Traffic violations are more the norm than the exception anywhere in India. And in this one area, I am afraid the average citizen is as guilty as the rich and influential.   But that it should make news in our city is by itself newsworthy. So why and how did it make news? It became news because the driver of a Swaraj Mazda van was pulled up by a traffic sub-inspector and given a Rs100/- challan. It also happened that the Mayor himself was traveling in the van! The officer dutifully dropped the challan into the car.  The aghast Mayor promptly called the Joint Commissioner of Traffic.

There is an old adage that “if some thing isn’t broke, it doesn’t need fixing”. But the AP government is exactly attempting to do the same through its proposal for amending the Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies (MACS) Act, 1995. For some of you who might not be familiar with what is happening in the field of cooperatives, a little backgrounder.

One of the key challenges of public management in India is the absence of horizontal linkages and coordination. As a result, the right hand does not seem to know what the left hand does. What is the evidence?

The spate of brutal killings of Salva Judem members by Maoists in Chattisgarh and encounter deaths of Maoists in Andhra Pradesh expose the fault lines of our society and polity. These are not acts of violence inspired by extra-territorial terrorist agencies to destabilize our nation. These are the products of anguish, despair and bitterness resulting from decades of misgovernance and an economic growth process which relegates millions to the margins.

Once again, cowardly and murderous terrorist groups attacked India’s financial capital.  Once again, the citizens of Mumbai, in the midst of the shock and grief, have exhibited uncommon courage, resilience and tolerance.  As in April 1993, in July 2006, all of India showed how a great nation could transcend prejudice and bigotry, and uphold its liberal, humane traditions.

The recent CBI raids and allegations of disproportionate assets of a prominent Haryana politician to a tune of Rs. 1500 crore have barely evoked any interest among political pundits and media. There is such cynicism prevailing about politicians, that most people tend to believe the worst about ‘them’.

The recent foreign policy debates are largely centered around our future energy needs. Frenetic economic diplomacy to secure nuclear power generation oil and gas contracts, and laying pipelines on the east as well as west to transport fossil fuels are certainly of value in the short and medium term. Long-term supply contracts and investments in exploration in oil-rich countries will give us some leverage. But we need to plan for the future with clarity in an integrated manner.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines arbitrage as ‘the buying and selling of stocks or bills of exchange to take advantage of varying prices in different markets’.  Politics, among other things, are the ‘activities concerned with the acquisition or exercise of authority or government’.

One of the great challenges confronting India is amelioration of the plight of the unorganized workers. NSS estimates show that about 370 million workers belonged to this category in 1999-2000. Of them, about 240 million are engaged in agriculture as owner-cultivators and wage labourers. Of the remaining 130 million non-agricultural workers, about 40 million are engaged in manufacturing, 37 million each in trade and other services, and the remaining in construction.

Over 20 million people of Indian origin are dispersed in 110 countries all over the world outside India.  About half of them constitute the first generation immigrants or their immediate families – mostly in North America, Europe, Middle East, and South-East Asia, apart from our own neighborhood.