Social Politicking and Gross Opportunity

Social Politicking and Gross Opportunity

By: Amit Bhushan Date: 23rd Oct. 2015

The political forces of social politicking via re-distribution of opportunities seem to be rising again. Such forces generally tend to rise as they promise instant nirvana through re-distribution of opportunities without realization or consideration of its impact on the gross new opportunities.

This is a direct result due to neglect for possibility of 'social mobility' by the political forces who claim to be focussed towards development or creating gross new opportunities for the 'population' to ride the political decision-making ladder.

The 'real personal contribution' of these forces is also in doubt, but let's ignore that for the moment. What happens is the development politicking scenario is that invariably (consciously or unconsciously) they try to protect the 'haves' who can project themselves as bringing in new capabilities/opportunities rather than encouraging open competition and social mobility through creation of level playing field, with the result that the "have not's" feel left out.

The "have not's" then question the value of such opportunity. The rest is all known and needs no elaboration.That the rebalancing or swing of political forces will happen so soon is a direct result of the rhetorical forces on the side of developmental politics. Such forces tend to create atmosphere whereby the under privileged becomes increasingly conscious of being left-out rather than providing encouragement to the forces that tend to balance or level the playing field for the under privileged (read- downtrodden and minorities).

Thankfully technology on itself makes no such distinction and neither does 'game' as advocated by these articles by your's truly. The impact of this is very likely to be in the ongoing elections as well as coming elections and the chances are both the victors as well as losers drawing wrong conclusions or conclusions that suit minority self-interest is very high. And this should be treated as the case for self-interest being equal to political dumbness rather than anything else.

The prime reason being that those who can impact gross opportunities do not want open competition which can result in lack of consolidation of the grip on 'money and power machine'. Let's watch if the 'game' can beat this one, because there aren't really many with the 'game'. It's another matter that nearly 'all' political forces may claim that they are 'in the game'.

That political forces who claim to be 'leading' developmental politics, tend to be convey pseudo-concerns about majority and national values is given since it is required to ride the voter tide. However what is needed is actual performance at the ground level instead of propaganda and the propaganda around pseudo-concerns about majority can easily be seen through in this age of internet and social media especially when public (including the down-trodden and minority as well as majority) is "game".

This can actually be depicted by giving fillip to social cohesion forces especially who tend to create level playing field like Super 30 or Water conservation in villages or minority development initiatives etc. Instead of talk about scrapping reservations, social structures like Super 30 can be planned to "better balance or level" the playing field and ride the social bandwagon and connect with masses.

This would allow focus on increasing the gross opportunities without disturbing the equilibrium, otherwise we will continue witnessing the see-saw of political opportunism, because public is all "game", otherwise the media would not be following these articles.
 
Social Politicking and Gross Opportunity

By: Amit Bhushan Date: 23rd Oct. 2015

The political forces of social politicking via re-distribution of opportunities seem to be rising again. Such forces generally tend to rise as they promise instant nirvana through re-distribution of opportunities without realization or consideration of its impact on the gross new opportunities.

This is a direct result due to neglect for possibility of 'social mobility' by the political forces who claim to be focussed towards development or creating gross new opportunities for the 'population' to ride the political decision-making ladder.

The 'real personal contribution' of these forces is also in doubt, but let's ignore that for the moment. What happens is the development politicking scenario is that invariably (consciously or unconsciously) they try to protect the 'haves' who can project themselves as bringing in new capabilities/opportunities rather than encouraging open competition and social mobility through creation of level playing field, with the result that the "have not's" feel left out.

The "have not's" then question the value of such opportunity. The rest is all known and needs no elaboration.That the rebalancing or swing of political forces will happen so soon is a direct result of the rhetorical forces on the side of developmental politics. Such forces tend to create atmosphere whereby the under privileged becomes increasingly conscious of being left-out rather than providing encouragement to the forces that tend to balance or level the playing field for the under privileged (read- downtrodden and minorities).

Thankfully technology on itself makes no such distinction and neither does 'game' as advocated by these articles by your's truly. The impact of this is very likely to be in the ongoing elections as well as coming elections and the chances are both the victors as well as losers drawing wrong conclusions or conclusions that suit minority self-interest is very high. And this should be treated as the case for self-interest being equal to political dumbness rather than anything else.

The prime reason being that those who can impact gross opportunities do not want open competition which can result in lack of consolidation of the grip on 'money and power machine'. Let's watch if the 'game' can beat this one, because there aren't really many with the 'game'. It's another matter that nearly 'all' political forces may claim that they are 'in the game'.

