CITIZENSHIP CONUNDRUM

 “Your passport is just a travel document, not a proof of your citizenship,” so says the constitution apparently. Well, to be honest, this hullabaloo is being created by that minuscule section (about 7%) of the population which proudly flaunts a passport but normally avoid voting in the elections. They need not be worried as no one is going to deport them either. Notwithstanding what exactly is the proof that we as citizens must have? 

I am told birth certificate serves as a proof. Now that is very interesting, as when I tried to look for my birth certificate, I found it does not mention any name, just son/daughter born to name of the parent, so it was, for anyone born in the fifties and sixties in India. The same kind of certificate was issued for both my kids as well, who were born in the nineties. This birth certificate serves no purpose without the name, as it could be claimed by just about anyone. When my son was proceeding to France for his research fellowship, the University wanted his birth certificate, sure enough, it was rejected. Guess what, the good old Part II order of the birth of my son, published by my unit, did the trick. The document was immediately accepted and his case was cleared. Generally outside India, Armed Forces documentations are not only considered valid, but are given more credence. Now getting back to why were the names not endorsed on the certificates, generally  the birth/death is supposed to be reported promptly on occurrence. The ‘namkaran’ samsakar (ceremony) follows later, so naturally certificate bearing no names are issued, although I believe now names are endorsed in the certificate.

We Indians take pride in the number of cards that we can get hold of, and our venerated babus are always on the lookout to introduce newer ones to keep all of us engaged and amused. When Aadhaar was introduced, one thought this would be the universal document, a panacea of sorts, acceptable for all official documentation requirements. It could have evolved into one such singular card, but for the  prevalent corruption, where the sanctity  of the document has been severely compromised. So we have a PAN card for Income Tax, Passport for travel, Aadhaar for address and identity, voter ID for elections , driving licence and something called a Samgra ID here in MP, which is for the centralised database for welfare schemes. We in the Armed Forces have also been keeping up with the civilians, and match them card for card, so here goes, an ECHS card for healthcare, a Veteran’s Card as a proof of having served the nation, a Zila Sainik Board Card, DSOI Card, Gymkhana membership card, and the much sought after Canteen Card for purchase of groceries and liquor. Obviously submerged under these plethora of cards, we also need to ensure their safekeeping to prevent their misuse, so invariably we place them in secure vaults and forget where we place the keys or the pin. The better part of the day is spent looking for it, thus keeping ourselves busy day in and day out. Of course there are multitudes of Credit and Debit cards which find their way into the wallet, making it seem rather bulky and a lucrative target for pickpockets, who realise much to their chagrin that most of these are worthless plastic and no real cash whatsoever.

But the issue of citizenship is  a serious one and needs to be addressed on priority, without any prejudices and in a bipartisan manner. Unfortunately National Registry for Citizenship (NRC) is looked at suspiciously by the opposition as they are apprehensive that it will specifically target the Muslim community which is a major vote bank for them. Be rest assured even these parties have no love lost for minorities, it is just votes which concerns them. Frankly, we can’t even put ourselves in their shoes, as the apprehensions of the minorities are not misplaced. Having seen the state of governance in the country, where no department is corruption free, getting hold of any kind of document for a price is not a difficult task. We have just undergone the SIR process, and yes, it was a tedious one but we did manage to get our names included in the Voter’s List. You may like to read about the details of my experiences here (https://thesuyashsharma.com/to-sir-with-love-2/). 

The govt must start by reassuring all the residents irrespective of their religion or their claims to citizenship, that they will not be deported from the country. Thereafter follow a rigorous corruption free process (tall order!!), which could coincide with the ongoing census itself for completing the NRC. Once we have ascertained these details, those who have not been able to furnish the required documents, should be provided with temporary documents for the day to day routine requirements, with adequate time given for furnishing the details. There will be many thousands or may be lakhs, who may not be able to get anything as a proof. They must be provided with a work permit kind of a card. Once the threat of deportation is eliminated, we can hope that people will be more honest and forthcoming. Deportation is what scares them and honestly despite all the noises, how many have finally been deported so far? The numbers tell the story. So improve vigilance, provide that work permit to the immigrants to prevent illegal immigration, thus rooting out this vote bank politics. Ours is a growing economy, with no dearth of manpower but we will still need this human resource for all kinds of unskilled jobs as well, where they can be utilised gainfully. 

