Anna is no more Mahatma : Team Anna missed opportunity

Last year, Ralegaon Siddhi village Gram Sabha had passed a resolution on Gandhi Jayanti  conferring the title of 'Mahatma' to Anna Hazare, in recognition of his contributions to the nation. Like the people of Ralegaon Siddhi village  many in India had started to look another Gandhi or atleast JP (Jai Narayan Prakash) in him.  Politicians might have been divided on him and so was media, but none  could dare to ignore him.

A  day after the “Gram Sabha” resolution was passed, Anna told  his villagers that he could not be called Mahatma (Saint, equating him to the father of nation – Mahtma Gandhi). He said to a news agency PTI, "I am a simple Indian trying to follow the path of greats like Gandhiji, Mahatma Phule and Dr B R Ambedkar. People should try to follow the ethics and values of these 'Mahatmas' in their lives to elevate themselves."

Recalling this incidence after ten months one can say that Anna had an  intuition of the events to come. Probably he had seen the future  or these events were coining some where his mind. Luke response of public during Mumbai show in December’11. Infighting among his core team members. Deserting support of media and  indifferent UPA government.

All this led to the events  post 23^rd July till 3^rd  of August. This time when Anna team went for fasting, the UPA government boycotted and refused to take notice of the protest.  The electronic media which gave uninterrupted 675 hour long marathon coverage a year ago, gave a cold shoulder.

This was the major blow to team Anna, which was under the impression that media needs the realty show at Jantar Mantar to get higher TRP.  They forgot that it was their need to get proper focus and publicity to bring in the middle class supporters to reach Jantar Mantar and pressurise the government and other political parties.

Frustrated  team Anna  this time  attacked  media too, along  with  politicians.  There is no denial that today’s many reporters and editors are not different  from "government babus”  and “politicians” in moral behaviour. But, one should not fight at multiple borders. Had Anna’s  core team read history, they could take lessons from the debacle of German army in second world war.

By declaring to form the political outfit, Anna has lost the opportunity  to be next Gandhi or JP.  The behaviour of his team probably  will not give  him a chance even to reach to the level of VP Singh.  When VP Singh came out of Congress  and  led the campaign highlighting the corruption in Bofors deal,  he did not disclose his liking or disliking for any  “ism”.  It was only later when the fear of growing popularity of BJP forced him to take out the “Ginny of Mandal Commission”. But, later in countering the forces who made him prime minister,  he pulled down curtain on his own political career.

The Gram Sabha when conferred  mandate of Mahatma to Anna  it was hoping that the son of Ralegaan will reform the society and make it corruption free. By personal conduct Anna tried to behave in Gandhian style. But his insistence to reform governance is a misfit to the role.  He  has done a great job by bringing  the issue of corruption to the centre stage. Saints reform the society in the process government can change. But, this time Anna has taken reverse path.

In our democracy, politics runs in a different way. This can be seen from the fact that even when Jan Lokpal bill movement was considered to be a success, Mulayam Singh and his party came back to power in UP with a majority not predicted by and poll pundit. In neighbouring state, Uttarakhand where BJP  had  passed the Lokayukta bill  was routed.

The criteria to vote are not issue based. Team Anna had enough time, they could try to educate people to vote for the honest candidates when five states had gone to poll early this year. That could stop “Raja Bhaiya” and many criminals from reaching Lucknow and become the minister. 

Member of team Anna are having different political ideology.  To keep them united will be more difficult than is seen in last one year. We have watched many prominent faces leaving the team due to different reasons.  Brand Anna is saleable only  if there is a solid performing team behind  it. The two TV anchors of team Anna can get the headlines, so was Mallika Sarabhai getting in last election, yet she lost her deposit.

Having succeeded in deviating Anna from the focus of corruption, UPA will not hesitate to misuse all its resources, including governing agencies like – CBI, Income Tax, ED and many more  to break the moral of the team.

Judiciary will deliver its verdict on false fabricated case  after many years, out come of 2014 will come before that in two years. It was an opportunity lost by Anna alias Baburao Hazare. Political Ocean has bigger sharks- can small fish named Team Anna Survive there?

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Who is pulling Anna Hazare down?

The poor show of people turn around at Jantar Mantar  until Anna Hazare himself started  the fast  has raised many questions in the minds of people. Have people of the nation lost hopes from their fight against the corruption? or has Anna Hazare lost his charisma?

Is he saying, "Stay away its Secular means no Hindus?"

