Book Title: Alai Osai (Tamil)
Author: Kalki Krishnamoorthy
Publisher: Saradha publication.
The story happens in the context of the period preceeding Indepedence. It describes the mindset of people during that era.
The author has visited the hindu refugee camps in Delhi to depict the emotions of people driven out of their land that is currently known as pakistan.
The largest exodus in human history took place during the partition of our Bharat. Unlike the abundent literature that describes the Jewish Exodus, there is very limited literature that describes the tragic patition of our motherland. This is the first major work in Tamil that I have come across that gives adequate coverage partition.
When our Hindu brothers in exile were shivering in the refugee tents and experiencing the Delhi's severe winter, Gandhiji was more interested in the protection of muslims in West Bengal. He was stationed in Kavkali in west bengal for this cause. The successive Congress governments also downplayed the suffering of millions of Hindus for the purpose of muslim appeasement.
I am particularly amazed to see a gandhian like Kalki giving a detailed description of Hindu sufferings during patition.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Book Review: Pooniyin Selvan
Book Title: Ponniyin Selvan (Tamil)
Author: Kalki Krishnamoorthy
Publisher: Saradha publication.
It has been my long term wish to read the works of Kalki. I came across this book in the last Chennai book fair. Since the works of Kalki have been nationalized. There were many publishers.I choose Saradha publications for the competitive price. There were typographical errors in few places, it could have been corrected by the publisher.
Out of all the historical novels written by Kalki,this is the last novel. It's the largest one. It comprises of about five volumes totoalling around 2000 pages.
Amazing book. It takes us back by about 1050 years in time, to the historical period in Tamilagam, when the Chola kingdom was the dominant empire. It discribes the power tussle that happened for succession. Unlike the blood bath you find commonly among the muslim rulers in such a scenario, you will see how amicabily it has been resolved.
The Hindu revivalists have been advocating rewriting history. Kalki has set the stage about 40 years ago. If you talk to the generation who are about 60 plus, you will be surprised to know that the craze for reading this novel in those days even surpassed the 'TV Serial Mania' of today. Instead of writing a dull historical document,Kalki has presented it as an excellent novel that has reached wider audience.
We need more such work that cover different periods in our glorious history.
This is an effort that is worth replicating in different Indian languages. If I had read this book in my school days, I might have developed better writing skills and I might have changed my career.
Author: Kalki Krishnamoorthy
Publisher: Saradha publication.
It has been my long term wish to read the works of Kalki. I came across this book in the last Chennai book fair. Since the works of Kalki have been nationalized. There were many publishers.I choose Saradha publications for the competitive price. There were typographical errors in few places, it could have been corrected by the publisher.
Out of all the historical novels written by Kalki,this is the last novel. It's the largest one. It comprises of about five volumes totoalling around 2000 pages.
Amazing book. It takes us back by about 1050 years in time, to the historical period in Tamilagam, when the Chola kingdom was the dominant empire. It discribes the power tussle that happened for succession. Unlike the blood bath you find commonly among the muslim rulers in such a scenario, you will see how amicabily it has been resolved.
The Hindu revivalists have been advocating rewriting history. Kalki has set the stage about 40 years ago. If you talk to the generation who are about 60 plus, you will be surprised to know that the craze for reading this novel in those days even surpassed the 'TV Serial Mania' of today. Instead of writing a dull historical document,Kalki has presented it as an excellent novel that has reached wider audience.
We need more such work that cover different periods in our glorious history.
This is an effort that is worth replicating in different Indian languages. If I had read this book in my school days, I might have developed better writing skills and I might have changed my career.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Definition of the term Hindu
What is the origin of is the word 'Hindu'?
Why is 'Bharat' called as 'India'?
If you have ever wondered about these questions. here is the answer to the first question ?
There seems to be consensus that the term "Hindu" is the Persian equivalent of the word "Sindhu". It seems in Persian "Si" is pronounced as "Hi". No wonder that the mighty river "Sindhu" that was the cradle of our civilization is used as reference.
