A challenge and an oppotunity to build a better world.

A challenge and an opportunity to build a better world.

The loss of human lives in the Sikh Temple (Gurudwara) in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on August 5, is a challenge and an opportunity for all people to ponder over the future of our world. That this crime has been condemned by all in the USA and world is an indication that the we all respect human life. This tragedy should be used to create a better world.  

The world has become one, thanks to transport and telecommunication revolutions. All religions proclaim the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of Man. All countries, especially democracies, have enshrined liberty of religion, thought and expression in their constitutions and guaranteed them through legislation. In spite of all this, why hate crimes are committed in most of the countries ?

The cause of strife and wars were well diagnosed by UNESCO ( United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) in its preamble in 1946 itself. Throughout the history of mankind the ignorance of each other's ways and lives has been the main cause. It leads to suspicion and mistrust between the peoples of the world. "Since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defenses of peace must be constructed", it added. It means that there should be constant efforts to educate and inform people about the culture, civilization and ways of life of other people and other countries to remove ignorance, suspicion and mistrust.

It is very heartening that this has been recognised by Congressman Ed Royce in his interview with Aziz Haniffa ( India Abroad, Aug.17) : " I will continue to push to make sure we do a better job of teaching in the schools that the motivation for people traveling to the new world from the onset of this country forward, has been to protect religious diversity, freedom of religion - which is the cornerstone of this country."  This has been supported by Tejinder Singh Bindra, the president of the Sikh Art and Film Foundation when he wrote, " Many people who have attacked Sikhs are blue collar. They do not watch CNN or read books on other religions, and the American schools, I fear, do not do an adequate job of letting students know enough about other faiths and traditions."  By educating the young on other faith traditions, USA can set an example to the world.

Now the real challenge and also an opportunity to all governments and the educational authorities in the world is, how to educate the general public about other faiths and traditions. It may be a good idea to include the high ideals of UNO and various religions of the world in the curriculum in all schools and colleges to remove the ignorance of other faiths and the prejudice against other ways of life. UNESCO could be requested to prepare books on all religions with the help of the people who follow them. UN should ask all its member states to prescribe them in all schools and colleges. This is necessary if we want to unite the human race and build a better world as envisaged by the United Nations.This is the basic groundwork for that goal. And 'catch'em young' would be the right way to reach the goal. Only then nobody in the world would ask the question, " Am I my brother's keeper ? "

August 23, 2012.

******                

A tale of two cities : London & Mumbai - Similarities and Contrasts.

A tale of two cities : London & Mumbai - Similarities and Contrasts.

When I read a special supplement on London entitled, On a high, by the Economist of London (June 30th 2012), a few weeks before the London Olympics, I was struck by the similarities and the contrasts between the two cities,London and Mumbai.

The similarities : (a) London and Mumbai are trading and financial centres.

" London was invented by foreigners" says the Economist. The Romans established a colony on a bend on the Thames in 43 AD but was burned down by Boudicca, the leader of the Iceni tribe, after 17 years. However, it grew later attracting foreigners for trade as it offered safety from the feuding European continent. Voltaire observed in the 18th century that the Jew, the Mahometan, and the Christian trade among themselves as if they professed the same religion.

London is the centre of politics, administration, business and fun since the 11th century. It became great during the Victorian Age when industrial revolution and the empire boosted its economy. " Raw materials from the colonies were shipped into the docks and the manufactured goods shipped out." The banking system channeled savings into productive enterprises all over the world.

London's economic decline started after the war. The docks, the city's core industry, were destroyed by the container ships which were too big to reach the docks, and the militant unions. And its revival started with the deregulation of the City's financial services in 1986 which made it one of the world's great financial centres. This has once again attracted large number of foreigners who have brought funds and skills, and promoted employment.  
       
Mumbai, as we all know, was conquered by the Portuguese, but later on, it was gifted to the King of England as a dowry. The British built the port, the court, colleges and university, hospitals, museum, joined the seven islands, invited traders and industrialists to build textile mills, allowed reclamation and created the famous Marine Drive, the Queen's necklace.

