Has the UPA Government been Soft on Terror

Another day and another terrorist strike in India. The last few months have seen so many terrorist attacks from Bangalore, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and now Assam. With terror outfits striking at will all over the country, it begs the questions "Has the UPA Government been soft on terror?"

Please provide your opinion below

The Triumph of Ignorance

A couple of days back in one of my posts I had talked about how when it comes to electing the most powerful person in the world, being knowledgeable and intellectual does a disservice to you. Ask Al Gore or John Kerry.

In a article for the Outlook, George Monbiot wonders the same. He writes and I quote
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Like most people on this side of the Atlantic I have spent my adult life mystified by American politics. The US has the world’s best universities and attracts the world’s finest minds. It dominates discoveries in science and medicine. Its wealth and power depend on the application of knowledge. Yet, uniquely among the developed nations (with the possible exception of Australia), learning is a grave political disadvantage.
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Read the complete article at Triumph of Ignorance

Also read When Atheists Attack

India's Right Left Problem

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Draw a line between Chennai and Chandigarh. Seven out of the eight IPL cricket teams are on the line or to the 'Right' of this line. The only team that is to the 'Left' of this line, expectedly, is the Kolkatha team. And when the IPL will be expanded in the following seasons, one can readily think of teams from Ahmadabad, Nagpur, Goa, Kochi or perhaps Vadodara - all to the 'Right' of my imaginary line.

But to conceive of an IPL team from say Lucknow or Patna or Bhubaneswar - all to the 'Left' of my line even after ten years from now is as remote as snow in Chennai. The reference to IPL teams, at the outset, is to merely sensitise the reader to the issue on hand - growing regional (economic) disparity and its impact on national politics. After all, sport is an index of prosperity, isn't it?

While India had grown for the past three decades at approximately six per cent per annum, states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra which are to the 'Right' of this line grew much faster rate than the national average. In contrast, states like Bihar, UP and Bengal - those on the 'Left' of this line grew lower than the national average. In the process, they did pull down the national average substantially.
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Read the full article at Right and Left

More Raj Thackeray 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Why Smoking Ban in India Wont Work

Shekhar Gupta writes for the Washington Post that it would be very difficult for the recent ban in all public places in India to work.

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Nobody, however, objects to this law. There is no smoking lobby in the cities, nor is the ban being enforced in such a draconian way that smokers would be out in the streets protesting. But if the objective was to save the lungs of millions of Indians, this ban is not going to work because smokers will smoke as long as they can afford to buy cigarettes and find a corner on which to smoke them.
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Read the complete piece Indian Smoking Ban

The Godfathers of Bangalore

When you hear of Bangalore, you think of Information Technology, Outsourcing, Silicon Valley of India etc. Though all of these have propelled Bangalore specific and India in general into the global economy, this has come at a price.

A recent article in Wired Magazine highlights how all this growth in Bangalore comes at a price. Most of us who have been to Bangalore and have seen the real estate prices skyrocket in the last decade have suspected this all along. What am I talking about? The involvement of underworld and the mafia in the commercial and residential real estate market. Here is a brief excerpt from the article
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But there's a dark side to Bangalore's rocket ride. City officials—at least those who aren't taking bribes—struggle to reconcile the gleaming promise of the information economy with the gritty reality of systemic corruption, a Byzantine justice system, and a criminal underworld more than willing to maim and murder its way into control of the city's real estate market. As tech companies gobble up acreage, demand has pushed prices into the stratosphere. In 2001, office space near the center of town sold for $1 a square foot. Now it can go for $400 a square foot.
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Read the full article at Godfather of Bangalore

Untangling Credit Default Swaps

If you have been following the current financial crisis closely, then you might have heard about the term Credit Default Swaps. Paddy Hirsch of Market Place offers a pretty good explanation of what CDS are and how they work.


Untangling credit default swaps from Marketplace on Vimeo.

Ravan and Rakhi Savant

If Ravan were to try and abduct Rakhi Savant what would happen. See and find out

Chappati and Vegetables for Raj Thackeray

Do we really need to know what Raj Thackeray ate when he was in police custody. Shouldnt the focus of the media be on what things he has done to instigate the violence and give an objective unbasied opinion on that. Why would we the readers care about what he ate at the police station.

