Mind Blogging. Mind Boggling.

One Typo,  One Mix up and One Missing. Shoddy is a euphemism here. 

Today, I had my first real brush with the Indian democracy as an adult citizen. And it left me absolutely disgusted. It's a shame that the "first real brush"comes a few days after my 25th, some seven years after it ideally should have, but the events I describe below completely justify my total apathy in this regard.

After three or four failed attempts to get themselves a voter id card, it seems my parents had finally succeeded- and I was to get my first voter card too. All we had to do was brave the afternoon heat on a ~500m walk to the "Government Urdu School" nearby and collect it from Mrs. Saroja.

On reaching this Government Urdu School, we learn that there exists no such Mrs. Saroja, and they do not have any inventory of voter id cards, of all things. (Roll of eyes by some teacher there) Maybe we could try at Anganwadi (a nearby govt. school). Wonderful, we troop towards Anganwadi, which is in some god forsaken hard to find nook.Mrs. Saroja pulls out a bunch of 100 cards from a dusty old plastic cover, and we make our way through the pack.

First Hit: Dad's card. Typo in the name. Forgivable, you think? I don't think so.  Whoever typed that in on a computer is being paid for doing the job. For heaven's sake, do a good job.
Second Hit: Mom's card: Photo matches, but she has been turned into a Mrs. Prabhavati Shetty. Wrong name, wrong address, wrong husband.
No third hit. My card is not there.

By this point, I am absolutely furious. I just walk out of the building into the narrow alley outside. And the father, the Guv'nor, the old man, is patiently talking to our lady. I amble back in after a while. She has pulled out a long notebook which is full of doodles (I remember a particularly ugly swan) and is diffidently lifting a pen as though readying to write down a complaint of sorts. And then, the modus operandi in such cases (doubtless numerous), flashes before her eyes. Form 8. Yes. We need to fill out Form 8. Where would we get Form 8? Ah, we go back to her on Tuesday. Thank you ma'm. Oh wait, where are you going already? 50 Rupees please!

And the father paid up, and joined me outside, shaking his head his exasperation. And I am absolutely..flabbergasted. 50 Rupees!!? And why do I pay my taxes? The parents had already coughed up more than 100 Rupees for the application forms, and now this.

Scam Counter

This was a thought which occurred to me some time back, and now that I have built up a solid head of steam, here;


Scam-Loss to Exchequer-People involved-More Details

1. CWG- INR 220 crore, ($50 MM), Chief Minister of Delhi, CWG Organizing Committe.
And this is just the contract for the Games Village- tip of the iceberg. CWG initial cost estimate in 2003 was $0.3 Billion. Final cost- $13.3 Billion. And Kalmadi now has AMNESIA!? Absolutely insane.
2. 2G-$29.3 Billion - Telecom Minister.
3. Illegal Mining- INR 16,085 cr ($4 Billion) - Chief Minister of Karnataka
4. Adarsh Building- NA- Chief Minister of Maharashtra
5. Mining and Money Laundering- INR 4000 cr ($800 Million) - Chief Minister of Jharkand

Total= $46 Bn. 5% of GDP.

(Assuming CWG $0.3 Bn can go up maximum to $1.3 Bn, quite an allowance in itself)

I am going to keep adding to this list as I recall more. Anyhow, in the last couple of years three chief ministers from some of the biggest states of the country in terms of area, population and economy (Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkand) are indicted, and the Delhi CM seems imperiled.  

Vigilante, not Gandhians. Or a Tahrir Square of our own.
Neeraj Monga, analyst with Veritas, who recently shot into the limelight with his report charging the Ambanis of fraud, said something in an interview which quite disturbed me. I have no idea about that report of his, so absolutely no endorsement of anything he said there. Anyhow, when asked why he works in Canada and not in the shining India, he said  "You have to be devious to succeed in India. I am not." Something to thing about.

Really, looking at all this, one feels at times that the way to take it on is not through Octagenarian Gandhians but youthful vigilante. Or maybe time for a Tahrir Square of our own.

Ending on a lighter note

S and I were talking, about how there should be analysts sitting and tracking scams, too. Tracking and compiling latest data on excel files. With detailed analytical reports and forecasting.  And there should be some sort of a composite scam index, weighted over industrial sectors and regions in the country. Reports could be something like , "2Q11 Scams In line with Consensus Estimate; Bullish on Retail Sector given 100% FDI Move""

Credits: S is Shailendra. Sources: Business Today and Wiki for CWG numbers, CAG for 2G, Lokayukta for illegal mining numbers .