Cultural Festival in Orissa(India)

KAMRAJ PLAN TWO

Bikash Choudhury


History has uncanny habit of repeating itself; it seems the "Kamraj
Plan" of 1963 need to be revisited by Congress Party once again. As
"Policy Paralysis" in Govt. of India and comatose councils of
Ministers hurting the Indian growth story quite substantially. Falling
growth numbers and frequent revised estimates and yet very familiar
pep talks of equally familiar faces in the Govt. about "all is well"
has become a rule than exception quarter after quarter but the reality
on the ground does not bite the policy makers and their political
masters; unfortunately, it only bites the ordinary people on the street
who pay highest patrol prices and ever growing rates of food
items. Recent news report suggest Indian manufacturing sector is
slowing down, Industrial growth remain sluggish under the onslaught of
high interest rate regime; and now, the depreciation of INR against
USD will take the wind out of the Indian sail. On top of it terror
strike and natural calamities in North East and in Orissa and
Telengana imbroglio is going to make the situation much worse for
Central Govt. in coming days. And, the turf war between senior ministers
in the union cabinet is adding salt to the injury. Concerned and
informed citizens have thrown up their hand in air, out of desperation
and despair. Who listens? Who cares?

The apparent drift and free fall of
governance and a feeling of non-existent Govt. at the centre is
principally due to unclear line of succession in Govt. and in Congress
party. If that was not enough; unusual and complete silence of three top
leaders of Congress party on many issues of National importance and
concern not in the best interest of the Country and its Governance.
Apparently it suits the Congress leadership fine. Is there a method to
this madness? Or a very clever strategy at work; to lead by confusion
and confabulation of ruling clique? But, observers, analysits and
experts on governance unanimously and strongly believe "such a care
free approach to governance for such a large country is fraught with
danger".

This calls for a very strong and firm leadership both
in Govt. and in Congress party at the top to lift the gloomy
environment by putting aside the setbacks pertaining to scams with
legal frame work and move on with Governance and socio & economic
transformation both for short term and for the long haul. A KAMRAJ
PLAN TWO is the need of the hour for the Congress Party on National
interest. But, this time around, Congress Party need to draft the old
war horse into party work and allow the new breed of Young leaders
with knowledge, skill and political acumen and maturity into the fore
front in Govt. to bring new and fresh Ideas and a new style &
substance in Governance to speed up reforms, faster turnaround in
policy formulation and above all, a project management led World class
execution of projects in all infrastructure sector. Heaven shake, give
this Country a chance to run along with top Global powers.

Emerging New Geo-Politics of South Asia

Bikash Choudhury




Mr.Asif Ali Zardari,President of Pakistan recently expressed his
desire to have an open border with China;which might have created
consternation within Indian foreign policy establishment and
analyst.Actually, there is no need for agitation in the Indian
side.The wheels of history of this sub-continent is going to turn full
circle by 2020-2025.In view of fast changing external environment and
economy of the region and global financial instability expected to
bring Pakistan and Bangladesh closer to India. Sooner than later,
Pakistan & Bangladesh would be integrated with India;may not be
Politically;but,emotionally and economically with a common foreign
policy and military strategy. The tenets of
"Panchasheel,Non-alignment and Global Peace would under score a new
Geo-politics of the region and also for the World at large.

