96% women in Delhi say they feel unsafe

I was watching a discussion on a TV news channel earlier this evening about a recent study that has revealed that a whopping 96% of women in Delhi say they feel unsafe in the capital- whether it is in CP, Chandni Chowk or Rohini. What is particularly disturbing about the findings is that girls as young as 10 years are reported to be the most vulnerable.

Now, one had always heard from lady friends that eve-teasing was common in Delhi and the perpetrators were not too subtle about their techniques. But that was maybe 10-15 years ago. One would have thought that things would have improved (in terms of greater public awareness or willingness to help)- but obviously not.

But then, why pick only on our capital? I am sure young girls and women all across India face similar insecurities. Over the last couple of years, many incidents involving women tourists have been reported. The question is: what are we as a nation going to do about it?

“natak” in Karnataka

Recent events in Karnataka highlight the nexus between politics and money- as if we needed a reminder! Not that this is unique to Karnataka. Nor am I an apologist for the beleaguered CM, B S Yeddyurappa. However, I feel annoyed that a few politicians are able to hold the entire state to ransom- pretty much for their personal gain.

If the Reddy brothers are indeed so worried about governance and development, (even if the interest is limited to the Bellary and the erstwhile “Hyderabad Karnatak” area), they should have focused on flood relief work. The timing of the revolt is also suspect, as it comes soon after a toll was imposed on trucks carrying iron ore (the proceeds were to be used for flood relief and rehabilitation work, but that’s another story). And of course, with YSR’s untimely demise in neighbouring AP, the Congress government there has started tightening the screws on the Reddys’ alleged illegal mining activities in that state. (It has been widely reported in the media that the Bellary brothers were close to YSR and that let them get away with a lot of things although they were in opposite political camps).

Maybe Mr Yeddyurappa should seriously consider resigning and letting the Governor figure out whether to invite the Congress or JD or simply recommend President’s rule in the state. If the BJP (or indeed, any other party) cannot keep its rank and file above petty politics, then in my view, that party does not deserve to be in power. Period. It would be interesting to see how many of the “rebel MLAs” who are allegedly holed up in a resort in Hyderabad would be keen to face the people so soon after what has happened (sadly, public memory is short so 12 months later, all will have been forgotten).

Calling mid-term polls would not be in the interest of the state/country, as it would impose a huge drain on our exchequer. But I am rapidly veering to the view that spending a few hundred millions on elections (and hoping the people vote sensibly) may be better than cause protracted loss to the state’s economy- and of course, the nation’s as well.

India-Pakistan relations: a stuck gramophone record

India continues to demand that Pakistan stop adding and abetting terror before talks resume. For its part, Pakistan continues to assert that the evidence provided by India linking specific individuals from Pakistan to the 26/11 attacks is inadequate. It also constantly reiterates the need to seek a resolution to “all outstanding issues”- a not so oblique reference to Kashmir.

It now comes to light that “back-channel diplomacy” came close to achieving significant breakthroughs during Gen. Musharraf’s tenure as President on Sir Creek and also, Siachen. But frankly, it suits interests in both countries to keep the problem simmering, as it affords politicians on both sides the opportunity to divert attention from domestic problems.

Should “austerity” be such a big deal?

For the last few days, Indian media has been working overtime to carry stories about which MP or political leader traveled economy class, who went by train etc. Well, I have news for our mediapersons. To be brutally honest, as an “aam aadmi”, I don’t give a damn about our political leaders’ preferred (or forced) modes of transport. There are other issues of far greater importance that I think the media should focus on!

The post-YSR scenario in Andhra Pradesh

The media is full of reports that YSR’s supporters want his son Jaganmohan Reddy to become the next CM of AP. I suppose in the Congress, this kind of “dynastic” succession is not new; but I was surprised at Jaganmohan Reddy’s apparent silence on the subject. By all counts, he is a political novice, with not even 6 months of “public office experience” under his belt.

I would have thought that leaders like Rahul Gandhi would have prevailed upon YSR’s supporters to support Rosiah (or some other experienced leader) at this time of crisis, and let Jagan accumulate more experience in politics and governance over the next 2-3 years, so that he would have emerged as a clear leader before the next elections. And if he led the party to victory, well, he would have proved himself in battle- and emerged as undisputed leader.

But then maybe I should not have been surprised…. to be honest and fair, the last word has not been written to YSR’s successor. Perhaps the Congress will still redeem itself.

The proposed reforms to Std X “Board Exams”

As someone who took his CBSE Std X “Board Exams” (and got through them, I hasten to add) a long time ago, I must admit that my first reaction to Union HR Minister Kapil Sibal’s plans to do away with “Board Exams” was on the lines of “wish it had happened when I was in Grade 8″.

