The Conflicts of Our Interests

wiki says : "A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation occurring when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation."

India is a country of great ironies, biggest of which is, we have the poorest of the poor people here as well as the richest of the rich. The hunger-stricken as well as the most affluent and prosperous. And our economic policies over the years have only widened this gap. We keep hearing statements such as "The rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer". Resources are not a problem in India, its the unequal distribution of resources that is the root cause of our problems. Isn't it strange, in a country like ours, we believe in equality for all. Equality in all terms, in religion, cast creed, gender. We are nation which prides itself in its value system, its acceptance of all, its unity in diversity. And yet, economic disparity is crippling this unity, the lower strata of our society is turning to petty crime for petty rewards on one hand and on the other hand the upper strata is turning to Major crimes for Major rewards, crimes that the average Indian cannot even understand for rewards that the average Indian cannot even fathom.

RIL has taken over Network18 for $680 million. I am hoping that this is a simple straightforward business deal and RIL will not curb the creative freedom of the editors and journalists at Network18. That is the ideal situation, isn't it, but we hardly live in an ideal world. And even if we did, and even if it is an ideal, simple, straightforward business arrangement, it won't be too far fetched to think that the next time there is a news story against RIL, the editor's would hesitate to break it.  Paid media was a much hyped issue during these general elections, an issue which the AAP raised quite vehemently, shortly after the Arvind Kejriwal-Punya Parsoon Bajpayee video was leaked online. And as soon as they started attacking the media, the media shunned AAP. The same media that played a substantial role in the rise of AAP can be attributed to playing a major role in their fall. The question is, how will this issue be looked at now, how the unholy nexus - the politicians, the corporates and the media houses, will deal with such issues and maintain their own credibility.

The conflict of interest problem is not a new one in our country, the Bharat Ratna- the highest civilian honour in India, is awarded by the President of India every year based on the recommendations of the Prime Minister. Back in 1955, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru won the award, at the time when he himself was the PM. One begs the question, did he recommend himself ? Detailed information about this issue can be found on the indiafacts website here. Without questioning the merit of the first PM of India, I just want to put things in perspective, and imagine the conflicts of interests that people in power have enjoyed (some have abused) in our country over the years.

In recent times, Indian cricket's head honcho, N Srinivasan has been accused of enjoying major conflicts of interests. When the IPL was first started back in 2008, one of the rules of the BCCI constitution had to be amended. The rule basically was that the people running the BCCI could not have any commercial interests in the matches and tournaments that it conducted. Mr Srinivasan's company India Cements wanted to own a team in the IPL, and he himself was the treasurer of the BCCI. The ideal scenario would have been that he stepped down from the post and take care of the IPL franchise only, or he give up the idea of owning a team and focus his energies on being an administrator only. But he did neither, instead, the rule was amended and the seed was sown for the corruption crisis  that Indian cricket is in today. Cricket may just be a game but the money generated from it is humongous due to which both politicians and corporates want to be a part of its administration, side-lining the cricketers who should be running the game instead.

The conflict of Interest problem is well known and talked about internationally as well, leaders around the world have been accused of it. We have all read about conspiracy theories on how the Gulf war benefited the Bush family because of their stake in weapons companies and the like.  Rupert Murdoch's phone hacking scandal and consequently the end of the 168 year old publication 'News of the world' should at least scare us a bit, if not more.

Reliance is a HUGE conglomerate, one who has grown and consolidated with the country's growth over the past 50 years or so. It's foray into mass media should be welcomed but with some caution. The media needs the money today. It needs to stop depending on petty sensationalism to run News channels. We have seen some serious journalism over the last 3-4 years in India and we want to see more of that in the future as well. Corporate backing may be just the thing that the  media houses require. After all, the money has to come from somewhere, but that should not mean that the media houses become the voice of the conglomerate. There needs to be a healthy relationship between the two. RIL will also know that. With the advent of social media and powerful tools like the RTI and the Jan Lok Pal, today's audience is not as gullible as before. They want to see good news stories on TV and in the papers, they don't want to be fooled, they don't want to be kept in the dark about anything, they want to get to the bottom of every issue.

But do we? really ??  Do we really care if somebody abuses a conflict of interest, a position of power. Are we comfortable with it? or will we go to any length to expose it? We want to believe that at least. We want there to be a few people among us(civil society) who will keep questioning the big power houses, to file the RTIs, question the government,  go to the streets and fight the corrupt. While we get to sit on our comfortable couches and talk about them on such blogs and on twitter. Ironically, we will take these people down the moment they show any personal ambition.

Now that is the conflict of our own interests.

Messiah!

--Look its a bird, no its a plane, no its Narendra Modi.

Our savior has come finally, yes, the One is here. He is the Chosen One who will rid us of big bad Voldy.  And just like that with a swing of his wand all our problems will be solved, but will they?

