An account of political philosophies

World wars 1^st and 2^nd may be considered the most bestial wars ever. War crimes were committed openly, let alone amnesty for prisoners. U.S. let off steam on Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atom bombs as Japan flickered in fire. But unlike cold war, none of them augured the end of world. The dichotomously divided world was heading its way into the most heinous battle ever. As the battle between democracy and communism galore, the world was on its way to annihilate itself. The world was divided in its political and economic dogma, the nuclear war seemed ineluctable and the doomsday imminent. The nations which were supposed to be the most sophisticated ones, were surprising the mankind with their barbarianism. This is the sort of impact which terribly divided political philosophies had. The two major military blocks wanted to create a hotbed for the proliferation of their dogma and to devour the other eventually. The battle between communism and democracy, between socialism and capitalism, between altruism and reason led the countries of the world to pile on nuclear weapons and prepare for the 3^rd world war.

U.S.S.R and U.S.A were the bastions for their own respective philosophies. The gigantic U.S.S.R wanted the communism to proliferate and the smart U.S.A wanted to encompass the world with a surge of comprehensive democracy. This led to a huge covenant of western nations in the name of North Atlantic Treaty Organization. As one besmirched the other, the world was heavily divided. The Americans gallant of their freedom of speech and the Russians of their proletariats, insouciantly kept mum of the carnage which could follow their parochial acts.

The 19^th century Russia wanted to lay the foundation for centrally planned economies in the world. Highly impressed by Karl Marx, Lenin led his country into the Russian revolution and the czars had to bite the dust. He unarguably had his last laugh and then did not look back. Russia invaded and collaborated with different countries to lead itself into a gargantuan union, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. That was the surge of socialism. The land owners were stripped off their lands, and the proletariats suddenly became the most privileged of the Russian classes. The people who were running for power and pelf had to step on the altar, as the proletariats became richer. The press was robbed of their freedom. It was forced to print corrigendum on its criticism of government. In essence, the centrally planned economy turned out to be huge failure. As the country’s businesses were taxed into destitute, endemic and chronic hunger was rampant. The exchequer would earmark huge money to defense sector, does not matter if chronic hunger burgeons in the country. Ordnance was the country’s prime concern at all times. Cases would be decided in absentia, as law went into an abyss during Stalin’s regime. Lifestyle would remain essentially drab.

After the 3^rd world war, the only standing economy was United States. It embraced capitalism and democracy, and achieved a chimerical growth rate. Its businesses were having gusto; it started to earmark huge money to the agricultural sector. They had the job cut out to ameliorate the situation of the country comprehensively. The policy of affirmative action was embraced to uplift the downtrodden blacks. As the country moved, people embraced a flamboyant lifestyle, which rendered its economy mostly consumer based, providing enough leverage to its businesses. But, it gave rise to huge greed in people, which manifested as the global economic crisis as the chronicle of events unfolded.

The dogmas of respective nations would determine the lives of its people, as the state would educate its people with its dogmas to prolong the rule, plutocracy for America and oligarchy for Russia. No one would commit the blasphemy of besmirching a proletariat in Russia and the businessmen controlled the issues in U.S. And as the chronicle of events unfolded, a new major country embraced socialism. China, under Mao, turned out to be another secluded nation. In the pursuit of rule, the ruler would condone the barbaric acts. In fact under Mao, china remained essentially a belligerent nation, which was perpetually apprehensive of an imminent invasion by United States or Soviet Union. China embraced communism in its pristine form initially. Unlike china, India had to look at a plethora of issues while taking a decision of its philosophy, when it was set free after the British havoc, which lasted for a several centuries. An uneasy limbo forced India into avoiding capitalism and still be democratic, thus a democratic socialist country, which became India’s political philosophy. Democratic socialism was essentially a conflation of communism and democracy. The system of democratic socialism then led to huge amounts of populism among the politicians and myriad cases of grafting on the administrative level. The country commuted, as the economy plummeted eventually because of a mainly lackadaisical workforce, which, concerned for odds and ends, never looked to reform the system.