Mumbai's decline started when the textile mills lost their competitive edge due to government policies and the militant trade unions. Most of the mills were closed and some of them shifted to other states.The port too lost its importance due to the establishment of ports in the neighbouring states, and the new container port on the mainland opposite the city. However, it has retained its leading role as the financial centre of India with the Reserve Bank and many other commercial banks, and financial institutions such as Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE),National Stock Exchange ( NSE), Security & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and many mutual funds. It could become one of the leading financial centre of the world if India can create the same legal framework that London has.
 
( b) A rich mix of population :

London is a mini-world as it has attracted money and talent from all over the the world : the Koreans are in New Malden; the Portuguese in Stockwell; the Arabs in Bayswater; the Turks, Kurds and Turkish in Cypriots Haringey, Hackney, and Islington; the Bangladeshis and Pakistanis in Tower Hamlets and Newham; Indians in Southall and Wembley; the Jamaicans in Brixton, and the Nigerians in Peckham.

The report mentions that the Huguenots came in the 17th century, Jews at the end of the 19th, the West Indians in the 1950s and 1960s and the South Asians in the 1970s and 1980s. Now they come from everywhere.

Mumbai is a mini-India and one can see people from all over India in concentrated in certain areas of the city.  Dadar, Worli and Parel areas  have a large Maharashtrian population;  Matunga has many people from South India ; Vile Parle and Ghatkopar residents are predominantly Gujaratis ; Chembur has many Sindhi housing societies ; Bandra is a big centre of Catholic population ; Crawford Market, Bhendi Bazar and Santa Cruz have Muslims in large numbers ; Malabar Hill and the surrounding areas are populated by Parsees; Goregaon and Mulund have great concentration of people of U.P. and Bihar; many Sikh families reside in  Andheri, and Punjabis stay in Juhu and many other suburbs.

This population mix has given both the cities certain dynamism and some conflict as well.

Surveys in London have revealed that migrants are better employees, more highly skilled, work harder and are prepared to to do jobs that locals disdain. Almost the same can said about Mumbai as well. People from all over India have contributed immensely to many fields like industry, financial services, film, theatre, media, fashion and advertisement in Mumbai. Distribution of newspapers and milk, selling of vegetables and fruits, and many other services which are essential for a city are served by a large number of people from all corners of India.

No wonder, some times this generates some conflict. The report mentions the riots against Jews in London in the 13th century, against Flemish in the 14th century and  against the Italians in the 15th century. The recent ones are the Notting Hill riots against the West Indians in 1958 and the latest riots in 2011. While there were no records about any earlier conflicts in Mumbai, recent agitations are well-known - against the South Indians in the early 'sixties and against people from U.P. and Bihar a couple years ago.  

The report states that London's openness to the rest of the world had four broad effects - it has pushed up the real estate prices, made the city less equal but more productive and more efficient. Much the same thing can be said about Mumbai.

There is one more similarity. London subsidies the rest of the country to the tune of $ 23 billion. It has been said that almost 25 percent of the revenue of the government of India is collected from Mumbai - foreign trade, corporation tax etc. However, this figure may be inaccurate in view of the fact in the recent decades many new ports have reduced the volume of foreign trade through Mumbai port, and most of the companies have their production facilities elsewhere while paying corporation tax through their head offices in Mumbai. In spite of this, the fact remains that Mumbai Municipal Corporation is the richest municipal corporation in India and its revenue exceeds that of the some of the state governments of India.

Now, the contrasts :

Both London and Mumbai have almost the same problems - Transport, Housing  and Administration. While London is making efforts to solve these problems, Mumbai seem to groping in the dark - the darkness of corruption and inefficiency.

(a) Transport : The report states that London had the best transport system 100 years ago, but now it is inadequate.The London Underground and the London Overground have improved in recent years with the funds from the government after they were handed over to the mayor.

London's roads are also clogged with cars. To reduce the traffic in central London, a congestion tax has been imposed. This has reduced traffic by 20 percent.  Some roads have been reserved for pedestrians, pavements have been widened and the traffic-lights have been changed in favour of pedestrians. Increased public transport, introduction of cycles and bikes on rent for the city are being is being discussed. There has been an increase in the charges for digging up the roads for utilities. Almost 40 percent of the traffic lights can sense the length of traffic and adjust the timing accordingly which allows 12 percent more traffic to flow.

