NAXAL VIOLENCE : Dated 16/02/2010

NAXALISM
The killing of 24 security personnel by the CPI-Maoist on a camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) in West Midnapore district of West Bengal is another outrageous and daring attack by Maoists which has once again brought to the fore the grim problem of our internal security posed by the Maoists who aim to seize power through violence to overpower the established legal authority. The attack comes barely a week after Chidambaram held a meeting in Kolkata with officials of Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal to launch an inter-state operation against the left-wing extremists. Many parts of our country is now facing severe Naxal problem recently and its now after the appointment of P Chidambaram as Home Minister the problem has really been taken up at war level and solution is trying to be reached. In this step the Home minister took up the problem of Naxalism with the Chief ministers’ summit in New Delhi recently and also held two meeting with Chief Ministers of Naxal affected states separately. Bihar Chief minister Mr Nitish Kumar and Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren did not attend the latest meeting. They are of the belief, and this belief is shared by most top leaders in Bihar and Jharkhand, that Naxalism cannot be solved with an iron hand. These Naxalites or MCC people are mostly indigenous tribals who have taken arms because primarily fruits of development have not reached them, they feel. In fact Mr Chidambram just days before had offered talks with Naxal leaders if they temporarily stop violence. Perhaps he realises rightly that the problem and people are also very delicate and any miscalculation will lead to full fledged war with our own people and result in many deaths and it will also take us back by many years and it will take enormous time and money to again integrate them back in the mainstream of Indian Democracy. Also several NGOs and activist stand by the side of the Naxals and from time to time Mamta Bannerjee’s Trinamool Congress has been accused of being hand in glove with the Naxals. Mr Chidambram has words of wisdom also for so called intellectuals and supporters of Naxal movement "I would like to hear the voices of condemnation of those who have, erroneously, extended intellectual and material support to the CPI-Maoist. It is only if the whole country rejects the preposterous theses of the CPI-Maoist and condemns the so-called 'armed liberation struggle' that we can put an end to the menace of Naxalism (Maoism) and bring development and progress to the people in the conflict zones." We have also to understand that the Maoists come form same tribal ranks who have taken up arms.They were hither-to peaceful all these years suddenly became so powerful that they run parallel governments and have power to challenge the state and no one dares to enter their den! Recently they have stepped up their attacks on railway properties as they are soft targets being spread across the jungles in a wide area. One remembers that in 1857 war of independence too Tribals took part in the struggle against British rule. Are they carrying on their struggle with the elected governments year after year? The naxalites have established their control in many parts of the India- Chattisgarh is worst affected by Naxal violence and together with Jharkhand accounted for 60% of total death due to Naxal violence. Of late they are also targeting economic targets more alarmingly. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Naxalite problem as ‘the single largest threat to India’.

The ‘Red Corridor’ runs through the dense forest and tribal belt, from Nepal through Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and all the way to Andhra Pradesh and to the upper reaches of Maharashtra, and some parts of Karnataka. It is alleged that they now have established partnership with terrorist groups based in Pakistan and they are also aided by the Maoists based in Nepal after Nepalese have been successful in installing Maoist government in Nepal, from Bangladesh and most of all from China, which is supplying them money, sophisticated arms and modern gadgetries. Occasionally top Maoist leaders are reported to have been sneaked to these neighboring countries too. Inside their corridor, the Naxalites run a parallel government and vow to continue their fight against the state—a full-fledged war they call ‘people’s struggle’. All the Left-wing militant organisations, including the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the People’s War Group (PWG), after their merger are now operating under the flagship rebel party—CPI (Maoist).The Central intelligence reports have also issued a warning that the Maoists are now in the process of identifying ‘new operational areas’ across the country. They are keenly looking at industrial belts, where big corporate houses are planning to set up the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), an easy target to launch violent agitation. CPI (Maoist) Politburo and Central Committee talk about the need to run a secret service and unleash psychological wars through effective networking of various friendly groups in the urban areas. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Naxalite movement was immensely popular. There were reports of brilliant students, including from IITs, dropping out of college to join the struggle for the rights of the tribals and landless labourers. Over the years, as the principles diluted, Naxalite movement saw much of its membership waning away. Nevertheless, it has an endless supply of men and women, victims of State apathy to their condition joining its ranks, which shows that many still believe in the cause.There are many so called intellectual sympathizers too to their dastardly acts of violence. But one thing has to be remembered that once this sympathy for violent naxalism starts, it has no end and now it has come to the situation when the Naxals have started killing the same intellectuals. The so called intellectuals must remember that instigating or abetting violence under any circumstances is a double edged sword. Post 26/11 world has realised this menace and violence of any form, killing of women and children and innocent people is totally condemned world over, even if it is for just means. According to a confidential report of the military intelligence, India’s 231 districts in 13 States, including three in the NCR, are now being targeted by the Maoists to achieve their ultimate aim—seize power in Delhi by 2050. So far, it is believed that about 170 districts falling under the dreaded ‘Red Corridor’, also known as the Dandekaran Belt, are reeling under the Maoist terror. In Chhattisgarh, Bastar’s dense jungles are considered to be the Maoists’ centre of gravity. In southern Bastar, the Maoists have declared the Chintainer area as their Dandekaran State’s capital.

