BPL –MSA Rekha

BPL –MSA Rekha

Recently, my, self- assumed prowess in Macro economics was put to severe test by a kid – the daughter of our maid -servant doing a degree course in economics. She was probably doing a project work and was collecting data and views. She wanted to know my views on BPL and the amount fixed by Shri M.S.Ahluwalia to determine the BPL. Being an Engineer by qualification I knew I was in for some trouble expressing my views. The conversation/data collection went on the following lines:

“Uncle, what do you think of BPL?”

The BPL I knew was British Physical Laboratories now rechristened BPL India. Then I realised she was not exposed to BPL. Though BPL deals in many products the present generation knows only about Korean products. Then the men with the ‘Blue turbans’ flashed in my mind. I asked, “Oh, below poverty line, what about that?”

“First they fixed it at Rs32 per day and later revised it to Rs28- for Urban area, do you agree with that?”

“Agree with what the figure or lowering?”

“Both”

The last I had heard of Mr.Keynes was in 1974 when I was browsing through my wife’s text book in 1974 as, I waited for her to reach home from college. She was doing her BA in Economics. As I was musing, the girl’s voice brought me back. She continued, “Uncle, is it practically possible for anyone to live in Rs32 per day even in Rural area leave alone Rs28 in urban area?”

Though my wife was doing the function of purchasing the grocery, I was the one who paid for the milk coupons every month. That knowledge came in handy. Immediately I exclaimed, “Absurd. That is the cost of one litre of milk. What about fuel, the grocery, electricity, medical, and many other expenses?”

When I was in second year Engineering we were doing machine design and one of my batch mates had worked out the design of a gear wheel. Those days we had just graduated from calculation with log tables to Slide Rule. Calculators came into existence in the late ‘70s. We had to be careful while using the Slide rule especially for extraction of cube roots etc. Due to carelessness my batch mate arrived at a design of a gear wheel with 1.2Metre diameter and the number of teeth was TWO! We did not realize the mistake until we sat down to draw a gear wheel of 1.2M having two teeth. This Rs28 is as absurd.

Ashwini continued. “What is the importance of declaring such figures?”

Not being an economist I didn’t have an answer. But I cooked up one. “By showing low figures they want to attract foreign tourists. All hippies can come here in Bermudas and lie all over the place like litter. The real expenses are not accounted for. They are like fine prints in any invoice, contracts, Insurance policies, and stuff like that”. She seemed to believe me. She was noting down vigorously in her pocket book.

I continued like an all knowing expert like Vinod Sharma – you know the guy who features in TimesNow newshour debates.”People will have faith in government that cost of living in Bharat is ridiculously low and that people would not mind accommodating many refugees from across the borders at the expense of the common man. Well for the government it is vote bank”

“Mmmmm I get it”

Aswini: “What are the other merits of low MSA Rekha.” The kid was smart. She was catching up fast.

“You know Ashwini, BPL people are real seculars. They don’t differentiate between various religious places of worship. They go to all of them for begging. You have separate queues for BPL group. Show photographs and enjoy tax waivers, concessions and bring in more money as NGOs and you don’t have to distribute it to only BPL. Other religious houses can identify targets for potential conversions.”

Ash: “What else can be done for BPL?”

“We can have special Sonia Gandhi Tandrusti Yojana for BPL”

“What’s that?”

“Special wards in Five Star hospitals for BPL”

I found I was showing my wisdom at every step. My self-esteem had sky rocketed.

Ash: “How do you identify BPL?”

“Aha I knew you would ask that. There is Diggy Raja side income yojana for legislators. Legislator and only a legislator can certify a BPL eligibility person in his ward/constituency. He can charge 25 days BPL rates as the fee for such certificates. You see this is like Man power consultancy. You can fix one month’s wages. But being a public servant it is limited to 25days aggregate value.”

Ash: “Any other add-ons?”

“We can conduct seminars to improve the lot of BPL. Prof Arindam Choudhary , Swaminathan A Aiyar, etal can help in it. We can have farms growing soya beans to enable BPL to live within the means. Excess production can be exported. We have to set up a committee (read lobbyists) comprising Niira Radia, BDutt, ARaja, PChidambaram to lobby for a Nobel Prize for Sonia Gandhi for assigning this BPL fixation job to MrMSAhluwalia. Simply brilliant.  You see Ashwini there will always be some bad side effects to every scheme. There will be some scams to the tune of crore of crore rupees. So media will have debates with Vinod Sharma, Vinod Mehta, Arnab Goswami, Renuka Choudhry,Team Anna members discussing the issue threadbare and taking positions because the nation wants to know and give solutions which will never be implemented.”

