Hamara Congress

WHEN RUSHDIE MET HASAN
By Sanjay Jha

( Amidst the cacophony in our daily lives, sometimes one individual can become a symbol of hope. Nurul Hasan is one such).

He invariably calls me on every auspicious occasion, whether it is the New Year, Diwali, Ramzaan or Holi. His voice has an unmistakable identity, deeply gruff and somewhat fissured , his long sentences punctuated by an intermittent hiatus , and he speaks with the labored precision of a man who has seen many moons, experienced vicissitudes of life. When he asks me about my family’s whereabouts, it has a unique solicitude about it, a caring disposition that is indescribable. When I tell him that Insha Allah all is well, he responds with deep satisfaction in his baritone: Bahut Accha! The conversations are usually one-sided as he enquires separately about everyone’s health, studies, career, future plans et al and I utter monosyllabic responses with a calculated mix of restrained exasperation and smothered impatience. But he carries on notwithstanding, his relentless curiosity for the mundane and the meaningless quite unfathomable. Often I just interrupt and ask him a diversionary question to prevent explanations with an orchestrated artifice; what’s happening otherwise? Is it really cold? When is he likely to peregrinate in a holy pilgrimage? He answers them all with perceptible exuberance, overjoyed at my seeming interest in his life. The conversations thereafter become like one long-winded monologue of a travel enthusiast returning from an adventurous spree but gives me enough room to navigate my e-mails on my Blackberry. Of course, I do the ritualistic interruptions to convey my active engagement with a recurring Really? That’s nice! When we do finally terminate the imbalanced exchange, he waits for me to hang up, perhaps secretly hoping that I would linger on , encourage his mindless intrusions into my calibrated corporate life. I don’t give him that opportunity. This old gentleman who calls me with uncanny predictability and indulges in one-sided marathon conversations where I am a mere eavesdropper is called Nurul Hasan.

In the mid-1960’s Nurul Hasan had met my father when he was a professor of economics in Bhagalpur University, Bihar. He desperately needed a job, and apparently my father had assiduously engineered a temporary role for him in the administrative department which subsequently became a permanent one . Hasan was overwhelmed, obligated beyond description. But in those days, instead of attending to secretarial work, he spent more time taking us kids out for rickshaw-rides, cinema-watching , toy-shopping and generally entertaining us with story-telling. He was like a quasi-family watchdog, passionately overseeing the domestic constitution with painstaking involvement. The joint family system had an extended appendage; Nurul Hasan was its inelastic glue. He was a Muslim, in a household where we were traditional, archetypal Brahmins but without the natural condescending streak normally associated with it. We grew up under his watchful eye, my parents fully reassured that we were in safe hands. Bhagalpur was then considered to be a communally susceptible zone and Hindu-Muslim riots had scarred the local population. But Nurul Hasan was our guardian angel. When my father died a few years ago, Hasan called to assuage me that heaven will be in distinguished company. It helped. I know he still calls me as he thinks it is now his moral duty, an unfinished task as it were.

Hasan is now in his late seventies but sheepishly confesses that matriculation certificates usually buffered up to ten years to provide for extended career lifeline and higher pension benefits , but his monumental anxiety is getting his son a job as a computer operator. Albeit he is awkward when he talks about a favor, he seems an extremely worried man these days. For fear of nepotism and favoritism, I have told him that we cannot recruit him in our own organization in Mumbai. I don’t think he is entirely convinced, given his own delirious heavenly experience with my father. Times have changed , I tell him. I will though check with others amongst fellow colleagues who could be more magnanimous. He nods patiently, perhaps telling himself that I am doing excellent cosmetic lip service or have insurmountable handicaps. But the fact is that I have done nothing for him.

In a country of 177 million Muslims, Nurul Hasan is not a solitary example of goodness. If you go to Mohammed Ali Road during Ramzaan you will be submerged more by the prodigious warmth and incredible hospitality of the people than those mouth-watering delicacies at Sulaiman Mithaiwala. Some of the most endearing simple folk with a gentle refined sophistication in their articulation, reminiscent of the legend of Lucknow will come from bearded taxi-drivers in Mumbai. Muslims in India have added a majestic colorful hue to our social and cultural character. Besides three former Presidents, including Dr Abdul Kalam , top-notch civil servants such as Wajahat Habibullah, music lyricists and composers such as Sahir and Khayyam, Zakir Hussain, the inimitable Mohammad Rafi, the patriotic belligerence of cricketers Zaheer Khan and Yusuf Pathan, the cinematic charms of the Khans, the mesmerizing poetry of Javed Akhtar, it is one exciting , electric, eclectic mix. Azim Premji has made Wipro into a global software behemoth. If even .01% of our fellow brothers were to become disillusioned or misled by hate-mongers that works to a staggering 17,700 delicate yet confused, potentially dangerous susceptible minds. The process of assimilation is never-ending. India’s beauty lies in our unique diversity, in a world fractured with suspicion and rising extremism, we could be symbolic of a pluralistic, tolerant and thriving society.

As the Salman Rushdie brannigan at the Jaipur Literary Festival grabs limelight, and there is the expected outpouring of inflammatory sentiments from several quarters , one thinks of Hasan. I can hardly visualize him in a tempestuous state no matter how annoying the instigation. India’s collective consciousness needs to embrace its multifarious mishmash , and resist the diabolical virulence of those few at the periphery. Economic growth and religious fundamentalism are not inversely related as was often fallaciously believed. Mere job reservations and empty platitudes will also not be enough. Maintaining social harmony is always a work-in-progress in an interconnected world, with communities interspersed all over. In every community there are good and bad. But the bad are usually in a minority.

A few days ago I got a missed call late at night. It was from Nurul Hasan. For the first time in a long while , I returned his call. He was palpably overjoyed. A simple gesture, but it meant the world to him. I promised that I will get him to come to Pune where my father spent his last few years. It’s a promise that I intend to keep.

IT’S ALWAYS THE ECONOMY, STUPID!

By Sanjay Jha
In Tehelka

The Euro crisis which began in the famous Olympian city of Athens can be called a Greek tragedy . It has had a domino effect, with Ireland, Cyprus and Portugal giving it empathetic company. The other more illustrious states such as Italy, France and Belgium are beginning to feel the inflammatory heat generated by falling bond values. The European banks are in panic mode as they believe they hold near-junk bonds instead of what was thought to be zero-risk sovereign assets.

Despite the Osama bin Laden triumph , Barack Obama’s return to the White House is precariously dependant on that classic line , It’s the economy, stupid. It is indeed bizarre that in a country with a poverty line twice the size of the American population, the Indian economy only comes into focus when there is a Rs 1 hike in petrol price or when Uma Bharti decides to incinerate Wal-Mart stores.

For India the external situation appropriately reflected in balance of payments problems ought to be a high priority simply because it is an uncontrollable variable. The fact is that reckless financing of suspect mortgages in the US did plunge the world into The Great Recession. As did humongous public debts in Europe. In an interconnected global economy, you take nothing for granted.