But as a parent, I must confess to a feeling of unease. I completely agree with the need to “destress” kids and make education more fun than the drudgery it has become. But is the way to do so making “Board Exams” optional? And given the large numbers of students our schools produce every year, competition is already very stiff to get admission to colleges with decent faculty & infrastructure (never mind “reputation” or “kewl quotient”). By introducing grades instead of marks, how will educational institutions distinguish between a student with an A+ (say the equivalent of 96% marks) and another student, who also has secured an A+ (but has scored maybe 95% or 97%). And since this change will impact only schools affiliated to the CBSE, what happens to students who study in schools affiliated to the ICSE or IB- or even the so-called “State Board” schools? Is a student with an “A” (CBSE) better than a student with 90% (ICSE) or 94% (State Board)?

Will this step result in parents rushing to get their children admitted to a school system where “Board Exams” are optional? Do these schools have the capacity to absorb so many students from other systems? Or will other Boards follow suit and migrate towards a uniform system of “grades”?

A large part of India’s success and indeed, the enjoyed by Indian diaspora outside India, is arguably due to the grind the Indian education system put them through. They may not remember the year in which Babur invaded India or what the directive principles of state policy mean- but on average, the product of the Indian education system is fairly well-informed about various things. Even more important, s/he is accustomed to pressure and well aware of the need to work hard.

Mr Sibal, while I do not question your motives, please do spare a thought for the long-term competitiveness of our country.

Problems, problems everywhere… no solution in sight

The virtual decimation of many political parties in the recent elections has strengthened the UPA’s hand. Now, with the BJP getting mired deeper and deeper in quagmire, it would prima facie appear that the UPA has much to rejoice about as it completes 100 days in power in its second innings.

But let’s not forget that the general economic situation is far from happy. The truant monsoon is compounding the nation’s woes, as prices of essentials like rice, dal, sugar etc. are spiralling almost out of control. And then of course there is the H1N1 problem (“swine flu”).

Things are not great on the foreign policy front either. The PM’s joint statement with Pakistan at Sharm-al-Sheikh has not exactly galvanized either side to action aimed at resolving the problem. In fact, there is now greater evidence of cross-border inflitration. With the onset of winter, this process will only likely increase.

The border issues with China too remain unresolved. If recent media reports are to be believed, there are influential thinkers in China who are actively working on strategies to balkanize India. And to be honest, with so many parts of the country already fighting separatist elements (or people fighting for “self-determination”, if looked at from another angle), it is not difficult to keep these fires blazing. To my mind, only sustainable development of all parts of the country, combined with greater decentralization at perhaps the Panchayat level, can effectively stamp out the desire for secession or “independence”. But this requires more than blind reliance on the “trickle-down” effect; it requires political courage and conviction across political parties to take a united stand, putting the interests of the country before personal or parochial agenda.

By the end of the year, India will have to take a stand at the upcoming Climate Change summit at Copenhagen. As always, balancing ecology with economy remains a challenge for a country like India and it remains to be seen how much investment we can afford to make in “clean technology” even as we need to urgently upgrade standards of living across the country.

Good luck, Dr Singh and team!

Of Kandahar and Kilotons

Mr Jaswant Singh’s expulsion from the BJP has really stirred the pot. His revelation that Mr L K Advani was well aware of the “hostages for terrorists” deal (notwithstanding the latter’s vocal protestations of ignorance in the matter) has further thrown the BJP into disarray. It may also well be the last nail on Mr Advani’s political career. Personally, I wish Mr Advani had stepped down after the recent Lok Sabha elections. By having done so, he may not have been spared the ignominy of Mr Jaswant Singh’s revelations, but at least his purported prevarication may not have become the millstone around the BJP’s neck that it now has.

An equally important, if puzzling, statement came from Dr Santhanam (formerly of the DRDO and Project Director of the Pokhran II test conducted a decade ago), essentially questioning the yield of the test. Dr Santhanam has claimed that the yield was no more than around 25 Kilotons, well under the then-claimed yield of 45 Kilotons.  Some analysts are reading into the statement an expression of India’s intent to conduct another test, while some others have adopted an “I told you so” stance, having themselves assessed the yield at closer to 20KT than 45KT.  The world has changed in the decade since Pokhran II in terms of geopolitical polarity, economic strength as well as political imperatives. I doubt that India can afford to conduct another test, what with the India-US nuclear agreement. But then strange things are known to happen… we can only wait and watch to see what is the fallout of this series of claims and counter-claims by various personalities who are supposedly in the know of what actually transpired back then in 1998.

