Farmer's Market

 

Let us face the fact that "no farmer ,no food " is as true as "no mason, no home" or "no driver, no transport" or "no doctor, no healthcare"; or several other similar combinations. We need them all but more importantly we need all of them to work seamlessly together.  Idealism apart real life works out rather differently. So there are different interest groups looking after the interests of their own. Often times one group's interests run counter to another group. Mill owner's  association has a different perspective compared to mill workers association. Obviously! 

 

It is the reason we have laws. Laws govern the relationship between different constituents of the society. It is a system that strives to ensure that the big picture that emerges is congenial and takes every one's rights,plans and aspirations on board. Ideally! Let us now circle back to the farmer's again. 

 According to National Crime Records Bureau of India 10,281 farmer's committed suicide in 2019. Mental health is certainly is not a major factor. Greatest reason for world's  highest rate of farmer suicide is socioeconomic. Something we can and should take head on. According to the Journal of Epidemiology and Global health,"This has multiple manifestations, including a lack of agricultural investment and irrigation improvement, use of cash crops, the increased use of non institutional credit sources, and the reduction of trade barriers".

 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210600615300277

 

It is self evident that the Indian farming sector is in serious trouble. The question is what are we going to do about it?  Now here comes the old competing interest group factor in play. Who is this farmer we are talking about? Someone with a small piece of land in an arid remote area or someone with large canal fed farms with easy access to markets? Clearly their immediate needs and interests are not going to be same.

 

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/05/17/india-agriculture-issues-priorities

 

A frame work is required to be implemented on an urgent basis. Are the much maligned Farm bills an answer? On the face of it the laws are trying to provide an answer to the most dogged challenges to the farming sector. It addresses farm credit, technical inputs, storage and access to bigger markets. Everything that study after study has underlined as areas of immediate concern.

Why is there such violent opposition to these laws then? I have formed my own opinion after some due diligence and there is this feature from usually inimical and biased BBC which I think is well rounded. 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54233080

 

I believe the main issues here is the  fear of change! Change is hard and to top it off the laws are an unknown quantity. No knowing how they will fare in actual implementation. Secondly there is a lack of trust in the government. As  a number of previous aggressive reform and restructuring initiatives of the very same government has shown, there will be some collateral damage. Probably collateral costs can not be entirely avoided during a reform process. Thirdly there is the political reason. 100 million reasons actually! That is the estimated number of farmers in India. A massive voting block by any reckoning. If the opposition manages to turn it away from the ruling party .... it can realize instant nirvana!

 

There is a fourth reason and here I am on a sticky wicket ! I will go out on a limb and say it because it needs to be said! Three words,"Farming Interest Groups". Over the past decades some farming areas of the country have gotten used to free / cheap electricity; subsidized fertilizers; unfettered exploitation of water resources; mindless cash crop rotation; fearless burning of stubble closing eyes to the unfolding environmental disaster and  unkindest cut of all is that they have been handsomely rewarded  for it  ! Government after government has blindly bought their crop at a pre-determined floor price usually higher than the world price for the same commodity. It eats up 50% of India's annual expenditure. Per capita income in India is $1,640 US/ year; but  this group can afford to buy tractors costing around $10,000 US, they can afford to send their children to college in Canada and Australia and they move around in a luxury SUV. They are worried sick about upsetting their "bank rolled by the exchequer" life style. This group and wannabes form the backbone of the most violent opposition to farm reform laws.

 

So the government grain storage's are full to the rafters that forces massive tonnage to be left open to the elements; rotting and feeding rats. It can not be even exported because prices are lower in the world market and the quality of the procured crops vary dramatically.  No body has the guts to bell this cat. There are only 23 crops on this privileged list. Wheat, rice and sugar cane prominent among them. It benefits few farming communities but excludes millions and millions of other farmers.

 

I am not  a votary of the free market without social check and balances. However I do see its benefits too.I do not believe in making the rich poor but I also believe that poor should not remain poor. Is it too much of an ask? Why can't we provide easy credit, scientific guidance and easy market access to our farmers? Why can't we tell them what crops will keep their land's productivity at optimum and still sell well in the market? Why can't we allow them to choose how and who they will sell to? Why can't we place a fool proof system to protect their land rights and commercial interests? 

