YOUR HONOUR!

Indian Railways are struggling with nearly 30% vacancies in the cadre of track maintainers. We are also short of 20% Loco Drivers over the sanctioned strength. Indeed, we are short of manpower by the given yardsticks in almost all areas. But, we run ALL the trains with 90% punctuality, we carry all the goods cheaper than any other mode and our safety is improving every day. We add new trains every year, run specials during festivals and holidays without additional resources. Our online ticketing is rated to be the best in the world. Our stations and trains are cleaner than ever, quality of food is improving and so is the passenger satisfaction across the country. True, we lack resources for expanding our network, but we do our assigned job well and without complaining.

Yet, we find that the media, political parties and public at large are ready to accept backlog of cases in our courts on account of vacancies! Surely, you do not subscribe to that view. Vacancies can never be zero. I read in the newspapers, after the NJAC judgement, that the real problem of the judiciary is vacancies – 30% of late. But the pendency is older than this recent spurt in vacancies, which has worsened due to the NJAC issue. I have learnt that twenty-four High Courts together sit on a pile of some forty-five lakh pending cases. Appeals in criminal cases against conviction are waiting to be heard for as long as thirty years, more than the maximum sentence in the cases. I am certain all this cannot be explained away by vacancies alone. The only way to overcome this problem is that those, who are in the saddle, work a little harder to compensate for the vacancies. All of us do that in government, public sector or private enterprises. We work longer hours till late evening, on weekends, forego personal leave and certainly do not go on summer vacations. Even Secretaries to the Government of India are now required to punch-in their attendance sharp at nine AM every day. Surely, working longer hours is not anathema to you, My Lordships!

I often get judgements and awards from courts for compliance within two months, one month, or even a fortnight. I have no option but to burn the midnight oil and fulfil the orders in the judgement. How I wish I could one day beseech or request, though certainly not order Your Lordships, to deliver a judgement in two weeks since an important developmental project is held up, a contract is getting annulled or an international agreement is at stake! But, that would be a contempt of court, I guess. Surely, the judiciary is entitled to its independence and autonomy, surely it can rightfully claim non-interference and neutrality, but it ought to know that like other organs of state, the legislature and the executive, the judiciary too is paid out of taxes and that it is ultimately answerable to the paymaster, the common citizen of the country. The common person is increasingly getting restless. She wants good governance, she wants delivery of goods and services and above all she wants a just society. And, she wants them quick. Judiciary is answerable to her for its own share of deliveries.

How does the common citizen force change in governance? He votes. He votes a party out and brings in a new government. He gets the opportunity to do so every five years. Political parties, after having fooled the masses and after their repeated failures have realised that the public means business. They have yielded to a change in discourse from caste, religion and freebies to development and performance. How does a common person pull up the executive? How does she seek relief from exploitation and unfairness? She goes to a court of law. Leave aside the delays for a moment, she still hopes for justice, solace and compensation. What is important is that she has a door, which she can knock. But, were does she go, when the same door is closed to her for thirty years in her face? Whom does she implore, when the very institution she implores, has queued up lakhs of relief seekers ahead of her?

This frustration with the judiciary has led to abject hopelessness in the masses and ridicule of the process of law. Undertrials and appellants spend the best years of their lives in incarceration, people resort to coercion and murder for solving land and property disputes and an occasional dejected one commits suicide. We cannot have a referendum for judicial reforms. Indeed, we have never had any referendum in the country on any issue. The only exercise closest to a referendum is the General Election. Nearly two decades of deliberations in civil society, enlightened discussions, opinions of retired legal luminaries the likes of Your Honour, administrative reports and Parliamentary debates resulted in the first ever legislation, a Constitutional Amendment, that was passed unanimously and also ratified by twenty States. We cannot have a louder voice of the people of India than this. Yet it has not been heeded! Yes, Your Honour! We have heard your voice asserting judicial independence and autonomy. But, have you heard ours?