That political forces who claim to be 'leading' developmental politics, tend to be convey pseudo-concerns about majority and national values is given since it is required to ride the voter tide. However what is needed is actual performance at the ground level instead of propaganda and the propaganda around pseudo-concerns about majority can easily be seen through in this age of internet and social media especially when public (including the down-trodden and minority as well as majority) is "game".

This can actually be depicted by giving fillip to social cohesion forces especially who tend to create level playing field like Super 30 or Water conservation in villages or minority development initiatives etc. Instead of talk about scrapping reservations, social structures like Super 30 can be planned to "better balance or level" the playing field and ride the social bandwagon and connect with masses.

This would allow focus on increasing the gross opportunities without disturbing the equilibrium, otherwise we will continue witnessing the see-saw of political opportunism, because public is all "game", otherwise the media would not be following these articles.
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Reversal of falling growth by 50bps, good talks, but is it all...

By: Amit Bhushan Date: 10th Nov. 2015

The media is now busy discussing the fallout of the verdict in an electorally conscious state on the functioning of the national government. It has no comments to make on the reasons for such a result. This is even as some of the 'leaders' had spoken pointed comments on governance.

What's important to note is that we have had a lot of hype and noise around revival of fortunes, however that seems to have only about 0.5% growth impact on GDP, since it seems to have gone up from 6.9% (basis new methodology) to 7.4% (again basis new methodology).

It must however be admitted that some of the indicators like tax collections as well as automobile sales trajectory or air travel seem to be in a bit better in shape than the GDP number alone (probably pointing to what's in store, rather than just what on display window). Then we also have almost no 'new banks' (especially after issuance of new licenses) or fresh investments in say insurance or any significant job growth barring from e-commerce (which is again limited to cosmopolitan areas).

Nearly same is the fate for entertainment segment like FM, a slight improvement in tourism. There is no yardstick to assess improvement in education, government healthcare or government services; most of which anyways lie in the realm of state rather than centre. Given the news that government is focussed on getting clearances for projects out of its way to propel growth, one will assume that mining and roads alongwith some sundry projects may be improving and hence the result.

All in all much is left to perception rather than hard numbers and the perception is sought to be built by talk shows rather than institutionalized tracking of metrics.The manufacturing sector is slow to pick up steam though with exports shrinking, we still seem to be growing and that may be a compliment to the economy. Some may hear commitments to improve electronic assembly, however the results seem to be taking time to translate and occasional rumblings about new roadblock not cited earlier continue to rise on the alter.

While the government seems to be push infra spend, the noise about initiatives around its ability to reduce cost to public like swapping of coal to reduce transportation cost by power plants, or waterways transportation or availability of better irrigation and seeds for farmers, do not seem to be happening (despite a lot of noise on this count). While the government has been able to push states to compete on ease of business, however measures like simplifying taxes through GST which restrict/ hinder market access are still far off.

If such issues of unfettered market access is sorted out then the states will need to compete basis simplification of procedures and other incentives to seek investment and this may automatically sort out several issues such as archaic labour laws, land availability etc. We also have bank NPAs and policy/legal action required around it, in limbo for the lack of cooperation with the 'opposition'.The economic measures such as current account deficit, WPI based inflation, Fiscal deficit situation seem to be getting better.

However for these measure to convert to public benefit in the form of reduced interest rates or reduced household costs; we still have a lag. We have improved our ability to trade with Bangladesh (and we still do not know results of such efforts with other neighbour like Myanmar). The numerous foreign engagements is not planned to get a breakthrough trade & investment deals at least from media reports so any opportunity is more a fluke than design with a lot of hype about India setting the agenda or gaining tremendous mileage from such engagements.On the state front again, we have lot of efforts to make noise around issues that keep cropping up like jobs scam, unfairness in distribution of subsidies like ration, kerosene etc. or in managing utilities like power distribution as well as services like Primary health care or educational institutes.

We do not have any key metrics by government or NGOs on display by 'independent' news media and need to rely on perception created by selective information leakage. To be fair to leaders in government, it is not that the predecessors have a lot to talk about, other than being a mute participant in the international process although the same set of people seem to harping too much now. The government also seems to be making progress around ease of doing business front by lifting barricades created by babudom, though work around credit flows also need to be sorted. Lack of reliance on metrics often leads to distortion in perception and ability to communicate and this also seems in need to be corrected.

It is however the changed political environment and expectations that the leaders claim to have a handle upon, is coming to question and might be a key to future electoral decisions, and this is likely to as applicable for those governing as well as those trying to establish their superiority.
 
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