Humility & Our PM

We accept the People’s verdict with humility – PM Narendra Modi

Hindi heartland has unexpectedly (happily) delivered a message that “Hindu Muslim” game, is not the main game. 

NaMo struck a chord in 2014: we all loved him. Such a practical man! He will do well by us. And he did measure up in many ways. The side show of “Hindu Muslim” game though enjoyed by many was mistaken by BJP as the real game (it is not in the BJP manifesto 2014)

How should the “humility’ that he is professing now, in accepting the verdict of the electorate, find expression in reality? 

          He surely knows how, as he bowed at the steps of Parliament and called it the “Temple” and the Constitution as his “Holy Book”. 

Unfortunately, his conduct has not been in consonance with these expressed sentiments.                

How should he prepare for 2019?

Respect the Parliament by being present for at least half the days it is in session. Patiently listen to criticisms and respond in an even tone and manner, to create space for reasoned discussion.

Winter session and Budget session are the opportunities. NaMo can then be back in 2019.    

But will he? 

Pran Pratishtha

I viewed 3/4 of your YouTube videos a week ago. Your statement that we Hindus do "Pran Pristha" in the idols, therefore the location of the idol/temple is important, nay, sacred. A Masjid, on the other hand is a place to meet and pray together. Therefore, location is not important as it is not sanctified.

That "Pran Pritshtha" bit has stayed with me these last few days; the idea had weight and you appeared to be a sincere person. 

It occurred to me today, that many of the old temples are just ruins now: Angkor vat being the most famous. Where did the eternal God's Prana go?

Kindly allow me to say that the religion and faith themselves are all human constructs: useful in helping us mortals thru the stressful junctures in the journey called "life". It is axiomatic therefore that human beings must live by, not die or kill for these constructs: That Rubicon must never be crossed, as it negates the very purpose of religion and faith, indeed life.

A materially prosperous life informed with good family, social and faith-related values has been the ideal aspired to by all humans thru history. You are fortunate that you have the means to help your fellow Indians to walk the path to such a life; at the very least, “out of poverty”. Sri Krishan explained in Gita that ‘dridrta sab se bada paap hai”

The way out of poverty is education – teaching people to fish. There is empirical evidence that US and Europe had very high literacy rates ~90% since 1890s, which then became the basis of creating prosperous societies. Please see : https://ourworldindata.org/literacy

These very societies gave you also the means to do what you are doing.

On the other hand mere 18% of us Indians could read or write on Independence, in 1947. ASER-2017 determined that 62% of class 8, students could not calculate 10% discount. Our political classes including Dr S Swamy who shared the platform with you are culpable.

May I suggest that you please use your resources to establish good primary schools – one in each Tehsil of the district that you come from. Expand to cover all the 6500 Tehsils of India over the next 10 to 15 years.

Infinity Foundation may die with you; it works in “my daddy strongest” mode.

Imagine well rounded healthy young Indians, in mind and body, of all castes and creed, linguistic and cultural groups and regions coming out of your schools, say 500,000 “The Rajiv Scholars” per year!

A gigantic wave for building a prosperous Indian nation is created. 

A truly lasting legacy, my friend.    

( I was quite intrigued by the Kamahameha Foundation of Hawaii, established in 1887, solely dedicated to School Education, with $11.6 Billions in assets)   

Religion & Rationalism

I recently saw a YouTube of a very powerful exposition on Rationalism by Jawed Akhtar, when Shoma Chowdhary featured him in “Algebra”. Jawed Saheb forcefully argues for Reason and Logic and debunks the Faith and Religion as the domain of charlatans.

I consider Jawed Akhtar as one of the modern Maharishi of the Indian sub-continent. Jawed Saheb is always listened to with an eagerness mixed with awe and admiration.

The Video is here : https://youtu.be/W1sMKzK67PM

Why Jawed Saheb is an atheist? He responds pithily, “Because I think”.

And he goes on to define for us the ideas of faith, belief and equates these to stupidity.

Now that rankles!

Is this 'show business’ that he is in, or plain ‘word smithy’, again his forte?

Most of the humanity, the middle 68% (as per the Gaussian Bell Curve) invests most of its mindspace to just putting the ‘bread on the table’ or in meeting the basic needs a la’ Maslow.

They need some pegs to hang their fears of the unknown; To seek solace in the otherwise scary world.

Admittedly, the Faith or Religion, is not the domain of logic or intellect, but a very large and important part of human existence.

The Gurus serve a very important purpose in human lives, while a few “dhongi babas”, or shall we say “word smiths”, exploit them and betray the trust reposed in them. 

We can conclude that such exploiters fall on the extremities of the Bell Curve. Aren’t Jawed, Modi and Asaram, Nityanand two ends on the distribution; +ve and -ve?

Pew Research Centre estimated in 2017 that Religious populations or beliefs are no where near any abatement under pressure from logic and science. Please see the table below (copy /paste without permission) :

So like all Gurus, Jawed Saheb, should also be heard and understood with caution. But that calls for application of mind and mindspace. And we complete the circle !!!

And that is the irony of human existence. Delicious !!!