In Mumbai, the suburban railways have been able to improve the system to a certain extent with funds from the World Bank and the Central government. Similarly, the BEST has increased its fleet. However, this has not given much relief to the passengers or the pedestrians. Millions of people in Mumbai use train and bus transport, and they have to streamlined to provide a rapid and smooth transport system. The rapid bus system should be implemented. Pedestrians should be provided with footpath unhindered by hawkers, and hawkers should be provided with hawking zones in every ward. An autonomous transport authority should be created to coordinate all modes of transport and to deal with all issues pertaining to the movements of goods and people.

(b) Housing : " High house prices make life difficult for Londoners and threaten the city's prosperity", the report observes. This is true of Mumbai as well. Foreign money is financing new housing development in London while in Mumbai it is the big money from all sources, and in both the cities, money in housing is for investment, not for stay. The builders and the politicians have ganged up against the people to raise prices of housing in Mumbai. The scarcity of land has aided this price rise. The builders had sabotaged the bridge/ tunnel  to mainland three decades ago for this purpose. This issue is still pending due to vested interest of the builders'  lobby.

The biggest constraint for housing development in London is the Green Belt all around the city to the extent of 50 miles. This has raised the cost of housing and forced the workers to travel further. The report suggests that a mile off from the Green Belt would release 25,000 hectares, one-sixth of London area for housing. The report proposes discouraging people from buying a second house and increasing taxes to bring down housing prices.

Mumbai has more intractable problems in the housing sector. There are cessed buildings some of which fall down regularly during the monsoon. The development of cluster of buildings demolishing old dilapidated structures have not taken off. Then there is a large population in slums which are ruled by slumlords with political support. Many cities in the world including Singapore have been able to remove slums and build houses for the poor, but our elected representatives both, in the Municipal Corporation and the state legislature, are unable to do much about it. They do not look for solutions but only for votes and power.Slum redevelopment schemes are mired in corruption and controversies. This issue requires to be entrusted to an autonomous body with proper mandate to solve the problem on the basis of the experience of the other cities in the world and needs of the poor.

These two issues take us to the most important ingredient of successful city, and that is, city administration.

(c) City Administration :

The Economist credits the institution of elected Mayor for the improvements that London has seen in recent years : " Institutional, as well as intellectual, change helped. In 2000 London got an elected Mayor - the first time the whole sprawling city had a single official to think about its well-being." The first Mayor, Ken Livingstone, introduced congestion charge, and the second, Boris Johnson, created cycle bank to encourage people to abandon their cars.

Mumbai too needs change, not merely in its institutions but also in its attitude, to solve its civic problems. The citizens of Mumbai are denied even the basic civic facilities  - uninterrupted water supply, uniform power tariff, smooth roads, daily collection and disposal of garbage etc.

Mumbai too could have an elected Mayor provided we have politicians with vision.  It is difficult to find such individuals among our politicians. Some years ago Mumbai had an institution called, ' Mayor-in-Council' but it failed to make any mark.

Most of the power in BMC is wielded by the Municipal Commissioner (MC) and the Standing  Committee (SC) and this power structure has not provided proper civic amenities to the citizens of Mumbai.This structure must be reinforced with some expertise in good governance and accountability. For this purpose, MC & SC should be assisted by an expert committee on civic issues selected by a panel consisting of the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and The Chief Justice of the High Court. To strengthen the financial integrity, an autonomous audit body to be appointed by CAG ( Comptroller & Auditor General of India) which has to present its report to BMC, the state government  and the citizens of the city. Elected representatives should be made accountable.

The concerned citizens and NGOs of Mumbai should agitate to bring about these changes in the administrative set-up to ensure accountability and good governance. With this, Mumbai could rival London. There would be more similarities than contrasts. It would not be just a tale of two cities but a tale of Mumbai being one of the great cities of the world.

August 21, 2012.

********                        

   

               

Reflections on the Indian Independence Day.

Reflections on the Indian Independence Day.

India will be celebrating its 65th Independence Day on August 15,
2012 with army parades, floats on Indian heritage and economic
development of the country - all this in midst of the looming drought
in many parts of the country. India's economic, social and political
developments are a mixed bag of achievements and glaring lack of will
to tackle problems confronting the country, especially the poor.

