"There is something
about a closet that makes a skeleton terribly restless."
—Wilson Mizner (American,
1876-1933)
Word for the day
Trophic (adj)
Of or relating to nutrition;
concerned in nutritive processes.
Malice towards none
Is there any study to assess
the impact of CSE & Baba Ramdev's persistent and virulent attacks on growth
of aerated drinks' consumption in India?
First random thought this morning
Despite disconcerting headlines about IS, Taliban, North Korea,
Syria & China sea, the world today is definitely more peaceful than at
least ever in past 2000years.
This peace might be one of the reasons for the economic growth
challenges the world is facing these days. Poor demography, innovation mostly
focused on consumption (applied sciences) rather than development (pure
sciences), little motivation to save for difficult times and monetary policies
favoring leveraged consumption.
Since most modern economic and political theories are outcome of
war, we may need a serious reset in economic, strategic and political thought
process to get out of the rut.
Still trying to make money from politics? - Part 3
I find the political debate in the country totally confused. In
fact, the confusion is compounding after each election, even be it a
by-election in 10 odd municipal wards in Delhi.
The political pundits and studio experts (some of whom might have
never visited a polling booth) are suggesting that Indian elections are fast
becoming personality driven rather than policy driven! Nothing could be far
from the truth.
The fact is that Indian political system is designed to be
personality driven rather than policy driven. The diversity and inherent
contradictions of Indian nation state make sure that it is almost impossible to
evolve a National Policy on virtually anything, e.g., agriculture, water,
education, social entitlements, equality, etc. Even the foreign policy has its
own dissenters, e.g., TN on Sri Lanka policy, West Bengal & Assam on
Bangladesh policy, J&K on Pakistan policy, Bihar on Nepal policy, left
parties on China & US policies etc.
The Indian democracy has always remained intertwined with
traditional beliefs (King is God's representative) and feudal dominance. Nehru
ruled India almost unchallenged, trampling the dissenting voices of Lohia,
Kriplani, Karpuri Thakur, Shyama Prasad, etc.. Mrs. Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi
also ruled authoritatively, in their own individual name, stifling any
dissenting voices within and outside the party, notably Jaiprakash Narayan,
Morarji Desai, V. P. Singh, Kamalpati Tripathi, Arun Nehru etc.
P. V. Narasimha Rao vs. L. K. Advani, A. B. Vajpayee vs. Sonia
Gandhi, Manmohan Singh vs. L. K. Advani, Rahul Gandhi vs. Narendra Modi have
all been famous personality driven contests in past two decades. At regional
level also Mulayam vs. Mayawati, Karunanidhi vs. MGR/Jayalalitha, Devi Lal vs.
Bhajan Lal, Jyoti Basu vs. S. S. Ray, Lalu Yadav vs. Nitish Kumar contests have
been part of the political folklore.
V. P. Singh, N. D. Tiwari, Kamraj, NT Rama Rao, Chandrababu Naidu,
Jyoti Basu, Karpuri Thakur, Lalu Yadav, Mulayam Singh, Sharad Pawar, Deve Goda,
Karunanidhi, Jayalalitha, Farooq Abdullah, P. S., Badal, Devi Lal, Mamta
Banerjee, V. C. Shukla, Narendra Modi, Madhavrao Scindhia, etc. have all been
strong regional satraps having exercised substantial influence on the national
politics. One should not forget that BJP is also recognized by its regional
satraps in MP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc.
While there is no dearth of floaters like Ramvilas Paswan, Ajit
Singh and Maneka Gandhi who have been part of most political combinations,
which have governed the country in past 25years; there are many others who have
experimented joining hands with ideological rivals - Jan Sangh with socialists
in 1977, BJP with V. P. Singh in 1989, Kalyan Singh with Mulayam and Mayawati
in UP, Nitish with Lalu in Bihar in 2015, Communists with Congress in UPA-1 and
recent assembly polls, BJP with PDP & NC in NDA -1 and recent assembly
elections.
My point therefore is that in Indian context there is not much to
discuss or bother about political parties and party ideologies. It's the people
only who matter............to continue
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