Apple is a master of perception management

Apple is predominantly a marketing and retailing company. Though it does some software and design work, it outsources its manufacturing to third party manufacturers. It certainly isn't an integrated manufacturer in the same sense as Samsung. It is all about immense media clout; thanks to its immense advertising & PR machine with a humongous budget. This media clout over a period of 30 years has resulted in an army of irrational fan following who would buy every product that comes out of Apple and defend all devious acts of the company. It's amazing that the largest company by market value, despite having highly questionable/monopolistic restrictions with regard to the App store and its iOS platform, attracts no adverse attention by the media and the FTC. The kind of media coverage that Apple gets is incredible!

What Apple does exceedingly well is to create myths. As Eric Raymond has pointed out in the past, “Mac was a slick repackaging of design ideas from an engineering tradition that long predated Jobs (in this case, going back to the pioneering Xerox PARC WIMP interfaces of the early 1970s). Which would be fine, except that Jobs created a myth that arrogated that innovation to himself and threw the actual pioneers down the memory hole.”

Raymond goes on to state “nearly a quarter-century later Jobs would repeat the same game with the iPhone. The people who did the actual innovating in smartphones – notably Danger with their pioneering Hiptop – got thrown down the memory hole by Jobs’s mythmaking (though in this case some of its principals would later achieve a kind of revenge by designing Android)” , which was founded in 2003 by Andy Rubin and eventually got acquired by Google in 2005.

The problem with Apple and its fans is that they tend to be in complete denial of all other innovations that came before and along side Apple's products. They tend to appropriate all such developments to Apple while deprecating others, which is but a myth.

Google new terms are similar to other major companies

With the updated terms Google is treating an account holder as the same individual accross all its properties just like Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon. Like them, Google is enabling sharing of users' data across various applications/properties of Google to give a consistent user experience. Google's new privacy policy/terms have now come to the level of Microsoft whose privacy statement states: "information collected through one Microsoft service may be combined with information obtained through other Microsoft services." Other major internet based companies also have similar policies. So why is Google being targetted singularly?

The changes are obviously intended to improve user experience across Google products. Another obvious consequence of this change is relevant ads across all of Google properties.

Algorithmic usage tracking is a common industry practice. Most internet based firms/websites use tracking software. If you are an Amazon user, you would have surely noticed targetted ads to buy various products from Amazon purely on the basis of your browsing behaviour. By the way, on the internet, every click (that results in a http request) gets registered on multiple servers and is likely being used by the respective service providers. Google is only being transparent about its changes in terms of service.

The tail piece: Since, the changes took effect my search experience has notceably improved. For instance, I was looking for information on ways of installing Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) on my intel x86 PC and then I found the most relevant results as the first link on the search result page (even though they came from an obscure blogger). Thanks to the search engine, I was able to install Android on my USB drive and run it on my PC.

Unusually fussy media on Google’s updates in Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Yet another preemptive hullabaloo has arisen in the media about some changes in Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Some early birds on this report like Cecilia Kang (Washington Post) and others are being unusually fussy about these fairly standard procedures. It makes sense to have one privacy policy rather than 70 different policies while maintaining the existing principles of privacy. It is easier for the users to understand and convenient for the company to maintain one standard Privacy Policy document. Nothing to cry foul about.

Some complain that they can’t opt out:

Opt out of agreement? Yes, you can opt out by declining the terms of use and refusing to use Google's services. Or, some people expect Google to prepare Terms of Use tailored according to the whims of every individual user? That is a ridiculous expectation and can only be proposed by nitpickers or mercenaries hired to attack Google. It is a common practice to update terms of use with impending changes in business/service conditions. Nothing unusual here.

Some have also very stupidly claimed that Google will increase its tracking:

Google (its algorithms) would not know anymore than what it already knows, or what users already provide them with (just like any other web based service provider). With the updated terms It is only attempting to improve the user experience across all Google products by treating you as a single user as explained on Google's Official blog post .  Besides, algorithmic usage tracking is the industry standard. Nearly every internet based firm/website uses tracking software. By the way, on the internet, every click gets registered on multiple servers and is likely being used by the respective service providers. Google is only being transparent about its changes in terms of service. It still has the best policy & terms of agreement compared to the likes of Facebook and Twitter who sell users data to Microsoft via their exclusive agreement for the Bing search engine.

Google and the US Anti Trust Laws

From all the hullabaloo about Google's recent changes in its search engine, two specific allegations that have stood out in the American media are: (1) that the changes potentially infringe on the privacy of people and (2) that the changes warrant anti-trust investigation.