The European Central Bank ( ECB) made available an astounding USD 628 billion in three-year loans to 500 banks across Europe; clearly the EU banks for long stationary on a treadmill have failed the stress-test. Its financial repercussions will doubtlessly impact India, as is already evident in negative FX outflows, and the rupee’s dramatic depreciation.

India needs to get more ambitious! The problems of a chaotic democracy is that both unbridled optimism or downbeat despondency get oversold. We appear satiated with cosmetic endeavors, synthetic success, frequently gloating over our demographic dividend and some fleeting statistical data to justify euphoria . We often miss the woods for the trees; the perfect instance being the abrupt questioning of the funding status of UID scheme, overlooking the immeasurable impact of electronic transfers to needy people without the avaricious middle-man. Clearly, warped priorities enervate the system. In the meantime, the ChIndia story gets one-dimensional . China seems set to eclipse American GDP in purchasing-power parity terms by 2018, and the Chinese renminbi threatens the dollar as reserve currency of the world by 2020. That could have tectonic ramifications. In short, while we squabble bitterly over parochial politics, China is rewriting the new world economic order.

We spent the whole of Y2011 obsessed about Lok Pal. Corruption does corrode growth, but India needs concomitant policy changes in various fields that cannot be stored in animated suspension. Cherishing mindless commotion is becoming our national sport . It is symptomatic of a society under some serious delusions, heightened arrogance or plain stupidity. We need speedy break-neck structural reforms, transparent governance, large government outlays in education and health, public-private partnerships and visionary thinking.

We need to attract FDI in retail; after all the real India story is in its astronomical numbers. Xenophobia cannot accompany globalization . Land acquisition laws are crucial to infrastructure investments, both domestic and FDI. With food inflation down to 0.42% compared to 16% of December last year , a downward revision in interest rates is now foreseeable, though not immediately For us, the big buzzword of 2012 should be on execution.

In global financial markets, contrary to popular belief, often perception overrides macro-economic fundamentals. After all which probability theory predicted the housing market crash or the Euro-zone crisis? India constantly fumbles, as we have specialized in exporting our bad hair days.

The Mayan’s believe December 21st 2012 will be the end of the world, but if we are imaginative and bold, that might be Christmas celebration time. The fact that now George Clooney can buy an SBI share in our local bourses can be a harbinger of changing times. About time.

Sanjay Jha is a former banker, internet entrepreneur and currently ED, Dale Carnegie India. Twitter@JhaSanjay

FINDING GANDHI

( In 2011 India momentarily forgot the Father of the Nation. As Anna Hazare fumbled, floundered and failed, it was evident that it is a mammoth task to be a Gandhian; forget being the modern Mahatma Gandhi ).

By Sanjay Jha

I was at my dapper debonair best, albeit behind that deceptive façade, a bag of awful nerves. A multinational bank head honcho poured a penetrative look into my curriculum vitae. I expected a hard-hitting complex interview, and was adequately rehearsed with standard prescriptions to intractable global financial woes. “ If you have a choice for dinner with anyone , living or dead, who would it be??” asked a gruff baritone. This was one I was least prepared for. And yet the answer came instantaneously, Mahatma Gandhi. An extraordinary man whose moral authority could temper religious conflagrations, restore sanity amidst madness even as he inspired a non-violent civil disobedience movement for India’s freedom against the formidable might of the British empire. Gandhi was my poster-boy hero.

I would later claim to seeing the celluloid version of the Father of the Nation at my own Fergusson College, Pune shooting for Sir Richard Attenborough’s Oscar-winning film Gandhi. There will never be another Gandhi, I had always thought. But then at Jantar Mantar in April this year somebody said another was born. Incredulous, but I stretched to see this alchemist. It was a man from Ralegan Siddhi called Anna Hazare, who was spearheading an agitation for an anti-corruption legislation. I could not smell jasmine, but Hazare’s intrepid call was music to my ears. That was alas , it seems now, almost too many moons ago.

Corruption is an ecumenical factor; easy to make it a leitmotif, keep hammering it in, make it into an anti-establishment tirade because it is easy to generate popular goodwill. Team Anna thus launched into a well-orchestrated assault, perfectly timed, and scripted with appropriate sound byte impact and unrelenting intensity. But tragically, what started as a social crusader’s battle for cleansing corruption soon assumed a diabolical political form. I wondered how our modern Gandhi fell into this stratagem or was it a premeditated ploy??

It was the Ram Lila that took the cake and the chocolate factory. Ram Lila’s preposterous demands have probably remained the least discussed aspect, when in fact it was an outstanding gargantuan PR ruse on an unsuspecting nation As is now obvious, the demand to pass the Jan Lok Pal Bill in Team Anna’s own self-styled version within 10 days sans any deliberations, debate was outlandish, ludicrous. Lok Pal bill is a complex legislation of great import with serious ramifications on our democratic structures and institutions. Yet, it formed the fulcrum for Team Anna’s future experimentations. No sensible government could vouchsafe the bill with a bullet-on-your-temple blackmail , worse an outrageous expectation. Every statement uttered at Ram Lila was seismic cloaked in self-righteousness. Bollywood , spiritual gurus, Page 3 drop-outs and failed Bollywood stars coalesced to create a massive frenzy. 120 crore people are with us , someone roared , in desperate rodomontade, but fooling no one. The protestors operating model was based on a simple premise; the common man of India is easily beguiled by sustained propaganda, especially of the chest-beating sanctimonious variety. And in any case, no one reads the bill. But by December the veneer had cracked ; at MMRDA in December , Mumbai even as Parliament debated the Lok Pal bill, the crowd had thinned to size zero.

Under normal circumstances a forthright constructive debate based on a common salutary agenda for the nation would result in reconciliation, not progressive deterioration. The Lok Pal debate got subsumed by intricate spins and yarns resulting in public disillusionment , food for thought for those who believe in instant stardom based on an exaggerated notion of self-importance. The BJP , masters of gridlock , would use every tactic in the book to gerrymander and charm the rising middle class using Team Anna as their unofficial brand ambassadors. Political opportunism was amplified in practically every move be it in Hisar elections or repeated references to occupants of 10, Janpath . Anti-corruption had transmogrified into an anti-Congress campaign. By now, I was not the only one wearing a confounded expression. Hazare became strident, impertinent and often, nasty. Gandhi??

Eventually, Team Anna got inextricably intertwined in their own verbal inconsistencies. The travel expense vouchers scam , discounted farmland acquisition from the UP government , delayed financial settlement with government employers, and controversial remarks on Kashmir fractured and fragmented those pious postures. Confusion reigned. Sounds can bite, you see . Issues usually get obfuscated amidst obstreperous outbursts; FDI in retail being a classic case of a self-goal. Hazare snubbed Wal-Mart too. India is in love with noise and worse everyone is in love with their own voice. India is not listening to each other. And that is where the problems really begin. The downfall of the Anna movement was inevitable.
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When Hazare made a second appearance at Jantar Mantar , Mahatma Gandhi had made a conspicuous disappearing act replaced by flagrant political billboards .What one saw was a hip-hop pop-culture interspersed with political gobbledygook , an absurd concoction , as guitar strumming indie groups and non-stop entertainment made it into a reality show. The incessant predilection for being in the news resulted in trite talk, irrelevant distractions. The movement had become just a moment. When one of Team Anna’s members scornfully dismissed the food security bill as a warped national priority one sensed something was seriously amiss.