In this world of 24/7 news have journalism standards been tossed out of the window so that anything and everything gets reported as news, right from what Raj Thackeray ate to Amithab Bachchan catching a cold

More Raj Thackeray 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Leadership in the 21st Century

Watch Charlie Rose talk about Leadership in the 21st Century with five very distinguished individuals. The conversation between Charlie Rose and John Doerr, Meg Whitman, James Wolfensohn, Jeff Immelt and Anand Mahindra centered around the current financial crisis, the US presidential election, Global Warming, role of US in the world as well as the role of the developing countries in the 21st century. Very interesting and insightful conversation.

Raj Thackeray at it Again

Raj Thackeray was arrested today because some MNS activists beat up candidates taking the Railway Recruitment Board exam. The reason why they beat them up, not enough representation for "Marathi Manus" in the examination.

The ensuing arrest has resulted in violent incidents, which are being reported across Mumbai as I write this. I do not disagree with the arrest of Raj Thackeray. I think it is absolutely the right thing to do.

But the question is can any charges against him be brought to court so a conviction against him is achieved? How soon will it be before we see him out on bail? If he is going to be granted bail, which I am sure is already in the works as I write this, why create this spectacle of a sham arrest and waste all the tax payers money? What about all the property that is being destroyed by the thugs of Raj Thackeray? When will Raj Thackeray and his thugs realize the irony that in protecting the interest of the "Marathi Manus", they are inadvertently harming him with all this senseless violence and political game play?

In short the same old story repeats itself. When is this going to change?

More Raj Thackeray 1, 2, 3, 4

Service and Sacrifice

Watch the slide show of US men and women and their families who have served or are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the picture is that of a mother grieving over her sons grave. And the son is Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, whom General Colin Powell mentioned in is speech when he endorsed Barack Obama

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama for President

General Colin Powell, a former Secretary of State under the current president George Bush, has endorsed Barack Obama for the President of the United States. In a very impassioned and bipartisan speech today on Meet the Press, General Powell laid his thinking to bare on why he is endorsing Barack Obama and not John McCain. I have never seen or heard a much more lucid and clearly thought-out argument for endorsing a particular candidate. Just watch the video

Making Democracy Work the Hard Way

For a country which seeks to promote democracy throughout the world, the current presidential elections in the United States have brought to light a whole host of problems right from how voters are registered to how votes are counted (Handing Chads anyone. You would wonder that for the world's most developed country which has been practicing democracy for the last two centuries, they would have everything figured out by now.

Doing Democracy Right a recent article on the online magazine Slate explores the decentralized process of voter registration, voting as well as counting of votes. When it comes to casting of votes and counting them, countries like India may have an answer in how electronic voting machines work.

Jet Airways To Reinstate Sacked Staff

In an about-face from a day ago when Jet Airlines sacked about 1900 employees, it has decided to reinstate them into their current jobs. This after the ever venerable Raj Thackeray threatened to not let any Jet Airlines flight fly out of Mumbai if they sacked employees were not reinstated.

Now compare this with what is happening in the US where thousands of employees of the big three car makers have been laid off during the last few years. Imagine if in response to this issue if politicians would have said "we will not allow cars from the big three automakers to hit the road." Wouldn't that make a bad situation even worse.

If these are the signs of the time where companies are held to ransom by petty politicians like Raj Thackeray, then wouldn't this discourage industry and private enterprise from hiring people because they know that there will be a big hue and cry if the company fires them. How is this good for business in the long run? What company is willing to take this risk? When will our politicians stop poking their big size heads with under sized brains in every matter?

If we as a country need to make any real progress then there needs to transparency and minimum government and political intervention in the way private industry functions.

Derivatives Markets Worth $596 Trillion- How?

Derivatives which are getting the brunt of the blame for the current financial crisis have a total notional value of $596 Trillion. This is larger then the amount of all the financial assets of the world put together. How is that possible. An article in the online magazine Slate provides an answer. Read the complete article at $596 Trillion.

One of my other post on this topic can be found at Derivatives to Blame

Economy Affects Pan Handling

The current economic situation is so bad that even pan handlers are affected... Just read the sign. Have any of the presidential candidates seen this?




Link obtained from Plant Money

Paul Krugman Wins the Economics Nobel

Paul Krugman today won the Nobel Prize in economic sciences. Paul may be one of the most popular economist to have ever won a Nobel, not the other way round where you become famous and popular after winning a Nobel. He writes the popular biweekly column for the NY Times which serves to illuminate the current economical and political issues with clear crisp writing easily understandable by the common man. He also writes the popular blog Conscience of a Liberal.

Currently I am reading his book The Accidental Theorist.

