MIGRATION TO MUMBAI: A PRACTICAL SOLUTION

Increase in the migration to Mumbai is a concern for all. While the commercial capital of the country may be able to provide a job for all seekers at least to make both ends meet, it certainly won’t be able to provide the housing and other civic amenities. The solution does not lie in intimidating the new immigrants, but in analyzing the root cause.

Maharsahtra has reasonably good governance, especially Mumbai, and it has developed excellent infrastructure to support commercial activities over the years. Other states like UP and Bihar are so badly governed that investment in the state is a nightmare to any entrepreneur. This jobless state of affairs makes locals to migrate to other places and, Mumbai being an attractive destination, the inflow to the city is more than other cities.

Look at Kerala, a state with 100% literacy, but communism has taken deep roots there. A red flag is hoisted there with the foundation stone laid for every factory and the labor unions dictate terms to the managements even before the commencement of production. This unfriendly atmosphere has kept the investors away and neighboring states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have taken advantage of the situation where industry is doing well.

But the difference with the Keralites is that, being well educated, they seek opportunities in Gulf and other countries outside India unlike their counterparts in UP and Bihar. What plagues UP and Bihar is that their leaders are not educated and hence importance is not given for education. The administration is corrupt and has misplaced priorities. What else can you say when Mayawati keeps building statues all over UP, and now, is thinking of establishing a special police force for the protection of these white elephants.

Kerala has lead the way showing that good quality education can empower its people to get opportunities globally, if not locally or nationally, and their annual remittance home is over six thousand crores of rupees which has improved their standard of living comparable to North Americans. The UPA government should ensure good governance of the states and that education gets top priority which alone can check the rapid migration to Mumbai. There will be no winners if one pursues the intimidatory politics of to solve the problem.

SENAS: MODERN INDIAN TALIBAN

You call them Shiv Sena, MNS or Ram Sena, they all have one thing in common, i.e., using violence and destroying the property created by others as a means to enforce their ideology on third parties. They have no regard for constitution and what they say is the law. Law enforcing agencies are afraid to book them for any act of vandalism and they are a class by themselves, untouchable. They are the modern Indian Taliban and the only way differ from the original version is that while the Taliban pick target in other countries, their Indian counterparts destroy their own country and their own people. It is something similar to what the elephants do, putting mud on their own head.

If it is Pakistan, we can understand. There, the country is managed by four groups, viz., a weak civil government, the powerful army, the influential ISI and the Taliban. Going by the past experience, any group may get into the driver’s seat and call the shots except the ‘elected’ civil government. The government is just a spokesperson for the rest trying to establish some legitimacy to the elected office.

But, India is not like that. We have constitutionally elected governments both at the centre and states. It will be a dangerous precedence if we allow any extra-constitutional force to dictate terms and disrupt the daily life. Resorting to violence in the pursuit of personal agenda by any political group should not be tolerated, be it a Sena, Telengana group, Naxals or ULFA. Political Parties and other disgruntled elements in the society have always called for Bandh disrupting social life and damaging public property worth crores of rupees. No one should be allowed to take law in hands and politicians who exhort violence should be booked under criminal law.

History has it that it is the infighting between local rulers that lead to the Mugals conquering India followed by the British invasion. By fighting among ourselves, we will be giving easy access to our external enemies, especially Pakistan, who are jealous of our progress. The Senas and other political parties should grind their axes and address more important issues like nation al security, terrorism, corruption, revamping police and judiciary system and so on than fighting over trivial issues.

INSULTING OUR HEROES

In the war of words exchanged between Udhav Thackeray and Rahul Gandhi over the former’s regularly repeated slogan ‘Mumbai for Maharashtrians’, the Sena leader, accused Rahul for insulting the local heroes of 26/11 by saying that it was the Bihar and UP units of NSG that came to the rescue. The ill equipped Mumbai police sacrificed three of their top professionals before the NSG could take over the command.

NSG commandos are drawn from all over India and can be deployed in any part of India regardless of the composition of the unit. During the 26/11, it happened to be the UP and Bihar units that were mobilized, and it is unfortunate that Rahul Gandhi made the statement in the wrong context. Top Mumbai police personnel also sacrificed their lives, with the only difference that they did not die at the hands of terrorists, but at the hands of corrupt bureaucrats who procured faulty armor. That is a different story.