Last but not the least, we need not worry, as most of us can’t be deported anywhere else, as who will accept us, so in the worst case, we will be like the mythological character Trishanku, who was neither on the earth not in the heaven, but somewhere in between forever!

 5

A MESSY MESH

 

There is an electrical pole right in front of our dwelling in Indore. Nothing out of the ordinary the pole lodged there except that it has been adorned with all kinds of cables and wires and not just electrical cable it is supposed to be used for. I know, that is the case with most of these poles, it’s almost like a doggy syndrome, you know what I mean, when a dog notices a a pole, it immediately goes on to mark its territory there. Similarly give a pole to the cable wallah, CCTV guy, Internet broadband connectivity chap or just about anyone else who has a cable connection, they latch on to the pole immediately and then they go on to weave the most intricate web, which I bet even spiders can’t decipher or unentangle. Ever wondered, why Spiderman steers clear of India and sticks to the US of A, obviously the intricate webs that he has seen in the Chandni Chowk area gave him the shivers. Not only was he incapable of generating such a cable mangle but he suffered from nightmares that he had got entangled in one of these himself and unable to extricate. 

In sports, the expression Pole position is reserved for the one who is ahead in any race, well we are definitely in that coveted position as far as the mesh or should I say the ‘mess’ that we have so imaginatively created. With all these wires dangling at all possible angles, it is amazing that the  local cable wallah still manages to not only identify and isolate his own line and but manages to solve the problem too that too in a matter of minutes, putting even AI to shame, I bet. We studied certain laws by Kirchhoff on the current and voltage in a mesh, I am sure even in. his wildest imagination he could have conjured such a mess, where all his laws would have  given up.

Being a Signaller having spent my professional life entangled in cables and wireless, I must say that we in the army need to take a leaf out of the local cable wallah, as fault finding on a cable route was a herculean task even when we had just a handful of them. We set up an elaborate labelling system, even varying the shapes and sizes of these labels for ease of identification, and here they are, as though armed with some magical powers, they just hit the pole and do the course corrections. But then, in the bargain, other cables and wires do end up becoming casualties, as cable TV takes precedence over broadband internet fibres. After all the ‘Saas-bahu’ sagas being beamed on the TV ensures peace and tranquility at home, else the drama may be replayed in real life. 

In field areas we used bobbins ( small cylindrical objects made of bone china, for securing of cables  on a pole) on the ‘Pole Octagonal 16 feet Multi Air Line’ or ‘MAL poles’ in short, to keep our cables over ground, lest they be trampled by the movement of troops and vehicles, and disrupt the lines of communication. Then there were Permanent Line (PL) poles which even the erstwhile P&T department too used extensively, but the cables here were hard drawn copper or galvanised iron wires. But that was a different era when number of cables were limited, except in formation headquarters camps, where snakes of cables would emanate from the local exchange and fault control to the subscribers, who could be spread in anywhere between a couple of hundred square metres to a couple of  square kilometres. Here, an amateur  rookie lineman could end up creating a schemozzel. Imagine the precarious situation with cables crisscrossing  amidst all the frenetic activities including shelling from the enemy and the most vital line down, heads would roll literally and figuratively too. These lines were the vital arteries of operations being conducted as also the logistics associated with it, there was no scope for any down time here, as everyone’s life depended on it.

Be that as it may, this messy affair, apart from being an eyesore, is also a fire hazard and highly environment unfriendly as at times even small birds can get trapped or hurt by the wires. In developed countries cabling is underground, wonder when they are as it is digging up the place day in and day out, why can’t they simply do the same for electrical cables also, doing away with the poles altogether. They could even leave conduits for the cable, broadband or any other future such wired requirements, earning revenue for the services as well; but then that requires planning, vision and foresight, we unfortunately work only in hindsight.

