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September 7, 1998
ELECTIONS '98
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How Readers responded to Rajeev Srinivasan's recent columns
Date sent: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 11:59:29 -0700 (PDT)
I totally agree with your view that the proliferation of parties, each one started due to the whims and fancies and personal egos of some dejected/rejected politician, has led to the fragmentation of the voters and given us the kind of instability that we presently see. Because of the fleeting nature of these parties, they do not have any long-term vision for the country, nor are interested in any such thing. All they are interested in is hanging on to power by hook or crook. We have to abolish outright this proliferation. What we need presently are politicians who are broadminded, having vision for the development of the country -- not some petty crooks. Only such people can take the country towards fruitful development. Ravi
Date sent: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 15:28:08 -0500
The purpose of my email is to thank you for zeroing in on what needs to be done and who needs to do it. It is also to encourage you with a sliver of good news that there are others that think like you. I congratulate you on a well thought and inspiring article urging younger generation NRIs to help the country in more ways than one. As you know, the reform process in India is pretty much to a trickle. Moreover, people taking chances on India, including MNCs and NRIs, have been having bitter experiences, ever since the cancellation of the Enron project. There is no political support. Hence, any will to even attempt bold but desperately needed reforms -- for example in labour laws and privatisation of PSUs -- is hanging by a thread. I speak from personal experience. Being a CA in India and a CPA in the US and with a masters in business in both countries, I started a company to raise FDI for India and to help joint collaborations, tech transfers etc back in 1994 when the reforms were thought to have taken hold. Despite my success in raising FDI, I found out that local regulatory laws and corporate responsibility was so poor that the promise to go to the public were not enforced by the government. Neither was the money refunded, thus hurting investor confidence. Look how the primary market dried up. Chrysler recently pulled out of India. Look at the mess with Suzuki and Maruti -- protection of private property in a land of rule of law is horrifying and MNCs prefer Chinese summary justice. Rajeev, you may agree with me in that money chases money. If reforms on ground speed up, we can't stop FIIs even if we want to. I had spoken to FII managers and international banks from US, S'pre, Japan, UK, HK, Germany, France, Holland etc. Political instability is the real killer. We have been having at least 5 to 6% growth over the past 4 years. But look at the confidence in the BSE, it never touched its September 94 high of around 4600. And that's even before Pokhran-II. The point is the political system is hurting so bad and getting worse. There was an actual statement by a BJP politician that if support from AIADMK is withdrawn, there could be a mid-term election. Hello! It's not a joke, they mean it. Now, your home is your home is your home, no matter what. And it's collapsing. Just like you thought, first having started with what you are good at, i e, in finance and having lost huge sums of money, I told myself Chalo Delhi. So I started, with the help of 4 NRIs a non-profit orgn called Friends of United India in April 1996, just before the general election, when the Congress was predicted to lose. It's good it lost in some ways, but it ushered in the instability era, the coalition politics which led to the now Amma blackmail. Remember, political effort is not the same as a business effort and there is no honourable retreat in a lifetime, and there are no guarantees. Now you get into the shoes of the politicians. We are dealing with everything under the sun: Nukes, diseases, economics, cultures, values, religions, history of civilisations, countries... So I started digging in. And I am still working on it, after almost 2.5 years later, every single day learning about the country, the world in which we live which is fast changing every day, becoming smaller, but more dangerous and miserable for those that are unprepared. So Rajeev take comfort -- at least one NRI reads your column long before it is written. I look forward to reading more inspiring columns from you. Would like to work with you in the near future and see how we can help the country. Good luck and warm regards,
Chandra Sekhar Konidena
Date sent: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 21:26:32 -0400
I agree with most of the points in this article. As mentioned, it is diplomacy that has always failed us for the past 50 years. As far as the NRI investment issue is concerned, I don't see any huge investment till our own stock market recovers and brings confidence.
