Social Media

It was 3:00 PM in the afternoon.  ‘Sir B’, our smart bureaucrat, was lying stretched on his extra-cushioned high back castor-wheel brown fabric office revolving chair.  A white towel hung on the headrest of the chair soaking all the extra oil of his hairs which he puts on his head to give a slip to vigilance agencies. It was the routine post-lunch siesta time after 2 hours of lunch break, he was snoozing on his desk and daydreaming about an alternate world.

Suddenly his appearances changed. His only blazer (stitched by Dinesh Tailor 12 years back) which he wears every day to office changed to a slim fit Nehru Jacket and a Van Heusen formals.  His otherwise 36-inch Chest was giving tough competition to India’s most fantasized 56 inches. His dress code, especially the jacket was fantastically hiding his cauldron shaped cute potbelly, giving it a perfect six-pack Sharukh look. The Ray-ban shades were a feel-good change from his otherwise Byomkesh Bakshi’s plastic frame glasses which fits so perfectly well on his bureaucratic attitude and attire. Maybe it was some sort of hallucination, he thought. He couldn’t even recognize his own appearance.

It was like a perfect world. A world where everybody was happy, traveling, exploring, and trying out exotic dishes every day. No one was dying of hunger. No one was alone. No one was depressed. Everybody was just living a perfect life. It felt like at least one promise of long-awaited “Ram Rajya” is finally fulfilled.  

The best part of this world was there were no schools or exams. There was no professional degree or sorting of society on the basis of education. Being a bureaucrat, he knew that everyone else is a fool. In fact, the entire world is a fool’s paradise, serving the bureaucracy. So, what was the point of spending so much on education? But to his utter shock, despite no formal training, everyone was omniscient. Every person had full Gyan on every little thing be it a nano-size insect or the sounds emanating from the Sun. Be it the most fitting economic policy of India or who should be the next secretary-general of United nations. For all this time, he was under impression that “Gyanbaji” is a professional skill given to people of his fiefdom I.e. bureaucracy. But in this world, everyone was a “Gyani”. Everyone has an opinion. Suddenly he felt numb.  He could now see the real picture, the shadow behind. The thought of Plato struck his mind deep. Shadow is the reality of the idea. He could see it now.

People were liking each other. People were smiling, connecting with friends and family members. They were even participating in social movement together. But it was all ethereal. In the pursuit of connecting with friends and families in this world, People were separating away from the real world. The likes were just a mechanical action without any feelings and emotions. The mutual respect for each other’s life was making way for deep-held stereotypes for each other’s cuisine and customs. The hatred, prejudice, anger was evaporating the love, respect, and concern of our real world. This seemingly perfect world was slowly creeping in our real-life like a slow poison.

 “Maybe we will be more peaceful if we could just sit silently for some time observing the flow of life. Maybe we will be happier if we just help needy people around us, turn more tolerant, become more forgiving and considerate. Learning the art of expression in real life is far more rewarding than spending hours and hours unproductively on social media. A 20-second call once in two months is far better than a mechanical thumbs up. A 5 mins “Chai pe Churcha” is better than finding flaws in other’s opinions on social media. If it can win somebody a full-blown election, a genuine attempt can at least win you one good friend or well-wisher”, he said to himself.  Suddenly the peon knocked on the Door.  It was tea time. Bureaucratic siestas are always extra-large like their offices Mr. B jumped back to the real world and realized that he was not dreaming, He was just browsing his social media. 

Atma Nirbhar Bharat

The Goverrnment has launched a variety of programs/reforms to make India self-reliant. The reforms in the MSME sector, Migrant workers, Agricultural sector, Vocal for Local and sectoral reforms measures like increase in the FDI limits of defense manufacturing are welcome and long-pending measures which nation was looking for. Was it all necessary? The answer is yes. Would it be sufficient? Therein lies the caveat. 