By the latter half of 19^th century the job of reform started in socialist economies, and mixed economies were born. The countries with hapless performance in the economic scenario finally signed the affidavit of ameliorating it. Bestiality was replaced with empathy as countries moved forward. In 1967 Deng Xiaoping for China, in 1991 Manmohan Singh for India and for Russia Mikhail Gorbachev started the process of reform, paying homage to America’s capitalism. The education system in China, Russia and India which was producing hacks needed to be reformed and was reformed to certain extent. Leningrad ceased to exist on the map of the world and Russians adjusted to the capitalistic system like a duck to water, as Democracy encompassed the world map. Thus, the most tolerant of the political philosophies, the harbinger of liberalization of world politics, democracy, reigned.

An essay which i wrote....

INDIA’S OWN SUPERMARKET

“We have changed from a world controlled by superpowers to a world controlled by supermarkets” ,says Thomas L Friedman ,the New York Times columnist and the author of the bestseller business book “the world is flat”. But how many people have realized it in India? Certainly a street shop guy has. He has transcended from his stereotyped services to an expanded approach towards his business. The street shop guy not only fetches his conventional products, but one can also get a mobile recharge, chewing gums, chocolates, stationary, an STD PCO, a one rupee packet of mineral water and what not? What does it show? Certainly it shows that the mindset of people towards business is changing. Everyone is trying to expand one’s gamut from stereotyped goods to include all kinds of products which one can get hold of and manage to sell with sufficient profit. These are the small supermarkets which one can find on every corner of every street in every town or city or village. It can be said that these are the Indian versions of the western supermarkets.

Indeed, a supermarket is a grocery store, a self service store, offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments. Now let’s define an Indian street corner supermarket. “It is a store, a small one, not necessarily a grocery store. It may originally be any street shop, an STD-PCO store, a general store, an internet cafe or whatever one can think of. But in such a store one can find an ‘Indian’ selling everything, from water packets to cigarettes, from mobile recharge to contraceptions.” We have seen the supermarket culture develop in India and it indeed has been adapted and accepted by all. The picture of the Indian street shop guy selling a wide spectrum of things shows that everyone has embraced the supermarket idea. But are we curtailed to selling more small items in small shops? The answer is no. Walmart may be the biggest retail player of the world operating in numerous countries but Indians have a propensity to indigenous names. A big-bazaar, reliance fresh, a pantaloons retail store are more into an Indian scheme of things. We prefer a V-mart to a Walmart.

India is ranked 5^th on the global retail development sector. Currently, supermarkets are confined to urban and sub-urban areas. But as more people are pulled out from poverty and the rural market grows we are bound to see those on the rural lands. As World Bank augurs that India would be world’s 2^nd largest economy after China by 2050, we will see supermarkets reach every corner of India. And that would require a massive improvement in supply chain management. A well managed and operated supply chain can effect reduced prices. Wal-mart has set a great example in supply chain management for other retail operators. The prices of items in a Wal-mart store are much lesser than those in other stores, due to the magnificently managed supply chain. This has been the main reason for the colossal growth of Wal-mart as a global retail player. Thus, the necessity of a well managed supply chain cannot be overstated. If a large country like India is to become the 2^nd largest economy of the world, these will be a major part of its scheme of things.

The tax reforms which have been incorporated in Indian economy from time to time are also intended to effect the growth of businesses and economy. Reforms like VAT (value added tax) have always been intended to incentivize businesses and GST (goods and services tax) which is going to replace indirect taxes is intended to remove the existing inequities or loopholes in the VAT system. The regularly upgraded taxation system of India is expected to be the incentive for the growth of businesses, economy and hence the markets, supermarkets and supply chains in India. Thus, foreign investors are thronging in to invest in the Indian retail markets. With growing consumerism, the supermarket business in India is going to be a big source of FDI. While skeptics opine that it would jeopardize Indian small retailers. Rather with the expected increasing demand, it would turn out to be a great opportunity for them to encash on the supermarket boom. Indian’s are after all known to show aptness towards indigenous goods.

