Men in Blue - Cats painted with Tiger stripes

For the Indian team, yet another knock out match; yet another knocked out result and that is pretty familiar to the Indian fans. Indians have had the habit of choking when it mattered the most. The Indian Cricket team getting thrashed mercilessly by the English team in the T20 WC semi final bore a sorry sight, not just for the fans, but for the administrators & support staff running the Cricket team who were blinking at the way Indian team perished like minnows. 

All is not well in the team composition heading into the WC was pretty much evident by the way the team struggled even in the league matches, barely scraping through in some of the outings. And when it mattered the most in the crucial semi final knock out match which was a do or die, the discrepancies & the fault lines were glaring for everyone to see. Indian top order yet again crumbled only to be bailed out by a rear guard action from Hardik Pandya to put up a 'not so' winning score but yet some decent score on the board. 

When it came to bowling, the bowlers looked lost & appeared like perplexed kids in the stadium, not knowing how to control the rampaging English openers who sent the ball all over the ground, severely punishing the mediocre Indian bowlers. In a sport, it is not about losing, but it's all about how a team is losing. Indians lost the game in a most embarrassing manner, even putting a staunch fan to hang his head down in utter shame.

So, what went wrong for the team?

Almost everything. No solid opening batting, absence of impeccable bowling in the death, inconsistency & most importantly shabby body language compounded by half hearted and amateurish approach in such a high profile International showcase event. Their scale up to semi final had more luck element than their own performance. Losing matches or closely winning against great gun teams & winning comfortably against minnows has been the hallmark of this team. When the team entered the semi final game against England, they looked visibly nervous and that exposed the lack of confidence in the team's campaign. In the end, the magnitude of defeat tells you the story.

Rahul Dravid, the legendary player now as a head coach seems to be heading for a monumental failure in his new avatar as the head coach. When the team went to the WC with some crucial absentees like Bumrah & Jadeja, the management & the coach ought to have made Plan B & Plan C to compensate for the absence. Instead, they indulged in the usual shuffling of players before the matches. The job of the coach is to think out of the box and come up with solutions for the team which was grappling with familiar sloppiness. Non usage of power play, taking a very conservative approach on various aspects of the game during the times of rapidly changing T20 format bores the signature attitude of Rahul Dravid, who in his prime was not an attacking player in a T20 mode. 

What should the board do?

Surgeries. The team and its management needs immediate & urgent surgeries by way of sacking the ageing and non performing players without much delay. Players like Rohit, Rahul, Pant, Ashwin & Dinesh Karthik have to be dropped straight away. Rohit Sharma's poor form has been shielded by his captaincy. which means he must be removed as the captain with immediate effect. India needs a strong, lateral thinking and a high performance coach instead of a lackluster Rahul Dravid, whose services as a player & as NCA head is commendable. But he has failed as a head coach looking at the way India bit the dust both in Asia Cup & the T20 WC. 

For all their artificially built up glory & fame, Indian players at the end of T20 WC campaign, appeared like the cats painted with the stripes of Tigers!

V Gopalakrishnan

Rishi Sunak’s insurmountable challenges

Indians across the World erupted in joy when Rishi Sunak, an ethnic Indian, born and raised in the UK became the country's first ethnic Prime Minister. The irony was not lost when an Indian origin person became the leader of the country's former colonial masters since the Independence. Rishi has fought his way hard to reach 10, Downing street. 

Having comprehensively lost to Liz Truss in the leadership race to succeed Boris Johnson, the quickly unfolding political drama handed over the crown to Rishi in dramatic circumstances. Ms Liz Truss's costly economic blunders, too quick and too uninspiring, landed her in soup, eventually losing the chair to her former challenger. Having won the chair after a battle which he started first by triggering the sudden and swift collapse of Boris Johnson's government, the challenges Rishi is facing are certainly insurmountable.

UK is still reeling under the Brexit fiasco with calls still emerging as recent as today for a better 're-negotiation'. it's worthwhile to note the comments of Guy Hands, a British billionaire & a Tory supporter calling for stiff re-negotiation failing which the UK could become the sick man of Europe. Rishi's challenges on Brexit are head on with various sections of British society blaming the past PMs for goofing up the Brexit issue & pushing the country into a perilous economic conditions. 

Needless to say, the UK's economy is in turmoil given the twin blows it faced through Covid lockdowns and the Russian-Ukraine war, which is adding enormous amounts of pressure on economic growth & inflation management. Rishi Sunak's quick ascension to the top, post Truss's exit is solely on the hopes of better economic management, having been a fairly successful Chancellor of Exchequer during the Covid pandemic times. Even the renewed efforts of Boris Johnson to reclaim the PM's chair ended up in futile with the winds blowing clearly in favour of Rishi Sunak.

