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