Some have hesitation to use the term "Hindu" due to its foreign origin and instead prefer to use the equivalents from our terminology like Sanatana Dharma and Manav Dharma. We should avoid this hesitation since there is always exchanges of words & terminologies between languages. It is a natural phenomenon.
Especially after the advent of Islam, due to its natural intolerance towards other faiths, the Persians who had just converted into Islam started giving abusive meaning to the word "Hindu". These meanings are quoted by the anti-national organizations like "Dravidar Kalagam" in Tamil Nadu. The intolerance of Islam towards other belief systems is the reason behind abusing other faiths. Even if there was another term in place instead of "Hindu" the Islamic intolerance would have tarnished that term too.
"The Iranians used the word Hindu to designate the river Sindhu and the countries and populations situated around and beyond the Sindhu. From Persian, the Greeks borrowed the river name as Indos and the peoples name as Indoi, hence English Indus, India, Indian."[1]
The terms Hindu and Indian were synonymous. Both had territorial meaning. It also denoted the socio-cultural aspects of our people in that territory.
Today, It is strange that the term "Indian" is considered secular and the term "Hindu" is considered communal.
Lot of thought process have gone in defining the term Hindu. Each of those definitions certainly captures major aspects of Hinduism. But none of them seems to be simple and complete. The Belgian Scholar named Koenraad Elst has written a book with title "Who is Hindu?" on this subject. This book has been a great source of information and inspiration in writing for this section even though I differ from the author in few aspects.
My simple definition of the term Hindu is,
"All sampradayas (belief systems) that originated in Bharat including the vanvasi forms".
As per the above definition the different sampradhayas like Vaishnavam, Shaivam, Bauddham, Jainam, Sikh panth and various derivatives of them and all our vanvasi sampradhayas should be classified as Hinduism.
Some of you might feel that the second part of the definition "including the vanvasi forms" is redundant. The reason for explicitly including it is, the legal definition of Hindu in Indian Constitution [2] (and also in the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 [3]) is more in tune with the above definition except that it excludes the scheduled tribes (Vanvasis).
Why were the Vanvasis excluded?
The general argument put forward for excluding vanvasis from Hindu fold is that 'the tribal worship the natural forms trees, snakes, etc. and hence it is animist nature'.
Sri Golwalkar responds to this argument as follows "These protagonists of separatism argue that these 'tribal' worship things like trees, stones and serpents. Therefore they are 'animists' and cannot be called 'Hindus'. Now this is something which only an ignoramus who does not know the ABC of Hinduism will say. Do not the Hindus all over the country worship the tree? Tulasi, bilva, ashwattha are all sacred to the Hindu. The worship of Nâg, the cobra, is prevalent throughout our country. Then, should we term all these devotees and worshippers as 'animists' and declare them as non-Hindus ?'[4]
Another major reason for the exclusion of vanvasis from the legal Hindu definition may be the the adviser on tribal affairs to Jawarharlal Nehru, Mr. Verrier Elwin is an ex-missionary.
It is worth studying the real motive behind this exclusion of vanvasis from the legal Hindu definition.
Historically, If you look at way Christianity spread in Europe, it initially spread in the cities and moved to rural areas. The converted city folks referred the rural religions as 'Pagan". The Latin root of the word Pagan is Paganus that means rural.
When these Christian historians and sociologists started studying our culture they started classifying on similar basis as urban and rural. They concluded that rural here is nothing but the tribal form and it different from the urban nature of religion. This approach of theirs is wrong.
Instead, We should classify the components our belief systems into 2 major classifications one is the common (or Vedic) and the other the local. The common components can be seen in different parts of the nation where as the local components are specific to that geography. The ratio of these components might vary from location to location (even within the same belief system) but all our belief systems have these these 2 components. For example the 'Kula Theivam" (the god of the heritage) might be different for different sects within the same caste. Since Vanvasi's are more in tune with the nature and their geography, their local component in their tradition will be more. They do have the common components that are seen in other parts of the Nation. As Sri Guruji pointed out, the concept of worshiping trees,snakes itself a national characteristic.
definition-of-term-hindu.htmlVanvasis are an integral part of the Hindu society. I would like to assert this by quoting the words of Sri Rama "We were 4 brothers, we have become 5 including Guha" [5]. Guha is the vanvasi boatman who helped Sri Ram ( with Lakshman and Sita) to cross the river Ganga in Ramayana.