The achievements.:

Democracy & Food Security : India's achievements are well-known. A
democratic set-up which has weathered the storms of dictatorial
mind-set ( the 19-months emergency regime ) and many challenges to its
unity ( the rise of sub-nationalisms with political tact and
accommodation). It has banished famine. Just now it has 80 million
tons of food-grains in its buffer stock, thanks to increased
irrigation facilities, hybrid seeds and fertilizers introduced since
the Green Revolution. The country has come a long way from the famine
conditions in 1965-66 when India had to depend on US wheat imports to
feed its teeming millions.

Economic Growth, Technology and Defense: It is one of the few
countries which has mastered the space technology. It is one of the
leading countries in software sector.Today it one of the fast-growing
economies of the world after the change of direction of its economic
policies from the statist to encouraging free enterprise initiated
in 1991 by the Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao and ably implemented
by the finance minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. It has also joined the
select few in the world with its own nuclear technology and atomic
weapons with which USA and other countries have nuclear agreement. The
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee courageously exploded and
stockpiled a few atomic weapons to ensure India's defense in a region
full of these weapons. The decade of the 'nineties took India to the
top table.

The failures.

While the achievements are significant, economic and political
problems are persistent. These have been summed up by the President
Pranab Mukherjee in his speech delivered on the assumption of office
on July 25: poverty ( 'For our development to be real the poorest of
our land must feel that they are the part of the narrative of rising
India'); corruption ( 'Corruption is an evil that can depress the
national mood and sap its progress') ; terrorism ( 'The war against
terrorism is the fourth '(world war).

Poverty : Among the most important problems of the country is the
persistence of poverty in the country. While the experts and
economists discuss the poverty line, whether it is Rs.28.65 or
Rs.22.42 per day, whether it should be related to caloric food intake,
infant mortality rate, education, health or employment, all are agreed
that more than one-third of the population, which would be about 400
million, are poor. A recent report states that ten percent of rural
people live on less than Rs.17 per day. " Trickle-down theories do not
address the legitimate aspirations of the poor", as the President
pointed out in his address. All the policies implemented by the
successive governments have failed to uplift the poor. They are still
not the 'part of the narrative of rising India'.

The latest policy of offering 100 days of work for the poor under the
Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is riddled with
design faults - it does not create any permanent asset, it does not
train the uneducated for any job, and full of corruption - not paying
the workers in full and in time, the local politicians in league with
the officials manipulating the workers' attendance to enrich
themselves. There are no proper checks and balances, there is no
efficient monitoring and there is no transparency. Moreover, you can
build a nation on doles. There is a certain lack of vision.

There has to be a policy to empower the poor with various training
programmes. The small landholders should be able to get more returns
from their holding with proper advice from the agricultural experts.
The landless should be trained in some profession or job which can
extend from brick-lying to electrician which every village, town or
city requires. Recently, the government has set-up a skill development
corporation under the guidance of one of stalwart of software
industry.

Mahatma Gandhi was right. India lives in its villages. He dreamt of
village republics as self-sufficient in most of its needs. He believed
in self-reliance,decentralisation of political and economic power to
empower the poor - to remove tears from the eyes of the poor, as he
put it. His vision is now being appreciated by many as global warming
is becoming a global menace due to the energy-intensive lifestyle
which creates demand for more goods. He said long ago that there is
enough in the world for everybody's needs but not for everybody's
greed. President Abdul Kalam, a visionary like Mahatma Gandhi, has
put forward a plan to uplift the villages called, PURA,( providing
urban facilities to rural areas) with multiple connectivities (
knowledge, technology, marketing etc.) This is in tune with the vision
of Mahatma Gandhi.

Corruption : Corruption is a universal phenomenon to realists and
cynics but to the poor, it is a curse. People have to pay for every
legitimate government services such as issuing a ration card, getting
a birth or a death certificate, registering a FIR ( First Information
Report) in a police station, getting admission to a school, getting a
water connection and others of similar nature. Madhya Pradesh and
Bihar governments have now made it mandatory to provide these services
within a time-frame with a fine for defaulting officials.

The recent scams such as 2G spectrum sale, Commonwealth Games Scam
and Coal-fields allotments were just the tip of the iceberg of
corruption in India. The corruption has a long history in India going
back to the jeep scandal during the early years of our freedom. Many
well-known politicians were involved. Cases, even when they went to
the court, took a long time to investigate and punish the culprits.

