The Purpose Of The Others

A few weeks ago during the ongoing US Presidential election campaign, President Barack Obama made a speech where he controversially used the words "You didn't build that" in reference to how individual wealth creation is dependent on social institutions and structures. The soundbites of the speech were relayed on the news networks and on the internet (below):

The immediate para of the "You didn't build that" part of the speech was:

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet."

-US President Barack Obama

Something about this speech felt familiar. Deja vu perhaps? Then the speech faded from memory.

 During this morning's journey to work, I heard words that brought this speech back to mind. I was listening to one of my brother's music CDs when an old telugu song came on. This song too talks of the futility of self-absorption and calls for the realization of the organic nature of human existence within the social framework. The song was from the telugu movie "Rudraveena" called "Chuttu Pakkala Choodara Chinnavada" ("Look Around Little One") written by Sirivennela Sitaramasastri. 

The last stanza of the song roughly translates to:

Every grain you eat, was produced by this community

The life in which you take pride, was shaped by this society

When the time comes to repay your debt, are you fleeing?

Will you burn the boat, after you've crossed the stream? 

 

 Both the song and the speech have a socialist tone. In the song this message is contrasted against a mystical and spiritual understanding of human existence. While the same message is used by Obama to counter an existential interpretation of free-market individualism. Put together, these interpretation have sought to project socialism as a beacon to refute both the atheistic & worldly as well as the religious & other-worldly interpretations of human existence.

 But in this effort to glorify socialism in poetry and prose, one aspect that remains unanswered is the extent to which collectivism is an end as opposed to it merely being the means. This element of vanity within socialism was captured by the comedian John Foster Hall in his often quoted pithy one-liner:

"We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for, I don’t know"

- John Foster Hall

Links:

1. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/13/remarks-president-campaign-event-roanoke-virginia

2. http://www.lyricsintelugu.com/2010/07/rudraveena-lyrics-chuttu-pakkala.html

3. http://audensociety.org/vivianfoster.html

Trust, But Verify

Business transactions take place because the parties involved agree to act in good faith. This is an essential requirement for trade just as it is for most other human interactions. Placing faith in another is an endeavour that is fraught with perils. But that is the price of trust.

To emphasis India's approach policy toward Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh often repeats former US President Ronald Reagan's Soviet-directed phrase - "Trust, but verify" . The phrase actually brings out the inherent vulnerability in the whole exercise of engaging 'the other'. The insurance industry actually factors this feeling of 'being taken for a ride' in calculating the Moral Hazard in a transaction.

This jeweller's ad on the back of a bus picks up on this notion of trust. It reads -
                   
                                 "Our Gold is as Pure as your Trust".

Thus placing the onus of the quality of their product on the customer's belief. The statement works just as well when the word 'Gold' is replaced by 'God'. All the religions willfully put their followers in that position of having to conduct their own self-appraisals in order to enjoy the benefits of their faith. Here, suspension of disbelief has to always occur first at the individual level.

The larger irony in the advertisement's message though is that while the benchmarking of gold itself as a metal of value to humans is an exercise in trust, still within that taken-for-granted trust - doubt persists on the details. And hence the phrase "Trust, but verify".

Energetic Panel

This morning moving solely on an impulse for Ghee Idlis served at Purna Tiffins in Krishna Nagar, we started from my place at 10 and made our way through Film Nagar. There we were hit in the face by a colossal hoarding placed strategically on the foot-overbridge opposite the Film Nagar Cultural Centre/Club (FNCC). It was a campaign billboard for the upcoming elections to the FNCC. If ever there was a way to make sure your constituents memorized your face (and the faces of everyone of your proposed "energetic panel" in the order of their importance/portrait size), this was it.



After getting our quota of idlis, we headed back to base. But the traffic began to clog at Jubilee Hills Checkpost and sure enough it was because of the most common cause of traffic jams in Hyderabad - one Mr. Harish Rao. The protesters were fired up and we were filled up - no contest. So we took detour after detour and in due time got back.