Mr Chidambaram in interview recently with CNN-IBN Chief Rajdeep Sardesai mentioned an important fact that the Naxal problem aggravated during last 10 years. I remember when I completed my MBA from Patna, Bihar by 1994 end, there was no problem as such in Bihar-Jharkhand. But suddenly when I used to go to Jharkhand after 4 years or so, by 1998, I frequently found bandhs there. Earlier Jharkhand (then South Bihar) used to be very peaceful place where there were booming activity both in terms of industrial as well as market; and Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Dhanbad were crowning glory or combined Bihar state and later on separate Jharkhand state. But somewhere down the line something worse had happened along those years and after gaining literacy and awareness that had taken place in these areas, thanks to the good work done by missionaries in these areas, the tribals began to realize that they have been taken for a ride for all along these 40-50 years or so and the fruits of economic activities which were carried in these areas which was primarily for their upliftment was being siphoned off to other places, their land and forests were slowly gobbled up by the outsiders, minerals being excavated both by PSUs and private miners in collusion with corrupt leaders, leaving them with just with pollution-air, water and food- poverty, illiteracy, bad infrastructure, etc. Naxalism, MCC, had taken firm root and was starting to play havoc and by the 1990s, they had formed a parallel government even issuing diktats to the tribals of the region At later stages and even in the present situation, Naxals now manage to take hostage entire village; railway stations are also bombed; even the election machinery is not working. I remember my father who is now a retired professor was given election duty during the general and elections used to shiver on hearing that he would be sent on election duly to Jamshedpur or Chaibasa or those intense jungle areas where the rule of the Naxals run riot and no rule of law was there. Policemen cannot enter those areas, traffic is standstill once the evening sets in, no doctors or social workers or government officials can manage to enter these areas. One must also remember that the passengers traveling by trains all over India are in greatest danger today because of this. Trains run across densest of forests in India and most of them arre Naxal affected. If we dont take strong steps today, someday I fear a whole train may be kidnapped and the state will not be able to do anything. Only some happless GRP cant do much. The problem is most acute during the night. These worst fears came true when recently Bhubaneshwar-Rajdhani train was stopped by Naxals in Midnapore, WB. Fortunately no damage was done it everything is passed off peacefully without loss of life.

So what is the solution then? Recently I watched a very thoughtful discussion on Naxal problem and solutions in DD News Channel. Very thought provoking and objective and it gave a gist of what can be done to contain and solve the menace. (Other channels should learn how to conduct meaningful debate and discussion in a quite way as it is done in DD News channel.). Many facts came to be known and also some history behind it and attempts made earlier by the governments in solving the problem.

The first rebellion against the Naxalites was the 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan', started by veteran congress leader Mahendra Karma in 1991; this later collapsed, leading to large scale killings of tribals by Naxalites. Mahendra Karma, the tribal leader was a minister in Ajit Jogi’s Congress Government in Chattisgarh. In 2005, he organised the Salwa Judum movement against Naxalites (initially Salwa Judum movement was anti-Naxalite people’s movement against the atrocities of the Maoists inflicted on the tribals and later on Mahendra Karma jumped into the fray). The initiative was praised by the BJP Chief Minister Raman Singh and the government supported it and provided them protection. A few years later the state government adopted the Salwa Judum model in order to fight the Naxals and over the years trained a number of SPOs or 'Special Police Officers', from amongst the tribals, who are part of Salwa Judum in the state and witnessed a marked rise in success against Naxalite action. However the Salwa Judum movement was later discredited by Human rights activists citing examples of burning houses, extortion, excesses against women, employing minors and large scale displacement of the civilian population caught in the conflict between the Naxalites and Salwa Judum activists with at least 100,000 people moving to various camps in southern Chhattisgarh or fleeing to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh as of early 2008. However by mid-2008, movement's frontliner, Mahender Karma announced that it will soon cease to exist and end 2008, saw Salwa Judum having lost its earlier momentum was only restricted to its 23 camps in the Dantewada and Bijapur districts of Chhattisgarh The government has defended the Salwa Judum movement and refrained from discrediting it, despite pressure from it Left allies, as setting up Village Defence Committees (VDCs), has been a tested model of police-civilian co-operation in conflict area such as Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeast, and dacoit-infested areas of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP.

Bandopadhyay Committee: In May 2006, the Planning Commission appointed an expert committee headed by D. Bandopadhyay, a retired IAS officer instrumental in dealing with the Naxalites in West Bengal in the 1970s. The expert committee has underscored the social, political, economic and cultural discrimination faced by the SCs/STs across the country as a key factor in drawing large number of discontented people towards the Naxalites. The committee established the lack of empowerment of local communities as the main reason for the spread of the Naxal movement. The report holds the faulty system of land acquisition and a non-existent Relief and Rehabilitation policy largely responsible for the support enjoyed by the Naxalites. On the other hand, the committee makes a forceful plea for a policy and legal framework to enable small and marginal farmers to lease-in land with secure rights while landless poor occupying government land should not be treated as encroachers. For the first time in the history of the Naxal movement, a government appointed committee has put the blame on the State for the growth of the movement. Providing statistics of 125 districts from the Naxal-affected States, the committee finds out that the state bureaucracy has pitiably failed in delivering good governance in these areas. The report recommends rigorous training for the police force, not only on humane tactics of controlling rural violence but also on the constitutional obligation of the State for the protection of fundamental rights. Making a departure from the usual government position, the expert committee concludes that development paradigm pursued since independence has aggravated the prevailing discontent among the marginalized sections of society. Citing democratic principles, the report also argues for the right to protest and discovers that unrest is often the only thing that actually puts pressure on the government to make things work and for the government to live up to its own promises. Dealing with Naxalism needs a holistic approach with development initiatives as an integral part of the security approach. Security here must be understood in its broader perspective, which includes human development in its scope, because human security is an inseparable component of any human development formula, and vice versa.

Perhaps, not many have heard of Bandhopadhyaya committe report which was submitted its report years back. The problem is that as usual governments organise the high powered committees to study the problem and recommend solutions, but when it comes to implementation never bothers to see the report. One thing which comes out clearly in the discussion on Naxal problem is that there should be three pronged strategy now to solve the problem First, it should be the strict use of force in intensely crime affected areas to finish out the Naxals. Secondly intensely carry out development work in the areas affected by Naxalism. And Thirdly bring the Naxals to negotiating table and genuinely find the solution and implement them. The main thrust should be to implement all the three pronged attacks honestly and swiftly without wasting time, otherwise it will be too late .There has to be rule of law, people have to be come in contact with government officials, their problems should be listened and honestly resolved There future also needs to be taken care of in terms of employment, because all these areas are under dense forests and rich in minerals Some day or the other government will definitely reach out to these areas for mineral excavation then some bigger resentment will take place. This is the thought for all of us. We must remember that if Punjab militants and Kashmiri militants can be made to sit across the table then why not Naxals? We have to be optimistic Remember, many dreaded dacoits from dense forests of MP laid down their arms and they are all leading normal life - Phoolan Devi was MP!

