We are What we are!

Many times we are made to repeat our mistakes because we tend to forget basic rules and laws that govern our activities. Somebody said ,those who forget history are condemned to repeat it!

When Virat or Rohit score centuries we tend to think that they will continue to score that way in every match.But sooner or later law of averages will catch up. Same thing happened to Sachin and Gavaskar and the same will also happen to Virat and Rohit.

Our Auto sector is also plagued by the investment decisions made by forgetting the law of averages.Indian auto sector grew by more than 15-20% in the second half of 2017-18 and upto the first half of 2018-19.Everybody, who is who in Indian Auto Industry thought that it will grow at this phenomenal pace continuously for another 3-5 years.But the law of averages hit them hard in 2019-20 first half to bring them back to senses.

According to me Indian Auto sector can hope to grow faster only after the future tech policy of the govt on auto mobility gets settled and the roadmap is communicated properly to the buyers and other stakeholders. Since Indian per capita disposable income is growing steadily at 8-10% annually, things should settle down sooner than later.

MV Act and financial sector health!

We are what we are!
I find to my amusement that Insurance premium payments for TP cover has gone up several folds this fiscal year.Even though every other sector incl. gold jewellery business is facing down turn with a long face, our insurance cos are laughing their way to the bank. How this has happened?Only because some body chose to bring in stringent penalties for breaking rules under Motor Vehicles Act and the police has also chosen to implement them strictly.

This hideous combination has boosted the fortunes of a financial services sector i.e insurance with bulging cash inflows.So people do not have money to buy gold, gadgets etc. since they have compulsorily paid the TP premium!!

If somebody gives you gyan that our economy is sputtering, tell them in their face that people are now paying their insurance TP premium and so they are left with no disposable income to buy other things. The other funny thing about this is, people with their chaltha hai attitude have been shaken out of this mindset  to fall in line and cough up TP Premium.This pinches their pockets. But for strict implementation come what may by Traffic police, we would have continued to say "You collect from x, y, z before asking me to pay my TP premium"!!!

GDP without our mothers' labour and contribution !

We are what we are!
Many times I have wondered why are we so obsessed with GDP-Gross Domestic product nos. which is only a measure of raw economic activities to put it crudely. You go to any seminar or trade/industry association meeting worth its name , the speakers start talking about slowdowns and dip in GDP immediately after the official prayer song is sung and finished!

How many of us really understand what GDP is and how it is  calculated with lot of guesstimates,punctuations ,surmises etc.only to include goods,services that are counted and calculated as defined by the National Income Accounting methodologies. GDP in simple terms is equal to the sum of Consumption + investment+ Govt spending+(Exports-Imports).GDP does not include many good things and bad things.In Indian context Parenting, bringing up children by our mothers on their own, taking care of the aged without engaging a  care taker, Volunteer work -preserving the nature and resources, the value of culture and the value of resources not being exploited etc are outside the purview of GDP calc. Somebody said if all the fish in our seas and rivers are caught in a year and sold it will boost the country's GDP but the fishing industry will collapse after that!

There is also another flip side -it does not include our shadow economy and its illegal and underground manifestations. Hope only Terroristans and banana republics should worry about this. Certainly (or is it hopefully),  we are not one among them.

Nowadays people are talking about Genuine Progress Indicators and Sustainable Economic Development Assessments apart from Human Development Index, Corruption Index, Hunger index,Happiness index etc.

So let us contemplate for a minute whether a GDP number without our mothers' immeasurable contribution is truly indicative of our Country's value and progress!

You pl. ask him to stop before stopping me!!

We are what we are! 

As a commoner ,when I walk on the streets and if I am caught for jay walking, by a quirk of fate, I shout at the cop  how dare he catches me without  catching  all the  other jay walkers in the world .So I command him to let me go as he has not stopped all the other jay walkers on the roads of my town. This is my attitude which I wear it in my sleeve.

If I drive fast and violate the speed rule and if the policeman has the temerity to stop me, I tell him the same  asking him why he has not caught all the other speedsters before catching me. This is endemic of Indians and one of the popular gangster movies of late 80s eulogised it with the hero yelling at the Cop at the top of his voice, "Stop him, I will then stop" to justify his violent methodologies.

Many of us , particularly youngsters fail to understand that this a reflection of defeatist mindset. Expecting that the whole world has to be rid of all wrongdoings before I am stopped from doing one,  is by any logic  unreasonable .Who will then say where to begin. If a student is caught copying then he will tell that all copycats must be stopped and arrested before he is caught.Thieves can use the logic to thrive.

This can be used for justifying all the misdeeds and terrorism in any form. Eye for an eye cycle can never end till everybody becomes blind. So this illogical and dangerous mindset should be nipped at the bud at any cost. Why I am saying this is ,recently one of our former PMs said that any govt. decision is taken by a group of honest men and the Minister simply puts his dummy signature and why all those honest gentlemen have not been arrested along with the Minister for the collective decision making. I agree that all those involved in decision making have to be arrested if malafide is established or quid pro quo is found with evidence and the long arm of govt. will have to get them also if they have connived at somebody's wrongdoing. But that does not mean Govt should not arrest anybody unless and until everybody involved are arrested. So going by this logic police should not arrest even if there is prima facie evidence  found by Courts against the person, unless or until evidence is found against all those involved in decision making. Strange logic of a highly learned man or is he unknowingly mocking at all Court judgments.