Thought Garage

One of my favorites and I believe is one of the best of contemporary leaders, Jaya Prakash Narayan was recently at Google and shared his thoughts. His ideology presented in a context that most NRIs and the world could easily understand, aptly named, “19th Century Politics and 21st Century Economics”.    You may follow the speech with interactive transcript feature on the youtube site .

Everybody knows what Chiranjeevi said before the elections in 2009 about Congress Party and TDP. Now Chiranjeevi says, Praja Rajyam Party is identical in principles to Congress party , so they will work together in upcoming Elections, even though they don’t merge. He will lend his friendly hand to Congress. How hilarious? All for one Rajya Sabha seat? It confirms the once infamous news story that Eenadu.com ran a while ago, that Praja Rajyam party will close its shop and merge with Congress.  Praja Rajyam Party really thinks they are no different from Congress, or at least they hate TDP as much as Congress do. Also it appears, these talks of merger and alliances have been going on each time there is some kind of election. It is clear, he is struggling to find an identify for himself and the party as it has been a total disaster at the poll booth and everything he did after that. No principles. No core beliefs. Its just dancing to the wind. Before Elections, Chiranje...

Wondering why it took more than a year for Obama’s administration to come up with a plan for Small Businesses, when they constitute 99% of all employers. “There are approximately 25.8 million businesses in the United States and over 99 percent of all employers are small businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.” – Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s Plan for small business (PDF)

I have no clue, other than keeping those ‘politically unemployed’ busy with a job of their dreams. What those politicians could not do so far in the last (about) 50+ years while in the ruling party or in the opposition party, that they could suddenly do now if Telangana becomes a separate state? If you put rupee by rupee spent on each district after Andhra became a separate state, I don’t see any region of the state treated disproportionately. Then what’s all this fuss about backwardness of Telangana region?

If majority is what all matters in democracy (getting 60 votes gives approval to the healthcare bill against opposition by 39) what about 51% of people opposing the bill (while only 38.4% favor it)? In a broader sense, what does this mean to the concept of democracy? The elected officials that are supposed to represent the people are going against the wishes of the same people that elected them in the first place. Source: Real Clear Politics

I took a small political profiling test at okcupid and found that I am a centrist with tendency to be more liberal when it comes to social issues and moderate in economic aspects. Your true political self: You are a Social Liberal (65% permissive) and an... Economic Moderate (41% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness. While I am a bit surprised at the result, I love the visualization of the profile. Here are screenshots and text. You can try it too here:   http://www.okcupid.com/politics

The essence of problem solving is in fact not solving a problem, but detecting one before it becomes one. And the way, problems are solved in a corporate world is anything but a mystery. Disclaimer(s) : For illustration, I used Software Developers. You are free to use your own imagination to see any role in a corporate. It really fits the story. Any possible similarities to my current or previous work place are not intentional but mere coincidences. It is impossible not to have these coincidences in any corporate and it is totally beyond my control. There are exceptions and they are really exceptions. If you are a Manager, you may get offended by getting closer to reality. There are 1000s of great software developers that can solve a problem once you define what is your problem.  But, unfortunately, many of them are good at just that.  They are really great at doing what they are told to do. And, of course, Managers love them, as they rarely question, anything. But the...

The debate at Copenhagen just begun. Hopefully, we will have some clarity and Truth about the whole gamut of Global Warming and whether we the humans are guilty of it. So far, Scientists on both sides of the argument defend themselves. But one must note that both sides are making a political statement as Scientific data does not conclude either way. These scientists tend to take a position and go back to data to find out data sets that prove their points. Having said that, anybody can say anything about Climate Change, and it is most likely that he/she is right and wrong at the same time, even based on the scientific data per se. Hope we get some clarity and all scientific community come to an agreement. May be, I should have said, I wish.

It always intrigues me that traditionally in India (and in fact most of the world) we try to remember and talk only about the better half of a person once the person is gone, while we always spend talking about the other half when the person is in front of us. And often talk behind a person. Why can’t we treat a person as the person really is, no matter in front of that person or behind or once passed away. Can a really bad person becomes a lot better person just by death? I believe, you show your true respects by treating a person by the true nature always , as you perceive. Its lot more important to express those feelings when the person is in front of us. Good or bad, is relative and fleeting. Anyways, the EENADU news paper that has always (most times) criticized quite vehemently has an eulogy that is worth noting. Here it is.

As per latest News reports, a helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh CM YS Raja Sekhar Reddy went missing without any communication for about  9 hours now. Suspected mechanical failure with Helicopter. Update : News reports now confirm that YSR along with 4 others died in the helicopter accident.

  "Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India are Reshaping Their Futures   and Yours" Removing half a billion people from poverty and into the productive workforce will profoundly affect on the world economy. India and China are doing just that with insane growth rates and lots of what used to be American jobs: China is the factory floor and India the back-office, software shop. China is top-down party driven. India is a messy, vibrant democracy

This is the same question in everybody in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. What went wrong? Why Chiranjeevi gave such a flop show so far in politics? Family interference, lack of clarity, lack of organization … ??? That reminds of me of wonderful comments Jaya Sudha made comparing NTR and Chiranjeevi : It was so eloquently said. ‘surrounded by family’ definitely must have some responsibility over the high handling of affairs. But that must be left to the grace of the party and Chiru himself to realize that. She demonstrated her respect and compliments for both NTR and Chiranjeevi and added so much clarity to key differences between them. There is no way Chiranjeevi can become anything like NTR. And it is a mistake to expect anything of that sort. I only hope, Chiranjeevi make a history for himself in his own style. Last one year had been terrible, but I don’t think it is fair to write off so soon.

