The Dance Of Democracy

Yet another Lok Sabha election on the horizon and we are witness to another dance of democracy. With regional parties increasingly playing an important role in deciding who the prime minister will be it has become very crucial for the two largest central parties (Congress and BJP) to forge alliance at state level. The left front with a different ideology and with a good 2004 election result is giving the UPA and NDA a run for their money.

My analysis about the current political situation is the people of this country want a change of guard at the centre. Price rise, soft action against Terrorist attack, Congress’s usual minority favoring political card are all the important factors against the government. Recent defeats in Assembly elections in Karnataka, Chattisgarh are also crucial indicators.

The BJP on the other hand seems to be the obvious alternative simply because of its tough stand against terrorism, its model governance in Gujarat and its clear projection of a leader in the form of L K Advani. However recent events like Jaitley-RajNath spat, the hate speech of Varun Gandhi and the broken alliance with BJD in Orissa has put a serious dent in BJP’s Delhi ambitions.

The turbulence in both these political camps has actually helped the Left Front to gather some major political leaders on its side. Mayawati and Chandrababu Naidu are the most notable among them. Shri Naveen patnaik (Orissa CM) has not ruled out a post poll alliance between BJD-Left Front. The US recession, the downside of capitalism and price rice are some of the major factors which the left finds it going its way. It is a fact that our economy is not is such a bad shape as compared to US because majority of our public sector organizations are still not privatized and the credit goes to the left parties. They are the ones who opposed violently against the raising of FDI in Insurance Industry.

Who is the most likely PM?

Lal Krishna Advani is the most likely PM of India post election. This is partly because the BJP unlike other political parties believe in projecting a leader for the people before they go to vote.
However I think Mayawati runs a very good chance of becoming the first dalit prime minister of our country. I say this because she is the major player in the 3rd front and there is a very good chance that the anti incumbency votes against BJP and Congress might well go to the 3rd Front. It would be interesting to see how things unfold post election but surely we are in for a great political tamasha.

IPL vs IPL

The Indian Political League is here and it’s giving the Indian Premier League a tough time. In its second season the domestic tournament with international magnitude is up against a big obstacle in the form of General Elections 2009. A lot of people are asking the credibility of our security system which is throwing in the towel and is refusing to accept the possibility of two events happening simultaneously. It is though well understood that the cricket league is of a huge scale and involves the security of lakhs of people.

What needs to be done at this juncture? Should the Home ministry assert its power and ask the BCCI to call off the IPL. Looking at the worse case scenario of a terrorist threat to cricketers and spectators, it certainly looks like the better option. God forbid if something untoward happens, the entire image of India has a safe place to play the game will be hurt. The world cup hosting will be in jeopardy.

The other way to look into the thing is to allow the tournament to go ahead and send this message loud and clear that we as a nation can withstand these tough times and can protect our own people as well as our guest. On top of everything no can give guarantee that if the IPL is postponed everything would go according to the ideal script.

The best way to go about it is to allow the cricket tournament to proceed without affecting the elections. It gives us (the common people) the chance to enjoy the thrills and frills of the action packed tournament once again. The intent of going ahead will clearly send the right message across to the world and it will in fact dent the spirits of those who want the subcontinent to be a war zone.

The Socially Responsible Company

What’s the idea of a socially responsible company? I often come across this term and it makes me to think that it is a unique characteristic to have and adds a lot to a company’s USP. After all everyone in the society will like to see such organizations who in addition to being an excellent service provider to its customers also make contributions back to the common people.
So that puts us (the common people) in a really nice position isn’t it? Government, whom we elect through the democratic process can do whatever little it can (Lets say at least 50% of the work it promises) and the rest will be taken care by these ‘Socially Responsible’ companies. So we end being served and all our aspirations and expectations are met.
A lot of companies (I don’t want to name them) have already started to make an impact through school programs, traffic congestion solutions, helping out NGO’s. But according to me they are not doing enough.
To begin with, I feel the social responsibility they talk about should be a self less service. I am afraid, its not. It does not take a nuclear scientist to see that the work they are doing is ultimately intended to create a better image in front of their potential customers. The idea is to be socially responsible in such a way which will enhance business proposition.
If business organizations had to walk the same path along with social responsibility then it would be a catastrophe for them. From the Indian perspective, a lot of IT companies have resulted in a population imbalance because of the huge influx of people to a particular city in the country. Had they realized the need to be socially responsible, they would have gone with the plan of diversifying their business centers long back thereby bringing social harmony, stability to even the backward regions. Obviously how on earth that can be possible if they were to make higher profit returns?
Take for example a certain Bangalore based IT company which takes pride of its role on its association with a certain society of physically challenged children. If we look deep into this role, we see that the society’s children have contributed hugely to the making of its identity during its inception. The company’s contribution in return has no where been in the same scale.
The point which I am trying to emphasize on is the fact that being socially responsible is about contributing to the society which will make a lasting impression for its growth in the future. It’s something like nurturing and planting a new seed rather than trying to water a branch of an already grown tree and then trying to advertise that.
Some examples of a socially responsible work which can be undertaken by organizations are:

1) Sponsoring a group of children from say class V to their bachelor degree. It should include their education expenditure as well as their meals during their stay at school. It should include one to one contact with each of them and their parents. Merely working with them for one month and leaving them after that won’t serve the purpose.
2) Nominating someone from the company who will directly be responsible for the immediate block, constituency where the office campus belongs and will be communication with the political leader in charge of the same.
3) Start forming small teams who would like to volunteer to go to any specific place in their city and promote a clean drive, plant trees.
4) During elections the company should encourage and help its employees to take active participation in voting.
5) Above all, there is a need for every organization to identify certain sets of value which distinctively identifies its immediate society.

Cricket-A victim like the Common Man

March 3rd, 2009

Guns and bullets have ultimately threatened the cricketers in Pakistan. We in the subcontinent always feel that Cricketers are god. They are worshipped, respected and looked upon as our heroes. So in spite of living in a volatile region courtesy numerous terrorist groups we never had the slightest idea that one fine morning these much adored heroes will be under the line of fire.
Terrorist’s blocked the touring Srilankan bus, fired grenades, bullets from all angles in broad midday light at Lahore. The security situation at Pakistan is out of control and its time the rest of the world don’t make the mistake of misunderstanding this fact. Today what we see at Pakistan is its own creation and the silent support of US. They are the ones who kept on giving financial aids even though they knew that a considerable amount of that money is going to wrong hands. To further enhance our anger, Pakistani official appears in Indian media channels and continue to give sharp, stupid and illogical answers to some nerve wracking questions.
At this point in time, the United States of America should immediately go into an introspection mode and look carefully at its policy of considering Pakistan a partner in its fights against terrorism. After all how can the terrorist itself become a part of a fight against Terrorism is beyond me. It is an alarming situation and its time that the US and India launches a joint operation against these terrorist groups. If the Pakistani army wants to cooperate well and good. If a drastic step is not taken now then who knows, oneday we might see a nuclear strike by a Terrorist group. We don’t want that do we?