I wonder...

Last night, I watched Christiane Amanpour's report called Czar Putin on CNN. What intrigued me was the way in which the bourgeois perceives America as a threat. Years after the cold war ended, there still exists a sizeable faction that thinks that Sarah Palin can not just see Russia from her window, but also their natural resources .a.k.a. oil!

Oil. It is amazing what this one resource has done to the world. There is hardly a rival that can challenge the power of this resource. From improving lives to taking lives, oil has influenced history like no other.

I wonder what would happen when this entity runs out and people move towards sun, wind and water for all their energy needs.

* What would happen to all those countries that have oil exports as their major source of income and employment?
* How would the financial markets behave sans oil futures?
* Will there be technology to tap solar energy near the equator and distribute it to countries away from them?
* Will there be an end to all the wars?
* How would classroom discussion change in international finance, specially in trade?
* Will the world be a safer place? Will the ecosystem be restored? Can our children and grandchildren live life to the fullest, like never before?
* Energy independence has the potential to create a new political landscape? So will there be a shift in the global powerhouses?

I hope it all turns positive. But, will it? I wonder...

India is neither Israel nor the USA

After the recent Mumbai terror attacks, many in my circle of friends and relatives mocked at our level of internal security and said that India could not do what the US did after 9/11 &/or what Israel has been doing for a long time.

While I am not supporting India's current level of preparedness, it is also imperative that we understand under what circumstances the US and Israel succeeded.

Israel is a very small country but one with a long history of support from the largest economy in the world. Having just one commercial airport and not being a great tourism destination or a business hub has aided the high security at the airports. My visits to some of the busiest airports in the world have shown many inconsistencies. People are not thoroughly checked in some airports, some allow people to walk with shoes, belts and jackets through the detectors, some allow juice bottles etc.

But what really works for Israel & the US is that the people are homogenous in terms of thoughts. There is unanimous support for the government's action. And the government too, acts responsibly. Graduating to this level of sophistication did not happen overnight. It was a long process of trial and error, which probably began with Munich in 1972 or before. Here's an interesting article that seconds my thoughts:

New York Times: From Munich to Mumbai

As for the US, its biggest advantage is its geographical location. Surrounded by ocean for the most parts and by responsible neighbors in Canada and Mexico, there is a lower possibility of infiltration on lines that happens in India. While it was caught napping on 9/11, it woke up with increased vigilance with the necessary infrastructure. Again, with a very small and homogenous population, it is easier to track potential criminals. When there is a problem of national security, the two parties come together. Do Indian political parties do the same?

What India needs is a government that values every life and one that creates avenues to involve the public in decision making and utilize its views for improving the country. But most importantly, it needs people to have a mindset change. One that rallies around national aspirations and not regional aspirations. Indian should trump a Bangalorean or a Mumbaikar.

Bicycle Day - Once a week

My bosses in Germany love to visit Bangalore, but the only complaint they have is about the traffic. Every time they come back from there, they say that the weather was lovely, the people - friendly, the pubs - lively, but the traffic - lousy! And this, when the Nano is still not in the market. It is impossible to imagine the scale of the problems when that little wonder gets on the roads!

I believe the time has come for everyone in India to bring in some lifestyle changes. If not, the damage to the environment will be irreversible. We would never be able to leave a better world for the future generations.

My idea in this direction would be to stop using motorcycles, rickshaws and cars (not even car pooling) once a week and use buses and bicycles instead.

Think about this, the average city driving speed in Bangalore is 18kph according to a recent survey done by Wilbur Smith Associates. One can easily clock this speed in a bicycle. This will not only reduce traffic congestion, but also bring down the pollution levels and provide much needed exercise. Better bicycles with advanced gear systems will help providing better rides for the people. Companies should allow employees flexible hours so that they can have a pleasant and safe journey to their offices.

Bangalore has 3.5 million registered vehicles. Add a million more from other cities and floating vehicle population and we are talking about a traffic nightmare. 75% of these are motorized two wheelers with the majority of them being driven by youngsters. If they cut their usage, then Bangalore can improve tremendously.

The government should also do the needful in granting subsidies to bicycle purchasers. It should also encourage enterprises to adopt bicycles in a big way. If the whole of India were to adopt bicycles in a big way, it would automatically reduce the oil import burden on the country (thus reducing trade deficits), reduce health care costs & reduce prices of other commodities in general.