 

Having a law is only the beginning. Laws need other implementing and oversight system to be operating in tandem. It needs a sensitive and responsive administration that is quick to do a course correction if needed. I do not understand why we can not climb down from our rigid my way or the highway stand.I do not know if these bills will do the trick.  What I know is that doing nothing is not an option.10,281 dead farmers are shouting this my ear!  Let us shape the bill around poorest of the poor farmer's interests. As someone once told me ," do not tell me how this will not work; tell me how can we  make it work"!

"New Farm Laws Have the Potential to Raise the Income of Farmers" says Gita Gopinath. As  the Chief economist of IMF she should know a thing or two !

https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/india-s-agriculture-laws-have-potential-to-increase-farm-income-says-gita-gopinath-1763291-2021-01-27

What we must do is to stop marketing farmers for our petty interest and start cultivating the market in the interest of the farmer. Let us make a "farmer's Market"! Our job is cut out for us!

 

 

 

 

How to lose an election!

 

Politics is a complex beast. Specially in democracies where the fickle minded public can and often does vote in and vote out political parties and individuals in a mystical ritual that is yet not fully understood. Even by the subject experts; whose job it is in the first place.

Of course these are the professional organizations and maverick individuals that manage the whole process of an election campaign. They control what is said to the voting public; when it is said and who  says it. They decide what spots run on TV, radio and social media. They make herculean efforts to chart plans for billboards across the nation. They weaponize twitter and Facebook effectively. An army is deployed to run campaigns on telephone. All sorts of interviews, write ups and sympathetic stories are innocuously placed in media. Voting blocs are created and nurtured by these experts and they decide what statement or policy of the opponent is to be attacked so as to garner the maximum impact. 

Massive campaign funds are generated by fund raisers. Election rallies and meetings with influencers are organized meticulously. Debating points are extensively researched and drummed into the candidates.  Favours of all kind are sought and are called in. It is all part science, part psyops , part financial sledge hammering and a large dollop of voodoo! Rumour has it that candidate's policies and  election manifesto has something to do with it too! Although I am not quite so sure of that !

Whichever way you look at it the fact is that even for candidates with high winning probability an extensive  and well developed support system is deployed to coach and mentor. Their hand is held every step of the way to the finish line. Which of course is to win the optimum prize. Elections!

What happens if the election is lost!

Sadly there is no script for it currently. As is the ways of the world all the previous support system crumbles overnight for  a loser. They are naked under a spotlight and on their own. There is no one backing, no one providing help or guidance and they can not hide. There is a business opportunity going abegging for those  very same election experts; if you know what I mean.

Individuals and political parties in general mostly behave with acumen, foresight and introspection after the first shock waves have passed. Although the loser is not in a frame of mind to heed any advise but mostly saner heads prevail. Not so at other times. We have witnessed the losing party accuse the election authorities of bias; declare voting machines to be hacked and reprogrammed; blame police forces of threatening the voters; missing votes for self and fake votes for the opponent. They even lament the naivety of the voters. Everything but themselves is pointed fingers at in their frustration.  Mostly  society treats  these claims with the disdain they deserve, since the voters know who they actually voted for.

Democracies can deal with more serious charges  with aplomb and relative ease.   Courts exist and aggrieved parties are encouraged to approach them to redress their grievances. They are heard on the basis of evidence and in accordance with the constitution and laws of the land. There is a reason why the three branches of the government ; legislative, executive and judiciary are independent of each other and are meant to counter balance each other. 

Of all the people POTUS should comprehend the envelope democracies work within. To be absolutely transparent I personally trust his opponent  a lot less than him and had hoped for his win but I am not a voter in the US so he did not get my vote. Whatever knee jerk reactions and the verbal diarrhea his recent loss precipitated; he should have realized that  the final authority rests with the court of law. Once his petitions were found to be unsubstantiated, he should have bowed out gracefully. Alas!

He came totally unhinged instead. I honestly believe that due to the shock of the election loss he has suffered a sudden mental degradation not unlike a heart stroke where the heart is not fully functional. In this case his intellect is seriously impaired but I am not a doctor. I would certainly request  medical intervention and evaluation in this case. He may well be certifiable if he is lucky! He might escape the criminal proceedings being contemplated against him by entering an insanity plea.

