Global Peace: A Delusion at Present

Have you ever wondered why we human beings have not been able to achieve global peace? Our technological advancement has been terrific, but why have we not learnt to co-exist peacefully? Why some or the other region in the world has to be a “conflict zone”? 

 Courtesy:  http://www.oxfam.org/en/content/2012-g8-summit-camp-david-maryland

The answer is simple: Peace does not help generate money for the ruling class. 

Leaders of countries with “conflict zone” are short sighted, corrupt, self-indulgent, incompetent or all of that and continue ‘kicking the can down the road’, neglecting steps for the real solutions. This is the scenario in most of the developing countries with conflicts.

Whereas, leaders in “conflict-free” countries need conflict in other countries to drive their economy. Check the list of ‘Top Arms Exporters’ (Ref: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2012. http://www.sipri.org/googlemaps/2012_of_at_top_20_exp_map.html):

1. USA

2. Russia

3. Germany

4. France

5. United Kingdom

6. China

7. Spain

8. Netherlands

9. Italy

10. Israel

If there is peace in the world, who will buy the arms? The list is full of “developed nations” (except China, Russia which fall in developing category). All these nations often look out for excuses to intervene in other countries’ conflicts. In the name of “peace”, “democracy” and “freedom”, they often generate more complexities by providing arms to rival groups, fueling the conflicts; for example: almost all wars around the world after IInd World War. Interestingly, all five permanent members of UN Security Council are topping this list of the arms sellers.

No wonder, global peace is a delusion in the present world order.

See this interactive world map of conflict zones:

http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/peace/conflictmap/conflictmap.html

Slide the arrow to see how number of conflicts has increased in recent times.

India: A Country of Cheap Public-Gossips

There is nothing called public discourse in India; what exists is public-gossips. I may sound cynical, but I am simply frustrated by the complete silence in media/public forums on the issues that matter to the people– issues that are related to the development of people and their quality of life – how India is generating resources and preparing itself for the present and future challenges – what systematic reforms are required and carried out in order to establish transparency and accountability at each level of governance. The Planning Commission of India lists “Twelve Strategy Challenges” for the 12th five year plan (2012-17):

1. Enhancing the Capacity for Growth

2. Enhancing Skills and Faster Generation of Employment

3. Managing the Environment

4. Markets for Efficiency and Inclusion

5. Decentralisation, Empowerment and Information

6. Technology and Innovation

7. Securing the Energy Future for India

8. Accelerated Development of Transport Infrastructure

9. Rural Transformation and Sustained Growth of Agriculture

10. Managing Urbanization

11. Improved Access to Quality Education

12. Better Preventive and Curative Health Care

More details about this list can be obtained here: http://12thplan.gov.in/displayforum_list.php

My cynicism stems from the following experiment:

• On any day go to any of these Indian Media (print/TV) sites

       o NDTV

       o CNN-IBN

       o Aaj Tak

       o India TV

       o Hindustan Times

       o The Times of India

       o DNA

       o The Indian Express

• Count stories/articles/videos which are relevant to India’s strategic-challenges in12th plan as mentioned above.

I have attempted this experiment and have had results varying between 2%-20%. And when I counted articles/reports based on any research studies, there was none. You can do the same experiment. There are hundreds of news-papers/channels, so pick up the one that interests you the most and start counting. I am sure your result will not be more different than that of mine.

It is a disheartening fact that the media is completely indulged in the cheap gossips of personalities of four areas – cricket, cinema, corporate, & politics. There is just not enough constructive discussion on issues that matter to you and me.

Nonetheless, I think media is in-a-way reflection of the society. Media’s dumbness points out that the masses are interested in a few people’s lives, and not in pondering how their own life will ameliorate.

Some people would argue that this status quo has been challenged by the unprecedented popularity of the new talk show “Satyamev Jayate”… But, to my mind, it only corroborates the fact that masses are so uninformed about what’s going on in their country. If you did not know about the wide spread problems of female feticide, child sexual abuse, or malpractices in healthcare, I wonder if you can be considered educated at-all!!! Do we really need Aamir to sensitize us? Can’t we be self-aware and fine-tune our actions in the direction of solutions???

Just in case if you are still in denial of Indian media's flaws, here's Mr Umesh Aggarwal’s documentary, “Brokering News”, released by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) that exposes the depth of corruption in the mainstream media. It shows corruption in the political coverage of elections, news on business and industry and even movie reviews.

   Directed by Umesh Aggarwal
  Assistant Director & Editor – Naveen Samhotra

  Script – Anirban Bhattacharya

  Narration – Roshan Set

Can BJP replace Congress?