Corruption is an emotive issue, it has greatly demoralized Indians, but Team Anna’s efforts to turn it into a parochial political movement using the vociferous middle-class as its vanguard ( ironically the biggest beneficiaries of liberalization) defied common sense. They remained stuck on a core “ constituency” . Comparisons with Tahrir Square were made with grave solicitude, but Team Anna forgot that India is aspiring towards political sophistication , it has overcome its teething troubles. Coalition politics, for all its negative connotations, is Indian democracy at it’s exuberant realistic best.

Vinod Mehta , editor of a leading national weekly says the media and government are natural adversaries, true they are, but they don’t have to be in a state of permanent warfare. In fact, both media and the government receive relentless 24×7 intense public scrutiny, have little leeway even for minor human lapses and are easy soft targets for perpetual vile, vested abuse; Indian democracy needs greater dialogue between these two critical pillars, not mutual recriminations. The government though needs to initiate greater interaction with the media. About time.

Despite the steadfast gloominess that pervaded for considerable periods, India ends the year with a hope of a turnaround, the much needed positive bustling optimism. Time for some sangfroid. We maybe a noisy democracy, but tranquility will finally emerge from within itself. 2012 is the year the Mayan’s declare will be the end of the world. But for India I suspect it is the beginning of a more aware , vibrant and involved nation. Falter and fail we still might , but our fallibilities should never weaken our resolve. Occupy Wall Street collapsed on account of rudderless leadership, cosmetic remonstrance has limited appeal. And as the experience of the Arab Spring showed, after the initial brouhaha and boisterous clapping, shouting and dancing, what often follows is stunned disbelief at the emptiness. Team Anna rode a gigantic wave, followed by an ignominious crash while still at the shore-line.

By the end of the year, it was not just public disenchantment that had robbed the transitory Gandhi of his façade, but sensing his own human vulnerabilities, or perhaps a stealthy side-objective or pure inability to live up to demanding high standards, Hazare had himself assiduously drifted away from that cherished ant-corruption goal. In a sense, that defined the year’s most calamitous downfall. To earn the tag of Gandhi , by itself a Herculean achievement deemed improbable, and lose that incandescence within a course of a mere eight months, for Hazare that was an extraordinary failure. Several will anoint him with accolades, sobriquets and fancy superlatives anyway for bringing corruption center-stage , but away from the shibboleth Anna Hazare was ironically enough, 2011’s biggest loser.

As we enter 2012 maybe that’s the biggest lesson for us all; fifteen minutes of fame maybe good for an individual , but not necessarily for a country. And yes, in a year of Bollywood sequels and remakes , Gandhi remained inimitable.

Sanjay Jha can be followed on Twitter@JhaSanjay

INDIA: THE COUNTDOWN IS ON !

By Sanjay Jha
Also on TEHEKHA FW
www.HamaraCongress.com

I truly admire people who are thick-skinned; nothing affects them, they are almost impervious to core human sensibilities. They are contemptuous about their environment , are essentially immune to reasoned arguments , operate in their own gigantic bubble and have scant respect for a larger cause, albeit that’s what they profess defines their existence. The word empathy is conspicuous by it’s absence in their otherwise burgeoning bag of clichés. Worse, some have become inveterate narcissists thanks to the megalomania generated by constant exposure for several months punctuated by a rare bout of self-imposed silence. There is one disease which is worse than the emperor of all maladies, it is called ego. It breeds a sinister presumption of infallibility, coupled with a blushing companion called arrogance. Quite a heady cocktail. Naturally, unfortunate souls afflicted with this disease just don’t listen; the latter being the wide-ranging cause of marital conflict , boardroom battles and even world wars. As India nears the end of a maddeningly turbulent year, largely on account of its own self-inflicted melodrama , the charade continues. I am referring to the uncontrollable unreasonableness of a bunch, supposedly fractured, but yet magnanimously referred to as Team Anna. It is reached atrocious levels.

Tragically, this Lok Pal thing is actually now becoming a bit of a farce. What started off as a determined resolve by an ageing old-man from an obscure village from Maharashtra to expedite an anti-corruption legislation ( already proposed by the ruling government itself ) soon degenerated into an orchestrated attempt to hijack the whole Bill itself, lock, stock and two smoking barrels. Let’s understand the Lok Pal bill from a dispassionate perspective. As by now everyone knows, the Lok Pal Bill is one amongst several measures to combat corruption, it is not a single-bullet solution to eradicate the bribe-kickback menace that has been the bane of India for years. Thus, the disproportionate investment of prime time , national resources and ugly negative energy that has been invested in this endeavor has come at a great cost to several other initiatives that have had to willy-nilly remain in the back-burner. Common sense tells you that after the unprecedented public attention generated at Jantar Mantar and Ram Lila ( brilliantly manufactured by manipulative PR trapeze artists of Team Anna) , any smart, sensible government would create a Bill that would be comprehensive, it would ignore certain crucial legislative provisions to merely hoodwink people at its own peril. For heaven’s sake, have we become such a pathologically cynical nation ?? If so, India will diminish downwards of it’s own volition, with or without a little nudge from the perennial pessimists called Team Anna. We will have no one else to blame but ourselves.

The good news is that despite a few recalcitrant, obtuse and blatantly opportunistic opposition parties , the government and Parliament has upheld the highest democratic principles. The Parliament in an extraordinary effort held a one-off historic session to pass a parliamentary resolution on the Lok Pal Bill in August this year. Basic decency and good sense demanded that thereafter one let the Standing Committee do it’s job; they are not a bunch of novices merely grandstanding , you know. Everyone has a reputation, livelihood and future life and career to work on , it is not the prerogative of only those who have an unusually large pharynx. What one saw instead was sporadic bursts of insane abuse, puerile ridicule and substandard dialogue in an attempt to keep the pot churning . Even outright lies ( phone-tapping it seems was being done to eavesdrop on their televised plans ) ! And this from people who were parading themselves as India’s self-appointed paragons of virtue, some who ingeniously designed a novel method of claiming travel expense vouchers ! Too ridiculous to be true, but there you are. Ekta Kapoor in 2011 has received several real-life inspiring scripts to make more dirty pictures.

