29.11.2008

Politics & the Nation

• It surprises me no end that the security forces have taken this long to mow down the terrorists holed up in the Taj at Mumbai.
• No doubt, this is no ordinary skirmish and the terrorists are surely not ordinary people. They are so thoroughly trained, appear to be aware of the topography of the entire building, and more than that they don't care either for their lives or for the lives of others.
  
• But India sends a message that no amount of terror can kneel it down.
• One more thought that occured to me in this hour of crisis, apart from what I rued about our political system two days ago is this: why should we keep finding fault with only the politicians? Isn't there something wrong with us, the common populace? Aren't we to be equally blamed for the mess? How is it that we find scapegoats in politicians, security forces, and all others except ourselves? What is it that we have done to keep the country safe? Has our behaviour been conducive to the security forces' fight? Shouldn't we do something about it? Shouldn't we be volunteering for military duties or security duties at least for some portion of our lives? Why should we keep on blaming the politicians, instead of just booting the opportunistic lot of them out of power by the power of ballot? Have all those who have been crowing about bad politicians, ever voted? Did they exercise their franchise? Isn't casting a vote the duty of the common man? If you have not liked a politician or political party, did you cast your vote against them? If you have found that no political party is worth your vote, did you take care to ensure that your vote is not cast to anybody by going to the polling booth and not voting for anybody? You could have cancelled your vote, or cast an invalid vote to ensure that rigging is prevented. Without doing any of this, and without even being prepared to sacrifice our lives for the good of the others at large, how far are we reasonable in expecting that the politicians are the villains or that the security forces have not done their job properly?
• All these are some troubling questions that bothered me at this hour of writing. It is only when we find answers to these questions that we can remain at peace with ourselves and contribute our bit to the country and the world at large.
• One more troubling thought that crossed my mind is this: Why is it that such terrorist attacks don't happen in Islamic countries? My feeling and answer is that, though the world at large sees them with some scorn for their outdated and worn out legal systems and sense of justice, it is that 'out of fashion' sense of justice of 'an eye for eye' and 'a leg for a leg' (eg., the public stoning of criminals to death, skinning them alive, shooting them in public places etc.,) that acts as a kind of deterrent in the first place. This should not by any means be construed as my support to such practices. This is only an explanation of a situation. And secondly, whatever be the mode (outdated/out of fashion etc.,) of their legal systems, one thing is for sure: they are fast and bring the perpetrators of any crime to justice. They don't waste thier time in some lofty ideals. Look at for example what happened in Indonesia? The perpetrators of the Bali bombing were brought to justice in two years flat. A thing that can perhaps never happen in India in the current circumstances. Why can't we somehow reform our legal system to at least deliver speedy justice?
• Am I the only one venting out my thoughts and anger?
• Today's ET op-ed is full with two articles on terrorism.
• Read Brahma Cellany's and Radha Kumar's admonitions.
• I am one with Gautam Adhikari when he says that it is Pakistan that should be saved first, to save ourselves and perhaps the world.
  
• Should India blame Pakistan for the mess?
• I don't think that is a correct and mature response for the situation. Is the Pakistani government really in control of its country? The plain fact is this: it is NOT. It can't do a damn about what goes on in its north west. It can't control its own ISI and other legal / extra legal outfits without any reasonable amount of certainty. It cannot even control its own army, which calls the shots at any given point in time. All the political parties that come to power in Pakistan vie with each other to stay on the right side of the army. In this kind of situation, will it serve any purpose to blame the Pakistani civilian government? It won't. So the Indian government will do its best by not resorting to any blame game.
• Instead, what it should do and can do is: while strengthening its borders and taking up all other measures to establish a counter terrorist establishment and infrastructure, it can possibly take the war to the terrorists by mounting more sophisticated technological surveillance to monitor their movements and sinister designs and act on them in time to prevent the recurrence of such events.
• Just blaming a weak neighbour who doesn't even know what it is living with or what it can and cannot do, will not serve any purpose.
• How many anti-terror squads India has?
• In the wake of calls for a specialist national anti-terror organization, it would be interesting to know something about this. Look at this.
  

Finance & Economy

• GDP grows at 7.6%
• This is some cause for cheer in the current situation.
• With inflation also hovering around 8.84% we should at least breath it easy till the figures for the next two quarters, when growth is expected to take some hit. Why should we temper our cheers with some caution? Look at two strong reasons excerpted for you from today's ET editorial:
• One, the full impact of the global crisis hit us only after the iconic investment bank Lehman Brothers went into liquidation mid-September. Global liquidity dried up and risk aversion, especially against emerging markets like India, increased dramatically. Hence, going forward, third and fourth quarter numbers are likely to be much less encouraging.
  
• Two, with the exception of electricity, gas and water supply, every other sector saw a dip in second-quarter performance, with mining, quarrying and construction and, to a lesser extent community, social and personal services showing a particularly sharp dip. The Sixth Pay Commission largesse may help reverse some of the decline in services in the next quarter. But there is little reason to expect any improvement in the other two sectors, mining and construction. Given that these are labour-intensive sectors, employing large number of unskilled workers, any slowdown here does not auger well from the welfare perspective. Add to that the slowdown in manufacturing, which is also likely to intensify as demand contracts, and the picture looks far bleaker than the latest GDP figures would suggest.
  

I don't feel like blogging

• Do you know friends, this feeling is true. As emotions catch up with me reading and catching up with the horror that Mumbai, our financial capital has gone through for the last two days, this is one feeling that somehow I have not been able to shrug off.
• I am really touched by the words "I don't feel like dancing" coming from Salomi Akshikar, a Jewish girl. I am equally hit by the same leaden mood. Will resume from tomorrow.
• Let us have a good day, now that Operation Cyclone is over. Let us relax. Shrug it off. And carry on from tomorrow onwards...