Any organisation works with hierarchies, which are arranged in the fashion of a pyramid. The senior levels have fewer positions than the lower ones. Indeed, the entire supervision and management structure follows this dictum. Yet we have a State in the country, which has an inverted pyramid in the judiciary. There are one hundred sixty High Court Judges and just seventy-five district Judges! Yet, this High Court has the highest number of cases pending within its portals.

All organs of the State have undergone reforms and infusion of technology. Most departments of the government and companies in the private sector have become leaner as a result. The judiciary too has had its share of modernisation and IT embrace. But, the courts work at the same pace, actually slower than ever. One of the High Courts of the country has, on the 17^th October, invited bids for supply of iPhone6S for use by the Hon’ble Judges. This model of phone was launched in September, i.e. just a month ago. We do not mind Our Lordships owning the latest gadget in the world costing sixty thousand Rupees each, not even if the poor people of India pay for it. But, we want a return on that investment. Please give us that.

We have all heard Justice Ruma Pal, who candidly showed the mirror to the judiciary by enumerating its seven sins – turning a blind eye to a colleague’s indiscretion, hypocrisy, secrecy in appointment of judges, plagiarism and prolixity, verbose judgements, personal arrogance, professional arrogance and nepotism.* We have all heard you, Your Lordships! You want total independence and autonomy. We agree with that too. You also said that you will improve the system from within. We know from experience that insulated systems are the most difficult to change and often a change promised from within is more of a chimera than an action plan. Yet we trust you for this time once again. But, remember, the outcome of the reforms will be judged by the people of India and not by the government or the legislature. Next time, the call for change may not take the legislative route.

(http://www.rediff.com/news/column/ruma-pal-former-supreme-court-judge-slams-higher-judiciary/20111115.htm)

---ooo---

Views of the lone dissenting judge (out of a bench of five) , Justice Chelameswar can be seen here:

http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/NJAC-Verdict-Excerpts-of-Justice-Chelameswars-Opinion-Against-SC-Judgement/2015/10/19/article3087047.ece

'Indian democracy cannot be a tyranny of the unelected': Arun Jaitley's 'alternative view' on NJAC verdict:

http://m.firstpost.com/politics/indian-democracy-cannot-be-a-tyranny-of-the-unelected-arun-jaitleys-alternative-view-on-the-njac-verdict-2473218.html

Usurping Parliament’s power: Instead of aborting NJAC, Supreme Court should have given it a fair chance to succeed: Abhishek Manu Singhvi's views:

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/candid-corner/usurping-parliaments-power-instead-of-aborting-njac-supreme-court-should-have-given-it-a-fair-chance-to-succeed/

STOP THINKING FOR OTHERS

In a country saddled with leftists and activists, where everyone wants to become a "world citizen" and statesman by pulling down one's own country and countrymen, where government departments and tribunals often transform into activists, stopping all means of production, progress and economic activity in the name of environment and indigenous people, will we ever see leaders and politicians stand up for the well being of their own people?

As if the relentless pressure of the developed world to keep us from growing is not enough, we have our own going one up on them and campaigning for scaling down of economic activities - all in the name of emissions. And, just to make sure that we do not raise our head ever in the economic race to provide our people with better living, more food and basic comforts of life like electricity and cooking fuel, we import NGOs and activists from the very countries, who want to see us remain backward, to stop us in the tracks.

Compare this with Singapore, already a developed country, with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. The PM of Singapore unabashedly promotes industry and wellbeing of his people, CO2 be damned. Read this article from the Scientific American. 

Extracts:

“Like every country, Singapore is interested in protecting its national interests while advancing the global efforts."

“Competitiveness is an issue for all the countries. I think Singapore would like to maintain a level playing ground so that it is not put at a competitive disadvantage.”

There are protests from research groups: “We rate this target ‘Inadequate,’ meaning it is not in line with any interpretations of a ‘fair’ approach to hold warming below 2ºC"

But Singapore is not deterred:

"government statistics also show the country’s total electricity consumption more than tripled between 1990 and 2012."

Prime Minister Lee says: "The energy and chemicals industry is a major carbon emitter worldwide. It is the nature of the industry,”

He goes on to say: “We must reduce our emissions, both of greenhouse gases as well as other more local pollutants, but at the same time, I want to assure all the energy and petrochemicals companies here that the Singapore government stands fully behind them and will continue to help them to succeed.”