At the very least send him immediately to the political boot camp to learn one thing and one thing only - how to lose an election! After all he is still the president for another ten days or so and you never know what other idiocy he is planning in his feverish mind .

चल रे भुक्खड़ ! Chal Re bhukkhad !

 

Le fils de l'homme ( The Son of Man) by Rene Magritte,

 1964. Oil on canvas. 116 X 89 cm. Private collection

 

चल रे भुक्खड़ !

बस मौसमी आम ख़ास होते  हैं,

मैं आदमी  आम हूँ , मामूली  हूँ। 

कुछ यूँ जाने कि आपके 

खेत में दबी मूली हूँ। 

 

ना पास हूँ न फेल हूँ,

मैं रात की बची भेल हूँ। 

जो फूल न पाई पूरी हूँ,

निहायत गैरज़रूरी हूँ। 

 

हारे की ठंडी आह  हूँ,

मुँह में ही रही  वो वाह हूँ। 

मैं बेपैंदी का लोटा हूँ,

जो ना सीखा वो तोता हूँ। 

 

नाकाम इश्क़ की आस हूँ ,

मरते की उखड़ी साँस हूँ। 

दूर कहीं अब जाऊँ क्यों ,

मैं कहाँ किसी के पास हूँ। 

पत्थर से लगी वो ठोकर हूँ,

मैं बन्द सर्कस का जोकर हूँ। 

उसने यकीं क्योंकर न किया ,

अभी उठा मैं रो कर हूँ। 

मौक़े मौक़े पे धोखे दिये जाएँ ,

आदत है मुझे , बाउम्मीद भी हूँ,

ज़ाहिर है वो अब पशेमां होंगे ,

सच जानता हूँ सब, नादाँ भी हूँ। 

उल जलूल बकता हूँ बहुत,

टर्र टर्र; बदसूरत ढढू हूँ,

बातों में मेरी अब बचा न सत,

चीनी बिन सख़्त सा लड्डू हूँ। 

  Roman script follows :-

 Chal Re Bhukkhad !

Bus mausami aam khas hote hain,

Mai aadmi aam hoon,mamooli hoon.

Kuch yoon jaane ki aapke

khet me dabi mooli hoon.

 

Na pass hoon na fail hoon,

Mai raat ki bachi bhel hoon.

Jo fool na payi poori hoon,

Nihayat gair jaroori hoon.

 

Haare ki thandi aah hoon,

Muh me hi rahi voh wah hoon.

Mai bay paindi ka lota hoon,

Jo na seekha vo tota hoon.

 

Nakam ishq ki aas hoon,

Marte ki ukhdi saans hoon.

Door kahin ab jaon kyon,

Mai kahan kisi ke paas hoon.

Pathar se lagi vo thoker hoon,

Mai band circus ka joker hoon.

Usne yakin kyon kar na kiya,

Abhi utha mai ro kar hoon.

Mauke mauke pe dhokhe diye jayen,

Aadat hai mujhe, Ba umeed bhi hoon,

Zahir hai vo ab pasheman honge,

Sach jaanta hoon sab, naadan bhi hoon.

Ul jalool bakta hoon bahut,

Tarr tarr; bdsurat dadoo hoon,

Baton me meri ab bacha n sat,

Cheeni bin sakht sa ladoo hoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

सब ठीक ठाक है ! Sab Theek Thak hai !

"With Love From Vincent "
80X50 cm . Acrylic on canvas

 सब ठीक ठाक है !