As a disinterested net savvy observer of the recent changes and the subsequent media coverage I have to state the following:

1. The breach of privacy allegations appear to be unfounded and blown out of proportion either because of misinformation or because of lack of understanding of Google’s search system. The truth is that the personalised portion of the search shows only that much that you could already see and not any more than what you already had access to. Further, the personalised search results are unique & restricted to respective users (based on what they have shared and what others have shared to them) akin to viewing ones personal email or social network streams. All the fuss about the new search changes are either guided by misinformed paranoia or simply mischievous propaganda to malign Google.

2. Sections of the media have raised antitrust concerns for not including Facebook's and Twitter's data in Google's search results, but it should be realised that the terms of these companies obviously restrict Google from displaying/using their data on its search results page. Using any other (out of the way) means to bypass their terms of agreement to include Facebook’s and Twitter’s data in the search results page would make Google vulnerable to legal challenges from these firms. After all, these firms are extracting fees via agreements with Microsoft for giving access to users data on their network to be used in Bing's search results. Remember Google use to list profiles & data from these sites earlier, but it discontinued the practice after the terms of Facebook and Twitter became restrictive. Clearly, going by the adverse publicity in the media, Google is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't.

To understand and to investigate the propriety of the claims in the media I had an overview of the American anti-trust laws. After having seen the provisions of sections 1&2 of Sherman Act, section 7 of Clayton Act, section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and FTC's policy Statement on the standards for determining 'unfairness' in business practices or methods I believe that the allegations against Google are flimsy, or even baseless and vexatious in nature, designed to harm the normal business functioning of Google by causing unnecessary distractions and delays in decision making.

Further, if Google is a candidate for such investigation in the eyes of the media, I believe its rivals are a bigger (more deserving) candidates for the same treatment for their business practices are more likely to violate antitrust laws than Google’s. Facebook, for exampe, has close to 1 billion locked-in users who cannot easily take out their data and move to competitors. All of Google's services on the other hand provide unprecedented control for the user to opt in, opt out, and move to other competitors with their data. Also, facebook by virtue of its large number of users is effectively a monopoly in the social networking market and may be violating section 1 of the Sherman Act and section 5 of the FTC Act by imposing such terms that prohibit automated indexing or retrieval of its users data thus effectively blocking users from removing their own data by reasonable automated means. To make matters worse, Facebook has entered into an exclusive agreement with Microsoft to provide general users’ data through automated means for use in its Bing search engine. Twitter too is guilty of such exclusive arrangement. All of these companies (Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter) involved in this exclusive arrangement may be candidates for antitrust investigations under section 1 of Sherman Act and potentially under section 5 of the FTC Act. Similarly, Apple too is a candidate for antiturst investigation under the same provisions for its restrictive business practices with regard to its iOS platform. Therefore, the media should be equally vocal with regard to business practices of Google’s competitors also.

To conclude, as a general observer of the practices of companies engaged in Internet based businesses that involve users data, I have found that Google's practices are most transparent with the best standards in providing user control over their data. Further, with regard to Google's search changes, let us not underestimate the users' wisdom and pre-empt their chance to make a choice. They would not use the features if the results do not match their expectation. Of course, lets not forget that Bing (whose results by and large mirror that of Google) is just a mouse click away.

Important Legal Notes:

1. It is important to understand that the antitrust laws are concerned with the functioning of the marketplace – i.e. competition and not the protection of any individual competitor.

2. According to the rules of reasonableness under American law, there is no per se rule against monopolization, or attempted monopolization.  There is no “no fault” monopolization, no situation in which there is some “magic” number beyond which a firm may not increase its size or market share; the determining factors will include the means by which those numbers were reached – the reasonableness of the actions which produced the final entity.

FTC's policy Statement: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/policystmt/ad-unfair.htm

Sherman Act:

SECTION 1 (15 U.S.C. § 1). Prohibits contracts or conspiracies in restrain of trade, which phrase has been, since at least 1911, judicially interpreted as meaning unreasonable restraints of trade.

SECTION 2 (15 U.S.C. § 2). Prohibits monopolization or attempted monopolization; it is sometimes used in conjunction with section 7 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. §18), which prohibits mergers or acquisitions which may tend to lessen competition.

Clayton Act:

SECTION 7 (15 U.S.C. § 7). Is probably the most prominent, substantive provision of the Clayton Act. Whereas the Sherman Act was enacted to prohibit concerted activity which actually restrains trade, this provision is directed at preventing activity in its incipiency which may tend to restrain trade. The Merger Guidelines issued by the Department of Justice offer an indication of the ways in which mergers and acquisitions will be analyzed by the Antitrust Division and the FTC; although they are not binding upon the courts, they are considered to be persuasive.

