How Arvind Kejriwal can find his way

Anna Hazare, a veteran crusader, waged his war against corruption; the entire nation supported him to the hilt. Corruption is an agenda which made sense to all, everyone is affected by it. Together with followers including Arvind Kejriwal, he started a fight with the system.

For Arvind Kejriwal, the idea of a political party must have stemmed from two basic thoughts. One, with so much resistance from the system, change may be initiated from within the system rather than from outside. Two, with the support garnered, it wouldn't be too difficult to enter the system.

However, some key elements were forgotten in the equation so formed. One, the support was behind Anna Hazare and Kejriwal suffered a loss with the split with team Anna. Kejriwal himself could never garner the support, the mass following or the media attention he expected with the same cause. Two, corruption alone could not be the theme of a political party looking to make a dent into the biggest political party of the country. It is a sad truth that in a country where religion, caste, regionalism can form the theme of a party, practical issues like corruption can’t.

It is in this search for a theme that Kejriwal lost his way. While it made a big bang entry with high profile exposures cum statements, it soon lost steam. Soon it turned to the age old tactic of fighting for cheaper electricity and water. What a great fall!

In marketing terms, what the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was looking for is a brand identity. It stood for anti-corruption, however that was not enough to complete the identity. Today, Congress stands for inclusive growth, doling out freebies as per its whims and fancies. Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) stands for development through corporates with the inevitable trickle-down effect. When Kejriwal started his fight for cheaper electricity and water, it went the Congress way. A very bad choice indeed as you cannot fight your opponent to its strength. Arvind Kejriwal wanted to bring a change or rather be the change. One cannot be the change by being the same.

AAP is in its inception stage. It is necessary for it to change and find a new identity as soon as possible. AAP has no differentiation with respect to its biggest competitor. AAP seems to show hunger for power; it should show hunger for change.

Here are a few ideas that can help AAP bring the change; and hopefully come to power some day.

1. Kejriwal, the brand ambassador of the party,  is an IITian, one of those considered to be the smartest in the country. AAP can put forth the brand identity of a smart party. It may actively pursue and include young economists and technocrats to develop business and governance models to make suggestions and bring development the smart way. Opportunities lie in plenty in fields such as irrigation and agriculture which actually affect the Aam Aadmi. A recent report stated that poultry farming has created more jobs than MGNREGA. AAP could work on finding the next business to fuel rural growth.
2. Corruption should still be the theme of the party but disguised as better governance. Development of the Aam Aadmi is guaranteed with the removal of corruption. AAP needs to help people see the inverse relation between corruption and development. For example, bad roads as a result of corruption lead to poor connectivity affecting people and business alike.
3. AAP could be the private/political equivalent of CAG and contribute detailed reports on corruption/mishandling of public funds. RTI, a boon by his mentor, can be effectively used to mine data for such reports. It could have prepared a report on the state of irrigation projects in Maharashtra with some immediate feasible solutions to the problem.
4. The Indian voter must be one of the least informed voters in the world. Each un-bought vote is an arrow in the dark. AAP could start a campaign to help voters make an informed decision. It could start a website publishing information on election candidates.
5. Another way of using the internet would be to help provide a channel to the Aam Aadmi to vent his complaints regarding corruption through a website. It would be the Indian wikileaks. It could also have a parallel channel through letters and telephone, if feasible. Information regarding various forms of corruption would be public. AAP could identify recurring issues and take up its fight to rectify the situation. Thus the people will provide agenda to the party making it very relevant to the Aam Aadmi.

The  list of suggestions are in no way all inclusive. The above only suggest a direction of fighting for a change the smart way rather than fighting for power like all political parties. The probability of AAP becoming a major political force is too low. However, if focused upon, the probability of such a party bringing about a change in today's political and social order is much higher.

The return of the Stock Market

It has been argued for long that the selection of asset class is much more important than any particular asset in that class. Thus it is more important whether you invest in property, gold, cash or share rather than what property or which shares. Though not completely true for shares, atleast property prices are seen to rise and fall together. (Fall in property prices? Long time since we saw that happen!)

