Take for Granted - At your own peril.

Cricket World Cup 2015. India first beat the stronger Pakistan team by a huge margin. It then beat South Africa; a much stronger team than even Pakistan more convincingly. It was just not supposed to happen. Nor was Ireland supposed to beat superior West Indies; and, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan were not really teams to give South Africa and Sri-Lanka a scare (respectively). But, all of it did happen, and today, no team is willing to take any further match with any opponent - strong or weak - for granted. If they do - its at their own peril as Mr. Ravi Shastri (The Indian team manager) warned at one of the post victory talk sessions.

The Indian Rail Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu is not taking the train passenger for granted either. At the cost of allowing the stock market to take a big dive, the Modi government has in my mind rightly decided to improve the overall rail experience from a passenger point of view. Rather than increasing the number of train services or dropping fares as a populist strategy would suggest it has stuck to improving speed, safety, security, hygiene, sanitation, better - faster - more transparent ticketing, better catering on trains and at stations, better access to physically challenged and senior citizens, upgrade of technology and infrastructure and above all net impact on environment as top priority in the Railway budget 2015 presented on 26th of Feb. 2015.

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I am particularly delighted that for the first time there is a concrete vision for technology upgradation and modernisation of the Railways.

PM Narendra Modi

Members sitting in opposition called it a "dream budget" - of course sarcastically as for them it contains a lot of imaginary concepts that can never be implemented. I guess the lack of imagination is exactly why they are sitting in opposition today. For India, the railway tracks are the blood vessels as much as the trains the blood that flow within. And, like clogged blood vessels can cause all sorts of damage internally so also is the case with the Railways. India needs to modernize this vast infrastructure for the sake of its agricultural and industrial health and hence the economy. The people of India too have taken the health of the railways for granted and the perils of the same stand out sadly in the news. Like for the railways, I wish the government would even present a budget for Air-India too either as part of a greater public transport budget or independently if it really wishes to change the way the airline functions.

In a couple of days, 28th of Feb. to be precise, the Finance Minister will disclose the first real financial budget of the Modi government. There are a lot of expectation riding on it and most of them are contradictory. A lot has been written by financial experts in terms of advice and wish lists to the FM, so I shall skip that - keeping with the adage "Never give advice - intelligent don't need it - fools will not take it". The FM has some very sage people guiding him; but, if the Government plays the peoples card - the much needed foreign resource mobilization process will suffer;  and if it follows a fiscal discipline dictated by would be foreign and domestic lenders - then the people will get ticked off.  Will it cheer people or reduce them to tears is something that I cannot say for certain; but going by the "track" record, I feel the stock markets in India are in for a free fall -  as it will lack the populist pleasing measures that the masses are expecting. That would actually be a good decision if the central government can follow that up by going on an expenditure cut diet.

Mr. Modi has in the last few days earned more of my admiration. To start with, he has put the States in the forefront and has decided to share a higher percentage of tax collection with them. Next, he has rightly inducted Arvind Kejriwal in the NITI panel as the head of Delhi State. Next his party reached an agreement with the PDP in Kashmir on two very contentious issue - Article 370 and AFSPA. Finally, decided to move ahead with the land reform bill despite the political opposition. For many, these are all selfish acts, but for me - brave moves that will ensure the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax next year; bring in a higher degree of trust and cooperation between States and the Center (keeping politics aside); allow for a stable governance in Kashmir; and in time bring better accountability on land management. The government is clearly sending out a message that running of the Nation and running of political agendas need to put on two separate tracks. If this be the case, then can the government be brave enough to bring agricultural income under the tax ambit? It is one of the most abused tax loop holes in the Country.

It's not going to be easy for the government to push for a hard budget either, as it may just about kick off an anti Modi wave. The Common Man is fighting for his day to day survival. The inflation he has been hit with on food and essentials is close to a 100%. Keeping on moving the tax exempt slab up and up is not the best way to go in the long run as opposed to bringing in a greater number of people into the tax net. The Government will have to find a way to walk that tight rope as it cannot afford to take the bulk of India's current tax paying population - which is neither the super rich not the relatively poor - for granted. If it does, it's at its own peril.

Simple SMART strategy

India maintains the fourth largest armed force in the world at a “spend” that accounts for nearly 2% of its GDP. That percentage translates to some US$ 45 billion for the year for the year 2014-15. Despite spending some US$40 billion on hardware acquisition from 2009 on; making it the largest importer of defense equipment from around the world; the strength of the air, sea and land forces has been progressively worsening. To correct it, India has charted out a program for spending some US$ 100 billion in the next 10 years for defense modernization which includes aircrafts, helicopters, ships, submarines, aircraft carrier, howitzers, tanks, missile systems, and the list goes on.

The Prime Minister and his men that run India now are keen that bulk of the hardware be made in India under technical (and not assembling) collaboration from the best in the world to make India’s defense sector a more self reliant job creator while reducing foreign exchange outflow. India also wants to buffer itself from geo-politically leveraged, fractured, and unreliable supply relationships that it has experienced in the past with the Russians, Americans and Europeans in the past. Procurement has also been hit by India’s never ending procurement process as well as unearthing of “kick backs” and numerous defense related scams. India’s own experiments in this sector through its public sector undertakings; well the less said the better. With the government making way for allowing a higher Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in privately set up defense manufacturing; a host of Indian companies are making plans and announcements for this sector.

