No country for young men ...

31% of Indian population is below 15 years. Another 30% is below 40 years. While the representation of the former is not expected in the Union Cabinet, the lack of representation of the latter is really surprising. After the hundreds of hours spent by media and Congress leaders talking about youth, there isn't a single representative below 40 in the list of Cabinet ministers announced on 22nd May. In fact, there isn't one below 50!

• Gang of 70s: 77 - SM Krishna, 76 - Manmohan Singh, 74 - BK Handique, 73 - Pranab Mukherjee, 72 - Murli Deora, 71 - Vayalar Ravi
  
• Early retirees (60s): 69 - Veerappa Moily, 68 - Sharad Pawar, AK Anthony, 67 - Jaipal Reddy, Sushilkumar Shinde, 65 - Ambika Soni, 64 - P Chidambaram, Meira Kumar, 62 - Kamal Nath, 60 - Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal
  
• "Young Blood" (50s): 58 - CP Joshi, 56 - Anand Sharma, 54 - Mamta Banerjee
  

That's a grand total of 3 folks below 60; 11 in the 60s and 6 in the 70s. Congress really needs to search and understand the meaning of youth in the dictionary. 

Another interesting analysis reveals the ministry by states and the actual no. of seats received by Congress in these states (LS only): AP - 1 of 33; Assam - 1 of 7; Bihar - 1 of 2; Delhi - 1 of 7; Karnataka - 1 of 6; MP - 1 of 12; Rajasthan - 1 of 20; Tamil Nadu - 1 of 8; WB - 1 of 6. Rest - 0 of 106 including UP (21), Maharastra (17), Kerala (13) and Gujarat (11). In fact, of the 18 Congress ministers (incl PM), 9 come from Rajya Sabha and were not elected by the people in the recent polls. Dr. Singh, Deora, V Ravi, Anthony, Shinde, Soni, Azad, Anand Sharma and Krishna. 

So, can the Congress stop harping about "Youth" and "People's mandate". Political parties have very little respect with the general public because of deceptions like this.

2 stars of Indian Politics in their own rights

We are 15-16 days away from a new Parliament term & maybe a new Prime Minister as well. While there are a hundred aspirants to the throne, including the 2 that i am going to write about, only a handful have the credentials to get there. Of the folks who don't make the cut with me - 

• Deva Gowda (fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on ME!)
• Jayalalitha (nope amma, your good English skills & mediocre Hindi skills don't hide your narrow thought process)
• Mayawati (She is Jayalalitha Ver 0.0.1)
  
• Prakash Karat (No, Thanks. I don't want to live in the 19th century!)
• Sonia Gandhi (too much baggage Ma'am - You fled to Italy during the 1971 Indo-Pak War & your procastination in getting Indian Citizenship till your Cabinet Minister husband are 2 reasons why you should never be India's PM & not your foreign birth!)
• Sharad Pawar (What, he wants both ICC Presidency as well India's PM post!)
• PA Sangma (what! If your abilities as Lok Sabha Speaker are any good measure, the country will be in chaos during your term!)

On to the 2 gentlemen that i wanted to highlight today. Not because, they are my choice for Prime Minister but because they have skills in certain areas that are much needed. No one could predict that Laloo Yadav will revolutionize Indian Railways. I believe that the same will happen if these 2 folks get anywhere close to the PM Chair. 

Drum rolls, for Person 1 - Narendra Modi ...

Let me make the case for Modi. Have anyone see the way Gujarat has jumped up the charts in economy & Human Development Index in spite of the continued marginalization of the Muslims. Do you see how respected Industry leaders sing his praises? Do you see the amazing amount of passion in him to lead his state? Do you see the dwindling rural-urban divide in Gujarat where rural development has been given as much importance as urban growth? Sentiments & party membership aside, does India have any leader who has Modi's "Ready-in-2-minutes-PM" candidature?