But let’s go back to what seems has got the ex-Gandhian mighty incensed; it seems the government has gone back on the commitment to respecting the “ sense” of the house, as decreed in the parliamentary resolution. Utter nonsense! First, no government in India’s parliamentary history has so conscientiously, meticulously drafted such a gargantuan proposal for Lok Pal with full transparency and after taking multiple views into account. Secondly, it has fully adhered to its three commitments made ; 1) Lok Ayukta in states ( under the same Lok Pal Bill) 2) Citizens Grievance mechanism ( in a separate charter ) , while 3) lower bureaucracy will come under the CVC, but will have a reporting relationship with the Lok Pal. The decision on whether the Prime Minister must come under Lok Pal has been left to Parliament to decide. On the CBI, the Standing Committee has taken the stance that a superpower structure of a Lok Pal with the sweeping authority of being investigator, prosecutor and judge would be setting a dangerous precedent. You cannot get more fair than this. By the way, which sanguine day-dreamer expected 100% agreement from all MP’s representing 15 different political parties on such a complex, new experiment that combines legal, financial and administrative architecture ? That would be wishful thinking. Secondly, the Bill is up in Parliament for a full-fledged debate anyway for full public consumption. Thirdly, the Standing Committee had only 11 members from the Congress, the rest are from different political formations ensuring a democratic process. Fourthly, if there is a different viewpoint from that of any civil society ( whether IAC or NCPRI or anyone else ) , isn’t Parliament the ultimate supreme authority ? Aren’t MP’s finally responsible to the people of India? Won’ t they be seeking re-election in two years, while some new civil society heroes will be signing book-deals and speaker-ship contracts?

As I write this, Team Anna will be at their vitriolic vociferous best once again doing their usual bit to arouse hatred against our democratic institutions. Amidst this much ballyhooed jamboree , the real “old man” who has been India’s inspiration has redefined “ fast” in ways unheard of before. Unassuming, down-to- earth, rambunctious, the inimitable Virender Sehwag. On a day when India was sweltering under its usual installments of some more depressing news about 2G, price rise , FDI in retail and Lok Pal, Viru rewrote the record books in his trademark cavalier style achieved with contumacious ease. His 219 runs against West Indies in a ODI match at Indore set a world record, catapulting the Nawab of Najafgarh into bigger haloed kingdoms. Sehwag of course brushed off his mind-numbing success as the hard work of an “ old man”. His humility in a country obsessed with the self-obsessed was cathartic; like a dip in a cold pool on a sultry day.

Some over-rated old men need to take a leaf out of Sehwag’s books. Modesty and decency personified. In the 1980s, I remember an ad campaign for a product I fail to remember which said ; “ Above the noise of trumpet blowers comes the silent roar of a born winner” . The others need to learn from Sehwag. Or keep whining interminably with a morose grim prognostication about its future, even as India has some exciting appointments awaiting it . Either way, India needs to move on ahead of these chronic obstructionists . There is a lot of hard work ahead. And time matters, as we are already behind the clock.

THE MISSING MASTERS

( India ends Y 2011 with breathless anticipation about it’s future. This should be our season of hope).

By Sanjay Jha

Three things sell like hot cakes in India; sex, Shah Rukh Khan and fear. The recent virulent propaganda against FDI in retail is symptomatic over our still xenophobic ways, appropriately craftily exploited by wily politicians. Do you really see the young spiked gelled hair Salman Khan clone sitting in the loss-making kirana store in Darbhanga, Bihar managed by a septuagenarian sentimental father? By ostensibly using the bottom of the pyramid argument we keep them in the bottom of the poverty-pit much longer. We are still susceptible to the pseudo, time warp / ideological rigidities of conformist politics. But if India is changing, its politics will have to change faster as it has a lot of making up to do. It needs to set higher standards to smother the hullabaloo of the hypocrites who discredit its constitutional foundations, halt healthy debates. The loss is more than merely financial.

While India paralyzed itself over FDI in retail, 36% of PDS wheat and 31% of PDS rice was appropriated by private partners from hapless, innocuous farmers at all India levels by middlemen. Are we perpetuating backwardness, the widening chasm between India and Bharat ? Infrastructure development , land allocation, child/adult education, corruption, supply chain systems, public health and legal laws are compelling challenges. How can we meet them by our daily dosage of calumny and public flogging?

Vociferous, vitriolic attacks is becoming the standard norm; the year has witnessed physical assaults on several leaders, not necessarily the apotheosis of incorruptibility perhaps , but the apprehension is what if they become violent? Worse, there seems to be a wave of self-righteousness unambiguously endorsing vilification. Is India in desperate need of a moral infrastructure before constructing sleek airport terminals?

Team Anna are ingrained drama queens. Anna Hazare announced fresh agitations post-Ram Lila itself in August 2011 if three clauses were not incorporated in the Lok Pal Bill. . But he will keep his promise, whatever the few logical , convincing deviations in Lok Pal Bill draft; it is enough of a flimsy pretext for some more dramatic outpourings. What is extraordinary is the insouciance with which anti-corruption crusaders parade their arrogance. It seems de rigueur. It reflects both our masochistic propensity to be subsumed by mendacity as well as our perverse satisfaction at seeing powerful men being mortified. Either way, there is something nauseatingly immoral about it. There is a disturbing anger being assiduously fermented by some forces; it could boomerang . The politics of contempt and hate has human , biological limitations

The sudden vertical ascension of the Indian economy particularly in middle-class consumerist India has not kept pace with slothful, inefficient, tardy and often corrupt public services. A galloping aspirational India holding 3 G mobile phones and multiplex tickets romantically expects an equally extraordinarily improved government standards. Overnight. At the root, this irrational expectation mismatched with potential delivery capabilities is the real problem that UPA is battling with, or any government would face. But instead of accelerating change through consultative dialogue, reducing red-tape and increasing reforms through a visionary roadmap and planned execution some outside civil society forces are creating claustrophobic pressures, fully aware that changing antediluvian processes takes time. Crucially, it is actually a proxy battle for power, fought through subterfuge, vicariously. Creative destruction is misunderstood to mean destroying creativity; the government is being denied elbow-room and space for innovation. The truth is it is genuinely trying hard. But it needs breathing space, and less of both skepticism and cynicism.

Authoritative leadership that is hugely reassuring usually counter- balances intransigent public protestations. As Egypt /Occupy Wall Street movements demonstrate rudderless mass uprisings may create volcanic eruptions but have a limited shelf-life , and are at core unsustainable. But these sporadic outbursts, I concede, could become a tactical ploy for future pressure groups. In India, they get accentuated by the prowling beast of political opportunism. For a strong center, India’s unity in diversity is a singular asset, for a confused, phlegmatic one used to getting frequently gobsmacked it’s a liability.

We all know Mohammed Ali, Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson but do we remember their contemporary middle-weight boxing champions of the world? That’s what India is , the powerful middle-weight player, we have not yet qualified for serious heavy-weight bouts. It is too early to get cocky. Perception matters; we cannot expect to be the all-seasonal flavor for foreign investors. . India’s currency depreciation, high inflation and slow reforms could all result in a sudden downbeat sentiment. The oppressive gloominess spread by some is self-defeating, frightening. In an interconnected world, every whisper can reach a crescendo.