CBI ( Central Bureau of Investigation) is under the prime minister's
jurisdiction and the politicians have the tendency to to misuse it. In
the recent years cases have been filed against two former chief
ministers for possessing disproportionate of wealth and they are still
going on. Now both of them support the ruling coalition at the centre.
No wonder, Anna Hazare and his NGO, India Against Corruption, have
demanded that CBI should be under the jurisdiction of Lokpal (
Ombudsman) who can take up cases involving politicians and the
bureaucracy suo moto for investigation and persecution. The
institution of Lokpal was a suggestion made by the first ARC (
Administrative Reform Commission) almost 42 years ago and has never
been implemented by any of the administrations till now. The least
that the government has to do is to make CBI as independent as the
Election Commission.

Terrorism : India has two types of terrorism to tackle, one is
left-wing terrorism which wants to change the Indian polity through
violence, and the other one is promoted by Pakistan, first in Jammu
and Kashmir, now all over India.

Naxalite terrorism, started by some left-wing intellectuals, has
killed many innocent people who do not join them or help the
government bodies who promote social welfare programmes such as
schools and hospitals. It has spread its tentacles to many states.
They have recruited the poor and the unemployed to its rank. Instead
of preventing the misuse of power by the politicians and the
officials, the movement has prevented social welfare programmes
reaching the poor. The government has to appoint young and highly
motivated officials who can mobilise the support of the youth of the
region to frustrate the efforts of these terrorists. And the officials
should be adequately protected by a well-equipped police force.

The other terrorism has a different dimension altogether. It is a
state-sponsored project and it spans many of our neighbouring
countries as well.It stated in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989 challenging
the rigging of election by the ruling party of the state, and later,
questioning the state's integration with India, now it has spread all
over India. It has hurt India and now, Afghanistan and Pakistan as
well. Its effects are felt all over the world - UK, France, USA. It
has inflicted many wounds on Pakistan itself. It is assuming the
proportion of a frankenstein killing the creator.And the day may not
be far off when the world would jointly hold Pakistan to account for
this act of war against the world.

India has always extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan in spite of
numerous acts of terrorism executed by the non-state actors with the
support by its agencies. This has been misunderstood as the weakness
of the Indian state. India would be forced to act to defend itself
against these activities by Pakistan sooner rather than later. The
least that the government has to do it is to equip our police to
gather intelligence to prevent such activities, when occurs,
investigate speedily and punish the culprits immediately. This the
duty of every state and it can not abdicate its responsibility under
any excuse.

Our government has the dubious distinction of dealing sternly with
Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev than the terrorists of both the variety.
The vote-bank politics has weakened our country.

India needs new politics and new economics.

Indian politics has run on few slogans which are touted as principles.
While the constitution envisages a society of equals, its politics is
based group interests. The only tools it has in its armoury for
welfare are reservation and subsidy which have distorted our economy
and politics. However, the only principle which can promote welfare of
all ( sarvodaya) is good governance - that which rises all the boats.
Mahatma Gandhi gave a talisman to all politicians - to ask themselves
whether their policies would empower the poor. This is the standard
which should guide government policies.We have to use all our
resources, men and materials, to create employment and wealth.Here are
a few examples:

(a) Water : We have drought in many areas and at the same time there
are floods in other areas. There has to be a vigorous campaign to
promote conservation of rainwater through bunds and check-dams, and
afforestation to attract more rain in the drought-prone areas. Plans
should be drawn to divert flood waters to dry areas. River-linking
project should be initiated where ever it is feasible. The rain-water
harvesting should be made compulsory in all towns and cities.

(b) Electricity: The recent headline all over the world says it all -
" India in the dark, 600 million people hit by world's worst
blackout". Electricity generation is not enough for economic growth
( thousands of villages and millions of households have no supply),
supply is erratic, some are given free and all electricity boards are
in the red. India has 300 days of sunshine and it should be the
pioneer in solar power. Every household should be encouraged to have
solar panels over its roof One-time cost is high but it has low
maintenance cost and lasts for many years. Solar lamps cut down the
use of kerosine and provide better light to the villagers. Germany is
phasing out nuclear power and going in for solar power in a big way.
Gobar gas projects too should be revived.

