From Today...

From the diary of Mr.Common Man:

Till Yesterday..

• I WORK like a donkey for my living
• I FIGHT like a dog for my survival
• I HOG like a pig for my growing
• I CHEAT like a fox for my approval
• I PLAY like a kitten for my pleasure
• I LAZE like a buffalo for my relaxation
• I KILL like a lion for my supremacy

From Today..
I am a MAN. Yes, I GIVE like a man to others & the society! Thanks to GiveIndia.org!

Jaago Re.. Oram Po..

It happens with Chennai Autowalas - Yes, my blogs. Dusting off my blog after a long time.

Scene 1: Mumbai Airport. Just before the departure of my flight to Chennai, had a conversation with a friend from Janaagraha on their new initiative with Tata Tea - "Jaago Re! One Billion Votes". I am sure many of you would have seen and appreciated the TV ad. The initiative is very commendable for multiple reasons

• Its new approach with the strong message of "Agar aap soyenge to desh kaise jagega!"
  
• Making voter registration a much simpler process esp. by leveraging technology
  
• Endorsement by Election Commission
  
• Support of a corporate body - Tata Tea
  
• Execution by a dedicated Janaagraha team (with most of them below 30 years and alumni from IIT Madras who devoted their career to work for social causes)
  
• Last but not the least, the YOUTH factor - the initiative is to be driven by youth - Yes, true to what Vivekananda says "Give me 100 youth, I would change the fate of the country."
  

It's an excellent case of how multiple stakeholders can work together to begin a new era - a change that many have wished to bring in.

Scene 2: Chennai Airport. Landed at Midnight - I couldn't believe myself for having gotten an Auto from Airport to Nungambakkam for Rs.150, that too without any bargain. Yes, remember Chennai! The driver immediately proved his kindness and honesty by helping a poor airport worker on the way. I couldn't avoid but to ask him "Chennai eppadi irukku?" (How is chennai doing?). The conversations during the rest of the journey were interesting. (It's interesting to have conversations with auto drivers - they mirror the mentality of a common man and they know / see the mentality of many random people who travel in their autos). He began with how inflation is affecting the common man - He gave a statistics, which I never realized and found hard to believe - a tomato costs more than Rs.2! His point was that Government is driving the inflation and that the politicians just suck out people money (whenever he mentioned politicians, he promptly prefixed the Tamil abuse starting with "thev.." - I couldn't resist but to laugh at hearing the Senthamizh!). I decided to listen than giving gyan on inflation. He continued "I may not pay income tax, but i'm paying tax indirectly - from the match box to the petrol. Have these political Bas***** ever utilized the money properly? Look at the roads... For sucking and looting people's money, they and their families will never have a good death." Yeah, I asked the question, most of you have in mind - "You are complaining so much.. what did you do to change it? Did you vote in the last election?" With an ephemeral laugh, he said firmly "I'm 49 years old and have given up voting long time back.. I also encourage my family to not vote." Filled with rage quickly from tummy to eyes, I remarked "You dont vote.. but just keep complaining huh?" He quickly responded "Are there any good politicians or parties here? All are bas**** Whom will I vote for?" He made it clear that he doesn't support any party / politicians and that he believes in just 4 things in life (a) Being an MGR fan, though he never supported him as a politician (b) Lord Muruga devotee (c) Responsible family man (d) Honesty in work. I said "Hmm.. you wouldn't bother about what is happening outside your life. yeah, there are bad politicians.. but you won't make an effort to change things". He replied "Nobody can change these. I can't change the world. I will just do my work honestly and will help the person next to me in whatever small way I can". Auto reached door #9, **** Street, Chennai. Would have been nicer to hear more of his view points about life and politics, but just had to thank and bid adieu to him.

People might be perplexed by the title of the post! "Jaago Re" in hindi means "Wake up" - A call for action from others. "Oram Po" in Tamil implies "Leave way for me" - a typical phrase used by autowalas. In a broader sense, the 2 scenarios depict 2 different ways of living. W.r.t. voting, they imply different standpoints. In fact, it's not just the autowala - lot of people give up on voting saying "No good politicians", "things can't be changed." My good friend quoted this article - she said it makes much more sense to take an economist view and not vote in India today.

So, should we shout "Jaago Re" or "Oram Po"? You decide what you want to shout, but I would make my call loud and clear "Jaago Re"! I strongly believe - voting is not just a "civic duty", "self-interest", "make-a-difference", "feel good", "look good" factors, rather it's the "foundation" for many things. Like a foundation for the building, it incurs a significant cost at the beginning and may not have any immediate perceptible benefits, but it's absolutely necessary for a solid building. Voting may not be a cure-for-all solution. It may not be the ONE step, rather step one for solving many social issues.