Federal Trade Commission Act:

SECTION 5 (15 U.S.C. §45) is the operative, substantive provision of the FTC Act. It prohibits “unfair methods of competition” and “unfair or deceptive acts” in commerce (15 U.S.C. §45(a)(1)). The provision applies to “unfair methods of competition involving commerce with foreign nations (other than import commerce),” however, only to the extent that such “unfair” conduct has a “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect” on the foreign commerce in question (15 U.S.C. §45(a)(3)).

FTC's policy Statement: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/policystmt/ad-unfair.htm

Lessons in charity: India Inc says no to Buffett, Gates - Corporate Trends - News By Company - News - The Economic Times

Please do not mix Corporate Social Responsibility with philanthropy by the rich. While CSR is about corporate responsibility of the business involving the companies' resources, philanthropy involves the personal wealth of the individual business magnates. In the West, this trend of philanthropy was partly driven by the penalty of huge inheritence taxes (if wealth earned during a life time was not given away in charity before death). In India, sadly the such a strong institutional mechanism (to deter individuals from holding on to wealth till death) does not exist. A country like ours with large sections of its people living in poverty needs such institutional interventions to steer the wealthy towards building charitable foundations.

Lessons in charity: India Inc says no to Buffett, Gates - Corporate Trends - News By Company - News - The Economic Times

What has shaped Governance in India?

PeerPower : Culture and institutions matter in governance

As usual, another great article from R Gopalakrishnan. Drawing from Indian mythology, interesting insights have been provided on Indian mentality. My best part was his take on the "kiss up and kick down" culture pervalent in Indian society. Also his insight that "the giveaways of bad governance lie in behaviour".

"Pratip Kar, while at Tata Management Training Centre, showed that one or more of five signals from the C-Suite provide early warning: constantly being applauded by the media as being visionary and daring; displaying excessively risky but exciting ambitions; showing high connections and lifestyle; being hubristic and egoistic; being surrounded by ‘non-smelly’ individuals, yet appearing ‘smelly’."

My recommendation: hit the link and read on. It will be worth your while.

India needs a more equitable legal framework

This is in response to the article that appeared at: http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?265171

Except for a few "सर फिरे ", nobody believes that democracy will fail in India.

Facts are disputable on both sides (Activists and the government). They are often manipulated for their own agenda. But as I mentioned elsewhere, India remains largely a country of conglomerates where existing business families hold sway in a crony capitalistic way. There is a dearth of self made business icons in the country barring some examples in the IT sector. (These success stories were possible because the product in this case was 'invisible' to the bureaucrats and also because the markets were abroad).

Some may argue, what about Dhirubai Ambani? Well, Dhirubai was already a wealthy man when he returned to India from the UAE. So he wasn't really self made entirely in India. Back in India, he was more a product of crony capitalism - the most undesirable form of capitalism. His sons Mukesh and Anil Ambani are anything but self made men. My point is that truly capitalistic societies have mechanisms to ensure that every generation has to toil to make it big and I believe that we should have those mechanisms in place.

As we take the capitalist route, we have an opportunity as a nation to adopt appropriate policies that would create a more equitable society. Otherwise, wealth will be concentrated in few hands and they will control everything else in the country.

On the issue of tribal development:

I am all for development, but if you take a headcount of people in the tribal lands where industrial development has taken place. Tribals have become a minority in their own land. All jobs have gone to the settlers. (Barring a few, tribals are mostly unemployable). If sophisticated Maharshtrians can be miffed about it, why not tribals?

Industrial development isn't having much effect on their lives. For that to happen human development is required. Human development of tribals requires a missionary zeal which a corrupt administration cannot offer. The British administration in conjunction with the missionaries had such a zeal and the results are 85 to 90 percent literacy rates in some of the North Eastern states.

Clearly, the government needs to move ahead from the current legal framework that has resulted in crony capitalism and concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, to one which would enable a more equitable capitalistic society. Therefore, laws need be tweaked to create a more level playing field for the emergence of new business icons from each generation. We need to investigate the legal framework which exists in the US and most other developed nations which allows the rise of first time entrepreneurs like Bill Gates who goes on to become the richest man on earth and then creates a foundation to give back most of his wealth in charity. Apart from philanthropy, what is inducing this behavior? Here's some hint.

I bank on charitable foundations to deliver human development more than the government because of their efficiency. And I mean Charitable foundations created from individuals' personal wealth not corporate social responsibilty. There is a difference.

India's great escape from the socialist zoo : India : S A Aiyar : TOI Blogs

This article appeared in the Times of India on 18-04-10.