We so wish our life was like a fantasy novel, but it hardly ever is. Modi's victory though can be called fantastic almost. A landslide victory all over the country, a complete majority for a non-congress government for the first time. The stats speak for themselves, and the Sensex speaks with them :)
Aren't we just so happy that finally the whole election season is over and we have a leader who we can trust to run the country well for the next five years. As voters, our part is done. For the next five years we don't need to worry about the country anymore. We have voted in record numbers and put the perfect man in office. Yes we have.

I am not going to question if the man is right for the job or not, I dare not. But I would still like to question our role in the next five years. With such record breaking numbers we have clearly given the mandate to one man to do everything necessary for a better India. The responsibility is big and so is the power in his hands. There is no pressure on him of maintaining allies even, let alone opposition. No one to blame for policy paralysis, for not passing bills in parliament. No good old excuse of a coalition government. Seriously, over the last 30 years, we as a country had learned to accept coalition as an irrefutable part of democracy. And our leaders always pointed to it as a handicap to India's growth and prosperity. But now, just as there is no obligation on him to satisfy any of the coalition partners, he also, has nobody to answer to in the parliament.

The thing with coalitions is, they keep the government at its toes always. There is always a fear in the ruling party, it is always answerable to someone. Coalition was a form of pseudo-accountability that we as a nation had adopted. And I am  not advocating that in any way, but now that, that form of accountability is not there anymore, we have to turn to the traditional form of accountability in a democracy - The people.

We as a people need to keep Narendra Modi on his toes always from now. Previously, in other governments, we have been too lazy and helpless in dealing with the ruling parties. We need to shun that attitude now. If there is one lesson that needs to be learned from these elections, its that, public opinion and mood in this country matters more than it ever has in our history. With a media that is going through a revolution of sorts, and an ever so lively social media environment, the onus of asking the tough questions is on us. And there are enough platforms available now, enough mediums to do exactly that. We cannot be lazy and wait for the next Lok Sabha elections, if we have a problem, we have to raise it today and now. And we have to vote in the states, we have turned up in record numbers, but these numbers must keep going up with every election, Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha. Parties will be wary of people if the voting percentage is high. Because they understand now that poor performance at state level can affect them at national level (AAP) and poor performance at national level can affect them at state level(Congress). And they know we are watching :)

This is the time to rejoice, to celebrate Mr Modi's victory and congratulate him, wish him luck. This is not the time to be complacent and sit back and relax. Not the time to say "Ok, lets get back to our lives now, this guy will run the country". This is the time to ask him what will he do about the increasing inflation, what about fuel prices and electricity, what about our foreign policy, what about Pakistan, China, the USA. What about clean water, toilets for everyone. What about the Ganga of Benaras, the diamond merchants of Surat, of the auto-drivers of Delhi and the adivasis of Jharkhand. What about the traders on Dalal street, and the Pandits of Kashmir. The Dalits of UP and the Muslims of Gujarat. The list of questions for India's messiah is endless.

 Finding the answers to these questions is Mr Modi's job, but asking them, is ours.

NAMO ya na NAMO!!!

Hunger for power can lead men to great heights of opportunism, our leaders these days don't hesitate to grab any opportunity that comes their way. It need not be an opportunity to prove their own merit, just the opportunity to bring down the opposition is enough, then misinterpreted facts and improper language don't really bother them. As long as they get to say - "Hey look, this is what this guy is doing, so it proves that this guy is bad for India, so I am good for India, vote for me". All political statements these days fall into this template, more or less.

Making allegations on one another is one thing, but these elections, people have taken it  too far, politicising matters like the Chennai Central blasts is opportunism and narcissism at its peak, its a terrorist attack for God's sake, at least let the first probe finish before saying that it proves Modi's life is in danger. The recent violence in Varanasi, whatever people there may be doing, violence of any sort is not justified, whether its AAP who is at fault, or the BJP, you cannot just beat each other up in a brawl to decide who is right, we don't live in a lawless land. Politicising the Assam violence, saying it was caused because of so and so leader and party,  BJP members are already saying, Congress has plans to instigate nationwide riots once BJP comes to power, to destabilize the government, and the Assam violence is just the beginning. And of course, the Muzzafarnagar riots, they were the result as well as a source of major political opportunism. These are all the most violent episodes of political opportunism  these elections, the incidents of politicians using poor language are just too many to recount.

What has happened to our leaders, have they lost their intellectual mojo so much that this what they have had to resort to, whatever happened to clean, noble, gentlemen leading a nation. Where are the AB Vajpayees of this election? even the party that Yogendra Yadav(the gentlest man in Indian politics today) belongs to has failed to produce leaders that have any dignity left now. It literally is a jungle raj out there , a man eat man world. And it will not stop until one man's  desire to be PM is fulfilled- Narendra Modi.