LET US, FOR ONCE, THINK FOR OUR OWN COUNTRY AND COUNTRYMEN.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wealthy-singapore-resists-tough-domestic-climate-action/

Coffee on the Highway, Part II

(For Part I, please visit http://generallyspeaking.blogspot.in/2014/08/coffee-on-highway_6.html )

On my favourite road journey to Coimbatore, the NH-47 continues to mesmerise. Rainwashed countryside and the lovely Cauvery are complemented today by the old faithful, the KDFC, or the Kumbhakonam Degree Filter Coffee dhaba. Only this time the KDFC wore a crown of a full rainbow. Salem makes me feel so welcome!

My heart cries to think that I am going to leave all this behind soon. O Tamil Nadu, O Salem, O The Queen of Hills Ooty and O NH47, I will miss you all! But, I am sure the caffeine from the umpteen cups of most authentic filter coffee I savoured here will continue to flow in my veins for long.

DOUBLE STANDARDS OF THE UPPER CRUST

The design to keep the poor and the less privileged perpetually deprived in the name of privacy has reflections of the "land is your mother, just don't part with it" campaign of the well-heeled and the self-styled champions of the poor. Now, they have raised the issue of privacy in Aadhar enrolments. Aadhar is the largest ever registration of citizens in the history of mankind. All developed countries have done it. India is doing it now. But the elite, mostly leftist, columnists have an issue with it. It violates privacy! As if Google and Facebook didn't already know everything about you. And they are professing this to the poor and needy, who must necessarily enrol for a leak-proof, fool-proof biometric identification system with near ironclad security.

Is an average citizen, leave alone the starving poor, really worried about his retinal scan records being leaked to the CIA, to RAW or even to the ISI? Is giving out one’s residential address or the mobile number to the government a step towards enslavement? The government has it anyway in its different records. Does the biometric records of a citizen make him easier to conscript? What privacy are we talking about?

The government has been able to successfully plug the loopholes of Direct Benefit Transfer in transferring thousands of crores to nearly ten crore families.  Aadhar identification, with its biometric security has been instrumental in enabling seventeen crore bank accounts of people, who had no other means to prove their credentials. The Aadhar identification has also enabled a one-rupee a month insurance for crores of poor and medical insurance for the masses at a mere ninety paisa a day.

It is surprising that this useful exercise of creating a national register is being stonewalled repeatedly by the judiciary. The elite thinkers have a big problem with this. They do not tire of telling the poor that their privacy is being invaded by the demon that is government. The same proponents of privacy and defenders of individual freedom have no qualms in getting fingerprinted for their passports and American visa. They will line up before a Western Embassy at midnight to be biometrically registered, an unavoidable requirement for their next flight to salvation. But the poor must resist biometric scanning even if they starve to death. After all with all the misery gone, the raison d'etre of the chatterati is in danger. No underdogs no NGOs, no Seminars and no international lecture circuits. It will be a sad day for them, when the poor are no more poor.

---ooo---

GOODBYE SHANTABAI

We love to look for new underdogs, so that we can "look after" them and feel good. This search for the underprivileged has reached ridiculous proportions. Each one of us, an NGO, a Mission, a Trust and now even the cours of law and various tribunals is in this game of finding one's own underdog, which one can cuddle, hug and care for. Even the government departments and ministries such as those for labour welfare, environment, women and child care have decided to jump on the band wagon. So, instead of governing, they too are looking for "victims" and the "persecuted" so that they can rescue them and feel good and worthy in their own eyes. In the same quest the a labour welfare body of the government of India has decided to "protect" the domestic workers, the housemaids and manservants. 

-------------------------------------

These are the new proposals to "protect" domestic help:

Minimum wages: Rs. 9000pm, higher for skilled ones, like cooks .. .. .. Employer's Contribution to Social Security - PF, Pension .. .. .. Great emphasis on Welfare .. .. .. Maid Unions and collective bargaining .. .. ..

