You don’t need to be even a month old to learn to play

A five year old grand-niece described her brother’s behavior over the phone to me some time ago. I had asked how he was, and she said “all he does is to drink milk, sleep, do susu, kakka and then cry”. The boy was six or seven months old at that time. I was a bit disturbed. Here is a bright mind unable to communicate satisfactorily with others, play, socialize etc. due to the time it takes for development to give him these abilities. And here I was, unable to go to his rescue! We have not learnt much to make the life of infants more interesting over the million plus years as humanity evolved.

Recently, I got a chance to try out some simple ideas related to this problem. My wife Usha and I were waiting for our grandchild to be born. Our daughter had enrolled us in a course for grandparents-to-be, where we were taught, predictably, to change diapers and to swaddle the baby.  Incidentally, I hate to see a baby being swaddled. Subduing a child, tying it up hands and feet to make it “more manageable”, is downright cruel. If you start a society for babies’ rights, do sign me on!

Having been duly certified as grandparents, we waited for the great occasion and were delighted when the baby arrived. The kid was staring at our faces within a few days, making it difficult for us to believe the traditional wisdom that the ability to see beyond 12 inches will take months to develop! It would be great to play with the baby, we thought; but, how do you play with a one-week old? The table of steps in development listed in any good book on child development tells the basic story. I do agree with this basic story. The brain is not fully developed when the baby is born. It is going to take months and years of development to reach its full potential.

However, the point I wish to make here is that play, learning and socialization do not have to wait for six or nine months. We don’t need to speed up these to make the child ready for school early, or any such stupid reason. However, we should not under-estimate the child’s interest in interacting with people. Instead of being straight-jacketed by swaddling and being dumped on its back in a cradle, it is fun to let the baby wave its arms and legs. Of course, the baby soon tries to put its fist into its mouth and could possibly hurt itself with its fingers, but the risk is low. The baby learns quickly to avoid whatever causes her pain. If you are fortunate enough to have time to play with the baby, do it; but at least don’t constraint her by tying her up.  

Let us come back to play. The first thing we tried was to stick our tongue at the baby when she was three weeks old. We figured that this might help the baby several months later to learn to make speech sounds. Well, it hardly took a day! The baby was sticking her tongue out whenever we demonstrated the maneuver. We smiled and laughed and expressed our pleasure at her achievement. We also tried to share that excitement with her, by picking her up and giving her a hug. A few days went by and before she was one-month old she learnt to imitate Usha showing her one finger as if to say “one”. She did this repeatedly, leaving no doubt in any one’s mind. Of course, she was not exactly learning mathematics! This was just fun and socialization. A way to do something outside the “drink milk, sleep, … “ routine! The simplest of games, but one that could be played with someone less than a month old.

 
The next step was quite accidental. I was doing simple exercises, raising my hands, doing bends and abs while the baby watched me from her grandma’s lap. I could not avoid going closer to the baby and showing her hand-raising exercises. I was getting my exercise, while she had the pleasure of watching grandpa acting crazy! This went on for a few days, and Usha joined in, showing hand raising exercises to the baby. I honestly did not expect anything to happen. The baby was just a month plus one or two days old. The exercise involved lifting hands, which are obviously much heavier than a finger. I did not know if her muscles were strong enough for this. Worst of all, I thought this involved considerable hand-eye coordination – to look at someone else doing the exercise and then symmetrically raising both hands. No problem! The baby lifted her hands and imitated Usha! She did that about ten times within five minutes, as I clicked a number of pictures. The game was getting better.

But we knew that there other things in life to share with the baby, like a walk (with her on the stroller) through the park. The baby enjoyed the stroller bumping over the rough sidewalks, the sun giving her an occasional jolt, and so on. Ten degrees centigrade, 45 mt walks, no sweat! Besides she could just sleep part of the time. We avoided showing off her prowess as an imitator to visitors. She is no performing pet! Slowly, the focus on imitating hand movements was lost and the baby forgot what she had learnt. But hopefully, she will remember in some way that she can play games and that learning is fun!

I had heard about mirror neurons that we seem to have in plenty along with monkeys! Much of the behavior involving our extremely complex hand and face muscles are built in. When we see others using their hands or their face muscles, the mirror neurons help us imitate what we see. So, the magic is not in “my” grand-daughter’s brain alone. It is a gift that she shares with every other human baby and with every monkey-baby as well! That does not make it any less exciting!

What next? We have returned home after our trip, but Skype is there to help us continue to play on and off with the baby. We are hoping to teach her a baby sign language – six or seven signs – Namaste, milk, monkey, hide, grandpa, grandma, thank you, etc. Not use of mere muscle, but a step to very meaningful things! We are not going to wait nine months for her to have the ability to say a few words. Ideas come far long before spoken words do!