Therefore, India should rather welcome the initiative of Pakistan &
China open border and increasing closeness;as the same policy could
continue to India's advantage after the integration of Pakistani
polity with India as expected by 2025.There was a very strong bond
between undivided India and China culturally;which was vindicated by
Hueign Sang and Meghasthins report.Indian leaders, Mr Rajiv Gandhi &
Mr.Atal Bihari Vajpayee initiated "a re look China policy" in their
respective tenures;which is yielding dividends now; with growing
high level contacts between Sino-Indian leaders to resolve all boundary
disputes;pending claims and counter claims for a long long time with
occasional skirmishes, both diplomatic and military.There is a need to
fix a date(15 th August 2020 or 26th Jan 2025) acceptable to both the
sides to resolve all outstanding issue to mutual satisfaction;that
will actually speed up the process in both sides and at the same time
make the negotiators and their political superiors more flexible,open
minded and less rigid. If China were to successfully emerge as Global
Power rivaling USA, in this century then it is most likely to achieve
the objective with a friendly Indian sub-continent(undivided India).
In another important development,Indian and
Bangladesh relations going from strength to strength;with recent visit
of Indian Prime Minister to Bangladesh and historic agreement on
exchange of land and on trade should bury the mistrust if
any.And,Teesta accord in future could cement the relationship.There
are other good news which indicate tectonic shift in mindset and in
Ideas in the subcontinent.The prominent one among them was the
scheduled dialogue between Reserve Bank of India and State Bank of
Pakistan to resume the banking services across the borders and
agreement between the commerce ministers to double the trade between
two nations to 6 billion USD in five years.That should be a reason for
a toast in the financial services Industry and and in the diplomatic
community in either side.This is also a proof of new thinking in
Pakistan;as its young,beautiful and dynamic foreign minister Hina
Rabbani Khar said " Pakistan does not wish to carry the baggage of
History and has learn its lessons" and in another statement she said
" Pakistan foreign policy is not driven by Pak Army though Army one of
the important stake holder". One would reasonably wish Indian foreign
policy analyst recognize this change whatever its worth and remain
optimistic in the very interest of the cause, they pursue so
earnestly.The Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama said "India should
take the Leadership of the World in the 21 st century" Amin! Let's
Lead the World from next decade.

FIRST BOSS-UNTOLD STORY

BIKASH CHOUDHURY




Just like first wife,first boss always play a defining role in the life of a professional.15th of May in 1990, I received the appointment letter from a Delhi based office automation company at Bhubaneswar after pipping a few MBA's to the job.I was feeling happy and lucky and excited to land the first job just after post graduation result was out in the morning;effectively,avoiding the trial & tribulations for not being un-employed for even a day.The very next day I was supposed to report for work;reached the office on time. The branch manager,
Mr.Kapoor formally welcomed me to the organization and introduced me to to other officers and staffs and all shared sweets carried by me followed by a round of tea.Mr.Kapoor quickly draw up a seven days induction plan for me and gave some reading materials to see at home at leisure. Mr.Kapoor later said, " we are done for the day and have a very important engagement" and left in a hurry with instruction to one colleague to take care of me.Mr.Das, a member of Marketing team approached me and asked to join him;eventually landed near a temple in the middle of the city of Bhubaneswar.I had no clue then what was in store;but, confidently floated along.Suddenly, Mr.Kapoor resurfaced near the temple with a stout, handsome person and said "this is PKB,the smartest marketing person of team Bhubaneswar" smiled at him and had a warm hand sake;found him a very affectionate & humorous person. He formally invited me to his marriage to be performed at the Temple and for the reception in the evening at Keniel Worth Hotel.Little later, Mr.Kapoor and other few colleagues took me to a nearby shop under a Banyan Tree where a few other invitees were enjoying themselves with some drinks(much later ,I came to know that was concoction of sugarcane juice & Old Monk Rum;an invention of Mr.Kapoor).After sipping a few pecs of the drink Mr. Kapoor looked at me and said "Bikash, do you take drinks? for got to ask you in the interview".I replied in the negative and he interjected in a slow voice "people who don't drink not good for marketing job".As usual, first day on the job, I was completely taken aback;but, he put his hand on my shoulder to reassure me-not to worry; "Dhire Dhire Seekh Jayega".Again we all met in the evening at the reception and talked about life, living, business and pleasure with a lot of good food and drinks( soups & cola).Felt very nice to get lot of attention from the new colleagues and from a few good looking guests from the opposite sex;I being the only eligible bachelor colleague of the groom.
Next day my induction program started in right earnest with product knowledge,competitive landscape, sales and marketing.I found Mr. Kapoor to be an excellent trainer that left an indelible mark on my psyche.Then, I took the job as fish to water.Over a period of time forged a very close relationship with Mr. Kapoor both at professional and personal level and immensely benefited.Inherited the love of books and pens from Mr. Kapoor and learned to respect the competitors and how to work hard and play harder.Missed him when he left the organization to start his own business;remained a close confidant for a long long time.The replacement of Mr. Kapoor came from regional office at Calcutta,a lateral entrant in the company from a photo copier Industry;Mr. Mittal was a very incompetent manager without vision and with very little common sense;he soon failed out with his number two-PKB and subsequently sacked by the company for some of his omissions & commissions plus a memorandum of officers and staffs led by me on larger interest of the organization.Mr. Srivastav flew down from Hyderabad office to take over the operations at Bhubaneswar;he was a very charming person with potential of being a head turner;apart from being an ace sales person and dynamic manager;who later took the organisation to greater heights in short time.Mrs Srivastava was a equally good & gracious host and with impeccable culinary skills.The Team Bhubaneswar outperformed with the help of a manger par excellence and gastronomic delights with a few friendly cricket matches thrown in between.Came to conclusion that to become good manger no need for a IIT-IIM tag;but, a lot of common sense.And, to become a good leader you need to have a Vision.

