some more soundbites about the Puppets

So Narendra Modi has won his third term in office as the Chief Minister of India's new golden state, Gujarat. Most saw it coming, but most probably did not see coming the absolute majority with which he would win. True, the BJP has ten less seats than 2002 this time, at 117, and Congress has gained around the same number, but after all the hoopla that the Congress and the BJP rebels in the state, including biggie Keshubhai Patel, raised about the impending doom for Modi, has forced all these people to go into hiding after the rout.

Communists hate religion. I think thats a stereotype in today's world. The fact is that they only hate Hinduism right now, because they need the minority votes to survive. Thus when they see Modi has won, they choose to overlook the fact that the people of Gujarat have voted for him. They instead twist it and say communalism has won. The fact that those who voted for him are sane individuals of the state does not matter. Modi won because he is a wizard who has put a spell on them.

Modi needed to win and I hope his win is stop these agenda-less minority appeasers to stop and do a rethink. When it comes to appeasing the minorities for their votes, there is no limit for the Congress. Spineless that it is, it is even less concerned about things such as sovereignty and secularism, something which it carries on its sleeve. Its a hypocritical world we live in, and the sooner the people of India realize that they need to act if they have to get ahead in this world, the better it is. I hope they realize the grave danger this country came under by bringing the Communists into the national government.

The last four years have had nothing new. Congress proposes, Chinese Puppet deposes. The Prime Minister has done three things best - explain, explain and explain. The Communists have done three things best - threaten, bully and blackmail.

I have the new India Today with me, for the week of December 24, 2007. Its main article is about Prakash Karat, the CPI head. It has some nice tidbits about what the Communists are doing to the country. I have already posted about how they stopped Rajiv Gandhi from modernizing India's banks, and now here are some more crimes they are committing against the country.

"CPI (M), which lives in a time warp, continues to believe that the state knows best. Neither empirical evidence nor experience to the contrary matters. And thanks to their 60-plus strength in the Lok Sabha, the comrades have effectively played spoilsport in critical reforms, the worst hit being the financial sector. India's lumbering bureaucracy costs a packet in terms of salary, but it will cost much more in pension. Moving to a new pension system is imperative both for the Government and the employees, who will earn barely 8 percent this yeawr even as the Sensex has risen over 43 percent. The ones to be denied the dividends of growth are the very sections that the Left professes to protect.

Take banking sector reforms, which Manmohan promised as early as September 2004, but hasn't been able to deliver. The Government needs to fork out almost Rs. 40,000 crore to beef up the capital of public sector banks. It should bring down its equity and make a public offering, thereby bringing in capital while continuing to own majority shares. But the Left disagrees. The issue of privatisation, steeped in barefaced duplicity, is worse. The Left parties practice economics in Kolkata and politics and Delhi. They find nothing wrong in selling the landmark Great Eastern Hotel in Kolkata to a private chain, but stubbornly resist the sale of the rotting Ashoka Hotel in the national capital. Since May 2004, the Left has arm twisted the Government to fund sick PSU's to the extent of over Rs. 10,000 crore through investment and bailouts. Of the 48 central PSU's, only nine posted profits while 27 are making losses and 12 have shut shop.

More mysterious is the Left's stand on big retail. It has been proved the world over that retail chains provide opportunity for creation of logistics and supply chain networks, which in turn enables perishables to be stocked and helps curb both wastage and inflationary tendencies. Every year, food worth Rs. 59,000 crore is wasted and much of this loss is borne by farmers. It is also a fact that retain chains create employment and various levels and control migration from villages to cities. And of course, the chains bring affordability to consumers by bringing down prices. It should ideally form part of the Left manifesto, but they would have none of it.