Aug 05 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai)

Anil to build defence choppers near Nagpur

Just a few days back, Mr. Anil Ambani made an announcement of his group wanting to set up a defense “SMART” city to set up several companies that would bid for supplying equipment to all 3 corps of the armed forces. His group is making a bid for the supply of close to 500 helicopters required by the Army and Navy primarily for reconnaissance and surveillance.  It’s a different matter that a couple of days later, one of his senior executives from his power company has been picked up along with officers from India’s top 5 energy companies for investigation; for allegedly purchasing stolen “classified” information from the petroleum ministry. Anyway, I wish I knew Mr. Anil Ambani. I would have advised him to give up his hunt for the 5,000 acres or so required for this dream project if he wants to really achieve his ambition of establishing his group as a significant defense player in the next 5 years. Instead, I could have charged him a very fat fee and would have drawn his attention to the troubled “Bengal Aerotropolis” at Durgapur. (Aug 5 2015 update - could he have read this?)

The idea was conceived back in the “Acche din” (good days) of 2006-7 as an integrated aviation “industrial township” (in the new government parley – Smart City) occupying 2300 acres including a defunct WWII airstrip. Singapore’s Changi airport saw merit in the project and decided to back it with money as equity. It was to become an industrial, logistics, technology hub to be built around a world class airport that was strategically placed between 2 – 5 hours driving distance from some very important industrial towns of the East and in time become an alternative or even a competitor for Kolkatta international airport.  I came across it first in 2011; when an international property consultant asked my Company to explore the idea of putting up an affordable-budget hotel as part of the airport facility. The project made a lot of sense and I too like Changi was swayed to explore the option. But, the terms offered for the land and structure lease would not have made sense even in Kolkatta; leave alone an airstrip that would at best attract 5 to 6 commercial aircraft landings a day in the first few years of operations. That is, as and when air operations actually got started. I argued with the Changi boys that any fixed rent contract (forget what they were asking) would not work and the reasons for it. And so, the deal never went through. No regrets. Since my meeting in 2011, the project has gone through a fair bit of turbulence, including trouble between the founding partners.  The airport at Aerotropolis has now set a deadline to open itself by March 2015, a delay of some 24 months. Everything else planned around the airport is still at “green field” stage. The demand drivers for a hotel at least – missing. Number of flights planned initially – 1 a day.

 The Chinese joke that Indian project execution skills have not changed much since Emperor Shahjehan’s time. “It took him 20 years to build the Taj Mahal; our Emperors would have built it in less than 2” is what I heard from a Chinese friend of mine. It did annoy me, but, it is also the truth that projects in India do suffer from a much higher development risk – be it regulatory, environmental, financial, and many a times from the fact that those leading the project have very little experience in executing the same. Even ADAG (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group)  has suffered in its build out of the Mumbai Metro and New Delhi Airport Express projects; as have GVK, GMR and many other companies like them building out mega projects – even though at the end the delivered projects are world class. Fortunately, this project now has land, permissions, an operating airfield, airport all in place. Better still, it is in private hands which include a sector smart partner like Changi. Should a group like ADAG take up leadership of the development here on; Aerotroplois could actually become an example of a successful ‘Smart’ theme city.  

The talk of creating new SMART cities is catching momentum. Just yesterday (22nd Feb); I read that the Ministry of Shipping is planning 12 SMART naval cities at each of the major ports of India at a cost of US$ 100 billion investment. The point is that there are several cities and towns that are languishing like ghost towns across India. All of them saw their development start during the real estate boom of 2006-7. All of them had great themes guiding their development. They were called industrial cities, SEZs, processing zones, logistic hubs and every creative name under the Sun. Now, they may as well call themselves SMART cities as that's the flavour of the month. Instead of seeing new developments languish why not spot the winners and see their development through?   Did I hear that my consultancy cheque is in the mail? It is a simple and SMART strategy where everyone comes out a winner.  

FSI – does it mean Foolish Silly Ill-planned?

 A few days back, I heard a financial consultant Faye D’Souza on Radio one 94.3 talking about how might the City and State utilize the 1080 acres being released by the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) for the betterment of the City; and the resultant impact on real estate prices on the eastern part of Mumbai. It is quite obvious that the builder lobby will try and exert pressure to get most of the land sold to them; even though the Minister for Shipping has said that the land will be reserved for creating public infrastructure – something that the City desperately needs. The last time the City heard such a promise was when the Mill lands were released and there was much talk of reserving at least 30% for increasing the green cover and 30% for social housing and infra needs of the City and those being affected – namely, the out of work mill workers. And, for them were built -  super luxury (very expensive) residential and commercial towers, 5 star hotels and glitzy malls. The original plan was to bring down the rate of housing and offices in South Mumbai; but the result was just the opposite. Prices doubled, builders made tons of money and the City got a big zero. Let’s ensure that the land is actually put to the correct use this time around, and this can only happen if the people voice themselves to put "Mumbai First"– else we will all look very “foolish” – yet again.

Anyway; the thought that struck me while hearing the program – Does this City really have an overall vision plan on how it intends to shape up in the next 20 years or each major land bank owner gets to decide what is good? Lo and behold; a couple of days later I read that the City has released its development plan 2014-34  (DP) for public debate. Never mind that it has been released in 2015 and will not be put in force until 2016. The headline I read did not focus much on the plan; but screamed out the possibility of the planning authorities granting up to 8 FSI for building construction. Floor Space Index (FSI) represents the amount of permissible construction on a plot in relation to the size of the plot. (It means the same as Floor Area Ratio or FAR used in other places).