IN SUPPORT OF SHAH RUKH KHAN AND AMAN KI AASHA : Dated 04/02/2010

I am anyway a big fan of Shah Rukh Khan and not only that my 6 years old daughter Muskan also does not miss a single picture of SRK. Curiously she asked me today morning who are the people rasing slogans against SRK on TV and will we be able to watch MY NAME IS KHAN or not. I told her that the picture will be released on 12th, so no problem we have enough time by which everything will be OK. I told her that since SRK has advocated for Pakistani players playing in India, Shiv Sena & MNS are shouting slogans against SRK and boycotting his cinemas and burning posters and damaging cinema halls in Mumbai. This was the explanation to the small child. Now, on a more mature note, lets us see this matter. Already this news being aired on TV is that SRK has mellowed down now because he cannot see the dmages the channel partners of his films will have to suffer because of the controversy. Its possible that SRK may apologise too but its no denying the fact that it was SRK who first raised the voice to this level that now RSS, Rahul Gandhi, Nitin Gadkari, Aamir Khan , Shabana Azmi and other actors and activists have started raisiing voice against this tyranny of the MNS and Shiv Sena type goondaism. It will be a slap in our face that common people are not saying anything on this matter, may due to the fact that they are not affected in any way and believe that let the big wigs fight among themselves or they have no time to raise their voice against injustice. But enough is enough, awake before it is too late and starts pinching common man. Is it (and I am told that Raj Thakre has raised the bogey of separatism emulating the DMK in Tamil Nadu) fair. We recently celebrated the successful completion of 60 yrs of Republic of India which has been successful to accommodate so diverse people across vast geographical mass as one unit, that is India. I know the problem of the link language because I travel all over India and see that in Chennai there is most problem in doing your common work as people dont know any language apart from Tamil. Do you expect everyone will lean English and speak fluently. No, they will not. (Is it not a bad logic that we want English as link language and not Hindi? Can you be so mean and blindfolded that you wil not accept the language which has emerged out of our own land and depend solely on a language that’s come from foreign land and still some people see this as our acceptance of our Gulami?) After the mother tongue which is the common language which is spoken and understood by maximum people in India, of course it is Hindi and that is why Hindi films are so successful all over the country and even in the foreign countries, especially Pakistan where Hindi films and music is relished too. In fact Hindi films are the common thread which is binding all India and not only that even Pakistan? Don’t you see the Aman ki Aasha ads all over and the efforts from artists and intellectuals from both countries to come reach to some sort of meeting point- after all boundary is just on the paper or at best land, but not in our hearts? And don’t you see that even in diplomatic circles, countries are putting pressure on India to resume talks with Pakistan because they cannot expect the hostility to continue for a long period of time between two nuclear nations. So ultimately both the countries have to talk and solve their matters on mutual understanding and both have to sit regularly. And can you deny the fact that Cultural exchanges and sports like cricket and Hockey is being played between both the sides since last 63 years and even at the height of militancy and war ( today saw the picture of Jawed Miandad at Matoshree with Bal Thakre! ). This love and hate relationship between India is as eternal a truth than love- hate relationship between a husband and wife or saas and bahu! Why do you want to put an end to this drama? Come on, be brave and large hearted and try to accommodate various view points. Don’t fall prey into the hands of politicians, because they only created Pakistan and India and they only create friendship and they only raise war hysteria. People of both India nd Pakistan should know this and try to influence other people to come across these accommodative views otherwise we will play into the hands of one superpower or the other. In the end, well done Shan Rukh, we are proud of you. Carry on. Ekla chalo re. Start the journey, it will soon become a caravan.

THE FALLOUT OF SEPARATE TELANGANA : Dated 31/01/2010

THE FALLOUT OF SEPARATE TELANGANA -Actually identity politics is playing havoc in the country of late.Regional, linguistic, community identity has started taking centre stage in any public protests aimed at creation or carving out something or driving out someone away.There should have been a basis on which states reorganization committee was formed and several separate states were carved out.After that period only in 1990 when Chattisgarh, Jharkhand & Uttarakhand were formed. One cannot be sure whether this experiment was successful or not but in one case of Jharkhand, one is 100% sure that the experiment has failed. Apart from getting a capital at Ranchi and a High Court at Ranchi and the road leading to Ranchi which is good, all the other aspects of development is zero because of excessive corruption. Now perhaps time has again come to rethink on this matter and organising a states reorganisation committe which should be high powered committee which should have eminent poeple, have support of all political parties and given a free hand to discuss all the matter, pros and cons. This particular incident has definitely opened up pandora box for demand of many new states (like Mayawati wants three states out of UP!) -after all, leave alone that Telangana was old issue pending since 1952, so what, Gorkhaland is still older issue pending since 1902!We are a Gandhi country and after all K Chandrashekhar Rao is not the only living Gandhian in the country! If people from every region resort to Gandhian means and start the movement collectively, runnign the country to ramson, then what about India! States must have been carved out of administrative necessity so that fruits of governance reach to the lowest strata. Who would have thought that this issue would one day lead to anarchy!Give Deformed meaning to demad for smaller states. The politicians right from Gram Panchayat to corporator to MLA to MP have not honestly done their work that is why many regions feel left out-Naxalism, perhaps may be also linked to such apathy of the rulers reaching out to the really deserving lot. The politicians are aware that if there are bigger states they will only have to be satisfies with a minister or so, but cannot be Chief minister. SO regional demand comes to their mind. Also there is the question of their ward's career, nepotism-for example for KCR's son, this is just example & applicable every where- greed is the base So if greed, vested interest, money is the basis for such agitations how can you term them people's movement! In fact people are taken for a ride! This is a perfect example of functioning mobocracy- you raise an issue, bring some supporters, arrange destruction and say people's movement. Unless there is honesty, sense of Indian-ness, implementation of law and order you will find these issues cropping up-there are many Indias, after all! You give Bihar a Jharkhand. Then give Jharkhand a Lalkhand(Mica) & Kalakhand(Coal) in places of availability of minerals.SO on and so forth.In fact greed,vested interest,money, nepotism, career is the real basis for statehood, all other basis are farce. KCR should be said that if you are a Gandhian then we follow religious texts! For saving the lives of people if a lie is essential, then be it.Govt did the right thing that day.Take this lollipop at least now.Now in return at least KCR knows his strength and the people's undercurrent demand. Now the sacrifice has to be done from his part and persuade his people not to press too far for the interest of country.Will he? We should ask him, If taking cue of his way many states are carved out then history will not forget him if something goes wrong. Did he fathom it?