Now, for the negatives - his non-apology for post-Godhra riots. I have 2 issues with Modi on this attitude - Marginalization of minorities always leads to radicalization of society and is the first step for downfall of any civilization. For the last 7 years, Muslims have been using 2002 riots as the excuse for nearly every terrorist attack in India. Modi's attitude towards Muslims needs radical shift. While Modi will never fall in love with Muslims, at the very least he needs to show genuine concern for Muslim & other minorities. Else, he is no different than the narrow-minded Mayawati to me. The second issue with Modi on the Godhra incident is that his non-apology has made folks focus on post-Godhra riots and there has been next-to-zero empathy for the victims of the train attacks. Had Modi succeded in avoiding post-Godhra riots, the focus over the last 7 years would have been on the radicalization of Muslims and their inability to join the mainstream. That could have bought shame to right-wing Muslims thereby reducing their numbers. Modi, you did a major dis-service to the nation by not taking action post-Godhra attacks. 

The second person that i want to highlight is Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Laugh all you want, but i would take MSY anyday above some of the other leaders in view. His anti-English & anti-computer stance are meaningless populism measures that he himself will abandon post 2009 elections. I recall a Shekar Gupta story on the Sukhoi-30 defense deal. Mulayam worked together with Vajapayee, Jaswant Singh & finished a deal that was started by PV Narasimha Rao & Manmohan Singh. Reason? The deal was good for India. That's the bottom-line. Politics was left outside the door when it came to our strategic interest. Second example, Mulayam Singh was the key reason why the Indo-US Nuclear deal was signed. The UPA goverment was in shambles after the Left Front abandoned them & when APJ Abdul Kalam called Mulayam Singh for a meeting & provided his support for the deal, Mulayam agreed to prop the UPA government. In effect, the anti-US SP provided support to the nuclear deal rather than the pro-US BJP.While some can contend that Mulayam's support was opportunistic (and it might well be the case!), we should acknowledge the fact that Mulayam put India's interest before his own interest. And by the way, Mulayam was all for giving APJ Abdul Kalam a second term as President. In fact, Mulayam was one of the early proponents for Abdul Kalam as India's President in the first place in 2002.

The case against Mulayam has been well documented. His pro-Muslim lean along with anti-Hindu stance is the mirror image of Modi's stance. 

The nation will be well-served if we had a 50:50 mix of Modi & Mulayam.

WTF Moment of the Day - Ram Temple & Secularism

Sonia Gandhi was in Mumbai & before she reached the rally venue, Ramdas Athavle uttered this WTF sentence:

"Only the UPA (Congress-led United Progressive Alliance) can build a Ram Mandir because we are secular.

I mean - what was that & where did that come from?

I was always under the impression that Secularism meant that Hindus donate away their temples to Muslims & Christians. I was under the impression that those pressing for building the Ram temple (BJP, Shiv Sena) are called communalists. As per your definition, BJP is the most secular party in India. Isn't it so?

If this wasn't the election season, i would have sympathized with this man believing that he was in the midst of suffering a heat stroke. Personally, i am tired of this chalta hai attitude of the public - Politicians can state whatever they want & get away before the elections. 

By the way, Mr. Athavle, did you know that this UPA government that you believe will build the Ram temple doesn't even believe Ram ever existed! That's what they told the Supreme Court of India in September 2007 before withdrawing it in the face of widespread protests & condemnation.

IMHO, Congress wants to have the cake & eat it too! They want both Hindus & Muslims to believe that their interests will be addressed only by Congress and that's why we get to hear these WTF statements.

Satyameva jayate - some politicians & businessmen prove it wrong!

Now that we have had a full month of Satyam Saga - it is wise to walk away from the minefields (controversy on employee head count) and irrational & exuberant statements. My random thoughts:

1. Too juciy an opportunity to let go wasted. The one IT company that trusted itself on all news channels with interviews and quotes was Infosys. Mohan Pai and Narayanamurthy (1, 2)were omnipresent. Thus, it is surprising when Narayanamurthy asks the media to back-off from Satyam. May be he should practice before he preaches. (All you pro-Narayanamurthy fans, i amn't Anti-Murthy, i am stating facts here). 