( c ) Roads and railways : They are the lifeline of the country. They
link villages with towns and cities, and promote movement of people
and goods - agricultural produce to towns and manufactured goods to
villages. They open the doors of prosperity. They needed to be funded
adequately.

(d) Food security : Every village or a group of villages should have
a grain silo and refrigeration facilities to store food-grains, and
preserve vegetables and fruits. Now hundreds of tons of food-grains
rot under the open sky as the state has not built enough storage
facilities. Fruits and vegetables are spoiled without any preservation
facilities.

(e ) Health and Education : Every village or a group of villages
should have a primary school and primary health centre.

( f ) Housing : Housing has many multiplier effect - create demand for
bricks, cement, steel, labour. It fulfills one of the basic needs of
man. It should be made easier to people to build houses and own
apartments with low interest loans and low taxation.

Let the politicians treat India as one and Indian people as one.
People will respond as one. Indian people are industrious and
talented. The government policies should unleash their hidden talents
and aspirations. Politicians have to be persuaded to renew their
pledge to serve India, not any narrow interest, through agitations and
movements by concerned citizens. Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev have
shown that it is possible to awaken and mobilize the people to change
the system. Changing the system is not easy but it is not impossible.
That is way to change our swaraj into suraj.

August,10,2012.

******

Gauging Satyamev Jayate's impact.

The critical analysis made by Ms.Sevanti Ninan of the series of episodes of 'the Satyameva Jayate' hosted by the film star Amir Khan has many points. The cost ( astronomical Rs.3000 crore) of the series, the dismal role of Door Darshan ( it does not have any vision) and how the series gave credibility to Murdock ( who is mired in unethical ways of his media empire).

The most disappointing is the fact that only Rs.3.5 crore have been collected by some of the NGOs featured in the series. I wish the channel, the advertisers and the host support these NGOs more vigourously and tell the public about progress in each of these issues periodically. Unless they pursue these social objectives, there would not be much progress in our country and the series would remain a flash in the pan.

However, one has to thank all those involved in the series for pointing out our society's weaknesses. All changes have always come from the inspired people, not from the state. We need many more such people to change the face of India. We should not be the prisoners of the past. We have to evaluate all our customs and habits on a moral criteria of equal respect to all individuals irrespective of their caste, creed and gender. Only this will bring peace,harmony and progress to the country.

August 2, 2012.


