It is sometimes said that the best intentions of mankind might do more bad than good for the society at large.

Given that its Diwali,  a relevant topic is whether we should burst crackers or not. Obviously, the initiative is in support of a go-green movement.  But, will this good intentioned movement, create more problems than solve any?

If you’ve read Shantaram (by Gregory David Roberts), you might understand what I am trying to say here. There is a passage in the novel, where he describes how he used to take hot water baths twice in the day. And for that there were labourers who would manually carry pots of hot water up several flights of stairs (this was somewhere in the 80’s). When Shantaram comes to know of it, he feels quite guilty about it and decides to stop his practice. But in doing so, as his friend Prabhakar explains, his good deed will only serve to imbalance the eco-system, by snatching away those labourers livelihood.

So as  I wondered about this “don’t burst crackers movement”, I was also thinking about the zillions of people who are engaged in this industry. If collectively we do happen to embrace this movement, what will happen to the people engaged in this industry? Someone might say – rehabilitate them…but most of us know that it is easier said than done.

Before the movement can gain any momentum, we will need to provide actionable plans to rehabilitate these people. Till then, enjoy burst crackers (but with restraint:)).

Happy Deepavali!

The Mumbai 26/11 attacks have left India scathed and seething.

This is not only an attack at the very heart of India’s economic prosperity, but more so an attack on people’s very freedom.

Look at the after-effects of the attack – Severely increased security checks at almost all imaginable places – offices, malls, airports etc; travel advisories emanating from various countries restraining or cautioning against travel to India;  advisories in organizations to limit conferences in hotels and other public meetings; events and festivals such as Bengaluru Habba getting canceled (no doubt, this is right in the spirit of mourning for the 26/11 attacks)  in view of dangers of such a large public gathering and the need to deploy police forces to man this event; and  so many more . . .

As a country we  face huge economic costs of terrorism (much more accentuated after 26/11)

- the travel / tourism and hospitality industry (and there are so many stakeholders here  from the airlines to the big hotels to the petty travel agents) is definitely going to feel the crunch in the days to come unless the government takes measures to alleviate the concerns;

- the billions of dollars which must have been lost in the wake of the shutdown of businesses in Mumbai and during occurence of every such terrorist attack;

- Sporting events getting affected – the england tour and now even the 2010 Commonweatlh games coming in for scrutiny;

- the costs of business deals which might have been lost due to the increased perception of an unsafe India;

- the increased expenditure on security measures at all vantage points in the country (The costs of increasing the security measures and enhancing the patrolling of our border and coasts are very well desirable; they are at least taxpayers money put to good use)

These attacks have struck fear into the hearts of the people and curbed their freedom, no doubt; as we await stringent and decisive actions from our policy makers, we can only hope that interim measures have been put in place to prevent any more of such bloodbaths . . .

I came across this article today. An very nice analysis of the contradictions between India’s economic growth dreams vs the underlying social realities, the roles of the government and judiciary in the same… thought it will be a good idea to share this . . . read on

Tata, bye-bye, and good riddance?

(source: http://infochangeindia.org)