In the name of IT

It it quite evident that the financial disasters or any of its irregularities adversely affects the common man. The unfathomable scams and the rise in inflation has made a common man’s life miserable if not worse. But what has also affecting his life, interestingly, is the development of IT. Here, I do not say that the advancement of the IT sector has worsen the lives of a common man, but ironically the lifestyle has severely being displaced by its progress. The serious sections that come under the immediate radar are Real Estate and Entertainment and Commodities.

First let me talk about the entertainment as it occupies the most of our life span than the buildings or the space we try to acquire. There has been no doubt that the Indian has started tasting Inter-Continental and Indigenous Creativity in Entertainment sector. The advent of food chains, world class restaurants and various amusement parks have given a boost for itself by the industry. Surprisingly, these avenues are either largely accessed by the so-called giant corporate or by those big wigs who can shell out hefty amounts for sheer pleasure.  A common man, who still at large earns below the income-tax bracket, is bereft of these facilities or finds completely aghast to find himself unaffordable for such havens. Being brought up from a middle class family I still remember going to Exhibition just once a year, movie once a month and restaurant on occasions which I can count on my finger tips. To my dismay, even today that common man has left with the same options and possibilities to find an escape from this hectic life seems a distant dream. Arts & Theaters has taken a different form altogether. Multiplexes may offer the best movie watching experience but the age old cinema halls are still age old. Depleting safety measures and health hazard still plague the Indian cinema halls which refuse to revamp their facilities. It is true that Art is getting some recognition and new bands, musical nights and consortium are at rise but they are leaving the podiums built by the government like Ravindra Bharathi and Lalitha Kala Thoranam(in Hyderabad) and taking center stage in some resorts or posh function halls. If these issues are not addressed either by the industry or by the government then in few years Entertainment will be largely crunched to Home Television and creme-De-la-creme will be left for big pockets.

It does not take a rocket science to know and accept the fact that Real Estate is a game played like in Bluff. When the economy is doing good the Realtor will bluff that the prices are soaring because its developing faster than WikiLeaks popularity and when in recession he will actually dupe you to be wise and buy a piece of property beside which the government is planning to spend zillions to make that village a Hi-tech City and that insider information is not even known to WikiLeaks except him. These heinous practices have left the market prices way above the intrinsic value of the property and again giving the buying power only for big corporate employees. However, there is a twist to this fraud. No matter who is involved in buying such properties it leaves an indelible financial burden on the buyer and leaving him at a risk of higher financial obligation. Remember the Sub-Prime mortgage crisis in US, homes and land were sold to even for people who could not show the financial stability and finally crashing the whole industry altogether. Lets hope our industry(I mean IT) does stand past the difficulties and we will weather the storm and keep the economy progressing.  While the only solution for this is the integrity of the Realtor and the construction companies, yet it is also a responsibility of the buyer to negotiate and pay the right price. Taking the help of social networking sites and forming groups and buying properties collectively can help the buyer to effectively negotiate and bring down the prices.

Although inflation is blamed for the rising prices of general commodities, a keen observation of prices across the city shows a different trend. The Government has directly or indirectly accepted that food prices are largely controlled by the dealer mafia but it has also washed its hands off saying it cannot to anything at this point of time, leaving the reforms for next elections. However, these strictly dealer regulated prices too tend to take a ride at localities where it is largely populated with corporate crowd.  Fruits and Vegetable vendors have become a menace with very poor civilities and pitting the very customer who should be treated like a God. Again I see that the young corporate crowd lacks the ability to bargain and negotiate for a fair deal. Lets not forget that a penny saved is a penny earned. Lets leave the governance to the government and lets try to be reasonable with the vendors and pay the price they deserve.

Corruption in India – A mockery of Democracy

I was in Canada a year ago when North America was going through its worst phase of economic slowdown and we keep getting news about IPL and tons and thousands of rupees flowing for the game. Some of my Canadian friends wondered how could an ‘developing country’ like India manage to stage games at such a huge expense. While that question still remains a mystery to me and to most of the Westerners. It is fairly evident that India by and large has a capacity to flaunt immense wealth on wrong reasons. Be it CWG; IPL, 2G Scam or Adarsh, the list goes on. These erratic and exotic pursuits have left economists wondered as how rich is India and a common man whether India will ever spend such money on more fundamental needs of the society.

While India takes the pride of hosting one of the best games in Asia yet to its dismay it finds in a big soup of losing tax payers money for mere 15 days of jubilation. Now the CBI and also the big Lion Supreme Court is after the scapegoats. But it strikes to me as why was the bill passed in the first place. Where were those nethas when bill was placed to spend whopping amount of 65,000 crores of rupees for CWG. Although IPL is held privately yet its common sense that it has given room for lobbying, fixing and betting. Yes, its a glorified form of Casino played on field and any rich guy can play the dice. Was Government so bereft of this knowledge that IPL is another form of gambling ? Now 2G Scam has a gamut in itself. Opposition blames the PM for his silence, Government blames DMK for this fraud, CAG blames the minister, media blames Nira and I think citizens too to be blamed for being so passive and resilient.

When I said resilient, I am in no way alluding an outburst of a mob and pelting stones on properties or destroyed Public Transportation vehicles. We are the largest democratic country in the world and if fought democratically then there is eternity we can achieve. And finally it boils down the same power each common man holds which he exercises once in 5 years(sometimes twice or thrice), the voting power. Power has to be vested on more credible than able. I say credible over able is that because ability how has become an independent factor which heavily relies on world politics. At least a credible leader who promises to execute his basic duties and has an impeccable courage to bring his friends or foes to bring to justice, shall surely bring India to glory.

We are all on the verge of some elections in some where or the other parts of the country and I hope we move on from caste, sect, region based politics to performance, vision and integrity based leadership.