Politics of "Bans"-Musings -1

Bans are Slothful Governance  

Our political and social leaders continue to use Bans and Prohibitions even in the face of strong evidence of their ineffectiveness and in many cases bad and vicious outcomes.

Banning or prohibiting is politically and administratively easy; a stroke of pen literally, in response to pressure from any righteous group large enough to carry some political weight.

Our leaders are savvy politicians. The bans and prohibitions are useful and easy tools in the scramble for moral high ground, beneficial in electoral politics. And also help  to draw the attention away from their own failings and misdeeds.

 However, enforcing bans and prohibitions takes much administrative and managerial capacity and energy. The outcomes are questionable and we as a society keep lurching from one ban to the next without any succor.  

In addition many forces- largely the underground which is fundamentally inimical to the society are let loose. 

To confront and control ganglands evermore admin capacity and energy is expended. We generate a vicious cycle- a downward spiral. 

Clearly, bans and prohibitions don't work; at the minimum, do not achieve the stated objectives.

Is there a better way? Surely methods can be devised for better social and political and even economic ends.

We will have to analyze, understand and re-state the objectives sought to be achieved by of Bans and Prohibitions. 

DeMo - NaMo is Arjun

DeMo  - NaMo is Arjun   

I apologize. I thought NaMo was an Abhimanyu whose economic adventurism will take him into a Chakravyuh.  It turns out that NaMo is Arjun in the art and science of Politics. He could only see the "fish eye" of upcoming election to 5 state assemblies. And did he pierce the fish eye !

The promised data on the quantum of SBNs- the old notes, returned to Reserve Bank of India, well, is still reserved. The data denied is data made irrelevant. The data must be damaging to the Political Program and public persona of NaMo. It is very likely that even the fake notes got converted into crisp new currency.

But DeMo was excellent politics: Any one questioning the economic logic was branded a "Desh drohi" "kaale dhan wala" etc. And trolls -the attack dogs- were let loose on them.

The thumb-sucks of NaMo brand of "patriotism" and "nationalism" were doled out on hourly basis and  lapped up by the adoring common man, aam aadmi, mango man. A few lives lost, many lives destroyed economically are not even a blip on the rising graph of Indian population or middle class. 

 

And NaMo won handsomely, in UP and Delhi, and thru back door in Goa and Manipur, setting new water marks of ruthlessness in Indian Politics and Public life. (Substitute Indira with Modi and 'Madam' with Modiji)  

I was wrong. The Abhimanyu - NaMo- was entering a Chakravyuh, so I thought, while his eyes were steadfast on the "fish eye" of UP, ably supported by Amit Shah.   

 Hats -off  Modi Ji.

A New Manifesto for Urban Area Development and Living -India- 1

A good and "smart" City is where people rich and poor are able to work and play comfortably. And strive for a dignified journey thru the 'bhavsagar', i.e. work for "arth" and "kaam" in a "dharmic" way to achieve "moksha".

There is no gainsaying that our cities leave a lot to be desired : many are just dumps. Successive governments having realized this reality have launched many Urban Development and Rehab schemes, unfortunately with little effect.

Albeit, exploding populations have put paid to the gains made under all such schemes. The current PM Mr Narendra Modi has elevated the level of concern in a manner that is uniquely his own.  Jury is still out after two and half years.

 I suspect that philosophical insights underpinning the Urban Development policies have run their course and need rethink from basics. Most urban development insights and rules have been developed in the west, mainly USA and Europe.

Let's first consider a few vital physical parameters of India and USA. 

	Area	Land	Arable	Perm. Crops	Perm Pastures	Forests	Other	Population
	M Sq Km	M Sq Km						Millions
USA	9.833	9.147	16.8%	0.3%	27.4%	33.3%	22.2%	321
India	3.287	2.973	52.8%	4.2%	3.5%	23.1%	16.4%	1252

 USA (9.15 Million Sq Km land) has 3X area than India (2.973 Sq M). India serves 4X population of USA  (1252 Million vs 321 Million).

 Per unit of land, a finite resource, India supports 12 people vs 1 person that USA supports. Europeans are also blessed with similar geographical advantage.

This miracle has mainly been possible for the fact that we are largely vegetarians, who need about 3.5 times less agricultural area vs the largely non vegetarian populations of USA. The rest of the difference ~3.5 times is made up by poor nutritional intake by us and by intensive cultivation.  Please note that the arable lands of USA -153.7 Million hectares is comparable to India's 157 million hectares.

 The Population growth rates of India do add another level of pressure on lands.

Therefore, Land is critical to our well-being - hoped for- which must be used wisely. Our Land use policies must recognize these realities, but don't.

 Hence the need to rethink our Urban Development Policies. 

Abhimanyu & Demonetisation

Everybody loves the story of Abhimanyu in the Mahabharata. This son of Arjuna and Subhadra was a young lad who knew how to enter a battle formation called Chakravyuha but did not know how to get out. 

The world is full of seductive Charavyuhas that enchant and entrap, young and ambitious but ill-prepared and valorous and impressionable Abhimanyus, who believe they can solve any problem in the world. 

The Abhimanyus find themselves choked because they bit off more than they could chew, unable to cry out for help.

Is Demonetisation the Chakravayuh into which Modi ji has lead his Government and India? His ministers are now spending hours going over strategies, editing them endlessly, preparing charts after charts, trying hard to mask their confusion and clueless. (Drawing courtesy Devdutt Pattanaik)