India's great escape from the socialist zoo : India : S A Aiyar : TOI Blogs

My reaction to this article: Excellent analysis, I agree with most of it. But India remains largely a country of conglomerates where existing business families hold sway in a crony capitalistic way. The examples cited of the IT sector are exceptions not the rule. These success stories were possible because the product in this case was 'invisible' to the bureaucrats and also because the markets were abroad.

To take a contrarian view, the fact remains that about 30 crore people in this country live in abject poverty. The tribals in this country were perhaps relatively better off under the British rule than they are today. They have lost most of their land to the settlers and have become a minority in their own land. In many places, arbitrary political boundaries have divided the tribals or adivasis of one ethnicity between several states. Their culture has been hijacked. Their children who come to towns & cities to work as household servants are abused or raped every day. (Most of it goes unreported).

I have wondered what is it about the developed nations and many of these newly industrialized nations that makes them prosperous and equitable. One law in particular that comes to my mind is the Estate tax which is imposed when wealth is passed on to the offspring via a will or on the death of a person. (This law mostly applies to the super rich). The crux of the law is that people who have amassed huge amounts of wealth in their life time can bequeath only a reasonable portion of their wealth to their children while the excess wealth becomes part of the state exchequer if not already given away in charity. This tough law has resulted in numerous charitable foundations and universities in the US. (If Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and others are giving away all their billions in charity, it’s partly because of this law). It’s amazing, even the communists in India haven’t lobbied for this law. It is countries like India; with wide spread disparities in income levels that need this law.

India's great escape from the socialist zoo : India : S A Aiyar : TOI Blogs

This article appeared in the Times of India on 18-04-10.

India's great escape from the socialist zoo : India : S A Aiyar : TOI Blogs

My reaction to this article: Excellent analysis, I agree with most of it. But India remains largely a country of conglomerates where existing business families hold sway in a crony capitalistic way. The examples cited of the IT sector are exceptions not the rule. These success stories were possible because the product in this case was 'invisible' to the bureaucrats and also because the markets were abroad.

To take a contrarian view, the fact remains that about 30 crore people in this country live in abject poverty. The tribals in this country were perhaps relatively better off under the British rule than they are today. They have lost most of their land to the settlers and have become a minority in their own land. In many places, arbitrary political boundaries have divided the tribals or adivasis of one ethnicity between several states. Their culture has been hijacked. Their children who come to towns & cities to work as household servants are abused or raped every day. (Most of it goes unreported).

I have wondered what is it about the developed nations and many of these newly industrialized nations that makes them prosperous and equitable. One law in particular that comes to my mind is the Estate tax which is imposed when wealth is passed on to the offspring via a will or on the death of a person. (This law mostly applies to the super rich). The crux of the law is that people who have amassed huge amounts of wealth in their life time can bequeath only a reasonable portion of their wealth to their children while the excess wealth becomes part of the state exchequer if not already given away in charity. This tough law has resulted in numerous charitable foundations and universities in the US. (If Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and others are giving away all their billions in charity, it’s partly because of this law). It’s amazing, even the communists in India haven’t lobbied for this law. It is countries like India; with wide spread disparities in income levels that need this law.

The ‘Maoist’ PCPA – A Self Fulfilling Prophecy

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Intellectualization is a way of reducing pain and this is no exception!

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In Management there is a term called "self fulfilling prophecy" which is also referred as "Pygmalion effect". This is a phenomenon which occurs when "a false definition of the situation evokes a new behavior which makes the original false conception come true" (Merton, 1957). In other words, "you are what you are because of what others think you are."

This is exactly what is happening to the Peoples Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA). The organization which was originally raised to protest against police excesses has been often accused of acting as the front end of Maoists. But PCPA's turn for the worst occurred when its popular leader Chatradhar Mahato was deceitfully arrested by the West Bengal police officials posing as press reporters. This was followed by even more arrests and harassment of impoverished people which included women, some of them in their sixties. Ever increasing accusations by the government agencies and the media initiated the Pygmalion effect of turning a democratic movement to an increasingly extremist organization.

The Rajdhani Express hostage drama of 28^th October, 2009, enacted by the members of the PCPA marks the completion of the Pygmalion effect. But, what has got them this far? Who are these people whom we refer in the media as tribals?

A quick review of the Indian history will give an idea about these people. It is now a generally accepted theory that the original inhabitants of India were the dark skinned Indians who are also categorized to be belonging to the Dravidian stock (perhaps because of similarities in the phonetics of these tribal languages with the South Indian Dravidian languages). The fair skinned Aryans entered India much latter. The intermingling of these two sets of ancient people brought about the Classical Indian Culture. But some groups of people belonging to the Dravidian stock remained untouched by the changes in the Indian civilization because of their isolated inhabitations in the jungles.