From what I could make out of this plan, the exact FSI that a plot could attract was very arbitrary, except that, a minimum guaranteed FSI was prescribed zone wise - based on its proximity to transportation nodes and current versus projected population density. Land bank holders must have gone orgasmic with this news and builders would have called their spin doctors to figure out how their under construct buildings could take advantage of the situation; never mind if the construction would have to be stalled till the DP came into effect at the inconvenience of those who had either financed or bought premises in their developments.

I cannot understand the true rationale behind this move of offering higher FSI. What is its exact intention? Is it aimed at bringing down land prices or rates that builders would charge or improve the way buildings are made or even improve the general quality of life? Going vertical is not a bad idea. Technology today has made sure that 50+ floor buildings are no longer exceptions. In the developed world there is serious thought being given to Super Skyscraper Cities in which every building acts  as a self contained and self sufficient unit in every way including green sustainable and renewable utility concepts. Think of it; how would it be if the entire population of a ward within Mumbai were housed within a total of 50 buildings or less? 

However, going by experience, except for making this overpopulated under provided (infra and utilities) expensive island even more populated and more expensive there is nothing else that the DP will achieve. Correction, make land bank owners and builders super billionaires along with the men in power who could with a few drop of ink arbitrarily pen the exact FSI to be granted on the proposal file. A couple of months back, a friend of mine who happens to be a big investor in Mumbai real estate mentioned that such a move was on the anvil. From what I understood then, the FSI was to be linked to plot size. Bigger the plot - higher the FSI granted - but at a progressively lower building footprint based on setbacks linked with height. He drew out an approximate table which I thought made absolute sense. The move he said was based on forcing builders to consolidate the multitude of small plots to claim the higher FSI and in turn create enough open spaces for gardens, parking, road widening, laying of utility lines, and increasing light - ventilation and safety margins between 2 buildings – all of which are lacking at present in 80% of the projects under development in this City. Should redevelopment of certain plots become unviable based on the new norms; then the same could be surrendered to the City or Developers for the highest market priced compensation and the City or Developer could use it for creating public utilities needed by that area. In a way cut out any ambiguity making building proposals simpler, transparent, and remove all special loopholes that were currently being misused. 

Plot Size	Max. Ground Cover	Max FSI*	Max. Height* (Subject to Funnel Clearance from Aviation)
< 2000m2	60%	2 + 0.3 (premium/TDR)	6 X  road width
2000 - <4000 m2	55%	3 + 0.3 (premium/TDR)	8 X  road width
4000 - <6000 m2	50%	4 + 0.3 (premium/TDR)	9 X  road width
>6000 m2	45%	5 + 0.3 (premium/TDR)	10 X  road width

(Updated Table 9th March 2015 - no linkage to plot size - just focused on road width)

In all fairness the article on the DP did mention that building proposals would now be considered based on fulfillment of stricter parking, safety, environmental control and waste reduction norms. Track record again suggests that developers in general fulfill norms only on paper and reality speaks a very different story. In a City which shows little care to give way to an ambulance or fire tender or any other emergency services; ensuring adherence to norms in the taller structures can only happen if punishment for non adherence is made a lot stricter. But again, money can buy anything as evident in many high profile cases of the multitude of building accidents and fire covered in the press. I don't know how the City intends to build out its critical infrastructure of ensuring water, electricity, safety, roads without which increasing the population density, and more specifically vertically would indeed be a very "Silly" idea.

But keeping my skeptic nature aside; if the DP is a well thought out document with correct intent, then it could actually be a game changer in terms of how this City shapes and I shall stand corrected and if not then this City’s development plan is certainly “ill planned" 

Honestly; there is no real mechanism to control land pricing on an island of what appears to be infinite demand. The higher the capacity of build allowed on a piece of land, higher the expected price of that land will be. Ultimately, it’s a matter of simple demand and supply economics. Hong Kong and Singapore face similar problems; but have set up norms for rewarding restricted social housing and critical infrastructure projects like schools and hospitals with a much higher FAR and/or ground coverage than given for free sale residential or commercial buildings. It’s an observation that slum dwellers rehabilitated in SRA towers generally occupied them for a statutory period then moved out to create a new ground level slum, while renting out the premises allocated to a family falling in the Low Income Group. Why so? Most say that they cannot adjust to living in apartments or don’t earn enough to pay for the monthly maintenance charges of utilities and facilities that they generally got for almost “free” in the slum. Relying on the average developer to come up with a high quality vertical slum alternative and/or making the owners of flats built on slum land subsidize the stay of their poor former slum neighbors is an idea which will certainly be labeled “Idiotic”.

There are many others who seem to share my thoughts - some headlines:
DON'T TOUCH AAREY - BMC's ambitious devpt plan set to cut Aarey to 14% its present size
Denser, vertical growth spells misery for citizens

Most suggestions missing: Activists
Include MbPT land in devpt plan, says citizens' group

DP will be a disaster for city, increase social disparities

P K Das

DON'T TOUCH AAREY - Minister, corporators cry foul, will oppose devpt

I would actually invite Mr. Arvind Kejriwal (the activist) to get his core team to study the DP keeping the Mumbai civic elections of 2017 in mind to figure out how this plan could be misused by those in power now and what safeguards need to be put in place to ensure that Mumbai becomes a world class international City. 

