Fighting terror: Time to take fight into enemy's camp ?

Well, here are a few thoughts from yours truly. This comes from someone who has "smelled" terror from close quarters. That story i'll defer for some other day, for now let me focus on my current thoughts on tackling the menace of terrorism. So here it goes:

Dismantle the terror infrastructure

Be proactive. We have known for long that terror camps exist in POK but we have done nothing. Absolutely nothing ! It’s time to take action. Destroy those terror camps run by LET, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. This action does not require a war to be waged with Pakistan. This has to be a specific operation in connivance with the governments of US & Pakistan.

Crack the whip on internal support system

Let’s face it point blank. No militant organization can attack us without internal support and logistics. So whether it is SIMI, other radical organizations or specific individual elements the government needs to take tough action against them. A strong signal must go that nobody can think of supporting terrorists from India’s soil. This calls for strong anti-terror laws. You may call it POTA or something else but the need of the hour is to have strong law to defeat the menace of terrorism. So for starters just hang Afzal Guru.

Use of Technology

We need use of advanced technology to strengthen our infrastructure against terror. This would mean advanced devices for surveillance, RF equipment, central monitoring and tracking devices. This would also require hiring more specialists in this domain like computer scientists, hackers etc. We can’t fight terror with old methodologies and obsolete technologies.

Internal Security Fund

I don’t know what will be the appropriate nomenclature but we definitely need to set aside more funds to upgrade our anti –terror infrastructure. This fund can be used to modernize our security agencies, and police force, upgrade our weaponry and defense systems.

Global Response

In this world of globalization, we need to have more collaboration to fight terror jointly. This would require a framework to ensure that intelligence is shared between investigating agencies across countries. So the American, Russian, British, Indian and other investigative agencies need to come together to define effective mechanism to share intelligence to prevent terror attacks.

Single National Identity
Every Indian national need to have one identity card let it be called NIC – National Identity Card. This card should have all the personal details. With the number associated with this card it should b e possible to retrieve all the relevant information from the database for identification or any other transaction.

Sameer Tikoo

A rejoinder to my last article on "Financial Meltdown"

A few of my readers felt that i was too pessimistic in my last article on "Financial Meltdown" and also added that i should have offered some suggestions on how to tackle the crisis. I felt humbled by their comments and so i share a few thoughts on initiating a response to resolve the crisis. Between my last article and now a great event has happened, Barack Obama- a sign of great hope and change is the President elect of USA. Though we understand he does not have a magic wand to deal with the crisis but the whole world looks up to him.

Here are my thoughts:
Global Response
A syncronized global response from central banks of major economies is essential to cut interest rates and increase liquidity into the system. Besides, we need a unified mechanism to oversee the global financial markets. In addition, a uniform accounting policy is required which is to be audited periodically by a global auditing corporation comprising of representives across countries.

Cut Taxes and increase Government Spending
Yes, i'm in strong favour of reducing income and/or other taxes. This can be a temporary step but i fell an essential one. We need to leave more money in the hand of common man at this time.
Coupled with tax cuts government needs to increase spending on infrastructure to boost employment. Besides, infrastructure it may also be a good idea to recruit in sectors where goverment feels the need to hire for anticipated growth e.g. Banking, Education.

More reforms
The Indian GDP growth estimates have already been lowered to around 7%. If we are not aggressive on reforms then we may well fall short of this target. In order to grow at 9% or more we really need to take a hard look at sectors which can be opened up further. Sectors like Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Education, Retail, Biotechnology do provide an opportunity.

Increase in trade between emerging economies
Currently, G-20 countries account for around 80% of the world trade. However, we need to look beyond G-20. If there is a need to introduce new trade pacts which ease up trade between smaller countries then so be it. Make the reginal economies stronger. We know the biggest consumer in the world, USA cannot be ignored but the need of the hour is to increase trade between smaller reginoal blocks e.g Asia & Latin America. Gulf represents a wonderful opportunity too. For once, Gulf countries should be willing to look beyond oil.

Arrest the decline of rupee
RBI has already intervened and solld dollars to check the declining rupee but more needs to be done. This has resulted in our forex reserves reducing from a high of $314.62 billion (Rs15.6 trillion) in May to around $250 billion. However, an appreciating and stable rupee is much needed to send the right signals to the FII community who may be looking at the right opportunity to re-enter particularly when the markets seem to be finding a bottom. Once the FIIs start buying stocks this will help rupee to appreciate and perhaps we may not need to sell dollars from our forex kitty.

Cut the CxOs compensation
The CEOs salary do come under a scanner when something like this happens but unfortunately the top guns fail miserably here. The Board of most companies seems to be very weak in administering CEO compensation although much has been said about it. The ground reality is that not much action is visible. I was just reading that Larry Ellison (Oracle) took approx 195 million as compensation last year. Back home Anil Ambani takes around 48 crores. Now what i don't understand is that the same CEOs (especially true of US CEOs) are the first to think of layoffs as the first recourse to cost cutting. And the people who are laid off will be mostly junior to mid level workers. Ironical isn't it ?

At the end, all i hope for is that a year from now or before, i would like to write on the revival of current economic crisis - "Great Depression 2.0" and how India emerged stronger from this crisis.
Till then Dasvidaniya !!

Sameer Tikoo

The financial meltdown: Are you ready for change ?