Srinivasan Ramani

Bank Loans for Students – A Non-Starter

Please read my blog posting titled Fraud on banks by defaults on educational loans, published in April 2013:
http://www.obvioustruths.blogspot.in/2013/04/fraud-on-banks-by-defaults-on.html

A number of people have mentioned one peculiar feature of this posting. It bubbles with enthusiasm about the institution of a bank loan scheme for students, and about the Govt subsidy which ensures that socially disadvantaged students don’t have to pay interest on the loans. However, the title focuses on the possibility of defaults in repayment. Why was there this conflict of views? If you read that posting, you will notice I mention a meeting with a banking acquaintance who told me about the defaults that are said to be occurring in India. My choice of the title was influenced by his legitimate concerns. 

I don't blame bankers for looking at the world with conservative eyes. They are responsible to make sure that money lent out comes back. That is why I discussed measures to reduce defaults in repaying student loans. In the absence of bold measures, the student’s bank loan scheme will not work. My recent experience with a bank branch will tell you something about this.

Soon after writing my April posting I encouraged a number of people I know to look for a bank loan to finance their children through college. I accompanied a father and his daughter to a bank branch to see for myself how the system works. The family is an SCST family and the girl has received excellent marks – well above the minimum specified. She has done two years of college and wanted to borrow money for the third year. The first shock was that the bank told her that she would be able to borrow only Rs 17,000 or so, covering her college fee and the cost of books. A cheque directly in the name of the college would be issued. The girl asked if she could borrow some money towards her living expenses. The answer was no. She buys a monthly bus pass to go to college. Can she borrow the cost of this? No. Can she get the benefit of the Govt subsidy scheme to get a waiver of interest repayment? There was no direct answer, but she was told that she would have to pay 12% interest. She would have to leave all originals of important certificates with the bank and reclaim them later on repayment.

Well, her parents had pledged jewels in the past to educate her this far. The father works as a manual labourer. It was very clear to the father that the Govt scheme as run by the bank was worse than what the pawn shop offers him!

   

As I look back at this experience, I understand why the scheme is a non-starter.  The risk is with the manager who authorises loans with no collaterals, so he is stingy. The less he lends the safer it is for him. The financial return to the bank is zilch and any time the manager puts into this does nothing for his branch. The Govt officers who planned this scheme have not thought out how to protect the banks against defaults, and how to incentivise them. The Govt that spends Crores of rupees on systems like the Aadhaar card has not bothered to think how to link an Aadhaar ID to a bank loan, so that the borrower cannot scoff at repayment. His/her future credit worthiness can be easily linked to repayment of this loan. 

But, why bother with all this? There are plenty of influential people who have all forms of collateral, though they pay no taxes. The banks can oblige them by lending lots of money with no risk. All Govt subsidies ear-marked for this scheme can be easily “utilized”, without wasting time on poor students. Why bother with those who can barely qualify for Rs 17,000 loans while there are others who can borrow Rs 10 lakhs to send their sons and daughters to earn MBAs?

Don't bother if credit-offtake is poor and money rots in banks! Ask critics to first worry about grain in the Govt godowns first!  

Srinivasan Ramani  

The Right to Information Act and Tax Exemption

There is a discussion on whether political parties should be subject to the Right to Information Act. I wish to comment here on a more general policy issue. A whole lot of enterprises in India are given tax exemption. Such exemption increases the disposable income of these enterprises by a significant amount.  The country extends them a variety of services such as police protection, making transport infrastructure available etc., without demanding they pay tax. In other words, other tax payers like you and I pay for these goodies made available to these enterprises, on the theory that their activities are socially beneficial. They are also given land etc. free or at subsidized prices by the Government. Whether these entities are socially beneficial or not is often in question. 

I would, therefore, argue that all tax exempt entities should be subject to the Right to Information Act. This will make their accounts and activities more visible to public scrutiny. They have as much a right to international visibility as tax exempt bodies connected with Indian cricket!

Srinivasan Ramani 

Jail Reform

When a talented actor goes to jail, it is worth giving a thought to the event. I have no specific comments on Sanjay Dutt’s jail term that begins today, but feel that there are questions that go beyond his case.