Date sent: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 23:35:52 -0700
While the spirit of the article is very evident, the column is cluttered with various ideas which sometime do not thread together. The issue with India is really its leadership, past and present. None of them actually showed the will to stand against the test of time, take strong and meaningful decisions. From what is being heard, the AP chief minister is providing meaningful leadership to the state, identifying areas of growth, encouraging decentralisation and investment in infrastructure. That's good and this should be sustained. My belief is that this can only be sustained only if true federalism exists in India, wherein the states have sufficient power to decide for themselves. It is also my belief that in future if power is not devolved down to the state level, there might be fissiparous tendencies as states who stand to do good cannot fritter away their prosperity at the cost of poor performing states and bad economics at the Centre (for example states like AP or Maharashtra paying economically for mismanagement by the Centre or cross subsidisation of other states). So the question really is "Are there some strong leaders amongst us, Indians, who would cut through the present trash through some original and revolutionary thinking?" This is what will take to make initiatives, yours and mine, capital or intellectual, to yield results. A trumpet to contribute through the present leadership will not. Nikhil
Date sent: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 09:01:12 -0700
A very inspiring article. I have already made up my mind to come back to India next year and work for my country. Madhu
Date sent: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 08:14:19 -0700
"Ab Dilli ja kar kya paana hai?" What happens in Delhi is what happens in my Bombay. Corruption is the only river that flows from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. In this river, anybody with some power is thoroughly helping himself/herself. India needs the armed forces to take over and instil discipline with high moral values, with dire punishments even for simple infractions. Mao did it to unite China and make it a powerhouse, so it was done by Hitler. Progress comes out of sacrifice and not out of voting. To kill corruption, we have to kill the corrupt. Accountability is the most important quality in every action that a person takes. We have been squandering to fill our pockets. The poor have to stop breeding and making more poor, the illiterate should get education and the educated should have kids. Ration cards should be issued to only those who practise family planning methods that are permanent. Loose governments that pander to different ethnic groups can only bring mediocrity. People with criminal backgrounds should be automatically disqualified from holding public offices. Everyone in India should be one and no quotas should exist. The brightest should rule the less intelligent... I wish we could take that nuclear bomb and use it on ourselves so that we can come up with a casteless, colourless and progressive society.
Date sent: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 16:23:22 -0700 (PDT)
Rajeev is onto something when he says: " It is time for action, for a technology-savvy, Internet-friendly, globally-aware generation to take over." Already, a bunch of about 100 Indians from all over the world (including Rediff columnist Ashwin, professors, IAS officers, doctors, engineers etc.) have started a National Debate on System Reform and have, over the course of 4 months, arrived at a very preliminary document for the provision of an excellent governance in India. Rajeev has a manifesto of his own. I would like to welcome him and everyone else who would like to work together to create a new and very clear manifesto for India to come and debate -- frankly and fearlessly -- on IndiaPolicy. The key to action is to know what one wants to see in India. We must, as citizens, debate the kind of policies we want. The target of IndiaPolicy is to present a First Draft (duly published) to India on the 1st of January, 2000 AD. This is an invitation to all readers of Rediffto join IP and debate. The work done so far, as well as the actual debates, and the documents in process, are available at: http://www.indiaconsult.com/indiapolicy/ Sanjeev Sabhlok
Date sent: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 16:48:18 PDT
It was a superb article, I would say. But to be very frank, Indians abroad are not that patriotic as they should be. They talk of corruption in India, talk about dirt and crowd; you chat with them for an hour and you will find no one is as patriotic as them but when there is a chance to help our country, they back out. A live example is my room-mate. I was so impressed by his talks for India, but when it came to investing in RIBs, not he alone but many, backed out. Why is this? Why don't you show if you love somebody? Why is this indifferent attitude? Can you answer, Rajeev ? I am tired of seeing such faces here. The amount that an Indian spends to go to a nightclub here could buy 10 students education in India. But no one donates. I am very impressed by the Americans' habit of donating 10 per cent of their earnings to charity. Do we do that in India? NO. Even the upper middle-class does it rarely. I don't know how to make the people here aware of their patriotism. I am tired.
Date sent: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 09:19:40 -0400
While a great many good points are made in Mr Srinivasan's article, a number of inaccuracies need to be corrected. As an American, I can tell you that the atomic bomb was not used as a terrorist act; it was to save American lives. Had we not used it, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of casualties would have resulted from the "standard" invasion of the Japanese homeland that would have been necessitated. As a matter of fact, we did save India (and the rest of Asia) from the rapacious Japanese army. Ask the Koreans; ask the Chinese; ask the Indonesians; ask the Vietnamese; ask the Burmese (there is no such nation as "Myanmar," by the way); ask the Malaysians; ask the Filipinos. Although our propaganda did indeed demonise the Japanese, as all propaganda in time of war dehumanises an enemy, the real atrocities in any war (including American atrocities in Vietnam, e.g.) occur when the "other side" is viewed as not being human. This view was the official policy in the Japanese army during WWII, and was far more racist (if possible) than anything the British came up with. One more point: the British did not "invent" racism. If you examine any so-called "non-literate" culture (one that does not employ writing) in its pristine state, you will find that the vast majority refer to themselves in their own languages as "the People." The obvious implication is that everyone else is not "people," and therefore whatever one does to those alien beings is justified. It may be said that racism, or, in more sophisticated milieu, ethnocentrism, is inherent in human social behaviour, and it takes real effort to overcome its effects (again, as an American, I know this first-hand!). On the whole, however, I found Mr Srinivasan's article thoughtprovoking and insightful. Rediff does a real service to its readers by publishing his opinions. Dr James M Amend
Date sent: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 09:03:02 -0400
Very well written. Very readable. Congrats.