CUPID IN OLIVE GREENS

 So a young smart aviator of the Indian Army proposed to his girlfriend where the helicopter, his flying machine was in the backdrop; well what is all this hullaballoo!! A bright young man in the prime of his youth is expressing his love to the beloved and actually declaring his intent and a sense of commitment, I think deserves to be commended  rather than ridiculed. In today’s day and age, when youngsters are commitment phobic, this officer seems to be a pathbreaker of sorts, firstly joining the army itself is a huge commitment and then this proposal for marriage. I think we need to give him a huge round of applause.

Now who are the spoilsports in this game of Cupid, I bet they are the old fogies, who themselves were betrothed courtesy their parents, left to themselves, they would not have even reached the proposal stage. I am sure most of the veterans would recall, in our days, there were no NDA/IMA Balls, when it was introduced for our course while in NDA, there were just a handful out of the 300 of us who could even muster up a dance partner, forget about a girlfriend. Then there are those, who go on endlessly about the helicopter being visible in the photograph, as a breach of security, the fact that he was in uniform and it was all over the social media, is in contravention to the existing orders on the subject. Well, to these wise souls, I must say, Have a heart, the photograph of the flying machine is available in the open source at umpteen number of places, so  relax, no national secrets have been compromised. The aspect about him being in uniform, does need a small rap on the knuckles, as the fact that he proposed is his personal matter but posing and posting it on the social media, well that can be avoided, as you never know, the creativity and imagination of the Gen Zee where will the next one lead to.

For the veterans, just a small word of advice, please stop taking yourselves too seriously, as no one else does. The current generation is well equipped to handle the challenges, as we once were and any interference was hardly welcomed. The fact that even these guys out of respect let us be, just like we did. Times have changed, environment is no longer the same, the troops are agniveers, mind you, thankfully we didn’t have to contend with this new species. I have hung my boots just three years ago, but the nature of warfare is being revolutionised at such a pace that even six months seem like history. We only gave presentations and wrote our thesis on RMA  (Revolution in Military Affairs) remember, they are living it.

Evolution is a continuous process friends, none of us can stop it and why should we, after all I bet these guys are as professionally competent or may be better than most of us were. Be rest assured they are as committed or may be more committed than we were. 

Finally I think, the photograph is actually excellent advertisement for ‘joining the armed forces’, may be we could just use it with their permission of course!

 13

WE DON'T NEED NO EDUCATION..

 Examinations are the bane of students the world over, even if a subject is interesting, the fact that one will be examined at the end of the course/semester is the biggest dampener.But imagine if your future life, profession, everything depends on this one exam, and if the exam  ends in a fiasco, which is not due to your fault, but of the agency conducting the exams, how would you feel? Well, that is exactly what has been meted out to the students in the last couple of years. Almost every exam, especially NEET, which ceased to be neat long ago,(https://thesuyashsharma.com/neet-not-so-neat-after-all/), 24 months to be precise, where it has almost become a norm to conduct a re-examination, mostly due to paper leak, or due to other considerations, such as evaluation, questions being wrong etc. The fact that by and large the students have not only maintained their calm and have taken the whole issue rather stoically speaks volumes about their patience and seriousness about pursuing their dreams. But the patience has its limits, as the govt agencies conducting these exams carry on bungling, it is about time that those responsible be brought to book themselves.

The pressures are huge, with about 24 lakh candidates registering for NEET, CUET and CBSE exams, for each. Obviously it is a herculean task, especially with unscrupulous elements out to look for procedural lapses to be exploited, to benefit the highest bidders. Unfortunately merely trying to address the conduct of exams per se is treating the systems rather than the disease. The disease here is in our education system itself, which has been rotting away over the last eight odd decades. Since schools and colleges prove grossly  inadequate to impart  quality education, it is left to coaching institutions to prepare the aspiring students for the competitive exams. These competitive exams are made out as ‘make or break’ for the poor hapless teens already under pressure from their parents, as cracking these exams appears to be the golden key to life’s treasures. ‘All is fair in love and war’ and this issue is a war without an iota of doubt. Naturally it implies, success at all costs, using means fair or foul. 