A jail sentence can be thought of as a punishment as well as a correctional step. There is rigorous imprisonment which goes beyond denial of freedom and inflicts physical labour as a punitive measure. Depending on the crime, convicts serve fairly long terms like 10 years or more.  It is worth asking to what extent a jail term acts as a correctional device. In a vast majority of cases, convicts are poor and not well-educated individuals. In addition to correctional education/training, training them to do something economically useful will equip them to take care of themselves and their family after coming out.  In exceptional cases, Indian jails have shown flexibility and have given opportunities to convicts. Nalini was originally handed down a death sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case, but she was allowed by the jail system to study for and earn a Master of Computer Applications degree.  

I would like to raise a question about prisoners who are going to spend years in a jail. If they are young enough to be able to study, is it not fair to give them opportunities to undergo part-time education? If the system is a true correctional system, should it not motivate the bulk of them to benefit from such a scheme? I do not plead for any reduction in workload that is required by their sentence. Let them do the work that is specified. But if they have any spare time left, they should be free to use it to learn something instead of being merely locked up like caged animals.

The TV Channel “National Geographic” offers episodes from a series named “Banged up Abroad” dealing with real life stories of people who do stupid things like smuggling narcotics and get caught in countries which have very harsh laws. They usually suffer terrifying conditions in jails. The episodes use a variety of presentation techniques, letting them tell their story, using staged flashbacks, using interviews with members of their family etc. to throw some light on their crime and the punishment they got. There is no preaching, but I am sure that the episodes make a very useful impression on the viewers. 

I wonder for a minute if Sanjay would be allowed in this country to use his spare time in jail to trigger a series like that about crimes and prisoners in India in general, and contribute in some way to it being made. If he goes to a jail with several hundred inmates, many of them would be willing to tell their own stories. Perhaps a nearby film institute could create the series.

A truly correctional system should not reduce a creative human being to do mindless repetitive work only.  He should be free to do the prescribed hours of that and do something in addition involving his talents - as a contribution to society, without any benefits, special privileges or payments.

Srinivasan Ramani

    

Amitabh Bachan on Caste

Karnataka State Election results came out on the 8^th May. TV channels showed off their skills in Caste Arithmetic. This was a sorry sight in a country that decided decades ago that the practice of caste had held us back for centuries. But here was caste on steroids. Visit http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/specials/news/They-will-caste-their-vote-Karnataka-still-remains-extremely-caste-conscious/articleshow/19773104.cms Caste consciousness is on the increase and not otherwise. Graphics showed what region of the state had what percentage of Lingayats, Vokkaligas, etc. The anchors expounded on how a leader had defeated his former party by taking away the bulk of the votes of people of his caste. I do not know why the discussion of caste in the context of election cannot be banned by the Election Commission. This appears to me to be the worst form of corrupt practice in elections - to manipulate caste feelings and to seek votes on the basis of caste.

Amitabh Bachan was on Headlines TV this evening and happened to mention how his family did not respect the notion of caste. When his father admitted Amitabh to school, he was asked to mention the student’s caste. The father wrote “Bachan”, which in fact was the pseudonym under which he wrote poetry – not “Srivastava” which had been the family name. I remembered a well-known computer scientist of Indian origin, Arvind, who had also chosen to drop his last name which would have been a caste name.

Amitabh added another example of how his father was above these narrow loyalties. His mother had been a Punjabi – one of the first Punjabi brides to set foot into Allahabad. 

He (Amitabh) went on to say that a few years ago, the census taker had insisted that he should record his caste name. Amitabh had to stand firm to avoid this. This reminded me of my own experience over 30 years ago.  I had told a census taker that my mother tongue was English.  (To this day, my mother speaks in English to me). The census taker told me that he would not accept my declaration. He suggested that I mention any language I wanted to – Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, etc., but English was not acceptable! He warned me that I could be arrested for giving “false” information to a census taker!  Satyameva Jayate!

Now, come back to caste. Why don’t we invent a new synthetic caste name, for example, “Daata” meaning a donor or giver! We could invent an incantation like “We will not let evil netas divide us in the name of caste”. To become a member of this “caste” one needs only recite this incantation and donate Rs 10 or more to a Society to Eradicate the Evil of Caste. 

What use will this be? Will the census taker accept it? Forget him. It is enough if a man or women could declare his/her caste to be Daata to the chosen partner.

Tamil Nadu had adopted the custom of dropping caste names long ago. This worked in most cases. Why can’t the rest of India follow this excellent idea?

Srinivasan Ramani  

Forthcoming Elections in the State of Karnataka, India

I don't know why, but I took some time to hunt out the list of candidates who are competing for the Legislative Assembly seat in my constituency. The site that helped me was:

http://electionaffairs.com/karnataka/assembly_elections_2013/ac_wise_nominations_karnataka_assembly_elections_2013.cfm?recordID=169

(Warning: This may not be an official website of the government).

