HALF A TRUTH

People try different things to beat occasion’s blues. I did it by counting my savings. It worked until family expenses mounted and the hideous piece of plastic called credit card entered my life. Now, the state of my finances has me perennially in the pits. So, my girl friend keeps on supplying me with fresh ideas to earn more. Only sometimes she takes it too far. That day when she saw me flipping through a recently released autobiography she was at it again. “Isn’t it time you also wrote your memoirs?” she asked matter-of-factly as if I were Brad Pitt and writing memoirs a child’s play. Preposterous as the proposition was, I tried to counter it with reason. It works sometimes. Even with her. “What’s there in my life to write about?” I said. “It’s not what you write about yourself but the spicy things that you write about others that sells it. All you need is some imagination to make two and two 22”. “But you know how modest my writing skills are?”, I said. Unfazed, she rubbed it in, “Can’t you hire a ghost-writer?” “Oh, they all have become pricey, writing for the celebrities. But suppose I find one, I still can’t see why anyone would read an unknown person’s autobiography”, I said.

 

“We are not going to ask people to read it”, she said. Puzzled, I asked, “What do you mean?” “I mean people need not read it. If they just buy it, our purpose would be served. Anyway in this country those who pay for books rarely read them. Why, you buy so many. Do you read all? In fact, I am thinking of selling them to the raddiwala”, she said. Feeling threatened, I fell in line. “Please don’t. I’ll do what you say. But don’t blame me if people sue me for writing all sorts of things”, I warned her hoping that at least this would work. “Stop worrying about that. They won’t be able to prove a thing. You know I have even thought of an appropriate title. It’ll take care of everything”, she said exuding supreme confidence. What ace does she have up her sleeve? I thought and asked, “What title do you have in mind?” “ My Experiments with Half-truths”, she said.

SHOCK THERAPY

On August 9,1965 Malaysia’s parliament expelled Singapore from its federation. Does this expulsion by a republic, of a state that once belonged to it, hold any lessons for us? India too is a federal republic, and crucial areas of governance – such as law and order, agriculture, trade and commerce, transport and communications, public health-fall within the state list. The Center could well devise ambitious plans for economic progress, but they will fall through if states don’t implement them. Let’s take two examples-UP and Bihar. Politically they are blessed states, close to the epicenter of power. They do not lack in arable land or water resources (except, perhaps, some parts of southern UP that are dry). Bihar is also rich in mineral resources. Despite being so well endowed the two states score low on economic growth and human development, and are slipping further behind. During 1992-98, when economic reforms unleashed high growth across India, Bihar’s economy actually contracted at an average annual rate of 0.2 percent. UP accounts for a staggering 26 percent of infant deaths in the country.

There’s only one explanation for their being in a tailspin despite favorable conditions: Utterly criminalized political and executive classes have let them down. It’s futile threatening to cut off central funds to states that under-perform- that means very little to a state government that chronically mis-utilises them. One needs to hold out a more drastic threat- to cut them off from the republic. Lalu Prasad is reported to have advised Biharis to migrate to other states, after having helped create the conditions that make them migrate. This is too easy an escape hatch. There is no reason for the rest of India to subsidize this mode of functioning by throwing him a lifeline. Cut off that lifeline and the rulers of UP and Bihar would soon be facing rebellion from their subjects, as Nepal’s monarch did. What if India commits the same error as Malaysia, and UP and Bihar became new Singapores after expulsion? At least India would have succeeded in rousing UP and Bihar by administering shock therapy, and having a couple of economic powerhouses in its midst isn’t too bad.

आज का विचार

हम क्या थे, क्या हैं और क्या होंगे अभी? आओ मिलके सोचें ये योज़नाएं सभी....................

LUCKY SPERM CLUB

With his election as BJP’s Lok Sabha MP, T.P.S. Rawat has become the latest entrant to what Warren Buffet calls the ‘Lucky Sperm Club’. Although the American billionaire used the term to describe children who inherit great fortunes, it can be applied equally to heirs of famous names in two distinct fields that sometimes overlap – films and politics. Both spheres require no qualifying test and many of the recipients of this biological largesse are lucky to be there because they do not have the brains or the ability to make the grade on a level playing field. Like India, America too has its political bigwigs. Most of them are offspring of senators, governors or even presidents. It helps financially and psychologically to have a familiar brand name. It gives its bearer a head start, but it also helps to cover up some of his, or her, weakness.

The most famous recipients of the lucky sperm today are, of course, the Bushes, with one being the president and other a governor. But the drawbacks of the system, too, have made obvious by the current flag-bearer of this name whose advanced state of befuddlement will, no doubt, be a setback for the dynastic cause. As in India the inheritance of political legacy in America is not confined to the offspring of bigwigs. The lucky list includes four siblings, four widows, and several wives, including one Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton who may one day be making a pitch for the top job. Their number was barely 24 in 1986, but sisters and daughters (and widows and wives) are now pushing their way into an area that was earlier marked only for brothers and sons among relatives. So the number is going up and up. The world’s oldest and the largest democracies have at least one thing in common.