Date sent: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 12:13:41 +0100
Once again Rajeev has presented interesting information. The nuclear deterrence argument is a good example. I agree that no one will shed many tears if India was Nuked !!!! "A million vaporised Indians will be forgotten." However, even the Japanese chose to single out India and Pakistan for rebuke, during their Hiroshima and Nagasaki remembrance ceremonies. Why they did not mention the "big brother USA" and neighbour China remains a mystery!!!!! On the other hand, whether the Japanese form of discipline would have been better suited: The Japanese have so far demonstrated that they value discipline; but more than that "loss of face" affects the prime ministers once too often in Japan. How many Indian politicians have the conviction to leave office in the face of scandals and public disapproval??? Laloo Yadav are you listening!? The Indian Political face is deplorable. For those who view Indian television news once in a while it seems that the antics of Indian politicians are ALL the news. It is time that the Indian masses (burgeoning educated middle classes included) came forward and resolved to remove these two faced "political buffoons" and restored some respectability to India's image. How many overseas Indians have read this book and have recommended it to their "phoren based" children ????? The Raj Syndrome -- A Study in Imperial Perceptions by Professor Subhas Chakravarthy (Penguin India). On Japanese investment in India: I feel that if Japan really felt that India was the right place for its "offshore" factories, they would have done it earlier. The successive Indian governments have tried to make the Japanese 'unwelcome' on numerous occasions (the Maruti Suzuki experience is still evoking very unpleasant memories for Japan). The Maruti Suzuki venture is the single success story of Indo-Japanese collaboration. I agree with Rajeev that even now, the Japanese can and should be made to see that India is the place to be (ignoring the temporary blip created by India's nuclear testing). The South Koreans are may be seeing more potential in India than the Japanese!!!!!! Amitabh
Date sent: 10 Aug 98 18:55:35 PDT
I am so happy to read your writings. It is truthful, articulate and most importantly extremely intelligent and analytical. If we would have such clear thinking in selecting our priorities, organising our institutions and intelligence services, preparing ground rules in establishing covenant of national interests and national ethos, balancing philosophy with psychology, creating accountability and result orientedness which can make things happen, wise and quick channelling of old technologies into commercial and industrial uses, we will progress very rapidly. Rasik Sanghvi
Date sent: Thu, 13 Aug 2015 17:18:27 -0700
I am an avid fan of Mr Srinivasan's columns. His Hiroshima Mon Amour is thought provoking. Much has been written on the horrors caused there during WW II. Various reasons have been put forth for justifying the act. In the end it boils down to the dangers of asymmetry. As writers of strategic affairs have eloquently put it, after the end of Cold War, continuing Indian ambiguity would have led to dangerous situations. It was to prevent further Hiroshimas in South Asia that Shakti was conducted. His remarks about American public reluctance to suffer casualties comes from the vast damage done to body politic during the Civil War. After that there is great hesitation to bear losses. It is this imperative that drives covert action by the political system. Graham Fuller in his book Democracy Trap has written about the growing reluctance of American public opinion to suffer casualties in foreign policy fiascos and the consequent limitations in projecting power. I think the Gandhian concept of non-violence was an asymmetric weapon developed to deal with the British. Other concepts would have been developed for others. The role of the INA has not been well appreciated in India. It definitely affected the British psyche. The fear of revolt spreading and affecting the rest of the army was an important factor in 1947. In the book Total War by Peter Calvocoressi and Guy Wint (Penguin), there is a chapter on the impact of INA on India and South East Asia. I have mixed feelings about Netaji Bose for his allying with totalitarian regimes to achieve the goal of Independence. Good cannot be achieved by allying with evil. His raising the INA was a correct thing, but I feel his supporting the Axis powers was unfortunate. I also believe that wartime support for the INA should not cloud India's view of situation in East Asia. Japan has not come to terms with its past. There is penitence for some of its deeds but not wholesale repudiation. The political system needs major reforms to ensure that there is genuine democracy. There is still Tammany Hall style politicking going on in Japan. True it has expressed regrets to East Asians for atrocities committed