बरसों अपनी मौत का मातम किया जो है खुद ही;

अब जो आई मौत किसी ग़मज़दा की कमी नही  खली।

माज़ी पे  मिट्टी डाल बढ़े, तो मुक़द्दर पे पड़ी मिली ,

बेशुमार थी ,कब्र पे दो मुट्ठी की कमी नही  खली।

सायों ने कब साथ दिया है अंधेरों में कभी कहीं ,

बस तो फिर अपने साये की कोई कमी नही  खली।

अँधेरों में इंसान दग़ा देता है या  साया , खुदा जाने ,

मै तो  साया था उजाले का, उस शख्स की  कमी नही  खली।

अपनी खुदी के सिवा जहाँ में कोई  दुश्मन ही नहीं अपना ,

हमने कब तक निभाई, फिर उस बेरूख़ की कमी नही  खली।

होशमंद हुए तो झूठ सुना; बोला भी खुद से वही ,

कमोबश कट ही गयी अब,सदाक़त की कमी नही  खली।

बेशर्म होना अच्छा रहेगा  कि खुदगर्ज़ बनना बेहतर ;

मासूमियत की हद हुई कि अपनी कमअक्ली नहीं खली। 

राज़ ये कि ग़लतबयानी में हमने महारत हासिल कर ली  ,

गाते हैं, पीते हैं, जितना हो जीते हैं;  कमी तुम्हारी नही  खली।

    Roman script follows :-

Sab Theek Thak Hai !

Barson apni maut ka matam kiya jo hai khud he;

Ab jo aaye maut kisi gumzada ki kami nahi  khali.

Mazee pe  mitti dal bade, to muquadder pe padi mili ,

Beshumar thee ,kabr pe do mutthi ki kami nahi  khali.

sayon ne kab saath diya hai andheron me kabhi kahin ,

bus to fir apne saye ki koi kami nahi  khali.

Andheron me insan daga deta hai ya  saya , khuda jane ,

Mai to saya tha ujale ka, us shaks ki  kami nahi  khali.

Apni khudi ke siwa jahan me koi  dushman hi nahi apna ,

humne kab tak nibhai, fir us berukh ki kami nahi  khali.

Hoshmand huay to jhooth suna; bola bhi khud se vahi ,

Kamobash kut he gayi ab,sadakat ki kami nahi  khali.

Besharm hona accha rahega  ki khudgarz bannana behtar ;

Masoomiyat ki had hui ki apni kumakli nahi khali. 

Raaz ye ki galatbayani me humne maharat hasil kar lee  ,

Gaate hain, peete hain, jitna ho jeete hain; kami tumhari nahi  khali.

Code 99 !

Codes are omnipresent! Some were written by the greatest writer of all - God! Most of the time we mortals fail to recognise them or understand their import; forget about making any improvements in them. All the software that runs our modern world, right from our mobile phone to our laptop, traffic lights, billboards, smart TV, online shopping, the mysterious world of finance; you name it, are all based on various code that people like you and I have written. On reflection discount me since I have not written a single line of code ever. I can't do it even if my life depended on it! Ironically life can actually depend on a code!

In the IKEA store code 99 is announced to alert all employees if a kid is wandering. Considering there are all those hiding places it can mean the difference between a lost child and one united with parents. In the Walmart store, code 99 is a little starker. It tells all employees of an emergency and for the male staff to drop everything and rush to the spot to deal with it. Reportedly Police use code 99 to report 'reckless operation'. Stopping it can surely save lives.

The importance of this code was brought home to me the other day as I was watching a report from inside an emergency room of a hospital. During the forty-odd minutes, the correspondent was in there, code 99 was announced six times. What it means in an ER is for physicians to rush and provide immediate help to a patient needing resuscitation. In plain speak, it means a patient in dire straits struggling to breathe! Its critical nature is highlighted by the fact that catastrophically four of the six patients were lost during those forty minutes! Code 99! Life does depend on it!

According to the largely unreliable Wikipedia 9 out of the 10 most polluted cities are in India. Obviously breathing is not as easy as it should be. I do not know who answered code 99 but recent reports in the media suggest that Dauladhar mountain range is visible from Jalandhar city, some 213 km. away. It is a first time such an event has happened in the living memory. Air is so crisp and clean. India's capital Delhi is perennially choked with dust and particulate matter. One of worst places to be for individuals with respiratory challenges. Haze is sometimes so thick that the airport has to halt operations and divert flights because of poor visibility. Someone has answered code 99 there and friends  are reporting clear blue skies. The kind they have never seen! Pollution? What is that?

