Corruption <=> Cancer

Longtime since I updated my blog... Something I wrote recently as part of my course... it could better be rated as a blog... so, posting it here...

Film Review: Indian

Cast:

· Actors: Kamal Hassan (2 Roles), Manisha Koirala, Urmila, Sukanya

· Director: Shankar, Music: A. R. Rehman, Producer: A. M. Ratnam

Language: Tamil, later dubbed into Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi (as Hindustani)

Year of Release: 1996

Central Theme: Eradication of corruption in the society by an extremist-freedom-fighter

Story Line:

During the British rule, looking at their atrocities to the Indians, Senapathy (Father Kamal Hassan) decides to rebel against the British in a violent way. He learns Varma Kalai (a rare martial art practiced in Kerala) that enables him to kill enemies with his bare hands. He gets strongly involved in the Indian National Army formed by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose – He goes to the extreme of joining a death squad in order to destroy the British tanks. Fortunately or unfortunately, his attempt fails and is captured, jailed, beaten, and tortured by the British before India gets Freedom. In between, he saves a woman called Namrata (Sukanya) from the British’s ill-treatment and marries her.

The second part of the story happens after 40 years – the couple has a son, Chadrabose (Son Kamal Hassan, a.k.a. Chandru) and a daughter, Kastoori. Senapathy is still very honest and straight-laced and this behavior creates a split between him and his son. Chandru thinks his fathers principles are not practical. Upon a quarrel with his father on his principles, he leaves the house. He takes a Government job in the Regional Transport Office by offering a hefty sum as a bribe.

A twist in the story happens when Kasthoori is grievously hurt in a house-fire. Senapathy is not willing to bribe the doctors and officers and this delay causes Kasthoori’s death. He realizes how corruption is rooted deeply in every government offices & its impact on the society. He decides to uproot the corruption in a style similar to the one he adopted against the British – give capital punishment to the people who are involved in corruption and to create a general apprehension against corruption.

Senapathy punishes the doctor, village administration officer & collector etc by killing them and making the public aware of it – Media plays a huge role in disseminating this information. The country sees a slow transformation – People deny giving or taking corruption. In such an occasion, Chandru accepts a bribe and grants license to an old bus that causes the bus to get into a major accident, killing many school children. Senapathy comes to know of this. He is very firm on his principle of eradicating corruption at any cost, be it a Filicide. The movie concludes with a message: Giving or getting bribe is wrong, since it’s the major hindrance to the prosperity of the society. Increasing the severity of punishment is the way to reduce and eventually eradicate corruption.

Review: The message of the movie is the need of the hour for the Indian Society, since corruption impacts Businesses and Society at the cost of few individuals benefiting.

· Origin of corruption: Giver Vs Getter

o Instead of debating on the origin of corruption, the movie states that giving bribe is as bad as getting it and severe punishment is applicable for both.

o In majority of the cases in India, the Getter is a Government officer, where as Giver is an individual or a business entity or a political party.

o Views of Bimal Jalan in The Supply and Demand of Corruption[1]

§ In Politics: Relationship b/n high cost of election & corruption

§ Low salaries of some Government officers, politicians etc.

§ Vertical integration of corruption at different levels of Govt.

o The movie compares corruption to cancer that grows and corrupts every part of the system

· Social & Economic cost of corruption

o In the transaction b/n Govt. officers and Business entities, Society is the one that gets impacted the most. It also acts as a de-motivating factor for those who follow a straight-laced approach.

o Government’s quality of expenditure suffers

o Hinders new companies from entering the market, restricts Foreign investments

o Negative circular relationship between corruption and investment explains the Poverty Trap of India 1

· Corruption in India Vs other countries

o The movie contends that Corruption is the reason for India still lagging in the development. It claims that other countries (esp. developed) also have corruption, but the officers are bribed whenever they have to withhold their obligations, whereas in India, even to deliver the obligations, they are being bribed.

· Parallelism between External (British) and Internal (Public officers) Corruptors

o The interesting aspect of the movie is the parallelism that it draws between external and internal corruptors

o It calls for a quick & concerted effort from the people to fight against corruption

· Ways of eradicating corruption – Capital punishment?

o Milton Friedman notes that eradicating corruption is one of the CSRs[2]

o Few suggestions to reduce corruption

§ Let Government handle the entire election campaign costs

§ Increase the salary of Politicians and Government employees

§ Make the government processes more transparent and accountable

§ Reduce the complexity and bureaucracy in Government offices

§ Implement a better feedback, tracking, investigation systems

§ This movie’s approach: Severe punishment

o Though capital punishment might seem inordinate and impractical, the message in the movie is that the punishments should be severe enough to deter people from it.