Education ceased to be holistic long ago, today it is just a means to obtain a degree, which provides the youth with an outside chance to crack the employment jigsaw puzzle. Everyone wants a white collar job, blue collar is considered menial, deep down it stems from the caste system itself. A skilled worker earns a lot more as compared to the unemployable  graduate, who will at best be a gig worker, as there are no jobs in the market.

Govt schools and colleges were pretty good until the eighties, as the oldies who passed through their portals acquitted themselves with distinction in their professional careers. My father’s generation is proof enough. But somewhere in the eighties the rot began to set in, as new schools/colleges were not being opened despite the exponential population rise. There was no fresh recruitment of teachers, contractual hiring was resorted to, with an aim to save the exchequer some funds. In the last couple of decades colleges, universities have mushroomed everywhere, with no checks and balances, these institutions produce grads, post grads by thousands, who do not have to attend any classes. The exams conducted are a sham, consequently, the freshly minted graduate armed with a degree has no knowledge of any of the subjects. A commerce grad who doesn’t know what a balance sheet is, or an IT engineer who can’t write a simple three lines code, as they have cleared the exams through leaked papers or through other means in the compromised system. This graduate is a very dangerous person, as he/she is unsuitable for any job as he has no knowledge but armed with his degree, he considers himself wronged and is naturally frustrated.

Is a course correction possible? Well, yes of course, treat education as a key area, as our civilisation depends on this crucial factor. The root cause is corruption, the agencies are corrupt, naturally every rule is given a go by. Bureaucracy, when found wanting like in the recent fiasco is punished by mere transfers, which I am afraid is no punishment. It may actually be a reward, since they may land up in a more lucrative department where there are better opportunities, with even  less accountability. So revert to govt run institutions, recruit permanent teachers, pay them better and do away with all these coaching institutions, incorporate them in the teaching curriculum itself. Conduct the exams, year round, with minimum three chances for improvement of scores. Create a special organisation for conduct of all professional exams, which should be headed by technocrats like Nilekeni and educationists with no interference by the bureaucracy. As the Air Force is being utilised for ferrying the papers, I dare say, employ the veterans from the armed forces for conduct of exams also. They won’t let you down.

 11

COCKROACHES RULE

 

Cockroaches are in news, they are gloating in their celebrity status, after all no less than the Chief Justice of India has compared them to the youth of our country, later clarified as fake degree holder unemployed ones. As though ‘rose by any other name wouldn’t smell as sweet’, so cockroach by any distinction will cease to be what the species is. Youth of our great nation are our hope for the future, they are the ‘dividend’ portion of the demographic equity that we the people have so painstakingly accumulated, generated and reproduced over the last nearly eight odd decades. Now comparison with cockroaches can be perceived as a compliment as we all are aware, their main characteristic is ‘survival’. They predate even dinosaurs, and will survive the nuclear holocaust too, God forbid but should that ever be perpetuated on us by some maniacs.

Cockroaches have another very useful trait, the feminine gender of homo sapiens is by and large mighty scared of them. Males of the homo sapiens species find this trait very useful, as there is no other means by which they can exercise any control over them. Mere sighting a cockroach is sufficient to send them scurrying for cover, as though cockroaches have an enmity with only them. On the contrary, they don’t bite and are physically harmless except that the hygiene and sanitation factor where they appear is suspect to say the least. They generally thrive in the sewage, dirt and slime and revel in the dark, when all the others retire, they rule the roost. This reminds me of an interesting anecdote way back in 1986, we were in Indian Military Academy and in one of the classes, welfare of jawans was being discussed. One of the issues related to the topic, was the ‘kitchen’, its cleanliness and the hygiene factors involved. One of us mentioned that pest control was desirable and cockroaches need to be eliminated totally. The instructor was an Assam Regiment officer, who said,”Roaches, oh they are a delicacy, our troops relish them.” China, Thailand, Vietnam and some other Oriental countries too consider them edible and enjoy them as snacks as they are supposed to be  full of protein. 