There is a vast difference between policy announcement on the paper and policy execution on the field. The gap lies in the absence of an ecosystem. For example,  as a businessman, I would ask 3-4 key questions before I invest my energy in a field.

1. Do I have skilled labor for the business?

2. Do I clearly know my business segment, the start, and the endpoint of production and consumption?

3. Do I have the entire ecosystem like infrastructure, legal services, and other market services, and ancillary industry in place?

4. Most importantly, how easy is it obtain to get a business loan?

For most questions, the answer would be a no or full of uncertainty. In the absence of such support system and information asymmetry, the businessman would not prefer to burn his hand. For example, today when India talks about reducing dependence on Chinese imports, is there any portal (public or private) where businesses can obtain clear information about what are the items India wishes to manufacture? There is no place where a businessman can know single-window information about the scales of the market and the challenges in starting a business. The government may make an announcement of a collateral-free loan but in reality, no banker would lend you money without collateral. The government should first fix the infrastructure and elementary issues like a land availability, and bureaucratic delays.

Off late, the government has taken various positive steps like gradual removal of subsidy from diesel and petrol. The GST has also come in full action and slowly maturing in the process. The need of the hour is to reform the Income Tax side of the act. The work has begun on this front as well. The three fundamental principles which any government should follow in the process is:

1. Whenever a policy is introduced, there should be an automatic review or sunset clause embedded in it.

2. The Judiiciary is the weakest link in our system. This needs to be reformed on an urgent basis. Without a strong punishment and justice mechanism, businessman would always be demotivated.

3. Income tax needs to be simplified heavily. It needs to be streamlined. The complex web of exemptions, deductions, and discretion breed corruption.

4. A precursor program to Make In India is land reforms. And the precursor to land reforms is urban reforms and rehabilitation and resettlement in the country. All of this has to be in tandem. Just focussing on one aspect of the big problem will not take us anywhere.

5. The issue of urban reform can not be solved without taking local political factors into stride. For this, deep level political reforms are also necessary.

Hence, the government may do a service to the nation by utilizing the COVID time to bring drastic reforms in the entire system. However, this will only happen with some political cost and requires major political will.

Covid Diaries-June

Another month of the COVID era is completing today. It has been a really difficult time for the inhabitants of planet earth. Just unimaginable is the word. The month of June ringed the war alarms between India and China. There was a skirmish between our soldiers and the Chinese army which led to the death of our 22 young officers. At the time of writing this diary, India has started reaching out to its UNSC counterparts to brief them about the border issue. Not to mention, the full force of Army, Navy, and Airforce have already been deployed around the border areas. The time is not far when a limited scale war could trigger between the two nations. China might be eagerly looking for this for a variety of reasons.

1. Any war or war-like situation will make India unattractive as an alternative investment destination.

2. It could be a good diversion from simmering domestic issues boiling in China due to closure of many exports oriented industries.

3. The area where china is occupying the Indian territory (a no man's land type zone), is of high strategic significance. It has an economic value in connecting west and south china. It is part of Chinese economic corridor and belt and road initiative.

4. India is at its weakest position in COVID times. The economy has already slipped in recessionary mode. If things continued in this manner, soon depression will seep in. Hence there can not be a better time to hit India.

The war has already started in a subtle sense. Currently, both nations are fighting it in the Cyber and Media space. Planting news items, swaying local and global emotions by Psy-ops, and war positioning has already begun. 

For India, these times have brought a double whammy. Smaller countries like Nepal have also raised border issues with India and revised their maps through their parliamentary procedures.  

On the economic front, the Government has launched a long due one nation one card policy. This will help millions of migrant workers to exercise their right to food anywhere in India. This will also help in a clear geolocational mapping of migrants.  

On the political front, The "George Floyd protest in the US" rocked the country with #blacklivesmatters movement. The pictures and videos of looting private stores in the USA showed the grim reality of USA's law and order. Even India witnessed a George Floyd of India in Chennai City where a father-son duo was killed by Police torture. But the Conscience of people is difficult to invoke. Hence things remained as usual.   

