October the 2nd

India is a country of celebrations. No other country celebrate life the way Indians do and perhaps that is the reason Indians are amongst the happiest people in the world.(http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/02/10/happiness-poll-idINDEE8190HR20120210).

 

To celebrate, we need holidays and perhaps for the same reason we might also be having highest number of holidays. Each holiday is marked by some or the other celebration in the country. The list of such celebrations is endless.

 

But today as we all enjoy this holiday of Oct 2, on the birthdates of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri, we don't see any celebration around. What for do we need this holiday? It's silence all around as if some gloom has struck the nation. Yes, our newspaper and TV channels do remind us that it is the birthday of our “Father of Nation” but so does our currency notes. Do we really need a holiday for this? Especially,when Bapuji is more or less out from our lives. We have given uniqueness to this day..only day with no work and no play either..

 

Either we make it a working day..or we change the way we live this day..is what I believe…

Consumption Generation...

A century ago we had no mobile, car, electricity, television, internet, air conditioning, computer, airplanes, foreign holidays, five star hotels, movies et al in our lives. Today, our life is hardly anything beyond these.

 

Was there no life then? Is that we have discovered a new meaning of life that our forefathers didn't know?  Is this a natural progression of life? Do we know the consequence of this change?  Do we have any responsibility towards the consequence of this change? Are we prepared to face the social/ economical/ geological consequence of this change? 

 

If someone knows the answers-good, I would not have any guilt in admitting "how fool of fine". But if no, how can a so-called advanced society advance without answers to these basic questions?

 

Here I want to talk about just one thing which we understand the most-that is "Matter". More particularly the way we are consuming "Matter" today. We have attempted to overcome nature but even for that as well are overly dependent on natural resources,.

 

In the next 50 years we would be left with hardly any coal, oil, iron ore, aluminum etc and another 50 years we will have nothing.

 

Today we are consuming as if there is no tomorrow. Ironically, at the same time we wish to have children for our better tomorrow. But do we bother to think what will our children have to consume? We would be remembered as the most selfish generation in mankind history if we don’t. Is it fair to consume all these resources in just couple of decades, which have taken lacs of years to generate?

 

We have created such economic model that if we don't consume, we would be finished and if we consume our children will be finished..and yes..we have opted option 2…

 

We have trapped ourselves in the vicious circles of consumption. Instead of applying mind over matter we have applied matter over mind.

 

Somewhere we have to either stop this consumption madness or stop producing Children..

 

Please don't make our country Firangi Dependent India (FDI)

I am not too sure whether FDI should be allowed or not, whether much talked about benefits of FDI viz.,  1) Price reduction 2) infrastructure 3) job creation etc are real or just theoretical.

Logically speaking if today we buy goods worth Rs 1000 from retail channel (any) and if foreign retail chains were to create NET employment generation in economy, how is that possible unless they sale the goods at Rs 1000 plus? And even if they sale goods at Rs 1000 minus (which we are assuming) and still make profit, will not somewhere someone lose job on Net basis in the economy? This is because retail does not actually add value and hence cannot really change the size of the economy. What it therefore changes is distribution of income. How it can favorably change the distribution of income need to be understood.

None of the Indian organised retailers have succeeded in India - is it because Indian’s don't know how to do business or our economic structure is getting more and more distorted for organised retailers to survive. We are assuming that foreign retailer, with even tougher conditions  to comply with, will be able to do profitable business and reduce cost for consumer at the same time. How is that going to happen? Rental  prices of real estate and commodity will further go up in anticipation of FDI, making business even more difficult. Why should they come? Even if they come how long can they sustain?

Why will foreigners come to India, just for creating infrastructure for us? Forget about that - thinking of such dependency isn’t that a clear admission of failure on our part? A child to grow has to start being own  - a country to grow does not need to be on its own? Will India never see it’s home grown brands in top ten retailers list inspite of being second most populated country?

There are many reforms to be done to let the organised retail grow in India - GST, giving industry status etc. Unless we address that, organised retail cannot thrive whether it is Indian or foreigner doing business. Why should not we think of making our retail companies strong before we send them to compete with the big retailers?

It is also difficult to get a sense out of FDI from people advocating FDI as they act only out of vested interest 1) organised retailers are looking for much needed money which they are unable to get from India (the same Kishore Biyani was against FDI in his slight less horrible days. 2) govt is looking to distract people from the coal and other issues and improve image in front on Indian and foreign media. In my view going by the views of these people is a big mistake.

We have had phenomenal increase in price of basic food commodities during this era of modern retail. I don't believe that this is just a coincidence. With foreign retailers coming in who would be looking at capturing market share, we should be prepared for more price rise. (in my view heavy demand from them to fill there racks may put pressure on prices of food items)

While we may feel good seeing good/ air conditioned malls and a pleasant shopping experience. My real worry is whether we are going to see further divide in the ever increasing income gaps in the society due to FDI -making food more and more inaccessible to poor? Are we evaluating that, while we evaluate FDI?

I want to discuss FDI in light of just  this one question . Unless I am not too sure about that, I don’t mind shopping from cramped Kirana store/ inefficient Indian store.