Don't Enter Politics, Mr. Narayana Murthy, become the President

Updates on this post in April 2007 now available

A Presidential Candidate, worthy of being a successor cannot waste his time with becoming and learning party politics. Dr. Kalam has changed the way we perceive and understand presidentship, we need a more proactive President to succeed him to completely get out of the Colonial hangover, the time is right if one were to talk Gandhi's prediction that it would take us 75 years to get Colonialism out of our minds. We need a business person with the kind of independent and steadfast background as Narayanamoorthy to be at the helm to assert is my thoughts today.

The Hindu : National : No plan to enter politics: Narayana Murthy: "No plan to enter politics: Narayana Murthy
'It is a complex canvas, which I am incompetent to handle'

Bangalore: Describing politics as a 'complex canvas' with multiple divides, Infosys Chief Mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy said he had no plans to venture into the field once he retired from the firm next month. 'I have no desire to enter politics. Because I am not suited for that,' Mr. Murthy, who retires from Infosys on August 20 when he turns 60, said in an interview here.
Politics, he said, was a 'very complex canvas' with multiple divides � urban and rural, rich and poor, and educated and not so educated. 'So, I don't think I am competent to handle such a complex canvas.'
Mr. Murthy said on the other hand he had 'some experience in working with a set of homogenous people, that is well-educated people whose objectives are very much aligned with my objectives ... people who believe in certain values.' "

Banning of Books, Blogs...

Banning of Books, Movies, Blogs...(continued from a post in the Chennai Times Blog) -
I think the larger question perhaps that begs attention is whether there is a real possibility for any Indian body to regulate any medium of communication – be it movie, publication or broadcasting. I am not at all sure about publication…the stupid act of the government in banning some blogs is an example. In tamilnadu you can walk into a large book stall in Madurai and pick up some of the most repulsive, hate filled, provocative, published literature in the name of leftist view and dalit movement view and tamil separatist movement publication. I have in many occasions come across cartoons and writings that would be considered seditious in other societies, but, thankfully these are published and consumed in a locality and hence not even known widely outside the area and hence escape any kind of censorship.

This could be true for other parts of India also. I am sure much is published in vernacular press that our Delhi and Chennai babus and hi-flying mantris are not even aware exist. To ban a blog as anti-national in a country where only reportedly 10% use the web and which probably a minority write blogs and even less a minority read others’ blogs is the most unimaginative move. Just goes to show how much of our government lives on-line and how fast they want to mimic the American government. That a supposedly religiously insensitive movie and hence banned movie could be running in theatres and nothing happens is proof enough that regardless of what the netas and babus think, people have their own mind and treat a movie the way it ought to be treated. Period.

This Blog got published: On Farmer's Suicides...

Or atleast parts of it by the news columnist, rather decent of them I should say...neverthless of no help to the farmers - http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/mentor/2006/07/10/stories/2006071000311300.htm

A Satyagraha in the USA? - follow-up

People's Weekly World - NATIONAL CLIPS: "WASHINGTON: Fasting to bring the troops home

Mahatma Gandhi perfected fasting as a protest tactic in the campaign to end British rule in India. Cesar Chavez followed Gandhi�s example in his drive to organize U.S. farm workers. And on July 4, U.S. peace activists began a fast in front of the White House, demanding an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

The antiwar fast now has 3,547 participants. Musicians Willie Nelson and Michael Franti are fasting while they proceed with their summer performing schedule. Others, like actors Danny Glover, Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, are fasting in their hometowns. Labor leader Dolores Huerta and author Alice Walker are part of a �rolling fast� as they crisscross the country.

Reps. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) and Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) are fasting in solidarity. The Rev. Al Sharpton is fasting, as is the Rev. Bob Edgar of the National Council of Churches.

Led by CodePink, activists plan to fast until Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace, and then take their protest to Crawford, Texas, where President Bush has his ranch. Their demand remains the same: bring the troops home.