References:-
References:-
1 "Who is Hindu?" by Koenraad Elst. Chapter 2.
2. Article 25 (2)(b) of the Indian Constitution
3. Section 2 of The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955
4. M.S. Golwalkar: Bunch of Thoughts, p.471-472.
5. In Aranya Kandam in Kamba Ramayanam(Tamil). Sri Rama says "Guhanodu Aivaranom".
Why is 'Bharat' called as 'India'?
If you have ever wondered about these questions. here is the answer to the first question ?
There seems to be consensus that the term "Hindu" is the Persian equivalent of the word "Sindhu". It seems in Persian "Si" is pronounced as "Hi". No wonder that the mighty river "Sindhu" that was the cradle of our civilization is used as reference.
Some have hesitation to use the term "Hindu" due to its foreign origin and instead prefer to use the equivalents from our terminology like Sanatana Dharma and Manav Dharma. We should avoid this hesitation since there is always exchanges of words & terminologies between languages. It is a natural phenomenon.
Especially after the advent of Islam, due to its natural intolerance towards other faiths, the Persians who had just converted into Islam started giving abusive meaning to the word "Hindu". These meanings are quoted by the anti-national organizations like "Dravidar Kalagam" in Tamil Nadu. The intolerance of Islam towards other belief systems is the reason behind abusing other faiths. Even if there was another term in place instead of "Hindu" the Islamic intolerance would have tarnished that term too.
"The Iranians used the word Hindu to designate the river Sindhu and the countries and populations situated around and beyond the Sindhu. From Persian, the Greeks borrowed the river name as Indos and the peoples name as Indoi, hence English Indus, India, Indian."[1]
The terms Hindu and Indian were synonymous. Both had territorial meaning. It also denoted the socio-cultural aspects of our people in that territory.
Today, It is strange that the term "Indian" is considered secular and the term "Hindu" is considered communal.
Lot of thought process have gone in defining the term Hindu. Each of those definitions certainly captures major aspects of Hinduism. But none of them seems to be simple and complete. The Belgian Scholar named Koenraad Elst has written a book with title "Who is Hindu?" on this subject. This book has been a great source of information and inspiration in writing for this section even though I differ from the author in few aspects.
My simple definition of the term Hindu is,
"All sampradayas (belief systems) that originated in Bharat including the vanvasi forms".
As per the above definition the different sampradhayas like Vaishnavam, Shaivam, Bauddham, Jainam, Sikh panth and various derivatives of them and all our vanvasi sampradhayas should be classified as Hinduism.
Some of you might feel that the second part of the definition "including the vanvasi forms" is redundant. The reason for explicitly including it is, the legal definition of Hindu in Indian Constitution [2] (and also in the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 [3]) is more in tune with the above definition except that it excludes the scheduled tribes (Vanvasis).
Why were the Vanvasis excluded?
The general argument put forward for excluding vanvasis from Hindu fold is that 'the tribal worship the natural forms trees, snakes, etc. and hence it is animist nature'.
Sri Golwalkar responds to this argument as follows "These protagonists of separatism argue that these 'tribal' worship things like trees, stones and serpents. Therefore they are 'animists' and cannot be called 'Hindus'. Now this is something which only an ignoramus who does not know the ABC of Hinduism will say. Do not the Hindus all over the country worship the tree? Tulasi, bilva, ashwattha are all sacred to the Hindu. The worship of Nâg, the cobra, is prevalent throughout our country. Then, should we term all these devotees and worshippers as 'animists' and declare them as non-Hindus ?'[4]
Another major reason for the exclusion of vanvasis from the legal Hindu definition may be the the adviser on tribal affairs to Jawarharlal Nehru, Mr. Verrier Elwin is an ex-missionary.