On the economic front, Rishi's triangular challenges are to tame the burgeoning deficit, controlling runaway inflation and bringing back economic growth. And all the three are easier said than done in the current turmoil marked by economic and political uncertainty in the UK. And he has already stated that the people of Britain should be bracing for some tough economic measures in the coming weeks. 

Politically, Rishi will also be facing some tough times on managing the Tory seniors including the former PM Boris Johnson, who is still nursing a valid grudge against Rishi Sunak as he was solely instrumental in pushing Boris Johnson into brink with this unexpected resignation as Chancellor. Rishi's earlier loss to Liz Truss clearly indicated his non-preference among the rank and file of Tory party, which means he has to work really hard to convince them about the rightness of his choice by his party MPs. 

Needless to say, the International scenario is as bleak as the domestic scenario for the incoming PM, Rishi Sunak. Rishi's leadership will be put to test on Brexit re-negotiation and with the other International agencies like the IMF, if at all the UK plans to seek financial aid from them. With the war between Russia & Ukraine headed as a prolonged affair, the emergency economic challenges like inflation will be on top of his 'to-do' list. 

What could India expect from Rishi Sunak? - Just that he has an Indian ethnicity & married to an Indian billionaire's daughter, everything would be new for him as well as for the Indian establishment as his exchanges with India have been far and few all these years. Having said that, Indian leadership had a cherished working partnership with Boris Johnson, which they would hope to cultivate during Rishi's tenure as the UK's PM.

Rishi's elevation to 10 Downing street has come at a very crucial time for the UK, both domestically and Internationally. Only a political stability can lead to the UK’s economic recovery and the fast sliding global prestige. And to simply put, Rishi Sunak has been presented a crown of thorns on his head.

V Gopalakrishnan

A hoax called Global Hunger Index

GHI or Global Hunger Index, an annual report supposedly measuring global hunger, in its recent report has ranked India at #107 out of 121 countries which were considered in the study. Fortunately, for India, GHI did not rank India at #121 in the list and we should extremely be thankful for it. 

Huge uproar has been created around this report which never measures the actual 'hunger' because of its flawed hunger measurement methodologies. For starters, the report would appear as though Indians are the most unfortunate lot in the World to suffer from hunger and that is far far from the reality. The issue becomes complicated when everyone jumps into gyan based on forwards of unverified & untrue information on the headlines.

Let's look at why GHI is a flawed methodology & needs to be rejected outright -

GHI involves no metrics to calculate actual hunger - To measure hunger, one should count the number of persons who are actually hungry against a benchmark number to define hunger. For eg., if we have a benchmark that says if someone has to eat a minimum of 500 grams of food a day to stay un-hungry but has actually eaten less than the minimum number of grams of food on a given day, then it could be termed as hunger. But no such metrics are taken into GHI ranking. In fact, GHI never measures the real hunger. In simple words, the actual number of people who go hungry with no food or with little food is not measured in this report. How can a hunger index ignore the actual hunger indicator in this study?

Hunger metrics measured by four illogical & irrelevant (at least to India) factors - Undernourishment, stunting, wasting and child mortality < 5 years are the factors taken into account for GHI. So, the entire report is measured largely around the kids with no meaningful and logical focus on the adults who may be exposed to actual hunger. Undernourishment is no metric to measure hunger, as food habits & diet is entirely different from place to place. & country to country. A tummy can be full with or without desired nutrition & that no way measures hunger count & cannot be taken for indicating hunger. 

Even the other factors like stunting and wasting make little sense to India as stunting and wasting depends from country to country and cannot be taken as universal indicators to measure hunger. Stunting is not only due to malnutrition but also to do with genetic & hereditary factors. To make this study a ridiculous one, child mortality has been added as a factor of hunger. Data in India clearly suggests hunger is not at all a factor in child mortality, but contributed by various other health factors. The report, in its essence, paints a gloomy picture about the hunger situation in India. For the lay readers, one would find this report extremely painful & distressful on hunger in India unless they care to go through the study methodology. And on the contrary, India runs one of the most widely acknowledged and well oiled food distribution programs through PDS, which still remains unparalleled in the World when compared to countries like China which offers no specific data on this.

Food grains are distributed at a free of cost to the crores of BPL families across the length and breadth of the country on a regular basis. Such food distribution programs in India are supported by robust food grain output on which India can proudly claim self sufficiency. India has moved away the ages of food shortages & hunger due its consistent efforts on food grain self sufficiency. India, in fact, has become a benevolent nation supporting countries fighting hunger with its surplus food grains. 

