Maoists' Violence Needs Peaceful Solutions

Maoists' Violence Needs Peaceful Solutions

In last few weeks, the Naxalites have intensified their attacks on police force and changed their strategies to force government to negotiate. Swapping of police officer with Naxalite prisoners was as bad or as good as swapping of Kandahar passengers with terrorists. Intensities of terror only differ. But it has set precedence. Home Minister has urged Naxalites to give up arms for starting a dialogue. He may be right in principle. But today after 40 years of Naxalite movement we need a fresh & more proactive approach to solve the problem.

The governments, state as well as the centre, know the issues involved & their complexities vis-à-vis the tribal aspirations, land reforms, acquisition of land for projects, rehabilitation of displaced people due to projects etc. There is nothing which government does not know to take a decision. Why are we waiting for first Naxalites to raise the level of violence to attract attention and then again wait for them to abjure violence? Congress & the communists of all shades have been political allies for most of these forty years. Trinamul Congress is offshoot of Congress. Now they are all playing the blame game.

Proactive Comprehensive Package:

We have seen the farmers benefiting from the special package of Rs.70,000 crores last year. There are demands for special packages for Bihar, UP, Karnataka, Andhra even for relatively frequent & smaller issue like annual floods. Why can’t the central government come out with a pre-emptive and proactive package for the economic development of the Naxal affected areas in cooperation with the concerned states? Do we have a unified policy for development of tribal areas which would address the genuine concerns of the affected groups? We still do not have acceptable unified policy for acquisition of land for any project, public or private, and for compensation & rehabilitation of displaced people. For the tribals who do not wish to relocate, income generating projects based on low skills like handicrafts and handloom, or food processing based on local factors of production may be the acceptable answer. The basic issue of providing livelihood to the poor tribal people should be taken care of through NREGA or any scheme specially made for Naxal affected areas.

Change Ownership of the Trigger:

Talking about abjuring violence! We have seen Maoist movement in Nepal. Even though they have stopped the violence, there is issue of merger of the Maoist fighters with the Nepalese Army. And there is no solution yet for this issue. Do we want to end up with some thing like this situation? Over the decades, these Naxalites have developed no skills other than pulling the trigger. They are also battle hardened young people. Have we given them a good enough reason to drop the gun? Can we for example offer a job in paramilitary forces to any one surrendering the weapons? It may be better to channelize their energies by deploying them with assured jobs in paramilitary forces of different skill levels and sensitivity.

Political Solution & Not Force:

The train hijacking incidence indicates that the Naxalites have stepped up level of activities to high visibility spectrum with objectives of getting their cadre freed from jails. On the other hand the FIR filed names only unknown miscreants instead of the known groups who are responsible for the event. It is time politicians stop such cover ups and eyewash games.

West Bengal government has been committing faux pas one after the other from Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh to Rajdhani hijack. Congress has been only playing a wait & watch game as communists are now out of the UPA government. Since they can not form an alternate government in Bengal, Congress has refrained from sacking the government by invoking article 356. The home minister is busy with plans to modernize the police force to meet the challenge. This in any case was over due in any state of India after terrorism from Pakistan took its toll. While that is being done, we need to differentiate Naxalites and bring them into main stream. By police force we may succeed in containing the activities of the Naxalites but we can not solve the basic problem. That is possible only with a political solution.

Delays Escalate Situation:

Prime Minister has called Maoists biggest threat. We have a minister for North East or interlocutors for J&K. Who is in charge of such a major long standing problem in Naxal affected areas? The home minister is in charge of security part (the effect) but what about the root cause? It is left to the states to manage the issue in spite of their failure to contain the Naxalites even in Congress ruled states like Maharashtra & Andhra. It is time we pull up the socks and have a comprehensive frame work to address the issues. Let us not wait for bows & arrows to be replaced by AK-47 or stones pelted on Rajdhani to be replaced by bombs. We have to give a good reason for Naxalites to come to negotiating tables. Earlier the better!

Vijay M. Deshpande
Corporate Advisor,
Strategic Management Initiative,
Pune

October 30, 2009

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Tainted Ministers, Yes! Tainted Judges, No!

Tainted Ministers, Yes! Tainted Judges, No!