· Impact of Media

o The hero of the movie uses Media effectively to take the information to the public. It is true in the real life situation as well [Many of the corruptions are brought into light thanks to Newspapers, TV Channels etc]

Conclusion

The director understands the pulse of the audience and hence this powerful message to the society is presented with lots of entertainment factors. Though this movie could not eradicate the corruption by 100%, it has made so many officers think about giving up corruption. Violence may not always succeed – As in our independence effort, the best way to eradicate corruption would be through a Top-Down approach, in which the leader (Gandhiji then) be it Political or Administrative sets an example to its subordinates.

---

[1] Bimal Jalan – The Future of India: Politics, Economics and Governance

[2] Milton Friedman - The Social Responsibility of Business is to increase its profits

The Gud Gut Feeling!

My bike got rejuvenated after 4-months. My passionate blacky was smiling like a newborn baby - Fresh and cherubic. Throwing away my laziness, I had decided to renew the insurance for my sweety.. The person who was examining the bike was a little surprised to look at my shining baby and couldn't relate it to the purchasing date. [Had he seen it before a couple of days, he would have thought twice before issuing the insurance]. While driving, I was being extra-cautious in making sure that my baby doesn't get hurt. [I always tend to drive slowly and safely for atmost 2-weeks, after my bike gets serviced].

My pet was taken inside the much-cramped S.P.Road in B'lore [One of the busiest places in b'lore, which is popular for electronic items - I had gone there to get an UPS and an SMPS and a dozen blank DVDs that I had planned to write using my new lappie and to repair my dad's favorite DVD player]. [SP Road is similar to Ritchie Street in Chennai] I was looking in all directions for an empty parking lot like a begger waiting for people to come out of the temple. No way... I couldn't find anything.. There was a narrow lane - Lots of bikes were parked there - No "No Parking!" signal.. I started thinking "Can I park here?." Something inside me (ppl might call it "guts", "listening to heart", "the Being", "the unconscious" etc) just alarmed me "Dont park it here.. it's not safe!" I was good enough to ignore the warning thanks to my laziness or impatience. It was getting longer than expected, since I didn't know where to repair the DVD player and that the archaic AT cabinet SMPS wasn't available anywhere.. Finally landed up in a service shop with 2 people sitting in the middle of a ocean of CD/DVD players.. I was simply impressed by the skills they were showing in tearing apart the players and of course repairing/servicing them.. :) After an hour, they noted that most of the components in our player have gone bad and it's not worth repairing it.. I just phoned my dad and asked him to use the all-new hi-fi system instead of the old player.. He accepted it half-heartedly..

I was done with my work. Came back to the place where I had parked my bike. Bhoooom!!!! Bike was missing!!!!!!! Oh, my goodness!! Somebody had taken or moved or looted it!! Whatever, one part of my mind was trying to find where my bike was and the other part was laughing at me and saying "I warned you earlier!". I was told by the near-by shop-keeper that the "Tiger-Force" normally comes and takes away lots of bikes from those streets.. The picture of lorries with ropes to pull-in the bikes/cars (that are parked in "No parking" slots) came to my mind.. I was told I had to visit the near by police station to get my bike (but was not sure that it would be there..) The traffic constable told me I had to pay Rs.300 as fine - I was just keen on searching my bike among the dozen bikes that were brought in by the "Tiger-Force". A huge surge of contentment, when I saw my bike.. My horse was being roped.. After paying the fine, it was released.. It was looking at me and asked - "You idiot, you didn't listen to your heart! That timely spark!! You were given an alert! How dare can you ignore them!! You know.. How I was ill-treated by these stupid people.. I feel shame to serve you!" I was feeling compassionate towards this little innocent baby and I had to console it by saying "Sorry dear.. Will make sure that these kind of things don’t happen in future.. really sorry!"

Sothappal Express Transport Corporation (SETC)

My longest blog so far, but the lightest one too...