It is worth studying the real motive behind this exclusion of vanvasis from the legal Hindu definition.
Historically, If you look at way Christianity spread in Europe, it initially spread in the cities and moved to rural areas. The converted city folks referred the rural religions as 'Pagan". The Latin root of the word Pagan is Paganus that means rural.
When these Christian historians and sociologists started studying our culture they started classifying on similar basis as urban and rural. They concluded that rural here is nothing but the tribal form and it different from the urban nature of religion. This approach of theirs is wrong.
Instead, We should classify the components our belief systems into 2 major classifications one is the common (or Vedic) and the other the local. The common components can be seen in different parts of the nation where as the local components are specific to that geography. The ratio of these components might vary from location to location (even within the same belief system) but all our belief systems have these these 2 components. For example the 'Kula Theivam" (the god of the heritage) might be different for different sects within the same caste. Since Vanvasi's are more in tune with the nature and their geography, their local component in their tradition will be more. They do have the common components that are seen in other parts of the Nation. As Sri Guruji pointed out, the concept of worshiping trees,snakes itself a national characteristic.
definition-of-term-hindu.htmlVanvasis are an integral part of the Hindu society. I would like to assert this by quoting the words of Sri Rama "We were 4 brothers, we have become 5 including Guha" [5]. Guha is the vanvasi boatman who helped Sri Ram ( with Lakshman and Sita) to cross the river Ganga in Ramayana.
References:-
References:-
1 "Who is Hindu?" by Koenraad Elst. Chapter 2.
2. Article 25 (2)(b) of the Indian Constitution
3. Section 2 of The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955
4. M.S. Golwalkar: Bunch of Thoughts, p.471-472.
5. In Aranya Kandam in Kamba Ramayanam(Tamil). Sri Rama says "Guhanodu Aivaranom".
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Limitations in Indian GDP Calculation Methodology
The central statistical organization that releases GDP data in 2 time series.
1. GDP at factor cost at constant (1999-2000) prices ( for Q3 of 2006-07 this value is 8.6 %)
2. GDP at factor cost at current prices.( for Q3 of 2006-07 this value is 14.1 %)
The first series data receives wider publicity. But it does not take into account the price change in the years after the base year. Similarly it does not take into account the price change before the base year also. Since it does not take into account the price change it does not get affected by inflation. In my opinion, the Whole Sale Price Index (base of 1993-94=100) might not have any impact on the GDP calculation of the first series.
The second series data considers the price change over the years. But the inflationary impact needs to be subtracted from it. GDP deflator is used for this purpose. Since we don’t use that indicator in our country instead i am considering the inflation (based on WPI ). The average inflation for Q3 of 2006-07 is approximately 5.5 (I don't have the exact figures). If you subtract it (from 14.1) the resultant GDP growth will be around 8.6 %.
The following are the possible limitations in the Indian GDP calculation methodology.
1. The effect of inflation might not be fully factored in the second time series described above (The methodology used for calculating inflation itself has some serious limitations.)
2. The Indian economy is not black and white. Most part of the economy is in between the two colours. i.e grey. It will be evident that only about 2% of the population pays income tax. How do you account the good / service that does not have a paper trail from production to consumption?
3. The output of unorganized sectors like Agriculture labourers, construction workers, artisans, house wives are not take into account.
4. There has been a lot of changes in the Indian economy and the world’s perception of India since the year 2000. Income from IT and IT-enabled services have increased significantly. Medical tourism to India has evolved. I don’t think these are accounted for in the GDP methodology.
The GDP methodology was adopted even by U.S as a measure on National output only from the year 1985. Before that, they were using only GNP. We should not be copying the approach from those western nations.
Earlier we had a bunch of economists who were looking at the soviet model for solutions. Now we have economists who are looking at the west for solutions.
In my humble opinion, our economic view and thought process should be indigenous. It should factor-in the ground reality of our nation. That’s what Mahatma Gandhi did during the freedom struggle.