We are in a peculiar predicament that is unlikely to change for at least another decade; India is neither a free-wheeling capitalist economy like the Americans ( with 600 mln BPL without social security we cannot afford that model ) or the controlled growth of China ( courtesy our chaotic, though vibrant democracy). The sooner we accept that hard reality the hype over our demographic dividend being our USP will quickly calm down.
It is a chimera , as yet. Over 40 % of profits of top 100 listed firms still comes from state controlled ones. India’s growth story is not unsurprisingly therefore pregnant with contradictions. Farmer suicides and multi-storey billionaire homes co-exist because they are a natural corollary of our grudging acceptance of enhanced liberalization. There is nothing vulgar about the contrast, it is really inevitable given varying degrees of access to opportunities.

Paradoxically enough, this government has actually been India’s most responsive, people-friendly , and transparent one in its parliamentary history ( created an unprecedented Lok Pal joint drafting committee, passed several pro-poor reforms, is processing historic legislations on land acquisition, food security and sports development ). The PM himself disclosed his personal assets ; how many Indian CEO’s with the Golden Peacock awards have done that ? If it successfully maneuvers in troubled waters till 2014 , we could yet witness the currently hobbling UPA sliding smoothly on a skateboard.

VS Naipaul famously talked of a million Indian mutinies; what we need to unleash is a million entrepreneurs, dreams in their eyes, passion in their hearts and an insatiable stomach for risk-taking. Like a Flipkart.com e-commerce company that uses vertical integration to distribute books speedily at best prices. And several novel seeding in the social services sector. India’s growth lies among its people. Employability and entrepreneurship are crucial.

India is throbbing, thriving amidst a tempestuous, turbulent storm. But then that has always been our history. But then it also needs to overcome dark clouds of negativity, despair. As Cassandra’s converge, India desperately needs prophets of hope. Optimism. Faith. Self-belief. People who are like the masters in Richard Bach’s classic Illusions “ what the caterpillar calls the end of the world , the master calls a butterfly”.

NIGHT OF NOVEMBER 26th

by Sanjay Jha

I was at Wasabi , the ceremonialized Japanese restaurant at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai a few days ago. Taj Mahal after the nightmarish violence of 26/11 televised non-stop world-wide has become a must- see monumental structure like its magnificent namesake at Agra. Often backpack tourists stare awe-struck at the 108 year old building, their backs to the iconic Gateway of India, perhaps reminiscing those bloodcurdling moments of its hideous siege three years ago. Terror tourism is our brutal reality, as people relive a vicarious horror.

It is human to rewind events; at Wasabi I feel completely overwhelmed , imagining the chaotic last moments of innocent people making desperate attempts for survival against an unexpected unrelenting enemy. So close to open skies, the Arabian Sea, police headquarters, the buzzing , pounding energy of Colaba. And yet tragically enough even closer to death.

It was approximately 10.13 pm on a Wednesday three years ago when I saw a missed call message. It was from my driver of eleven long years, still unfamiliar with mobile technology and prone to eccentric bouts of making accidental calls. Slightly unusual though I surmised as he had clear instructions to be on a long evening duty and there was no apparent reason for its abrupt abbreviation. My elder daughter was out attending a friend’s birthday dinner. Albeit a wee bit exasperated, I called him back.

“ Sir, there has been some shooting in the Taj Hotel. Gunfire. Also in Colaba.” The panic in his voice was evident “ Which Taj? I asked nervously fully aware that my daughter was at the Taj President at Cuffe Parade, not far from it’s more illustrious cousin. Before he could answer I did what millions did, switched on the TV instantly on hearing of the sudden attacks. The first news break stated that there was firing reported at Café Leopold , a seaman’s anchorage and yuppie hang-out , where over agreeable omelet and chicken fry, beer consumption beats the national average by a whopper. It could always be the handiwork of a loony man gone berserk , or inebriated by excess of bubbly, I thought . Or just some inter-gang warfare. But that was not the case. Within minutes, the initial anxiety had assumed frightening proportions. CST ( Victoria Terminus) and Trident Towers at Nariman Point too had witnessed a similar exchange . There seemed to be a diabolical deadly pattern emerging. This was not just a one-off violent incident .It was a well constructed conspiracy to create havoc on an unsuspecting city just hitting its early night notes . People would die, they were meant to perhaps . Memories of serial bombings in a bloody March afternoon fifteen years earlier came back to me at frenetic speed. It seemed like the beginning of a long chilling night.

The fast-paced frantic journey to fetch my daughter from the Taj President was a hellish experience. The crowd had thinned considerably in minutes but the traffic signals seemed to stretch to infinity. Just a few kilometers away the terrorists had pumped bullets into our senior police officers. Trident Towers was already barricaded with siren-blowing police vans and resembled a towering skyscraper in spectacular loneliness reaching out to unresponsive skies for help. Marine Drive , usually a late-night speedster’s fancy wore a deserted expression. For the first time, I missed a traffic jam. The city was fast getting enveloped in a deathly stillness. I drove on.

By the time I had crossed the Badhwar Park jetty where the ten cold-blooded young merchants of death had alighted not too long ago , it seemed like eternity . I kept calling my daughter intermittently , apprehending every time the cold clinical auto recording, “the number is not reachable ”. But soon she was waving at me from the guarded , crowded entry to the hotel porch . Just seeing her , I felt an unfathomable lightness of being.

Over the next few weeks and onwards one has heard the familiar statement : “Mumbai will never be the same again”. But we forgot Mumbai has never been the same since 1992 when insane fury ostensibly termed as religious convictions over a disputed temple site wreaked havoc on India’s most cosmopolitan city. When political leaders conveniently presided over the planned destruction of a historical mosque. When nefarious elements danced atop it’s falling dome celebrating the success of their organized devastation of age-old bricks. When a state machinery targeted a specific community as riots broke out. The serial blasts that followed in 1993 as an aftermath was a reminder that retribution would be lethal. A decade later Gujarat refueled the hate-tank. The fact that India has looked sideways instead of addressing the harsh reality of emerging militancy has only accentuated matters. The bottom-line is that we have unleashed upon ourselves a difficult local monster, which has now mingled with disaffected global disruptive forces with their own sinister agendas. It is a toxic combination. It is imperative that the infiltration by rogue terrorist bodies appropriately buttressed by an unfriendly neighbor does not impinge into impressionable minds in the minority community . There are many vulnerable borderline youth caught in an unfortunate cross-fire. It is like a ticking bomb. There is a lot of hard work ahead, and as the July bombing this year demonstrated, perhaps even more pain. Worse, it has resulted in the rise of extreme Hindu militancy, thus exacerbating an already volatile state of affairs. Religious fundamentalism is assuming ominous scales from the majority community as well. Mumbai is a soft sitting duck vulnerable to every disruptive group conceivable.

And yet, life must move on , like an inexorable formidable machine in an assembly line where even a transitory pause is considered a fatal disruption. The third anniversary of 26/11 is upon us. As I departed Wasabi one could hear the archetypal loud conversations of happy souls , animated chatter near the sushi bar, the pulsating energy of Mumbai’s night-life vibrating through its bright-red colored spiral steps and wondered about this amazing unseen, untouched, and yet unmatched thing called the human spirit.

