The SC judgement on NJAC

The Union Finance Minister, Mr Arun Jaitly , like any other citizen,  has a  right to air his views on the  recent Supreme Court judgement  . But his  comment ‘ tyranny of the unelected’  is  very much unbecoming of a politician of his stature   and the  constitutional position he holds . Does his comment  mean that people  should be acceptable to the ‘tyranny of the elected’ ? He conveniently forgot that he  himself was not directly elected by people!



The issue before the nation is  the independence, impartiality and competence of the judges at  high positions. The  judiciary and the judgement itself, has acknowledged the limitations of the current collegium system.  It needs reforms. A  ‘self correction’  was the  ideal solution. In the absence of that foresight , the parliament got involved. The  aim is to correct and perfect  a system, not that   the parliament or politicians to have a say  in the  appointment of the judges.  The  way  the politicians  are  reacting   gives an impression of ‘having lost an opportunity’ to control another important organ of the  state.That exactly is  one of the  apprehensions the judgement highlighted.



System  needs  a correction, one attempt was made. Its   short comings  are pointed out. The  judgement itself  commits to have a relook at the current system.  So  I feel, we need to be a bit more patient  , let the judiciary come  with its  solution  which  basically comes  down to transparency and accountability: "Reform that you may preserve"!

Syria, the new Afganistan of 1980s in the making.

( This may be read along with my blog of Jan 31, 2011: Potential solutions are the feared more than current problems )

President Putin's ability to out-manure the US and its western allies is becoming legendary. ( Russia begins to bomb targets in Syria, The Hindu , Oct 1, 2015) The former KGB spymaster is brining all his skills to his foreign policy.He has managed to open a new front in Syria making the West to 'forget' his deeds in Ukraine, though President Obama made some reference to it at the UN! 

Russia's latest involvement in Syria is aimed at getting a military base at the door step of Europe; to make good for the loss of eastern European satellites. In the guise of controlling the IS terrorists , Russia will be bombing the other Syrian rebels who are aligned with West but are opposed to President Assad. Russia will not be 'wasting' its military might on IS , which in any case are being Bombed by West. The West taking on IS and Russia taking on the other Assad rebels is the best that can happen for President Assad. If Assad manages to survive this , he will be 'obliged to invite ' Russia to have a permanent military base in Syria. This will be a major irritant to western world and NATO. 

Moreover, this will complicate the already challenging  fault lines in the Arab world - the Sunni Shia divide. The US and allies will be backing the Sunni Monarchies and Russia will be backing the Shia regimes of Syria, Iran and now Iraq. The new 'intelligence sharing axis' among this Russian backers is a precursor to the emerging scenario. 

If this happens, we can expect an Afghanistan of 1980s again in Syria. Who says history don't repeat.

Technolgy to make Cows out of Cars !

Cars are going to be like Cows -  everyone gets milk, no one owns a cow! 

We all need/ use milk daily with out owning the cow; that is likely to be fate of cars in the neat future ! 

Every one, more and more of world population , will need transportation and that too personalised - that will be available , in fact it is already there. If that personalised service is going to be more convenient and cheaper than owning an equipment ( read cars) then people will naturally opt for it. 

That is what exactly all the App based players like Uber/ Ola etc have done making use of the rapid progress of technology. 'Access and Convenience'   are the key operating  words for the future and that is what the younger generation is getting hooked onto. 

This is already happening in many areas, books, movies etc. going forward this is likely to spread to all assets which undergo Depreciation and faster changes -  like cars and  slowly into housing  etc for economic reasons. The way regulations and tax rules etc are structured will augment this shift further to service providers. The challenges of parking and maintenance are other factors driving this shift.  

The real surprise is that the service providers - say Uber - don't own any cars. The idea  and technology are getting merged -  a different version of 'crowd sourcing' as we see happening with Wikipedia etc ( which 15 year old has heard about Encyclopaedia Brittanica? ) The pace and scalability of technological advance is something the brick and mortar world is  finding difficult to match up to..... That is what we see with opposition to an application like Uber across the world. 

Therefore, the first causality of the emerging trend is likely to be  the second/ third car in the family. But the status symbol associated with cars is unlikely to go away any time soon; in fact that may get augmented further. So, people will own cars as  as they own a very high end camera or music system, more as 'trophies' rather than a basic transportation  equipment. 'The Car' may move from Parking lot to Living room over a period of time .......

This kind of a shift will have far reaching implications to the way the auto Industry is structured across the world. The design, features,  advertising, selling process including financing will all change or need to change . The only relief is that it may take 6/8 years .... But the direction is clear. 

9-11 --> Two Propositions and a Tragedy !

9 - 11 --> Two propositions and a Tragedy ! 

                          Its  Sept 11 and this day is more commonly called 9-11! Most of us know 9- 11 for the tragic events that happened at NY in 2001. We need not discuss that anymore - lets remember the victims  and pray for the families who are yet to recover from the shock of that eventful day. 