So, what are you waiting for? If you haven't registered yourself, go ahead and register to vote at www.jaagore.com and no harm in spreading a good message to others! :)

Begging & Payer's Dilemma!

Two parties. One transaction. Different levels of exchange. The world runs around this simple funda! Few examples: Ideal Business - mutually profitable with equal exchange. Donation & true love - Giving without expecting anything back. Greed - Expecting more than what you give. Stealing - Taking without the knowledge of the counter-party. Begging - Getting without any obligation!

Similar to Prisoner's dilemma, (With 2 players, optimal solution is possible with cooperation. But the players end-up with a sub-optimal solution due to lack of trust, since trying to cooperate when the other competes has higher penalty!) Payer's dilemma is a major issue - Yes, both might lead to suboptimal solutions.

Payer	Beggar
		No need to beg	Need to beg (and he begs!)
	Don’t pay	Ideal, if Beggar resolves not to beg	You didn’t help the needy!
	Pay	Laziness supported & beggar gets free lunch, if he decides to beg	Sub-optimal, but might be inevitable

The dilemma is to pay or not - by paying a beggar, am I helping him? Or is that I am promoting begging as a profession and impede his learning of any skill? It's a very tricky situation! But it's clear that begging is good for none: Beggar - no descent lifestyle, no sustained income, he doesn't develop any skill; Payer - Loses money without getting any service in return; Country - No net addition to the GDP. Hmmm.. Seems ideal to have no begging. Is it possible? If so, how? Will a ban on begging help? To answer these, we need to answer the very basic question - why does he beg?

People beg because of (i) Incapability - physical or mental (ii) Unemployment - Unfit for existing jobs or unavailability of jobs (iii) Laziness. [There is a fuzzy fourth category, predominantly that of monks who does it in the name of spirituality - Some genuine monks beg because working for a living is inferior to them; fake monks will come under the "laziness" category. This fourth category goes beyond the scope of this post!] Among these, lazy beggar is the troubled category - the payer's resolution is simple (it shouldn't be supported) but the solution is tough - You can take a horse to water, but never make it drink, esp when it has determined to not drink! Also, it's not possible to differentiate the beggars - lazy beggars hurt themselves or lie or put up a false image to earn people's sympathy. Yes, "information asymmetry" problem!

Looking at the reasons, two things become clear. First, a simple ban might not work - it might backfire with still worse consequences (a banned beggar may die / suicide or turn into a thief / anti-social element) and/or turn out to be ineffective (It would be a rule on paper like the prohibition of smoking in public in Chennai). Second, the beggar is not the sole reason for begging - the payer, the society and the government are all parties to it. Unless there is a concerted effort from all, it's tough to uproot begging.

I believe the begging problem can be reduced (if not eradicated) gradually in 2 stages (if not overnight):

1. FIRST, Slowly and gradually move the existing beggars away from begging pool
• Plan and create "Beggars Rehabilitation Program" with funding and support from Government, NGOs and Wealthy individuals (if required, add a new cess for income exceeding a certain limit). Register all the existing beggars in every town, city and village under this program
• Categorize the beggars - The "incapable" has to be sent to the corresponding NGO or Government sponsored helping homes; The "unemployed" should be arranged for skill-development programs; IT could be leveraged to create a database of these people and it would be an ideal CSR initiative for companies to employ people from this database. Lazy beggars should be given strict warning to not beg, else face severe punishments (Remember the Tamil movie Anniyan!)
• The program could also create centers in every town (similar to government departments or NGOs) - People who want to help the beggars should donate to the centers than directly to the beggars to avoid the "information asymmetry" problem.
  
2. SECOND, Stop the inflow of people into begging population
• This calls for bigger things - Efficient, Good & Incorrupt Government; Zero Child Labor; Marginally Low (Zero is bad for economy!) Unemployment
  
• Build / Improve homes for "incapable" category & "skill-development" centers
  
• Set a future date for complete elimination of begging
• Creation of Beggar's helpline - If you happen to see a new beggar, call them up!

All of these may seem ambitious, but where there is a will, there will be a way!

I am sure government officers, politicians, people dedicated to & socked in social service would have better information, context and ideas to make a beggar-free India than this computer-science & management graduate. I wish they come forward to make it a reality! :)