The hypocrisy is just as obvious in the case of Special Economic Zones (SEZ's). The communists chose to stay silent till the farmers in West Bengal began protesting against land acquisition. Clearly, the state government is desperate for investments, which would create employment and generate revenue to pay for the ever-enlarging bureaucracy. Even on the issue of land for industry, CPI (M) has double standards. Outside Bengal, they don't want anyone to talk concession, yet thought nothing of promising land virtually free to Indonesia's Salim Group. Even when they did get on to the anti-SEZ bandwagon thanks to dissent within UPA, CPI(M) restricted itself to land acquisition and kept silent on the contentious issue of tax exemption, which could cost the Government over Rs. 1,00,000 crore ($25 Billion) by 2009. Ditto with the issue of tax concessions to industry, ranging from the exemption from long-term capital gains tax to dividend tax exemptions and tax holidays for big business that cost the government as much as Rs. 2,88,000 crore ($72 Billion). Exasperated, Manmohan once asked ""if we were promoting crony capitalism."" The Left kept quiet."

while still on retail...

I came across this article by Gurcharan Das, a retired businessman and now a columnist. Its about the Left's stand for the small retailer in this great churn that India's retail industry is witnessing.

Very interesting, and some already known facts, but he gives one example which again reconfirms the traitors that the Indian Left is. The Left do not have permanent stands, as we all know. Friends will become foes, and foes will become friends as long as it suits their gameplan.

Tearfully yours, Bania Ji

India is a land of ironies. Even so, the prospect of the Left shedding crocodile tears for the petty trader is truly bizarre. For 60 years the Left bashed the bania - every time food was short, it wanted to nationalise the grain trade and send the 'profiteer' to jail. In the early 1970s it almost succeeded. Now, when the nation has begun a historic transition from small, unorganised retailing to supermarkets, the Left wants to stop it in the name of the bania.

There is a legitimate concern, however - what will happen to the millions of jobs in the neighbourhood grocery stores as supermarkets like Reliance Fresh open across the country? The answer to that question has just come in.

Thomas Reardon, a world authority in retailing, and Ashok Gulati, India's premier agricultural economist, conclude in a recent study that the number of employees per square metre in organised and unorganised retail is almost the same. The difference is that employees of supermarkets are better paid, have pension benefits, are trained on computers, and have the opportunity to rise economically and socially. Hence, millions of youngsters are all set to benefit. With franchising, thousands of traders will also gain simultaneously.

This is not the first time that the Left has tried to stop history. When Rajiv Gandhi wanted to introduce computers in banks and railways, the unions went on massive strikes. This delayed our computer revolution by 15 years. A union leader confessed later that computers had actually increased jobs, not reduced them. The same virtuous circle will repeat itself in a bigger way in retailing as the benefits will touch the entire society. The farmer will get a higher price for his produce when he sells directly to supermarkets and is freed from the clutches of our corrupt mandi system. The housewife in the city will also pay a lower price at Reliance Fresh stores because the middlemen have been removed.

Yes, wholesalers and artiyas will lose, and they are the ones behind the current agitation in Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Kerala. As often happens, the young, idealistic Leftist 'jhola-walla' has been captured by these vested interests and has ended on the wrong side. Politicians have also got into the act. If Mukesh Ambani hired and trained 10,000 Dalits for his Reliance Fresh outlets, he would get Mayavati on his side.

The epic, Mahabharata, seems to have been aware of our Indian ironies. It tells the story of Jajali, an arrogant Brahmin, and Tuladhara, a trader of spices in Varanasi. Jajali observes the shopkeeper as he weighs his spices disinterestedly, treats his customers alike, and lives 'like a piece of wood flowing in a stream'. Ian Proudfoot, the Sanskrit scholar, explains in Ahimsa and a Mahabharata Story that the trader, with multiple suppliers and buyers, doesn't depend upon anyone's favour. His gains and losses are the result of impersonal market forces. He pursues his own interest (like the stick) and this leads to the common good through the 'invisible hand' of the market (the stream, in this case). Tuladhara's life is in contrast to those who doggedly strive for social advancement and influence.

There is an ironic twist in a trader teaching a (Leftist?) Brahmin on how to live. The Mahabharata holds up a worldly merchant as model of detachment before an egoistic, forest dwelling ascetic. Is it the epic's way of telling the Leftist and RSS Brahmins that sometimes it is better to go with the flow, like a stick in the river, rather than impose your will on history? Think of an India without computers.

