Politics with Corruption recipe - A Zillion Dollar Frittata made of rotten eggs?

Corruption has never been a stranger when it comes to Politics. But the recent fallout cases of CWG 2010, Army Land scams, the 2G scam; all which come under central government fence has nothing but revealed the depth of corruption spread. There is a huge debate going on in media these days on whether the term ‘Lobbyist’ should be legalized and more transparent which I had also talked in my previous blog, but that’s a different point altogether. But when a Lobbyist have the influential capacity to appoint ministers in the government to compromise democracy, then I think there’s more serious thought that needs to be looked into.

I remember during Obama’s recent visit to India where he said that India is not emerging but has emerged, the statement couldn't have sounded more comical and embarrassing after the recent scams. It is absolutely clear that corruption in the recent cases are because of Political Leadership and Government and the entire system is to blame for.

With such huge scams revelations coming every few days, the talks of India’s economic growth of 8.5% to 9% sometimes just worries me a lot of the nature of this growth and the consequences to follow. Government is increasing its spending on real estate, mining and infrastructure & construction projects and corruption is playing a big part in the growth numbers as well. I am not an expert with the numbers, but if I recollect correctly, Govt. budget was Rs. 10 lakh crores for this year. Out of every Rupee, only 15 paise actually reaches people (this is Late Rajiv Gandhi’s analysis by the way!) and if is this is the case then the money loss or leakage would be around Rs. 850,00,000 crores; of which, Rs. 1.76 lakh crores goes just to Raja! Hmmm... the term 'leakage' for 850,00,000 crores sound so generous isn't it!

A former economist (IMF) and currently an Advisor to our hon. PM Dr. Manmohan Singh has pointed, and rightly so; a very real issue that most of the billionaires in India do create their money due to their closeness with the politicians and the politics as a whole. I have observed a very significant thing that when it comes to billionaires of India, most of them have come from the real estate, mining and infrastructure sectors; much to the coincidence, heavily influenced by Government. A real-case example of this is India’s Satyam Raju who is just moving from hotels and hospitals to bails unlike Bernard Madnoff of US, who was charged of financial fraud and is currently serving jail sentence of 150 years.  What an irony and tragedy in India! (Both of these were arrested during similar period)

Apart from the embarrassment and the shameful scenes going in our political system, I know a lot of us do feel angry about it and for those who don’t, it’s better they start getting angry about it. I just hope the govt. doesn’t get distracted and takes steps in forward direction till the changes happen which we need them to…

Transparency in Lobbying for clean policymaking?

Recent revelations on the conversations between a powerful PR consultant and media journalists has created quite a stir as to how could lobbyists and journalists influence the governments in India. Though there has been continuous denials by the journalists on these allegations, the larger issue what I see is whether we are clear with the 'Lobbying' word and is the media actually playing the role of a powerbroker here? I think the answer could well be beyond YES or NO. 

Lobbying is a medium that a civil society does use to influence public decisionmaking.  Infact many businesses, labour and private organisations do exploit it to varying degrees. Interested groups will always look to seek to influence govt. decision-making and this is a reality in democracies these days. Lobbying can also yield valuable information and data for a better and accurately informed decision-making. Most of the countries in the West are case-study examples of this. But the fear remains since lobbying happens only on the sidelines of a democratic process more often than not, it does bring huge risks of distortion of policies and undermine larger public interests. This is where I believe lies the loophole as far as India goes. Lobbying always has to be transparent, accountable and reasonable enough for a 'step-up' policy making...

Whats going 'gaga' on media channels these days are the recent transcripts of conversations between well-known journalists and powerful Corporate lobbyist working as agents and orchestrating the distribution of portfolios among one of the allies of the ruling government. It is not just the morality or the integrity of an individual which has to be questioned and debated on, but the basic idea of 'lobbying' itself and its purpose is what will make-or-break the ice for a better and cleaner policy making in a democracy!

Thats my take on the subject... Its debatable and I think its fair enough to do it here than just the 'so-called' debates going on in media full of sensationalism; most of them, if not all! :)

Taking Social Networking Seriously!

In this internet world, users; both generic and professional are looking to reach out to more people for personal and professional needs. Social Networking sites are becoming popular among users as they can expand their network and enables them to exchange ideas. The very basic idea of social networking is connecting group of individuals via network to gather and share data. Be it on a entertaining side like emails, chat, blogs, messages or the business side like marketing, job search, promoting, revenue generating apps, etc. With websites like 'facebook', 'twitter' offer building interpersonal relationships, sites like 'linkedin' are used by corporates for recruitments, offering solutions and even sharing business ideas. The 'Social Networking' is gradually moving from just email exchanges and chats and have opened avenues from a business perspective.

The Social Networking phenomenon is adding business value in a big way for obvious reasons:
1. Expanding Network - People from different parts of the world can now gather and share information on similar subjects which is impossible to do on one-2-one basis. Expanding network helps to enable like-minded individuals to come under one domain and share and exchange solutions; not just at personal level but also professionally.
2. Building Interpersonal Relationships - Social networking sites these days is an easy medium to build a personal relationship with people around as you are in a better understanding of the needs and requirements of that individual. By offering solutions to the queries, you develop a sense of trust which in turn gets communicated to their friends and there is this buiding relationship of trust. Some social networking sites also enables people like celebrities, bureaucrats to communicate with their followers and remain connected. 'Twitter' is a site which is used by celebrities at large to share updates with users following them.
3. Low Cost Marketing - Companies are using social networking sites to provide information on their products and services alsong with the business value it offers. This is one of the lowest cost to market your product and keeping the website updated. 

Social networking today, is a critical tool that most business heads use and continue to generate business in terms of both value and revenue.