CUT THE FLAB

Food and fertilizer subsidies are sacred among the pro-poor brigade. Take these away, one is told, and mass starvation will break out. Food subsidies help by putting food in the mouth of the poor, while fertilizer subsidies help indirectly by reducing the cost of inputs for producing food. Sure, and pigs can fly. The reality is that, if not mass starvation, large-scale malnutrition has already broken out. Amartya Sen assures us mass starvation cannot happen in a democracy. But his studies also show that in terms of endemic hunger, India does much worse than sub-Saharan Africa. This is despite food and fertilizer subsidies ballooning over the past decades. Fertilizer subsidies rose from Rs 5 billion in 1980-81 to Rs 163 billion now. Food subsidy has gone from Rs 25 billion in 1990-91 to Rs 266 billion currently. Sub-Saharan Africa doesn’t have this much money to throw at the problem, yet does better than us. What gives?

Obviously, the money isn’t reaching intended beneficiaries. There’s a much better way – directly distribute it among those it is meant for. According to the Social Development Report recently released by the Council for Social Development, 260 million Indians live below the poverty line of whom 193 million are in rural India. Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that if we abolish food and fertilizer subsidies, and distribute the Rs 430 billion that becomes available directly to the rural poor, the government could pay Rs 2,227 to each beneficiary, or Rs 6 per day for every single man, woman and child. This could be in the form of food stamps, so that it’s spent only on food and nothing else. The market would then work to make food available to the poorest consumer. If each individual gets to spend Rs 6 on food, chronic malnutrition is history. The only ones to get cut out will be FCI babus, foodgrain smugglers, fatcats owning fertilizer factories, and rich farmers who benefit from high minimum support prices. But they have other means of fending for themselves. There’s an additional advantage in targeting this subsidy exclusively to the rural poor. It will reverse some of the incentives to migrate to cities, and thus ease the pressure on urban India.

BIG BITE

Bangalore was the symbol of India’s infotech (IT) prowess. In the early 1990s,we didn’t know exactly what it was that the IT companies did, but we knew the world wanted it. The boom spawned “letterhead” companies, which registered their offices in Bangalore only to be able to acquire credibility by putting the city’s name on their stationery.

Today, Bangalore has little credibility left. It seems it cannot cope-neither with the good times that led to an influx of software professionals, nor the bad, when the pressure of thousands of its new citizens began to tell on civic infrastructure. The IT industry may have been given preferential treatment by the Government, but it cannot be faulted. It has delivered on its promises: it created jobs, earned foreign exchange and set global standards. It is those who govern Bangalore who have not delivered. Blaming the IT industry for the lack of adequate roads or electricity, for its growing congestion and pollution is a red herring.

While power brokers have been making their calculations, Bangalore has been left out of every growing industry’s future plans.
Once again, the arithmetic of politics has overtaken the geometrics of economic growth.

Uncle, why is Dumbledore gay?

The Dictionary defines ‘gay’ as an adjective denoting cheerful, lively, carefree disposition. Another given meaning is homosexual, lesbian, queer. When we were teenagers, the only meaning for gay was cheerfulness and fun. Being gay was considered good and never frowned upon. This was when we were growing up on stories by Ruskin Bond and Premchand. And none of these writers ever held audiences enlightening with us on the sexual preferences of their characters.

Today, teenagers have J.K.Rowling and her millions of young readers the world over ravishing every new Harry Potter book with alacrity and gusto. The devotion and loyalty young minds have for Harry Potter is unique, more so because the world. Having such a mega readership may have compelled Rowling to divulge not the plot for her next story but a secret that has set the young minds wondering. She declared before a large gathering that Dumbledore, the wise and lovable patriarch of Hogwarts, is gay. “I do not find it unusual for a kind, intelligent, gentle old man to be gay,” she said, reacting to the debate that has since generated

What she forgot to remember was that her books cut across cultural and language divides. A Chinese or an Indian parent is an equal contributor to Rowling’s burgeoning wealth as the English or American parent. The same Indian parent may find it rather unusual for her child to read about kind, gentle gay men running a hostel full of young and impressionable minds. And this isn’t about me being for or against homosexuality.

Talking to children about homosexuality may not be such a taboo in the US or Australia, but how many Indians are comfortable with discussing such issues with their young seven-year-olds? Call it old-fashioned, but the fact is even liberal parents here would not be sure that they want their kids to read books where homosexuality is a declared attribute of a major character.

