Elections are on us again and the world's largest democracy will have its next Ruler in around Six weeks time, but is anything going to change for the common Man?

Government after Government has come and gone and in spite of all the Political parties claiming responsibility for the growth , the sad truth remains that salary has grown by just a percent against a growth of 5% in productivity, in the last 2 decades (Courtesy:ILO). Put in Simple words, people have not earned their respective Due.

Compare this against the $1.5 trillion stashed away in Safe Haven of Switzerland. Although the Government of Switzerland has expressed its willingness to provide details of its account holders, the Indian Government has not asked for it.

The BJP, which is the main opposition party , claims that it will bring out the details if it comes to power, but I seriously doubt it and the reasons for it are too Obvious to be stated.

In such a scenario, what do we do? whom do we vote for? Our vote seems hardly seems to matter as there is not much of a difference regardless of whoever is in power. The Election Commission says that 70% of the people in the age group of 18-25 have not even registered with the Election Commission. The response that you are likely to get is that, Things are not going to change regardless of whoever comes to power.

Well, My dear friends, we finally have a way out. Our choice 49-O. The right which the constitution provides us to say that we Vote for None. A few clarifications here, Even if 49-O were to emerge with the highest number of votes to its name, the elections will not be held again or be declared as null and void. The candidate who has got the highest number of votes (excluding 49-O) will be declared as the winner.

Then why the hell vote for 49-O? 49-O will serve as a Warning bell to our candidates,Imagine the amount of embarrassment that a candidate will have to face when he comes to know that more people have voted for None in his constituency. In this age of Media, this will create a huge embarrassment and whichever government which takes charge ( Some Government will.I say this because most of the Rural public are not aware of this option) will strive its best to salvage its image.

So Let us start this change, let us go out and vote,let us create awareness about this amidst the Masses, let us do it for all the people who are suffering, let us do it for our fellow friends and for the future of this Nation.

(Experiments can either click or go absolutely awry and this is one such experimental solution. Readers are welcome to add their thoughts :) )


Vaccination is a really amazing concept. It involves taking a small quantity of the very substance or organism that produces harm and using that as a base in preparing remedial substance that helps fight the same poisonous substance. Why speak about it now?

Something on similar grounds is needed now to provide the much needed fillip to the sagging economies. This is now a Crisis of Confidence and not a Crisis of Credit and that is why I believe that any amount of Stimulus packages alone wont go really far in resolving the the current problem.

The same goes with creating Jobs, even if jobs are going to be created, Unless people come out and spend again, the business scenario is not going to improve much.

Stimulus packages and Job creation Packages need to be accompanied by measures which go in improving the confidence of the people in a very big way. It should alleviate the fears of people, who are worried about the flow of credit.

So what is my prescription? Interest rates are at an all time low, How about taking it to a next level and start to tax Savings and reward Investments?

Taxing Savings, would mean that people would start spending or Investing their savings, which would start restoring a bit of confidence amidst people. Banks would start facing pressure to pay the Investors and this can be addressed with the help of funds which are being provided by the Fed and other National banks.

How about taking this route?

would be an understatement. Never did I ever think even in my wildest dreams that things would come this far.Democracy in India perhaps has reached its Nadir. Although not widely reported, I consider this to be a really significant event.

People scolding election officials for preventing the disbursement of Freebies, an euphemism for Bribe. This Recent happening at a Constituency in a part of Tamil Nadu has come as a real shock. All along, Politicians and bureaucrats were painted (wrongly) in black and the general Public in White (again wrongly). This incident would have cleared all those doubts.

Add to this the recent survey finding that "4 out of 5 people in BPL(Below Poverty Line) category confess to having accepted money for casting their vote in the state of Andhra Pradesh and states like Tamil Nadu are not too far behind with 70% of people in the same category"

In case if someone is going to brush this off as a problem with the under privileged section of the society, I must inform them things are not greatly different with the other sections too.Sometime back we had a survey which said that Majority contracts in countries like India are won through Bribes.Not for a moment am I supporting the politicians, But all I would like to highlight here is the fact that the overall standard of the society seems to have dropped so low.How come people who preach the highest standards in public stoop to any extent, when it comes to getting things done for themselves? I leave this question to the Psychologists and people who study Social Sciences as I am sure that it would be a fascinating subject for them to research upon.

There is a Sanskrit Saying which goes "Etha Raja Tatha Praja", which means People follow the King. Now we need to tweak this as "Etha Praja Tatha Raja" which means The King follows the Subjects, or to quote Bernard Shaw "Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve".

So let us stop complaining about and make that we as responsible citizens and civilized humans do our bit to get us out of this mire into which we have got into.

Mahatma summed it up beautifully when he said "There is enough in this world for every one's need but not enough in this world for even a single man's greed". Such is the power of Man's greed and it is his Insatiable greed for Power which has brought the world to where it is now.