Play Ball

Monday 16th Feb. 2015, the newspaper arrived with a nice headline "India hits Pakistan for a 6" (at the ICC World Cup in Australia). Yup, in this cricket war (more than rivalry) with our neighbour; India is ahead 6-0 as far as encounters at the World Cup stage is concerned. It came as a big surprise. India finished behind Australia and Britain in the triangular series that ended last month. The performance even prior to that was not that great. The punt view was that Indian batting stood no chance against the vastly superior Pakistani pace bowling attack; and Indian bowling attack - less said the better. Unless it was a pre planned strategy by the Indian side to not give their real game away - ( or they were setting the punters up for a change); the "blue" team thrashed the "green" boys by a very comfortable margin. Sachin Tendulkar's heir apparent in the team, and Ricky Ponting's Indian clone - Virat Kohli's ton, assisted by some fabulous performances by the almost dropped (from the team squad) team mates S. Dhawan, S. Raina, and Ashwin played a decisive part in the victory. Guess Captain "Trusting" Dhoni knows his players and knows what to expect from them when it matters. Credit to the under rated Indian seamer trio of U. Yadav, M. Samhi and M. Sharma; they may have lacked the ferocious pace of the neighbours - but made it up with some intelligent and at times fiery bowling. For most Indians, beating Pakistan at the world cup tournament is akin to winning the world cup itself. Thankfully the new team does not think that way based on what Virat had to say after the win - "I love to win and I fight to win". Great to see this positive aggression in our boys in "Blue".

Unfortunately for my own boy in "Blue"; a day earlier; his school team lost the pre-quarter final softball match in an intrastate championship tournament. India does not play much of baseball or softball; the game of choice played in the United States of America. It came as a surprise to learn that the championship attracted 24 teams from across Maharashtra including many from tier 2 and 3 towns. I was quite surprised that such a tournament existed for a game that is virtually non existent in India. For the Mumbai school boys, participation may have meant getting the certificate that would help them later in getting admitted to good Universities in the US; as sports (specially those popular in that Country) plays an important part in student selection as much as a scholastic aptitude. But; for the participants from  the smaller towns winning and loosing meant everything. So committed were they to the game that one would have thought that the sport was native to India as well and each of the boys were trying to get the selector's eye for a place in the National squad.

For a State level championship, the organizers had done a super bad job; but then that is generally the same story will all tourneys held of lesser known sports including athletics. Pictures are worth more 1000 words so judge for yourself.

 
A Baseball field for Minor League Games in America Vs

The Tournament Ground in Aurangabad.

The first match was delayed by an hour as the marking and field preparations were not done the previous day as the local politician who would also preside as the Chief Guest wanted to make sure that the viewing area where he would sit was comfortable for him and his entourage.

The 24 playing teams braving the afternoon sun (37 deg.C.) at the inauguration ceremony where the greatness of the organizers and Chief Guest was being made known to the boys. No water, food, sun shelter, toilet facilities available at the selected ground for the players.

It is said when there is no one to turn to, then turn to God. This little temple by the side of the playing field served as the shelter and resting area for the playing teams. The blessings received probably helped them get through to the Pre-quarter finals after trashing host Aurangabad 10-0.

Each of the  school teams had to arrange its own accommodation; which was good in a way as if it was left to the organizers - the boys would have slept in some cow shed.  Sportingly; despite the hardship the teams enjoyed the tournament. The boys from Cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Aurangabad watched the professionalism displayed by teams from smaller towns like Sholapur, Akola, Beed, and were heard promising their respective coaches that they would work harder and better at the game. Unlike the very popular game of cricket and for that matter even hockey and football; there are no great training or playing facilities available for this sport in India. It's hard to find places that sell gear and equipment associated with this sport. Kids taking up this sport even voluntarily are labeled as cricket rejects; so imagine what the coaches who brave into this sport are called? Last year, a Hollywood movie called "The Million Dollar Arm" caught a lot of attention in India. An adaption of a true event where a down and out sports agent comes to India to discover and nurture baseball talent from here to play in the major leagues in USA; based on the premise that in this cricket loving population of 1 billion - he could surely find a couple of boys who would fit the bill. I did some "netvestingation" and tracked the actual assistant coach portrayed in the film and even got him to agree to set up a coaching camp for the school team. But the school itself did not respond for reasons best known to its management.

Historically, cricket was not as much the favoured sport in India back in the 60's and 70's. It was a British legacy from our point of view and our team usually ended up as the whipping boys in the test matches played at home and overseas. Those were the days when we took pride in field hockey, and it was called our "National Game" - again based on the successive Olympic medals India won. With time, the new western playing techniques that relied more on team play (as compared to Asian mastery of the dribble stick), along with a much faster and high endurance "astro turf" game (as compared to an evenly paced game on "grass") changed the equation;  and, with the rise in the number of our growing game losses, the sport started to see an equal decline in this Country. The matter was compounded by the growing popularity of  the new "one-day" cricket format. After India's surprising world cup win in 1983 and follow up titles at various international meets; it became the new "National Game". Higher TV viewership meant higher sponsorship meant higher advertising meant higher money. In short Cricket bloomed and Field hockey was doomed. By the turn of the century it was one of the several unimportant games played in India.

Ironically, the sport that slayed it is also responsible for its revival as it is for other lesser played sports like tennis, football and "Kabaddi". The rising popularity of cricket's Indian Premier League (IPL) that was started to discover hidden Indian talent and improve the quality of sport (and of course also make oodles of money for the team owners) made a lot of people think that the same formula for success could be applied to other sports as well. As a result, the HIL (Hockey India League), ISL (Indian Super League - Football), PKL (Pro Kabaddi League), have started doing quite well in the last couple of years. It's only a matter of time before the "American Cricket" fever catches on in India and there may just be a day when it matches the popularity enjoyed by cricket today. Why will it happen is quite obvious. If not, one has to just read the sign up amounts being paid to talented rookies in any of the league sports being played and the reason will stare in the face.