Answer to both these questions can be negative, but there are lots of learning lessons for the Anna Hazare and people around him.  Most important of them is to build a team. Anna has a group of people around him and not a team.  The word used by media frequently – “Team Anna” is inappropriate. Team works in cohesion towards a goal.  Here, both focus on goal and cohesiveness are missing.  The result  of this can be that  the round four of agitation will not have dramatic impact it had last year during monsoon session of parliament.

The  groups within have their own agenda to push, as it looks.  Anna is a staunch follower of Gandhi, probably with no personal agenda and selfish interest. That is his USP  but he has failed to prove himself to be a leader.  He has failed to direct the steam of the agitation to vent in the direction of focussing corruption.  Result is, people around  him keep on making statement suiting to their ideology or belief. Congress has one Digvijay Singh, Anna Hazare has  many surrounding him. This can be understood from following incidents.

Some of the  protestors  wrote “chor” (thief) on the wall outside the Prime Minister’s residence.  Delhi police  issued warning to Kumar Vishwas, a core team member. Anna apologised for the defacement saying, “That is not right. Use of such words against the Prime Minister lowers the level of discourse. I apologise for it,”.

Anna had to regret for the words of  its most vocal team member Arvind Kejriwal  who in a press conference before the start of the agitation declared, "Pranab Mukherjee is also among the 15 corrupt ministers. It's unfortunate he will become the President tomorrow."  This was in  disagreement with Hazare’s view that Pranab Mukherjee should not be targeted now that he is the President.

Team Anna member Sanjay Singh  attacked the yoga guru on sharing dais with the Gujarat Chief Minister, “We have never been in agreement with Narendra Modi and never can be. Modi is a murderer of humanity. Ramdev should clarify his position on this.”  Just two days ago Anna and his team welcomed Ramdev on their stage and had given poses to media clippings. Anna Hazare  has praised Modi and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in the past, saying their work should be emulated by other state governments. 

This is a well known fact that Kejriwal  is very cautious  to retain his identity of “Secular”  as per standards of the Leftists and popular news editors.  But he has  no reservation to seek favour of BJP leaders to get infrastructure and support in parliament to his cause.  Like all communists and Samajvadis  he went to Hisar to campaign against Congress , but when he was asked that, “does he support NDA  candidate”, he was in denial mode.  His logics prove that BSP and SP leaders are less corrupt than two main national political parties.

Kejriwal and  his group is very vocal in attacking certain ministers of UPA  for corruption and Gujarat Govt for their belief.   They forget that these are elected representatives in the democratic way.  Fight against them in legal way if there are proofs to their allegations. Else, the approach is an insult to preamble of the same constitution which Anna refers very frequently. “We the people …”  does  not mean “ We the group around Anna Hazare..”

The next big reason for Anna’s movement losing its popularity is that Anna’s  group and to certain extent Anna himself have become too arrogant.  Anna’s  justification  on the slap on Sharad Pawar did not go well with his Gandhian philosophy. This group does not want to follow the democratic way  of reaching to the solution. It simply wants to impose its doctrine.

Last year was the victory of Anna’s  movement  when Loksabha passed  “Lokpal Bill”. It got  stuck up in the upper house.  Had Anna pressed all political parties to reach to a consensus and pass the bill  every body must have hailed the wisdom of the group.

 If the bill lacked some of its provisions Anna’s group  should have made people aware of the lacunas and raised the voice. The support would have been many fold.  The mass behind him could go with a feel of having tasted  success.  The stand that “pass the bill drafted by us only” has converted the last year’s success into failure. Not many people stand with the failed ones. 

This is the  high time that  Anna  and his group does introspection  and take some corrective steps, else they will go into the history soon and will have no role to play in 2014, their ultimate dream.

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This Year plan to Gift Apple Mini iPad in festival season.

The year Apple can surprise its fans with a mini version of the iPad. By doing so Apple will enter into a mass segment in contrast to its niche image and challenge the Google and Samsung’s offerings in the market.

Sibling is Coming

Mini version will have a display area almost half of the present versions of iPad which measures 9.5 x 7.3-inches. The mini tablet version is expected to have a 7.85 x 5.3-inch dimension. Thickness may remain same close to 7.3 mm or 7.4 mm. The sleek and small size is being planned so that it may remain in hands for a longer period.

The current connector of 30 pins may go out replaced by a 19 pin dock connector, but retain all the bells and whistles of the popular bigger pad sibling.

The market experts are guessing on the type of display. Whether here also Apple will first launch with a so-so 1024 x 768 display and later advances a Retina display in high priced niche models, or begin with a bang by launching straight to Retina display.

Ultimate test of mass marketing will be at the price end. If Apple can match its new little gadget close to the 16GB Nexus 7’s $250 price tag, then the brand loyalty will make it a clear winner in this segment. Apple name has its own advantage.