Be that as it may, here the youth have found a common cause and are not just identifying with them, but have gone ahead and declared the advent of a brand new Cockroach Janta Party. Obviously they are cocking a snook at not just the Chief Justice of India in particular, but the establishment in general. While they are justified in their act and apparently it has taken the social media by a storm.  The speed with which the registrations multiplied gives credence to the naysayers; it appears to be bots rather than genuine people. India has had its share of experiments with anarchical Aam Aadmi Party, and another one on similar lines doesn’t really bring any hope. While their grievances are genuine, this kind of mob mentality which leads to anarchy, which has been witnessed in the neighbouring countries in the recent times is obviously not the solution. Many in the opposition have also been vocal about such an eventuality and have even been instigating them but to their chagrin, Indian youth has more sense than that. They have demonstrated their faith in the democratic norms and have booted out governments by the power of their vote. It is upto the political parties now to live up to the expectations and deliver, even if it takes a while. But unfortunately the NEET paper leakage type incidents do not inspire much confidence, as the system is being unfair to the conscientious and hardworking youth of our nation. The fact that this has been happening quite frequently is definitely a cause for concern and heads must roll, rather than appointing more Babus, the system needs an overhaul. The issue of unemployability of our so called graduates is also a pertinent one, as merely acquiring a degree does not in any way qualify them for any job. We are aware, the way these degrees are awarded, where the students don’t even attend any classes. Colleges/universities which have mushroomed in every nook and corner without any worthwhile faculty or infrastructure are ill equipped to actually empower the youth. But the blame lies equally with the system, which has brought our education system to its nadir. We have our hopes pinned on the youth, they are not roaches, they are eagles who will soar into the skies for sure, provided the systemic corrections are enforced. Else like the Animal Farm, it will be Cockroaches who will rule

MELODY CHOCOLATEE DIPLOMACY

 So a newspaper in Norway has published a cartoon with Modi as a snake charmer playing the harp  to entice the oil suppliers, which has naturally irked  many of us Indians. For the Westerners, the image of a snake charmer is synonymous with poor, backward, primitive, superstitious Indians. The colonialists had a field day in lampooning the uncivilised barbarians, who have no business to aspire to the higher table, which is traditionally reserved for the ‘gora saab’. What’s new about this stereotyping of Indians, Peter Sellers’s depiction of an Indian in Hollywood movies, Mind Your Language, the British sitcom, Churchill have all been guilty of the same crime against the one of the oldest civilisations of the world. Some years ago, when India’s Mars mission was hugely successful, the NewYork Times published this highly distasteful cartoon. Obviously this kind of denigration is a sign of envy. Onida TV which some of us old timers would recall had an advertisement going with  the catchline “Neighbour’s Envy Owner’s Pride”. Envy is a sign that there is something special which the other’s desire but are unable to acquire for whatever reasons. 

But getting back to the charm offensive, well you can’t blame Modi if he is a charmer, having charmed his way to not only the Prime Ministership of the world’s largest democracy, but also internationally when he hobnobs with  Trump, Putin, Xi on an equal footing. Whether he uses the age old harp or not, he has got the West Asian Sheikhdoms also eating out of his palm. The fact that he has been able to steer India into highly divergent diplomatic groupings such as SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), QUAD, BRICS, speaks volumes about Indian diplomacy. I think the oil exporting nations ought to be offended by the cartoon more, as they have been depicted as snakes, who are being wooed that too by a third world snake charmer. After all someone like Trump or Xi also want to control Energy resources, primarily Oil, and if you don’t have the heft like them, then you have to rely on charm offensive only. Sometimes it is the ‘hug’ which works, sometimes the ‘drums’ and now it is ‘Melody’ which seems to have done the trick.