Spread the Story - Stop XDR TB

If you do not anything about XDR TB or "Extremely Drug Resistant Tuberculosis", then this video should spur you to action.



Please spread the word about the disease. Learn more at XDRTB

Link obtained from Churmuri

Violence against any religion is unacceptable: Advani

Statement of the day comes for Senior BJP leader LK Advani. He has denounced violence against any religion or place of worship, saying it is ‘unacceptable’. This coming from a man who in 1992 embarked on a "rath yatra" to mobilize "karsevaks" which ultimately led to the demolition of the Babri mosque.

Here is my take on Advani turning pseudo secular: Since he the BJP's prime ministerial candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, may be he just displaying a pseudo secular image just to gain some political mileage and hope that his party will be elected as the majority party. As he is already 81 years old, he has probably realized that this election is probably his last opportunity to be the Prime Minister of India.

Innovative Use of a Process Map

Process maps are used to determine the flow of the process to look for inefficiencies, redundancies or to just to capture what the current state looks like. Below is a flowchart on the thought process of Sarah Palin,the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, before she answers a tough question without the filter of the main stream media. This is just too funny




Link obtained from Process Improvement Blog

Wall Street Unraveled - Derivatives to Blame

With the current financial crisis unraveling with each passing day, one of the financial instruments that has come under renewed scrutiny and being blamed for the meltdown of world financial system is the Derivatives. The last few years have seen the market for various kinds of derivatives grow five fold from $102 trillion to about $596 trillion. Compare this to the size of the entire world economy of $50 trillion. And the scary part is that hardly any of this market is regulated.

Most economists and financial experts including Warren Buffett blame this lack of regulation and oversight on the current financial meltdown. In light of this, The New York Times has a article which looks at Alan Greenspan and his role as a Federal Reserve Chairman in the creation and sustenance of the whole derivatives market.

Read the complete article at Legacy of Alan Greenspan

Also read an article on 10 Myths about Derivatives. Though this may be a bit redundant right now.

YS Rajasekhara Reddy's Son may Contest Next Lok Sabha Elections

This headline in the Times of India reminded me of an article titled Where is Inner Party Democracy in India by Amit Varma that I had read a couple of months back. Here is a section of the article which reinforces the headline.
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In the absence of robust, inner-party democracy, young leaders find it hard to rise within the system - unless, like Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Manvendra Singh, Akhilesh Yadav, Omar Abdullah and Jyotiraditya Scindia, they’re some bigwig’s son taking charge of an inheritance. The old fogeys stay in charge, consolidate their positions, and promote their sycophants. Is there hope for change, then?
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For a country whose political parties always claim that they represent the worlds largest democracy, it is rather ironic that some of these same political parties don't have any democratic setup in terms of how they elect their leaders. Manmohan Singh the current prime minister of India, a highly admirable individual by the way, was nominated and not elected. As for Rahul Gandhi the only qualification that he has is that he is the torch bearer of the Nehru Gandhi family.

Its a pity that for a country of more then a billion people, its always the same few families and individuals who get to represent the people. The leadership and political talent of a vast majority of individuals is buried never to be tapped by a few individuals and families who want to promote their own self interest before the interest of the country.

India’s tricky path to industrialisation

A recent editorial in the Financial Times discusses the failed venture of Tata Motors to set up a manufacturing facility for the worlds cheapest car, the Tata Nano in West Bengal.

I wholeheartedly agree with the central notion of the article that if India is to prosper, industrialisation is the way to go. But suggesting that we follow China's lead and use force to grab land and suppress dissent and freedom of speech just in the name of national progress is ludicrous.

Agreed that half of China's population now lives in the urban area, but measuring progress by just having high tech industrialized cities, without providing the basic rights to individuals who live there is just myopic and lacking foresight. What good is the life of an individual when they have no opportunity to express any view that is contrary to the Party line. What good is all your luxurious city life, if at the first sign of dissent you are silenced and thrown into a dungeon.

That's where democracy comes into the picture. Had it not been for the farmers dissent, it would not have been revealed that the process of how the land was allocated is not fair. So this has provided a learning experience for the parties involved and the next time when such a deal happens, they will make sure that these learnings are applied when negotiating the deal and that will lead to a better outcome.

I agree that with the editorial that industrialisation is needed and is needed badly if India is to lift its teeming masses out of poverty. But doing it by suppressing freedom of speech and expression is the wrong way to go about it. And this is a delicate path which India has to walk, where it modernizes itself without giving up its democracy.