Here are my options:

Robotic Vacuum cleaner: 20,000
Washing Machine: 15,000
Dryer: 20,000
Dish Washer: 30,000
A deep freezer: 20,000
A steam iron: 2000 - 15,000
Semi-cooked or pre-cooked food
More home delivery service
(Total: Rs. One lakh approx.)

Or,

Litigation, harassment by labour inspectors, filing of returns, intimidation by maid unions and NGOs.

The choice is clear.

But wait, who are the gainers in this socialist "protection" game - LG, Samsung, IFB, Hair, Philips, MTR, Kellogs, Domino's ... (Koreans, Germans, Chinese, Americans ... ..)

And who are the losers - The maid, who was earlier happy with four thousand Rupees, which paid for her children's school fees, books, milk and enabled some savings. The servant, who could send five thousand Rupees home to his destitute family in Chhotanagpur since all his peraonal expenses were paid for in kind by the employer - food, clothing, medicines, toiletries ...

They will now remain jobless because some labour welfare department has decided to "protect" them!

LET'S APPOINT A COMMITTEE

61,000 High Net Worth Individuals have fled the country. Even considering each one left with just a million dollars each, that would be sixty one billion dollars! I am not even counting the loss of entrepreneurial spirit that went away with it or businesses they have wound up so that they could leave.

Reasons cited for this flight are turmoil in home country, security concerns and children's education. But, I think it was just a pursuit for a better quality of life. The countries they made their new homes are primarily the USA, the UK, Australia and the UAE. 

If only we could stop this flight, we wouldn't need to carry that begging bowl all over the world asking for FDI, which largely remains elusive. Let's appoint a committee to examine this phenomenon. I offer myself as the convenor.

ALLOW ME TO HAIL MY OWN TAXI

Till recently we had to stop a taxi (four wheeler or three wheeler) either by waiving a hand or shouting "TAXI ..." Then came radio taxis, which could be booked on phone for a planned journey. But, a casual commuter in the market still had to hail his taxi the conventional way. Now companies like Ola and Uber have enabled the commuter to call a taxi on the fly by a tap on the mobile phone. And, everyone is up in arms against this unstoppable march of technology.

The new generation taxi owners/drivers are happy for they are enrolling in thousands with the "App". Customers are happy for they do not need to crane their necks and shout. A tap on the phone and the nearest free cab locates you on GPS. They are also happy since the the service is "cashless". The App also provides for sharing of the fare if there are many riders and they decide to go dutch - a revolution in cab sharing and car pooling, easily enabled by technology. The taxi drivers get their payments with unfailing regularity every week from the company after due deductions. Fares have come down substantially and the scope for cheating and overcharging has been cut down significantly.

But, the entrenched taxi owners/drivers, radio taxi companies, TV and Print media, sections of the government and courts do not seem comfortable with this concept anywhere in the world. Conventional taxi drivers went on a nationwide strike in France. There have been protests against and attacks on Uber in China, South Africa and USA.

How can the main stakeholder, the taxi rider be so conveniently forgotten? Just a few months ago retailers of consumer durables, white goods and electronic gadgets raised a hue and cry against online retailers only to be told that there was nothing the government could do to help them. Why this activism in case of taxis.

My prediction - no matter what these guys and institutions do, Ola and Uber and many others like them are here to stay for technology marches unimpeded.

बॉस की डॉंट

जब मैं नौकरी में अपेक्षाकृत बहुत अपरिपक्व था, तब मैंने अपने एक बॉस के सामने कोई समझदारी की बात कर दी। अब बात तो समझदारी की थी, पर बॉस के मुखारविंद से नहीं निकली थी। ज़ाहिर है साहब को मेरी बात बड़ी नागवार गुज़री। 

बॉस ने आंखें तरेरीं और गुर्राए - यू थिंक यू नो एवरीथिंग? कितने साल की नौकरी हुई है तुम्हारी?