I guess the common thread between the two experiences was politics. The Film Nagar Society membership costs upwards of Rs. 25 Lakh and has a waiting period of over 10 years and therefore their members-only annual elections are literally and allegorically "above the road" on which common people commute. The street protests by the Telangana activists on the other hand was very much "on the road".

Though the real common thread of it all is my undying affection for good food. Again, both literally and allegorically.

Arbitrary Powers

Today there were two interesting bits of news that were reported from Kolkata and London which focused on negligence in the health and social services and corrective executive action. The first article was about a visit by the new Chief Minister of West Bengal, Ms. Mamata Banerjee to a hospital as an inspection tour and her confrontation with the hospital director who did not take kindly to the unannounced visit. Then the second article was about Ed Balls (the then Health Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families in the UK) sacking the local head of Child Services publicly in 2008 over the death of a 17 month old boy. Subsequently, the court has agreed that the action was unlawful.

Although the Bengal story may not have ended, it seems to be on the same path as the British incident. The two stories converge in the fact that the top political executives view the bureaucrats as guilty parties straight away and by exorcising these personnel from the system, they hope to make things right. And in a naive sense, they do establish their authority and potency but fail to really create a tangible difference. In the British case, there is talk of suing for damages which will act as a deterrent to the government. But in Bengal, on the back of a game changing election, there is little to check the actions of the executive.

After the Left government was defeated in West Bengal, Ms. Banerjee has taken over the reigns and is learning the ropes of direct power. And she started out by doing what Mr. Chandrababu in Andhra Pradesh and Ms. Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu did when they were previously Chief Ministers. She is hitting on the obvious targets first by launching an inquisition against the people manning the system. That move, although popular, may not be the best advised route since both Babu and Jayalalitha lost in the subsequent elections from a government employee-led backlash. But more than just the political fallout of finding fault with the system, the chief executives have to realize the value in being correct in what they do, both popularly and legally or risk the non-cooperation of their subordinates who will throw the book at new initiatives.

Links:
1. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/3/20110527201105270336326472fc7cba1/Didi%E2%80%99s-hospital-visit-sparks-%E2%80%98sick%E2%80%99-wordy-duel-with-boss.html
2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/27/sharon-shoesmith-court-win-baby-p

A to B

October 12th saw the "Meter Jam II" campaign in Mumbai - a boycott of auto-rickshaws and taxis as a protest against the service delivery methods. This campaign by and large has the interests of the harassed middle-class at heart. The auto and taxi drivers, themselves middle-class aspirants though would not miss the hypocrisy in the campaign: passengers paint themselves as customers with rights while overlooking the more basic right to a decent living of the poorer driver. The campaign, being organized by advertising professionals rather than civic activists is an indication of the principles at work in this protest.

"...You can never formulate a protest only in terms of interests. You can never say I am being oppressed; you have to say oppression is wrong. That’s the only way you can formulate a protest. The moment you do that, the principle becomes universal. Not universal in the sense of 100% universal, but it finds for itself a class which goes beyond you. Then what happens is that, you will have to speak for many more people, which again has its own further consequences. So a perpetual expansion of the principled concerns is unavoidable in the very fact that a protest has to be expressed in terms of universal values."

Hyderabad based late civil-rights activist K Balagopal in an interview

In a campaign like "Meter Jam", this aspect of expansion of a cause and understanding the consequences is missing. The only "class" commuters are willing to be clubbed along is with other passengers, while unwilling to view themselves as stakeholders in the larger civic transport system and so on. To these activists, the problem is simply one of supply chain inefficiency that needs censuring and not a symptom of social inequity or the breakdown of the rule of law.

The rent-seeking ways of the drivers speaks of lax regulations and patronization of their unions by the civic government together lead to extortionist practices. Till a mechanism is worked out where the government does its duty of regulation with tact and imagination while remaining unbiased, any number of protests by the commuters and the transport unions will result in little except advancing the careers of the campaigners.