“No tainted person will be appointed judge” says Mr. Veerappa Moily, Union Minister for Law. Judges will have to follow laid down standards, respond to ethics and be accountable to the judiciary & nation. In addition, Judges Standards & Accountability Bill 2009 is also being brought in the parliament in the winter session on accountability of the judges which is over due. Impeachment of judges would continue to be sovereign right of the parliament. That is indeed a very heartening stand taken by the minister & he deserves to be congratulated for that. This perhaps seals the fate of Justice Dinakarn of Karnataka High Court who has been proposed to be elevated to Supreme Court. This strengthens the general belief & expectations of the people by & large that a corrupt person can not be expected to deliver justice. This will give a good direction to the judiciary.

The next logical question is in the heading itself. Can we read some day a statement from say Prime Minister “No tainted person will be appointed as Minister”. In my opinion that day is not far though I may sound over optimistic & simplistic in modern day murky politics. The people are getting fed up & concerned over criminalization of politics. For last 40 years we have had some degree of criminal-politician nexus reflected in the parliament & state assemblies. But it was taken with a pinch of salt. The pinch became bigger by the year and today we have to accept the same with a bucket of salt! The values in public life have been thrown in the dust bin of history. Value Management Deficiency Syndrome has afflicted our politicians beyond redemption.

Voters May Shun Tainted Politicians:

The election of Maharashtra Assembly showed up very poor voter turnout at around 50%. Pune City with about 48% voter turn out and more than 1000 “None of The Above” (NOTA) options exercised for the first time reflects the mood of the urban voters who are ready to shun the corrupt and tainted politicians. NOTA provision was not propagated enough with limited awareness among highly informed people. By the time next Lok Sabha elections are round the corner, this would spread considerably & election commission also would make proper provisions in EVMs for NOTA button. People will be ready to exercise their options against the corrupt, criminal or misfit politicians. It is just a matter of time when rural voter will catch up with NOTA option.

This leaves remaining 4 years for the political parties to take note of NOTA and start building up their defenses or face the consequences even if insignificant to start with. Over a decade it is bound to snowball and become significant & relevant.

Differentiate Supremacy of Parliament & Members:

Meanwhile, the reined in judiciary with accountability and moral high ground would be on a higher pedestal to trigger activism against tainted politicians. The questions would be raised on why “No for tainted judge but yes for tainted minister”. This is bound to trigger reactions and political reforms sooner than later.

We, as a nation, need to differentiate between the supremacy of the parliament and supremacy of the elected representatives. Parliament as a collective body is supreme & not individual members. Supreme Court as an institution is “supreme” and not the individual judges who constitute the bench or the court.

MPs & MLAs therefore can not be above the laws they make themselves. They are public servants and all public servants must be accountable to public. Laws applicable to public must apply to all including their elected representatives. Public elects them in first place to protect public interest and would never permit them to break the laws. There should be no need to obtain approvals from appointing authority (which itself is not clear) for their prosecution.

Accountability & Political Reforms:

At present there is ethics committee of Rajya Sabha which had even approved expulsion of members on charges of unethical conduct relating to sting operations. The jurisdiction of this committee was challenged in the court. It is time that a legal system of accountability of parliamentarians and legislators is established beyond doubt. A citizen should be able to proceed against them through the office of the speaker if not in civil courts. Can courts allow derived immunity to infringe the fundamental rights of the citizens if they are violated by elected representatives? The need for political reforms need not be overstated. Let us hope that some day the judiciary will trigger the political reforms and deliver the true justice to common man which is overdue.

Vijay M. Deshpande
Corporate Advisor,
Strategic Management Initiative
Pune

October 23, 2009

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Commonwealth Games 2010- A Great "Indian Wedding"

Commonwealth Games 2010– A Great “Indian Wedding”

Commonwealth Games 2010 are scheduled for opening on October 3, 2010.The Games return to India after “Asian Games 1982”. We have come a long way since 1982 in terms of our standing in the global political, economical as well as sporting arena. We have achieved considerable progress in the field of sports with our boys & girls doing great jobs internationally in spite of the bureaucratic hurdles. They are getting into winning habits not just in cricket but tennis, boxing, badminton, rifle shooting, swimming etc. They deserve all the encouragement we can provide. Commonwealth Games 2010 is excellent opportunity for boosting technical competence and morale of our sportspersons by raising the bar in every faculty of the games.

Invariably Indian sports persons complain of inadequate facilities for training, poor accommodation & transport, and an attitude of high handedness among the sports officials. The treatment given to P.T.Usha at Bhopal speaks about what importance we give to icons of sports other than cricket. Our success at Beijing Olympics has more to do with private sponsorships of players by business houses like L.N.Mittal Group and others than to our sports management systems.