मैंने सहमते हुए कहा - स् .. सर, कोई आठ साल।

बॉस - और तुम मुझे मेरा काम सिखाने चले हो? डू यू नो आई हैव गॉट थट्टी इयर्स ऑफ़ एक्सपीरिएंस?

अब थट्टी ईयर सुनकर मेरी तो टट्टी सरकने को हुई। मैं कहते-कहते रह गया कि सर आपकी कार्यशैली देखकर तो लगता है कि यू हैव ऑनली वन ईयर ऑफ़ एक्सपीरिएंस, मल्टीप्लाइड बाई थट्टी। पर मैंने सोचा अभी साहब से उलझने में ख़तरा बहुत है, ट्वेंटी टू इयर्स के बाद जब मेरे भी थट्टी हो जाएँगे तब महाशय को देख लूँगा। यह सोचकर मैंने पलायन में ही भलाई समझी।

                  ---०००---

CHARITY IS NOT ATONEMENT ENOUGH FOR MANSLAUGHTER (A JAIL TERM IS)

Salman Khan has finally been sentenced to five years in jail for running over and killing pavement dwellers. The entire Bollywood has risen like a trade union expressing support and solidarity for Salman Khan. Even before the judgement came, we saw numerous persons singing paeans for Salman - he is a true friend of friends, he is a philanthropist par excellence, he has the heart of a five-year-old and he is nothing but honey and sugar. Some of the Bollywood comrades of the convict have actually gone on to call the pavement dwellers the real culprit! Why did those poor, destitutes, hungry, unwashed, unclothed and uncouth scums of the world come in the way of the fancy car which ran on petrol in its tank and alcohol in the veins of the great hero?

Not that these guys bother about the Indian concept of Karma, but they need to be reminded that one must pay for one's deed as it is laid down in the books of law, morality and ethics. Well, one can possibly satisfy the canons of morality and ethics by philanthropy and donations, but law has its own books that prescribe jail for killing a man.

"Let law take its own course" and "I have full faith in the judiciary" are two oft repeated

statements of those facing conviction. But, there is an unstated expectation and indeed, an unspoken claim of being treated favourably. Well, in this case a thousand good deeds of Salman have not been able to mitigate the loss of an innocent life. So he goes to jail.

If Salman and his friends really believe that his good deeds and the heart of gold should have helped him escape conviction, they are wrong. They should be telling him that his good deeds will give him strength to bear the jail sentence. That is how Karma works.

The TRAI non-Paper on net-neutrality

One of the questions that TRAI poses the "stakeholder" is:

Question 9: What are your views on net-neutrality in the Indian context? How should the various principles discussed in para 5.47 be dealt with? Please comment with justifications.

The question shows a presumptuous understanding that there should be a different definition of net-neutrality in the "Indian context". Does it mean that even in the face of the American Federal Communications Commission's recent quashing of similar shameless efforts by the US telecom companies to maximise profits our TRAI can even imagine that different countries and societies can define freedom of information differently? Will the Human Rights Commission of India also come out with a "consultation paper" on how to treat the value of human life in the Indian context? Or, will the National Commission for Women on how to treat rapes in the Indian context?

And, here we are, the Indian intelligentsia signing on-line petitions to the government and to the TRAI to stop discrimination in Internet access. As if online petitions ever had any impact on decision making. Such petitions can be easily scoffed at by the powers that be on the ground that two lakh signatories in a country of one hundred and thirty crore does not count even for half a mouthful for a starving man.

Like the ever pliant and obedient subjects of the state we have accepted that the TRAI paper is a valid document to start with and that TRAI has some mandate to ask our opinion on this issue. I do not subscribe to this understanding. What business did TRAI had to think that an Airtel can have a "deal" with a "Flipkart" and that citizens would be asked to opine on this? Why did the TRAI not come down on Airtel with a hefty penalty the moment such a "concessional rate" of access was offered to its subscribers? Why publish a consultation paper?

I think that the TRAI consultation paper #2/2015 on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services is unauthorised, illegal and beyond the mandate of TRAI. TRAI is just supposed to enforce the principle of net neutrality. It cannot seek public opinion on this matter, just the way a judge cannot ask public at large whether award of a jail sentence to a rapist is justified in the "Indian context". The judge simply has to do his assigned job.