Atmosphere of Fear in India

The Right has shrugged off accusations of having created a culture of Fear and Intimidation in the country by saying that the incidents being reported are nothing but a continuum. Data is trotted out to prove that India has always seen such atrocities against minorities and marginalized.

Therefore the people and media are biased against the current regime. Such persons and media are then viciously trolled and threatened by targeting them as anti-nationals, unpatriotic, at best dismissed as Congis etc., who in turn fume helplessly.   

In the TV show Virtuosity with Vir Sanghvi young Swara Bhasker provided the most telling argument and evidence of the Culture of Fear and Intimidation being created in the country.

See the full interview here


https://www.news18.com/shows/virtuosity.html#t=63





Swara accepted that such incident occurred in the past and the media reportage is now extensive and intense.
But now a days the perpetrators of the lynching of Muslims and Dalits are emboldened to record these as heroic deeds with no fear of action or retribution from administration.
And nothing does happen to perpetrators ! Even ministers make supportive noises and obfuscate.

(Also please recall Mulayam Singh Yadav on rape and boys? My shield against trolls....)
In fact the subliminal message encourages others to commit similar acts with impunity

Political Funding - 3

Individual Donors

This intervention will be most useful for furthering democratic values in the Citizenry, as it will improve its interaction with the Political system .

Let us provide for a PDD (Policy Development Deduction) to individuals, again 2x of the funds given be allowed as deduction from Taxable Income (U/s Sec 35?).

Now, please visualize a politician approaching individuals/group for funding – who are not averse to funding them as 60% is being paid for Tax deductions. The involvement with politics improves.

Citizen’ concerns get transmitted to the Political establishment more forcefully. The Political power shifts somewhat to Citizenry – the hand that feeds(?)

The Political System, on a back of the envelop basis requires around Rs 6,000 Crores per year which is about 0.0005 or 0.05% of GDP – a pittance.    

The Govt will forego tax revenue of Rs 3,600 Crores, again a sum that will not hurt Countries fiscal situation.

The gains in reduction of Black economy will more than make up for these Tax deductions  

Political Funding - 2

Process Integrity 

The PDD (Policy Development Deduction) addresses political donations by Corporates and all entities that prepare auditable operating accounts for taxation purposes.  

The businesses will have to get receipts from the Political Parties to be able to claim PDD. The audit trail of such receipts needs to be established : the issuing political parties must have PAN.  

The current faceless political donation process.

To ensure that the rightful person is collecting cheques /donations on g=behalf of the right Political entity that the Business wishes to support, all politicians must be issued a PIN- Politician Identity Number- same as DIN to identify directors on the Boards of Companies.

The political fund raiser identifies himself with a valid PIN, approaches a business for donations. A business /Corporate who also has a PAN, issues the cheque to the Party with a PAN. The Fund raiser issues a receipt with due PAN and PIN.  

Therefore, the transaction happens in a transparent and traceable manner. 

Political Funding -PDD

Political Funding

Let’s first accept that Politics is a legitimate activity, as it helps organize the life of citizens, saving them time, effort, accidents, injustices and conflicts. Otherwise, people will act and have acted in the past tribally resorting to the law of jungle, driven by instinct and arbitrariness, fighting and killing.

Therefore, the political structures must be supported individually and collectively. 

In the current scenario it is incumbent upon the political parties as well to convince the Citizens that they are primarily working to fulfill that mandate. 

Arguably, the citizens have to proactively convey their concerns and issues to their political representatives and seek to influence public policies.  Citizen Participation has to be much more than just voting-including financial support.

Given the above backdrop our laws must consider Political Organizations as Socially relevant Institutions. In some ways, the Political Parties are treated on the same levels as NGOs and Charitable Organizations and Trusts. However the disclosure requirements are not as rigorous 

Since the Political Parties are charged with the responsibility of developing Vision and Strategy for whole of the Country, these may be treated above NGOs and trusts: They develop policy which is akin to “research and development”

Therefore, the following steps are suggested – i.e. to get the donors and political parties out of the perverse addiction to ‘black money’. It is axiomatic that a large part of the political funding comes from businesses /corporates: 

1)      Political Funding is currently allowed as a legitimate expenditure by corporates, i.e. 100% of the donation is charged to P&L.

2)      Allow a deduction of 200% as “Policy development Deduction”

3)      This additional deduction will encourage the corporates to weather the adverse consequences and/or develop strategies to manage the competing political forces.  

4)      A case has been made out for State Funding of elections/ political parties. Well, this is a step in that direction; state funds Rs 30 for every Rs 100 collected/ attracted by a political entity thru its efforts/ attractiveness to the donors.

5)      Commence placing easy disclosure requirements on Political parties, and ratchet them up annually to achieve full disclosures in say 10 years.    

We will possibly achieve a reasonably clean and transparent political funding system and inflict a hefty blow ( I wish it was a death blow) on the black economy- in 10 years.  

New Year –New Beginning

Fun and Puns 

Rahul’s coming of age augurs well for the Indian Public Life. Humour, in its many forms and avatars, seems to be inching towards center stage. His tweet including the videos : 

Office of RG

@OfficeOfRG

Dear Mr Jaitlie - thank you for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means. #BJPLies

Click on the link below and see the videos >>

Mr Jaitlie

Delicious !!