PAKISTAN-A WAY FOEWARD

BIKASH CHOUDHURY


Bombing of US embassy in Kabul,Afganistan seems to have hardened the
resolve of US administration to deal with Pakistan for its alleged
role in the bombing of US embassy in connivance with Haqqani Network;a
very dangerous and motivated terrorist group operating in Afganistan
and NWFP border region of Pakistan.US military chief Admiral Mike
Mullen's tough words "ISI is backing Haqqani Network" and subsequent
US threat of unilateral action against the Haqqani Network inside
Pakistan's sovereign territory(as they did incase of Osama Bin Laden),
speaks volumes about the nature of events unfolding in the
subcontinent of South Asia.
To American's credit, infact US has never been
as forgiving as in case of Pakistan;be it Nuclear Proliferation or
terrorism in India. It is because US has not figured out for itself
how to deal with the large pile of "Nuclear Weapons" of Pakistan and
the danger of its slipping into the hands of powerful terrorist
groups hiebernating in and around Pakistan that can hold the whole
WORLD to ransom.That is what precisely tied the hands of US against
any precipitate action on Pakistan.But, early indication noe points to
likely change and that to a substantial nature in very near future;as
the US Presidential election gets closer and pressure mounts on the
incumbent President to display typical American toughness & fire power
both in words and in kind with Pakistan that appeals to American
electorate-right or wrong.Situation is very grim;that is made out more
than clearly with the 3 hour long interaction of Mrs. Hillary
Clinton,the Secretary of State had with visiting Foreign Minister
Ms.Hina Rabbani Khar.As expected, Mrs. Clinton would have put Pakistan
on notice very sternly;therefore, foreign minister of Pakistan chose
to cut short her US visit and returned to Pakistan to brief the
Pakistan leadership on US stand.But, the irony was the blunt statement
of Pak foreign minister in New York "US can choose to dissociate with
Pakistan on terrorism at its own cost" based on the intrinsic strength
of her country or just for domestic public consumption-not difficult
to guess.Knowing very precarious financial condition of Pakistan with
a 60% debt servicing ratio and a 71% of repayments to disbursement
ratio;in other words, currently Pakistan has to spend 60% of annual
revenue on interest payments and 71% of fresh borrowing goes out on
repayment of old loans-leaving a very thin spread of 29 % for new
public expenditure.A country on such a fiscal state must and should
avoid rhetoric whic is self defeating.
What US would likely to do next? US
administration may like to swallow the bitter pill in Afganistan for
some time till they "comprehensively and completely" design a frame
work to deal with the important irritant "The Pakistani Nuclear
Arsenals";once that is done,US would prefer to act tough and may be in
little belligerent manner with Pakistan;to serve its domestic
constituency as it were with "Iraq or Iran".The consequence could be
very telling and dangerous for Pakistan;again, in view of its current
fiscal health.
What are the options before Pakistan?
Sadly, now Pakistan has ran out of options;Pakistan can't think of
confronting American Fire Power only with tacit support of China;and,
it is very unlikely that, China would overtly support Pakistan against
America.As China already has a huge stake in American Economy with
over trillion dollars worth investments in ADR(American Depository
Receipts) and America being the largest trading partner.Therefore,
Pakistan has only and only one option left to swallow its historical
pride and haughtyness and make peace with India for Good;and, at the
same time integrate its Economy,Foreign Policy, Military and Culture
with India & Indians in Lock Stock and Barrel.Subsequently,both India
& Pakistan together draft a "Peace Plan" for Afganistan to negotiate
the exit of American forces from the region,and, that should save
Pakistan Sovereignty and Economy from further collapse.