Come to think of it. This is known as parochial thinking.We are casteist first, regional second, religious third, linguistic fourth, state's identity fifth and at last comes Indian identity, sixth, leave alond global identity or the human identity.

Time has come to not to leave the governance of the country in the hands of corrupt political system. Checks & balance are required. At least people should now know that politicians are ruining the country on the pretext of "Popular demand"!, in fact "Mobocratic demand"!
And why are we missing logistics costs? Name plates, paintings, photos, check-posts, stationeries, building capital, other govt building, to the tune of 2000 crores or so at least, corruption there, more permits. This fund could have been very happily deplyed for the benefit of the same left-behind people. How many divisions are you going to make.Where will it stop?What is the guarrantee that after this division all the problems will be solved and further division not come up?

STRATEGIES TARGETED AT POTENTIAL BLACKMAILERS : Dated 11/01/2010

CORPORATE STRATEGIES TARGETED AT POTENTIAL BLACKMAILERS

Who is a potential blackmailer in modern corporate India? Let us understand what is meant by a potential blackmailer or the blackmailer in the corporate world and many of them especially new ones have to face this proplem. In times of crisis or when the organization grows it hires some specialist as a consultant or even elevates one of the brightest or experienced of the available manager within the company. It has to be kept in mind that normally the promoters here are either in crisis or are in need of growth to expand or use their capital in some profitable and scalable venture. Now since this consultant or the experienced employee has so much knowledge or you seek advise from him so often that that he thinks that he himself is the boss and company will run as per his whims and fancies. The promoter starts to divulge his vital negative points to him. Now the potential blackmailer carefully stores these sensitive information about the promoter in his hard disc. The promoter, on his part further complicates the problem by seeking advise from him in each and every decision and seeking advise even from those subject for which he is not a specialist as he has established the trust in the mind of the promoters and the promoters are too impressed with his logic. Now often he starts showing tantrums or unreasonable demands, sometimes may classify as blackmail. Not only that, some are so smart that using the sensitive informations they themselves complain his employer to the government departments about secret dealings or lapses made on the part of the company leading to evasion of taxes and duties. On the basis of these informations often government departments in India conducts raids. This problem is faced by many corporates and sometimes the problem is very acute. It is well known fact that there are insiders in all companies and govt departments have to depend on these insiders to get more report about particular companies before organizing raids. Now what is the remedy or a solution? Actually there is no one solution but a combination of many strategies which should be applied on the potential blackmailers so that he is ultimately stifled and apprehended. Some are very astute and may need combination of may strategies and some are weak and can succumb easily. OK. Lets start.

Today is the age of technology. Every move and every step of an enemy/competitor is analysed and monitored and discussed. Never underestimate a competitor or any enemy. And especially when a person as lethal as potential blackmailer whose minds work in four tracks. But war is a war and sometime, its inevitable, for the larger interest of the society/company/mankind/ and you have to fight it. Remember the Mahabharata war which was fought between the brothers or the partition of India which was one of the worst human tragedies in the centuries. Do remember that some dangers and pitfalls will be there and you cannot help it, but still you have to pursue it and try to attain your goals with minimum losses. The point is how you do it with minimum casualties and how fast or slow and at what cost? In short, strengthen your defenses as strong as possible and corner your enemy so that he becomes irrelevant and falls by the sidelines.

Strategy came out of military so it’s a war game. But still two very different games are also played which are not wars but are played in the spirit of a war. One is a slow game- CHESS, and the other one is played fast and in all of One and half hours everything is over- FOOTBALL. Both are equally competitive but the one is slow, played by two people, watched by a fewer people and not played by everyone, so it is not popular. The other one is fast, played for short time, cheaper game, played in open ground and by common people also and also many can watch it and enjoy it, so it is most popular game in the world. But there is no denying the fact that all these are mind games and are played when problem such as this one is confronted. Here not one strategy will apply, but a combination of many strategies simultaneously has to be applied for best and fast results. There has to a combination of both – ATTACKING as well as DEFENSIVE strategy. The goals are clear, the results are known, I present some of the strategies which I think are possible and it is upto the promoters to decide how it proceeds it, because it is ultimately the management which has to implement it and decide how and when to do it. This is such an art which cannot be taught in any schools. Tools can be taught and presented in schools but application-how to do it- cannot be taught. Howsoever best of strategies you have, if you cannot implement it, its of no use. Let us analyse some of them:

1. Encircling: Do not approach him directly, move slowly and slowly around the target so that it is not noticed and ultimately encircle him. Once inside the circle, even Abhimanyu could not do anything and had to be killed.

2. Enemy’s enemy is your friend: Try to find out who is the enemy of the target and make friend with him and plan the efforts with him jointly.

3. No one is permanent friend or enemy: In politics and in war no one is a permanent friend or enemy. Enemy or friend becomes or leaves as per the convenience, importance , interest of the person.

4. Power snatching: Try to snatch as much power, subject from the target. Discuss less and less matter with him. Sometimes IAS offices are put in shunting posts just to make him immobile and is kept in advisory role with no direct executive role.

5. Restrict the subjects: Restrict him to limited subjects- LEGAL/ FINANCE/ACCOUNTS/COMMERCIAL, those subjects you think he has his mastery. Do not discuss any other subjects with him. This is the strategy to continue to use his advise, experience, drafting, knowledge, try to exploit all his relations, try to get maximum mileage and credit out of his relations and references.

6. Love him more and more: In short, excess of sugar leads to diabetes. Shower so much love and affection and regards to him that he is overwhelmed and everytime his eyes are moist. He drowns himself and dies in a sea of love and affection. Give him as much as possible comfort. Whenever a subject is given to him make sure that there is a subordinate who is more than eager to request him to be able to help him complete the job assigned. This way the target gets immobile and starts accumulating fat around him.