Moreover, India's vibrant economic growth, over the years, has ensured people from extreme poverty are uplifted to better living conditions, including absence of hunger from their lives. And even during the times of Covid pandemic, food grains were distributed to BPL families across the country to ensure hunger is eradicated from their lives.

Though the aim of GHI seems to be creating awareness on hunger, the report is filled with questionable methodology and makes no sense for the Indian conditions. India, by all parameters, has moved out of extreme hunger. And the rightful place for this report is the trash bin.

V Gopalakrishnan

The ‘organic’ disaster of Sri Lanka

Organic farming has been the buzz word over the last few years, with the environmentalists actively pitching for chemical-free, fertilizer-free organic farming using natural inputs for cultivation of crops. And sections of the population have been attempting organic farming on those prescribed lines. Then came the disaster in Sri Lanka, which is now in the threshold of witnessing extreme hunger due to food shortages across categories. India is exporting rice to Sri Lanka as a humanitarian gesture. Sri Lanka's botched attempts of switching entirely into organic farming almost overnight spelled doom for the country's agro sector, which has since then tail-spinned into a humanitarian crisis never witnessed in the recent years. Truly, the food crisis in Sri Lanka is man made, without doubt.

So, what went terribly wrong in Sri Lanka which is now staring at an unprecedented hunger at these times dominated by technological innovations? To begin with, Sri Lanka is a country which is dependent heavily on many essential items, including fertilizers which were the mainstay for the country's agro sector. So far, the country has been self-sufficient on food since the 1960s when the country migrated fully into chemical & conventional fertilizer usage. Over the last few years, struck by a pandemic, Sri Lanka decided to cut back some of the imports to save precious forex reserves and chemical fertilizers were one of the items in the list. 

Coinciding with the election promise of moving over to organic farming, the country's administration made a blanket ban on the imports of chemical fertilizers which led to disastrous consequences by triggering massive food shortages across various categories. Food output fell drastically owing to the ban of fertilizers and the entire agriculture sector ran for cover after the ban of chemical fertilizers. 

Tea sector, which is one the major export items too, went on a downhill after the fertilizer ban. Most of the stakeholders in the agricultural sector rued the fact that the migration into organic mode from conventional farm practices happened almost overnight without any foresight and planning. Most agriculturists had no idea about organic farming and the government failed to hand hold them on the transition. With the 'no fertilizer' policy firmly being imposed on the agricultural sector, the output nosedived leading to massive food shortages and consequent price rises due to food shortages. And that actually forced the country to import rice and other essential food items on a war footing which accelerated the economic downfall.

Lessons from the Sri Lankan 'organic model'

Don't rush into anything new, particularly on the food side, is the key takeaway from the Sri Lankan food crisis led by organic farming catastrophe. Organic farming is excellent on paper - chemicals free fertilizers, natural manures, healthy and organic food. But the model needs to be tested for mass production in countries like India which has to feed 140 Crore plus population. India went through a food crisis till the 1960s forcing rationing of rice and other food items. The green revolution unleashed in the 1960s reversed the trends by making India not only self-sufficient but also becoming an exporter of food grains. 

And till now, despite several climate led crises, India continues to be in a healthy state as far as food security is concerned. Sri Lankan failed model of organic farming is an eye opener for countries like India, which cannot afford to have a food security crisis by hastily forcing into organic farming without proper investigations through various scientific models. Detailed studies are required to migrate albeit slowly and steadily into organic farming, failing which India too may face a food crisis much bigger and humongous when compared to Sri Lanka which has far lower number of people. 

One has no doubts about the virtues of organic farming, at the same time one cannot be short sighted on the production of food grains required to feed crores of people in countries like India. Transition into organic farming needs far more deeper studies and that is the key lesson from the Sri Lankan disaster.

V Gopalakrishnan

A hoax called climate change

The World, like never before, is discussing, debating and deliberating Climate change at every possible global forum. Global leaders have pledged and are continuing to pledge their efforts towards a better World with a promise of a pristine climate in the coming years. Activists like Greta Thunberg have been turning climate change into global topics, so as many 'kids' who are passionately talking about climate change. There have been growing rallies calling out action to tackle climate change. Indeed, climate change has become a fashion statement among the wider section of the society including celebrities and who's who of the World so much so that every celebrity tweets or shares posts about climate change and advisory for the common man to preserve the climate. 