CAN INDIA RUN BY CS?

BIKASH CHOUDHURY



Can Country of Indian diversity be administered by an erudite Cabinet Secretary? Or, by Proxy? If a poll was taken among experts in the domain the response would be in the negative and it is most likely, they would favor popular mass Leader than a Harvard educated & seasoned bureaucrat. Even, People would prefer a leader of Mr. DeveGawada's ability who too often used to take a nap amid busy meetings and conferences. However, Political Historians do credit former premier for his success in neighborhood Foreign Policy; conceived and executed largely by his foreign minister Mr. I.K.Gujural.Here, Mr. Deve gawada displayed great sagacity in allowing Mr. Gujural to court all the limelight while serving a very important National purpose. In these circumstances a bureaucratic head of State would have been unnerved at the events and could have scuttled the plan owing to complete lack of vision, than anything else; as the incumbent premier letting important valuable National Institution go to dogs like Air India, Indian Raiways, BSNL and many others, those, could have in fact added to the National exchequer and growth.
Interestingly, famous author & philosopher Max Weber writes “Bureaucrat as someone who exercise judgment and skills as duty placed at the service of a higher authority and responsible for impartial execution of a assigned tasks and must sacrifice his personal judgment if it runs counter to his official duties”*. Many informed individuals across political persuasion strongly believe the afro mentioned definition aptly describe the functions and style of administration of incumbent Premier. Jokes apart, Weber has also said" Bureaucratic administration means fundamentally domination through knowledge"** that strangely corroborates with the famous or infamous quotable quote "Intellectual Arrogance" targeted at union home minister by a senior leader of Congress Party who is otherwise very busy with revival of Congress in UP.
Political Scientist, however, strongly believes bureaucracy as the most efficient form of organization, and even indispensable for the modern State. They also take care to add that the bureaucracy could become a threat to individual freedom as over rationalization of human lives trap individuals in "iron cage" just like "Polar night of Icy Darkness”. It is important and necessary to counteract the bureaucracy and the System needs entrepreneurs, politicians and let's add civil society activist of Anna Hazare's eminence.
In our assessment the biggest failing of bureaucratic Country head lies in very poor Leadership with capital ‘L’; that is desirable & essential to administer Indian hetrogenity, demography and also complexity in Governance. In comparison to popular mass Leaders the bureaucrats hail from a very structured background and therefore fail to cope with unstructured domain of Political Leadership & Management. However, bureaucratic leaders have one advantage; they could withstand any upheavals as they are exceptionally good at paper work; which helps them to draw impeccable cover-up that popular mass Leaders need to learn, of course at the expense of Nation, its growth and the well being of its people. Conventionally "Leadership" as commonly understood is to organize people to achieve common goal. The goal was to achieve consistent growth of GDP at 10 % with moderate inflation, sustainable investment in Physical & Social Infrastructure and reforms in those sectors that would attract FDI & drive additional growth with fresh job creation and development of new competencies; which had potential to shape the country as a Global Power as USA President, Barak Obama prominently mentioned in his speech to the joint session of Indian Parliament. It seems as though, the country has to start afresh.
Leadership is all about communication; which help them to win hearts and minds of people working for them that seamlessly drive human endeavor towards chosen goal. Bureaucratic Leadership choose to visit as many foreign countries as possible in their tenure at the expense of visiting Indian States to connect with young people living in the university/college campuses to know their aspiration and vision of their own country. A popular mass Leader would have chosen to inspire the young people to think about country, its challenges, and opportunities; as the new ideas and out of box solution is going to come from the minds of these youngsters. In contrast, the bureaucratic Leadership prefers nuanced & calibrated written communication to initiate action; which falls in the way side in its efficacy, keeping in view the very long span of control & chain of command in Govt. and further method is devoid of human emotion, passion and personal involvement that buries the bureaucratic initiatives at a huge cost to public exchequer.
It is, now evident and clear as crystal; the Cabinet Secretary Model of Bureaucratic Leadership may not be able to take the country forward and would miserably fail to negotiate the challenges of our time and would also remain incapable to Ancash the opportunities. The Country must elect a popular mass Leader, preferably from the younger generation to take the Country to its right full place in the committee of Nations. And, Proxies should ideally be left to the class rooms alone?
*,**: Reference from Wikipidia