Similarly, every aspect of our economic view, including GDP calculation methodology should be customized for the Indian conditions. Otherwise, it will be just a number that does not have great correlation with the actual economy.
Note: The central statistical organization does not describe its methodology used for GDP calculation in its website. The above article is based on my current understanding of the process.
1. GDP at factor cost at constant (1999-2000) prices ( for Q3 of 2006-07 this value is 8.6 %)
2. GDP at factor cost at current prices.( for Q3 of 2006-07 this value is 14.1 %)
The first series data receives wider publicity. But it does not take into account the price change in the years after the base year. Similarly it does not take into account the price change before the base year also. Since it does not take into account the price change it does not get affected by inflation. In my opinion, the Whole Sale Price Index (base of 1993-94=100) might not have any impact on the GDP calculation of the first series.
The second series data considers the price change over the years. But the inflationary impact needs to be subtracted from it. GDP deflator is used for this purpose. Since we don’t use that indicator in our country instead i am considering the inflation (based on WPI ). The average inflation for Q3 of 2006-07 is approximately 5.5 (I don't have the exact figures). If you subtract it (from 14.1) the resultant GDP growth will be around 8.6 %.
The following are the possible limitations in the Indian GDP calculation methodology.
1. The effect of inflation might not be fully factored in the second time series described above (The methodology used for calculating inflation itself has some serious limitations.)
2. The Indian economy is not black and white. Most part of the economy is in between the two colours. i.e grey. It will be evident that only about 2% of the population pays income tax. How do you account the good / service that does not have a paper trail from production to consumption?
3. The output of unorganized sectors like Agriculture labourers, construction workers, artisans, house wives are not take into account.
4. There has been a lot of changes in the Indian economy and the world’s perception of India since the year 2000. Income from IT and IT-enabled services have increased significantly. Medical tourism to India has evolved. I don’t think these are accounted for in the GDP methodology.
The GDP methodology was adopted even by U.S as a measure on National output only from the year 1985. Before that, they were using only GNP. We should not be copying the approach from those western nations.
Earlier we had a bunch of economists who were looking at the soviet model for solutions. Now we have economists who are looking at the west for solutions.
In my humble opinion, our economic view and thought process should be indigenous. It should factor-in the ground reality of our nation. That’s what Mahatma Gandhi did during the freedom struggle.
Similarly, every aspect of our economic view, including GDP calculation methodology should be customized for the Indian conditions. Otherwise, it will be just a number that does not have great correlation with the actual economy.
Note: The central statistical organization does not describe its methodology used for GDP calculation in its website. The above article is based on my current understanding of the process.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Book Review: Sonia-In the perception of a Nationalist
This book is a collection of articles written by Sri Gurumurthy,Co-convenor for Swadesh Jargran Manch. This book discusses in-detail the background of Antonia Maino(also known as Sonia).
Whenever I raise objection about having a foreigner for the highest office in the nation. There is always some one who asks me in response "Why not?", "What's wrong?", "After all she is also a citizen of this country",etc. If I had come across this book earlier, I would have certainly asked them to read it or atleast would have answered them better.
For me, the only fact that she is a foreigner is sufficient to reject her.
But, It's not just her foreign origin that is the problem. The deeper problem is her loyalty towards this nation.
Among the various facts discussed in this book,you have to know the following about this lady.
1. She remained as foreign citizen for 15 years after entering this county as the wife of Rajiv. Even after giving birth to 2 children in this country, she has renewed her foreigner status twice.That means that for 15 years she did not want to be even called as Indian after living in the home of the then Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Indira.
2. Even after 15 years,her Indian Citizenship application had her Italian name "Antonia Maino". She did not accept the name "Sonia" given to her by her mother-in-law.
3. She fled the nation and took refuge in Italy during the India-Pakistan war in 1971 along with her family. i.e. Rajiv-then commecial pilot also left the country. (During war times the commercial pilots are not allowed to leave the country for obvious strategic reasons).
4.Again in 1977, after the Congress party was defeated in elections after emergency, she took refuge in Italian Embassy. Sanjay & Indira Gandhi went pesonally pleaded and brought her home. (For us, this Nation is our Mother land. But for her, its Mother-In-Law's land. What do we expect from her!).
