Lalu Yadav meets HBS

A couple of days ago I watched on the news something that I would call the most memorable one liner of the year. And of course it came from none other than the inimitable Lalu Yadav.

He was meeting a contingent of students from Harvard B School who were eager to learn how he had managed to turn around the Indian Railways...

At the end of the session someone in the audience asked him sth about the internet or the world wide web( or sth to that effect) to which he replied :

"Dubloo Dubloo (ww..) Babloo ka Bhai Hai... "

I was rotfl ...

Science or Democracy?

Imagine the following situation: It's armageddon. All hell has broken loose, the world is about to come to an end. In his sympathy for the lot of his creation, God descends from the heavens and tells us that he shall make a last ditch attempt to save us. But by some divine whim, he decrees that in his future exiestence, man is only allowed to have only one of the following: science or democracy. Man must choose and keep only one of both.

I have baffled myself over this question over the last couple of days and predictably enough i do not have an answer. I do not know if there is a satisfactory means for arriving at an answer to questions such as this. I mean if man can claim that he has achieved anything substantial in the period of his existence on earth, I believe it can be attributed to either of these two things. Science has changed our lives and taught us all we know about ourselves and the world(and beyond). But democracy has defined our success as a civilization as opposed to the failures of the generations that have preceded us. How are we to choose one over the other?

If we choose science and let go of democracy, we'll slip into chaos. Lawlessness will prevail or we shall go back to the days of repression under dynastic rule, subject to the whims and fancies of a few.

If we choose democracy and let go of science, we are doomed to remain ignorant unto eternity, with no hope of moving forward as a species.

I once read an excerpt from a book by Bertrand Russel, in which he argued that scientific knowledge is useless, even dangerous without the sense to apply it correctly. He essentially implied that our emotional quotient is perhaps as important and indispensable as our intelligence quotient. Man has achieved great feats and shall continue to do so armed with science and tools of scientific enquiry, but if science is not guided by good sense and applied positively, we may soon face annihilation.

So maybe questions such as this one are among those which have no answer. You or I may have an opinion, but I am loath to believe that anyone can claim with certainty that any one argument is more rational than the other. In fact as humans I think we should be happy that we are confounded by such questions. It only means that we are mature enough to fathom the importance of both science and democracy. For once maybe,no answer is a good answer.

Dangerous Trends

Over the last couple of years, India has experienced phenomenal growth. The Sensex has moved to all time highs and has made experts euphoric about the future. Thanks to a global surge the economy is growing at a whopping 9%, although those levels are less likely to remain sustainable in the event of a global slowdown triggered by an American recession. In any case India has a great growth story to tell in the coming years.

But what’s worrying is the socio-political drift in the country. Politicians are talking dangerous. Well, what I or a certain section of society sees as dangerous may be welcomed by others. But the Indian political horizon is changing fast by any standards. At the centre of the storm is the very controversial issue of social justice. Well, social equity is certainly a goal for all democracies, yet the way you implement it may make or break you as a nation.

What India is trying to implement and what I find most alarming is ‘Equity by Brute Force’. This essentially means that the Indian state is trying to be an external, artificial agent of change in one of the largest and most diverse demographies in the world.

When you undertake forced change on such a grand scale there are bound to be repercussions. For one, the changes that are being proposed are politically motivated. We would all be kidding ourselves if we said we didn’t know that our leaders are trying to score votes with a certain section of society.

I do not stand for social inequity; I only believe that it cannot be brought about by artificial means. In the 21^st century, the only way of raising people out of poverty and backwardness is through an agenda of economic liberation.

Our politicians need to facilitate poverty alleviation by creating an atmosphere that will allow wealth generation to flourish. The state should not be a direct agent of change. It should allow the forces of Globalization and Free Trade to shape Indian society.

To be more precise and forthright, instead of bickering about reservations and the cost of implementing them, our country should invest resources in building infrastructure (read roads, power, telecom) that will facilitate and attract investment. I believe it is this investment that will liberate the backward sections of society by trickling down to the lowest levels.

When Income levels rise across the board in all sections of society, people will value education and go after it with all the resources that they can expend. This, I believe will create more lower caste scholars than any reservation programme in the world.