As the next step, I wanted to see the affidavits filed by candidates in my constituency. They need to share information on their wealth, education, involvement in court cases if any. The following URL is supposed to give that information. 

http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/CurrentElections/ge2009/Affidavits_fs.htm

But when I selected Karnataka candidates, it said 

Server Error in '/' Application.

---

The resource cannot be found.

Description: HTTP 404. The resource you are looking for (or one of its dependencies) could have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please review the following URL and make sure that it is spelled correctly.

Requested URL: /ge2009affidavits/ge2009affidavits.aspx

That is absolutely clear, isn’t it?  Like a law-abiding citizen, instead of griping about such things, I saw the affidavits of candidates in a few other constituencies like Karimnagar. What difference does this make anyway? Candidates in one constituency are very much like candidates in others!

Having worked in the computer field, I have a doubt though! Many computer applications land in trouble if you enter numbers beyond the range that the programmer has provided for. Perhaps, the Election Commission should ask its programmers to review if they have provided for an adequate number of digits for candidates to report their assets. The fact that these numbers could fit during the last election does not mean they will fit this time. You can get an idea of these numbers involved by looking at

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/326533/common-wealth-crorepatis.html

No one can say India is not a rich and prosperous nation. Jai Hind!

Srinivasan Ramani

Fraud on banks by defaults on educational loans

I have always argued in favour of liberal educational loans in India. So, I was delighted when I was given some details on this by an acquaintance in the banking sector. It is mind-blowing – if you have earned admission in a degree-granting program and have 60% marks in the Plus 2 exam, you can get an interest fee loan of Rs 4 lakhs to pay for your education. (If you are going to study for a professional degree, or going to study abroad,  you can borrow a lot more.) For details, visit http://www.canarabank.com/english/scripts/otherprioritysectorloans.aspx

I am sure that every public sector bank has a similar scheme; I chose the Canara Bank because it leads all the others (in alphabetical order)!

I don’t know the interest payable on the bigger loans, but I heard from my acquaintance that the interest payable on the 4 lakh loans is ZERO!  The government subsidy takes care of that.

This is the happiest news I have heard in years. What is the amount of bank credit extended through this route? I won’t tell you here – you might fall off the chair when you hear the huge number! Visit http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/dont-reject-educational-loan-application-on-technical-grounds-rbi/article4081443.ece

I don’t complain about the large amount. There is no better way to help a society develop than to lend it money for education.  

But I ran into disturbing news when I probed further. About 25% of our grateful youth, after enjoying an interest free loan, decide that they do not have to pay back the principal of the loan either, according to my acquaintance. Some of them it seems have been heard saying that they can afford to pay; but so many of their friends have not paid, so why should they?

Who benefits by letting public sector banks bleed like this?  We know the predominant background of the netas who run educational institutions in the name of public charitable trusts!  But, how does RBI allow this? What is the quantum of money being looted by educational loan defaulters?

The bankers will, no doubt, have their excuses – no collateral, no effective surety in most cases, the scheme is meant to benefit the poor and the youth, etc. Besides, anyway it is not your money!

Why should we worry? Because, if we recover the money due, we can spend more on real education. If we do not do something about this problem, we would continue to teach every graduate that government subsidies can be easily looted by dishonest elements.  At the national level, sloppy banking practices can bring a nation down on its knees. Look at what happened to Greece and Cyprus even without loan defaults. 

There is a way to tighten up on all this, if there is a will. Demand that loan applicants have either an Aadhaar card or a passport to qualify for the loan. Ensure that the defaults are properly reported to the credit information system. Defaulters should be disqualified for access to credit cards, bank accounts etc. The defaulters should also be prevented from using their passports for leaving the country.

Srinivasan Ramani

Save Electricity – Turn that Geyser Off in summer

Bangalore might have been a garden city in the old days, but nowadays my indoor thermometer reads 31 degrees Centigrade most of the time.  So, I felt guilty when I went to turn on the geyser! Absurd, I thought. Am I a creature of habit?

My estimate shows that hot water shower costs me something like Rs 4 per day. My electrician says that I am charged almost Rs 6 per unit because the geyser power comes from a 3 phase connection. He says that others may be paying a fraction of that if they use only single phase wiring.

I don’t know how many of the 120 Crore Indians take hot water showers. Assuming that 5 Crores of them do, the electricity used could be worth about Rs 10 Crores per day. If we can persuade them not to use their geysers for 150 days/year, the country could save about Rs 1500 per year. More than money, it is saving of a scarce resource for more meaningful uses. Our electrician says that a lot of electricity can be saved even in winter by families minimizing the number of hours geyser are on. Ideally a geyser needs to be on only for 30 mts per person in the family.