My seven-year-old niece is into Harry Potter and also reads the newspaper. She wanted to know what ‘gay’ means and why Dumbledore is gay. I tried hard, but there was no way I could explain ‘gay’ to a seven-year-old without getting into complicated discussions about adults and sex. My 14-year-old nephew was rather blasé about it – and smirked during our talk.

So what did his friends think of Rowling’s declaration? “They read it on the Net and we all had a laugh. They thought it was silly of Rowling to say it and they wanted to know why there was a need for her to declare this information, as it does not affect the storyline. Or does it, Uncle?” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the need for Rowling to reveal her character’s sexual preference was driven by commerce.

SULTANS OF STEEL

Mittal's causal demeanour belies the size of his ambition and his business acumen, qualities his French business adversaries must now be only too familiar with. I have also noticed with some amusement that ever since his success, India seems to have co-opted Mittal as one of its own. We have conveniently forgotten that his success has nothing to do with India. If anything, it is a comment on Indian conditions. Had he remained here, it would have restricted his ambitions and Mittal would have stayed an anonymous member of a large business family.

Today he heads a steel business whose total capacity is three times that of its nearest rivals and three times India's total steel consumption and Arcelor Mittal now controls 10 percent of global steel production. It is a position Mittal has acquired at the end of two decades of work.

INDIAN FASHION INDUSTRY

Today, India is in vogue again as a result of the work of many talented people in the fashion industry.

Unlike before, the Indian motif is one of luxury and confidence. Designers in the West are using it to make a statement- whether it is Cavalli who put Goddesses on bikinis or Prada whose latest collection uses the peacock feather. The transformation that has already taken place in other sectors like business and economy is now finding expression in fashion in a significant way. It is a reflection of India’s larger engagement with the world. Behind the arc lights of the recent India Fashion Week, real business was being conducted. Buyers from major western retail chains came looking for genuine local talent. Be it Selfridges, Harrods or Browns, mainstream stores in the West now retail the collections of some of our best designers. More than a generic Indian “look”, the label of the Indian designer is also being sought after.

EXPORTING TERROR

Relations between India and Pakistan have a tendency to move on twin tracks. One is fuelled by Islamabad’s Kashmir obsession and its commitment to cross-border terrorism. The other involves periodic peace offers by Pakistan to ease international pressure on itself. It’s a double game that has been played with some success in the past but Islamabad bow finds itself hoist with its own petard.

That is why the question of whether the ceasefire along the Line of Control is an attempt to appease the global gallery or a genuine desire for peace remains an open one.

SECRET DESIRES

In a survey on young men between the ages of 16 and 25 across 11 cities shows that they are less confident and more confused about sex, surprising in today’s social and economic environment. A majority still want the woman they marry to be a virgin and 54 percent are not allowed to bring their female friends home.

Fantasy is clearly a preferable option with 62 percent saying they watch pornography with male friends.

The survey suggests a wide difference from the media image of free mingling of sexes. The single young man seems muddled. He is still trying to break free of the shackles of the family, and the restrictions of being brought up in still largely segregated environments. For these boys, other boys are still their best buddies, and 37 percent have even had one or more homosexual experiences. For young Indian men, appearance is everything- 58 percent say grooming is important and although only 19 percent have credit cards, 44 percent go to the gym on a regular basis and 35 percent eat out once or more than once a week. They are, however, careful when it comes to sex: 53 percent say condoms are a must use, which means there is rising awareness about safe sex.
As happens often in India, what appears on the surface is not the truth. However sexily the young may dress and however greater the interaction with each other, deep down when it comes to something as fundamental as sex, they are downright conservative. Or as the French are fond of saying: plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose –the more things change, the more they stay the same.

MAD ABOUT MALLS

My experience of shopping malls in India happened purely by chance after I shifted my place of residence to the outskirts of my city. I found that the distance to the nearest mall had shrunk and it became convenient to unwind after work by catching the occasional movie at the immediately struck me was how well maintained and clean these malls were, specially the public conveniences. No paan stains, no spitting, no dust, litter or foul odour- the curse of any public space in urban India. By itself, that is remarkable, but these shopping malls are also symbolic of another significant landmark. They are the prime drivers of an organized retail revolution in the country. At the rate new ones are coming up, it’s virtually a mall a minute. According to a recent KSA Technopak study of the Indian retail industry, there were just three shopping malls (of at least one lakh sq ft retail space) operating in India in 2000. By 2008 that figure is expected to reach 343. By 2008 almost 18 million sq ft of mall space will be developed across 12 cities in India, with 54 new malls coming up in Delhi alone. Significantly, a number of new and proposed malls are located in small towns. For India’s middle classes, riding the current economic upturn and a jump in disposable incomes, they represent the new temples of retail worship.