7. Put pressure from his acquaintances: There are some people in anyone’s life in front of whom anyone bend on their knees out of respect, awe, age, love, inspiration, faith, fear, knowledge, childhood admiration, etc. There are also some people in front of whom you lay low to respect your dignity. Try to find out those people and put pressure on him of any form. If possible, go to his native place. Sometimes the respected people have to listen to the Sarpanch of his native village so that his hookka-paani is not banned.

8. Find a substitute: Try to find a good substitute, if not one substitute, make four in four subjects who can argue with him in four separate subjects.

9. Deputation: For a man as shrewd as him, it is not possible to keep him out from the place of action, that is, say, Mumbai. You can keep him out for sometime, say for a week in Goa, XYZ, Delhi, etc, etc, but you cannot keep him there permanently. So it is better to send him for deputation, rather, tell him that you please train the company team at XYZ place for one week. Start and continue with this exercise at newer and newer places and newer and newer subjects.

10. Separate cabin: Keep him in a separate small cabin Sometimes when a person who is used to get surrounded by your loved ones, business associates, subordinates, darbaris, and who feels like he is a king in a big hall, when left alone, their mind do not work fast, seek dependents, is fearful of aloofness, is fearful of closed spaces and starts getting disturbed and try to find ways to get out or initiate troubles.

11. Pestering: Start asking him what will be the benefit of a particular move taken by him, or the result of the last decision taken on his advise or the benefit the particular move will yield to the company or question the importance of such move or say that you will not follow this move, or question the very legality or importance of such move, or dispute the result of such moves or invite comment from other people on the particular step or encourage questioning or pinpointing by other people on the particular step. This will keep him busy and frustrated and replying and irritating and he will start not taking any decision. This pestering will make your job of power snatching much easier.

12. Guerilla warfare: Bombay is the land of Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji was a master in guerilla warfare and inflicted huge casualties in Aurangzeb’s army and at one time became his enemy number one. Guerilla war is not general fight in the open. Here the person is in hiding waits with his weapons and army and when he sees the opportune moment when the enemy is near or lazy or sleepy or not fully prepared he attacks with full force in a surprise and inflicts heavy casualties. The only most important requirement for this is that the person would be capable to act at a lightening speed, complete the job and run away with debris scattered all over.

13. Baits and traps: History is replete with examples how army officers succumbed to beautiful women, wine and money, food and divulge secret informations to the opponent. Baits are laid around the opponent, is lead and sweetly trapped inside the traps laid down. Induce him to do mistake unknowingly and let him fall in his own created net or you create net for him.

14. Espionage: More and more companies are using security agencies to keep an eye on moves and activities of their employees and competing companies/people. They are also using new modern bugging and spying and sting operations to get into the enemy’s area. Some are using MMS or mobile cameras to great effect in monitoring the moves of competitors.

15. Register cases: If you have solid evidences and proofs then go ahead and register a case against the potential blackmailer and if possible more than one case and scattered in different courts all over India by different people, so that he is busy in just attending courts. For that you have to induce and make friends his past enemies or victims or workers or unionists who have been bitten by him in the past. Pat on their back and they will reveal everything and help you in everyway. Help him in registering cases and hiring lawyers.

16. Find more about his cases: Try to find out if there are any cases going on against him and get as much information about the matters, meet the lawyers, keep them in good spirit, arrange meeting with them, expedite the hearing on such matters, get copy of their cases from court and learn the judgements.

17. Regularly keep one of his key associates in good spirits: Try to get as far as possible information about his past, his future plans, his future game plans and try to get into his mind to find out what is going on in the mind of the opponent. Continue keeping this key associate in good spirits. If you have to fight an enemy, who will be the best person than the one who has been in the past and continues with him in the future.

18. Fear Psychosis: With sudden action/notices/slappings create fear in his mind. Bombardment with many slaps will unsettle the person immediately and will be stunned for sometime.During that time you strengthen your defense even further and try to weaken him further and further and let him run for cover. This itself will deter him to try and harm you or even think about harming you. It is often said that “Darr se bade bade bhoot bhagte hain”. Police uses it in full effect to silence the criminals, rapists, troublesome people, people who take law in their hands, corrupt people, frauds, etc, etc,

19. Mediation: If you can’t win them, join them. This is the strategy in short. This normally helps when you are a small businessman but you have a bigger competitor against you then logic says that you make friend with him, reach into some sort of agreement try to find out what are the extra aspirations of the potential blackmailer, so that both prosper simultaneously.

20. Weeknesses: Some people have weaknesses which are expensive, like wines, gambling, stock markets, rummy, horse racing, casinos, etc, and loves talking about them for hours. Induce him more to these mistakes and keep him busy to pursue these hobbies. Not updating himself will anyway make him less lethal.

21. Instigate quarrel with his own ones: Use his son, daughter, wife, son, father, villagers, uncles cousins, brothers and instigate quarrel with him. This will keep him emotionally and mentally preoccupied.

22. You can choose your friend your enemy but cannot choose your neighbour: A man howsoever destructive he may me, is always nice and good in appearance and behaviour in his society, with his neighbours, secretary/ chairman/managing committee, etc, etc. Instigate them to create trouble to him and keep him occupied in fighting with small people or small groups and you strengthen your defences.

23. For the sake of dignity: Sometimes for the sake of dignity, pagdi, a person tolerate noises, comments, tries to pacify him, etc, etc, Instigate such peoples, the goal is to keep him preoccupied in small matters.

24. Prepare competitors: Encourage his competitors in all departments so that there is always one to question or dispute or debate or discuss his particular decision. Engage these persons to always argue with him on all his subjects or find fault in all his points. This constant questioning and pinpointing will be enough to unsettle him and show him the right place as well as it makes sure that he does not play his cards as well as he would have thought.

25. Control ration: Remember the Birbal and dog story, to straighten the dog’s tail Birbal used the same strategy to keep the dog hungry for one month and when it asked for food gave him big stick blows. The result, it became very obedient and did whatever was asked to do, even his tail was straight! Simply because he did not have enough strength left in him to walk, leave alone lift his tail. The lesson: such destructive people should be left to their own and penniless and chances are there that they will do whatever you want and their destructive brains will be controlled.

