A vent in the Delirium

We are a nation that is obsessed with absolute numbers. Our policy and decision making is based on these statistical gimmicks. The human or the emotional angle is almost never counted for. The nation is being driven by GDP numbers and the corporate world by CTC numbers. Just like GDP is the most flawed way of assessing any development or growth of a nation, CTC is the most flawed way of evaluating your career and its growth. GDP is only a measure of the total worth of a nation and CTC is only what a company is willing to spend on you. Both these numbers are too centered on money as the cornerstone of decision making. While money is important, it isn't the only factor on which decisions should be based. This is precisely why we need something like HDI, Human Development Index, which takes into account Life Expectancy and Education along with Income into consideration. For a nation it's more important for the people to feel the growth than just seei...

The United Nations was constituted in 1945 with an objective to promote international peace, economic development, social progress and respect for international law. It was the successor to the failed League of Nations. It is the world's largest international body with 193 member nations but has only 5 permanent members of the security council. In the last decade UN has failed to serve any of its desired objectives. In terms of International peace, we have seen attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan by the US. There has been civil wars in Libya, Syria and Somalia. While the tensions have been on the rise in Iran and North Korea. UN has played no major role in preventing these attacks. The mighty powers, like US and Israel, have largely had there way in world politics without any respect for the UN. In the past 60 years UN has also failed to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict and territorial disputes are prevalent all over the world. India has disputes with Pakistan and China, an...

There has been a lot of debate recently on growth vs inflation with the government pushing for reforms and higher growth. The Government has been pitching for India as an attractive option for investment, but the growth model has gone wrong. The growth has not been inclusive. Our country has more mobile phones than toilets. This growth is futile. The unbalances growth over the years has led to a widening gap between the rich and the poor. While the rich are enjoying tax benefits, the poor are struggling to make ends meet. This gap between the rich and the poor is bad for the economy itself. It will lead to a very unstable economy. High rates of inflation are bad for the society as well. We have 57% of our population that lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day. This means that even a small rise in the inflation is detrimental to the fate of millions of Indians. In a country like India, high rates of inflation will have its political ramifications...

There has been a rise in the amount of mergers and acquisitions across all sectors. In the wake of the global economic slowdown, it has helped in consolidation. A merger is the convergence of two firms, in the same or allied sectors, that see synergy in them working together. An acquisition is a purchase of a firm by another firm as a part of its strategy to either expand or consolidate. But mergers and acquisitions come at a cost to both the corporate and the customers. Consolidation, as a result of M&As, leads to reduced competition. As the number of companies in the sector gets reduced, it is easier for the new firm to increase prices. We saw such increase in the aviation sector after the acquisition of Deccan air by Kingfisher and that of Sahara by Jet airways. There is also a chance of cartel formation when the industry has just 3-4 major players. M&As are good for bringing stability but are bad for innovations. When two firms merge...

The biggest flaw in our society is that any anger, awareness or revolt is only  ephemeral . Any issue is taken up only for it's face value. Once out of sight, the issue as well as its crusaders are soon forgotten and the long fight is left to be fought by their kin. The recent rage against rape isn't any different from that against corruption, black money, blue line, Jessica Lal, Arushi and many others that even I couldn't recall. The issues here are different but there is one common thread that binds it all. They all happened in National Capital Region , where all the news channels have their headquarters. A Project Director with NHAI gets killed for blowing the lid off a major scam and the CBI arrests poor rickshaw puller as the main accused. No matter how absurd this sounds, its not relevant enough to make the headlines. Eight out of ten people would have completely forgotten or never heard of Satyendra Dubey and the rest two wouldn't be aware of what...

There have been many prophecies about the Third World War and its probable causes. From Oil to Water, from Nuclear Weapons to Intercontinental Missiles, from Afghanistan to Iran, we have concocted many tales of the next world war. But the next world war would be because of the gender imbalance. Gender imbalance around the world has been on the rise. The developing countries are seeing a decline in their sex ratio. We have gravely undermined the importance of the other sex in the sustenance of human life on this planet. A male dominated society is has its foundations in discrimination and inequity. Such foundations of a society or nation are detrimental to the world. A nation lacking the humbleness, politeness, and grace of the feminine gender would be aggressive and intolerant. The bigotry of the world's extremists has been on the rise in tandem with the decreasing sex ratio. The suppression of the female gender bolsters the ego of the male counter...

Ancient India was the hub of learning and innovation. India had scholars like Aryabhatta, Charak, Chanakya, and many others. But, with time, that zeal for innovation has faded away due to the constant lack of encouragement from the whole system. Ancient India gave zero to the world, invented chess, developed ayurveda but today not many discoveries take place in India. This lack of innovation is the result of the systemic failure of our society. From school to college to workplace, we are taught and tamed into following the set rules. We are taught to be followers and any attempt to think freely is viewed as dissent. Our society has closed itself to any criticism or corrective evolution. This was quite evident when we saw the introduction of Genetically Modified seeds in India. Every technology has its pros and cons, and we need to encourage the spirit of research and innovation to increase the pros and limit the cons but an outright opposition to anything new will be a hindr...