World is in a lockdown mode. One little unfamiliar pathogen has brought the mighty human race to its collective knees. Human race is in the ER in more ways than one. When they go out and buy entire shelves of food leaving nothing for others, and when they come to fisticuffs over a roll of toilet paper, someone needs to shout out code 99. Human selfishness is chokingly nauseating  There are stories that entire group of infected people callously and at times criminally  spread this pathogen to others. Spitting on food, on currency and on people. Hid their contagious state and gathered in public! If it is not being in a moral, mental and ethical ER than tell me what is it? 

Most people are doing alright with a lot less on one hand and a lot more on the other. Less jobs, less money, less going out, less partying. There is more stress, more fear, more uncertainty but more time for the family. Gas is cheaper than it has been in decades and there is no where to go. However there is that blue sky and being thankful for  what you have - a life.

These are very challenging times indeed but it too shall pass! To come out smelling like roses from this mess we need to call out code 99 ourselves and respond to code 99 ourselves; for our own sake. Human society must learn to thrive with a lot less consumption, a lot less pollution, less greed and a lot more compassion. We will get over this hump but must always remember these times when political power, untold riches, designer brands, luxury yachts, sports car on the driveway and material things meant nothing when gasping for a breath of air!

Code 99 , Code 99 !

Snake Oil Salesmen!

Exit polls like politicians have a bad rep. There are the usual allegations of them being sponsored and suffering from inherent biases, right from collection of data to processing and interpreting them. No one bats an eyelid if they are proven wrong by the actual results. Fact is that psephology has reached a level of refinement where it will give you the exact direction the results are headed even when the numbers are off mark.

Delhi assembly election results were obvious on the day of the voting itself. Despite the clownish hyperbole and unsubstantiated tall claims of victory from the losing party ,it was clear that exit polls have rained on their parade. What was surprising even to me is the number of seats won by the winner. Based on the massive counter campaign mounted by BJP and quite decent public response to it , I expected them to get to double digits. Of course they are two short of it. So the numbers do not add up and let's see why is that .

Firstly let us take Congress. When you get a zero on top of getting another zero in the previous attempt; when over 90% of your candidates lose their deposits and when your vote share falls to 4.32 % ,something is not wrong, everything is ! There is a good theory that congress did not bring their A game as it would eat into AAP's vote share and that would help their national rival BJP. Essentially it would be true if congress had the ability to put up a fight. They don't. If this theory is true it is the worst thing Congress could have done. It would only hasten their demise. Marred by poor central leadership, handicapped by petty internal party politics, endemic cronyism  and  their history of corruption scandals. Congress has lost the faith of the electorate. Their traditional Muslim vote bank and numerically strong economically weaker strata of society has deserted them lock stock and barrel  for AAP. They need to realize that they are done. Done for good! Irrelevant Congress needs to reinvent itself. Half measures like mother and son taking turns to lead the party are not going to cut it. If Congress wishes to survive Gandhi's need to be pensioned now! That includes deemed Gandhi's, meaning Vadra's ! Thank them and let them go! This is of course only the beginning. But when they get to it let me know and I will give them further advice. Something tells me that they are never going to trouble me ever.

Next join me in congratulating BJP on their unqualified success in this election. It was so hard to loose but they managed to do it comprehensively. It really took five long years of doing absolutely nothing . You know how hard that is, but they did the impossible. They only have  themselves to thank for it.

I do not know when will they realise, if ever, that they can not win every election by putting up Modi's picture on the bill board. Time was Delhi BJP and its previous incarnation Jan Sangh had stalwarts at the helm. Madan Lal Khurana, Kedarnath Sawhney, Sahib Singh Verma easily come to mind. Today they have no one even approaching that stature. To be fair they could have roped in Arun Jaitley or very well liked Sushma Swaraj from the centre but both sadly passed away some time before the elections.

For every M G Ramachandran and N T Rama Rao there are dozens of Manoj Tiwari's. He is such a lightweight that early on in the campaign he got disdainfully branded as "Rinkiya Ke Papa", and it stuck. Not entirely without reason, since he does not have much else to his credit. Contrast that with the "terrorist " tag Kejriwal shook with aplomb and made his accusers look bad as bonus. Does Manoj Tiwari even know anything about Delhi ?