Links:
http://www.meterjam.com/
http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/meter-jam-in-mumbai-commuters-boycott-taxis-autos-43861
http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/meter-jam-ii-mumbaikars-say-no-to-autos-taxis-59126
http://www.dnaindia.com/speakup/interview_we-won-t-organise-meter-jam-3-but-will-help-people-seek-results_1451760
http://balagopal.org/

For Domestic Consumption

In the aftermath of the Greek debt crisis, there is a hunt on to find the next country that lives beyond its means. The business news media tries to connect the dots and extrapolate from the existing. The sovereign debt crisis story needs its sequels and there must also be some nondescript lessons learnt. After all, a pattern cannot be tagged to be so without repetition. So it is that Hungary has emerged as a suitor. But strangely enough the unwanted attention on its economy is of its own doing to a great extent.

Hungary has gone the way so many countries have gone before it by mixing economics with politics. A new government in place with new promises of tax cuts to keep has met its old enemy - reality. In such cases the only logical way out is to blame the outgoing government and make it known widely that the economy inherited is the weak link. But when this message gets too loud, then there is a danger of people outside the target audience listening in. And that according to Goldman Sachs is the reason for the mini run-on-the-economy that was triggered by the Hungarian government officials comparing themselves to the Greeks.

These messages of subtlety which are supposed to mean different things to different people are hard to pull off. It is especially difficult when the same message has to convey diametrically opposite views. So a comparison with Greece was supposed to alert and lower domestic expectations in Hungary but all it did was heighten international suspicions. The first lesson the Hungarian government might have learnt here is in the use of the double entendre. But the more important lesson has to do with scaring citizens into opting for policies that weren't in the campaign manifesto and how it all can backfire.

"For domestic consumption only" is tricky to achieve when the commodity is communication. In India this was a target of the austerity drive after the 2009 general elections and it involved a train journey for the Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, no less! The message of tightening the belt was sent out through the exercise but the significance of it was lost on the outsider - mission accomplished. It is another matter that the grinding reality of poverty in India made these austerity measures a source of great amusement for the man with no belt or pants.

More Links:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b6d5ad48-726b-11df-9f82-00144feabdc0.html
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/will-aim-to-meet-deficit-goal-hungary-_462372.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10254462.stm
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5il4ORqz4woTzfBKJ4ziqsFyPr2wA
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rahul-Gandhi-joins-austerity-drive-travels-by-Shatabdi-Express/articleshow/5012898.cms

Passive Resisters

As the football World Cup kicks off in South Africa, here is an article from The Mint which reveals the footballing history of the Indian migrants in South Africa and Gandhi's use of the sport in that country to promote his ideas on resistance and protest.

http://www.livemint.com/2010/06/11204317/When-Bapu-kicked-the-ball.html?h=A3


More Links:
http://gandhiphilately.blogspot.com/2010/03/chile-1974-gandhi-ffc.html
http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_fifa-world-cup-2010-kicking-out-apartheid_1392420-all

Horizontal, Vertical and Diagonal

Here is a Schematic Map of the Indian Railway Network. Keeping with the purpose of schematics, the scale, the locations and the boundaries on the map have been altered to present the railway's point of view of India. Having seen the actual railway maps of India over the years, this depiction makes sense like none before.

The format was first made famous by the iconic Tube Map of London Underground designed by Harry Beck in the 1930s. To understand something complex for oneself is a skill. But to come up with a scheme to unclutter a mess not just in one's own mind but in the minds of the untrained needs a high degree of clairvoyance. The Tube Map's simplicity and utility is so great that it is considered a piece of design art.

Unlike in electronic circuit design, the use of schematics in rail and road lines result in a warping of the geographical reality experienced by the commuters. On these maps the only locations that matter are the destinations. All the places between these destinations are shown as having no significance and are either stretched out or fused together in the aid of a better understanding of the mesh.

Extending this design typology to the Indian socio-political context can help understand the paradox of growth alongside inequity that results in the existence of pockets of prosperity surrounded by oceans of misery. These pockets mingle among themselves exclusively, creating a network of exclusion. To explain this structure, a different schematic representation of India is needed, a political and economic schematic map which omits or skips-over the downtrodden and the less fortunate.