DECODING KEJRIWAL

By Sanjay Jha

( Arvind Kejriwal needs a crash course in high-school civics. The Parliament is the will of the people, and it is supreme. Not one single individual, but the collective voice of India).

Nitish Kumar, the affable Chief Minister of Bihar , normally an imperturbable fellow, seemed mighty indignant. “Who needs a certificate from Arvind Kejriwal for my state’s Lok Ayukta Bill?”. Incidentally, a few days ago at Tehelka’s ThinkFest in Goa, Kejriwal’s hubris had reached epic proportions. He said with prodigious child-like glee suitably smothered under a deceptive countenance ; “People say I am arrogant”. He feigned astonishment. Truth is, he wanted us to know exactly that.

When I first saw Kejriwal talk in normal decibel tones on small windows of TV channels years ago, I was extremely impressed with the Ramon Magsaysay award winner’s reasoned arguments, unassuming demeanor and sincere convictions. His immaculately plastered black hair accentuated by a bushy thick moustache gave him an Adolf Hitler –like avatar. At the ThinkFest , you could sense Kejriwal’s palpable delight at playing deliberately to the gallery with the famous rousing energy associated with his look-alike ; sadly the substance was conspicuously missing. Worse, Kejriwal was downright disingenuous on the Lok Pal Bill itself. It is only an investigative body, he thundered . Shekhar Singh , his co-panelist from NCPRI promptly corrected him, “also prosecutor and judge”. Kejriwal did not protest.

That Kejriwal has little respect for parliamentary institutions was also apparent in his stout defense of campaigning against the Congress candidate in the Hisar by-polls. “We did not get any letter from the Congress party promising that the Lok Pal Bill will be passed by the winter session ”. After that Ram Lila carnival in August which unfortunately compelled a historic one-off parliamentary session to pass an appeasement deal , Mr Arvind Kejriwal , ladies and gentlemen, wanted another letter of assurance ! If that’s not a fastidious mind-set with a warped sense of self-importance, what is??? Poor Shekhar Singh . He sat nonplussed , dazed perhaps, his poker face displaying nothingness. Several well-heeled in the audience, well-fed from a sumptuous meal at The Grand Hyatt cheered.

But Kejriwal despite his labored façade could barely disguise his visceral anti-Congressism. Creating much ballyhoo by adopting rabble-rouser methods has been his forte, he promptly made caustic comments on the Congress High Command , given the occasion, most unwarranted perhaps , but trite populism can earn you cheap clapping points. It did. The crowd post a leisurely lunch needed this jingoistic single-act diversion, perhaps. There is nothing Kejriwal said that he has not parroted before.

Anti-corruption legislation rightfully has an ecumenical approbation from all Indians , but Team Anna’s political opportunism has made it into a self-righteous football, where anyone who supports the Jan Lok Pal Bill believes he is the personification of virtue. The others are scurrilous scumbags. Even the BJP portends piousness despite a sordid trail of misadventures. “ We support Anna” chant the saffron-brigade in a rhythmic chorus. Kejriwal & Co smile in tandem. But simultaneously deny links as a Congress conspiracy.

To Team Anna thus goes the dubious credit of dividing the unanimous resolve of a trusting nation on obliterating corruption. The Jantar Mantar goodwill has long since vanished. What started with the perceived belief of a true grass-roots social revolution to pressurize government to introduce Lok Pal bill , soon degenerated into a power-play by a small caucus, with a surreptitious political agenda, using corruption as a subterfuge. Obviously, given their limited appeal, they resorted to blatantly exploiting a not-so-reluctant media, and organized cadres of the willing RSS. It was a powerful combination. Admittedly, it worked. But a flaky wishy-washy proposition is at core unsustainable.

What we forget is that the implementation of the RTI Act was a seamless, tranquil business-like affair, minus virulent protestations and perennial abuse of our democratic institutions. There was an air of civility, people co-opted with each other. Since Kejriwal has earned his accolades and awards as an RTI activist, what brought that sudden inexplicable belligerence against the UPA-II which had already drafted the Lok Pal Bill anyway, and which has since demonstrated remarkable commitment of its own volition?

The truth is that Ram Lila was nothing but about the manufacturing of a chimera; this despite the presence of two veteran Supreme Court lawyers and ex-civil servants who knew the parliamentary processes. Team Anna were fully aware of their far-fetched demand ; pass their version of Lok Pal without a single amendment in 14 days! It was an outrageous , outlandish expectation mocking, bullying Indian democracy. Team Anna knew there was zero possibility of that happening; so what we all saw for a fortnight was just an uninterrupted, stellar performance; the few concessions obtained were actually cosmetic, yet were paraded as a historic triumphant moment . The GOI certainly blundered too , but India was subjected to a grotesque assortment of characters , including a drunk retired actor who took center-stage to abuse our political systems and national leaders . Team Anna got national visibility using a calculated ruse. It was wrong, unethical.

Kejriwal has mastered the art of media management, buttressed by his crafty orchestrated ploys to maximize air-time. It’s keeping his recently badgered, beleaguered movement on the radar screen. Of course, the media is a great vehicle for news dissemination, but when your entire existence revolves round the whereabouts of an OB van it shows a disturbing self-obsession. It’s also led to Team Anna’s precipitous downfall. The cookie has developed serious cracks; the tumble and the crumble is inevitable.

The highly solipsistic duo of Kejriwal-Kiran Bedi have had some serious allegations leveled against them ; fake travel bills, violating employer codes, delayed accounting for cash donations etc . While they set exacting uncompromising standards for others, they want a different yardstick for themselves. The world saw them practice double-standards with professional ease.

Hazare’s erstwhile blogger Raju Parulekar’s damning indictment of Team Anna has obvious legitimacy given his close proximity to Anna , which corroborates what Swami Agnivesh et al have said prior to deserting the team. But Kejriwal looks undeterred, he knows there are enough disaffected elements, and that corruption is reminiscent of the Amitabh Bachchan Zanjeer cult film , it cuts an emotional chord, its almost cathartic. His thesis seems to be; just let the vituperative outbursts continue, the crowds are both gullible and grieving or both to be repeatedly recaptured. In a country of a billion people and over 100 news channels, when has crowd mobilization ever been a Herculean challenge? Thus, Kejriwal continues with making ludicrous tirades ; “ Hazare’s phone is being tapped by the government”. As if Hazare would have not been followed by a whole horde of camera-men from Ralegan Siddhi to Rajghat where he wanted to stop blogging and start talking ! Give us a break, Arvind!

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Kejriwal has become the master of mumbo-jumbo and double-speak ( this is his quote from an interview in TEHELKA) ; “ We never said we are not political. We have always said that the movement is political but above party politics. It is not electoral politics. It is people’s politics” . Go figure!

It is time Kejriwal stopped masquerading as a mere social do-gooder and at least spared us those excruciating sermons. Instead he should teach his colleagues how to submit correct travel expense vouchers. And considering he was an Income-Tax officer, just how do you return cash to unknown donors??? And he must remember that Indian democracy needs creative, committed , constructive change agents, not home-grown hostile, haranguing, abusive citizens who disrupt its very core.