Every third voter in Delhi is a BJP voter. Now traditionally this core voter base was largely made up of Punjabi community that migrated after the partition of India and the business community of Delhi. BJP needs to have a look at a calendar. Surprise ! Surprise ! It is the year 2020! That Punjabi who migrated from Pakistan is now nursing his third and fourth generation. Muscular nationalism does not, repeat does not resonate with this new generation in the same way as their parents. Am I making a big explosive revelation? Surely I am not the first to discover that Kejriwal belongs to the same business community that forms the critical core of BJP . He has also packed his party with members from his community. Satyendra Jain and Swati Maliwal are well known public personalities. There are many others with strong base in Delhi. Was it a co incidence or was it a master stroke to slice away BJP vote share. I will leave for BJP to decipher.

Demographics is another Achilles heel. It is no secret that Delhi has grown exponentially. It has attracted a massive influx of people from all over the country to pursue education and jobs. Sadly it is far from being a melting pot. The influx has created several distinct pockets wildly different on cultural, social, economic and political scales. What has BJP done to communicate with these diverse groups? Just one case in point. Most of the recent  commotion at JNU in the run up to this election was led by students from outside of Delhi. Without taking any sides my question to Delhi BJP is how have you reached these vocal and energetic student groups that are a huge influence on their peers and are most likely voters in Delhi. I know the answer. BJP has done nothing except brand them after the fact. There is no inclusion, no preemption and no out reach. Just dealing through ABVP is not enough. It has only deepened the divide. Although they are mostly left inspired and left was really left out in this election with CPI polling 0.02 % and CPM polling 0.01 %. Their combined vote share below that of NOTA which came in at 0.4 %. Electorally insignificant to the result yet the massive noise they created and the inimical press it generated had very bad optics and generally showed BJP in an unfavourable light.

I realize Manoj Tiwari was para dropped on Delhi BJP as a nod to the sizable Bhojpuri linguistic group. However its downside is that the local leadership or whatever is left of it has felt under valued. Has BJP learned anything at all from the Kiran Bedi saga ? Please realize that the infamous 'surge" in voting for the party  after 3 pm either did not happen at all or was so insignificant as to be of no electoral value. That really means either  the voter is apathetic which is bad or what is worse, BJP workers are. For a cadre based party that spells disaster.

Emasculated local leadership and the non existent leadership mentoring programme ensured that the chinks in AAP's armour were left unexpoilted for want of a dynamic leader. There was no CM face to take on Kejriwal. He had a virtual free run to score as he pleased. His strategic mistakes were not taken advantage of. He was smart enough not to engage BJP on Shaheen bagh yet BJP failed miserably to answer him  on Bijli -pani - school. Who was asking where exactly these schools are ? Who was showing Kejriwal's false marketing up ? No one was because BJP had found Shaheen Bagh! That was to be their be all and end all. How pathetic! It would still be some consolation if that matter was handled in a befitting manner. Even with a compliant central government BJP failed to get much out of Shaheen Bagh as they allowed them all the initiative. They let Shaheen Bagh narrative to take hold and got shown up as  all talk and no action weaklings.

"Modi is BJP; BJP is Modi" is a very slippery path to the bottom. If you don't believe me ask congress about it. Prashant kishor may or may not have guided the AAP party but BJP needs to run a modern training programme for their leaders to learn what to say , when to say it and how to say it. Anyone that fails to attend the programme should be barred from opening their mouth. Better ask most of them to shut up. 

IT cell needs to be brought up to speed and led by a competent strategist. You must trust me on this, BJP needs some very serious media outreach. I have not seen a greater barrage of bad press against BJP in a long time. International press too.  BJP should never ever trot out the freebies as a reason for their loss unless they want to deceive themselves. Explain to me how you lost the up market Greater kailash by a margin of nearly 17,000 votes and win  the lower middle class Karawal nagar constituency?