Another general observation is that when people generally start thinking that a particular asset class cannot fail at all, there is certainly a bubble waiting to burst. It happened to the stock markets in India in 2007 and to gold recently. The same feeling still persists for property prices, especially in cities like Mumbai.

So it has been proved that gold is no longer a safe haven. Property market is too optimistic for its own good and a correction is due sooner or later. Cash is never an option with the inflation rates seen in India.

So the only major asset class which does not seem inflated right now is the Stock Market. Also, there has been a huge drop in the earnings expectations. Mood was generally pessimist till a little while back. However, money has already started flowing in after the gold prices dropped. Inflation seems to be ebbing giving hope for a rate cut by RBI further fueling the rise. 

With the failure (or predicted failure as for property) of other asset classes, the rise in the stock market may sustain well beyond what is currently seen as a 100 meter dash. There is a very high probability that we are standing at the start of a very strong bull run. So better be sure not to miss out on it!

Migration as an indicator of growth

If carefully studied migration data could give the best results possible about the relative growth of geography. It instinctively explains the migration of people from rural areas to cities, migration of people across states and countries. Whenever there is growth, there is job creation and increased demand for people which leads to such migration.

It explains why Bihar and the other BiMaRU states are the biggest exporters of manpower. It explains the migration of individuals to the US and European nations from across the world. One may always argue that migration will also be due to the standard of living and the difference in purchasing power parity leading to increased value of remittances. However, that will only be a part of the reason and such reasons would be balanced by an individual’s inertia to move across geographies. So we may assume that the demand supply equation would be the major reason for migration.

Taking this simple philosophy, we may make many simple conclusions.

Bihar today is one of the fastest growing states. However, the migration has only reduced and not stopped or reversed. Thus the growth story is still not strong enough and may take some time to see a real reversal of trend. Any comment before that may be premature.

Gujarat has seen a huge uptrend in industry and thus a rise in GDP as well as migration to the state. However, it is also a great exporter of people meaning trade opportunities (the core competence of the locals) are growing elsewhere with lesser competition. Thus migration may not only show the growth of geography but also points at growth in sectors. Another example would be how industry migration gives insights on the same; thus people from all industries moved to IT at a given time signifying real experiential growth.

With all the talks of the (once) high growth rate of India, migration to India is still weak. On the other hand, though a relatively closed market, china has seen a better influx of people through manufacturing setups of global players.

India still looks upon US and the European nations as a dream destination. Thus the growth seen by the India is still not strong enough considering its talent pool. Also, it may point that US and European growth stories are still not dead.

The simple point is though numbers may sometimes tell a different story; migration data reveals the real and as-felt growth around us. It not only gives a preview on the growth of a region but also gives pointers on industry and growth of a particular social stratum.

Social media killed the Rockstar

While Rock music is apparently being overtaken by Pop music today; Pop music has had a great help from an apparently most unrelated development.

Researchers have tried to find the link between a person’s psychology and the music he/she hears. A brief of the research, at the risk of generalization, is as below. The research is biased towards American music but can be suitably extrapolated to music across the world.

Genre	Personal Traits
Pop	·         Extraverted, honest and conventional ·         Hard-working and have high self-esteem ·         Less creative and more uneasy
Rap and Hip/Hop	·         High self-esteem, outgoing
Rock / Heavy Metal	·         Gentle, creative, introverted  ·         Low self-esteem
Country	·         Hardworking, conventional and outgoing ·         Emotionally stable
Indie	·         Less hard-working and less gentle ·         Passivity, anxiousness and low self-esteem
Dance	·         Outgoing and assertive
Classical	·         More Introverted ·         Creative and have a good sense of self-esteem.
Jazz, Blues and Soul	·         More extraverted with high self-esteem. ·         Very creative, intelligent and at ease.

However, the results seem to vary across generations. The homogeneity seems to disappear as once compares results across ages where one generation majorly preferring one kind of music over other. So it is surmised that your personality along with the social setup determines the music one hears. But what is this social setup?

Music is not really a passive activity but also an expression of oneself. Thus Rock music gives the introvert a chance to express himself through the songs he listens and sings along. He appreciates the creativity and the strong lyrics boost his self-esteem. Rock music is just what the person needs; it gives him what he lacks within himself and completes him.