And, come Diwali, many celebrities become sudden activists by talking about green Diwali and offer tips about preserving the atmosphere free of pollution. And needless to say, they are the ones who run multiple air conditioners in their homes 24*7 and park dozens of luxury cars in their garages for their daily commute. Of course, many of them too are smokers in their lives too. 

Is the World in dire straits on climate? Before answering the question, we need to look back. Prior to the 20th Century, many countries across the World including India have had bouts of natural disasters like famine, drought, floods ravaging nations at various points of time. India has undergone several recorded natural disasters which have taken away lives of the lacs of people.  And those were the days when the climate was in perfect shape with very little scope for contamination and carbon footprints. But despite having pristine climatic conditions, we have had a number of instances involving natural disasters killing lacs of people across the World. 

How could someone explain those disasters when the climate wasn't affected or polluted when compared with the modern times. That said, global industrialization in the 20th Century, particularly in the West, played a pivotal role in the so-called "climate change". High pollution causing factories and industries sprang up all over the World in the 20th Century. The charge that the developing nations (read India) pollute the World more than the others is a cock and bull story. India's per capita carbon emission is way below the Western World by miles.

Countries like India need rapid industrialization and it is at the efforts of the clandestine global & domestic NGOs to block the process in the name of climate change. Billions of dollars are thriving in the climate change activism which targets countries like India which are on the cusp of roaring economic growth riding on high levels of industrialization. 

Yes, we need a responsible industrialization process which also should give scope for afforestation and green initiatives. But holding back industrial projects in the name of climate change will take us back to the stone age of widespread hunger and poverty. India cannot afford to halt the economic progress by buckling under the pressure from the activist groups and the lobbying by western nations. Remember, India needs to feed 1.4 billion and counting. India needs to balance out the growth and climate change in a careful manner. It is impossible to recklessly shut down industries and factories on the pretext of climate change.

Where do we start the climate change initiatives? 

The climate change war should start from the Western kitchens which consume tons and tons of unearthly food like beef, the most notorious food which is creating widespread carbon footprint in the World. In fact, the studies point out that the beef consumption is unleashing tons of carbon footprints much higher than the vehicle emissions. Climate change war should also start from homes and offices, particularly the rich & elite who run their homes with 24*7 electricity & air conditioning and pollute the roads with multiple cars for each member of their families being hoarded in their garages. 

Countries like India should strengthen the public commuting system which can address the woes of pollution and climate change. Indians need to give up the status symbolisms associated with ownership of cars and high power guzzling homes. Habits like smoking should be given altogether. 

Our kids, instead of being taught to be an agitating 'climate change activist' should be developed as a real activist planting saplings and doing their bit to improve their surroundings. They must be guided to use earth friendly things and objects. They must be taught to handle the mother Earth with compassion and give back to it in every possible manner. 

And to all the 'go green Diwali' activists - the next time you preach on climate change and pollution, remember to sell off your cars to buy bicycles, switch off your lights and use earthen lamps, turn off your centralized ACs and use wooden hand fans. People may then listen to your words!

V Gopalakrishnan

Monk like leadership of MS Dhoni

Leadership, as many falsely perceive, is not about individual brilliance alone, but being a leader of a pack to collectively win something. Be it in business or war or sports. The collective leadership is more relevant in sports like Cricket which involves mobilizing the forces in the shortest possible time towards winning a game or a cup. That is what Dhoni led CSK did in the recently concluded IPL by winning with the collective leadership. MS Dhoni must be credited for being an ideal leader to command his army of players and using them very effectively against some of the best teams in the IPL.

What makes him a special leader in the modern era of Cricket?

MSD has those monk-like leadership skills which some of his peers like Virat Kohli and others do not have. And that is the reason he has been a very successful captain despite not having the best stats like some of his peers in the business.

Being calm and composed: MSD's calmness even in the most adverse conditions make him stand apart from most of the current crop of the leaders in the game. Not everyone is blessed with that unique quality which makes him work like a Monk on the field. We can see that quite often and even in the present edition, he displayed an enormous amount of calmness when situations were adverse and hostile to CSK's campaign.

Ego-less approach: Great and revered leaders shun ego from their dictionary. And that is a hallmark of monk-like leadership. When ego is shunned, the leader becomes more inclusive and gives more credit to his/her team than to self. MSD is someone who displays no ego at all, on and off the field. Someone who is known to be a team player sans ego is a great quality of MSD and that has made him a great leader admired by one and all.

Focus game by game: Focusing one game at a time is another unique feature of his leadership. When we climb a hill, we need to focus on each step rather than looking at the steps beyond us. Treating each game on its merit and importance is a key success to MSD's monk-like leadership.