The numbers I have quoted above may need some correction. I would welcome suggestions, but the key point is that we can avoid or at least reduce waste of a scarce resource. Besides, the general opinion is that taking a shower using unheated tap water offers you significant health benefits.

Why don’t you get up and switch that geyser off!

Srinivasan Ramani

Keep the Wikipedia Going

It is amazing how often we consult the Wikipedia, and how useful and satisfying that consultation usually turns out to be. Initially, I had thought that the Wikipedia is based on a counter-intuitive idea – that people would donate their time to create something of value to humanity in general and make it freely available.  Perhaps, it is not so counter-intuitive after all. When it comes to sharing information, humans have been doing it for a long time. GPS, or no GPS, most strangers to any Indian city would never find their way to their destination but for the “Wikipedia editors” on the roads. These are the guys willing to offer information when asked, and also correct the two other guys whose answers are not as good as theirs. Some of the true Editors will say “follow me, I am headed that way”!  

What is amazing is that this spirit has been shown to work in the world of IT, which is to many professionals the “science of monetizing anything and everything computers and cellphones can ever do”!

I don’t think that this is the end of the road for the co-development of altruism and a sub-culture of IT!  Once the basic idea has been demonstrated to work, I am sure that a number of new developments triggered by the original demonstration would flourish.

Wikipedia’s growth has been amazing. It is already one of the most important “books” in human history. It is particularly impressive because it is a living thing, constantly improving its scope, updating its information, and getting rid of its errors.   

These are the thoughts that ran through my mind when I read an appeal for donations to Wikipedia. I made a modest donation and received a thank you note that suggested I could use social media to tell my friends to consider donating too! I can’t pack all that I have said above into a tweet, and hence this blog post. Donate, write and talk about it! Wikipedia is truly the common wealth of us all!

Srinivasan Ramani 

Indian Union and the European Union

The Lisbon Treaty defines the objectives of the European Union as follows:

• the promotion of peace and the well-being of the Union´s citizens
• an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers
• sustainable development based on balanced economic growth and social justice
• a social market economy - highly competitive and aiming at full employment and social progress
• a free single market

My question in this posting is about the Indian Union. Is it without internal frontiers? Is it a free single market? Does it give its citizens the freedom to move to any part of the union and seek a job there? Does it have simple and uniform laws that allow goods to be transported all over the union without paying 5 to 10% to corrupt border guards over many of its internal frontiers?

Let me tell you about people moving from one state to another. 

A friend of mine was born in Hosur when it was a part of the Madras Province including what is now Tamil Nadu and what is now Karnataka. Seventeen or eighteen years later, when he started seeking admission in a professional degree course, things were quite different. His father, a state govt employee, had elected to join one of the states into which Madras Province was split into – Tamil Nadu. But he was unwelcome there, as his birth certificate showed that he was not born in Tamil Nadu. Karnataka did not want him either, as he had done his high school in Tamil Nadu. 

He survived all this and turned up at a US university a few years later. After standing in the queue for paying the fees, he found a lady at the counter asking him if he was a resident of the state. No, he said, having arrived in that state only a week earlier. “No problem”, she declared, “you just pay a non-resident fee this semester; from the next semester you will need to pay only a resident’s fee”. She explained that the residence requirement was that you should have spent 3 months in that state. My friend had described this experience to me a few years later when he was visiting India. At last, I understood where my state was, he said! So much for the mobility of citizens in India!

All Indian institutions do not respect internal frontiers! Anna Hazare and Arun Kejriwal may not recognize it, but corrupt educational institutions in India do not discriminate against candidates from outside the state! All Indians are equal as long as they pay them Rs 2 Crores per seat! 

Srinivasan Ramani

A Government Medical College in Every District of India

The TV Channel CNN-IBN ran, on April 3, ’13, an excellent programme on malpractices in some private medical colleges in India – such as charging exorbitant and illegal fees for admission. The program reported “capitation fees” as high as Rs 2 Crores ($400,000 or so) being demanded. Don’t worry when you undergo an operation! Your doctor may not know what exactly to cut or where, but he would have come from a family plush with funds!

Reputed panellists made valuable points. Mr Mohandas Pai said that the best remedy for this evil is to encourage the number of educational institutions in the medical field, thereby reducing the demand-supply gap in seats. In Dr Devi Shetty’s view, what is needed is one government medical college in every district of India. He pointed out that this would rectify the north-south gap in medical college seats. Dr Gulati came down hard on private medical colleges and asked why they could not be nationalized, just as private banks were nationalized under Indira Gandhi.

