Words of Wisdom

• The way to do, is to be - Lao Tzu

• No one has to change, but everyone has to have the conversation -- change will come out of it

• I would rather have my mind open by wonder than closed by belief

• The exclusive sign of KNOWLEDGE is Teaching - Aris

• You are not a human being having spiritual experience; you are a spiritual being having a human experience

• It is a mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it

• As beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder; foolishness does so in the mind

Improving PDS in India

Problem: Loss of food quantity to Corrupt, Adulteration Pilferage. the current estimate is about 8mil tonnes, which is about 57%.

Solution: There is a three stage strategy to reduce the loss of food quantity.

1. Pre-packaging by Government
2. Reporting, through electronic media, of inventory movements at the retailer
3. Barcoding of Ration Cards and electronic Finger Printing of consumers @ Point of Sale

1) Pre-packaging by Government

Currently the Govt gives a bag of 100kgs of Rice, Wheat, Sugar to the retailer. the retailer in turn sells it in loose quantity to the consumer. This system allows the retailer to Adulterate or Pilferage (by selling lesser quantity using faulty weights).

I believe all this together cost at least 30% of loss to the Govt.

Government should prepack the items in units of 50gms, 100gms, 250gms (prepack quantity can be determined based on varying factors) and send them to the retailer. The packing should be tamper proof.

The cost of setting up the packaging unit will be much less than saving of 30% food quantity through this process.

2) Reporting, through electronic media, of inventory movements at the retailer

Currently the reporting system at the retailer is manual. This introduces mistakes, delays and allows the retailer to fudge the quantity amounts easily.

A simple daily electronic reporting system devised to be updated via telephony will be very effective in reducing the mistakes and fudging of quantity amounts.

3) Barcoding of Ration Cards and electronic Finger Printing of consumers @ Point of Sale

This is the most important one; although the most difficult one. Maybe it can be piggybacked on the Unique Identity Card project.

Currently the Ration Cards are totally misused and quite a lot of them are duplicate. The misuse is not only by counterfeiting them but also by the retailer in case of dead citizens (even some alive ones).

If we Barcode the Ration Cards, counterfieting will reduce a lot or atleast get caught quickly. Further if we capture the Finger Prints of consumers @ Point of Sale (solution already piloted for NREGA) whilst buying items using their Ration Cards. We can develop a database of member's Finger Prints against a Ration Card, and validate periodically.

Finally

The Govt of India needs to introduce a carrot for the state governments to improve the PDS system. Something of the lines of JNNURM, improve and get rewarded!

Who next?

RahulG should follow his mother's footsteps and avoid becoming the Prime Minister of India.

SoniaG's manoeuver has paid rich dividends to both the Country (in form of Dr. Singh's leadership) and the Indian National Congress!
Her decision allowed her to stabilise the Congress party. The second facet of this move was to choose a man of high integrity and more importantly high acceptance as the Prime Minister of the country.

Dr. Manmohan Singh's integrity has proved to be a hit with the Indian populace and his accpetance within the Congress party (maybe due to SoniaG's backing OR his own credentials) has kept the Congress leaders from fighting among themselves for the top job!

It would be worthwhile for Rahul to consider this option in the long term interest of India and Congress as well!
If Dr. Singh can continue (and every breath in me hopes he does) "Who next?" has a no brainer answer, in case he chooses not to continue then the search should begin for "Who Next?" from now!
One name that does come to mind is Montek Singh Ahluwalia!

I do not mean to raise aspersions on Rahul's ability, but one thing I learnt in Chess is dont hesitate to sacrifice the queen in interest of the country!

Rahul can play a much bigger role in building the support base required for governing this huge country! The facilitiation of the partnership within the TRINITY of, Government, Political Party and the Citizens is much more an onerous responsibility to carry over than the post of Prime Minister!

I dont know whether this was the intention in SoniaG's, but she achieved the first two of the TRINITY and is well ahead on the third aspect! Rahul has the potential and the charisma (apart from the surname) to placate all the three!!!

Homosexual Rights

I will never understand what makes a guy choose another guy over a woman! But then I also do not understand why God chose the Male Sea Horse to play the motherly role.

It cannot be termed wrong, just because one does not understand it!

Probably even you won’t understand it, as I don’t, but to term it wrong just shows our CLOSED mind! Unfortunately I have heard some people refer homosexuality as a Disease! This is very unfortunate and erroneously judgmental!

Foremost: Why do we see any relation from the perspective of sex? If two people like each other and want to spend time (could be 2 hours or a lifetime) with each other, how does it matter, WHAT IS THEIR GENDER?

If we see a homosexual relation MINUS the SEX then you will never find a problem in two people liking each other and wanting to be partners!

