Killing Motivation: At the heart of FSB and previous UPA policies

Our leaders, either knowingly or inadvertently, are leading our nation to a state of perpetual incompetency. Instead of enabling citizens to earn their own livelihoods; the government is setting policies which disincentivize them from doing so. Giving away free food is going to make the future generations full of sloth and the young demographic dividend which we often use as an argument to score above the Dragon will eventually turn into a liability. Any steps to rectify the same at a later stage will be met with similar protests that plagued the PIGS at the imposition of austerity measures. Add to this the fact that a significant portion of the funds allotted will be siphoned off in the form of leakages only emboldens the futility of the program. What is required at this juncture is to attract investments creating employment opportunities, setting up institutions of education as well as vocational learning; thereby enabling citizens to work and earn their living. Feed a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Moreover, channelizing efforts towards overhauling the rotten PDS and improving agricultural productivity deserves a higher priority than the FSB. The only stakeholder that benefits out of the FSB is the ruling party that enlarges its vote-base as it did with NREGA. Infact, the FSB will act as a trump card for them in the upcoming 2014 elections. Another major change was brought about in the domain of education sometime back which has the same common thread running through its core as the FSB- the transformation from awarding marks/percentages to grades in schools. Under the grading system, a student scoring 81/100 is treated the same as one scoring 97/100. Both are graded as A+. This clearly demotivates students from studying hard and competing. The earlier trend of students trying to argue with teachers for an extra mark will be nowhere to be seen. Dismantling the existing process which injected a sense of competition and an understanding that effort directly correlates with output, the government has set socialist policies at the very bud. School as an institution is meant to be a cradle of leadership and instead our government has transformed it into one that will produce students lacking the zeal to out-perform. Old habits die hard, they say. So, when the same students will be exposed to the real cut-throat environment, they will find it extremely difficult to adopt. We really wouldn’t want our country to lack teeth in an increasingly competitive world. It is imperative that the think-tank sitting high up in the government’s echelons foresee the repercussions that the country will face because of the policies they set.

The Race

What is the world coming to, running blindly to the land of nowhere, striving incessantly to leave all behind in a race whose very definition is unknown? The desire to win this race is so strong, so deep-rooted that one doesn’t realize when the subtle line discerning it from fanaticism is crossed. Fanatics in their absolute rigor are not much different from stray dogs that rush after cars hollering, as if they are their most coveted treasures, but know nothing to do if the cars make a halt. They are like the roaring waves that move towards the seashores just to retract back eventually with timidity. So, amid this incomprehensible status quo, let us take a small break and try figure out why this race exists at the first place.

The “why” elicits more complex questions, answers to which seem intangible. One can appreciate rain from the backseat of a car, but can he enjoy its beauty the way a kid does dancing madly in it? One can flaunt fancy IPods, but can he enjoy music more than listeners to age-old cassette players? One can buy complete theatres for home, but can the sheer delight of a Sachin’s century be more for him than the millions glued to radios? The answer to all is a dry no. Even history presents examples in the form of Ashoka and Alexander, who fathomed the futility of living a life devoted to the pursuit of achievements.

Then, we come to the even graver question of whom is such a victory over. Is it over the millions suffering from chronic hunger or the thousands of children who die due to it each day? Is it over the million sufferers of cancers or AIDS who are merely counting their remaining days of life? Or is it over the Earth, whom we call our mother but don’t even a give a second of thought before spitting on its face? The race has gone so wild, the runners so berserk, that they have become oblivious to the carnage engulfing this small world. The world full of light is dark, full of sound is quiet, full of laughter is sad.

So, what can be done to escape this never-ending, self-defeating race? The answer is to question: to question oneself, to question one’s actions and to question their consequences. The essence is not to give up on life but to give up the insanity in it.

The Game of Blame

While the bodies of the 67 deceased in the mishap at Sainthia were still under the wreckage waiting to be rummaged through, ministers and spokesperson from different political parties had already gone live on media accusing Mamata Banerjee. They were so engrossed in launching diatribes on the Railways Minister that they became completely oblivious to the moot issue. I am no proponent of the TMC, but I am sure that there would have been hardly any difference had the Railways Minister been from a different political party. The core problem is 3-fold: a) lack of maintenance in the existing infrastructure including the signalling systems, b) lack of inclination to modernise the same, and c) lack of properly trained personnel. The points a) and c) or a combination of both is being seen as the main reason for this mishap. However, b) is equally significant to the whole issue. Every budget carries along with it a long list of new trains, when the Minister is from Bihar- the Garib Raths, when from West Bengal- the Durontos. But the tracks they run on remain the same. Given the apparent increase in frequencies of the passing trains, an upgrade of the age-old railway lines becomes indispensable. However, instead of logically finding solutions to the problems faced by the country, our politicians allude the common man to the more “relevant” game of blame and happily take home incomes from the “Party Fund” (and we all know where it comes from). In the garb of whiteness of their traditional kurtas, they are vultures as dark as the inside of a coal mine at midnight, who feed off practically anything. Some won’t even leave couples spending time together on Valentine’s Days alone. Hoping that India counters the formidable deep-rooted negativities and shine bright in the coming days seems to be a little too hopeful, to say the least.

Oh India!

Millions in the Indian subcontinent are glued to the scintillating game of football amidst the ongoing Fifa World Cup, 2010. One can see the fever everywhere regardless of the kind of living. Be it the more privileged ones who watch this spectacular game on LCDs sitting on comfy sofas, or the ones in destitution who still manage to flauntingly wave Brazil’s or Argentina’s flags and form crowds to get a glimpse of the jabulani; the fanaticism is obtrusive. A nation where cricket is indubitably considered a second religion, gave no importance whatsoever to the Asia Cup which happened to clash with the Fifa World Cup. Apparently, India won the cup and none seem to even be cognizant of the affair, let alone be jubilant. All this would have made sense had the Indian football team been able to qualify for the World Cup. However, they haven’t and the ugly truth is they haven’t been able to in 80 years since their affiliation with Fifa, apart from the one time in 1950 when they purportedly withdrew on being rejected to play barefoot. What, then, is the justification of this obscure status quo? Is it an indication to a change of favouritism in sports in India? Or is it simply because of the fact that the Maestro wasn’t a part of the trophy winning Indian team? Even if latter is the case, cricket in India is ostensibly ephemeral. And a change in the Indian sporting culture is imminent. Perhaps, this change is due and is for the good as cricket, and previously hockey, have hogged up almost the entire attention of media and government support. Support in terms of funds can be tossed about by cricketers today thanks to the IPL. It is the broadening of the span of sports that is of dire need. It is poignant that a country like the Netherlands, having a population less than that of a South Delhi colony, have reached the Quarter-Finals and have shocked the mighty Brazilians to move on to the Semis with heads held high; while India, a nation comprising more than 17% of the world population, gets knocked out in its first round in the Qualifiers. It is high time that India do something about its abysmal performance in sports other than cricket. Hope it does and that too soon.