Clearly, these are difficult times for the world on all the fronts. Let us hope that sanity prevail, corona goes away and things return to normalcy. 

Common lines for retirement wishes for seniors

सुब्रत है नाम, सुब्रत है काम,
व्यक्तिव है आपका जैसे हनुमान,

हंसाने के अंदाज़ है निराले
ये अफसर है बहुत भोला भाले।

जीवन को जीते है अपने मिजाज़ से,
मिलते है सबसे खुशी और प्यार से,

स्वास्थ्य और सुख की मंगल आपको कामना,
आपका सुभाशीष बना रहे, ऐसी है प्रार्थना। 

Bittersweet Symphony

The two main source of an employee’s nightmares are his Spouse and Boss. The only key to survive both relationships is to keep your mouth shut. While the relationship with Spouse is characterized by “True Lauu”, the dynamics of a Boss-employee relationship has a duality of love as well as displeasure.   Spouse(s) (extra s for daring employees) and Bosses are demi-gods around whom the entire food chain of employees revolve. Therefore, it is a survival necessity to follow the command of your boss. 

Employees, the innocent lesser mortals often fail to pick electromagnetic waves radiating from the boss. Bosses always have a hidden meaning in their command. If boss says that “she will see to it”, one must understand that boss doesn’t think it is important. If boss asks us to “take a look at something whenever you get time”, it means that work should be finished within 6 hours and report must be sent to him before sun sets in the evening. If boss says that “it is really exciting idea”, it means the idea may never see the light of the day. The list is long. Obviously, each boss has a different signaling frequency just like gods have different powers therefore, it is advisable for employees to switch off their mobile before entering Boss’s cabin. Else the signals may interfere and one may be faced with the Boss’s thunderclap.  In order to make your boss happy, every righteous employee should follow three basic principles. 

First principle is “Boss is always right irrespective of the situation, argument, event or condition”. One should be able to spot the Lord Krishna in his boss and quite naturally himself should become a Meera. Employees rather than applying their own mind should follow the leads of the bosses and get the work done. If ever there arises any second thoughts, then one should revisit this principle again.

Second principle is “Boss knows it all whatever is the subject”. Boss is like a Buddha, an enlightened being. Never doubt the wisdom of your boss. Never question what is he asking for. Just do it. In this respect, it is advisable to download the service pack tool SIR in order to communicate to your boss effectively. This is state of art employee’s signaling system which helps in avoiding all conflicts with bosses.

Third principle is most enlightening i.e. “Boss can never be happy irrespective of what you do”. If employee does some work then either he faces some rebuke this time or it will raise the bar of excellence which will eventually lead to rebuke in the next round. Don’t you remember Ustad Ahmad, the architect of Taj mahal whose hands were cut off after building of Taj Mahal. Therefore, just swallow the rebuke like you do of your spouse (Being better half, only she enjoys the right to rebuke) and enjoy the praise with equanimity. 

The recent literature on the subject mentions an extension of the third rule i.e. 3A which applied to employees as well. It says that “Happy employee is a myth just”. An employee will always be dissatisfied whatever reward a boss gives to him. If he is given a seating space, he will ask for chair. If he is given a chair, he will ask for table. If he is given a table, he will ask for computer. If he is given a computer, he will ask for laptop. And if he is given a laptop, he will seek for permissions to watch movies on it. That’s how complex and eternally dissatisfied a poor employee is, just like a poor husband. 

The work part of life is an act of god which prepares you for nirvana. The love of boss tells you to not get excited about anything in life because scold will follow soon. Similarly, the rebuke tells to not get depressed because we are all sailing in the same boat. The best an employee can do is postpone the rebuke but then he will become victim of his own pursuit of excellence. Therefore, Boss’s rebuke is like a sweet bitter inevitable fact of the work space. Enjoy it, relish it and treat it like a badge of honor just like you celebrate a discourse received from your spouse.