1a. By the way, since Narayanamurthy is a strict practioner of stringent corporate governance standards, should there be a disclaimer when he gives "Exclusive" interviews and sound-bytes to NDTV. Narayanamurthy is a Director on the Board of NDTV. The same should be disclosed by NDTV as viewers need to be aware of the exact relationship between the 2 parties.

1b. Staying with same topic, some disclaimer from me - i work for a competitor of Satyam. I have nothing but admiration for the company, disgust for the man/team who bought 50,000 employees to their knees.

2. I am surprised as to why Satyam - the company hasn't sued Ramalinga Raju, Rama Raju, PwC, CFO, VP-Finance in India and in US. Remember, Satyam as a legal entity is different from Raju. The company might have been founded by Raju but he isn't the company. My 2 cents to Satyam legal - Sue them and sue them for punitive damages. 

3. When Enron happened in US, both Enron & Arthur Anderson were dismantled and sold off in parts. Why? The liability wouldn't be passed to the new entity. I think the same needs to be done here. The company will be more valuable in parts and without liability. Suitors (sans-L&T) will see strategic value in parts rather than assuming liability. Aegis BPO has already stated interest only for BPO. Satyam's SAP/ERP practice at 40%+ of FY2008 revenues will look appeasing to Tech Mahindra for diversification. Why can't the company be sold in parts, the money used to settle legal claims (both ways - with investors and against Raju & Co) and the remaining amount distributed amongst investors?

4. When all and sundry are talking of employees, please remember that they can be the fastest to ditch the ship. Why expect them to stay put and tarnish their resume? I am not asking the employees to jump ship, just that i can understand if they do so. I applaud some employees' effort to revive the brand.  

5. Benami companies and land acqusition: If what we read is true, Raju has 1200 acres of land in Greater Hyderabad. This is outside the 6000+ acres that Maytas properties holds as land bank. How can the state government claim that they aren't aware of the situation? when someone acquires such large tracks of land, isn't it pretty noticable and trackable? How can we believe that state government officials aren't hand-in-glove with Raju? How come the CM, Revenue Minister never knew that Raju was acquiring such large tracks of land? By the way, i am not going to give even Chandrababu Naidu the benefit of doubt. It is too massive a fraud not to be noticed by the ex-CM. So, i say - Satyam should sue the AP state government for abetting Raju in plunder of Satyam's wealth.

5a. Shame on the state government for trying to shield Raju. Otherwise what explains the inertia for 2 days after the confession letter? What explains the sudden action after Raju receives SEBI notice? Why, stonewall SEBI from interviewing Raju for 3 weeks. This fraud is so complex and spread across multiple jurisdiction that CID cannot handle the complexity of work. If not for saving politicans, why did the CID arrest Raju?

6. Raju is in prison and enjoying star treatment. At least it is better than the stupid Bernard Maddow house arrest. Raju liked shopping - be it 1200 acres of land, 300 belts, 1000 suits, 300 shoes (is that for real? i somehow suspect the numbers), he shopped BIG. So, why not let him enjoy what he went after ala Chiru's Veta style. For non-telugu population, Veta is megastar Chiranjeevi's version of "The Count of Monte Cristo". One of his friends turns traitor in the greed for gold. Chiru extracts revenge by forcing the traitor to eat gold coins. What say, Raju? Ready to eat?

7. And by the way, can we stop refering to Ramalinga Raju as Mr. Raju or in any form of respect. He doesn't deserve it. Once again, taking cue from one of my fav. movie "A few good men"

Col. Jessup: ... Sweet dreams, son

Kaffee: Don't call me son. I'm a lawyer and an officer in the United States Navy. And you're under arrest, you son of a .....

Bottomline. World to Raju: Don't expect any respect from us.