The World Is Not Flat, Mr Friedman!

By Sanjay Jha

( As Occupy Wall Street gathers world-wide momentum, it is the perfect time for introspection for the overpaid investment bankers. And for Friedman to revisit his flawed hypothesis of a flat world)

Morgan Stanley had just completed a whirlwind road-show across India, ensnaring giddy-headed investors into buying its much-hyped NFO for a close-ended mutual fund scheme marketed with such masterful strategy that the gullible lot thought they had bought into a galloping Reliance IPO. Some of India’s leading hot-shot merchant bankers had duplicitously allowed a false notion to pervasively prevail that Morgan Stanley was like glittering gold; an investment that was a roadmap to El Dorado. Investors thought that a unit and a stock were both interchangeable. Expectedly, the NFO was a mind-boggling runaway success, accumulating a record sum. It’s subsequent fall from grace is legendary. That was 1994-95.

Morgan Stanley is now a traditional commercial bank , not an investment bank with other financial products to attract affluent risk-prone investors. Post- the cataclysmic collapse of 2007-08 following the credit default swaps bloodbath , the white-collared dark-suited Wall Street breed has been permanently vanquished, their cocky demeanor tumbling dramatically as US Treasury salvaged them by playing fairy god-mother. But even in earlier heady days, when working with a blue-blooded investment bank was considered a career pinnacle, one suspected something rather extraordinarily strange about this sublime , sacrosanct breed called investment bankers.

“What do you think, should we invest in this stock or just ignore it?”, asked the foreign-educated, market savvy, media-obsessed portfolio manager for a global asset management firm. Outside, a rotund, gold-plated spectacle-wearing burly man with a grin wide enough to accommodate the Grand Canyon waited anxiously. The concerned stock was seen as the then “Ipod” of the emerging portfolio; the broker had some strong insider information on a proposed bonus issue straight from the horse –owner’s mouth.

We shrugged our shoulders; after all, it was the chief investment officer who had to take the final call, the rest of us were mere signatories on pre-printed forms, part of a larger committee as per the company’s due diligence norms. A dart -board stood framed disconsolately on the blank white walls opposite the CIO’s desk. ” Let’s take a shot. If it hits the bull’s eye, we buy full quantum. If we score under 8, we pick up half the recommended allocation. If it’s less, we give it the thumbs down”. He took the sharp-pointed dart in his hand, and taking aim glided it towards the bull’s eye. This is not a sardonic exaggeration, rest assured, it actually transpired. Of course, it may have been in lighter vein and not practiced in deadly earnest, but the more pertinent point is the cavalier attitude to investor funds.

In all fairness, I do not know whether the CIO finally executed that transaction based on the result of his Robin Hood aim, but that was the style , mood and attitude that prevailed. Equity research did not mean plant visits, extensive deliberations with production staff, interacting with the firms’ suppliers and dealers, analyzing industry trends, or assessing customer feedback. Most decisions were a function of secondary published research, subjective calls, insider trading , business networking, and confidential invitations to promoter boardrooms. There was something disturbingly disquieting about this category of money-managers.

I was to meet a well known head hunter later by sheer accident at a private gathering, and asked her; ” So what do you think of the current global mess? Don’t you think it exposes the over-rated over-paid over-promoted tribe of “I” bankers. The I, Me, Myself lot who cannot see beyond their annual bonuses and extravagant off-sites, and yet appear so pious about stakeholder interests ?”. Her reply stunned me.

“Oh , come on ! It’s not their fault at all . They are greedy. It’s the regulators to blame”. Of course, it was also a system failure, borne out of regulator apathy, thanks to America’s passionate embrace of pure market capitalism, but didn’t the regulator and the government work over-time to bail-out the massive losses on account of speculative CDS derivatives and subsidize the hefty pay packets to preserve sanity on Wall Street ? As a disgruntled friend told me ” The next time you hear these guys saying they are bullish on TV channels, all you will think of is that they are all bull”. Welcome to the world of cowboy capitalism! And now to a rag-tag, disaffected bunch protesting on Wall Street.

Of course, the commercial and investment bankers can always justify that the CDS ( credit default swaps) was a breakthrough product, meant to create a new derivatives market, and free up capital for more structured lending. Ultimately, it would have ostensibly meant higher ROI for both customers and investors. But surely, investment bankers were not expected to be so stupidly naïve about the risk of over- exposure multiplying through a vicious chain of internecine investments , which portended a huge systemic fall. Even a high school student could have predicted a stratospheric nosedive , if just one variable—-home loan defaults , began to escalate. After all, they were sub-prime by definition, weren’t they? That is exactly what happened. Are investment bankers serendipitous by nature, or what?

Which brings me to Mr Friedman. Perhaps that is what the acclaimed author/columnist Thomas Friedman ( of New York Times) meant when he said The World is Flat, his much touted international bestseller, titled with an appropriate catch-phrase for grabbing eyeballs, based as it is on an oxymoronic factual fabrication. As central banks all over the world converged to salvage the US financial mess and their own , it’s repercussions were felt world-wide. Perhaps this is the “level-playing field” that Mr Friedman postulated on in his book, which at best, can now be called pulp fiction.

The Wall Street fiasco which led to the investment banks tumbling in a calamitous heap, best explains why Friedman’s book is based on fragile assumptions of continuous world-wide prosperity, over-dependence on technological innovations , internet connectivity creating everlasting boundaries. In the 1930’s , the Great Depression was a function of the stock-markets tumbling on speculative investments; almost 78 years later , it was a similar chain of avaricious misdeeds that led to the big bubble burst. What goes round, comes round and around, Mr Friedman. And that can only happen if the world is round. Not flat. Galileo can rest in peace, even as Mr Friedman scripts another bestseller in his quiet backyard. Hence, the world reels in with the Euro crisis, Greece and Italy are on the brink of a precipice and apprehensions of a double-dip are rampant even as I write.

But maybe Mr Friedman biggest blunder in his entire book which wants us to believe that the world is flat, is that his world conveniently does not include Africa, calculatedly forgetting the dark continent of the world. Because Africa is HIV/aids infected, suffers regular epidemics, starvation levels are shockingly high, ethnic genocide continues, and it is politically irrelevant and economically bankrupt. It has no “value added proposition”, perhaps. Its recent upswing courtesy Chinese interest is yet piecemeal. Level-playing field?

Mr Friedman will be best advised to look inwards and introspect on a simple maxim which applies to investment bankers today; surely, if stock market experts were so proficient they would be buying stocks, not selling advice, right?? If New Orleans itself is so far removed from Manhattan, Mr Friedman, don’t you think it has been rather presumptuous on your part to hard-sell to us all that the world is flat? And as Occupy Wall Street categorically establishes, before embarking on promoting a universal theory on the shape of the world, one should have taken a long deep look in one’s own enclosure to discover that America itself is not flat; it’s undulating. Uneven. Excessively lopsided in income distribution.