This is the time to reorganize the way our sports administrations function. We have to take a leaf from countries like Korea who have come up very fast and even hosted Olympics. We are at least 20 years behind in our organizing capabilities as well as the medal tallies to qualify for making a bid for Olympics. CG 2010 should therefore be taken as a platform to showcase our capability to host an event that may be smaller on scale but can reflect our seriousness to knock at the doors of Olympics Association.

Today the world looks at India with more positive expectations but coupled with cynicism due to our sloppy working systems. We knew very well that high level team from Commonwealth Games Federation would be visiting for a preview of preparations. Our politicians may have been preoccupied with elections to Lok Sabha and also state assemblies for last 6 months but that can not be excuse for lagging behind agreed schedules.

Dr.M.S.Gill, Union Minister for Sports, has distinguished him self by successfully organizing elections as Chief Election Commissioner and has sound reputation. However, his defence of lagging behind in schedules for construction of facilities for CG-2010 does not reflect professional approach when he says that in Indian weddings there would be work going on till the last minute.

For every project there have to be schedules and they have to be monitored closely to ensure completion in time if not ahead. Do we need a team of overseas experts to tell us how to keep schedules? 13 out of 19 venues are lagging behind schedules. CGF therefore is justified in asking for a monitoring committee since it is their event and not India’s. If we do not come up to their expectations, they would tarnish their image. India has only an opportunity to play good host & win medals. And as if this is not enough, Mr.Suresh Kalmadi has called for removal of Mike Hooper, CEO of Commonwealth Games based in New Delhi, as he is “No Use”. Our politicians are more used to finding scapegoats when things go wrong. Why some heads have not rolled in Indian establishment for the delays till now which inevitably lead to cost over runs also? Mr.Kalmadi should have been more diplomatic to get the CEO ousted, if he could, instead of public outburst. This does not do any good to Indian image or capabilities, or sportsmanship.

If Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 at Pune is any indicator, in all probability, the tracks may still be under preparations at CG 2010 when international athletes arrive in time for warming up schedules. Or the hotel accommodations may still be getting finishing touches when guests check in. The roads may still be under construction and drainage systems still inoperative. After all it is great Indian wedding. But why forget that “Engagement Ceremony” precedes Indian wedding generally. If we can be ready for engagement in every the sense of the word, we will be ahead of the expectations of the CGF International Committee.

What lessons have our officials taken from visits to Beijing Olympics in terms of organizing, gearing up and motivating our teams? Can we put that to good use to present a good show? Is there any reason why our athletes can not have adequate practice on home ground which is the track or field to be used for final event? But this means readiness well ahead of time. If we aim at “Engagement Day” instead of “Wedding Day” we can still do it. For heaven’s sake, let some body not say that in Indian weddings the bride or bridegroom does not get the practice of the process of wedding from the priest in advance! Or let us not say “Chat Mangani, Pat Shaadi”.

Mr. Kalmadi may like to set an example about how capable we are by showing satisfactory progress ahead of schedules in spite of Mike Hooper! Not in the spirit of one-up-man-ship but in the spirit of sportsmanship & professionalism. And his time starts now.

Wishing all my readers "A Very Happy Diwali & Prosperous New Year",


Vijay M. Deshpande
Corporate Advisor,
Strategic Management Initiative
Pune

October 16, 2009

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"Vulgar Salaries" of CEOs & Pious Politicians

“Vulgar Salaries” of CEOs & Pious Politicians

Salman Khurshid, The Union Minister of Corporate Affairs, has cautioned the corporates against “vulgar salaries of CEOs”. He has reportedly stated that when the government is talking of austerity drive they can not over look vulgar salaries of CEOs. To be fair to Salman Khurshid he said that salaries of CEOs should be decided by the shareholders and not minister but none the less it can not be over looked by the ministry. He expressed: "I don't think anyone in India today, in politics or outside politics ... has reached the level of liberalism where vulgarity is also a fundamental right.”….Haven’t we?

What strikes me is the matter of fact statement in denial mode about “vulgarity being fundamental right”, albeit of politicians. When one looks at this dispassionately we have to accept that indeed it is so. Vulgarity in political arena is more than what Bollywood can boast of and in many ways.