26. Some football techniques:

· Italian technique: Italians are rock solid in defense and do not allow the opponent to score. Any move the opponent makes they strangle it either by blocking, slowing down the game, man to man marking, fouls, putting two or three defense people to mark their best player, playing ball between themselves, etc, etc. In short frustrate all the attacks. To an outsider it may seem that they are killing the game and wasting time. But it is a clever move to frustrate and test the patience of your opponent. They play inside their half lines and their forwards are also backwards. Once they find that the opponent defense has moved far into its territory in its attacking moves and defence is seeming weak they launch fierce counter-attack. The counterattack is very fast. The forwards ram into the opponent territory with lightening speed using the flanks and score goals, keeping the goalkeepers helpless and the other players clueless.

· South American technique: South Americans believe more in the individual skills and their players are very flamboyant and they attach with great speed and dribble and by the dint of individual brilliance in the attack strategy, score goals. The problem with this technique is that the defense is not strong. Here attack is the best form of defense.

· Messmerise your opponent: In yet another strategy players play in between themselves with maximum ball possession and dribbling and again playing and controlling the ball between themselves. This messmerises the opponent and they are frustrated in not getting the ball and their shoulders start falling. This is the time the opponent sense chance and they take advantage of loss in self confidence and attack and score goals.

· Heavy marking: European teams usually apply this technique on star players or main players of rival team by keeping strict marking on them and make sure that the supply lines are choked so that the ball do not reach him and even if it reaches him he cannot supply it to the desired player and so their strategy goes haywire. As the main player is heavily marked the opponent starts losing confidence, committing mistakes and concedes goals.

· Foul playing: This is one more strategy the European countries applies on star players. They regularly commit foul on the star player. Its not that only one player does it, but at least four or five defenders regularly commit small or big fouls on the star player in regular intervals. This breaks the rhythm of the star player, always falls down so he is injured, gets frustrated and angry, shouts on players and even refree, starts making mistakes and wrong moves and the opponent gets chance to sideline him and use other players to score goal against the star team.

27. Let him come under your hand: If by any chance the opponent comes under your clutches either by way of his goods, credits, his friend’s or referred people goods or credits, money, guarantees, property, mortgages, secret papers, weak points, then you can dictate terms with him.

28. Deterrence: India regularly says that it has developed nuclear weapons not to attack any country but to stop or “deter” any country to attack India. This is called “nuclear deterrence theory”, and it has become a fashion to say that their country’s nuclear programme is for deterrence. A rouge state like Pakistan also says so. It means, you have developed something or you have something or you are so strong which the opponent knows that if it tries to attack the reaction will be equally detrimental for it.

29. Self Confidence: On top of it if you have the self confidence that you can fight and win then half the battle is already won. The war games are war games and one who wins minds wins the war. The self confidence helps you in keeping your team in good spirit, motivated and the opponent thinks twice to make a move and the oozing confidence in the opponent says to him that it is not the time for him to attack but to lay low. Once the opponent lay low, you further increase your defences and plan your moves and further weaken the opponent.

Conclusion: There can be other strategies also which may be applied. At present these are more than a handful and some more can be added later on. The main stress should be not only on the strategy formulation but the implementation, how you do it, which one to apply for how much time, which one to discontinue, which one not to be applied. This is necessary because there are different situations for different company and same strategy which is applicable for one company cannot be applicable for another one. So the application should be customized company wise. Ultimately it’s the person at the helm of affairs who will be responsible and how much risk he will take to ensure the success or failure of any strategy.

CORRUPTION AT THE TOP LEVEL IN INDIA : Dated 07/01/2010

CORRUPTION AT THE TOP LEVEL IN INDIA
Corruption at highest level is greatest problem in modern India. We will miss the bus of the century if this menace is not curbed. It is also a fact that no country is free from corruption, but India stands tall among all of them and only one or two countries in the world can beat us! And corruption is so prevalent in almost all walks of life that it has become a norm and way of life for us and honesty has become a rarity. Starting from the top, Politicians, IAS, Police and Businessmen quartet is milking the country. Judiciary has been affected by them. Its unfortunate media has also partnered.

Why only UPA, any government in India will not be able to curb corruption at present, be it application of RTI or heightened Media or Judicial Activitism or anything. These things do affect us but only for a while and after sometime when the heat dies down its back to square one. And it is also a well known fact that Indians and particularly Indian voters have very short memory. They tend to forget in 3 months only, otherwise how can you explain the reason that after 3 months the MNS which laid low for 3 months post 26/11 in Mumbai, again starts to raise its ugly head and spread the same venom against people from particular region or the same party which loses the state in any election wins any bye polls held just after 3 months! And we are thinking of getting ahead of China or Mumbai becoming a Shanghai some day! Some say that since China does not have a political set-up to oppose any government move it takes any step and fulfills it with ruthless force and sees that all the targets are complete. Not so in India, which does provide us freedom to express and dissent but delays any decision- Some of the Perils of democracy. Can we say, we are, may be, not fit or not ready for democracy? Or democracy is fine but we are not honest with it. Ultimately it all boils down to we, the people, the voters who are the ultimate judge whom to chose via our votes.


Some thoughts on process of selecting or electing representatives in India
But what choices the voters have in front of him and what should the voters do? The so called fat cats (politicians are very thick skinned. What normal humans cannot think, they do it and without being ashamed. Today he says something and Tomorrow he may change and say just the opposite next day and blame the media that it has distorted his statements!) only get tickets from the main recognized political parties. And the decision to field any candidate from a particular constituency by any frontline political parties are based on many factors like nepotism, money, money raising power, political patronage, political might, winnability etc etc, rather that clean image, capable or learned or hardworking or honest person. Otherwise who has capacity to campaign and win sits for the party?

And for nomination also there should be some Big Fat Neta to "Propose" your name too! This fact also has to be noted. You will be surprised to know that when a candidate withdraws his nomination under pressure from High Command, in favour of another candidate of a supporting party and not to stand as rebel candidate, the usual reply for common public is that under the voice of conscience and under High Command's order I have withdrawn my nomination. But this statement is for public consumption. What goes behind the scene, and The Reality is HE TAKES MONEY FROM THE SUPPORTING PARTY CANDIDATE OR IMPORTANT RIVAL TO SIT DOWN, WITHDRAW HIS NOMINATION FROM THE FRAY! YES !THIS IS THE REALITY.The public face is different from realty Not only that, this sum for "Sitting" is so big that ordinary mortals like us cannot even think of it. Calculate earnings in one year and multiply by 5 yrs! I have said many time in my tweeters that this corruption will "Ensure" that India will miss the bus of "Our century" BRIC era.