Another dangerous trend is the criminalization of politics. Well, individuals may argue that this has been around really long. But the effects felt now shall be greater than ever before. Because now, more than ever before India needs a transparent system of governance to assist in the economic boom. Any factor that destabilizes transparency and security in the country will eventually slow us down-something that we cannot afford at this point in time.

The conflict between the legislature and judiciary has spiraled almost out of control now. It is not a matter of coincidence that the judiciary has moved forward to reign in the excesses of a corrupt legislature. But then, the judiciary cannot go on and on. Who is to say this wanton wielding of power will not corrupt the judiciary? (Remember what Acton said?)

Well, what we need is a more accountable legislature, not an overactive judiciary. Of course, they ought to go hard at crime, but beyond that the legislature needs to make itself more transparent by ensuring that it keeps out criminal, manipulative elements in the first place.

India is at the crossroads. Where we go from here will define us in the next decade. We can either grow into a strong, secure democracy with a wealthy populace or a failed state where economic chaos is the norm. These are interesting times.

Microcredit and Woman Power

This year the Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to a guy closer to home-Mohammed Yunus from Bangladesh. What’s his claim to fame? Well, for one, this guy went ahead and revolutionized banking in a predominantly rural Bangladesh. How did he do it? Woman empowerment silly! You know... the age old idea that women manage money better than men and all…well, he put it to practice.

By championing the cause of Microcredit and lending with a bias towards the fairer sex, Yunus ensured that the money loaned was spent well. It’s an established sociological fact that when women are entrusted with the budgetary strings in a low-middle income scenario, the benefits that result for children are far greater.

According to Yunus, the women were initially reluctant to try out the new schemes, and yet when a small group came on board, the rest of the community followed suit (the guy attributes this phenomenon to the jealousy that ensued, the others simply wanted to copy the women who had succeeded in the credit experiment).

So what’s the lesson to be learnt? (Well, apart from the fact that in some areas women are, unfortunately clearly better) India would do well to emulate this credit model at the rural and BPL levels. Initially in our country all banks have been reluctant to lend in rural areas because of the poor repayment history there.

When banks were nationalized, officials were forced to lend to rural masses, knowing fully well that they would never see their money again! That was more about politics and socialistic idealism than economics, but I guess, now that we’re over the dark ages of banking, it’s time banks considered the lucrativeness of the rural demographics in our country, while carefully placing money in the right hands. You see, it’s all about Woman Power.

P.S. The author is a male and does not happen to be a feminist.

Some people i admire

Well, there are some people I really respect. For what they've achieved and believed in..for the things they've stood for, the causes they've championed or simply the attitudes they've carried. I believe some people are clearly far ahead of the 'average human' when it comes to tapping human potential. now believe me that's a fairly loose idea...for one all of us may be endowed with different abilities and potential and then all of us have different tendencies to apply these abilities. to demonstrate what i mean by the latter part of the previous line, here's an example...arguably 2 of the most inspring leaders in history have been Gandhi andHitler...they only chose to wield their leadership for achieving completely antagonistic objectives.

One guy I have tremendous respect for is Tiger Woods. He's the top guy in a sport that's predominantly white. He's a young kid excelling in a sport that's perceived to be an oldies game...he had all the odds stacked up against him and yet he went ahead and conquered every great frontier in golf.

Then there's Lance Armstrong. This guy epitomises sheer zeal..an unending zest for life and a commitment to winning..there's just so much to learn from him.

And yes, other people who strike me as amazing include: Bill Clinton(defamed though he is, this guy has loads of charm), Dhirubhai Ambani, Steve Jobs....the list goes on as i discover that so many people have led extraordinary lives that we ought to learn from..

here i am

i deserve applause...yes there are at least a thousand others on campus who do too...we've been through our most gruelling exam schedule till date and survived!! the last six days were one hell of an experience..well now it's time to get back home and catch up on some much needed sleep...you have to be around to see how sleep deprived individuals behave..well, i've got great hopes for this vacation..as always..plan to enjoy to the max...just hope it turns out great..