To an extent this neglect can also be seen in the railway network map - the sparsest presence of railway activity on the map (East Central Railways) corresponds to the poverty-stricken Chhattisgarh state which has seen the greatest amount of naxal violence. So when the naxalites blow up a bus on the road lines as they did yesterday, they also attack the schematic vision of India.

Links:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/310/IN_CRAIL0310.pdf
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/standard-tube-map.pdf
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/article432488.ece

Anti-Constitutional Technologies

This evening in the Rajya Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition Mr. Arun Jaitley started a short duration discussion on the politically motivated telephone tapping scandal and the 2G spectrum auction related telephone tapping by the IT department. Other than cornering the government for big-brothering the system, Mr. Jaitley, an eminent lawyer also brought the usual civil liberties angle to the debate. But deviating from the expected 'sanctity of personal privacy' rhetoric, he hinted at an idea that certain technologies could make the constitutional protections irrelevant:

"... And you are now going in for a technology which has a complete mismatch to this entire constitutional scheme and guarantee. And the mismatch is, well I have got a technology which does not respect India's Constitution, which defies the entire constitutional protection that I have, and that technology, when it drives around the country is in a position to bug everybody else's telephone."
- Mr. Arun Jaitley, MP Rajya Sabha

I am sure the lawmakers can legislate on almost any subject, so if a technology gets out of hand they will find a way to limit and prohibit its usage, just as they do with Nuclear Energy. But what if a new technology comes along that can really make it a nightmare for anyone to regulate its usage - a suicide bomber scenario in technology regulation. At that point, the futility of the laws will be clear for all to see.


Now I don't know if Mr. Jaitley has seen The Dark Knight but the "too much power for anyone to have" premise that he alluded to is also seen in that film's climax. The movie version is a fictional cellphone sonar technology that can basically locate anyone in Gotham city. Batman's ally Lucius Fox raises similar apprehensions as Mr. Jaitley does, although for more philosophical and less political reasons. But in the movie as long as the good guy uses it, its all cool. So the question is if we see the Government of India as the good guy.

Links:
Rajya Sabha Proceedings, 29th April 2010 (Read from Pg 12 onwards): http://164.100.47.5/newdebate/219/29042010/16.00pmTo17.00pm.pdf
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article417847.ece?homepage=true
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lobbyists-phone-tap-revives-2G-scam-row/articleshow/5870446.cms
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2008/07/bat_gadgets

The 3-Way Shake

One thing that no leader can do without in forging an alliance is the actual physical handshake. But hands are normally shook a pair at a time and that can be a problem in situations where there are multiple parties involved. To combat the challenge of maintaining parity in the special case of a three way alliance, especially in international relations where appearance is everything, leaders have successful come up with the 3-way shake.

Getting it done:

- The 3 leaders start by forming a rough triangle while making sure that none of their backs are turned to the cameras. Note: Cameramen must necessarily be arranged as a single short line and not be allowed to encircle the leaders.

- Now all 3 leader grabs each other's hands while maintaining a lefthand to lefthand & righthand to righthand pairing between them. At this point its a good idea to check for any loose hands. Observing schoolgirls play their games will help here.

- After all the 6 hands form 3 neat pairs of simultaneously shaking hand, the leaders have to again adjust themselves to face the cameras while not seeming ungainly.

- An important last check at this point is conducted by making sure that each leader has both his hands crossed across his torso to perform the 3-way shake. This eliminates the possibility to shaking one's own hand.

How it isn't done:

In this picture from 2007, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, Former South African President Thabo Mbeki and the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attempt a 3-way shake with disastrous results. Although the South African and Brazilian Presidents perform their part of the maneuver commendably, the Indian Prime Minister clearly breaks the 4th rule and the 2nd rule of the 3-way shake and is seen here possibly trying to shake his own hand. Bravely though the three leaders try to hush up the glaring faux pas which had thankfully gone unnoticed until now.

Nodding Along

About a year ago I read a tiny book called 'A Very Short Introduction: Machiavelli' by Quentin Skinner. The subject of the book is famous for his unique take on politics and statecraft. Even if they didn't read Machiavelli, every politician does what he wrote about. The section of the book that interested me was the opening section that covered the reasons which led to Machiavelli writing his most famous work - 'The Prince'.