A sober or a genuine candidate do not have the enough resources to campaign as an independent any election in India, leave alone the Loksabha elections. Only Bhais/Bahubali/ Don/Muscleman independents can campaign or tour And, most of all since its only at the time of elections leaders meet the common man so he has to "Give" some gifts to them As mere promises are not sufficient for demanding voters to guarantee a vote. Voters are smart now, they want some "token" from each candidate at the time of election campaign only. Think, who stands as an Independent? One who has confidence with his contacts that he will win, in any case, He knows that any party gives him a ticket or not he will win. He knows that the literacy rate of people of his constituency is very low, his writ runs so large that no one dares to question him, he may go out or not, chelas or supporters go out and solicits votes for him. Loots booth for him. Or Make people vote for him by offering wine or money on election day-he knows he will win And then he decides to stand as an independent. See the benefits- If he is from, say, a state like Jharkhand & it’s a hung assembly or parliament, he is the VIP He can easily demand 100 crore or 10 crore depending on the need of his vote to any party. In fact some are so fast that they take money from both the parties and later on returns the money to the defeated party on tranches, on EMIs or defers it or adjusts it. See the benefits.

These articles on corruption will follow…..

DEAR FINANCE MINISTER - PART I Dated 07/01/2010

DEAR FINANCE MINISTER- PART I
I have a few points to make as a common man for you to consider in policy making:

• Flat Income Tax rate of 10%: I think you are trying to implement it this time. This is a step in right direction. This will free govt machinery who do all the calculations and monitoring so that everyone pay taxes in time. Calculation of 10% is simple- everyone can file it easily, even villagers. Also more and more people will try to get as much benefit as possible of declaring white money as it will not also pinch them. Black money economy will reverse in India and in the next 5 years much of white money will come and compensate any revenues losses.

• The biggest bane in the country is CORRUPTION. Find ways to curb it otherwise why should an honest tax payer pay taxes when he knows that the NETA-BABU-BUSINESSMAN nexus will take away all the money.

• Infrastructure is built once in a lifetime as it many costs attached to it. Please see to it that there is proper audit on the money spent on the quality of the infrastructure created and it whould be world class, not which gets deteriorated in 10 years which is according to me the greatest danger as I travel across the country and see the condition of the road, highways and bridges just built 5 years ago which are showing vicious cracks and they don’t seem to last long.

• Manipulation of balance sheets: Businessman manipulate and inflate their balance sheet to do banking for the nest year following year again show bigger turnover to collect bigger amount from the market. Means, dig a bigger hole, fill up the smaller hole and look for another bigger hole. This valuation and banking game, I am sure is very well known to you, Satyam case and after that overhaul of ICFAI norms and SEBI norms have been able to curb this menace or not, I am not sure Please see to it that in future bankers, Auditors, SEBI and other government regulators keep a close watch on all companies.

• Why don’t you promote small businessman so that entrepreneurship gets a fillip. You know that even if you give money to bigger corporates or the benefits you are allotting to the big business every year in the budget, it will go down from the govt coffers only and much of it will find unethical routes, not reach whwere intended or go down the drain. Why not at least make give a try to entrepreneurship and make easy money available to small innovative men with brilliant ideas or those people who want to do their own business but cannot provide you big turnovers or collaterals for banking. Why not help them?

• For cost cutting why dont you make other Taxation calculations simple which are any way clerical in nature, be it Income Tax, Sales Tax, Customs, Excise, etc. Make it simple so that business themselves do it, it will save time both for business as well as for government also. Instead, try to plug the loopholes.

• It is the boom time for real estate, why not lease out or sale excess real estate available with all the PSUs and govt offices in India? I think there will not be much need of privatisation if you start cost cutting and revenue generation along these lines. PSU executives are also brilliant and that is why you will find them in all the big corporate,s higher-ups. Dont sell cheap your assets to corporates, who, anyway will sell them later on to some other party on a huge profit after milking them for sometime.

• People taking their personal vehicles to other state should not be made compulsory to pay taxes again in the other state. What is the need of double taxation if he has already paid the taxes? Just the Registration number change is OK.

• There are too much paper works on the border check Posts for genuine transporters also, which not only kills valuable time at the check posts, it also encourages corruption, much fuel is wasted, unnecessary traffic jams are created, un necessary pollution is created outside city’s check posts- all in the name of checking and allowing the goods only with proper permits to enter. Why cant there be easier way for hassle free transport of goods and services all over India.

• The service tax slabs create problem in calculating the exact service tax to be paid to the government and also the clarity who should collect and pay-why cannot a uniform rate and fixe3d responsibility be ascertained for service tax. I am sure the thinking is also on for single goods and service tax only which will be fine but it should also address the concern raised.

• Export benefits: I don’t understand the logic of earning foreign exchange now in this regime. Yes there was time when the foreign reserves were very meager but now do you find this as important that you are bent on giving benefit to exporters of any type? This is not to say to completely do away with all the benefits, as it will create havoc in the country and entire export industry in India will collapse but still there should be adjustments as to which industry has to continue getting benefits for strategic needs of the country and people and which industry should be deleted from the list. I give you a latest example. Recently I had been to Cotton Exchange Building where all big Cotton and textile players old and new have their offices. And see what they are doing. They are exporting tons and tons of raw cotton to, hold on, China! And then after getting that cotton manufactured into cloth it is imported back to India. What is the logic and the benefits to Govt. We in India are not getting quality cotton and we are exporting to China for export benefits! And again importing cloth to give back the benefits! The same thing applies with Iron ore and other minerals and raw materials exports Same thing got also applied with regards to commodities and staples like sugar, dals, rice, etc and we are seeing the havoc of scarcity and price rise. Is it planning?