5.Our RAW Agency was not interested in having liason with the Italian Spies. They thought we dont have common interests and it was waste of time. But under Rajiv's pressure they had to agree for liason. A meeting between Italian spies and RAW was arranged. Guess, who arranged for the meeting from the Italian side. It was none other than our Sonia Antonia Maino. Yes, she had contact with the Italian spies.If you are one among those people who believed that she was just a simple housewife before entering politics. It's time you change that opinion.
6.She never trusted the Indian Agencies for Security. She depended Italian Agencies to arrange for security whenever Rahul / Priyanka were travelling abroad. This happened even when her own sweet husband Rajiv was Prime Minister. The relevant Indian RAW offcials were not even informed. At times, they later found it on their own to their embarassment.
7.The Quatorocchi the prime accused in the Bofors scam case is her family friend. Narasimha rao government just let him escape from India. He has been absconding since then.
This book was published about 3 years ago and it is still more relevant even today. Because Sonia is still in politics and Quatorocchi is still roaming free some where in Argentina.
Whenever I raise objection about having a foreigner for the highest office in the nation. There is always some one who asks me in response "Why not?", "What's wrong?", "After all she is also a citizen of this country",etc. If I had come across this book earlier, I would have certainly asked them to read it or atleast would have answered them better.
For me, the only fact that she is a foreigner is sufficient to reject her.
But, It's not just her foreign origin that is the problem. The deeper problem is her loyalty towards this nation.
Among the various facts discussed in this book,you have to know the following about this lady.
1. She remained as foreign citizen for 15 years after entering this county as the wife of Rajiv. Even after giving birth to 2 children in this country, she has renewed her foreigner status twice.That means that for 15 years she did not want to be even called as Indian after living in the home of the then Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Indira.
2. Even after 15 years,her Indian Citizenship application had her Italian name "Antonia Maino". She did not accept the name "Sonia" given to her by her mother-in-law.
3. She fled the nation and took refuge in Italy during the India-Pakistan war in 1971 along with her family. i.e. Rajiv-then commecial pilot also left the country. (During war times the commercial pilots are not allowed to leave the country for obvious strategic reasons).
4.Again in 1977, after the Congress party was defeated in elections after emergency, she took refuge in Italian Embassy. Sanjay & Indira Gandhi went pesonally pleaded and brought her home. (For us, this Nation is our Mother land. But for her, its Mother-In-Law's land. What do we expect from her!).
5.Our RAW Agency was not interested in having liason with the Italian Spies. They thought we dont have common interests and it was waste of time. But under Rajiv's pressure they had to agree for liason. A meeting between Italian spies and RAW was arranged. Guess, who arranged for the meeting from the Italian side. It was none other than our Sonia Antonia Maino. Yes, she had contact with the Italian spies.If you are one among those people who believed that she was just a simple housewife before entering politics. It's time you change that opinion.
6.She never trusted the Indian Agencies for Security. She depended Italian Agencies to arrange for security whenever Rahul / Priyanka were travelling abroad. This happened even when her own sweet husband Rajiv was Prime Minister. The relevant Indian RAW offcials were not even informed. At times, they later found it on their own to their embarassment.
7.The Quatorocchi the prime accused in the Bofors scam case is her family friend. Narasimha rao government just let him escape from India. He has been absconding since then.
This book was published about 3 years ago and it is still more relevant even today. Because Sonia is still in politics and Quatorocchi is still roaming free some where in Argentina.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Is Our Prime Minister Mr. Panneer Singh?
When AIADMK won the majority last time, There was a verdict against Jayalalitha in one of the several cases against her (I think it was TANSI case). So, she had to give up the Chief minister post temporarily. So she selected an obscure MLA from her party to be a place holder for that temporary period. His name was Panneer Selvam! He was never even a minister before.