These dark skinned adivasis (original inhabitants) are the oldest inhabitants of India. They have existed in the confines of their jungle and lived in harmony for thousands of years. But things started to change when the Britishers moved into India. The encroachment of these jungles began with the objective of exploiting the abundant natural resources in these regions. This was the first time that the adivasis were being exposed to modern education and medicine.

During the British rule, education and health care of the adivasis in the Jharkhand region was solely the domain of Christian missionaries. After independence, this role is largely the domain of the state governments. But the government initiatives have failed miserably in improving the quality of life of these people. The result is that today, the adivasis have the consciousness that comes with little education, but not the economic well being. They feel cheated; they have lost ground to the outsiders, but have not gained sufficiently from this influx. Indeed, they are relatively less well off now than when they had all their land to themselves. They have become a minority in their own land! Contrast this with the tribes of the North Eastern states who are blessed with the system of ‘inner-line permits’ which ensures that people from rest of India go there as temporary guests and nothing more.

The adivasis of the adjoining forested areas of Jharkhand (formerly Bihar), Orissa, and Bengal are now able to see through the obnoxious design that rendered their people divided between several states. Adivasi tribes of these regions are essentially one ethnic bloc. Though there may be subtle differences in their culture, they share a common dialect called ‘shadri’.

Coming back to the Rajdhani Express hostage drama; the extensive media coverage of the incident undoubtedly gave the PCPA visibility, albeit, negatively. Some in the television media screamed that the train was ‘looted’ by Maoists. What did they loot? Food. Such a luxury for the modern man? Well, not quite, yet the media needed to report that important ‘loot’ by the Maoists. This also makes me wonder about the economic disparities our great nation has created. I tend to ask myself wouldn’t these PCPA people who are now being branded as Maoists be better off if entire villages resorted to ‘jail bharo’ abhiyans. At least that will ensure them two square meals and save them from being reported in the national media for looting food.

I have also wondered what is it about the developed nations and many of these newly industrialized nations that makes them prosperous and equitable. One law in particular that comes to my mind is the Estate tax which is imposed when wealth is passed on to the offspring via a will. (The law mostly applies to the super rich). The crux of the law is that people who have amassed huge amounts of wealth in their life time can bequeath only a reasonable portion of their wealth to their children while the excess wealth becomes part of the state exchequer if not already given away in charity. This tough law has resulted in numerous charitable foundations and universities in the US. It’s amazing, even the communists in India haven’t lobbied for this law. It is countries like India; with wide spread disparities in income levels that need this law.

Lastly, I also wonder: Is it fair that the oldest inhabitants of India should also be the most backward?

Can anybody help? The government certainly couldn’t in so many years of its existence since independence.

Manoj Tirkey

http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/

Objectivity isn’t media’s precept anymore

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Somebody has rightly said “nothing has deteriorated as much as journalistic ethics”. Some one else has also said about the print media: “just because it is in black don’t think it is true”.
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The Times of India, it seems, enjoys denigrating the Catholic Church. The editorial that appeared in the Guwahati edition on Friday, March 14, 2008 had several factual misrepresentations.

Firstly, the editorial said that there was a decline in the number of Catholics. To the contrary, according to the data available for the last four decades, the number of Catholics has been rising steadily from 653.6 million in 1970 to 1.115 billion in 2005.

Contrary to the TOI editorial, the church is not against family planning. It only advocates against use of contraceptives. In fact in many parishes; married couples and about to be married couples are educated about family planning through a natural way.

Regarding the church’s view about excessive wealth contributing to a divide between rich and poor: Is there any doubt? Can we shy away from it? In many countries of the world Estate tax or ‘death tax’ exists. Why don’t we introduce it in India? More than anywhere else, India, with its vast disparity in income levels, needs such laws.

While taking a dig at Vatican’s wealth, TOI should have realized that the wealth belongs to the Church which comprises of over 1.1 billion Catholics and not some individual. The editorial also insinuated that Vatican City is a tax free zone and therefore exempted of tax on all its wealth. It was mischievous and misleading to say the least. Vatican City is a sovereign state and not some institution exempted of tax. Being a sovereign state: who should the Vatican pay its taxes for its own wealth?

Paedophilia isn’t such a big concern that it is being made out to be. Some such cases are inevitable in an institution that spans the globe and has the largest number of followers. But it is reported as if it has become an epidemic. Besides, wherever such cases have been reported the concerned people have been adequately punished and the law has taken its own course.