Small town blues

These days I seem to have found a new topic of conversation with my friends who live in other cities - The variety of organized retail. This isn't as deep or serious as it sounds actually, but only comparing the number and names of the various malls and other such retail and entertainment places.

Its not a comparison really, because Dehradun city is still far behind other regional capitals when it comes to attracting the big names in malls. My former hometown, Lucknow, has witnessed a boom of sorts too. Despite it being Ulta Pradesh and all that, I must say that 2 decades ago, the planners of the city had the vision to carve out a new, satellite town that will take the pressure of the main town. Gomtinagar is built across the river Gomti, and this is where all the action is taking place.

Its kind of sad that I am judging my city's progress with the advent of organized retail, but to tell you the truth, there's nothing else really. And from my cursory look, organized retail is good for the country! A lot has been said against opening up of the Reliance Fresh stores in UP, MP and Uttarakhand, but I don't think simple protests, even if they are extremely violent, have enough in them to stop its coming. For one, I feel that there's a lot more good in organized retail than without. I was talking to somebody about the Reliance Fresh store, and their one store employs around 50 people.

I saw that hypocrite Uma Bharati once on tv saying that organized retail in fruits and vegetables will kill the 3 crore vendors and hawkers. I knew it was bullshit then, and I know it is bullshit now. I think one point was the who will buy from the mandi's, when people will buy from stores such as Subhiksha and Reliance Fresh because they have their own logistics and warehousing, and I realized there is still a huge market that will probably continue to buy from Mandi's, and in bulk - the hospitality industry. There are thousands of small restaurants and eateries in all our big cities, and I am sure they will continue to look at mandi's and other traditional places for their raw materials. In addition, we need to look at the profile of the people who will shop at Reliance Fresh. Most of them will probably be the upscale, higher and middle income families without any concern for savings. The lower income classes will probably never shop at a Reliance Fresh.

In addition, the biggest advantage that will take place behind the scenes is the strengthening of the logistics involved in the food sector. India wastes more fruits and vegetables than that are consumed by the UK in an entire year. This unacceptable levels of wastage is prevalent in our food grain procurement and storage as well. We read of bumper crops, yet we are importing wheat! Of course, most of India's malaise is from the corrupt and unaccountable running of India's subsidy schemes and the inglorious Food Corporation of India, but thats another story.

Thus organized retail isn't that bad. It creates upward mobility for our youth because it brings training and best practices into the country, and its great for the consumer, but of course, in India, every good thing has to wait for the opposition to subside first.

even we don't trust ourselves now

The latest cosmetic rage in India is bleaching creams for men. Plenty of brands spend a lot of money to convince you that if you are dark, you will not be attractive. One company has roped in Shahrukh Khan to peddle it's whitening cream. You can see one sad boy stealing his sister's bleach, and then Shahrukh Khan tells him that why use womens bleach when you have your own. And lo, the dude, with obvious dark stuff painted on him, suddenly turns into a white, 'handsome' man with his chick by his side.

The love for all things western can be seen in the fairness cream ads as well. One cream claims it is better because it has "American lipids." Last I checked, there was no compound called American lipids, and if they mean that the lipids are made in America, I doubt that claim as well, because I am sure most of the lipids that are in America are probably made in a third world country.

Then there is another ad which says it's product is certified by the "American Testing Center." I am on the internet, and I just googled for it, and there is no such American Testing Center. I wonder which America they went to.

The point is that in order to sell wares, Indian FMCG companies are getting shallower by the day. There is an extremely shallow ad in which one man is talking loudly in his cubicle about his branded clothes and shoes in a funny accent. One young lady, very impressed by his brands, looks at him but then turns away in disdain because the glasses he is wearing aren't branded. The tag line is "If you don't have a brand, you have nothing."

I thought this was shallow, till I saw this ad for a fairness cream in which they paint a Caucasian (white) man dark and then he puts on this cream to be white again and of course, he gets his girl who had rejected him earlier for being too dark.

This leads me to believe that materialism seems to be driving out morals from our society. Today's kids know more about brands and Bollywood than anything else. We truly seem to going to the American way, at least our cities - greater affluence but more dumbed down youth. sad, just sad.