For someone like Modi who hasn’t really led a married kind of life, he certainly has his way with the ladies; the ‘Melody chocolatee’ is proof enough. Meloni-Modi chemistry translating to ‘Melo-Di’, the catchword something which any advertising guy will be proud of.  Something like the Brangelina Brad Pitt and Angela Jolie), closer home Saifina (Saif Ali Khan and Karina Kapoor) or Virushka (Virat Kohli-Anushka Sharma), mind you all of them are or have been couples. This kind of chemistry between heads of state is also something unusual.  Wooing a woman with chocolates is common knowledge, but I bet this is the first time in international diplomacy. Swing diplomacy with Xi was also tried but it failed to deliver the expected results. Shuttle diplomacy was the hallmark of Kissinger, instrumental in the US-China thaw in the early seventies, which has shaped the global affairs and resulted in the  final disintegration of erstwhile USSR. Chocolate diplomacy may not be in the same league but all the same it has got the goat of some of Indian opposition leaders. The taste of the chocolate apart from the fact that it melts in the mouth is that it is trending on the internet with more than two hundred million  hits. “Melody itni chococolatee kaise bani ? Melody khao khud jan jao” ( How did Melody become so chocolatee? Taste it and find out!!)

 

THUCYDIDE'S TRAP

 “Thucydide’s trap” was bandied about during the recent summit between Xi and Trump. The mere mention of a trap sent the advisors scurrying for cover, as none of them had ever heard of such a term. They were only aware of the ‘honeytrap’ especially of the Epstein variety. Google or may be even Chatgpt would have come to their rescue and they would have realised this was a lesson from ancient Greek history and related to the contest between  the challenger to the throne and the incumbent power in the world order. I read about this sometime in the last decade while studying US-China relations and how and when would this phenomenon be applicable in the emerging global geopolitical scenario.

The trap essentially describes that a conflict is bound to ensue with the rise of a new power, as was witnessed between Athens and Sparta about two millennia ago, after their victory over Persia. Be that as it may, Xi Jin Ping trumped hapless Trump with such unpronounceable tongue twisters without even a digital ‘ping’. Trump was forced to recall ‘Vivekamunadanan..’ and many other such gaffes. He was always wondering as to why did they have to choose such names, why can’t they keep them simple like his own and then just suffix a senior or junior, don’t even need to look for a new name. Leave alone understand the nuances of the term, Donald was aghast when Peloponnesian War was quoted, once again his vocabulary and imagination could take him only to Penelope you know Cruz. She is pretty and obviously worth going to a war for, so thought the supreme leader. “The face that launched a thousand ships”, that was Helen of Troy, but here, is China really threatening to go to war over Penelope? How he wished that someone special was alive, Xi could have been enticed with prettier faces. Moreover this was supposed to have happened in history, which bored him no end. So was it a case of rebirth or reincarnation? He will have to consult his dear friend Modi, after all Indians believe in this theory.Trump is of course very clever, or so he thinks and presumes, he is confident that he can’t be trapped. He is pretty good at trap shooting though, what with all the guns at his disposal ablaze. 

Post second world war, the supremacy in the world order simply passed on to the Americans from the British, as the Brits realised the game was up and it was wiser to start playing second fiddle. Times have changed now as China is fast emerging as a challenger, though is yet to reach the critical phase. May be the usage of the term Thucydide’s trap is a little premature. But knowing the Chinese, this may be just a case of testing waters. There is another fundamental difference, here the predominant power itself is bent on committing harakiri by getting embroiled in this highly avoidable Iranian imbroglio. Having initiated the conflict with this minnow Iran, they are now looking for a face saving closure, which is not exactly what the only super power in the world can be proud of. Such a conflict exposes the chinks in their armour, thereby benefitting the Dragon no doubt. Yanks aren’t going to let the Chinese take the centre-stage so easily, that’s a given. As it is globalisation as we knew it has been given a go by, and given a quiet burial without even a formal send off. So whether it is the threat of Thucydide’s or of thousand ships, China must not count their chickens before they hatch. Only time will tell if this is destined and also if yes, then when?