In Washington, peace fasters lobbied Congress, urging money for human needs, not war. With the crucial November congressional elections on the horizon, fasters initiated a Voters for Peace drive, registering new voters and urging them to sign a pledge vowing only to vote for peace candidates. "

On Farmer's Suicides and a question in a newspaper as to whether we are doing enough to dissuade the farmers from committing suicide

A few years back I attended a meeting of an NGO among those invited to talk on the future direction of the organisation was a farmer from a distant village. During his talk, he mentioned that, ‘this invitation matters a lot back in my village, regardless of how significant a work we do, that we get invited to the city for a meeting, that perhaps some times our name appears on the newspapers or that a farmer has been interviewed on the radio or newspaper means a lot in the village, people will recognize me, my value goes up and many even listen to me in my village now’.

The agrarian crisis in which we find ourselves in is not merely about financial limitations or ‘access to credit’ as many would like to portray. It is the systemic indifference and ignorance of the farming community as being of any value to the larger society. Since long we have limited recognition of any person involved with farming in the larger society unless it is a scientist or a politician. M.S. Swaminathan and Sharad Pawar are not farmers, but, perhaps the most frequent faces associated with farmers in this country. The vast majority of farmers are unfortunately neither technology success stories nor politically aligned to anyone, nor can they access urban sanction as the farmer friend mentioned in the meeting. Majority of our farmers are happy to be left to do their job like many of us and till a few decades back it used to be a profession of pride, where a certain social status was guaranteed.  

Today the status is gone, the tough regulation of the government means that they are the only producers who cannot do a costing on actuals for their production in this country, technical ‘advances’ (many times failures on the field or leaving a long term negative impact) promoted reduce their knowledge on their own vocation to a negligible little, added to such an insult such technical advances being promoted by government (or well to do research establishments or private agencies) means that the access to credit is limited to embracing such time bomb technologies, market forces have now joined to dictate the prices for the produce based on its cosmetic features which would have been ridiculed only a decade ago. If these changes in their vocation has repeatedly abused and insulted them, there is the social pressure, educated children of farmers never want to enter the vocation and in many cases farmers agree with them, in many parts of the country it is difficult to find a bride for a young farmer or a farmer’s son, people of wary of the capacity of a farmer to manage a home successfully. A night watchman job outside   an ATM in the nearby town or the job of usherer in front of a restaurant, showroom or petrol station is considered lot more lucrative in many villages today.

As a nation we have failed to understand the psychic and social stress that is wrought on a significantly large percentage of our society, if anything our handling of this situation has been callous.

The mind of this country that makes decisions cannot any longer relate to its villages or villagers, it cannot particularly relate to the farmer. There are hardly any political, social (or even spiritual leaders) who live in villages, among ordinary farmers in this country. They have all migrated to the city or the place they dwell have become cities. The less said about bureaucrats the better, carrying the colonial dictat that the higher echelons of bureaucracy is mandated by knowledge of English and English education, getting urbanized is the only route to reach there and once having reached there it is impossible to relate to the farmer.  Our media too is urbanized and despite the inroads made by technology there is hardly any media that has a rural soul. Their dependency on commerce implies that they need to promote consumerist urban attitudes, lifestyle and jobs and thereby indirectly denying the value of a simple rural life or farming as a vocation. Attending to the immediate causes because of farmers suicides is a very short sighted approach at the policy level.

Many of us city folks who don’t care whether our rice comes from thiruvallur or Thailand, who don’t think that extra second before picking up ‘tropical’ fruits processed and packaged in countries far off from tropical countries, will not really care if tomorrow all of the Indian farmers commit suicide and die. In fact it would make for one less tragic news headlines and we would be happy about it, it doesn’t touch our lives enough for us to change our lives, to do something except write and give speech and perhaps be part of meaningless exchanges (including this one) that don’t add up to change things. We deserve a nation of less farmers or even no farmers, the farmers don’t deserve to live with insensitive folks like us, we are powerful they are not. So they die while we live. That is the bottomline.

05/07/06