Lastly, contrary to TOI’s editorial, the Catholic Church still remains a powerful institution in the world and its contribution has been largely constructive. For a reality check, the Times of India should take a count of the number of people in its group who count a Catholic institution as their alma mater.

Manoj Tirkey
http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/ - POLEMICS - Diversity of views

http://edzucate.blogspot.com/ - ACADEMIA - An academic discourse

Religious conversion among Jharkhandi people

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Are adivasis of Jharkhand region Hindus? When and why did this saga of religious conversion begin?
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This is in continuation of my earlier blog with regard to attacks on Christians of Orissa. Since the unfortunate incidents that occurred around Christmas involved tribal regions; in this piece I briefly discuss the story of religious conversion in central India, particularly the Jharkhand region.

Jharkhand means forest land. The tribes, whom I refer as Jharkhandis, are scattered across the adjoining forested regions of Orissa, W. Bengal, and Jharkhand. Here, I refer to these adjoining regions as Jharkhand region. These tribes, also referred as adivasis, have been dwelling in the forests for thousands of years.

Like the tribes of North Eastern India, these tribes of Jharkhand region remained largely untouched by civilization until the arrival of the British. Their traditional occupations included hunting and gathering and primitive agriculture.

Contrary to popular perception, the tribes of these regions are not Hindus traditionally. Their traditional religious practices are essentially animistic. Until their assimilation with the mainstream over the last hundred and fifty years, these tribes have been living in harmony in a uniform society. They were never a part of the Hindu caste structure.

Religious conversions among Jharkhandi tribes began after the arrival of European missionaries. Among the first to arrive, a Belgian priest, Fr. Constance Levens is a revered figure among the catholics of Ranchi and neighbouring districts. Some amount of religious conversion was inevitable given the compassion with which they treated them. In fact, their initial exposure to modern education and medicine can be solely attributed to Christian missionaries. But such conversion was never forced; rather it was an educated choice of the tribes.

As religious conversions became more common among the tribes, Hindu chauvinist organizations arrived in these regions and started competing for their share of the adivasi pie. However, the competition from these organizations was never fair. Often, they would resort to coercion and violence. The worst part of their strategy was to instigate easily impressionable tribesmen to attack their fellow brethren. Such violent strategy has obviously resulted in deadly consequences for many innocent people of the region.

These Hindu fundamentalist organizations proclaim that conversion is violence and that conversion should be banned. If conversion is indeed violence then why are they converting the adivasis from their traditional animistic practices to Hinduism? Their second demand for a ban on conversion is untenable in a democratic and secular society. Religious conversion is a matter of personal choice and any tampering with this freedom of choice will be gross violation of Human Rights.

The tribesmen who come in contact with these fundamentalist organizations should weigh their options. On the face of it, the choice to make is fairly simple: one is of continuing to remain in a uniform society while the other is to convert to Hindu practices and drop to the lowest rung of the caste structure. They should also recognize the political agenda of these organizations and refrain from being instigated by them.

Therefore, my friends from Jharkhand and other such regions: remember, when you engage in violence under the influence of fundamentalists, you either kill or maim a fellow tribal.

Manoj Tirkey
http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/ -POLEMICS-Diversity of views

http://edzucate.blogspot.com/ - ACADEMIA - An academic discourse

Customer is the king: Who says?

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A journey that got my grey cells working. Here, I share my thoughts on the journey with some insights on Quality.
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Fresh from an invigorating refresher program in Delhi and a short visit to my historical home town at Barrackpore, I set off for my place of work at IGNOU Regional Centre, Itanagar. The plan of travel included an Air Deccan flight from Kolkata to Guwahati to be followed by an overnight Bus journey to Itanagar. (Road travel is the only means to reach Itanagar).

The Deccan flight (DN-653) starts from Kolkata and terminates at Imphal traveling via Guwahati. I have consistently preferred this mode of journey over the train partly because of its convenient timing and substantially because the trains in this route take an inordinately long time to reach Guwahati. (Indeed, train travel from Kolkata to Guwahati takes much more time than what it takes to travel a much longer distance from New Delhi to Kolkata).

On 3rd February 2006, a fine sunny day, the check in and boarding of the aircraft was swift and smooth at the Netaji Subhas Airport in Kolkata. The problems began after the boarding was completed.

As the departure time (12:15 pm) approached the captain of the aircraft asked the crew to prepare for take off. Immediately, the aircraft crew moved to their positions and the regular safety demonstrations accompanied by announcements in affected accent followed. But just as everything appeared to be ready for take off, in came the announcement from the captain that the aircraft had developed a minor technical snag which would be resolved in 20-30 minutes.