It revealed that while writing this definitive textbook on the cut-throat world of state intrigue and power-grabbing, Machiavelli was simply trying to prove his credentials. Thus for such a monumental work, all that motivated Machiavelli was the idea of impressing one of his readers - the ruler of Florence, to such an extent so as to secure employment for himself. Did he really then believe in all he wrote? Who's to say.

This is the way most creative projects function, without a patron there are no artists, musician or writers. And a patron could be any person who supports or appreciates the endeavor. So most times the works that are regarded as masterpieces are considered so because the viewer (or consumer) perceive them to be great, this view may not necessarily be shared by the creator of the piece.

Since the tastes of the viewer and the creator may differ, today the prior endorsement of the consumers is procured in all the big ticket creative fields. Movies are screened to a test audience before release and books are professionally vetted by the publishers to ensure that the patrons like the 'product'. So creative pieces should not be uncomfortable in being classified as products, because that's what they are - they are in fact the only products that human beings can claim complete ownership of. Therefore if the product needs to be okayed by the consumer, then it is the job of the artist to make sure they get that approval. Otherwise we all would be artists of note.

Take a look at this Bruno interview where he satirically tears apart a fashion designer's work and presents a sorry image of what can be dressed up to be creativity. Sadly though this is the case with most people making a living on being creative, they are just out there to please.



Links:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071018/REVIEWS/710180306
http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/453685.html

Fear and Loathing in Hyderabad

My day yesterday was spent racing through some of the newly expanded riot-hit areas of Hyderabad. All very exhilarating but also extremely annoying at the same time. Communal rioting has returned as the current flavor of the city and all the regionalists of yore seem to have missed the latest bus of political hooliganism. Politics just as fashion, is fickle.

The social engineering required to generate and sustain mobs is an art that cannot be taught. In these scenarios the street coordinators and leaders show great creativity, adaptability and fortitude. But for such mob-making, a cause is necessary. In India there exists a sometime latent, sometime blatant communal antipathy where the biggest reason for the existence of peace is not common understanding but pathetically, plain survival. In such a context, the instigators are squarely labeled as the villains of the piece every time there is a break down in this delicate peace.

Here I propose an alternative. I say that the villains of the story are in fact each and every person who holds dear thoughts that allow that person to be instigated. Therefore if you hold views that are derisive, condescending, hateful/fearful, discriminatory or bigotry then you are part of the problem. This holds even in the case of such privately held opinions - despite the fact that you may be a fair individual, yet you set yourself up to be a candidate with that 'potential'.

The conspiracy regarding who benefited and who instigated are matters that pale in comparison to the kind of long-term antipathy that these incidents create. People's experiences shape their outlook. So when someone goes through a full blown riot, a glimpse of the barbaric and animal nature of man is observed. This generally brings about a de-evolution of behavior on part of the victim too, who waits then for his turn to play his hand. Thus the language of violence is what perpetuates the relation.

In all this, being secular is no help either - candle light vigils cannot extinguish hatred. Instead, providing for a designated field of battle might actually get better results than wishing the issue away from the confines of a sterilized quarantine that is secularism. The cold nature of secularism, where the religious identity held by the people is brushed under the carpet, is in fact a major cause for conflict. The Indian version of secularism is on the one hand embarrassed by its religious subjects but is proud of the diversity of this embarrassment.

Links:
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/03/31/stories/2010033161350100.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%282004_film%29
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/us/25mobs.html?scp=1&sq=flash%20mob&st=cse

Essential Delusions

Imagining forward and projecting into the future is a difficult thing to do. Only the very brave or the very reckless venture to spell out what is not yet there. Having a vision therefore is a motivational strategy to coax others into acting, sometimes even against their better judgment or will. Selling these delusional visions hence becomes very important. There are various methods of selling these delusions, indeed there are many different delusions to be sold:

The Personal Variety:
A more confident, rich, popular or better looking future-you. This is the generic illusion through which the individual should end up buying the products and services advertised. Thus a brighter future for you is what the manufacturers predict (only if their production-line goods are bought). Hence even the most disturbing insurance products try to tempt you into cheerfully betting on your untimely death in order to experience a windfall gain - here your future is great even without your presence in it!