I am not saying it's a bad thing; and who knows maybe my son too ends up taking up this sport professionally. But until such a day happens; his school team will have to practice this sport at the Beach. So Let's Play Ball. Better still - Enjoy!

 

Delhi - India's true Belly

My admiration for the people of Delhi has grown leaps and bounds. Last year; the people showed Congress the door and were split near 50:50 in deciding if  BJP or AAP should rule the State. Having given BJP a near absolute mandate in the National elections last year, the BJP took the people's mood for granted. I don't think the people liked being taken for granted; and in the bargain discharged the Congress completely like gas after a long and heavy meal (never mind the orifice); and gave the BJP a "Delhi Belly" that would keep a lot of the party members glued to their white bathroom thrones for a while. On the other hand, the efforts put in by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) man and machinery to convince the voter of the sincerity to make amends earned it a near 100% mandate in the current State Elections. AAP's victory has opened up a can of worms for the BJP in other States as well. For one, its aggrieved partner went vocal in Maharashtra in celebrating the defeat causing much embarrassment for the BJP top Brass. As per the press, the old BJP guard is chuckling as well - just short of openly celebrating the event. Yes "Shit Happens" 

A day after the victory, the news channels are making it sound like Kejriwal has just won the Prime Minister's post and papers have allocated close to 50% or more of it's 4th estate in slicing and dicing the event and some personalities as well.
The media is suggesting that AAP will in time emerge as the new secular alternative in place of the Congress; forgetting that Congress is actually the cause of fragmenting this nation's electorate to create non secular vote banks. The Indian electorate is changing. No longer is it willing to vote as per the whims of a relreligious head or head of any caste or creed. The voter now is deciding based on service that can be expected from a Party, and if there is no delivery; the mood is neither of tolerance nor patience. Modi and his men needed this shake up and wake up call; and while AAP has humbled the present Titan it is far from filling the void that the Congress has left in terms of a serious opponent at a national level. Kejriwal has every reason to be scared as he says he is with the results. There is a lot of work to be done for AAP to achieve its      

CHARTER FOR CHANGE

and no one around in the State Assembly on who the blame can be pinned for any failure. The 15 Key points in its 70 point action plan:





1 DELHI JANLOKPAL BILL: Resolved to bring Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill on coming to power. Delhi Lokpal will have the power to investigate and prosecute those charged with corruption. This is one thing that has been debated and well thought through. But in general public officials are known to be "birds of a feather that flock together". What if a section of or entire civil service go into defiance mode (with covert support of those wanting to defeat this initiative) at one of theirs being prosecuted? 2 SWARAJ BILL: AAP will also bring the Swaraj Bill to devolve powers to the people. Decisions affecting the local community will be taken by citizens and implemented by their secretariat. This is akin to creating a "Panchayat Raj" within the various provinces of Delhi. Actually a great idea as long as the people don't get incited on communal or caste lines. Matters can go very awry very fast in a City State of hundreds of highly divided and highly emotional communities. 
3 FULL STATEHOOD FOR DELHI: AAP will push for full statehood for Delhi. This will make bodies like DDA, MCD & Delhi Police accountable to the elected Delhi government. Question to ask is will Haryana and UP cede territories falling under the National Capital Region to go under full control of Delhi State Government? If not, then statehood would be restrict to Delhi as per its existing City boundary. It will certainly be good for the people even if that happens. 
4 ELECTRICITY BILLS TO BE CUT BY HALF: AAP will ask CAG to do an audit of discoms, and convinced that they are fattening the costs, AAP will reduce electricity bills by half. This initiative had a national impact last year in AAP's 49 day rule where all electricity providers went on their back foot. Yes should be done, but what about solving electricity theft? Close to 50% of electricity is stolen and the honest consumer billed for the same. Would AAP be able to curb this problem as most of the theft is attributed to those very people who have voted for AAP or to people in position of high power. 
5 DISCOM PORTABILITY: AAP has promised to provide consumers the right to choose between electricity providers.This, they say, will create competition, leading to better services and lower tariffs. Should be done ahead of 4. 
6 DELHI TO BE MADE A SOLAR CITY: AAP will facilitate a phased shift to renewable and alternate sources of energy. Yes of course, but where will the solar farms come up and who will invest based on the tariff structure being proposed by AAP? 
7 WATER AS A RIGHT: AAP will provide universal access to clean drinking water at an affordable price. This, they say, is every citizen's right. Utopian thought as where will this water come from? 
8 FREE WATER: AAP to give free `lifeline' water of up to 20 kilolitres (20,000 litres) per month to every household. But once consumption exceeds 20 kilolitres, full amount to be charged. Annual 10% tariff hike will be abolished & hikes will be after due consideration. I am ready to shift to Delhi; but again, there is hardly any ground water left in Delhi and porting water from other States (most controlled by the BJP) is quite honestly a "pipe dream" for now. 
9 REVIVING YAMUNA: Will ensure 100% collection and treatment of Delhi's sewage through an extensive sewer network and construction of new functional sewage treatment plants. The State is nearly bankrupt and points 5 to 8 will further pressure the finances; so where will the investment come from? Assume it will, how will AAP tackle the industrial polluters? 
10 PUBLIC LOOS: AAP will build 1.5 lakh toilets in slums across the city and 50,000 toilets in public spaces.Of them, 1 lakh toilets will be for women. AAP should draw funds from the "Swaatch Bharat Abhiyan" from the Center from the for this purpose as their are funds earmarked just for it. 
11 NEW SCHOOLS: AAP will build 500 new schools with a special focus on secondary and senior secondary schools to ensure that every Delhi child has easy access to quality education.AAP should draw funds from the "Beti Bachao - Beti Padhao" initiative from the Center for this purpose as their are funds earmarked just for it. 
The PM and his Party's sincerity will become obvious if points 10 and 11 are implemented with "brownie" points to both BJP and AAP.  
12 NEW COLLEGES: AAP will open 20 new colleges under Delhi administration on the outskirts of the city in partnership with the villages of Delhi. Unlike Schools, higher education is a different matter and those willing to invest may have a different plan in mind - unless AAP can behave like TDP and give away valuable free land to foreign charitable institutions. 
13 REGULATE FEES: AAP to regulate private school fees by publishing the fee structures & accounts online. Capitation fee will be abolished. Good for education but capitation fee will reinvent itself under a new format partly to pay the expectation of quality "Pedagogs" that don't come cheap anymore. 
14 E-GOVERNANCE: All govt services & forms to be available online & on cellphone. Data on govt projects, progress, accounts & personnel will be posted online. This is fine and should be done; but can AAP simply procedures that makes the necessity of dealing with touts unnecessary? The Mumbai RTO experience should be studied by AAP for this purpose. 
15 SMART DELHI: AAP promised free Wi-Fi in city. It will also install 10,000 CCTVs in DTC buses, bus stands and in crowded places as a deterrent against crime. Mumbai too has gone through this process post 26/11; but how much of this infrastructure is functional is anyone's guess. 