I have a few suggestions. Running (government) medical colleges offering the MBBS degree is the state governments’ job. This means quick action can be taken by a few states that wish to progress fast. They could seek international loans to pay for installing and running the proposed new colleges, and run them as not-for-profit institutions, but as cost-recovering institutions attached to a major government hospital in the district. Such institutions should recover their running costs and pay back their loans, say over 15 years. Students should use educational loans from banks, if required, to pay for the cost of education. After all, they will need to pay that back to the banks only after they start earning their incomes as doctors. The central government already gives an income tax benefit for payment of interest on educational loans.

What is the challenge in doing all this? Do we, as a nation, have the maturity to run such institutions well? Will administrators, who come and go every few years, care about the slow process of growing an institution and building up its reputation? Let the leaders at the state level show their abilities to manage a developmental activity like creating a medical-college-in-every-district.

A big “thank you” to CNN-IBN before I end this post! Keep up the good fight! The media have become some of the leading conscience-keepers of the nation over the last ten years. We are grateful to your staff members who undertake scam-busting operations like this at considerable risk to themselves. We congratulate and thank your leaders who withstand pressures from powerful vested interests!

Srinivasan Ramani

Improving the quality of candidates for Election

The 2014 elections are getting closer and closer. Is India ready for them? Will they be any better than earlier elections? The point I make here is that we must act well in advance, to ensure as far as possible that only good candidates get to compete in the elections. Political parties must be convinced that choosing bad candidates would mean sure defeat!

There is little transparency in the way candidates are selected for tickets by parties. If non-performers, vested interests and those with a criminal background get tickets, it becomes difficult for the citizens to do anything about this later. How can the new media help improve the situation?

Reform minded parties and NGO’s such as the one running http://myneta.info/ should provide information about undesirable candidates likely to get tickets from some party or another in each constituency and highlight reasons as to why they are undesirable.

Concerned citizens should use facilities provided by organizations supporting the creation of petitions, such as http://www.change.org/en-IN to send petitions to parties requesting that they blacklist bad cases.

An important role has to be played by the TV channels who should focus on criminal elements and vested interests well in time. Video clips documenting instances of hate-speech, evidence of foot-in-the mouth disease, and sheer non-performance will give citizens valuable information. 

Media have become the major conscience-keepers of the nation. They should not let us down in 2014!

Srinivasan Ramani 

Post-Mortems Required for Governments Budgets

I have been searching for information on the Internet on what is actually spent by the Govt of India in comparison to budget provisions. While the 2012-2013 budget has received a lot of national attention, I could not find what was planned to be spent on education and on healthcare in 2011-2012, and what was actually spent. The website of the Controller and Auditor general, India
http://saiindia.gov.in/english/index.html does provide information. But I could not easily find an answer to the question I have raised above.
A mid-year Economic Analysis http://finmin.nic.in/reports/MYR201213English.pdf
gave some details, but again I did not find what I was looking for.

Government documents are not written for a common citizen to read to get an insight to what is going right and what is going wrong. The media have to do their work in providing that information clearly and simply, highlighting what matters most. Do you know of any website that gives us the information I am asking for? Please do tell us how to locate that site.

Srinivasan Ramani

Where do our Netas Stand?

The website http://myneta.info/ is a great resource for the Indian voter. Among other things, it gives information on criminal cases in which candidates for election have been involved. It also gives information on their personal wealth on the basis of legally required documents they have submitted. The movement that runs this website was initiated by a set of IIM Ahmedabad professors several years ago. My hats off to the professors!

What I would like to see next are biographic sketches describing their career, so we can see where all their wealth could have come from. The media is best fit to provide these biographic sketches. Another option is for social activists to ensure that there are Wikipedia articles on netas who need to have more light thrown on them. As it is, the Wikipedia has done “justice” to a few netas I have looked up occasionally. No, I didn’t say “I have looked up to” :=)

Now, let me come to my concern. While probity is promoted by increased transparency, what is there to promote greater understanding of a neta and what he or she means to the country? What is their political philosophy? What are their priorities? What reforms will they push for? What do they hate? Can the bulk of our netas write on these matters as well as the average graduate?  Otherwise, how are they going to manage the country? Media can play a role in encouraging potential policy makers to write on where they stand on policy issues. Those who can write well can be interviewed on television. Regional leaders can be interviewed on regional TV.