I reckoned that this time could be used to free myself from the shackles of the seat belt and move to the rear-end lavatory to ‘do the needful’. But just as I entered, another announcement from the captain followed. This time the captain announced that the repair of the aircraft may take an hour or longer therefore the crew may prepare to evacuate the plane.

Inside the lavatory, while I struggled to get the flush to work which simply refused to budge, in came the untimely knock on the door by the aircraft crew posted at the rear end of the airliner. In a jiffy, I walked out complaining that the flush isn’t working.

Driven out of the aircraft, passengers had to exit the aircraft bay, re-enter the airport building, obtain a fresh boarding pass and go through the security drill all over again and wait anxiously for the signal to board the aircraft again.

At around 2:15pm passengers are allowed to board the aircraft again. But even as the aircraft was being readied for take off, the captain delivered the knock out punch. This time the pilot announced that the flight will first land at the terminal stop – Imphal and then revert to Guwahati. The reason: early closure of the Imphal airport during evening hours.

After what seemed to be a long and arduous journey in the cramped non reclining seat of the low cost carrier, I finally reached Guwahati. By the time I could retrieve my luggage it was well past 5:30pm. A journey that in normal circumstances should have ended in Guwahati at 1:30 pm took 4 hours extra.

I hired a cab hurriedly and set off for the Guwahati Bus Terminal at Paltan Bazar. I was lucky to have got the last available seat in the last row of the last bus to leave for Itanagar.

Looking at the whole episode from quality perspective, let me analyze what are the things that went wrong and what could have been done better?

Clearly, the ground maintenance staff did not do their work well enough which resulted in the technical snag. Had they done their part; the aircraft would have taken off smoothly and passengers would have reached their destination on time.

Secondly, after having delayed the flight by about 2 hours, the airline added insult to injury by forcing the passengers destined for Guwahati to travel all the way to the terminal stop at Imphal. While the ostensible reason was early closer of Imphal Airport, the real reason was to pick up passengers from Imphal for a return flight to Kolkata via Guwahati. Thus the passengers traveling to Guwahati had to travel unnecessarily for an extra hour and 15 minutes.

Thirdly, having subjected the passengers to the afternoon torture, at least the carrier could have been courteous enough to provide free snack to the passengers to soothe their discontentment. Far from it, as is the normal practice in low cost airlines, the carrier sold snack to the passengers and actually made more money that day as hungry passengers had no option but to buy the hugely overpriced snack packs.

So, how different would have been a quality conscious airlines approach towards the circumstances that unfolded that day? Here, I will try to delineate the strategy that a quality conscious airline may have adopted.

An airline with quality consciousness ingrained in its DNA probably would not have invited such a situation. They would have made it doubly sure that the aircraft is well maintained and ready for flight.

Even if, as a rare case, such a technical snag was to occur, the airline would have taken care to minimize the discomfort; not maximize it, as was the case with the Deccan flight (DN-653). For instance, the passengers would have been carried through the usual route via Guwahati to Imphal rather than via Imphal to Guwahati. Thus an unnecessary flying hour for the Guwahati bound passengers would have been prevented.

Further, a quality conscious airline would have provided free snack to the passengers considering the fact that the flight which was to reach Guwahati at 1:30pm actually reached there at 5:30pm. Surely, that would have mitigated passenger discontentment significantly. Indeed, it would have potentially earned some goodwill for the airline.

This whole episode underscores one simple but important point: That for a system to succeed all its parts need to work in a synchronized manner. If any one of the parts does not deliver there is bound to be a systemic disorder if not complete failure.

If you thought we are living in an era where customer is the king, think again. We haven’t reached there yet.

Manoj Tirkey
http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/ - POLEMICS - Diversity of views
http://edzucate.blogspot.com/ - ACADEMIA - An academic discourse

Merry Christmas! But not so merry for Christians of Orissa

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Right to Freedom of Religion
Article 25 of the Constitution: Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.-(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.
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25th December, 2007: A forgettable Christmas for the Christians of Orissa.
A note on the incredulous sequence of events leading to the carnage on Christmas day and the day after. Also, a lession for the subaltern.
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Even before the spectacular success of Narendra Modi in Gujrat had sunk in and even as the common man in various parts of the country was beginning to look forward to the BJP as an alternative for providing a clean and efficient government, disturbing reports of churches and convents being burnt in Orissa are coming in.

All the goodwill which the BJP appeared to have gained in the last five years has been undone, yet again, by this act of hooliganism. Thus reinforcing the belief that BJP and its more fundamentalist elements have only one agenda – that of spreading a politics of hatred.

For the benefit of those who have missed the episode, let me outline the sequence of events based on media reports. The striking feature of the chain of incidents is their immaculate timing and the clinical planning and execution.