8:35 PM Sunday. In "Shakes & Creams" at Adyar. After having the mini-get-together of my school-mates, I'm supposed to catch the 9:15 PM bus from Koyambedu to Madurai. Was pretty frustrated, when the Auto-wala asked 120 bucks to go to bus-station. Decided to go to Kathipara/Guindy by an Auto and from there by an inter-city bus, which I thought would be faster and cheaper. It was 9.05 PM, when I got down in Kathipara. I thought myself "I am going to miss the bus for sure.. That too on a Sunday night... All the trains have a waiting list of more 150 and hence the trains would be damn crowded.. Cant change my mind to go in train... Should be able to get another bus in the station.. But who knows.. They mite also be crowded.. Can't stand and travel for more than 10 hours.. " Though I wasn't worried too much about missing the bus (since I was going to travel alone, not much luggage and the only work I had to do on Monday and the rest of the week was to eat and sleep), I felt that I would be lucky if the bus was late. At Kathipara, I got into a PP (supposed to be a Point-To-Point bus from Villupuram to Koyambedu) to go to the bus station. Out of curiosity, I took from my purse the SETC online reservation coupon to the Madurai.. Surprised, when I looked at the departure time! It was 9.45 PM!! Thank God!!! I got 30 more mins! Quite contented then and out of too much travel that day, I was about to fall asleep.. But I told myself "just half an hour - After which I can just sleep peacefully in the bus.. and tomorrow & the entire next week - can relax.. that too with awesome mom-prepared-food.." Kaasi & Udayam theatres passed by.. Sweet college memories.. Reached the station by around 9:15 PM.. 30 more mins to kill.. Was just roaming.. Ok, let us come to the topic-in-hand.. yes, SETC [State Express Transport Corportation, as the officials call it..]

A ~45 year old gentleman was standing outside a bus. He looked like a government employee. Seemed as if he wants everyone to follow rules. He was shouting at the conductor, who was inside the bus busy giving tickets to the passengers. Suddenly a hardy, black & bald person came out of the bus. He just got hold of our gentleman's shirt.. fatak fatak.. Slaps and blows on his face and chest.. Our gentleman was beaten up by none other than the bus-conductor, whom our man was cursing earlier. Our man seemed dreadful when he was shouting. The moment he got a blow, he started behaving very timid and weak like a child, who gets beaten up by its teacher for its mistakes. Our man's argument was that he never touched the conductor, but why the heck was he getting beaten up the conductor. The conductor was not at all listening - Just kicks, blows and bumps were the only things he knew at that moment. Knowing that he can't stand against the conductor physically, our man started running. Conductor started chasing. [The crowd was just watching all these proceedings merrily without bothering about the reason (Including me!) except that few more conductors joined the company of our conductor] Both of them reached the SETC office - I hope it was the division manager who was coming out (like the Naattaamai). He was supposed to hear this case today. Both of them started putting forth their viewpoints. All the conductors were supporting his colleague irrespective of knowing what happened. The manager acted as if he was hearing everything. He had the clear intention of saving his employee and hence asked the crowd to disperse; just advised our gentleman not to fight in the public like this. "What the hell!" - I guessed this is how the gentleman would have thought. Wow.. Wonderful!! This is the way, our state owned Express Trans. Corp. handles their much valued customers. I really didn't know the mistake done by our Mr. Poor Customer. But whatever he has done, I thought he didn't deserve that kind of treatment. Really poor fella!