There have been few leaders who have written books in recent years. Dr Abdul Kalam is an exception, having authored ten books! Why can’t other netas follow in his footsteps, at least 10% of the way? For a list of other leaders who have written, visit http://sawaal.ibibo.com/exams-education-and-references/list-famous-books-written-indian-political-leaders-1505297.html This is not an exhaustive list; it does not list Advani’s book http://news.oneindia.in/2008/03/20/kalam-releases-advanis-magnum-opus-delhi.html, or Jaswant Singh’s books. I would love to read a book on what Sashi Tharoor thinks we should do in the educational field.

Let me conclude this post by recalling what I had read in a newspaper a long time ago. (This was written from memory and I was unable to locate the original publication). A veteran journalist had recalled his interview with a senior neta. He had tried to coax the neta to spell out his ideology. No luck! The neta had declared that ideologies should be avoided. The journalist tried a related question – which books had influenced the neta the most? But our neta was made of stern stuff! One should not allow books to influence oneself, he had said. I hope that our current netas are a bit better because of increasing literacy in the country!

Srinivasan Ramani

Television, Weight Loss and Heart Disease

Dr Sanjay Gupta on CNN revealed a great idea today. What do you do when you are in the middle of an interesting program on TV when a mindless advertisement comes on! Dr Gupta was talking about something very interesting, when his own program came to a commercial break. So, he told the person he was interviewing that he was going to do a few push ups by himself when the channel had the commercial break. In fact, he started off with his exercises a few seconds before the channel switched to the advt!

I took a pledge there and then! I will follow Sanjay, with a modification. Any time a commercial comes on, I will get up and do a few walks around the apartment, and add a few sit ups if the advts last longer. I figure that this will help not only me lose some weight, but help my friends in the advertising industry as well!

While I am on this topic, I have some advice for Mr Chidambaram, our beloved finance minister! Sir, please consider a cess on all income derived from television advertisement! The cess can be used to set up a string of cardiac clinics around the country, to cure a problem TV watching  contributes to! I know the budget has been typeset already and has to be presented in a few days. Don’t worry. Your chaps can do a bit more of word processing and insert another cess! Imagine Rs 5,000 Crores more, all to be spent on gaining weighty votes!

Srinivasan Ramani

Defence Budget and Defence Production in India

India’s Defence Minister, Mr AK Antony, was reported today as saying at a seminar that we should speed up indigenization of defence production to root out corruption in defence purchases.
Visit http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/india-must-speed-up-indigenisation-of-defence-products-ak-antony-333216

India had decided in 1954 to keep out the (Indian) private sector from defence production. It was expected that units under the govt would produce a lot and the rest could be imported. What is the reality today? A govt webpage
http://mod.nic.in/product&supp/welcome.html

gives some indication of India’s defence production. The latest available figures on this page are the targets for 2002-2003: Rs 15,767.27 Crores. Compare this with the defence budget as reported in

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/Budget-2012-Military-plays-catch-up-but-China-a-long-march-ahead/articleshow/12300524.cms

That site reports that day-to-day costs and salaries were budgeted at Rs 1,13,829 crore for the year 2012-2013.  Compare this with the provision for new weapons, sensors and platforms at Rs 79,579 crore, again for 2012-2013.  So, Indian production covers approximately 20% of the needs for defence equipment! Even if there has been a dramatic increase in defence production since 2002-2003, India’s current need for huge imports of advanced defence equipment is well-known. 

Now, let us come to Mr Antony’s solution to corruption in defence purchases. Given the past performance of govt units and public sector units, it is clear that the Indian private sector would have to play a role in future defence production. Given that, does Mr Antony believe that there would be much less corruption in defence purchases? He should perhaps consult the Minister for Telecom about it! Indian companies may need foreign know-how for producing some types of advanced defence equipment. However, they would surely not require any foreign know-how to oil the wheels of govt purchases with the right lubricant!

Am I arguing against Mr Antony’s support for indigenization of Indian defence production? No! This is important for another reason: jobs!  Unless we trust that Indians can design, develop, build and maintain a good fraction of defence equipment we need, we would continue to export millions of economically significant jobs! Not indigenizing defence production in a big way would be disastrous economic policy!

Now, let us come back to the issue of corruption in defence deals. Fighting this is no less important than creating millions of jobs. But I believe that this has to be handled differently. Our soft state does not treat corruption in defence purchases as treason, as far as I know. Such treason is no less of a grave offence than betrayal on the battle field. There is only one punishment appropriate to this offence! Sure punishment for such treason will quickly reduce corruption in defence purchases.

There is another issue: how does the govt select top military leaders? Does it give due weight to those offices who have shown their ability to manage defence production, to promote R & D, and support innovation? A technological world calls for leaders who can deal with technical issues.  