Some people say, they saw all this coming the day NaMo was declared the PM candidate by the BJP. He is known for politics of polarisation, the good old divide and rule policy.We Indians love it don't we, just divide us and we will let you rule us.This is how he wins his elections they said, this is how he governs even, shutting down voices against him using brute force, even arm twisting his  political competitors in his own party into supporting him. Snoop-gate, the fake encounters in Gujarat , the '02 riots, the toothless Lokayukta, its a long list. This is one side of NaMo.

The other side of NaMo is the one industrialists love, not just the Adanis and Ambanis as RaGa claims, but all businessmen in general have had a good time doing there business in his state. They have prospered, and the people of Gujarat have prospered with them. And only a fool would want to oppose that model being replicated at  the centre. In today's times, any model will be better than what the UPA is doing, the Gujarat model has its merits and ought to be tried.

NaMo is seen as a man of strong decisions, of authoritarian leadership. The policy paralysis that the country is going through right now, a dose of NaMo is exactly what we may need. At least that's what the nation's industrialists want, and it may not be a bad idea to give them what they want. Their prosperity, in theory at least, can trickle down to the nation's poor as well.

With the elections coming to their final rounds, the results to be out soon, it looks like in all probability NaMo will be our next Prime Minister, and whichever side of him you choose to look at, you have to accept that he is the man today's  India is turning to, for better or for worse, the next five years India's future will be his doing. We will be ruled by the Dr Jekyll and Mr hyde of Indian politics, Maano ya na Maano!!

Matters of choice

Choice : Choice consists of a mental decision, of judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one or more of them. - Thats what wikipedia says.

Choice invokes interesting emotions in all of us, some us of feel a sense of control with our surroundings, some us of feel burdened by it, out of fear of making bad decisions . But most of us do feel empowered by it, a sense of joy almost, that we, individually, can have an effect on the outcome of major events. And sometimes, on the outcome of huge national events.
Yes, national events like the imminent Lok Sabha elections of 2014 where the Indian voter has been given a choice between potential leaders, or so he believes.

These elections are being portrayed as a three way fight, between the BJP (The favorites), the Congress (The condemned) and the AAP ( The underdogs). Also, we must not forget the small, local players who may not be the kings, but the kingmakers indeed. Who, through pre-poll party hopping and post-poll alliances might end up deciding the future of the country.
The media(along with these three parties) is trying to make this into a fight of personalities, instead of it being a fight of political ideologies. So these days we read a lot about individual constituencies in the media. Like Varanasi(Kejriwal VS Modi), Amethi(Kumar Vishwas VS Smriti Irani VS Rahul Gandhi), Chandigarh (Pawan Bansal VS Kirron Kher VS Gul Panag) Chandni Chowk (Kapil Sibal VS Ashutosh).

But, is it really a battle of these personalities, even in these handful seats, can just these personalities make a change if elected? Will their party ideologies(read high commands) let them do what they feel is necessary to be done. Not just for the constituency, but even in the parliament in general. We have to realise, these are elections for the LOK SABHA, the elected will become the members of parliament, who will make or break important laws and ordinances in the next 5 years. The laws and ordinances that will decide the socio-politico-economic state of our country. Thes MPs will be sitting in the parliament, and in the parliament, its always the ruling party VS the opposition party, the ayes VS the Nos, its never Individual A VS Individual B. The final decision on any matter almost always lies with the party high commands(Gandhi family for the Congress, RSS for the BJP and Arvind Kejriwal for the AAP).

So really, how important are personalities in these elections???  Unfortunately, with the ongoing media revolution in the country, all the parties almost feel compelled to market personalities against ideology. I mean, BJPs Hindutva ideaology(its not that All Hindus are better than all Muslims, its much greater/deeper than that) is perhaps the remedy to all of India's problem right now, the discipline and attitude that it brings, can really help the country grow in today's time. Or the Congress' Secular roots, are so very important in a nation as diverse as ours. Or the AAP's anti-corruption, anti-establishment,anarachistic, bordeline communist ideology(that is filling the gap that India's communists have left out) is so important to keep the governant functioning, and the bureaucracy in control. These are the ideologies they must be trying to sell to the voter, not the personalities in their parties.
The irony is,  none of the parties want to use their ideology in the election campaign right now but when they come into power, thats how they will be making their decisions, they are not going to be individual decisions, Modi is not coming with a magic wand to solve all of India's problems, they are going to be consensual decisions taken by many people, after a lot of deliberation, based on their ideology.  Thats the way democaracy works, and if we really want individuals to matter more than ideology then we may be on our path to a dictatorship, if not now, then in the future. This is another choice we will be making these elections.

As someone rightly said, we are the outcome of our own choices. On election day, when you walk into that booth, in front of the EVM and you are about to make your choice, do realise, you are not just making a choice between candidates, but you are also making a choice between ideologies.