I continued,” Last but not the least, our democracy is based on Westminster system where we have two legislative houses –The houses of commons and Lords-  Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. With this concept of BPL we will have Bhikhari Sabha with separate members. The representatives will only be from BPL fraternity and they will outnumber the parliamentarians’ strength by five times. There will be new parties contesting with election symbols like begging bowl, mended dhotis, lungis, burqas, coats etc.”

I was proud of myself when Ashwini looked at me with adoring eyes and thanked me profusely for my brilliant discourse on BPL and left. I think I owe it to Montek.

Jai Bharat

Family Politics: Bloodlines- Local versus Global

Family Politics: Bloodlines- Local versus Global: WAVING GOODBYE? The latest oxymoron in my list is Family-Politics! After being humbled by the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the he...

Dear Ushyji, well written. The son/daughter - father/mother combination is generally an anathema in Indian politics. Though we have merged into Union of states called Bharat we still seem to cling on to Monarchy in a different form.

The combination is not unique to any one state/region/religion. The list is long like Abdullahs, Yadavs, Gowdas, Thakerays, Karunanidhis,Reddys,...I have deliberately omitted Gandhis.The list is endless. This modified monarchy is hereditary disease. I do hope we get mukti ASAP. The one way we can break the heredity is by electing well meaning singles like Mr Narendra Modi of BJP. JJ is another example. We had ABV.


Jai Bharat

Family Story

FAMILY STORY

My seven year old grand-daughter - Aakriti – was in a mood to hear some stories. Being a grand-pa I could not tell her grand-ma stories. So I convinced her that I would narrate one of my boyhood incidents. Moreover I am no Amitabh Bachan or Amin Sayani endowed with rich voice to make the narration interesting with fine voice modulation. I started :

“Aakku, you know I was the youngest at home then. It is a curse to be youngest in a Hindu home and oldest in Muslim home”

“Why Tatta?”

“Because you end up doing all the errands”

“How?”

“ If you are a Muslim  the command will be polite. ‘Bade miyaan jara chai banaa dijiye’ ,  and so on. If a Hindu the command will not be polite though. ‘Hey Guddu, news paper lao. Boot polish karo’, and so on.

In my case I had to fetch the items from grocer, pay the electricity bill, get the footwear mended by the cobbler etc. Your great grand-father i.e. my father was slightly sentimental besides being thrifty. Once he had purchased a pair of slippers from ‘Congress Exhibition’ and attached sentimental value to it. Even after few years of use and several mending he would not discard it. I had the misfortune of getting it mended every time. First, the heel was replaced; then the sole; then the top parts one by one. At one point of time none of the parts was original. Finally the cobbler refused to mend it any more time and my father had to forcibly discard it.”

“Didn’t you foresee it and do something about it?”

“Yes. I foresaw it. I used to save an anna each time with an intention of buying a new pair for him. But little did I realize that the price was rising steeply just like now. My dream of buying a new pair for him was illusory like a mirage.”

“Tatta, what is a mirage?”

“It is an optical illusion like on a bright sunny day you feel there is water at a distance but there is none.”

“Illusion?”

“It’s like this. From your piggy bank savings you think you can buy a Barbie doll. But when you go to buy it, I shell out ten times as much to buy a doll actually.”

“I got it. But what are you advising, not to do saving?”

“No.  The savings should be done and the savings shall be effectively used to get something durable, and be careful while using and get a standard quality product from proper source without falling for sales gimmicks.”

“Alright tatta” 

By that time the door bell rang and her playmate Anagha was there at the entrance. Before both of them jointly asked for something I slipped from there.

However, my musing continued. What I didn’t tell her was that the story I partly made up was allegorical. At her age she doesn’t understand politics. The pair of slipper was the so called Indian National Congress which was completely changed in 1967 including the election symbol. My father had replaced the pair within two years of buying. He was a wise man, so he started following ‘Swatantra’ party when it was formed.

The sad part is the father of the nation is remembered only for a national holiday and not for his ideologies. Gandhi-ism was cremated on 30th Jan 1948 as Sati. Now, Gandhigiri is a dirty word and is considered a ‘black-mail’. Even principal opposition party calls INC, a 125 yr old party. Silly.

I earnestly hope, my compatriots remember to elect and select quality products, do not forget to save.

Bapu would have said, HEY RAM. I am semi-secular. I say JAI BHARAT

GNOSIS: India Against Corruption movement at Ramlila ends with TAINTED NETAS taking center stage

GNOSIS: India Against Corruption movement at Ramlila ends with TAINTED NETAS taking center stage

Terrorist – Good or Bad?