The fact that Occupy Wall Street has spread to different cities in the US, Europe and Asia is a manifestation of the global outpouring of anger against the Big Business-government nexus. We do live in a world grossly unequal. 73% of the world’s population does not even use the internet, for heaven’s sake, Mr Friedman! It is a flat fact.

OF CALORIES AND CORPORATIONS

By Sanjay Jha

Also on TEHELKA FW

“ In this world nothing can be said to be certain , except death and taxes.”

( As Occupy Wall Street spreads into a global protest, there is a compelling case for taxing the rich. Rising income inequality is India’s biggest challenge. Why India needs to also introduce differential corporate tax rates! ).

There is a discernible chill in the dealing rooms of Wall Street’s investment banks, forever inebriated on the toxic philosophy of Gordon Gecko; greed. But joining their sleek Jaguars on the pavement outside are now thousands of resolute protestors, carrying placards with arresting messages: I got 99 problems, the rich got none; Banks got bailed-out, we got sold-out, and Occupation is my occupation . Occupy London Stock Exchange has quickly followed on the heels of Occupy Wall Street. In an unusual expostulation of spirited candor, the philanthropist son of the world’s third richest man Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway has conceded that “ corporations really screw people”. Evidently, following the Arab spring, we now have an American winter, but for entirely different reasons; glaring income inequality. The top 1% earners in America paid 40% share of income tax. Says the Economist; “ the rich have done very well in recent decades, and the richest have done best of all”. With American unemployment at a record 10% the anger on the streets of North Manhattan is understandable. But in India, are we any different? Have we not stretched the income distortions to its maximum elastic levels? Isn’t it time for systemic corrective action ?

The famous Buffet tax is simple math which can be calculated with insouciant ease; in short, Mr Buffett paid a lower average tax rate than his not –so-magnanimously compensated secretary. Now that is elementary commerce; personal income tax rate is higher than capital gains/ dividend tax which comprises of bulk earnings of fat cats of the financial services industry, particularly investment banks, private equity, stock-market brokers and hedge funds. I guess salaried persons are considered second-rate citizens because they do not take crazy risks with other people’s hard-earned cash. Occupy Wall Street is not a contrarian movement to the Tea Party, it is the expression of public revulsion for obscene extravagance of overpaid money sharks. Those who created The Great Recession through their propensity for recklessness.

In India, we have a peculiar dichotomy; burgeoning economic growth for a decade coupled with accentuating inequalities. It is a dangerous mix. Over 120,000 dollar millionaires and 69 dollar billionaires reside in premium luxury homes in India . The aggregate wealth of the latter exceeds USD 280 billion. Alongside co-exists 500-700 million ( depending upon your subjective interpretation ) whose poverty line status of Rs 32 or more is currently undergoing rigorous research upheaval in the Planning Commission . It makes for a grotesque mismatch, whose continued existence threatens our social fabric. The poverty line in US is $ 22000 per annum for a family of 4; India is at $ 100 per month for a family of 5. The gap is disconcertingly high even if you factor in purchasing power parity. There are 40 crore at BPL levels, for heaven’s sake!

Is it fair to apply on a hard-working middle-class man earning more than Rs 8 lakhs the same tax rate as Mukesh Ambani or Vijay Mallya or Ratan Tata? By the same analogy is it appropriate that an SME firm or a start-up or any modest operation pays the same tax rate as Reliance , Infosys, Tata Motors or ITC ? Is our tax system compromising with equity in a trade-off for efficiency? Worse, our low-paid workers do not have the safety net of social security like their counterparts in the west. And everyone pays the same sales tax and other indirect taxes anyway, right?

Instead of conveniently following the conventional model of widening the tax base and lowering the tax rate, what India needs is new bands of tax rates that provides lower-tax at base level, and rises steeply at the higher levels.

For instance, I recommend the following on personal income tax:
Upto Rs 5 lakhs: 0%

5-10 Lakhs: 10%

10-20 lakhs: 20%

20-30 lakhs: 25%

30–50 lakhs: 30%

Above 50 lakhs: 40%

On corporate income-tax, there should be a similar tiered system based on net profit :

Upto 2 crore: 10%

2-10 Crore: 15%

10-25Crore: 20%

25-100 crore: 25%

Above 100 crore: 40%

Needless to add, but the tax structure can change periodically depending upon our fiscal fitness. It is time for out-of-the-box thinking. Wealth tax , for instance, requires a certain review upwards. We also need to scrap meaningless deductions for tax avoidance. As a country, we are at a unique cross-road, we need a radical fresh innovative approach to our economic model shorn of traditional panacea. I am not suggesting robbing Peter to pay Paul, but to give Paul his basic pocket-money. Besides, it will increase consumer spending power and lower administrative burden of micro-tax management .

The rich actually get away with double-bonanza of benefits; low corporate and personal tax rates corresponding to capacity to pay. There is a strong argument in favor of minimizing the tax rate gap between salaries and bonuses and capital gains and dividends It exacerbates the sharp income divide. There is a compelling case for raising taxes on the crème de la crème , without the exaggerated apprehensions of an investment backlash or tax evasion. Despite a top tax rate of 50% doesn’t London still remain a formidable financial center???Is it any surprise that in Italy a special levy for those earning more than USD 410000 and in France of Euro 500,000 are now being doggedly pursued. Inequality is a global phenomenon, only, in India both its magnitude and acuteness is shockingly high. We cannot pretend to turn a blind eye to it. Moreover, we need large public resources to fund welfare schemes. Taxation will have to be integral to budgetary plans. We have a difficult predicament which remains unresolved by our gigantic GDP size or even per capita income; there is a severe disproportionate distribution of assets.

The old classical argument correlating high income tax rates with and tax evasion needs to be looked at afresh. Procedures are less red-tape, electronic-filing systems have introduced transparency, bureaucratic procedures are relatively simplified, and a Lok Pal bill is round the corner that will cover government , corporate sector, public-private partnerships and PSU’s. Thus, the trade off between high tax rate and evasion may not be as symmetrical as before. Likewise, a differential corporate tax which provides exemption at lower levels for start-ups, SME’s will actually encourage entrepreneurship instead of the hackneyed assumption of it being a disincentive for the highly affluent.

For India the big transformational change will come through cashless transfers for welfare schemes through UID Adhaar of approximately Rs 300,000 crores . Even a 10% operational leakage is a staggering Rs 30,000 crores almost equal to CBI’s alleged estimation of 2 G loss. MNREGA, RFS, RTE, etc will need public spending and we need to increase tax revenues ; supply-side economics that depends on pure growth stimulus has serious limitations. While we need to unleash reforms and privatize operations for an efficient corporate India, we need to concurrently invest in education, health, skills and infrastructure. Somewhere in the midst of our gold-rush bullet-train, we need to ponder over the fate of 700 million Indians who may never understand the big India story. For the world’s largest democracy, lifting a huge mass of humanity up the poverty curve is its litmus test, its gargantuan challenge. After all every 1% uplift will alter over 10 million human lives. It is time to make a renewed beginning. Now.

The author is Co-Founder, HamaraCongress.com. He can be followed on Twitter@JhaSanjay