I am not being negative. Where there is a will there is a way and AAP will have to find that way. Success means winning the Mumbai Municipal Elections in 2017 as also such elections in governing the 6 key Metro Cities of India other than the National Capital and at least 15+ State Capitals. The consequences of victory there - impact obvious. 

The Broom Wave hits Delhi.

The last few days were a clear indication that the Aam Admi Party (AAP) would once again make a strong comeback; but honestly, I never expected it to be such a powerful record breaking comeback to win 60+ seats in a 70 seat house. Mr. Kejriwal is fortunate that Delhi has not only been forgiving but also generous to AAP to bring it back into power with such ferocity. I only hope that the leadership and core team does not screw it up like the last time.

The people of Delhi have shown India that the electorate needs to rise above the divisions created by political leaders to carve out vote banks and select governance based on issues that affect all. So putting religion, caste, social status, education level and other such attributes aside the people have voted in unison in pursuit for a Delhi that is safer; less corrupt; less polluted; less affected by people in power; not starved for utilities or essentials; and not bullied by those "well connected". Clearly; the people felt that neither the Congress nor the BJP can deliver on their expectations and both the national parties have been shown the door. It's time for a great deal of introspection by both these parties and maybe time they understood not to underestimate the angst of the common man. 

I feel sorry for Kiran Bedi. She would have actually made a better CM than Mr. Kejriwal; and had she remained with AAP, Kejriwal should have offered her that seat. She is an asset for the BJP despite the loss (hers and the Party); and Mr. Shah should actually consider weeding out those within the Party that are actually responsible for the poll results.While BJP needs a State level shake up, the Congress has a much larger problem. The reflected mood clearly conveys that a Congress led by any member of the Nehru-Gandhi family is now unacceptable. 

Kejriwal has already made it clear that staging "dharnas" (rallies) would be an act of last resort. So one can be sure that he will no longer be labeled "Anarchist" Kejriwal. AAP will also have to stay away from playing the over sensationalizing "drama" party; the need for it is gone. The manifesto objectives of AAP are not that easy to implement and there will be a lot of support required from the Center to see them through.  While the PM has been gracious in congratulating Kejriwal; it is to be seen if his Government will cooperate with the State; as achieving the set objectives will make AAP even stronger much to the disadvantage of the BJP in further election encounters. Once again, the PM has been clear that the BJP has been empowered with a National agenda and it will cooperate with all States irrespective of the leadership. If the principle is followed; BJP will truly emerge bigger in the next national elections. On the other hand AAP can potentially become a major migraine for the Centre with this kind of majority. It will do exactly what BJP does in the Center - pass ordinances. If Centre opposes AAP's initiatives then the so called "Egg Kejriwal" will hit the PM's face as AK will say "We did it but Center opposed it - what can I do?"

Mr. Modi was never really considered CM material; but despite all the labels attributed to him changed the face of Gujarat. It is the success of the Gujarat model over a decade that elevated him to be called the perfect PM material. While the people may be discontented with his tenure as PM so far, the policies he is putting in place will show results in a decade; exactly how they did in that long and hard walk in Gujarat, AAP too was considered an underdog last year; but after this Delhi victory it has got itself into a situation where every sneeze of it will be heard throughout the Nation. It may not have a voice in the Parliament; but it has control of all roads leading to the Parliament and that is what makes this tiny City-State so important.  Kejriwal will have to tame his ambitions for now. Rather than trying to increase its ambit of influence all over, it should start with the adjoining States of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and possibly Uttrakhand. He has time. Within 2 to 3 years; if most people in Delhi sing "I am Happy" then the effect will be contagious enough that YoYo Honey Singh may have to write the lyrics of  the "Jhadoo Dance". 