*********

Gauging Satyamev Jayate's impact....Sevanti Ninan The show got Rupert Murdoch's flagship channel a lot of goodwill at a time when News Corp. is getting rotten press elsewhere in the world   Satyamev Jayate: The difference Aamir Khan made'. 'Satyamev Jayate: The game changer'. 'Satyamev Jayate ends with aplomb'. Three headlines from just one newspaper (DNA) sum up what has been the show's biggest asset through its 13-week run on several channels of the Star India stable and Doordarshan. A willing-to-be-charmed news media.   Why just the media? Parliamentarians, chief ministers, and bureaucrats responded with alacrity. The Indian system is geared to responding to pressure from the top, and the latter includes activist Bollywood biggies. Never before has a TV talk show been able to claim credit for a Bill getting passed in Parliament. Chief ministers and judges obliged with promises when Aamir Khan came calling, some state governments set the ball rolling on generic medicine availability, or on tightening sonography procedures to make misuse more difficult. Will the media be around to track if these initiatives endure?   So as Satyamev Jayate bowed out basking in the glow of media approbation, how much did it do, and for whom? On the face of it, it seems a pretty straightforward list.   The show got Rupert Murdoch's flagship channel a lot of goodwill at a time when News Corp. is getting rotten press elsewhere in the world. That is a PR triumph of no mean measure. And never have so many hacks lapped up so many metrics dished out by a social media measurement firm to tout impact.   It made Star Plus a fair amount of money. This paper has reported an ad rate of Rs. 10 lakh per 10 seconds for this show. In addition, the sponsors coughed up generous sums to compensate for the Rs. 3.5 crore plus per episode the channel reportedly spent on the show.   Ditto for Aamir Khan. He didn't do badly at Rs. 3.5 crore an episode as his production company's fee, plus an undisclosed personal appearance fee.   And, more than the money, it was a terrific TV debut for an intelligent and socially conscious star. Will it end up having done more for him long-term than for the fight to eliminate foeticide or caste discrimination or the diktats of khap panchayats? That's a no-brainer. He could run for Prime Minister tomorrow in Mumbai and Delhi, Bhagalpur and Chikmagalur. And for the time being, it is a no-contest with the other big Khans in Bollywood. They were not on air every Sunday cajoling people to pull India up by its bootstraps.   But that apart, not enough has been said about how it rediscovered for all of us what public service television can do. It overturned current assumptions about what people will watch, and what will sell. You could argue that Satyamev Jayate was public service television at its best. Unfortunately, it is about as replicable as Khan himself. Not because of what it cost to produce but because of the systems support an ambitious programme needs. A hard-headed actor with his own production house and an even more hard-headed commercial channel will invest what it takes to provide the support, including the warm bodies to do the research, and make sure they recover their cost and more. And they will do it in small doses. Thirteen episodes of a single show.   Courtesy Aamir Khan, the show ran on Doordarshan for free and made money for it as well. The channel found its advertising inventory for that slot effortlessly booked. But can Doordarshan pick up the ball from there, given that it spends a few thousand crores each year, attempting to serve the public? No. Because its system is just not geared to deliver compelling programming and market it with advertisers and the press.   During the period that it was running on Star and Doordarshan, a simple tracking that one did of DD National's total programming for four weeks showed that this channel actually spends more than 50% of its 24-hour airtime showing entertainment anyway—most of it just regular commercial entertainment. The most useful impact of Satyamev Jayate, then, would be if people in the government were to wake up and ask why the Rs. 3,000 crore plus that they spend a year on their own public service network does not deliver more evidence of increased public awareness.   Did the show make money for the non-governmental organizations it featured, and invited people to contribute to? So far a total of A princely Rs. 3.8 crore for the good souls working on all the 12 issues that the show probed. And that includes the Reliance Foundation's matching contribution. Not bad, but not transformative generosity either. So, do we measure the impact of Satyamev Jayate by its television rating points, its social media buzz or by how much it moved Indians to underwrite the change that they want to see?   Sevanti Ninan is a media critic, author and editor of the media watch website thehoot.org. She examines the larger issues related to the media in a fortnightly column.   Respond to this column at feedback@...   URL: http://www.livemint.com/2012/08/02005049/Gauging-Satyamev-Jayate8217.html

                  

Reluctant Duelist , Basu and Becker in Assam.

It is possible to find out a solution to the conflict between the local people of Assam and illegal immigrants, if the central and the state governments want to solve the problem. We cannot wish away the illegal immigrants not merely because they are in lakhs but also because Bangladesh does not agree that they are its citizens. The first thing they have to do is it stop issuing  voter identity cards to anybody who cannot prove they are Indian citizens. It is reported that some parties give do it to create a vote-bank.( we all know how some parties in Mumbai cultivate vote-bank in slums). Secondly, those who are in Assam illegally should be given work permits as they do in the Middle East.

Now that the Indian government has started issuing Adhar to all, this could be used to separate Indian citizens from the illegal immigrants. These immigrants can be given monetary inducement to go back to Bangladesh, and Bangladesh could be given economic concessions to take back their citizens. This, of course, is a very expensive proposition. But it is practical. No problem in India has easy solution.

We, as a state and as a civilization, have given refuge to all those who are persecuted elsewhere ( Jews,Parsis, Tibetans etc), we can also give shelter to these economic refugees. However,they cannot be allowed to decide the destiny of our country, if we want to preserve the integrity of our country.

The solution is not in the methods suggested by Basu or Becker, but in finding our own way out - a way by which we do not allow the illegal immigrants to decide who rules Assam but at the same time we do not infringe human rights.

Allowing this conflict between the locals and the immigrants to fester for ever and have recurrent bloodshed in Assam is no solution at all. It is pure incompetence, may be worse, no concern for national integrity. Our present leaders do not have the imagination and courage to solve any of our problems. Oh, for a Sardar Patel !

August 1, 2012.

*******   
Reluctant Duelist

Basu and Becker in Assam....Siddharth Singh

It is not for nothing that India is a collection of disparate states. Each state of the Union has its own enduring disorder. Bihar was, for long, the exemplar of societal anomie; Uttar Pradesh is home to caste combination and permutations that can only be called kaleidoscopic—its political results are debilitating. Jammu and Kashmir is in the grip of a senseless ideology of secession. These examples can be multiplied 28 times.