It is not the political parties alone that insult our heroes, but the union governments too, do it with stunning regularity. Did we honor the eight servicemen who laid down their lives to protect our cheap politicians when the parliament was attacked? What did we do? We awarded them vir chakra posthumously, but did not have the guts for carrying out the Supreme Court verdict that decreed capital punishment to Afzal Guru. He is enjoying presidential clemency, and will continue to enjoy the same until the day when someone hijacks an airline and demand his release. Another Kandahar like episode will follow and the terrorists will have their way.

A well trained Kasab slaughtered unsuspecting travelers at the VT station, and the court wasted plenty of time establishing his age for, if he is a minor, he could be considered for juvenile crime. Had he been tried under Islamic laws, he would not have survived till today.

It is a pity that we treat our real heroes with scant respect and honor the terrorists. I am ashamed to be part of this system.

BAR CRIMINALS FROM CONTESTING ELECTIONS

Sonia Gandhi said it. Speaking at the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Election Commission, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the UPA, called for barring candidates with criminal records from contesting in elections. The call has come a bit late, but what is more important is that the call has finally come, and that too, from a very responsible person holding a very high office. Given legal effect, this will greatly improve the quality of governance at all levels.

In the sixty years of post republic era, India has successfully emerged as a global player in the world economic scene by adopting a series of effective economic reforms and the credit goes to different parties that came to power at the centre, in that, no government at the centre tried to undo the achievements of the previous government.

But what was, unfortunately, overlooked was the simple truth that political reforms too have to be put in place from time to time if the economic reforms have to achieve the desired results. The replacement of British rule by Babu’s rule brought in rampant corruption, nepotism, use of money power and muscle power, criminalization of politics and, finally, the creation of an unbreakable nexus between the underworld, police, politicians and babus that left the common man a silent sufferer with no constitutional means to address his grievance. The track record of our honorable MPs will testify to this.

Today, after sixty years, Indian democracy remains a democracy of the powerful, by the powerful and for the powerful. The police don’t register cases if it involves powerful people, the victims are threatened, the lawyers use their skills to protect the law breaker than the law abiding and the judiciary is influenced, all to protect the big guns.

It is indeed a great call from no less a person than Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to stop criminals from contesting elections. American constitution has a provision barring criminals from holding public office for life. We just need a single constitutional amendment which will not only improve the quality of governance, but make India an enviable place to live.

POSITIVE ATTITUDE WILL LEAD TO GROWTH

In his award winning publication “The World is Flat”, New York Times journalist Mr. Thomas Friedman narrates a beautiful story of an Indian Muslim family based in Mumbai half of which migrated to Pakistan on partition of the country. Fifty years down the line, the part of the family that chose to stay back in India did exceedingly well in all fields while, unfortunately, the part that opted for Pakistan did not progress at all. A young boy from the Indian side of the family asked his father “Dad, we have done well in our life. Why is that our Pakistani counterparts are not doing so well?” Answering this the father replied, “Son, when an Indian Muslim boy looks at a rich man standing on top of his mansion, he will tell his father, “Dad, one day I will become that man, where as the Pakistani Muslim boy will tell his father, “Dad, one day I will kill that man.” You got it.

That makes the difference. One is positive in his approach and the other negative. For decades, successive governments in Pakistan, both civil and military, had ‘India Bashing’ as their main agenda and key issues like economic development and education were shifted to the back burner. Supported by the powerful military establishment, the Pakistani media also thought its moral duty was to feed the public on a regular diet of hatred towards India. This negative strategy might have helped few to hold on to the power, but certainly, it has not done any good to the people.

In strange contrast, neither the Indian leadership nor the media nurtured a similar attitude towards Pakistan or its people. Though a creation of political divide at the time of independence, both the countries share a common culture and language, and there is no logical reason for a fall out between the people of both nations. In fact, Indians would cherish a politically stable Pakistan, in that it would help the inflow of foreign capital resulting in the growth of the economy and improve the quality of life. The growth of Indian economy during the last decade is a glaring example. Today, any Indian Muslim will vouch for the fact that he enjoys more privileges than his counterpart in Pakistan.