Does sex play such a big role in our mind that we SHUDDER at some of our fellow beings for having a different orientation than ours?

Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code: Un-Natural Sex

I can understand why this article exists and will add that it should exist until we have specific articles covering all the illegal and immoral (read Paedophilia) acts some people indulge in! Having said that, I would like the government of India to append, from time to time, the exclusions of the term “Un-Natural Sex”.

The term “Un-Natural Sex” is often used for any act which does not lead towards procreation!
Given that definition, I can guarantee that 80% of heterosexual people break this law day in day out! If the authorities are not pursuing them, then singling out homosexual couples is just a sign of Prejudice and Fear of Unknown!

Enjoy and Let Enjoy…

After General Elections 2009

General Elections 2009 are just over and we are waiting for the results. These are really weird elections due to the sheer amount of uncertainty involved!

My previous posts would tell you I am a passionate Congress supporter. Having said that, I have never had such a low confidence vibe from the whole election phenomenon for Congress. Please do not misunderstand, I yet feel Congress will get there to form the government, but the whole “low confidence vibe” thing is about many a things amiss in the Congress campaign.

BJP’s major issue is “Hindutva” ideologue (for now). Although I am not sure how long that will serve as the main differentiator. The earlier the Congress realizes it, the better!
What is really working for BJP is,

1. the anti-Congress sentiment
2. smaller (compared to Congress) and more professionally run organization (although this may not last after Advani’s exit)
3. their non-existence in confrontation with most regional parties (BJP is almost absent from Kerala, TN, AP, West Bengal, etc.). Whereas Congress is everywhere and hence in opposition with some of the major players in their respective states

Congress has to get its act together on many fronts,

• building professional Organization
  During the campaign I came across many “nay-sayers” calling Congress a privately run firm. I actually think it is time that we need to take a cue from many “privately run” firms and improve on our professionalism and organizational efficiencies.
  I trust Rahul Gandhi has started experimenting on these lines as far as Youth Congress is concerned.
• Another area to explore will be the use of technology
  I personally feel BJP used the technology much more effectively than Congress did. Being an area of my personal interest, this is something I would like to see Congress grow exponentially!
• Delivering on people’s expectations, as incumbent governments at both State and National level. There has to be a trail of VISIBLE success stories to be created around the incumbency! We all have read about Mr. Modi’s success in Gujrat. The obvious answer I have for Mr. Modi’s success is,
  1. Even Hitler was a brilliant administrator, DOESN’T mean we elect a monster. People of Gujrat need to understand the long term damage over their short term greed in choosing Mr. Modi.
  2. The Gujrat success has not been proved to percolate down to the poorest and hence doesn’t read very inclusive.
  Although the point is, it is necessary for Congress governments to perform developmental leaps to shed their SUPPOSED no progress in 60 years. (to whoever says, Congress has not performed, I would like to ask so where did all the “Middle Class” come from, because from what I hear the rich were only getting richer and poor much poorer)

All in all much work to do! Hoping to be a part of this revival!

A Concept for Indian National Congress

I think Rahul Gandhi should initiate and with personal accountability lead 1 or 2 pan-India social projects. NOT MORE than 2 otherwise he will spread himself thin.

Projects should be such that,

a) They MUST be of ongoing nature; even weekly implementation is ok but certainly NOT SPORADIC in nature

b) These projects should touch the lives of Indians in a direct way

c) These projects shoud become the CONGRESS touch point towards the citizens of India; This will solve the age old problem of POLITICIANS appearing once in 5 years

d) they NEED to be branded in the same way across INDIA; maybe under the Indian Youth Congress or AICC banner but certainly NOT regional Congress outfits.

e) The reporting structure and his personal involvement will increase his (Rahul G) touch points with various grassroot workers

f) This will be a brilliant way of assimilating a humongous database about the CURRENT tidings from the different parts of India.

Cleanse thy DIRTY pond

“for the people of the people by the people”. This definition of Democracy is evident to show that it has NOTHING to do with politicians. In fact this is one of the reasons the world over politicians have tried to change democratic ways of functioning as soon as they come in to power.

As the definition puts it, Democracy is WHOLY and SOLELY the responsibility of the people. It is futile / stupid / ignorant to blame politicians ONLY.

In India the ONE thing that has always worked (and worked brilliantly) is DEMOCRACY. Democracy has an uncanny way of bringing forth politicians that WE as people DESERVE. We say most of the politicians are Corrupt, Democracy turns around and asks “so?! Most of the people are corrupt, who will represent them?”

Politicians are also people and come forth from the people. If the pond is dirty then the drops of water from that pond CANNOT be clean. There is a chance that a flower might bloom in this dirty pond but it does not cleanse the pond. The pond has to go through the rigors of cleansing itself.

I will try to be a clean drop in this dirty pond…