by its troops, but what about to Indian POWs? Yes, they fought in the British Indian Army, but they were nevertheless Indians. After the end of Cold War, when the question of expansion of the UN Security Council came up, to accommodate the defeated Axis powers, Japan started economic diplomacy to bolster its case. It also revised its security arrangements with US, and altered its laws in order to provide a role for UN peace keeping. As the rise of China, after the economic reforms, was attracting US attention it began to grow more circumspect. In fact, its strident tone with India is to carve a role for itself in Asia as it fears being marginalised. It has gone further than it needs in registering its protests. In fact, it has ignored the vast amount of goodwill of the Indian public and the support that Indian jurist gave during the War Crimes tribunal and Nehru's efforts to end Japanese isolation. I too have encountered groups of Japanese pilgrims on Air-India flights from Tokyo. In fact, they need a deeper understanding of the Buddha's teachings to understand why he smiled. I refer to the real story wherein on learning that his kinfolk were taking up arms, he smiled and said in effect that unless there are no more weapons, people would resort to arms. In fact, the NPT was put into place to prevent the old Axis powers from proliferating. India was caught in the crossfire. Japan that wears Hiroshima on its sleeve has indulged in hypocrisy by seeking the nuclear umbrella and pursuing a programme prior to that. If it really means what it says, let it first come out of the umbrella. It already has forsworn the genie by supporting the indefinite extension of NPT. This step was needed anyway to atone for the belligerence displayed during WWII which caused so much suffering in Asia. China does represent a challenge. As it transforms from totalitarian to authoritarian to participative democracy, there will be many hiccups on the way. In a way the reform of Asian socialism in China, North Korea, Vietnam and Myanmar are the remaining issues that hamper progress in Asia. The true potential of China will be realised only when this happens. The Shakti series ensures that there will not be any adverse fallout to India while this happens. The Tang-Jaswant meeting and the Chinese Amb remarks to CII in Delhi indicate they are pragmatic. Every political transformation in China has resulted in spill-over effects in its neighbourhood. After the 1962 debacle it was very difficult for India to deal with China from a situation of asymmetry. Any agreement was suspected to be a charge of intimidation. In a way Shakti allows the border disagreements to be resolved peacefully as the Indian army's honour need not be restored on battle ground. I think deep engagement with China and helping it make the transition is in India's interests. I am not one for bhai-bhai hype -- but for realistic appraisal of the ground realities. One can only engage not contain a rising superpower and help it transform into a benign entity. The need of the hour is for India to develop its own study centres on China. The MEA should take a first step in consolidating the efforts of various study centres by organising a three day seminar to bring together all Indian expertise both within and without the government on all aspects of China. Such an exercise would point out the lacunae and provide a road map for developing expertise. Western experts have their own agenda. They march to the beat of different drummers. The dragon in Western mythology is a winged serpent-like fire-breathing monster that harms people. In Chinese mythology it is a protector of their civilisation, which takes to the sky only in times of great distress. It is important to make distinctions. One irony is the Indian press latching on to Fernandes in Catholic terminology. Shades of Macaulay's legacy and the quest for a catchy headline, I say! Murthy Durvasula
Date sent: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 12:42:26 -0500
A nasty article. It seems to me Rajeev is as pugnacious as Madeline Albright. I am yet to see some decency in his writings. Mahesh
Date sent: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 12:46:17 -0700 (PDT)
Fantastic article! Kudos to Rajeev Srinivasan for this gem of a write-up. I have been to Sabarimala, but never have I come across the link up between Lord Ayyappan and Lord Buddha. Many parts of the article astonished me. For eg: I never knew that Hueng Tsang, the Chinese monk, had visited Kerala and even Sabarimala. I have read about his exploits in the north with King Harshavardhana of Magadha and his translations of the original Buddhist texts. To think that he actually travelled all over India! The many linguistic similarities are surprising too. I hope more research is done on this topic to bring to light the more details of Buddhism/Jainism in South India. Congratulations to Devakumar Sreevijayan too! Das |
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