Terrorist – Good or Bad?

Couple of days ago, my seven years old grand-daughter, appeared very excited. She had probably learnt something new in the school. While eating a piece of chocolate I had given her, she started conversing with me.

She asked, “Thatha who or what is a terrorist?”

I replied, “Anything which terrifies others is a terrorist”.

“Is a terrorist good or bad?”

I found the conversation becoming tricky. I wanted to play safe. I  replied, “it depends on who is terrified”.

“No thatha, you sound like that politician uncle”.

I tried to explain, “Generally, the terrorist is bad, but at times could also be good”. I wanted to try the Robinhood   angle.

“Does he have a beard?”

“No, he could be clean shaven”.

“In the movies they always show them with beard”.

I tried another  logic. “See, all bearded people are not terrorists. Like PM uncle. But he could be a victim of a terrorist.”

She persisted. “Is a terrorist good or bad?”

I tried to explain again. “Like the doctor uncle tells us there are good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, there are good terrorists and bad terrorists.”

“Cholesterol?”  She did not understand. Nor, I knew. Before I exposed my ignorance, I continued. “Like there are good bacteria and bad bacteria”. She seemed to understand. Must be her general science teacher is too good.

“What is the complexion of the terrorist?”

“By complexion you mean colour? Chidu uncle says they are either red or saffron colour”.

“Must be, Chidu uncle did not attend a Montessori school, when he was young. Either he does not know other colours, or he may be colour blind”.

I realized, I was treading a dangerous line of conversation. I tried changing the topic.

She asked again, “Are terrorists good or bad?”

I tried the movies angle. I just remembered Mani Ratnam’s Nayakan. I said, “if it turns out to be good to few people, The terrorist can be considered good.”

“Thatha, you say PM uncle who is bearded, is good, but he is terrified of clean shaven Swami uncle. Is Swami uncle a terrorist?”

I started panicking. “That’s what the congresswallahs think.”

“That’s not important, what you think matters”.

I mumbled inaudibly, “He is good”

“What should he do to prove he is not a terrorist?”

“He should probably wear a fancy dress and attend an ‘Iftaar’ party”.

I left immediately before she asked “What’s an ‘iftaar’ party?”

I did not want to complicate the conversation by telling her that other than good and bad terrorists there

are also ugly terrorists like the media who always lie, the babus and judges who are corrupt.

If I happen to meet Swami uncle, I am itching to ask him one question- “Neenga nallavara, kettavara?”.

I can visualize his telling, “Theriyalaiyeppa”.

         

open letter to the Indian nationals - series

Open letters to Indian nation and nationals

There are many groups under this classification. Therefore, I would like to write a series of open letters separately. I promise you this will not be a mega-serial under the banner   of ‘Balaji Telefilms’. I hope every one concerned reads these letters/appeals of mine keeping aside alter ego, arrogance, before adversely reacting and criticizing. The first in the series is obviously going to be addressed to the PM.

Dear Mr. PM,

Your taciturnity in all matters concerning Indian welfare, economy, cost of living, foreign affairs, corruption, erring cabinet colleagues and party colleagues, coalition partners etc. is quite appalling to say the least. I have more to append to the open letter to you by Ms.Sharmila Ravinder.

Your long silence on A.Raja, Maran et.al amounts to abetment to crime, which I am given to understand draws stern punishment under IPC, if the offender was an ‘aam aadmi’.Every one says stern punishment under IPC, if the offender was an ‘aam aadmi’. Every one says you are honest. But your silence supports dishonesty. You are seemingly protecting many who are real offenders, even if not voluntarily. Thereby you are being dishonest with yourself. The ‘aam aadmi’ perception is you are a puppet and the other end of the string ends up in Washington DC via 10,Janpath and Rome.

My nickname for you is Musharraf Singh. I picked up the Arabic word ‘musharraf’ while working in Libya.  Musharaff means ‘I don’t know’. You always maintained that you did not know  what went on or goes on in various ministries and also in PMO where you are the boss, or is it Soniaji who is the boss?

The spokespersons of Congress say that it is the prerogative of only the elected members to draft any bill. In that event since you are not elected ,you have no business to talk on ‘Lokpal Bill’. You refused to stand for election, probably because you are unelectable.

You are aware, corruption and dishonesty, though are complementary, they are not synonymous. The corrupt (people), lure others to become dishonest. The compensation to fall into the trap is in cash or kind or offer of position of power.