That brings me to the winner who certainly does not need my advice. AAP is an enigma wrapped in mystery and sort of defies definition. So  let us see what kind of a beast AAP is. To me it is a chameleon  that paints itself in the colour it needs to hunt. What started out as a contrarian party has morphed into a " Hindu" party. Or has it? AAP has successfully usurped BJP's tag of "party with a Difference" by making it " new kind of politics". It has successfully cut the ground under BJP's Hindu credentials by bringing in "Lord Hanuman"; the greatest ever devotee of Sri Ram ! AAP has successfully become the darling of Muslims who tend to vote en bloc. I think he played his cards very well by focusing the election on water , electricity and education and then spicing it up with his tricks.

AAP also has a Congress face. Sort of the congress that congress is not. It has completely appropriated Congresses captive voting blocks by using the congress tactic of doling largesse masquerading as social welfare to enhance their electoral chances. For example AAP government selectively paid salaries only to Muslim clergy, a tactic straight out of Congress play book. Kejriwal's studious silence on Shaheen bagh and tasking his deputy to speak in its favour was a master stroke. BJP got roughly about 39% of the vote share that leaves the odd 60% and AAP very smartly and  selectively doled out sops like free bus travel for women ,etc. to keep voters engaged and hooked to it. For all intents and purposes AAP is the new congress. It certainly has got their entire voter base. I am amazed at congress though. BJP is not decimating them AAP is; at least in Delhi. Why are they smug about AAP's win?

What is a common thread in all this is  that all these parties are selling their brands of snake oil ! A supposed cure for every thing except that there is no such thing. BJP has the MODI brand. Did not work on Delhi, did not work last time either . Congress insists on selling the GANDHI brand way after its sell by date. It has not worked anywhere in a very long time. Aap is selling the KEJRI brand. This new brand of snake oil did not find many takers in Punjab but so far seems to be selling very well in Delhi. There is one thing they all need to understand though. If you want to be a one man army like Congress , be prepared for the fate of Congress. People will eventually find out that snake oil does not cure.

Bombs Away !

 "Blast #09420, 2007, Photograph By Naoya Hatakeyama.

It was not very long ago in the human history when almost the entire world had similar systems of governance as well as identical political and social structure. Most governments were hereditary monarchies. Politics usually meant palace intrigues and wranglings in the royal court. Far far removed from the common man. Society comprised of  land owning and revenue generating entities of various importance on one hand and workers of various kind on the other, differing only by the level of apathy state had for them.

Things changed over time as political thoughts and various social theories germinated in the human thought process. Spread of education also hastened the wide dissemination of the ideas of equality and participative democracy. Great strides made in science, technology and the human knowledge base itself has ensured that in all things the status quo comes under microscope constantly.

Another momentous thing happened. Individual and group beliefs in the supernatural and the defining succor provided by the faith in a creator God slowly but surly melded into fiercely competitive organized religions. This development arguably has been the most potent catalyst of political change and social churning in the last millennium.

All of these historical developments have informed the prevalent systems of governance  to some degree or the other. So today in the twenty first century we still have a monarchy like Britain on one hand; which actually is a democracy in every sense of the word. Britain is ruled by a women Queen to boot,  who  also happens to be the head of state of sixteen other independent countries. On the flip side we have Saudi Arabia. Another monarchy that  could  easily be straight out of medieval  times. The comparisons could not be more stark. Saudi women were not even allowed to drive till recently and still need a male guardian at all times.

There are all kinds of democracies in the world. So we have the  biggest democracy by geographical area , USA on one hand where one single individual president is the head of government and head of the state. With mainly two political parties and universal adult franchise , things are pretty straight forward . Everything is clearly delineated. On the other end we have India. President is only head of the state. Power lies with the prime minister and the  parliament. Biggest democracy by numbers; 1/6  of the entire population of earth lives here. 1.3 billion people at last count. Dozens of official languages and hundreds of dialects interact here. Although things maybe moving towards a two party system, India's 1841 registered political parties contested recent elections. No it is not a typo. It is big; it is diverse and looks like a massive kaleidoscopic chaos that somehow manages to dance in unison; phew! India is exactly opposite of the quintessential American melting pot yet both are democracies.