Oops.. I was getting late for the bus.. Already 9:30 PM.. It has been a really looooong time since I traveled in SETC. Was a little hesitant to travel in SETC seeing the above treatment for customers.. But was too lazy to go to some other station to catch a private bus there and also, what if I don’t get tickets there.. Known ghost is better than the unknown god, as people say. [Though now I feel I should have tried to know the God then ;)] 9.45 PM Sharp. Bus did NOT come, as usual. I started my marathon waiting in the station. But after 15 mins started feeling uneasy, because of the weather and the crowd.. No announcements regarding the bus. I went to their office and enquired - He said "Ada yarappa ivan (who is this fellow?!) The 8:30 PM madurai bus has just come and we are expecting of couple of more buses before the 9.45 one." Again, some frustration and started chiding the SETC. Went to a cool-drink shop.. Was drinking of something refreshingly cool.. Just the all-new Limca advertisement came to my mind.. I simply loved the ad - water showering on the face of the people who drink it and an amazing BGM and song.. Though I didn't expect showers, I simply wanted to have it. Had it. Wow, pretty cool and refreshing. After finishing it, went and sat in a waiting chair next to a couple carrying a 1-year-old child. The person asked whether I was going to Madurai [He guessed right because the platform was intended for Madurai buses]. I said yes and that I was waiting for 9.45 one. He laughed at me and said that he was traveling in the bus which started some 15 mins back, but broke down before going out of the station and that he was told by officers that he would be allotted seats in any other Madurai bus. I thought his situation was more difficult than mine. After sometime, a dabba [i.e. very worn-out] bus with "Madurai" board came to the platform. A big crowd just surrounded the bus-door and was expecting the conductor to come out. These poor people haven't reserved tickets, but were curious to know whether there are seats still left. I initially thought it was my bus since it was 10.30 already, but when I was told that it was the 9.30 bus, I had a mix of feelings - sad that my bus hadn't come yet; happy that I didn't have to travel in the stupid dabba bus. Remember, there were neither announcements nor any sign-boards about any buses. People just leap around as soon as a bus comes, without knowing any detail. I was dog-tired waiting for my bus in the jam-packed station in the sultry summer. Thought of having one more limca, but got cold water bottle instead. [To be honest, just liked the Advt, not the taste of Limca] 11.05 PM. To my dashing hopes, a haggard 4-wheeler came to the platform with huge noise. "Amazing, my dear boy! Finally your bus is here.. You are going to ride in an exhilarating bullock cart today.. Enjoy!!" tickled my mind. "Oh, bad.. it's not fair to get such a stupid bus after waiting for 1+ hours" I thought myself, but consoled myself later that it's just going to be for 10 hours.

Got into the bus. The seats were awesomely pathetic. The interiors were amazingly screwed up. The windows were either strong and stuck in one place like politians' urge to come to power or very loose like their policy towards forming a coalition party. "Forget the bus. Just sleep. Just 10 hours!" I thought myself. Bus started and I felt I was put into a machine in a rice-mill. I realized that sound is omnipresent in SETC buses - It comes not just from engine, but from seats, windows, snoring people etc. The bus was agitating heavily - I thought it was going high-speed like a super-sonic plane, but soon realized that it was not the case, when a very old lorry carrying lots of stuff just overtook our bus. Thanks Einstein! I tried hard to sleep. Within hours after the bus started, the driver stopped the bus in a road-side-restaurant [I hope he gets free food in all these kind of restaurants] One person came inside the bus and announced in loud voice that the bus won't stop anywhere else till it reaches Madurai and hence advised people to have food there and use the free-toilet facility in the restaurant. People just came out of their dreams, when they heard about "free-toilet" facility. Most of the people who were getting down for toilet, just ended up in having some food. Good marketing - Give something free to people, they would be ready to accept/buy anything and everything including Chief Ministers. ;) Because the driver gets free food, the driver stopped in more restaurants like the previous [Some of them didn't offer free toilets and people used natural toilets!] Around 6 AM. I had some good sleep for 3 hours because of 3-consecutive-day-travel. I thought we would have gone past Trichy and would reach Madurai soon. I asked my neighbour whether we reached Trichy. That man got terribly angry and replied "This bus is not going to reach Madurai. Stupid Bus! More stupid Driver!! Dont make me angry and dont expect to go to Madurai before lunch. Still need to travel 2 hours to reach Trichy". On hearing that, I too became angry. But soon calmed down, realizing that I can't do anything about it. Slept and read a magazine alternatively. The bus stopped in few more restaurants - It didn't matter much to me.

Finally reached Madurai @ 1 PM (yes, the next day) and my home @ around 2.30 PM. My mom and dad were waiting for me with lunch. The marathon 15+ hour journey (which is supposed to be completed in 10 hours] just made me hate few things, which I used to like earlier - Long-Bus-Journeys and Government Buses. In childhood, I was a car and bus maniac. I used to analyze different kinds of buses and cars. E.g. In 1980s, I had the idea of having sleepers in buses(similar to trains), which is getting executed in private buses these days. I liked Government buses more than the private ones (though the latter are better in many sense). This is because I feel Govt buses are peoples' buses and any loss/gain is just people's. I dont like the fact that private buses are getting crowded, while state owned buses are mostly empty.