So Rock music was something that a generation needed to express itself. Oddly enough, this need is also fulfilled by social media today where a person can log into the world and express himself to the fullest; be it Facebook, twitter or any of the other popular social media sites. One can log into a news site and give one’s frankest opinion. Pour out his creativity in a blog. Today even the most introvert of all can have a voice which cannot be coerced. On a further note, social media seems like a competition not only to Rock but also other genres of music.

So while the need remains the same, with more/ better options available, the want has shifted to a more direct mode of expression and thus the demand for social media seems to be only on the rise.

India: The Doomsday Prophecy

It is striking to see how India has degraded so fast from a land of opportunities to a land of opportunist politicians (Is there another kind of politician?)

India grew in the real sense under the leadership of its then prime minister Shri Atal Bihar Vajapayee. On the other hand even his present day party mates seem to lack even a part of the vision that he carried. Point being that there seems to be no solace visible for development politics in India, this party or that.

The contradiction in the government outlook is clear. While the NDA built a strong base of infrastructure for entrepreneurial India to chart its own growth story, the UPA wants growth by doling out benefits (mostly unearned). While NDA provided employment to crores through its projects, UPA believes in providing unproductive employment thus wasting valuable human resource available.

Another addiction of the UPA is to provide everything free (or atleast subsidized). Subsidized fuel, subsidized fertilizers, subsidized food, free employment, free power. The country is like a wasted drunkard who earns little and spends all on his addiction. Rather than giving people opportunity to earn to buy the goods, UPA believes in either giving it free or doling out cash for the purchase.

India has done this before and it is doing it again. It will be of little surprise if India slips back to its Hindu growth rate in the coming years. What the government needs to do is clear. It needs to concentrate on infrastructure. It needs to build a capitalist economic model atleast to some extent. While India is grappling with power shortage, power generation should be encouraged and not held back due to subsidized rates. While Infrastructure is in no way acceptable, the reckless government spending should stop to reduce interest rates to make such investment lucrative for private players.

However, everyone knows that none of these changes are going to happen. The upcoming election will only see the rolling out and implementation of food security bill which will further empty government coffers. The probability of NDA, hopefully led by Narendra Modi, coming to power still seems low. It will be really painful to see the same things that have happened for the past decade repeat for the next five years. Opening up of more sectors for foreign investment is not going to suffice when the entire economic and business environment is stagnant.

Little wonder that the most probable/popular growth opportunity seen by youngsters today is a stint abroad, or better still a lifetime abroad.

Psychopathy – The evolution of man

Psychopathy (/saɪˈkɒpəθi/) is a personality disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deception.

I have always wondered why serial killers and gangsters are the only people generally associated with the term. Criminality is just a symptom or effect which may or may not manifest due to psychopathy. Also, the definition in itself says nothing about the acts of hurting people being just physical or criminal! Secondly, nothing in this world is black and white. It’s predominantly grey. Meaning, what about people who only have only some of the traits, are only part psychopaths?

I recently came across a research (with much difficulty) where some attorneys and psychology professors were asked if they knew a successful psychopath and the answer was predominantly yes. The listed characteristics of such individuals had just one difference when compared to a standard psychopath. Conscientiousness. Impulsiveness in their case was replaced by high self discipline. Well, that and mostly a very high IQ. (Refer http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.in/2010/08/hunting-successful-psychopath.html)

I came across a series of characteristics against which an individual is mapped to determine if he is a psychopath or not. I have divided the characteristics in the following four categories:

Positives: These are positives for the psychopath that make him a social predator, enabling him to manipulate his surroundings for his own gain.	Negatives: These characteristics hurt him and tend to make him the commonly known criminal psychopath.
1.       Glib and Superficial Charm 2.       Pathological Lying 3.       Conning and Manipulativeness 4.       Callousness and Lack of Empathy 5.       Lack of Remorse or Guilt 6.       Shallow Affect	1.       Lack of Realistic, Long-Term Goals 2.       Need for Stimulation or Proneness to Boredom 3.       Poor Behavioral Controls 4.       Impulsivity 5.       Irresponsibility 6.     Failure to Accept Responsibility for Own Actions
Neutral: These neither help the pyschopath’s cause nor hurt them	Effects:  These characteristics are rather effects of the other traits listed rather than a characteristic of cause
1.       Grandiose Self-Worth 2.       Promiscuous Sexual Behavior	1.       Early Behavior Problems 2.       Many Short-Term Marital Relationships 3.       Juvenile Delinquency 4.       Revocation of Condition Release 5.       Criminal Versatility 6.       Parasitic Lifestyle

Concentrating on the negatives, most of the points are similar and tend to make the psychopath unpredictable and dangerous. People scoring high on these traits are bound to be irresponsible in their actions which may make them cross the lines in terms of socially acceptable norms and legal frameworks.

However, as I said before what about people who do not have the negative traits or atleast in whom these traits are not predominant while scoring high on the traits listed as positives? An emotionless being with a high conscientiousness would be a corporate shark.

Of the Myers-Briggs personality types, ESTJ (Extrovert-Sensing-Thinking-Judgement) is supposed to a preferred personality type in terms of corporate environment. (Some may strongly disagree with the statement).  I would dare to extrapolate that a conscientious psychopath would be just the type. A highly efficient thinking machine with an inclination towards action. An extrovert and influential speaker without emotions to hold him back.

A conscientious psychopath, I believe, is the peak of human evolution. Survival of the fittest has ensured that such personalities have taken a lead over lesser, emotional mortals. You shouldn’t be surprised if you find such personalities as leaders in the corporate world.

So next time you are up against a corporate shark, beware! Your opponent may be the most formidable opponent nature has to offer.

What they shouldn't have taught us at school

The attempt to teach moral science in schools must be the worst of the ideas ever proposed. Education is supposed to prepare students for the real world. However, the idealistic teachings on morals can never stand grounds in the real world. 

Experiences continue to teach us how many of the basic lessons taught were so wrong. Let us take a few examples.

Everybody is equal

It is no mystery to a mature mind that some are more equal than others.  They argued that if one is good at studies, the other is good at sports or arts or something unique. Well truthfully, sometimes one person is just better than another in every aspect that matters. Sometimes you are better and other times you are bettered. Sometimes we just have to accept our place in the hierarchy.

Take an example of countries now. My colleagues who had worked in the Middle East used to tell me the differential treatment meted to them just because they we Indians and not Europeans or Americans. On turning assertive they were politely asked if they remembered which embassy they belonged to.

Money can’t buy happiness

They taught us not to run after money and greed is bad. This must be the biggest lie ever told. Money is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. Let’s not count the people below poverty line (who will surely slap you on such an absurd statement) but consider the middle class. It’s not the money but what that money can buy: a liveable house, better schooling for children, better medical care of parents etc. Money, without a doubt, helps you buy things which can make you happy.

Flattery/ Ass-licking/ Politics doesn’t pay

If done tactfully, this is known to pay rich dividends. The ones who fail are the ones who become too obvious in their task. But schools taught us to always tell the truth however harsh. They taught us that indulging in politics is bad. They told us that success follows good work automatically. The need to be tactful, diplomatic, cheat and bribe, if necessary, and how to talk yourself out of a situation is something people have to learn on their own in the real world. The one who thinks that such cheap tactics could never work will soon realize how naive he is.

Be good and good shall be done unto you

Just general knowledge is enough to refute the fact. Dictators have led good lives and poor have died for no reason. Life is not fair. Life is a just a series of random happenings with little rhyme or reason (least at an individual level). Even if dictators are brought to justice and punished, it doesn’t change the fact that innocent people were killed at their hands. Does life become fair for them just because after two decades their killer was punished?

Schools prepared and continue to prepare students for an ideal world when the real world is not even close to it. Parents and popular culture don’t help either. Some may argue that it is these lessons that teach people to differentiate between right and wrong. Some may say that without even this moral code, the world may be much worse off for us all.

But if the lessons are going to make the world a better place at your cost, are they really worth learning?