• Development agenda: The present unrest in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and other states too among the local public about the outsiders coming in and taking up odd jobs has thrown upon a challenge to policy makers at national level. You are the controller of Finance in India, why do you not make it so tough for the leaders and bureaucrats of poorly governed and unaccountable states so that the do not neglect the development of these states. Cant they be made accountable to all the money which is allotted to them goes to the development of the stae and not into the cofgfers of individuals? You can see to it, you have different tools available with you, to monitor the money flow and see that the leaders and bureaucrats develop the states so that the people from these states do not have to migrate to other states. Even the money given to MPs and MLAs for the development of their constituency is through you, it should also be seen to be used at right place. Also the people here are very intelligent and hardworking and that is why they are successful in other states or abroad; why not provide the atmosphere, money, training opportunities, markets, storage, at the state, or district, or block or Panchayat level itself so that they don’t migrate and add to the problems of already bulging cities in India.

To end, this Part I, The common and honest man grinds, not higher ups. Shouldnt they?

Please ponder on it.

Thanks and warm regards and a very happy and prosperous new year.

TRICKLE UP EFFECT : Dated 06/01/2010

TRICKLE UP EFFECT
Fast growth trickles up from states: Swaminathan S Alankesaria Aiyar Economic Times, Wed, 6th Jan.
Mr Swaminathan has pointed out in the article that contrary to the usual trickle down effect, the theory holding on for long, quite the opposite has been happening and what we see now is the trickle up effect, as per latest data thrown up by CSO, where growth is taking place surprisingly fast starting from the poorest states with large population. The top performance came from Bihar which showed 11.03% growth rate( large credit goes to the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has provided largely good and peaceful governance to the state after coming to power in 2005) and other hither to considered as backward states like Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa, even UP showed tremendous results, together with regulars like Gujarat & Kerala (the exception being Madhya Pradesh which continues to be a laggard) , only Gujarat fared better than Bihar with 11.05% growth rate. These states are coming up to the forefront and contributing to the overall GDP of India. It will be the development of these earstwhile BIMARU states (Bihar, MP, Rajasthan & UP) + Orissa along with some regulars, say, Gujarat which will ensure that India has a decent growth rate of 8%+ going forward and who knows if these growth rates accelerate we may even surpass the growth rate of China some day, which any way is going to start decelerating soon! This reversal of roles, contribution of erstwhile poor states with large population in to the national kitty marks the real growth of India as a whole, which in largely an agrarian economy where 70% lives in villages and most of them most of them reside in these so called backward states only! This is what he describes trickle up effect- growth happening from below and moving up and contributing in the overall GDP and then its distributed downwards by the govt through various schemes to the poor. Many of the states growth resemble that of the miracle economy, (growth rate more than 7%). If the trend continues we can some day say that the fruits of liberalization post 1991 has gone largely to entire population.

How come this growth happen? It did not happen overnight and many factors must have contributed to this spectacular performance and hopefully this becomes the trend. State-level political and policy changes may be one of the factors that accelerated local growth in some states, like say Orissa or Chattisgarh. In case of Jharkhand, though a corrupt state with Madhu Koda, late chief minister being latest example who along with his cronies cornered 20% of the state GDP in their name, single biggest factor may be due to distribution of state income and much of it going to the state kitty of Jharkhand after the division of state. For Bihar, as already pointed out credit goes to the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has given in four years a by and large peaceful state. Law and order being the single biggest factor contributing to the confidence in people of state and now the platform has been built to attract the businessmen to invest in Bihar. Bihar has dubious distinction of being the only state which did not get a worthy Chief minister after 1st Chief Minister, Sri Krishna Singh (Bhagwat Jha Azad was only for a brief period and was booted out soon). Just see the potential of Bihar. One Chief minister’ regime has made it possible in 4 years. Lalu’s social engineering may have also contributed it, we will talk later.

Now let us see some other positive things also happening side by side which lead us to believe that further accelerated growth is expected out of these laggard states. Consider the BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID THEORY of Prof CK Prahalad. Company after company, taking clue of this theory started spreading their wings in the hinterland, be it ITC, HLL, M&M, Other Branded consumer goods manufacturers, Trucks, Motor Bikes, as they saw the large unattended market where people had disposable income and waiting for good products. Not to forget the deep inroad in tele-density in these bottom of the pyramids markets (due to massive drop in call rates, making them cheapest in the world) owing to which we have 500 million mobile connections in India These phones itself are the medium for communication, spreading messages, sending tunes and other value added services and sometimes even getting tips on what are the weather predictions, the commodity rates in MCX or International markets, to mention a few. Success of NREGA and other governmental schemes too definitely have added to this spectacular contribution. Social engineering post Mandal Commission- Lalu and Mayawati effect has also made some contribution to overall figure (though the Law and order problem takes the shine off the Lalu regime and presently ruled state UP by Mayawati also). Then we had also IT companies in boom time increasing their penetration in Tier II & III and even rural areas. These itself had spin-off effect in the overall awareness and education standard of these states. Cheap broadband and internet has also contributed it, though penetration is still low but it will increase with further drop in bandwidth rates.

Now going forward there is greater chances of the trend further continuing with the growing awareness due to increased media, cable density and TV activism. This will further penetrate the education deep down and include women also in a big way who were till the other day left largely uneducated or just given enough training to write their names. With more and more NGO taking up among themselves to spread the RTI provisions we will see further progress. More and more use of EVMs in elections, last election being 100% EVM led elections and largely free and fair general elections will also ensure further improvement (though participation of people in elections is low and some states are trying to use strict provisions to make voting compulsory as Gujarat has recently taken this step).Government’s firm resolve to find solution to Naxalism problem with the most worthy minister available with us for Home ministry, Mr Chidambaram, making it amply clear to lay top most priority to curb this menace soon. Slowly it will be seen that development becoming the election issue. All these are going to contribute massive way in overall Indian economy-a truly trickle up effect where the growth will start really from the bottom of the pyramid and move up to the top. Just like in any business the employees are the first to get benefits, then the taxation (govt is the beneficiary), then the debtors and shareholders are the beneficiary and in the year end the promoters are the beneficiary, if there is any- opposite of trickle down effect, the benefit moves from bottom and them moves up. Lets us hope the trend continues but the other tiger states like Maharashtra, Punjab etc should not slow down, if not grow more than these states.