Retail sector has been till date the 2^nd largest employer after agriculture for the semi skilled population and is expected to be a big job creator in the impending future. As a large fraction of our population is unemployed, a supermarket boom can just be the dues ex machina. As these get to rural areas, more people can get employed there. But that can only happen if the earning capability of our rural population is increased and their dependence on agriculture is reduced. An important step has been taken by the government in the form of rural employment policies like NREGA. But the government can only form policies and try to implement them. The problem which stymies rural development is administrative corruption. The bureaucratic setup swallows the funds allocated in the mediatory levels and stymies rural growth. This has been the problem and one of the reasons for the under development since independence, and we haven’t been able to find any effective way to eradicate this. So, for the application of these policies to some effect there should be transparency in the system of application of these policies. An official website on which everyday’s records related to wages and works are uploaded has to be launched. And a daily upgradation of that website should be facilitated. Of course, in a country like ours, it may seem farfetched. But not so if private companies like TCS and WIPRO are given contracts for doing it. This would ensure a proper and regular updating and would also provide options for . Public-private partnership is always being seen cynically in India. If government talks about it, it is seen as a cry to rescue the pathetic PSUs from the losses with which they incur. And if private companies talk about it, cynics see it as intent to swallow the public sector. Any step which promotes public-private partnership is welcome.

Big markets are the epitomes of a developed nation. The western countries in which industrialization happened and markets proliferated are the ones whose citizens have a higher standard of life than the African and most Asian countries. Supermarkets are sin qua non components of a grown market. If we will have a developed market in future throughout the country, supermarkets and well operated supply chain are indispensable. And in turn they can generate employment opportunities and thus benefit the market itself.

A supermarket offers various products in a single place. They are going to be much more in the scheme of things in the future. But will they replace the conventional markets?? May be in the western countries they can but definitely not so in India. People in India are too reluctant to change old habits. It will be too hard for someone in India to miss a tea on the shop which is in the corner of one’s street. Old habits are hard to break for us Indians. And even if we go to a supermarket for shopping but it is too hard to miss a tea around the corner, or a smoke behind the street for the smokers. Thus even if the supermarkets come and generate huge profits but a street shop around the street has its relevance and rightful place in India. No supermarket can provide the satisfaction which the Indian middle class serviceman gets out of hanging out on the nearest pawn tea shop with mates. And the street shop guy has embraced and integrated the supermarket approach and has started to keep all kinds of items in his shop. A supermarket may come and even go. But an Indian street shop or the India’s own supermarket is here to stay.

It's good to be back....

2 months in exile and of extreme torture. I was desperate. YES. I was desperate for coming to the PC, typing www.blogger.com and post something. But i didn't. There are reasons. First on that list is the terrible AIMTEST in which i was sort of burnt, bruised and battered. Well...i had much stronger words in my mind to describe that but for the sake of my readers i have tried to refrain from profanity. And then there were the two minors. A rare visit to college. And my ineluctable fever. Perhaps God could not bear my ecstasy for not getting fever these winters. And i lay on bed for 6 long days. This does not end here. There was a terrible dilemma about a competition called baja. Baja is an inter college competition of automobile design in which i desperately wanted to participate with my college team, but, something restrained me. Something for which i was even more desperate . CAT. If i had joined the team i would have had to work for hours during november and december which i can not. I have already sold my ass to CAT for those months.

But heyy...enough of crying..

Consoling myself....moving ahead...

Am back to blogger...

It wasn't long before i started blogging, but, i really enjoyed posting and highly desire to pursue it. So from now on i would try to avoid terrible interregnums and be consistent and agile with my posting.