The People Variety:
The populace is made to believe that they will collectively be transported to the "promised land". This is the domain of the government, politicians and leaders. In this future everything surrounding the individual is better. There will be freedom from want and there will be nothing to fear. The developments of science & technology are shown as signs of things to come. We are left to extrapolate the progress graph of civilization to see what the future holds. Glories of the past are reaffirmed and emulation is seen as possible.

The Other Worldly Variety:
The future here is seen from some transcendent place. This is the bastion of non-rationality. The concern for the future is replaced by a concern for something beyond (or beneath) normal explanations. The delusion sold here is that the destination to be arrived at in the future is already known. The organized religions are the main peddlers of this fantasy and their tools vary from inspiration to fear mongering.

A combination of these and other delusions are the essential fuels to the keep the engine of human endeavor running. Ultimately though it has to be recognized that the buyers and the sellers in these transactions are inevitably the same.

Neither and Both

From Mr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi - here is a view on how developments such as the recent Women's Reservation Bill in the Parliament of India are taking the nation in a new and uncharted direction:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/our-wonderful-quotocracy/590788/0

He may or may not be off-target on his 'quotocracy' thesis but the trend is here with us and needs to be understood. As he points out, the question is one of identity but not as one sees oneself, instead how others (read - governments) identify citizens.

We could adopt a hardcore view of individual equality under all circumstances and blindfold ourselves to the disparities. Or we could open our eyes only to see through the tinted glasses of discrimination and subliminality. Either positions are heavily fortified and come with irrefutable arguments. In attempting to solve such a Dharmasankat (moral quandary): India has chosen neither and both.

No Favor

The state of Assam in India is about to assign healthcare as a basic right for its residents. The matter is not voted on yet but the papers seem to hint that this bill will soon be law. This is a first for India and it will open the floodgates which will force the rest of the states to follow suit. The skepticism regarding feasibility and the more sinister search for the benefactors kept aside, this is a brave piece of legislation which will lead to some good.

The government in the state in pursuit of whatever political mileage points has taken up the burden of affording its citizens access to some form of public healthcare. Mind you, they are doing no one any favors. Under Article 47 of the Constitution of India's Directive Principles of State Policy the state is required to do exactly this:

Article 47:
"The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties... "

There are other such Directive Principles in that document which are equally revealing about the state's responsibilities, a pity that none of them are binding on the state. No court can force them to do the right thing, for that they have to grow a conscience and by 'they' I also mean we.

All the legislators everywhere are really our mouthpieces, its called upward delegation in a democracy. They play a game where they try to guess what would please us and go about doing it - like a child would in trying to impress a parent. When the game gets too hard and it becomes difficult to ascertain public taste or mood some get distracted and go and do what politicians are cursed for doing.

But once in a while they get their act together and either by accident or plan actually do their job of lawmaking diligently. And when they do, it is important to note that these lawmakers are only an instrument of enforcing public will, nothing more. So acknowledge their contributions but there is no need to feel grateful.


Link:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/In-a-first-Assam-to-guarantee-right-to-health/articleshow/5673849.cms

Mobs of Mysore

This morning's 'The Hindu' newspaper has a story on a hit and run incident that took place in Mysore yesterday. But what is of greater interest to the paper is the context within which the incident took place. The context being that the accident took place on a contentious stretch of road lined by 200 trees on either side which has been the subject of repeated petitions on the issue of felling of those trees for road widening. Therefore the article concentrated on the happenings after the accident - a flash mob gathered and cut down 25 of those trees.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/10/stories/2010011050020100.htm

On further googling I understand that this is a story with a history. There are a number of players involved - The city corporation & other officials, environmental activist groups, forest department, the courts and finally irate pedestrians. There are accusations and counter accusations, a mix of ideology, pragmatism and activism. Now it seems there is frustration and antagonism. The newspapers too have taken a keen interest in the developments over the past year or so.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-mysore-trees

Civic issues are a microcosm of political activity in the country. When things go out of hand with vested interests, disinformation and vigilante justice prevailing at this basic level of government, it doesn't augur well for governance at every higher tier.