As many of us are aware of the dominent personality of Jayalalitha. She would have been looking for a more sub-ordinate person (i.e. spineless). The rubber stamp candidate should be harmless, even if it means that the candidate is useless. That's exactly why the Panneer selvam was choosen.
It's another Irony that our Lalu, who was in a similar situation was not even able to find a trust-worthy candidate from his own party.
Maino Antonia (who is also known as Sonia) was in a similar condition, after the last parlimentary elections. The NDA led by the BJP did not have the necessary majority for forming the government. Supporting foreigners has been one of the consistent policies of Communists, so they decided to support the foreign lady for forming a government. There was a strong national sentiment against accepting Maino Antanio(a.k.a Sonia) as the Prime Minister. It still exists even today. So, Maino Antanio had to look for a rubber stamp. Hence, Our Manmohan Singh become the prime minister.
We have been known to misunderstand popularity for capability. Thats why we have been electing film-stars as M.L.As, M.Ps and even as Cheif Ministers. Just because some one has a Phd. from a foreign university, it does not mean that the person is a good administrator.
If you were involved in the hiring process for your company, you would have realized that people with flashy resume doesn't necessarily deliver on the job. Many times they don't even fit the job.
The purpose of this article is to examine what Manmohan Singh has been delivering during his tenure as Prime Minister. Did he make any difference Or did he manage to remain as Mr. Panneer Singh.
.... to be continued
I decided not to continue this article, because writing about Mr. Panneer Singh is not even worth it.
As many of us are aware of the dominent personality of Jayalalitha. She would have been looking for a more sub-ordinate person (i.e. spineless). The rubber stamp candidate should be harmless, even if it means that the candidate is useless. That's exactly why the Panneer selvam was choosen.
It's another Irony that our Lalu, who was in a similar situation was not even able to find a trust-worthy candidate from his own party.
Maino Antonia (who is also known as Sonia) was in a similar condition, after the last parlimentary elections. The NDA led by the BJP did not have the necessary majority for forming the government. Supporting foreigners has been one of the consistent policies of Communists, so they decided to support the foreign lady for forming a government. There was a strong national sentiment against accepting Maino Antanio(a.k.a Sonia) as the Prime Minister. It still exists even today. So, Maino Antanio had to look for a rubber stamp. Hence, Our Manmohan Singh become the prime minister.
We have been known to misunderstand popularity for capability. Thats why we have been electing film-stars as M.L.As, M.Ps and even as Cheif Ministers. Just because some one has a Phd. from a foreign university, it does not mean that the person is a good administrator.
If you were involved in the hiring process for your company, you would have realized that people with flashy resume doesn't necessarily deliver on the job. Many times they don't even fit the job.
The purpose of this article is to examine what Manmohan Singh has been delivering during his tenure as Prime Minister. Did he make any difference Or did he manage to remain as Mr. Panneer Singh.
.... to be continued
I decided not to continue this article, because writing about Mr. Panneer Singh is not even worth it.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Measuring Inflation in India
This article attempts to describe the process of calculating Inflation in India and tries to identify the anomalies in the process.
Inflation is generally calculated based on price indices.A price index is a basket of items with weightage for each item.
We have 2 price indices:
Wholesale Price Index (WPI): Based on whole sale (in some cases Producer's Price) of commodities. This data is available on a weekly basis released by the office of economic advisor to government of India. This department comes under the Ministry of commerce and Industry. http://eaindustry.nic.in/
Consumer Price Index (CPI): Based on the retail prices of commodities. This data is available on a monthly basis released by the Central Statistical Organisation. The department comes under Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. http://mospi.nic.in/
In India, the Inflation is calculated based on WPI. I feel this approach has the following fundemental flaws.
Apples with Kangaroos
Currrently, the WPI has a base of 1993-94=100 where as the CPI has the base of 1984 - 85 = 100. I dont think they have the common basket of items for the calculation. If we try to compare the WPI with CPI then we will not just be comparing apples with oranges, perhaps we will be comparing apples with Kangaroos. i.e. two entirely differnt things.