                            But, why is that we have to remember 9-11 with such  hurt, shame and helplessness? That is because we conveniently failed to understand and live up the calls made on this day , decades earlier,  by  two great Indians ! Had their  advices were heeded to, we would not have been so gloomy on this 9-11. 

1. Swami Vivekananda - 9-11-1893 . At World Parliament of Religions , Chicago.

Well known event and speech, am just quoting a few sentences from the speech which are most critical for this discussion.  

"Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilisation and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now."   

And he goes on to conclude "If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: ‘Help and not Fight,’ ‘Assimilation and not Destruction,’ ‘Harmony and Peace and not Dissension’.”

2. The Eureka moment for Mahatma Gandhi - Satyagragha 9 -11- 1906 ,  South Africa.

Amazing that within a span of just 13 years, Swami's call took 'flesh and blood' and became a perfect tool to address the burning social/ political issue in South Africa. Yes, there was a Mahandas who became Mahatma thro the adoption of Satyagraha as a non violent political tool. Gandhiji put his satyagraha message thus : 'If mankind is to sustain, it need  to accept truth and non-violence.' Therefore, his eureka moment and his life ( my life is my message ) shows the immutable correlation  between means and ends  - and that is what makes the second 9- 11 historically significant.

Here are a few comments by equally evolved souls of that tome: 

 'It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity,' wrote Albert Einstein. Martin Luther King Jr, who is the ‘American Gandhi’ said: “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power; we have guided missiles and misguided men...; if we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values: that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control... The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.'

Therefore, we are forced to remember 9-11 with sadness only because the world failed to understand Swami's clarion call and Gandhiji who converted that call into practical, political tool. 

Had the villains of 9-11- 2001  had the wisdom, the world would have been so much better.... But yes, the path is harder and longer.  Its not late yet, we still see signs of similar tragedies  developing at different parts of the world and mostly in human minds..... The moral arc and sense of justice are missing sadly.............Hope we can look back in time and correct ourselves. 

(Idea Courtesy - a 2013 Article by Mr.S Kulkarni) 

We may not be driving long like this .......in this highway!

We need to have Licence to drive in the virtual world !                                                    We should allow only " approved licence holders" to use the internet super highway ! 

There are many who don't qualify for a licence driving there causing all sorts of damage to even good carful drivers or users- many a times these damages are fatal!  The 'hit and run' cases in the virtual highway is more painful and damaging than in the physical highway, as the physical one is restricted by time and location. The accidents in virtual highway  is visible worldwide and is almost there for ever for everyone to see. What is even more ' cruel' is that most of the time the real culprit of the incident hides his or her identity unlike in the real world accident. Therefore, we need a world licensing authority which controls the usage of internet superhighway for the larger good of its users. Why can't there be an Aadhar card or social security number for internet users ? Either the entry into this highway need to be. Restricted or the cars one is driving should have mechanisms to avoid 'hit and run' cases.  This will make the usage more responsible and meaningful.  

Please, please don't mistake me..... Am not advocating any restrictions to freedom or freedom of expression of people. But the virtual world need a lot more authenticity and responsible usage for the larger and long term good of internet superhighway itself! 

Let the ones in real world decide...........

Ostrich in us is working overtime in India !

The Ostrich  in us again at work ! 

We had and continue to have many shameful incidents in our society, sadly rape has also just become one of those. However, when the Nirbhaya issue came out, we as a society and as a culture did respond and there were forward movements in law, awareness etc. However, in the last three years or so, other than the so called "genuine concern of one and all" nothing much has improved. Then comes the documentary by a British lady - India's Daughters -  in which she has managed to interview the convicts and their lawyers. Hell seems to have broken lose ......... The parents of Nirbhaya has come forward (very courageous) worked with this documentary maker and she got all permissions from the authorise concerned to make this film.  But , sadly it sheds light on  the  dark underbelly of Indian society-  the convicts blurbs out the truth ..... The mind set and the lawyers of the convict even "betters" the convicts with their views   ..... All this has really blown on the face of us, Indians ; and we are looking for cover. Here is where the Ostrich mentality comes out. When faced with danger , sink the head in sand .... So I don't have to face the reality.  Exactly the strategy being worked out by our police, judiciary and even parliament. Now the issue is who and why the convict was interviewed ( in case there is a lapse , pl investigate) rather than what has the convict said about us as society.  That is hard to face and answer..... Shoot the messenger....  We , Indians have lived enough in this make believe world of ours. Let this documentary come out, let it shame us , make us think and then there could be some corrections. No problems, especially of magnitude like this , can be solved with out getting into the root. If we find a way to ban this documentary, that will be even a bigger shame on our culture and a bigger injustice to Nirbhaya. Then we prove to the world as a society we Re not mature or willing to face the reality on ground. How many more Nirbhayas before we can fix us? Lets get out of this Ostrich mind set.... Have the courage to face reality.  Let it shake and shame  us out of our self made castle of falsehood and denial. Thank the British lady for holding the mirror to us. This time our freedom may come thro the  British lady !