Bad experience with Kotak Securities

To parody an old song:

“Eye eye oh what shall I do, how should I save my skin?”

“I got stuck with Kotak PMS and now look at the mess I’m in!”

I have had a pretty bad experience with Kotak’s PMS. Sadly for me, I got in 2 years ago. A couple of months after I invested, the markets started tanking (and how!). I accept that as systematic risk. But over the past 18 months, returns have consistently remained poor irrespective of whether markets were going south or there was a general spurt in the Indian equity markets. So much for Kotak’s famed research and active management of portfolios!

And now that the portfolio has been liquidated, there is a delay in the proceeds being credited to my account. The cheque should have come in by 7th or 8th July at the latest so that I could have deposited it before 10th and earned interest. As the cheque has yet to reach me, I have suffered interest loss as well as opportunity loss in making fresh investments. SEBI should monitor “T+3″ across the industry, as I suspect there is more violation than compliance- at least in case of retail investors.

I can only rationalize that the “management fees” I paid Kotak Securities each year was towards teaching me a valuable lesson: stay away from Portfolio Management Schemes in general, and Kotak’s PMS offerings in particular. Expensive lesson, I must add.

I would be keen to know if others have had a similar experience with Kotak- or indeed, other such companies as well.

It’s great to be back!

I’ve been plain lazy these last 3 months, and not blogged. Of course, during this time I changed jobs and was traveling overseas for a couple of weeks so I guess I have a half-decent excuse! But to be honest, I’d have to admit that sloth and lethargy did play a role too.

I am not presumptuous enough to assume that I was missed- although it would be nice to think I was.

In any case, a lot has happened over the past 3 months or so around the world and I shall now try and share my unrequited views on some of them.

India’s elections resulted in a perhaps unexpected win for the UPA. More importantly, a lot of the pre-election calculus about pre- and post-poll alliances was proved to be hype- or even irrelevant. The BJP and the Left were all but humiliated, while political stalwarts like  Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan were made to eat humble pie.  As was only to be expected, post-election introspection has resulted in finger-pointing and dirty linen being washed in public.

India’s much-vaunted T20 cricket team made a hurried exit from the T20 World Cup in England. With the exception of Yuvraj Singh, none of our other cricketers made much impact. The younger players were found out by some good short-pitched bowling and the same frailty continued to be exploited by the West Indies quick bowlers on India’s tour of the Caribbean soon after the T20. Happily for us, rain intervened and we squeaked through with a 2-1 win, courtesy the Duckworth-Lewis rule.

Michael Jackson’s life came to a tragic- and sudden- end just weeks before a comeback tour in London. Undoubtedly, MJ was one of the biggest performers in the world of music and dance and the world will miss him. I just hope the media stops trying to generate TRPs from the sleazier details of his life and lets his family get on.

After a spurt in the BSE sensex over a 6 week period starting mid-May, the volatility has returned to the equity markets.

Worries about a truant monsoon are gathering strength. Several parts of India have made up for the delay (if some reports are to be believed) and what began as a 50-60% deficit has reduced to a 5-10% deficit. But several parts of north India continue to reel under a heat wave, with both electricity and water in short supply.

The price of democracy

As the world’s most populous democracy moves closer to elections, I, as a citizen, am getting more and more worried about the political realignments and constantly changing political calculus.

Regional parties have begun to flex their muscles- which is good- but I worry that the leaders of such parties lack the national (forget global) perspective required to lead India at a particulalrly fragile time in its history. At the state level, regional parties are likely to understand the issues and the solutions better. But at the national level, we need leaders who have the vision and courage of conviction.

I do not mean to imply that leaders of regional parties cannot acquire such vision, or that they are incompetent. My fear is that in the next 2-3 years, when we need really good and deft governance, such regional parties will spend more time in fissiparous squabbles with their numerous coalition partners rather than focus on putting India firmly back on the path to 9+% GDP growth. Foreign policy matters too must be managed adroitly, given the instability looming in Pakistan and President Obama’s policies, that might in act, stoke the fires in the short term.

I sincerely hope that this time round, at least the educated voter will exercise his/her franchise carefully, and with due thought to the likely outcome of his/her vote. What is also needed is for us as a nation to vote- and not just cavil and carp about pathetic politicians and poor policies after we have forfeited our chance to influence who forms the next government.

And finally, I fear that all pre-poll rhetoric and posturing notwithstanding, our shameless netas will not flinch to get into the right beds once the results are announced, in order to consummate their marriages of political convenience.