Srinivasan Ramani
February 21. 2013  

Technology leads to coinage of yet another term: Mobile Lifters!

The photograph above is displayed outside the well-known Veena Stores in Malleswaram, Bangalore. This is a small store which sells idlies, vadas and exquisite south Indian coffee, over the counter, to the people on the street sidewalk. I have not tasted better idlies and coffee elsewhere!

This morning, while drinking my cup of coffee, I noticed the sign above. Well! There is yet another "English" term coined in India, I thought! I did a Google search for the term "mobile lifter". It appears that it is mainly used to refer to lifting-devices of various kinds that are also mobile. I guess that Indians inventing a term to refer to the stealing of mobile phones is only to be expected.  This country has the world's second largest collection of cell phones, for one thing!

I also looked up the Rice University's Dictionary of neologisms (you can guess the meaning of this word, in case you didn't know :=). Most of the words in this dictionary are dangerous for Indian students to use. If you used them in your school, you will be expelled without ceremony!

Coming back to academic issues, the Rice University Dictionary does not give the etymology of the words it carries.

So, let me make a proposal: We need an online site, possibly a wiki, to define neologisms like a serious dictionary. I would also vote for some degree of control over the number of four letter words in it!

Oxford University Press, are you listening?

Srinivasan Ramani  

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the India Today – Nielsen Poll

(For additional information on the  India Today – Nielsen Poll, visit 

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-today-nielsen-mood-of-the-nation-poll/1/213464.html )

I heard something very surprising over the Headlines Today TV channel. Over one third of the persons polled in the above-mentioned poll have said that they will support the Aam Aadmi Party. The anchor of the Headlines TV panel discussion commented on how surprising this is. This is perhaps the most important finding to come out of this poll. Political parties cannot ignore it unless they have a suicidal intent. Visit my blog post of August 2012:

http://obvioustruths.blogspot.in/2012/08/annas-party-can-do-lot-with-half.html

The Aam Aadmi party was not born then. No one was sure if Anna’s movement would give rise to a party; no one expected that such a party would get any significant voter base. My enthusiastic post talked about how such a party could achieve a lot even with a small number of votes, say a half-percent. I argued a case for the planning of a strategy where nationally important objectives – such as a reduction in corruption – could be achieved by using one’s resources wisely. My suggestion was to draw up lists of candidates from ruling and the main opposition parties, who need to be opposed or supported on the basis of their record. By informing the two parties concerned of the two lists, the “oppose list” and the “support list”, AAP can achieve part of its objectives. It could reduce the number of corrupt elements being put up for election. AAP will need to put up only a small number of its own candidates – AAP’s leaders and spokes-persons, and other leaders of repute and integrity who are willing to stand as candidates opposing netas with a smelly reputation!

I hope AAP will do effective strategy planning and effectively use the tremendous clout it has demonstrated.

Srinivasan Ramani

Indian Economy - Subsidies

What is the worst form of subsidy in India?  It is the gifting of do-little and do-nothing jobs in the government and in the public sector! I don't think that subsidizing kerosene for the poor is a bad thing. But give a job to a relative of an influential person knowing that the appointment is unnecessary or that the person is not the right choice to be an employee - you have committed theft of public property. It is not a small theft - a job giving Rs 15,000 per month in total benefits at current prices for the next 30 years is theft of millions of rupees. The punishment for such theft should be a minimum of five years of rigorous punishment and a hefty fine proportionate to the stolen amount.

How prevalent are such thefts? Just do a bench-marking of employment in the public sector versus employment in comparable private sector units and you will see the extent of over employment. Yesterday, I saw a number of employees doing redundant work in an airline. One guy scanned the bar code on my boarding card. But, just to make  sure that the scanner works :=!)  he read out some number on my boarding card to another who ticked the number off on a form. See the efficiency? Why make one man do the work when two can be employed?

I walked ten feet farther and my backpack was hand-searched  like every one's hand baggage. Obviously the scanner operated by the police at the previous gate cannot be trusted and a second search has to be made. Yet other men were double checking the stamp on the tag on my back-pack.

Government loans and other hand-outs (including compulsion on government funded entities to buy tickets only on government owned airlines) is the worst form of subsidy. Just file an RTI query asking how many freebie tickets and upgrades were given in the last financial year. Do you think that the government is going to stop subsidizing netas and babus through such practices? After all it is much easier to make the common man and woman pay more for their bus rides! A mere 10,000 bus rides at a higher price can fund an upgrade for a neta or babu!

While the government thinks of many ways of eliminating subsidies, cutting down on redundant employment in the government and public sector is rarely considered. Can you guess why?

Srinivasan Ramani