Rahul Gandhi—A Maximum Leader in the making

Bikash Choudhury



India needs a maximum leader to reign over the world, beginning with next decade, of this century and to the next one. American influence over the World and Chinese aggression would wane under the weight of Indian leadership & creativity. India always stood for peace and global peace would be the weapon in the arsenals of India to gain moral high ground and at the same time use as the stick to offer liberal corporal punishment to the current so called Global leaders for wasting common Global, precious resources of mankind in wasteful and inimical expenses that actually ruined sustainable peace & security. India needs to put its own house in order in this decade to grab the opportunity of Global Leadership in the next decade. India lost approximately 2190 opportunity in last sixty plus years (if one day were considered as one opportunity) to come good on freedom, democracy and development. Again, recently India with hundred twenty crore population lost to South Korea with population of five crore in the race for UN Secretary General. Indian students were brutally killed in Australia, diplomats & dignitaries humiliated in USA and Indian fishermen fired upon in its territorial water by Sri Lanka. What more example of a Nation on drift should we witness in our life time? A Nation was betrayed by its Leaders in Govt., Opposition and also in Bureaucracy; otherwise, much earlier this country would have been a financial super power much like China and Singapore, today. Let’s not waste time over split milk. What we need the most; a maximum leader who could bring Govt., Opposition and Bureaucracy in the same page at a given point in time Fortunately, Rahul Gandhi is emerging as the Maximum Leader of the country and he has apparently made up his mind to assert himself; which is a good sign for his party and also for the country. Rahul Gandhi posses all the six qualities of a good ruler as defined by Kautilya (Chanakya) in his treaties “Arthasastra”. Rahul Gandhi hails from the family which has given three Prime Minister and two of them laid down their life for the country and second most influential leader of his party “The Indian National Congress”, arguably the biggest party spread evenly in the country. And, he has the largest following among youth. Again, Gandhi Jr. has assiduously followed a simple strategy ground-up in youth congress and took pain to forge a social coalition among Dalit, Farmers and Minorities, just like a shrewd politician and at the same time open to new Ideas. Perhaps, Rahul believes in the marriage in the Political thoughts of Chanayaka & Gandhi; and therefore his Padayatra from Bhatta Parsule to Alighar spanning over 350 K.M attracted not only million eyeballs but a billion plus hearts by reaching out to ordinary people on an important issue of Land Acquisition for farmers in UP. Rahul Gandhi no doubt possesses charisma of (his own and his clan) of a Maximum Leader; a lakh plus crowd were vying for a glimpse of him at Bhubaneswar public meeting which is seen to be believed. The other aspect of maximum Leadership being the tallest leader in the entire political spectrum; Rahulji is slowly but steadily moving there among the emerging leaders in the country. His much talked about statement at Bhubaneswar terror attack was of a bold leader who does not shy away from talking about a bad news or an inconvenient truth. Rahul as the maximum leader of the country ideally should put his vision for the county to the young people in university and college campuses and inspire them to think about the problems of the country, apparent solutions, on innovation and their wishes for the country .This is important as all new ideas are going to come from the fresh minds of young people. Further, he has to impress upon his party led Govt. to leverage Cities for economic growth, fix the structural problems in agriculture and bring about a paradigm shift in infrastructure sector to put the last three years to good use.