December 24, 2007: Mysteriously, Swami Laxminanda Saraswati gets attacked on Christmas eve. Swami himself claims that the attack was engineered by the Congress MP since the attack occurred in his village.

But, for some reason, the VHP and other fundamentalist organizations decide that Christians must pay for the attack and hence as a response they instantaneously call a bandh on the Christmas Day!

They take care to appropriately time the bandh call from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon, knowing fully well that Church services are held for Christmas during those times. Then the carnage follows converting a day which is celebrated globally as a day of peace and joy into a day of horror and grief. In the course of the day several churches are torched, one life is lost and several people are injured.

As if the violence on Christmas day was not enough, passions are flared up on Wednesday, the day after Christmas, and more churches and houses succumb to the fundamentalist mobs amidst claims that temples were vandalized on Tuesday night.

To ensure that mob vandalism continues unabated, road blockades are installed and even telecommunication lines are snapped.


While I condemn such senseless acts of violence, what concerns me more is the profile of the people involved in such clashes.

Invariably, it is the ill educated, easily impressionable, and economically backward people who become a party as well as victim of such clashes. More often than not, majority of them would be from the Schedule Caste or Tribe or other subaltern sections, though the people instigating those clashes may be from upper classes / castes.

Therefore, the question that goes a begging is who are the people who get injured and killed in such clashes?

Obviously, it is the people belonging to the weaker sections of the society.

Whether the acts are being committed in the name of religion or ethnicity is immaterial. What should be realized is that the people belonging to the subaltern class are getting exploited and are by being misled by the upper castes/classes into committing heinous crimes on fellow subaltern brethren.

Therefore, next time you feel instigated to indulge in such violent behavior, watch out! Who is controlling your mind? And is such violence worth it? Even in God’s name?

Manoj Tirkey
http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/ - POLEMICS - Diversity of views
http://edzucate.blogspot.com/ - ACADEMIA - An academic discourse

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For the benefit of the uninitiated: BJP stands for Bhartya Janata Party and VHP stands for Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
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“Forgive them, Father! They don’t know what they are doing.”
– Luke 23: 32-34, The Bible.
Wish You a Happy & Peaceful 2008

Response to comments on my previous blog and this one

Having returned from a short vacation I feel rejuvenated to write more. In this blog I will try to clarify some of the comments/querries that have appeared in response to my blogs.

As regards the question - who is opposing ST status for the adivasis, if it was meant to be one, I have already discussed in my earlier blogs. But I may mention here that there appears to be a tacit endorsement of the opposition by some non ST people through some umbrella organizations.

As regards the decreasing share in the ST pie, it is for the government to do the adjustments in the quota between various categories. If not, despite the decrease, the pie needs to be shared between various tribal groups. This would empower the marginalized adivasis of Assam with the same benefits that are available to other STs in Assam. Conferring ST status will also enable them to contest elections in reserved constituencies.

The Gurjar claim for ST status is different from the claims of adivasis of Assam. To the best of my knowledge, while Gurjars are not a recognized tribal group any where in the country, the adivasis of Assam are recognized tribal groups in Jharkhand, Bengal, and Orissa.

As pointed out by Mr. Alok, ‘class difference’ within the tribal groups is evident but it is not unique to the tribes. Class difference is a generic phenomenon and is evident even in the so called communist countries. This class difference may partly be attributed to the different level of development of the states in which the tribal population is distributed. However, what concerns me more is the indifference that exists among the “upper class” within the tribes towards their less fortunate brethren. Perhaps, the distributed and detached upbringing of this class of tribals is partly responsible for this apathy.

Regarding Meenas cornering 30% of the Civil Services, I think it is a matter of personal choice. The ‘upper class’ among the Jharkhandi tribals are the ones whose development is generally missionaries led. To this set of second or third generation educated tribals a government job is increasingly becoming a taboo – not worth the effort; thanks to the widening gap in the remuneration between the private sector and the government sector. This is the generation which does not bother much about reservation and ST status. That also partly explains their indifference towards the less fortunate tribals. The argument that this class of tribals is snatching away opportunities at colleges and institutes from less fortunate brethren is true but unfair because the same applies to all categories including the General Category; such is the nature of competition.

Personally, I am not averse to the idea of an income criterion for all categories. But there is a caveat; the employers have to be more equitable and just in recruiting staff. There is evidence of caste & religion based discrimination in recruitments (See S Thorat & P Attewell’s article published in Economic and Political Weekly of 13-19 October, 2007)

Manoj Tirkey
http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/ - POLEMICS - Diversity of views
http://edzucate.blogspot.com/ - ACADEMIA - An academic discourse