It's been around one and a half month since the news about the fall of Lehmann brothers. That news itself was astounding to put it very mildly. What followed has been a nightmare given that many more financial icons have gone bust, few countries are on the verge of bankruptcy (Iceland, Pakistan, Ukraine, Belarus etc). Many of us do not have a first hand account of the "Great Depression" in 1929 but from what we can "Google" the comparison is inevitable though unwarranted. However, the big difference today is as Thomas Friedman says "The world is Flat". In a global economy the decoupling theory just doesn't seem to be working. All the major economies (US, Europe, Japan, Chindia) seem like four wheels of a car - so interdependent on one another. The biggest aftermath of this financial meltdown could well be the way we have known America to be. I believe this is an amazingly disruptive event in the history of US. The US economy will shrink, the political clout will reduce; the financial crisis may well signal the beginning of the end of USA as an economic superpower. I believe we are in a transient stage of economic power shift to CHINDIA.
Coming to India, we too are feeling the pain. The rupee is at its lowest rate, the stock markets just hit a new low few days ago, the Assocham news report that 25% employees will be laid off in India is disconcerting and the consumer confidence is at an all time low. However, on the positive side inflation is reducing (10.68% as on date), the interest rates are bound to reduce, crude has reached around $66 from a high of ~$148.
How really do we survive ?
First of all, we need to value the money we spend in corporate business just like our own savings. Let me elaborate with an example; When we shop for personal goods like car, mobile, clothes, AC , other household goods etc..don't we bargain to get the best deal. We really want value for our money. Now equate this with corporate spending. Are you spending the corporate money in the same way ? Do you think twice before spending on entertainment, office expenses, group lunch, conferences, phone calls etc. ? Are we looking at value for money in the corporate scenario ? I trust many of us don't !
The other things are quite simple. The good old fashioned socialism is back in vogue. Moderation is the key. Get into cash conservation mode. Just defer that vacation plan or a car purchase. Somehow, i feel that we have outgrown some of our own desires. We need three cars when there is a need for one, three homes - one for living, one future home and one as investment, need to change the mobile phone every six months (sprinkled with Blackberry & iphone), three or four vacations in a year etc.. etc...the list goes on.

My friends the whole crisis is a manifestation of corporate & consumer greed !! Alas, we have come a full circle! At this time i can only remember the phrase "..This too shall pass" and i leave you with this beautiful song..http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=6olU1D70eys

Sameer Tikoo

"Ashes" of the modern era: A preview

A few hours from now India vs Australia test cricket series shall commence. Already a lot has happened before the series begins. The biggest news, of course, being the retirement of India's most successful captain - Sourav Ganguly, after the test series. I feel that Sourav has taken a very wise decision and set a great precedent. He has again shown great leadership skills and led from the front. For me Sourav's captaincy was the turning point of the Indian cricket. The kind of positive aggresion he created, the ability to make the team play like a cohesive unit and the way he backed up the junior cricketers like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Bhajji etc. at that point of time changed the face of Indian cricket. Before Sourav's era, the team was a bunch of individuals who were more obsessed with records resulting in flashes of individual brilliance. Sourav taught us how to win and make winning a habit ! Of the fab four, if you ask me whose contribution is greatest to the Indian cricket, undoubtedly it is Sourav Ganguly, though i'm a huge fan of Sachin's mastery, Rahul's composure and Laxman's class. As Rahul Dravid famously said "..First there is God on off side and then there's Sourav.." This holds good not only for his batting on the off side but also for his leadership skills. Sourav, may you bid adieu on a high note !

Now back to the "Ashes" of the modern era, Gavaskar-Border series. The pre-series verbal volleys seem to be largely muted which is very much against a typical Australian side. Obviously, without Warne, Mcgrath and Gilchrist this team is weaker than the teams that have toured India for the last 7-8 years. However, they are still the world champions. Their strength is their strong fast bowling line up with Lee spearheading the attack. The argument that they have a very weak spin attack does not matter much because we all know what happened to Warne in India. Given the venues where the matches are going to be played should be spin friendly except Mohali, the Aussies are at a disadvantage. They would rely heavily on the batting prowess of Hayden, Hussey & Clarke to counter the spin attack from India. I believe Clarke & Hussey are the one's to watch out for in this series. The Australian strategy would also be to dry up the runs for Indian stroke-players especially the likes of Sehwag. It might well turn out to be a test of endurance for Indian batsmen who like to get the runs in boundary's.

From an Indian standpoint i see an over dependence on the spin duo to get 20 wickets. Besides, the Australians have been playing them for a long time and have got quite used to them. I'm sure they are still a handful though. However, it would have been good to pick up Piyush Chawla in the side. A third spinner with a certain novelty factor could prove to be quite useful. From a batting perspective, the fab four would be under tremendous pressure to deliver, given their showing in the Sri Lanka series. I think Sehwag & Bhajji hold the key for India. A few more hours for the gruelling battle to begin.
Let me stick my neck out and predict a result....it's 2-1 to India !!

Sameer

My first blog !

Never been there....never done that !! just heard about it...that's my experience about blogging thus far! So why am i interested in blogging ? My interest in blogging is related to the fact that i could never make a career out of what i wanted. As i grew up there were two things which i wanted to pursue viz cricket and/or journalism. But as happens with mere mortals like me i ended up doing something very different-telecom software engineering. Blogging i thought, was an opportunity for me to start writing - a platform to vent your feelings about anything & everything under the sun.
So at last, here i'm getting hooked on to the world of blogging !!
I just hope i'm able to keep this going and make it exciting enough for my readers.
Till my next blog..Good Bye!!
Sameer Tikoo