Overnight the stock market has leaped back as much it had jumped and it looks like it's business as usual knowing that there is a clear winner and it does not matter who. So congratulations AAP and enjoy the broom wave in the Capital. People of Delhi - be ready for severe turbulence for the coming months; riding on the AAP's broom will cause a fair amount of nausea. Truly a tipping point. 

AIB - Ain't It Bakwas? *

* Warning - If you have a poor sense of humour and/or are allergic to fun and/or intolerant of someone's personal view then please do not read any further. Shut your senses and exit this blog immediately. The author is not responsible for your state of mind in case you proceed further to read at your own risk. 

What is this Crane Bedi up to? Why is she making a name for herself as “Crying” Bedi? Does she think she is on some TV reality show where people will SMS votes for her to win?

I don’t know Sir. She said she got emotionally carried away.

Emotion! Do you know what people on the streets of Delhi are saying? They are saying that she is crying because the pre poll results are showing that this Muffler-man’s party will win the State elections; and she isnow feeling regret that if we lose, then she will have to take the blame forour defeat. 

Sir; but is that not why we took her in the Party in the first place; despite her talking so badly about you when she was on that Jhadoowalla’s side?

No, no, not true that we took her to be the fall guy. “Areee baba” it was our strategy to take away their “jhadoo”, “imlee” and anything or anyone that was important for that party and made it our own. I am surprised that not only has it made a comeback, but is getting support from like minded leftists? Now our “Beti Bachao – Beti Padhao” yojana is sounding more like “Bedi Bachao – Bedi Jeetao” yojna. Hey Ram! What does Shameitbhai have to say about all this?

Ha! Ha! Ha! Sir, so clever of you; you are so up to date about our Gujarat brand ambassador’s new film.  Sir, I was informed that he has everything under control and the media has got the verdict wrong; he will make sure of it.

See; he is the political version of Shamitabh - may the force be with him.

Which force Sir?

Idiot! The Axe men force.  Don’t you remember Madison Square Garden? That man Huge Jakeman -superstar – Hollywood – hero of Axe Men - the person the crowd came to see actually?

Yes, Yes, Yes Sir. I remember now. What a crowd. That too in New York Sir. We did not even have to offer free “chai” like in the elections. You were looking like a film star yourself Sir. Exactly like Kulbushan Kharbanda with a beard. Those were such nice “Acche Din”

Idiot! The promised Acche Din have yet to come. Until now it was only a trailer; “Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost”. Picture “se yaad aya” how are my selfie booths coming along?

Oh fabulously Sir. Most of our “karyakartas” in Delhi have diverted the funds allocated for the construction of public toilets under your world famous “Swaach Bharat Abhiyan” for erecting your selfie booths. We may not succeed in putting a toilet in every house; but every house owner wants his picture with you.

I know I am popular; but so popular? Amazing!

Not really Sir. Everyone in Delhi wants to carry a picture of you so that they can show it to the traffic cop when stopped - and tell the cop “Tu janta nahin mein kaun hoon – bilkul top tak pauch hai meri”.

These “Delhiwallas”; their mind and thinking has got so polluted breathing this polluted air and drinking this polluted water that I can think of cleaning up “Gangaji” but not them. Sometimes I feel they deserve that anarchist or even that dopey headed mama’s boy to govern them. If I have my way the Capital of India would be shifted overnight to the land of Bapu and Patel; the true architects of our Nation. Yes, I will make Gandhinagar GIFT City a smart, well planned, world class Capital that can rival Singapore or Dubai. We will make Dholera airport better than Dubai and connect it by super high speed train funded by the Japanese and Chinese to Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Vadodra. With an International Financial Centre people will forget even that Mumbai which is falling apart anyway. I must tell Jet Lee to plan bringing down Income Tax in the new Capital to the same level as Dubai. Aaah! Just saying this I can breathe in a bit of Gujarat.

Sir, Dubai has no Income Tax and why such a special preference?

You really are a duffer. If there is no income tax then there is no black and white you idiot. “Ab samjha”. All “laen-daen” will be legit then. The Capital will be the corruption free.

You are a genius Sir.

Did you doubt that? Didn’t you see how I got my friend Osama to sign the “noclear” agreement?

Obama Sir, Obama. And it’s Nuclear Sir. Incidentally everyone is saying that the agreement really means nothing as the elections in 2016 will probably go the Republican way.

“Mujh ko sikatha hai?” If he can twist my name – why can’t I? And I mean it when I say it is a no-clear agreement. If it was a real “Nuclear” agreement would he have signed it? Now; the Australians will have no objection in selling us fuel; Russia will not bully us on oil; and China will support us in many other ways. China “se yaad aya” I need a new suit that has my name written in Chinese for my upcoming visit.

Sir, the last suit attracted a lot of flak in the fashion media and a lot of people have started calling you an unfashionable narcissist megalomaniac, and that the suit was a huge waste of public money.

Remember dogs will bark and elephants will still walk. First; I have started a fashion trend. Just see, despite all the talk, how many will imitate my suit within weeks – specially those coming to Delhi to see me. Second; no one in the world who sees that picture with my personalized suit will forget my face or name; specially those silly Americans who think my name is “Nemo”. Third; my suit looked so much richer than the plain grey suit of that Osama..Obama “job hi thaa”. It was our Republic Day and I wanted all press and media attention on me and not on the President of any Nation including ours – which I got. Now I want one in Chinese so that people in China too can say my name correctly. I read the Argentinean President’s tweet - they switch the “r” with “l” and that can sound pretty embarrassing – if you can figure out what I mean.