Instability in the neighborhood

Over the last few days, the fledgling democracy in Pakistan has come under severe stress. By banning Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif and imposing Governor’s rule in Punjab, President Zardari has weakened democracy. Not surprisingly, the Sharif brothers are spearheading a mass movement that seems to be spreading.

The situation is a double whammy. On the one hand, the Taliban is seen to be making serious inroads into Pakistan across the Afghan border. Parts of he Swat Valley are already believed to be under Taliban control. On the other hand, the fragile deomocracy is on the verge of collapse. The Army Chief, Gen. Kiyani, has already spoken to President Zardari and virtually served him an ultimatum: bring the country back to order quickly or else…

The bigger threat arising from an unstable Pakistan is the effect this is likely to have not just on India, but also on the world. The Afghanistan-Pakistan border has repeatedly been called out as the hotbed of all terrorist activities. Imagine the conflagration that this tinderbox can cause by an ill-advised terror strike anywhere on earth.

India is busy with her own elections and the current government is a “lame duck” at best. Of course, the reality of coalition politics also means that even if a full-fledged government were in power, there is little that it could have done. It is high time that governments that have some leverage in Pakistan step in and prevent the country from returning to military rule. Should that happen, the whole world will be at even greater risk.

Federer vs Nadal

I was hoping Federer would win the Australian Open today and equal Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam titles. Sadly, that was not to be. In a hard-fought 5 setter, a younger, fitter Rafael Nadal got the better of Roger Federer (7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2) in a match that lasted nearly 4.5 hours.But I have to confess that “Rafa” was awesome. His fierce cross-court returns, top-spinning slices and volleys won him the day. And keep in mind that he played the finals one day after another 5 hour semi-final where he was extended by compatriot Fernando Verdasco (Nadal won 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4).

I have not seen Federer teary-eyed before and at some level, it was gut-wrenching to see a champion of his stature and class crying. But what struck me even more was Nadal’s empathetic response: at the award ceremony, he began by saying “sorry for today”- that he was sorry for having beaten Federer and denying him his 14th Grand Slam.Nadal went on to say that Federer is a champion and that he would equal Sampras’ record soon.

Here’s wishing Federer his 14th Grand Slam in 2009- and “Rafa” many more successes in the years ahead.

Republic Days are not the same anymore

As a child (age 5-15) and even during the next decade, I remember the joy and enthusiasm with which my friends and I used to watch the Republic Day parade and celebrations. Somehow, the sight of those advanced weapons being displayed used to instil a sense of confidence and security, although I remember asking my father when I was 10 or 11 years old whether it was a good idea to display our military might so openly. My naive mind assumed that enemy powers waited for our Republic Day parades to figure out what defence systems we had!

Today, I am older- and wiser- and realize that the  “intelligence networks” work 24×7, 365 days a year to try and keep our country safe. And therein lies the irony. As a nation, we still display our weapons systems at Rajpath. But as a people, our sense of security is far lower now than it was 15 or 20 years ago. Terrorists are trying to outsmart security forces and the “intelligence” agencies. Even this morning, 2 suspected terrorists were killed in UP, supposedly trying to enter Delhi in time to unleash terror and mayhem tomorrow.

Although we as a nation have made creditable strides in many areas, the basic sense of unalloyed pride and joy at our progress is marred by a veil of fear.

The world is smoking dope!

Ever since the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, the US, UK, India and several other governments from around the world have been asking the Pakistan government to take tangible action against various elements hat are believed to be fomenting terror.

Not surprisingly, nothing much has happened. Several sympathetic noises around “cooperating with India” later, and even more admonishments that “Pakistan should do more”, there is still no tangible action. The Pakistan government’s stand has been that there is no evidence that India has presented, that incontrovertibly establishes Pakistan’s links with the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.

India has provided some evidence, but perhaps not all, for it fears that sharing everything might compromise its counter-terrorism capabilities. Besides, the “evidence” may be used as an input to refining the training programs conducted for future batches of terrorists.

Personally, I do not expect the Pakistan government to do much in terms of arresting Dawood Ibrahim or banning the Jamaat Ud Dawa. Firstly, any such action would be tantamount to accepting complicity. Secondly, the civilian government of Pakistan is not really in control of the ISI and others that are really the moneybags, trainers and motivators behind the jihadis.

Military action is not the solution- for that will only unite the various factions across Pakistan’s polity. Perhaps international sanctions alone will work- and even then, only if China agrees to be a part of the coalition imposing sanctions- and more importantly, does not renege on its commitment for furthering its own geopolitical agenda.

President Obama inherits a very tricky situation indeed. That India will also go to the polls in the next 6 months or so does not help the cause.