Last is the timing of the launch, before the release of iPhone – 5 in October or after that. These siblings will also have some competition. They are likely to complement each other and jointly will eat away the market share Apple’s competitors.

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Three more Pharma MNCs to setup projects in Gujarat

Three more Pharma MNCs to setup projects in Gujarat

Israeli Pharma Giant

Israeli pharma giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has plans to set up a greenfield project in Gujarat. For the same a delegation from Israel is expected to visit to discuss the procedures with Gujarat Food and Drugs Control Authority (FDCA) and other state government agencies.

Teva is likely to sign an agreement with the state government during Vibrant Gujarat investors' summit in Jan 2013. The company has manufacturing plants in the US and Europe and  is working on a $50 million project in Russia from where it plans to produce 1 billion tablets a year.

Bio Devise Manufacturer

Gujarat is a favourite destination for the pharma companies. The state  holds 40% share of India's total pharma production. This will further increase as  and many new facilities are coming up. The list of companies eyeing Gujarat includes Amneal Pharmaceuticals and Apicore from US and Biosensors International from Singapore.

Amneal Pharmaceuticals has already set up a formulations unit and research and development centre at Changodar near Ahmedabad and plans to start operations out of its facility. New Jersey based Apicore LLC is a  manufacturer of specialty Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). 

Biosensors is a medical device company manufactures medical devices used in interventional cardiology, namely drug-eluting stents (DES), used to treat blocked arteries, and critical care procedures. It has business plans to take major share in Chinese and Indian markets.

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Will the meeting with Montok Singh change fortune for RIL?

Reliance Industries Ltd , India's largest petrochemical is making all efforts to regain its position of the most influencing company. Meeting of its chairman Mukesh Ambani with Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday is part of this exercise. However, the indications are not so positive at this stage. RIL is facing hurdles in getting clearances for its oil and gas exploration projects.

Neither Montok Singh nor Big Ambani spoke to media after an hour long meeting at the Yojna Bhavan. The speculation is that besides the three troubling areas of the MoPnG they discussed about the telecommunication policies as well. RIL has plans to bid for the spectrum auction. Montok Singh is likely to play a bigger role in the government after elevation of Pranab Mukharji. He was finance secretary in the period when Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister in PV Narsinmha Rao’s ministry.

Before the meeting RIL announced revival of 50 of its petrol pumps in Gujarat. After starting with a bang seven years ago, RIL had shut down 60 of its company-owned pumps stating that it was at a disadvantage since they were not covered under government subsidy. Now, with decontrol on Petrol pricing , there is a level playing field. RIL pumps, now can afford to sell petrol and LPG . If government announces it policy to reduce subsidy on diesel RIL may soon start sell of diesel too from these pumps.

The main agenda for RIL in such a meeting with key people of the government includes a demand for higher gas price from Kaveri basin. Ministry of Petroleum, which earlier had an image of being fully under the influence of RIL, has made a U turn with Jaipal Reddy in charge. In last one and a half year MoPnG has remained very tough with RIL, be that the issue of cost recovery, pricing or the production of gas. All the officials who had soft corner for RIL were shunted out.

Another blow to RIL’s ambitions is the indication that the Oil ministry will reject its proposal to price coal bed methane (CBM) from Madhya Pradesh block at import parity price just as is done in case of oil. The ministry’s technical arm, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), had in April concurred with RIL proposal to price coal bed methane (CBM).

But the ministry wants DGH to review its decision in the light of Supreme Court ruling in the gas row between RIL and RNRL, sources privy to the development said. MoPnG in a letter to DGH wrote, “Allocation of natural gas made by the EGoM (Empowered Group of Ministers) cannot be overridden by a contractor through a private arrangement.”

Jaipal Reddy’s team is tough while writing to DGH,“Supplies of natural gas can only be made in accordance with the policies of the government and subsequent guidelines issued by ministry of petroleum and natural gas on Pricing and Commercial Utilisation of Coal Bed Methane.” New Director General has taken charge of DGH in the month of June only. He has a tough task ahead to please the ministry and defend the stand of its own team.

Yojana Bhawan, the Ahluwalia’s office, is being thronged by industry top brass ever since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took direct charge of the portfolio. The list of recent visitors includes, Vodafone India chairman Analjit Singh and chairman of UB Group Vijay Mallya and this will expand in the days before monsoon session of parliament.

Ahluwalia is being seen as key policy maker and is considered close to the Prime Minister and being an important functionary in the government. Besides Ahluwalia, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan too is likely to play more proactive role as the government is struggling to put India back on path of high growth path.

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