It is no secret anymore. People of India are very frustrated by the UPA (United Progressive Alliance), and especially, the Congress party. By all accounts, the present central government of India is perceived to the most corrupt government of all time. In addition, the country desperately needs urgent proactive measures in almost all sectors, whether it is human resource development, public health-care, agriculture, infrastructure development, defense & internal security, or economy in-general. The economic growth projections are falling; and it is said that we’d be lucky to touch 6.5% -7% by end of 2012; whereas the planning commission desires growth-rate of 10% sustained throughout 2012-2017 for the 12th plan (more info: http://planningcommission.gov.in/plans/planrel/12appdrft/appraoch_12plan.pdf). How the heck are you going to do that and provide funding for all ambitious projects? Making the things worse, the Congress-led government is simply dysfunctional... The prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the UPA chair-person, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, who are directly accountable for the mess, are hiding away from the media for years now [in fact, I highly doubt if the main-stream media would even take up issues that upset them, something which they have never done so far]. And the highly irritating Congress spokesmen (and women) who appear almost every day on talk shows (rather verbal WWE) have absolutely no listening skills, and foolishly keep pointing fingers elsewhere saying –“Ok… we (Congress-ies) all are dogs; but what about others being donkeys and calling themselves lions???”   
   
Amidst this grim scenario of the present Government of India, the thing that disheartens me more is how BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is acting. In fact it does not act, it only reacts. The only other pragmatic option that any Indian has for replacing Congress at center is the BJP. But the party does not have its basics right. It simply lacks a strong leader at center. Its standard response is –“We all are lions; and after hunting those dogs (in elections) we shall decide the king”. 


My response to them: 
Arre bhai, haven’t you heard that story? 
A group of lions led by none 
gets defeated by the group of dogs led by one. 


The leadership matters. The reason why you lost last election is mainly because of your poor prime ministerial candidate choice, Mr. Advani. With all due respect, that person simply does not have the charisma of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Some people are suggesting Narendra Modi’s name. Frankly, if India has a system of primary elections (within party) for BJP’s prime ministerial candidacy like the US has for president-ship, quite undoubtedly, Modi would win it (as pointed out by Swapan Dasgupta). However, keeping in mind India’s diversity, international relations, and how Modi is perceived nationwide, that maybe an extremely fatal step. The Congress’ campaign will be completely negative and the entire liberal-class will join-in naming him “Hitler” & “Merchant of death”; and your total energy will be lost into defending him rather than targeting Congress for its mis-governance and massive corruptions. Reserve him for the future though, as public perceptions may change over time. For the present, how about someone like Sushma Swaraj, or Arun Jaitley? Ms. Swaraj definitely has a public appeal; and her assertiveness will suit to your hard-liner supporters as well. Also, India hasn’t had a female prime minister for a few decades now. On the other hand, Mr. Jaitley is well known for his intellectual sharpness. Though he has not fought any Lok Sabha election, but what’s wrong with a prime minister from Rajya Sabha? If any of these two take a complete charge of the party, and if entire BJP carry out coherent attack on the government, we may very well see early elections, may be within an year. 


Another big fault-line in BJP is the mismatch between ideology and actions. Ideologically, it claims to be a nationalistic, progressive, and pro-market (and minimum government interference) party. However, it behaves as an opportunistic one. A few examples:
• When Vajpayee was in power, the relations with the US significantly improved despite the nuclear tests. It would have been his government’s top priority to convince the Americans that India is ready for civil nuclear deal. However, when BJP set in opposition, it vehemently opposed the deal.
• Fact that a party which talks about including private players and opening up markets can oppose opening up of retail sector is simply not digestible.
• Again in Vajpayee era, Indo-Pak relations improved dramatically despite the Kargil war and attacks on parliament. But, now BJP completely opposes even to have dialogs with Pakistan. Why this mood-swing?   


Despite innumerous loopholes the government is surviving only because the opposition is not addressing its inner fault-lines. At state level, BJP led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) governments are doing a much better job whether it is in Gujarat, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh or Karnataka (more info: http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/NDA-states-better-than-Cong-led-states/254/29560/) as compared to congress-led states. However, if BJP wants to secure its position at national level, it has to fix its house in order first. It seems that BJP has realized that inclusive developmental politics is the key. No nonsense issues like Temple & Mosque anymore, please... Let’s focus on Human Development Index and Knowledge Development Index. If you still want to argue, let’s educate all, improve health of all, and ameliorate everyone’s life-style, first, and then we can continue arguments like the developed nations do.