that the normal mask will save from the swine flu. People saw the god is mask. The never ending queues were seen at the medical shops. The mask was available for everyone. First day for rs 5 then 10 then 25 and so on. People never cared for it. Our life is more important than money right....... So the greed grew and it in turn helped the panic situation. now there was not much profit in the normal mask. So came the other news, normal mask helps only for one day. So you have to buy it everyday. Now that made the sense. The sales volumes increased.

But a day came when people thought that everyday buying the mask was not working. The government authorities declared that the normal masks are not of any use. "THEY" again became happy. Now the rush for N95 mask started. This was a "GOOD" mask and quality comes for a cost. So the cost started from 50 and reached 400 faster than the blink of the eye. Everyone was looking like a swine with the new and more protective mask. So the mask industry had its share of profit.

Then came the traditional Ayurveda sector lead by the great baba Ramdev. The solutions included Nilgiri oil, Tulsi, Guduchi and what not. SMS's spread like the wild fire. The NIV denied the story of Nilgiri oil but people were not listening. They just wanted to be safe. So nilgiri oil reached the all time high rates. Spreading SMS's made sure that mobile companies came out of recession faster than they expected. They all started CALL XYXYZ helplines to let people know more about swine flu. All the experts were giving different opinions for different telephone operators. :)

The most benefited sector was the medicine companies. The "TamiFlu" was being looked at as the only life saver in the world. The company shares rose by 18% daily as the sales rose 100% daily. Everyone was buying it and stocking it. Other companies launched Virenza, CureFlu etc. So everybody got their share of profit. So everybody was happy and so was the common man because he was SAVED.

People wonder what is the cure for swine flu. I think it can only end when media gets some hot topic for breaking news and they divert from swine flu. This will allow people to calm down. The mad rushes for testing will reduce to a great extent and the labs will get time to test the vaccine rather than the throat swab samples. The stage is wide open......