What Pakistan needs today is a stable civil government and a hassle free bureaucracy for its growth. Harping on the Kashmir issue or terrorizing innocent civilians is not going help neither the people of Kashmir or Pakistan. The leaders need to adopt a positive attitude and they will be amazed at the results.

EMPLOYABILITY: THE KEY TO SURVIVAL

In a recent address to the nation, the US president Mr. Barack Obama, while referring to the rising unemployment, called upon young Americans to take on folks in Bangalore and Beijing, meaning that they should work harder to challenge the competition brought forth by the fast developing Asian economic giants. He did not mean to take on the challengers physically, but to improve ones own educational and performance levels to make Americans more competitive.

The secret behind America’s growth as a global economic and military power is that it brought into the country the best brains and talents from all over the world, regardless of the race, color or religious faith and provided them opportunity in excel in their own field. Today, you find more immigrant settlers contributing to the national development than Native Americans.

What caused the current recession in the US was that it was caught napping while developing Asian economies were preparing to capitalize on the opportunities that came along with globalization. In the past, the US has remained an imposing global power unchallenged almost for half a century since the end of the Second World War, and this resulted in complacency in every walk of life with the assumption that all good things will always remain for ever. The collapse of Berlin wall and the break up of the former Soviet Union that followed re-doubled the belief that they were untouchable.

However, the arrival of fiber optic cable changed the scenario and enabled high speed communication between countries resulting in thousands of jobs being outsourced to developing nations that helped to cut down costs considerably. The Americans were caught off guard when companies started shifting their backroom jobs to Asian destinations where cheap, but highly skilled labor force was available. India, China and other South Asian countries were quick to encash the opportunity.

Mumbai has a similar status like the US in that what made it the commercial capital of the country is the contribution from people all over the country. If TATAs, Birlas, Ambanis, Hindujas and Ruias invested in manufacturing, the Kapoors, Khans and Bachans contributed to the film industry. Mumbai could not have built so many high rise buildings without Andra workers and the middle class would have starved without Udupi restaurants. Other people played supportive roles in making the Mumbai of today.

The local Mumbaikar, unfortunately, was not fast enough to adapt to the changing situation and outsiders who were more adaptable grabbed the opportunity. Politicians have been demanding jobs for local people and earn cheap popularity, even resorting to violent means, but, surely, this is not a winning strategy in the long run. Intimidating potential employers in the name of regional politics will only result in the flight of jobs out of the state. Empowering the local people by creating more opportunities to horn their skills will be the only viable solution in this era of globalization.

Bhopal Tragedy: US should compensate the victims

Twenty Five years have passed since the disaster stuck Bhopal where thousands of innocent people perished in their sleep when the lethal gas, Methyl Isocyanine, used in the manufacture of pesticides leaked out of the factory owned by the American chemical giant Union Carbide. There was hardly any time to run for cover and the leakage had claimed thousands of lives besides damaging the lungs and eyes of those who survived.

Warren Anderson, the Union Carbide CEO at that time, did not feel even apologetic about the incident, leave alone the megre compensation paid to the families of the dead and the injured. The issue has dragged on for years and those who suffered have not been rehabilitated in a decent way. Dow Chemicals, in the meantime, bought Union Carbide which then ceased to exist, and this effectively blocked the compensation issue. Further, Dow Chemicals distanced itself from the disaster claiming it was not the owner when the accident took place. What a convenient answer?

At the time of the disaster, US was the dominant economy in the world dictating terms to others and the American chemical giant even used the diplomatic circle to threaten the Indian government of adverse economic consequences if it pressed harder on compensation issues. The global economic scenario has changed since then and we are no more on the receiving end. India is now a global economic power to be reckoned with and it is high time we stared telling the US multinationals, “Look here, if you can’t fulfill your social responsibility, we will not be mere spectators and may have to show you the door apart from holding you legally responsible for any damage.”

The US administration has been dishing out billions of dollarsto save the cash crunched and mismanaged business houses to support its overpaid and non performing executives and it will be only proper and fitting if the Indian govt., at this juncture, take up the issue with Obama administration and negotiate a reasonable deal for the victims of the disaster. Better be late than never.