All the progressive human thoughts notwithstanding there are currently a staggering 50 dictatorships in the world. Biggest of them is the most populous nation on Earth - China! It markets itself as peoples republic , however there is no trace of a republic and people have no rights. Xi Jinping has absolute power as president of the country; chief of communist party as well as that of the armed forces. China's client state North Korea is a communist dictatorship too and considerably more unstable, poverty stricken and dangerous. Bulk of the dictatorships are in Africa. 19 nations currently. Most of the population of these places is facing famine, hunger and systematic poverty. They have negligible healthcare; lack of education and complete absence of human rights. You would not know it by looking at the lavish lifestyles of their dictators though! 

Russia is the original communist nation. Bolshevik revolution succeeded here in 1917 and it was exported to eastern Europe, china and several other countries. Russia was the original dictatorship of the proletariat. What is it today? Officially it is a federal republic with a book of laws, political rights for people and elections. However for the last couple of years laws and statues have been modified to suit one individual ; Vladimir Putin, who has been in power one way or other since 2000. Is it a dictatorship? You decide!

Let us not forget the religious systems of governance. Smallest of them is the Vatican city. Technically a self contained nation. Pope is the head of state and head of the government. It is all  honorary just to give respect and status to the catholic church. In reality Vatican city is a part of Italy. Then we have a whole bunch of Islamic nations. They also can be categorized under despotic dictatorships, monarchies or mullahcracies. Some even call themselves democracies too, although on available evidence it is clear that democracy and Islam do not marry successfully .

 1.8 billion people live in 56 Islamic countries. Most have adopted Koranic laws to differing degrees. One would think it would make them quite similar however the differences among them are legendary, historical  and bloody. Iran and Iraq fought war for 8 years not very long ago, both countries have  Shia sect in majority. Of course mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia has not been on good term with Shia Iran since the advent of Islam and currently they do not even have diplomatic relations among them. Saudi's are bombing their neighboring Islamic country Yemen on a regular basis. Syrian refugees and Palestinians before them have found refuge in the Non Muslim west and no Islamic neighbor nation is willing to extend a hand.  It is quite common to find these countries castigating each other as 'Kafir', and  Satan. This religious world is in flux and politically really not very settled.

There is an exception though. The successful Jewish state  of Israel. It is a parliamentary democracy with a book of laws, political rights for citizens and regular elections. Although the state has been under regular violent attacks from different forces mostly supporting  rights for  Palestinians; Israel is reasonably prosperous, quite stable, a technical powerhouse  and forward looking. It is also only the second nation carved on the basis of religion in the world. There is no third.

 We may have our reservations about one system or the other but there is one commonality among all of them. We know who is in charge! When the shit hits the fan we know who to blame. In case of Iran it is Ali Khamenei; in case of North Korea we can lay it on Kim Jong-un. Russian escapades can be put on Vladimir Putin and of course all acts of US commission and omission will be squarely blamed on Donald Trump. 

In a twist of irony, Israel's chalk n cheese mirror image is the only exception to this rule- Pakistan.The first  country ever created for the adherents of a faith. It is officially an Islamic Republic. Counter forces within the country have pushed it to be more Islamic on one end and republic on the other. It has become neither. An all powerful military establishment calls the shots on everything from budget to foreign relations. A super sect within the military ; its spy wing organizes  political assassinations, demonstrations of all kinds, manages the judiciary , conducts regular coups and dictates policy to the elected.  They currently have a  prime minister who is commonly believed to be selected by them . It is an army dictatorship wrapped in a parliament that is garnished with Islam. Nobody is responsible and everyone maintains deniability.Their railway minster of all the people , issues ultimatums of nuclear war to an enemy . Easy to contradict later if it come back to bite them. In the past their chief of army denied knowledge of presence of Osama bin Laden in the back yard of their military compound. They also denied knowledge of nuclear proliferation by their chief of nuclear project. In an uncharitable description it is said that it is the only army that has a country.

No body knows anything in Pakistan yet a lot of mischief in the world gets directly attributed to them.Its political system is distraught; its economy is crumbling and a psychopathic obsession with winning more territory in Kashmir ensures that a ten times more powerful India is a constant threat to its very existence.  It is a very complicated web where it is all sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors. Is it a democracy? Is it a theocracy; is it Islamic; is it a republic? Is army in charge; does the Prime minister have any power other than being a mouth piece? There are only questions and no answers in sight. It would be funny if it was not so irksome!