The one case that stands out as a tragedy is Assam. If there is one state that can be called the home of unpredictable political violence, it has to be Assam. In recent weeks, at least 57 persons have been killed in the three districts of the state due to clashes between the Bodo community and Muslims. Those forced to flee their homes number much higher. The lost livelihoods, fear and bitterness are beyond numbers.

Why do such benumbing episodes occur in the state with such regularity? Assam is one of the least urbanized states of the country. Its economy is rudimentary and the pressure on land is inexorable. But that is only a part of the story—and these pressures are not unique to it. The other element that make it combustible are the waves of illegal migration from Bangladesh without let or hindrance. All this is well known.

Assam's curse is that a large number of its residents are complicit in the demographic wrecking of their state. The state is in a strange situation: the availability or non-availability of specific laws to detect and expel illegal migrants has not made the slightest difference. It has, however, not prevented this from turning into a volatile issue. Some examples are in order here.

Consider, first the intuitive explanation for illegal migration. Assam, at one point, was covered by the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) (IMDT) Act, 1983. Under this law, the burden of proving someone to be an illegal migrant lay on the person who made such an accusation. The optimal amount of enforcement of a law depends on, among other things, the cost of catching and convicting offenders, the nature of punishments—fines or prison terms—and the responses of offenders to changes in enforcement. Call this the Becker vision of the law (after the Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker who explored the economics of crime).

From the Becker perspective, successive governments have invested virtually no resources in nabbing illegal migrants. And this includes both the Congress and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) governments. The Congress' complicity in this is very clear: the IMDT Act was designed to prevent any foreigners from being caught and deported in the first place. But what about the AGP? Surely, it could have taken some steps or at least kept this important political issue alive. It did not.

For the Congress—even today—the cost of enforcing laws that deports foreigners from Assam is too high: it stands to lose a substantial fraction of its vote and even political power there if it takes any such steps. Secularism and protection of minorities are convenient foils.

But consider a counter-intuitive argument. Suppose, instead of the IMDT Act (which, in any case, has been struck down by the Supreme Court), the more stringent Foreigners Act, 1946, were to be applied. Will this change matters? Not for a moment should you think it will.

Here is an example. Imagine you are a potential illegal migrant from Bangladesh, say in the Sylhet district of that country. As many before you, you decide to enter Assam from one of the many possible routes in the Barak Valley. You slip in at night and a friendly country cousin—who arrived in an earlier round of migration—living in a border village, takes you in. The next day, the local police officer, tasked to keep an eye on intruders, visits your cousin. A cordial "exchange" occurs and he is off to make his report to the local superintendent of police who, in turn, informs the district magistrate (DM)—the authority under The Foreigners Act to determine citizenship. And the DM, in turn, makes his report to his superior all the way up to the Union ministry of home affairs.

What has gone wrong here? In this interpretation of law, it is assumed that the policeman, the magistrate and virtually the entire chain of officials act as "prescribed by the law" in a robotic fashion. It ignores the reality that these officials will have incentives that differ from those in the law. Call this the Basu vision of the law (after Kaushik Basu who modelled the economics of law in a very different vein from Becker). To put it in the language of game theory, such laws are unable to create "focal points", which ensure that all participants narrow down to a particular—"good"—equilibrium in this game of law. In laws such as The Foreigners Act and the IMDT Act, the divergence between incentives of those breaking the law and those implementing them is simply too large for them to be anything more than ink on a piece of paper.

It is this neither world of law—the law being there, its being unimplemented and being beyond implementation at the same time—that translates into ethnic and religious violence in Assam, again and again. Unless there is a political solution to the problem—and there seems to be none—Assam will remain home to unpredictable eruptions of violence.

Siddharth Singh is Editor (Views) at Mint. Reluctant Duelist will take stock of matters economic, political and strategic—in India and elsewhere—every fortnight. Comments are welcome at siddharth.s@...

* The state is in a strange situation: laws to detect and expel illegal migrants have not made any difference there

URL: http://www.livemint.com/2012/07/31225005/Basu-and-Becker-in-Assam.html