(I think the term Kangaroo might better represent the rate of the rapid raise in cusumer prices recently :-))
Responsibility of calculation & Frequency
If both the indices (WPI & CPI) are calculated by the same organization then atleast the approach will be consistent. Both the indices should be available at the same frequency. currently, one is weekly and the other is monthly. In my opinion, monthly frequency for both should be sufficient. After all, most of us buy groceries for our home on a monthly basis.
The final price matters the most
1. Each commodity in the index might be sold to the end customer after going through a series of middle layers before reaching the end customber and with varying profit margins at each layer.
2. When the Wholesale price( or the Producer Price) of a commodity increases the profit margin changes doe not get cascaded uniformly. i.e. each layer will increase the profit margin differently and usually the margins increase towards the end of the chain.
3. The final consumer price can differ due to government subsidies, sales and excise taxes, and distribution costs.
Assuming that the WPI & CPI are comparable (currently they are not), if we try to plot them on a single graph as overlays then the gap between them will never be uniform in a given resonable period of time. What i am trying to say is that WPI does not properly represent (i.e no uniform correlation to) the price paid by the consumer.
I think inflation is meant to measure the additional burden to the consumer. If it fails to do that then it defeats the whole purpose of the exercise.
The inflation number for last week was around 6%. I would be happy, if our Finance minister could name a single commodity whose end price increased only by 6% the past one year.
I think the reality is much worse that what is being presented. I think we are having Real annual inflation of atleast 10% - annualized for the past 4 years. If we include housing cost inflation rate will be much higher. This will be (and should be) an issue at the upcoming elections.
Inflation is generally calculated based on price indices.A price index is a basket of items with weightage for each item.
We have 2 price indices:
Wholesale Price Index (WPI): Based on whole sale (in some cases Producer's Price) of commodities. This data is available on a weekly basis released by the office of economic advisor to government of India. This department comes under the Ministry of commerce and Industry. http://eaindustry.nic.in/
Consumer Price Index (CPI): Based on the retail prices of commodities. This data is available on a monthly basis released by the Central Statistical Organisation. The department comes under Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. http://mospi.nic.in/
In India, the Inflation is calculated based on WPI. I feel this approach has the following fundemental flaws.
Apples with Kangaroos
Currrently, the WPI has a base of 1993-94=100 where as the CPI has the base of 1984 - 85 = 100. I dont think they have the common basket of items for the calculation. If we try to compare the WPI with CPI then we will not just be comparing apples with oranges, perhaps we will be comparing apples with Kangaroos. i.e. two entirely differnt things.
(I think the term Kangaroo might better represent the rate of the rapid raise in cusumer prices recently :-))
Responsibility of calculation & Frequency
If both the indices (WPI & CPI) are calculated by the same organization then atleast the approach will be consistent. Both the indices should be available at the same frequency. currently, one is weekly and the other is monthly. In my opinion, monthly frequency for both should be sufficient. After all, most of us buy groceries for our home on a monthly basis.
The final price matters the most
1. Each commodity in the index might be sold to the end customer after going through a series of middle layers before reaching the end customber and with varying profit margins at each layer.
2. When the Wholesale price( or the Producer Price) of a commodity increases the profit margin changes doe not get cascaded uniformly. i.e. each layer will increase the profit margin differently and usually the margins increase towards the end of the chain.
3. The final consumer price can differ due to government subsidies, sales and excise taxes, and distribution costs.
Assuming that the WPI & CPI are comparable (currently they are not), if we try to plot them on a single graph as overlays then the gap between them will never be uniform in a given resonable period of time. What i am trying to say is that WPI does not properly represent (i.e no uniform correlation to) the price paid by the consumer.
I think inflation is meant to measure the additional burden to the consumer. If it fails to do that then it defeats the whole purpose of the exercise.
The inflation number for last week was around 6%. I would be happy, if our Finance minister could name a single commodity whose end price increased only by 6% the past one year.
I think the reality is much worse that what is being presented. I think we are having Real annual inflation of atleast 10% - annualized for the past 4 years. If we include housing cost inflation rate will be much higher. This will be (and should be) an issue at the upcoming elections.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)