Look Who is Looking Backward

This past week during the Vice Presidential debate, Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for the Vice President said and I quote, "Enough is enough with looking backward and playing the blame game. There's a time, too, when Americans are gonna say, 'Enough is enough,' with your ticket constantly looking backwards and pointing fingers and doing the blame game. There have been huge blunders in the war, there have been huge blunders throughout this administration, as there are with any administration, but for a ticket that wants to talk about change and looking into the future, there's just too much finger-pointing backwards to ever make us believe that that's where you're going.

Well, it all sounds quite ironic when the same Sarah Palin today brought up the topic of Barack Obama's links to Bill Ayer's a 1960's anti war activist. Why is Sarah Palin talking about something that happened in 1960 when Barack Obama was just 8 years old. For someone who as recently as last week wanted to talk about the way forward and not backwards, what made her change her mind into talking about something that has not happened in the recent past.

Financial Crisis Explained

If your head is spinning hearing about the financial crisis, the $700 Billion bailout of Wall Street or even some of the financial terms that have been thrown around, you are not alone. This American Life a show on NPR had a great episode today which explained why we are in the mess we are, and how the most sophisticated Ponzi Scheme ever invented by the most sophisticated of investors has brought us to the edge of a financial abyss.

If you want to know more about Commerical Paper, Credit Default Swaps, and how these seemingly obscure terms led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression then this show is a must miss.

Click here to listen to the show.

May Be Tina Fey Should be Vice President

Watching this weeks SNL and Tina Fey's impersonation of Sarah Palin makes you wonder if John McCain picked the wrong maverick to be his running mate...

Watch the most recent Sarah Palin i.e. Tina Fey SNL clip....

Compare and Contrast

Compare and contrast.... thats all I can say my friends....



Link obtained from Arzan

Bollywood - A Misleading Model

An excellent article on how bollywood is breeding ignorance

The Expectation of Mediocrity

Clarence Darrow once said and I quote "When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it." I guess Clarence was right as apparently even today these words hold true.

When Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, floundered her interview with Katie Couric last week, the expectation of her was so low for the Vice Presidential debate that if she came up with one coherent sentence which made sense, it would mean that she did just fine. The American people would accept her for who she is, a hockey mom, a maverick, and folksy who can relate to ordinary Americans. Her lack of knowledge on matters of importance like the economy, foreign policy, domestic policy would not matter.

Why is it that, at-least one third of the country comes to accept mediocrity when it comes to electing the President or the Vice President? Why is it that we don't demand the best out of the candidates who are going to lead us in these tough times both domestically and internationally? When we as individuals always try to do our best at work, school, with the family etc and expect the same from others in these areas, how can we accept mediocrity when it comes to the most important job in the world?

John McCain's Health Care Plan

In all of the economic events of the recent days, a key topic for discussion has been put on a back-burner. Yes I am talking about health care. Both of the current presidential candidates want to reform the costly and highly inefficient American health care system. Of the two candidates, John McCain is proposing a completely radical approach to how individuals get health care coverage in this country.

Most Americans get their health insurance through their employer. Employees pay certain portion of the premium and the remaining tab is picked up by the employer which is substantial. According to a recent Kasier Foundation Study, employer contribution for the health insurance premium for a family is about $9300, while the employee contributes about $3300 towards the premium. See exhibit A for details on the breakdown.



Now coming to John McCain's radical proposal. According to John McCains health care plan, he wants the employer contribution (which is about $9300 for an average family) to be taxed as income. Remember this benefits are currently not taxed at all. In order to offset the stick of taxing the employer contribution, as a carrot, his plan offers a $5000 tax credit per family, which can be used to buy additional health insurance if needed.

Here is my question. If your employer contribution is taxed every month wouldn't your employer be withholding additional money from your paycheck to cover these taxes thus reducing your take home pay significantly depending on how much your employer contribution is. And if you are somebody who is living pay check to pay check every month, this reduction is monthly/weekly pay can make a significant difference. So wouldn't these individuals, even though knowing that they will get $5000 back at the end of the year, try to opt out of the employer based insurance all together to make ends meet?. Granted, these individuals can shop around for cheaper health insurance in the market. But what are the chances of of finding a cheaper option, as a individual compared to a group rate from your employer, which pays the same benefits. Pretty slim I would guess. Wouldn't this add to the number of uninsured?

All in all I think it is bad idea to tax the employer contribution of your health care premium.

Also read Bob Herbert's column on the same topic in the NY Times.