Most of the politicians with rare exceptions are crorepatis. If the crorepatis were banned from contesting, we may not have adequate numbers perhaps. Maharashtra assembly elections have thrown up 122 crorepatis. Most of them are in the bracket of Rs.10 crores. Even sarpanch level contestants for assembly seats are uneducated crorepatis. And one can be sure that the declared wealth is only a small portion of their total wealth. Crorepatis have not declared their PAN numbers! In Haryana, out of 90 candidates of Congress, 72 are crorepatis with richest having Rs. 43 crores assets. Madhu Koda increased assets from Rs.14 lakhs to Rs. 4000 crores while he was Chief Minister of Jharkhand with support of Congress. Isn’t this vulgar?

Mayawati has multiplied her crores exponentially & declared her wealth as gift from her well wishers. Thousands of crores of public money are being wasted by Mayawati on statues in name of dalits and nothing can prevent her. Even Supreme Court is finding it difficult to change the situation. And she is not alone in amassed wealth. Any politician worth his/her salt is neck deep in the same mud. From where have they amassed so much of wealth when a highly qualified professional has to struggle all his life to make a crore? What is vulgar if not this?

When a CEO makes crores at least he has taken risk of investments and is well qualified with relevant experience and possibly academic qualifications also. He delivers to society through creation of job opportunities, linkages of suppliers and consumers, and dividends to their shareholders. Politicians are more known for siphoning public money than for delivering to society. If an industrialist is unreasonable with employees they can go on strike and resolve the issue amicably to get their dues. But when politician is making money, the only way for others is to follow the footsteps of the leader and make vulgarity as their fundamental right. Vulgarity is more in practice than in statute. A day is not far when there will be demand to make vulgarity as fundamental right in any other name. It is different matter that it may come from expected quarters of Bollywood in a different sense.

Last few days of electioneering has seen another vulgar use of technology by the politicians contesting assembly elections in Maharashtra. There are calls on mobiles and when you take the call, you hear recorded messages from politicians. There has been spate of SMSes seeking votes. In spite of registering with the service providers for “DNC” (do not call registry) facility, how it is that unknown entities are able to send such SMSes on mass scale to public? Is the service provider not flouting the provisions of DNC facility and disturbing the privacy of the subscribers? The severity of such nuisance can be gauged by the fact that I got SMS at 1.30 a.m. from Ajit Pawar’s campaigner. What is vulgarity if not this arrogated fundamental right to disturb the citizens at mid night hour? It is time some NGOs take the telecom service providers & politicians to courts for such public nuisance.

A Congress leader holding election rallies in rural hospital and school is another example of vulgarism being fundamental right of politicians!
Congress leaders have stretched vulgarity by spending nights at houses of dalits in villages a la Rahul Gandhi for cheap publicity. They carried air coolers, fans, mattresses to the houses of dalits and got their own cooks to make biryanis etc. That must have been great humiliation for the hosts! The party was forced to issue a code of conduct to their leaders visiting houses of dalits. Mr.Salman Khurshid, that is vulgar display of disparity of haves & have nots.

Austerity is not traveling by economy class with 5-6 seats around blocked for security reasons depriving airline of additional revenue or spending that extra amount. If politicians can set their own houses in order and abandon pseudo-austerity they will do great service to the nation. At least people would know how vulgar rich the politicians have made themselves while robbing people of their fundamental rights to have even sound sleep without SMS at midnight hour, to study quietly in a school or to struggle to get well soon in a hospital bed without disturbance.

I think we have not only reached the level of liberalism, Mr. Khurshid refers to, but crossed beyond the point of no return. We have lost sensitivity and decency in conduct in public life. That is what "VMD Syndrome" is all about.

Vijay M. Deshpande
Corporate Advisor,
Strategic Management Initiative
Pune

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Air India in Turbulance

Air India in Turbulence


The four-day strike of Air India executive pilots was called off on assurance by the Aviation Minister that their productivity linked bonus (PLI) would be restored without cut and issue referred to a committee which would include representatives of the pilots. Reported loss of Rs. 100 Crores in 4 days! In my opinion it was an avoidable big fiasco.

No Strategic Plan:

What was the game plan of the management? Did not they expect the pilots to go on strike? If yes, then what was the game plan? Or, in fact, to me it seems they did not have one except posing to be tough as the statements of shut down indicated. What is it that the committee, including representatives of pilots, would arrive at which could not have been done without going through the strike option. It reflects a lack of consultative process required to get pilots to agree to PLI cuts before issuing the fiat. If the cut was unacceptable it was foregone conclusion that the pilots would go on strike. Wasn’t adequate home work done at board level while issuing PLI cut order of September 24 which had to be kept in abeyance on September 27? In any case such issues of bonus schemes etc have to be approved by the board in public sector.