Decapitated State

Andhra Pradesh

Of the happenings in the state in the last few days, there are so many opinions that anything I say would be wrong. Instead here is a video that might act as a metaphor for these times.




Reality Check: This is just a reminder of what India is under its skin.

Related Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8406456.stm

Devil / Deep Blue Sea

Today is poll day in the Hyderabad Municipal Elections. For those who are not convinced, here is an option: Not to record your vote. It is allowed in the system and as strange as it may seem it can be done through Section 49-O of the Conduction of Election Rules, 1961.

How such an exercise of one's franchise enhances democracy is still a question. Maybe it is similar to walking away when nothing on menu is desirable, but the problem of hunger remains.


Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 -

Section 49-O: Elector deciding not to vote.
-If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.


Update, 11:30 AM, 23rd Nov 2009, Jubilee Hills, Ward No: 109, Hyderabad:
On inquiring the returning officer about the provision for casting a "not to record" vote, I was told that it was not possible and that I had to either choose among the candidates available or go home. This time I did walk home unlike the last general elections.

At the cost of seeming to promote anarchy, I can atleast claim to have no part in the sins to be committed in my name. A la Pontius Pilate?

Greater Good

Civic bodies being the oldest form of government have a special place in human societies as opposed to the governments of the state. They exist to act, there is less of a deliberative or legislative function. Citizens cannot avoid interaction with the workings of this last tier of government and the result of large scale apathy can lead to what game theorists call the Tragedy of the Commons. This situation is illustrated in the photograph taken near KBR park in Hyderabad today : What happens when each person leads his Buffalo to graze in public parks?

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Election will be held on the 23rd of November. The last election was held way back in 2002, the council was dissolved after the expiry of its 5 year term. The Corporation was run by the state government through the Commissioner for the past two years until the courts forced the government's hand, hardly a beacon of democracy. The spectacle of mini-rallies are now suddenly seen around the city and suddenly we have "leaders" on every street corner. Post general elections all this seems like comic relief.

Although local body elections are of lesser consequence than state and national elections in the Indian scenario, yet after the 74th Constitutional Amendment of 1992 there is renewed focus on municipal and panchayat elections. Consequentially there is more politicizing of issues which are essentially of a resource distribution and service delivery nature. Therefore there is a huge police bandobust around the city and residents see more security forces out and about than after a bomb scare. All the 5000 licensed weapon holder are directed to surrender their arms during the elections and history sheeters are to be monitored.

Issues that plague Hyderabad are infact no different from any city of a similar size and class around the world - electricity, safe water, roads, affordable housing, sanitation, taxes and so on. What is different though is the composition of the new corporation, GHMC has been expanded to include vast tracts of land (and people) around the city and hence is all the more powerful. With the expanding role of the local media as an extortion agency, the small time politicians too have more mouths to feed before they get their piece of the cake.

GHMC's annual budget of around Rs. 31 billion is controlled by 150 corporators. If done right, the corporation could in theory be looted for about Rs. 200 million per corporator each year (if swindled to 100% efficiency). Therefore the citizens of Hyderabad have to hope that there might yet be some progress on the civic amenities front since attaining such a high hit ratio by the politicians is improbable due to lack of coordination, incompetence, prevalence of individual over collective greed or simple guilt.


More Reading:
1. Indian Express: 20% of Licensed Gun Owners yet to be deposited arms
2. GHMC 2009 Elections Link
3. The Hindu: Media greed during elections causes serious ethical questions
4. Science Magazine: Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin, 1968

Opportunities in the Indian Setup

Here is an interesting Times of India article narrating a blow-by-blow account of Mr. Madhu Koda's activities as the Chief Minister of the State of Jharkhand between 2006 and 2008 (the story is still unfolding , so the narrative may be incomplete).

Beyond the scale of corruption, it is an interesting story of a man's rise and now presumably his fall . Yet there are bigger fish in the country, it's a shame that so many times it is left to our imagination to assimilate their stories of plunder and adventure.