Although the of terrorism is packaged and sold to us in the name of Religion, it has never been not really will be a battle for religion.The foot soldiers might believe in the theory of religion, but those who analyze issues objectively will know that this is all plain struggle for power.

Taliban was never a Non Violent Outfit before, nor were they a religious organization. It was an organization supported by America to make sure that they overturned the Soviet Rule in Afganishtan. The job was done and Taliban would not refuse to stop and listen to America, they have enjoyed the taste of power, killing people ruthlessly and making money out of it. Hence they took to religion this time. Sadaam Hussain was encouraged and he too became a Frankenstien's Monster.

LTTE used the claim of separate state to carry on with its violent activities and run its own government.

I can go on and on with the Rebel groups in countries of Africa and in all of these cases the bottomline is that People's craving for Power has led to this sad state of affairs.

The World now wants to fight terror and you have Media both print and Television minting money by running series of sensational programs on terrorism. The real battle however lies within the Human Being. Unless Man conquers the demon within him, nothing is going to change much, regardless of the laws which might be enacted by State.

I am not against such laws nor am I sympathizing, but until we conquer the demons within, the problems are not going to be solved on a permanent basis and anything else is just a temporary fix.

On a lighter note how about this for a beginning "How about stopping the sale of Arms to Private Parties? How about a Rule that Only Government can procure arms and No Sale of Arms is permitted to any private parties? How about a firm crackdown on Private Procurement?

Will the world countries agree to this? People to me it seems want to have their cake and eat it too :)

At the time of writing, Man U are locked in a battle with Inter in Europe, so close to clinching yet another Premiership crown,a step away from winning the Carling Cup and still alive in the FA Cup.

They might or may not win all or either of the four( although I expect them to easily win the Premiership), but none can deny the fact that they are a true Champion Outfit. People might say,So what is so new about it? They have been a champion Outfit for years now and what is the need to write this at this juncture.

Well the way they have turned this season around, has made me sit up and write this one. Although an Arsenal fan for years now, I cannot but admire the "Champion Material" of Man U. I have never seen any club which plays and plays till the last second to score. All of us would have lost count of the number of times they have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the dying moments of a game.

Who can forget the 1999 Champions League final when the game looked all but lost. Just when Bayern fans were about to uncork the champagne, Man U sent dagger into the hearts of Bayern fans. Bayern fans are not alone. They have got a lot of company.

There is this "X" factor about Manchester United which is absent in most of the clubs. They seem to have this Uncanny ability to win even when they do not play to their potential. They started off shakily and just when everyone thought that it was going to be a two horse race between Chelsea and Liverpool, Man U hit form and now are looking all set to clinch the title.

This season is not a One off, Seasons back they did this to Arsenal, Chelsea had a taste of it very recently.

Once they get into the lead, they are so so very difficult to catch and more often than not they just run away with it.This season is just another testimonial for the aforementioned trait.

I wish and long that Arsenal get some of these traits to go on and end this Manchester United's hegemony and I salute this Man U team for they are One True Champion Team.

to Free Trade? this is something that has been plaguing my mind. The recent developments taking place in the USA are sending strong signals that Protectionism is back and back in a very big way. The last time that was the case was during New Deal.

Now what do we make out of these measures? To Begin with, One must remember that USA is also a democracy and in any Democracy, Votes are paramount.Developed Country or Developing Country, politicians are always after Votes and Barrack Obama is no different.

A look at his past will clearly reveal that he has always been someone who has been inclined towards rising of barriers to help shield American Companies against competition from the Developing world.Swaminathan Aiyar of Economic Times wrote a wonderful article capturing this beautifully. So these moves do not come as a big surprise.

Obama with this move is sure to make American Voters happy. They will now feel that Obama is out there to protect American Jobs and American Companies. Well, It is a Politically correct decision.

Economically, though it does not augur very well for the Developing world and in the long Run for American companies too. Remember the License Permit Raj Days in India. All that did was to make India Inc complacent and it gave them the luxury to remain without spending money on research and improving their technical capabilities.

Compare that against the Liberalization Era, where Indian Inc has grown tremendously to acquire foreign firms, become super efficient and grow on par with the best in the world.

So, here is the problem for Obama. If he is going to allow liberalization, Stop subsidies and let Merit alone prevail, that might cause More American companies to shut shop and above all dissatisfy the American public or try to follow "Be American Buy American" policy, shutting out the developing world thereby creating a huge problem as most of the Developing countries run a surplus with America and if they start to pressurize for redemption, that will push the USD downwards and will result in the dethroning of America from the Numero Uno Slot, or tread a middle path by following protectionism in a camouflaged form and on looking at what is happening, it seems like he is treading the path of Camouflaged protectionism.

Yes that is what i decided to become one, even if that meant I ran the risk of putting in a few extra pounds :)  and I was sure of becoming poorer by a few thousand Rupees :D.