Yes Sir, You make good points Sir. You really think ahead.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Yes. The only thing I did not think of was serving our foreign guests “bhaang” when they were here. They would have enjoyed it more than that expensive putrefied grape and grain juice that they call wine and whisky. With America legalizing marijuana;  “bhaang” could well become their national drink. Maybe that cola company now also selling milk that has a name like a fairness cream should not have a problem adopting this idea. Can you think of a better way of increasing our agro exports and making everyone in the world happy?

I will make a note of it Sir. But Sir; are you not promoting drug addiction?

Alcohol, cigarettes, soft drinks, fast food; are they all not drugs in some form or the other? “Bhaang” drinking is in our culture.

Yes Sir, totally agree; and so is Kama Sutra and use of foul words as tools of grammar in most of our languages. In fact Punjabis would not know how to complete a sentence without a swear word. And yet Sir, we have blown the AIB roast matter out of all proportion on grounds that it is against our culture.

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Silly man! Why do I even have you around me? Tell me what is going on in Delhi? Elections – right? How do we divert the nation from paying attention to what our rivals are saying? Easy; “Roast” AIB. With all the print and electronic media coverage it has got; it has become a larger national debate than what is going on in the Country; especially with the young voting class that actually goes out to vote. Now let’s arrange a live performance of that AIB Roast in the Parliament for all the MPs. It will be fun to see who gets knocked out. Can you picture Karan - Arjun with Ranveer taking a selfie with me? I have something more than chai brewing in my mind.

I think I know what it is - what an idea Sirji. 

Good And Getting Better

Maybe he heard me and several more like me. In my previous blog I had stated that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Arvind Kejriwal would need to focus on what will it do for Delhi State rather than pointing fingers at competitors. AAP came out with a manifesto - BJP did not. In fact, BJP seems to be running into reverse gear in this game. The appointment of Kiran Bedi as its choice for Chief Minister did not go down too well within its ranks. In my mind, she is the perfect person to lead BJP in a battle such as this with her deep knowledge of the workings of the City State and the backroom strategy of AAP itself. She is destined to loose however. Her new adopted party will be the reason for it and not AAP. Maybe it's her karma of abandoning the very people who helped her climb that is paying back now. The second strategic error of BJP is to use the former AAPpies (if I can call the dissidents by that name) to discredit AAP rather than fighting to demolish AAP's manifesto with something even more worthwhile. The news pundits are predicting a walkover for AAP and should a presumed victory not corrupt the think tank within AAP then the soothsayers will have spoken correctly. AAP is lucky that it's getting a second chance at Governance and will hopefully respect the mandate if given. It will be good for Delhi too as it is just a State for the sake of it. The very fact that BJP says that if it wins, Delhi will be governed under the watchful eye of Mr. Modi is a statement that goes against it - that it is the Center and not the State Government that will run it. If AAP does not let the people of Delhi down; then the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be a David vs Goliath face off between AAP and the BJP. Good for AAP now and hopefully better in the times to come.

Speaking of which; in the battle of unhealthy (junk food) our own "desi" brand called "Haldiram" has beaten bigger international brands like Dominos and McDonalds to qualify as the No. 1 Snack Food brand in India. I cannot think of a long foreign trip without carrying a couple of packets of the this flavourful junk to satisfy the Indianess in me. This news comes on the heel of the "Royal Enfield" overtaking "Harley Davidson" in International sales. Such news certainly raises the confidence level in the business community that home grown brands can find respect even in the face of international competition. That's good news for the "Make in India" initiative and hopefully more and better news about Indian sucesses in the times to come.

With the international scenario stabilizing a bit in terms of Greece and Oil (LOL) our own Central banker looks a bit less harassed. The Reserve Bank wanting to contain the Rupee at a 60+ to a dollar level has just relaxed the outward remittance of US$ under the LRS from 125K a year to 250K a year per person. Guess with the world wise investors pointing towards India as the market to invest in; there is not much worry of our own money going elsewhere. The Reserve Bank is reserved on the idea of letting the guard down totally and is still playing a wait and watch game as far as interest rate is concerned; and rightly so. Without the correct policies in place, reducing interest rates makes no sense and the RBI Gov. is making sure that the Finance Minister of India comes out with the correct economic fixes in his "real" maiden budget later this month. The previous one was full of pain - hopefully this one will be full of policies; those that will not be tinkered with on an adhoc basis. There is a feel good factor in the air and I am hoping that it will translate into something better on the domestic economic front.

Finally; India got support from both Russia and China for a permanent seat in the United Nation's Security Council. One would have thought that the friendly overtures towards India by the US President on his recent visit as the Chief Guest on Republic Day would have pissed off both Russia and China. It is significant then that all 3 nations have risen over the past political and economic differences and realized the growing interdependence they have on each other on a host of issues.   India needs the US as a friend and ally; and for the US - India is a market for selling its technology and military hardware. Will it be able to provide it to India without all the hard controls that it usually attaches with such sale? For many; the agreements reached with the US President on nuclear energy still need to be tested as he now has a very limited term and might in the Senate to see the initiatives through. But for now, India has a much larger trade, economic and security agenda with China and Russia as each of them with India. If there is something about the Modi team that I would applaud; then it has to be the steps and measures taken by it on the international front in making India look good in the international market place and the optics from here on will only be better.