A 10-15km ride to the office should not be a difficult task to achieve, I suppose!

Vaccinate India against Terror

Here are a list of things that India should do to vaccinate itself against terror.

* Stop blaming any country and start cleaning & securing the house. Those countries are useless at dealing with such issues and we will only be wasting time. There is no way we can afford to go to war at a time when we need to concentrate on economic growth. We will only risk the lives of more people by going to war or even talking about it.  We need to use this opportunity to unite and increase awareness about internal security and strongly utilise technology to help us combat it. This will in turn create more jobs in this area and further fuel growth. Prevention is always better than cure. 

* Partnerships: Government and Private sector partnerships to build better & stronger IT infrastructure for the intelligence agencies in individual cities and link them with international agencies.  IT companies can help the government with the latest software solutions while hardware companies can be requested to develop india specific technologies. The government should provide subsidies to any company that sponsors security improvement activities.  

* Empower local police: Improve technology infrastructure within the state police departments. Every major city should have stattions with special anti-terror units with the latest gadgets. Pistols cannot answer Kalshnikovs. 

* Politics should involve citizens: Every major city should have a council with citizens and business representation to discuss about security issues & actions which is then released this information to the public via internet and newspapers on a monthly basis.  For ex, the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) set up by the SM Krishna government helped improve the city's infrastructure to a great extent. All information should be in the public domain.

* Budget for internal security: While we have the third largest army in the world, and a strong one, what we need is the best internal security system tailored for a diverse country like India. So, in the future, a large portion needs to be allocated. This could come from revenues, taxes and private participation.

* Build better cities: Build up Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with better infrastructure to reduce the burden on the major ones.  This will allow for better monitoring of Tier 1 cities. Future cities should be designed with security in mind. 

* Shorten and strengthen the SSC: The Indian Army's Short Service Commission can be made mandatory for a class of citizens or for future police personnel.  A shorter & effective version of the same (1 to 2 years) should be designed and marketed to the general public with possible benefits. For ex: students with a 3-year Polytechnic course (and not the normal 4 yr engg) enrolling for a 2 year SSC can get into good positions within major companies or further career in governmental jobs like defence. Companies benefit in having military trained personnel within their organizations as well. Security training lessons can also be a part of NSC and Scouts activities to make youngsters more aware and vigilant.

* Train the trainers: Tie-ups with international intelligence agencies like Scotland Yard, FBI etc for regular training (yearly) of trainers should be worked out. If the Israeli 6 member team that came felt unsatisfied with the Chabad house work of the NSG, then we need to ask how they would have handled it. This is always done in the IT companies, why not in security.

* Catch them young: The youth in India are extremely knowledgeable and can develop cutting edge technical gadgets and ideas, if only they had a platform to display. There needs to be a clear plan to help them unleash their potential and such ideas should be quickly realized. The aforementioned local city councils can track these projects and identify potential ones for fruition. This may also help us identify ways in which we can have unobtrusive security checks at bus & railway stations and airports - something that even the western world is grappling with.

* Rotate Personnel: After some time security personnel may tend to get less vigilant, natural for being human. To avoid this, there needs to be a rotation of staff betwen airports and railway stations. 

* Constant Feedback: Constant feedback mechanisms should be created to receive information from the public about security lapses that they identify, the suggestions that they may have etc.

* Do not waste Z category security: Using the NSG people on celebrities should come at a very heavy price.  It cannot be provided to every celebrity. It is imperative that police personnel be deployed on duties to serve the public. It is appalling to note that 25% of the current police and NSG workforce is used up in protecting a few celebrities in the name of Z category security!

The Return of the Jedi...

It's been a long, long time since I put something onto this site. There were a lot of flares due to cerebral disturbances, but they could never ignite something here. Blame Time, or the lack of it. Almost a year in GISMA was sufficient reason that this blog took a backseat. Case reports provided sufficient exercise to my brain and fingers.

So, here I go again. On the other side of my MBA, I have a lot more to share than I had previously. For starters, I'll be putting up a lot of blogs on life in Germany, about studying there, etc. So keep watching this space...