If there must be an online petition, it should be on whether the TRAI Paper should be withdrawn, whether the official, who wrote it should be sacked and on whether TRAI should be questioned on why it has not acted against the offenders so far.

A B S O L U T E L Y

The most popular word in the lexicon of Indian TV newsreaders is "ABSOLUTELY". In one word the anchor endorses the statement of the other person on the screen  and also thanks the other party for agreeing with what he or she had been pontificating on for the last quarter-of-an-hour. This one word, ABSOLUTELY, is the essence of the whole intellectual capital that resides in the studios of the English TV news channel, it showcases the entire editorial might of the channel, it well nigh decimates the opposing thought in one clean swipe, just like the beheadings being telecast live by the ISIS. After all, how can anyone stand up to something that is absolute and final! The pronouncement of the puissant utterance produces an impact that is bigger and eternal like an entire paragraph, nee a whole thoughtful newspaper article.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, a moving picture (moving as in shaking, not as in impactful) is worth your complete morning breakfast. After the porridge, the bacon and the toasted whole-wheat bread gulped down with cranberry juice if you do not hear the word, there is no way your intestines are going to extract one bit of nutrition from all that. Absolutely!

"THE NATION WANTS TO KNOW" comes a distant second. Besides, it is a whole sentence.

So, happy watching and happy surfing to you all. It is in the news channels that real entertainment lies (pun intended).

Coffee on the Highway

My work often takes me to Coimbatore, which is the largest railway station of my Division. Coimbatore is also one of the biggest cities of Tamil Nadu and an industrial hub. One feels good looking at industries dotting the landscape. The city itself is a beautiful urban scape - extremely clean, neatly laid out roads, disciplined traffic and no shabbiness at all that characterises our cities in the North. You will not find debris lying around, broken or unpainted building facades or garbage outside eateries. It is quite obvious that the Coimbatorian is proud of his city.

Coming back to my travels to Coimbatore, I love to travel by road in this part of the country. The National Highway 47 that I take is a delight to travel on. It must be a pleasure to self-drive too, but being a bada sahib, I am deprived of that privilege. Not only is the highway as good as it gets with no surprises by sudden appearances of two wheelers, cows and unruly truck drivers, the scenery that it offers is a sight to behold as well. I am certain that Tamil Nadu must be the most urbanised state of India, for I see no villages during my journey. Well, let me correct myself - there are villages indeed, but they all look like nice small towns. No sign of the typical North India's unkempt mud houses, stray cattle, smell of cow dung and open drains. The landscape is quite unlike one sees in the North, with coconut groves and banana plantations presenting a soothing and orderly view.

The best part of my road journey, however, is the coffee by the Highway. The famous “KDFC Only Coffee” serves coffee in a set of brass davara and tumbler. The acronym stands for Kumbhakonam Degree Filter Coffee. What they serve is "Only Coffee". I was intrigued by the word “degree”. Later enquiry revealed that the first decoction made in the filter pot is called degree coffee. A degree coffee would also retain its status only if it was made with pure undiluted milk, also known as degree milk. The first decoction from the filter was reserved for the head of the household, others would have to be content with the second degree or the second drain from the powder used for the first degree. I guess they serve third degree coffee in police stations. KDFC is a kind of a minor cult here, though the coffee itself is nothing special. But, one does feel good stopping by the KDFC outlet since they do serve it in style - shining brassware and extremely clean ambience. And, one feels like the head of the household for those few minutes. If not in one’s own household, then let it be at the dhaba. The meaning of "Only" does not seem to have any relevance however since what they serve is a blend of Coffee and Chicory. The tiny eateries that serves snacks and biscuits are sparkling clean and so are the surroundings. I am told that the KDFC thing is not even a franchise. One could just open a coffee outlet and start selling "KDFC Only Coffee". The same can't be said of "KFC Only Chicken" though.

Am I falling in love with Tamil Nadu? You bet I am. There is more to Tamil Nadu than Chennai and it is waiting to be explored.