If you have any expectations on Politics in Andhra Pradesh, you must watch this wonderful and totally civil debate :-)))

The reel life ‘Mega’ star Chiranjeevi’s  real life appears to be coming to a tragic end, in Politics. Eenadu (the news paper outlet, unmistakably the opposition party TDP’s torch bearer) reported that 7 PRP MLAs and few other leaders met with party secretary Allu Aravind and proposed to dissolve and combine PRP with ruling congress party. Other news indicate about 12 MLAs ready to take a plunge while rest of the them waiting for Chiranjeevi to accompany. Its not a big surprise to me. While Eenadu has been totally biased in interpreting events to favor TDP, it never reported lies. So I would take it as real, irrespective of whatever political spin Congress and PRP may put on to it. “Why I pray with Love, For Chiru To Fail in Politics ” Today’s news reminded me of an email sent by a Chiranjeevi’s ardent fan after Chiranjeevi announced his entry into politics.   "I love Chiru more than my brother and I offered prayers today that Chiru annaya would see how bad ...

  He zeroes in on one of the students and christens him Nelson. "I’ll bet Nelson has a cell phone," Romer remarks. He then asks the audience why Nelson would have a cutting edge technology like a cell phone but no access to electricity. His answer -- rules. Romer explains that in this country the electric company has to provide electricity at a subsidized price, and so cannot make profit. They have no incentive or ability to reach more customers . The president has tried to change pricing but protests broke out from businesses and the public.   Quite a unique perspective. India is another example. Most people have cell phones, but no electricity. For instance, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, on an average you only get electricity for about 10 hours a day. in this country the electric company has to provide electricity at a subsidized price, and so cannot make profit. They have no incentive or ability to reach more customers The above quot...

“There is no Praja Rajyam party without Mitra”, said Chiranjeevi few days before the election and amidst resignations by senior leaders. Now, Mitra resigned from the party too, citing that he could not adjust in the party. Not sure whether he could not adjust with policies, values or people within the party. He gracefully and respectfully did not point fingers at anybody and refused to talk any internal matters outside. I respect that.  Internal matters are internal matters. So, now the most important question is, can Praja Rajyam survive? With Mitra’s resignation,  all founding members of the Party have walked away from the party, except Chiranjeevi himself. I am not sure who else is left in the party. But it appears, the honeymoon is now officially over. The belief of ‘public’ affection and ‘call for service by people’ has been proven to be a mirage. Now, support from think tanks appears to be waning as well. Can he resurrect, just like he does in his silver screen ...

I was ecstatic when I first heard about Chiranjeevi coming into politics. But that ecstasy lived only for a few hours, until I watched the video of his announcement. After a lot of thought on watching his first announcement, I came to conclusion that entering into politics has some far reaching motives than shameless confessions of giving back to community that gave him this silver screen demonic successful life. I have expressed my frustration and missed opportunity in my blog posts in the following days. And became a serious critique of his hypo critic political game plans, including the infamous social justice drama (or I call it caste exploitation), well before lots of others. Anyways, rest is history. The ‘silence’ in revolution is true to an extent, just that the silence means a clear rejection of his drama in real life. Having garnered about 5% of seats, I hope, everybody now understand that ‘people’ did not call him, whatever that means. Now having a mega flop at ballot...

Every Political leader vowed their lives to serve the people. They also said, they have no ‘interest’ of any kind in ‘power’ but to serve the people. At least, that is what they said, before the election. For almost two months leading up to the Election, they kept on talking tirelessly, day and night, in every media outlet and public meeting, how they would like to serve the people and how they want to stand with the people in the thick and the thin of times. Elections are over almost a month ago. How many of those leaders now stood in the midst of people? How many of them went back to people? How many of them want to campaign now with the people to solve their problems. The very problems political leaders used as their campaign slogans are still there. Be it condition of farmers, welfare, education, wages, projects or what ever.  Why aren’t they continuing their fight against corruption any more? Why aren’t they fighting on behalf of people any more? Why aren’t they organizing m...

With many top officials in the Government ascended from Banks like Goldman-Sachs, is Government hand-in-hand with Banks in this Financial breakdown? It appears, Government is keen on covering up Banks and their ‘fraud’ voluntarily and knowingly. Scary. The financial industry brought the economy to its knees, but how did they get away with it? With the nation wondering how to hold the bankers accountable, Bill Moyers sits down with William K. Black, the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Black offers his analysis of what went wrong and his critique of the bailout. Watch the Video and read the transcript at Bill Moyers Journal. Who is responsible for the financial breakdown of the entire world? Fraudulent Banks, Greedy customers or the Government that removed the regulation to let it happen?

Just 7 hours of Electricity for Agriculture that too in 2 separate shifts ?? How much land can you water in those dire circumstances? That too at this time of summer!! Source: Eenadu.net