If as you claim, you are determined to root out corruption you would know well where to begin. You seem to be crooning the old song “where do I begin?”. If you are really at a loss as to how to tackle this monster, the best way out is to resign as PM and join some one like Anna Hazare.

In my younger days, whenever I recommended a skilled worker to be promoted as supervisor, my factory manager who was very wise (He is no more now), told me that though my intentions were good, my proposal was not implementable. He said, we would lose a good worker and get a bad supervisor. The loss is double. Yes, Mr.Manmohan Singh, we probably lost a good economist and got a bad and ineffective PM .

Further, you weakened the position of PM, by letting SC do all the monitoring and action on your behalf. You pretend to be asleep. It is impossible to wake you up.

To, summarise, your contribution to this great nation, as a PM is zero. You stand a good chance of being  chosen as a president in future, as any establishment will be happy with your attitude of inaction and docility.

Very disappointedly yours,

Aam Aadmi

Indian Scenario and Babagiri

Indian Scenario and Babagiri

Every Indian must be very conscious about the current developments vis-à-vis corruption or rather fight against it and more anxious about the outcome. The main player so far had been Anna Hazare and the latest entrant on the scene is Baba Ramdev. The others likely to be drawn into the scene are Sri Sri Ravishankar and the likes of him. There is a misconception that Baba is a godman and therefore a preconceived hatred towards Baba Ramdev like all other godmen. Some so called elitists have started waving verbal black flags before even hearing him out and trying to understand him and they have already concluded that whatever he is fighting for must be a wrong cause. Instead of being subjective, an objective assessment would be better.

Undoubtedly, corruption is the worst malady afflicting the nation acting against our growth and one of the root causes for high cost of living. The ill gotten money is pumped into our system through hawala route. The disposal of the black money is by investment in the land and real estate by the sinners and further inflation is caused by renting out these properties to the SMEs. Further, shares the loot by service tax on the rentals. Rent is one of the main components in the costing of the products.

When Sanju Baba glorified Gandhigiri every one appreciated it. But, when Ramdev Baba adopts Gandhigiri by ‘Bhookh Hartal’ government detests it and labels it ‘Blackmail’, because it is an impediment to their personal growth and aspirations. Like true politicians they gave false promises to Anna, and tried every trick in the books to make it a non-starter. Now they are spreading false propaganda and oppose it by proxy. The main proxy actors who have taken up the cudgel are Vinod Mehta, Arnab Goswami, Sagarika Ghose and the likes of them. One of the arguments is, when government is already talking to Anna, what is the need for Baba’s threat of fasting. Similar argument was put forth for JPC when PAC was already constituted. It is plainly a diversionary ploy and dirty trick.

What is wrong in Baba’s suggestion of demonetization of currency notes, harsh punishments for the corrupt and action for speedy recovery of Indian money stashed in a country that is a tax haven. What is wrong in his joining hands with Anna, after all the causes of are complementary. What is wrong if he agrees with Anna that PM and chief justices should come under the ambit of Lokpal Bill/Act.

During the so called news hour debates, a doubt was raised – what if Baba does a U-turn and joins hands with ruling establishment and abandons his mission. He has created so much image in the public eye that he will not abandon his mission even if it occurs to him momentarily at some stage. I am reminded of ‘guide’ – a picture in the sixties based on a novel by R.K.Narayan when the guide dons a saffron robe accidentally and is thought to be a ‘swami’.

A doubt was raised that a spiritual/yoga guru can not lead the people in matters of national concern. Nobody dared to put forth such argument when Dhirendra Brahmachari , Chandraswami were part of a kitchen cabinet. People readily accepted  views of Swami Vivekananda and Ramana Maharishi.

I am also reminded of Mahatma Gandhi when he said in a Congress session that in the meetings  members made speeches for each other. The masses were untouched. Is Baba Ramdev not doing just that – rallying the masses by direct contact. The cabinet ministers like Chidambaram arrogantly use jargons and talk about GDP etc. which makes no sense to a common man. But they understand the cost of bread, corruption etc. Spiritual gurus are able to touch the masses and give them solace. There are well meaning members of the Civil Society like Kiran Bedi , who are extending able assistance to Baba and Anna. I would go one step further and suggest to both Baba and Anna that they should hire the services of script writers like Javed Akhtar who will write dialogues like ‘paapi pet ka sawal hai’ or ‘garib ke pet mein laath nahin maro saheb’ .  

Kudos to Baba and Anna for taking the cudgels on behalf of ‘aam aadmi’ and I already visualize the politicians and the government in particular shaking.