Who is then responsible for loss of Rs. 100 crores in four days for the airline already on ventilator? Of course this is peanuts considering losses of Rs. 7200 crores as on March 31, 2009. The Aviation Minister normally is the face of Air India and he should take responsibility for the fiasco.

Productivity Linked Bonus:

Salaries and perks of the pilots are highest amongst any professionals at the operating levels. Air India amongst all the airlines of India is worst loss making entity. It is true that to get good quality pilots they have to pay the best in industry. Having assets of aircraft worth billions of dollars, one has to make sure they fly reliably and safely. So Air India, as a business enterprise, has to nurture both the precious assets aircrafts and the pilots. But it ends there and the ground reality overtakes the issues of the pilots on strike. For an airline beset with massive losses, irrevocable commitments to take delivery of aircrafts on order, poor cash flow which can not even ensure payment of salaries, the first priority is survival and not bonuses for executive pilots. But pilots seem to have taken a leaf from US bankers that bonuses are priority even if business has to shut down!

High Employees per Aircraft Ratio:

The employees must be made to understand the reasons for such situation. It is not just the slow down which has created this problem. It is accumulated work culture of Air India and Indian Airline which has become a millstone around the neck of the management. The employees to aircraft ratio of about 276 for Air India does not stand up to the standards of international and successful air lines like United of USA with 120 employees per aircraft. Let the employees not try to emulate Pakistan’s PIA ratio of 476!

In my opinion the only single parameter which should drive sustainability of an airline is employee to aircraft ratio since that defines the fixed costs and therefore the breakeven point. The modern technology in the air as well as on the ground makes so many people redundant. Air India has been upgrading the technology in the air but has failed to catch up with cost advantages of technologies available for operations on the ground.

Transition Case Study of Satyam Computers:

Air India needs massive & ruthless reduction in their manpower. Every day they fly at this high ratio, they are adding losses which can not be recovered in future. If by virtue (!) of being in public sector, Air India can not axe the manpower, the next best thing to do is to sell off the airline just like Satyam. The best thing government did in case of Satyam was that it kept away, after appointing the professional directors to chart the course for future. The transition was definitely a well handled business management case study for the government to adopt. The lesson for the government is to get out of running the airlines and handover the management to private sector professionals including employee shareholders. If Jet Airways and Kingfisher can do it why not Air India?

Lesson from Private Airlines:

Talking of private sector, even Jet Airways have had their share of problems with losses for couple of years. However, they have restructured significantly and repositioned themselves successfully with Jet Konnect. Their employee per aircraft ratio of around 130-140 notwithstanding, they took salary cuts at top levels and set examples. They also cut down manpower by about 2000 employees.

The executive pilots on strike had raised possibility of uniting with their counterparts in other airlines. That would be a great idea in my opinion. Strange it may sound, but then peer reviews do help and the pilots would be forced to compare and accept the need to bring down the supporting manpower for keeping aircraft in the air. Let them compare the salaries, perks and all the performance parameters before that put in sick leave applications in future! They can’t just expect only salaries & perks ignoring operating realities.

Air India is a classical victim of “Value Management Deficiency Syndrome”. The management has failed to monitor the values important for running an airline and performance to contain various ratios crucial for airline operations within preset limits and overcome the deficiency.

Restructuring for Survival & Turn Around:

Air India should restructure the organization with the best of available manpower out of present employees with ratio of say 130-150 and declare the rest as surplus with offer of VRS. Those who do not opt for VRS & with no work allocations may draw their salaries without any pressure to quit. They will get fed up of no work & only salaries and start looking out for jobs else where. Sure way of managing the optimization of manpower within a year without punches of the leftists. But this is not without pitfalls as idle mind is devil’s workshop and one must be ready to face the situation firmly.

No serious turn around plan for Air India can be without bitter pills hard to swallow. The new bench marks have to be reset and the organization has to be restructured to achieve the same. And let us not forget the ground reality that even the best of the airlines with least ratio of employee per aircraft are also facing tough task due to global slowdown.

There can be no turn around strategy bereft of manpower reduction. Political will to turn around has to be supplemented with ability to take tough decisions. More important is to standby the decisions taken come what may. Our politicians are used to either rolling a red carpet or brushing under the carpet or a magic carpet of Sindbad. If cornered, they prefer to roll back the carpet and decisions. So it would take real conviction & commitment to be serious about turning around Air India. Actual turn around is second issue!

Vijay M. Deshpande
Corporate Advisor,
Strategic Management Initiative,
Pune

October 2, 2009

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