Ok, enough of complaints and self-talks... Let me be a little more constructive now.. Yes the state-owned-transport (esp. in Tamil Nadu) has its own problems compared to private buses - (a) Not caring about customers/people (b) Hapless organization/management (c) Not adaptive to changes (d) Second-rate buses (e) Poor efficiency. It's an endless negative cycle of loss-making and poor service. Let me try to put forward some simple suggestions that could help overcoming them

1. Privatisation: Proven formula in many sectors. Instead of privatizing entirely, do it in phases. Routes which are currently operating at loss by Govt should be considered for privatization. For a particular route, instead of allowing any private operator, give exclusive rights to a couple of operators (operators chosen by bidding process), so that it has twin benefits - Avoiding monopoly, at the same time making the private operators feel that it's an lucrative business. Strict guidelines (reg. timing, services, price etc) should formulated for them to operate.
2. Learn from others: Karnataka state-owned KSRTC is performing pretty well. Varied services for different type of customers - Express to A/C volvo coaches - In fact, in many cases, in Karanataka people prefer KSRTC over private buses. Well organized online reservation facility.
3. Quality buses: The current worn-out buses should be phased out over a couple of years - The old buses which were running long distances can be (a) converted so that they are used for local intra city bus service (b) Sold out to other sources like private or other states. The new buses should be of high quality, built by experienced builders. The maintenance can also be outsourced to contractors. Yes, it could lead to short-term losses, but should help in long-term.
4. Consolidation of Bus services: Currently, the entire state-owned bus service is divided into multiple units. Though it helps in easier management, it makes the operating cost higher [E.g. The Cuddalore/Villuppuram unit builds quality buses in-house in a very cost effective manner, but no other unit takes advantage of this] Doesn't mean we have to combine everything to single unit -Just consolidate big items like bus-body-building, servicing etc.
5. Customer attraction & satisfaction: Just need to realize what Gandhiji says "Customers are not dependent on you, you are dependent on them". Introduce new schemes like 'Frequent travelers Advantage' program, Interactive Feedback system etc. Make people & the employees understand that it's *their* transport corporation.
6. Effective management & hence reduce inefficiencies: A lot can be written under this.

Most importantly, implementing all these needs a strong, intelligent and honest leadership. Once done, these great qualities could go positively downwards to all section of the transport corporation in transforming Sothappal to SUPERB Express Transport Corporation.

Freebies and Beggars!

TN Assembly election 2006 saw some ugly politics. The 2 big parties' election portfolios had lots of promises on freebies - Free color TVs, Gas Stoves, Rice, gold etc. I see so many negative impacts of this.

First, people are not beggars to get freebies. Freebies would just make people lazy. Take the color TV example: People are just going to get more glued to TVs, concentrating less on work/studies. (Didn't mean that TVs are all bad and that people shouldn't watch them at all... I'm thinking hard on whether the welfare of a common man could be improved because of a TV - The answer would be big "NO". Think of poor families that find it difficult to make ends meet - A job opportunity or a loan for small-business or better infrastructure would be far better options than this useless free TV.) Also, people generally don't understand the value of something, unless they make efforts to get it. As I noted in one of my earlier blogs "Kashta padaama Ethuvum Kidaikkaathu; Kashta padaama kidai-kirathu Nilaikkaathu" [i.e.One doesn't get something without putting some effort. Even if he gets something effortlessly, it's not permanent..]

Second, the economics of the state and the Question - "Where does all these money come from?".. From the tax, people are paying... right? A couple of years back, I didn't opt for tax benefits, since I used to think that people would be better and uniformly benefited with more money in the Government hands. But, now I feel I had been one of the stupidest to have paid more tax - Money in the hands of politicians who don't care about people's welfare - All they care about is "Power & Position". How sad!

Third, this kind of portfolio by one party, triggers other parties to come up with similar kind of freebie offers - Simple marketing concept. So, not just a single party, but all parties would start playing this dirty business.

Last, it's not sure that all these promises would be implemented. After all, politicians are very good script-writers... ;) [And even if they are implemented, there had always been lots of scandals/corruptions in these kind of implementations.]

Political parties should aim at people's welfare and not at just capturing power. It would be good, if politicians follow the proverb "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."


Disclaimer: I haven't read the parties' portfolios in-detail. I dont have access to them either. But from what I hear/read in news, the freebies had been their major pitch. I would be more than happy, if there are more useful promises (false!?) in them and let's pray God that they get implemented.