Never let the past hurt your thoughts: This is an important ingredient for a successful leadership cutting across sports or business. Most leaders are bogged down by the past events and that effectively put a block on the future as well. MSD led CSK made a hasty and disastrous exit in the last edition of IPL and that did not deter MSD from winning this year's edition. He never let his past hurt on this year's outcomes.

Use the resources optimally and effectively: With the limited and available resources, a leader needs to get the maximum results. That is what MSD did during this edition. When some of the players did not perform as per the expectations, he utilized the available resources to best possible means. A great leader must use his or her resources very effectively in any given condition.

Not letting wins and losses enter the head: A true leader will always know wins and losses are part of life and they must never enter into the heads. And such thoughts entering into one's head will impact the game either positively or negatively. MSD never lets the wins and losses enter his head and that is a critical reason for this spectacular turnaround this year after a dismal last year.

Be humble: Humility is a virtue in the modern times and a rare commodity in the World dominated by arrogance and high handedness. MSD's leadership is defined by his level headed attitude and staying grounded despite laurels and successes. A true leader will never act in an arrogant manner but will remain humble and to the ground whatever be the situation.

MSD's remarkable leadership has out shined his individual brilliance and leadership is all about team and not about self. Some of the greatest individual players in the modern era have turned out to be damp squib captains since they lacked collective leadership. MSD's monk-like leadership will stay in the game as a leadership case study for long for the students of the game to imbibe. In fact MSD’s leadership could be a case study for many of the corporate leaders as well.

V Gopalakrishnan

China is the new global terrorist nation

China is on a mad rampage to conquer and control the World. First, it unleashed the deadly Covid-19 into the World and steadfastly refused to allow any meaningful investigation into the origins in Wuhan. Secondly, Its military misadventures are rampant across its neighborhood, mainly with India which China sees as a potential threat to its global supremacy. Thirdly, the aggression displayed on Taiwan which the Chinese leadership ostensibly considers as its rightful territory to be annexed at some point in time. Fourthly, its economic colonialization project called Belt & Road initiative which has already pushed many impoverished nations into a huge debt trap and might take years to repay or forgo their national assets and resources in exchange of debt. 

With the latest deadly debacle by Joe Biden led US administration on the botched up Afghanistan exit, China seems to have the World wide open for its nefarious designs to export its brand of terrorism. Welcome to the new brand of terrorism by China, of course without firing a single bullet but with money and power. China is on a mission to put the World on the mat with whatever possible means and ways at its disposal. There are many factors contributing to the dangerous Chinese ambitions which can potentially dwarf the threats by the erstwhile USSR and few other rogue nations. China has been nursing a secret ambition to dominate the World and has been drafted as a key state policy by the successive Chinese Presidents, for which, China has been expanding its trade and economy in a carefully planned manner over the decades. 

With the global trade dependency on China is now complete, the Chinese leadership feels given the super size of its economy and its dependency at the highest levels, this is the right time to make its pounce on the World. That, many of the nations, including the US is reeling under the impact of the deadly Covid-19 has given ammo for the Chinese to take a hyper aggressive stand. Chinese President Xi Jinping has crowned himself as the tallest leader by amending the two term Presidency norm and is now set to rule till his lifetime. Post Covid-19, internal dissent is on the rise against Xi Jinping which has made him turn aggressive abroad to muster domestic support for his macho nationalism. The rapidly changing geo-political scenario is helping his aims and goals to rule the World by direct or by proxy. 

For instance, the World doesn't seem to be not in unison demanding a thorough investigation into the origins of Covid-19. The change of US presidency at this critical juncture has reshaped the global power matrix favouring China in a big way. Joe Biden's weak leadership and his botched up handling of the Afghanistan issue has given ample space for China to rapidly fill up the vacuum and increase its clout in the region. The recent toned down speeches of Joe Biden on China has presented an impression of being weak on taking on the Dragon challenge in the current scenario. The West also seem to be divided on handling China with some nations favouring a conciliatory approach towards China and some opposing China. 

With the divided World and a weak leadership of the US, the ground is wide open for the Chinese expansionary threats in the coming years. And in the changing times the global terrorism may not be shaped by the guns and the bombs but by the economic, trade and bio weapons of China which will be new terror weapons and they can potentially destablize the World in a big way in the coming years. 

V Gopalakrishnan

Can Tata group make Air India fly high?!

History was made when Tata group acquired the ailing Air India, which is a homecoming for the carrier after several decades. The euphoria around the acquisition is high and would be naturally so given the emotional attachment of the Tata group towards the carrier. But once the dust settles down, Tata group will have a humongous task of reviving the bloated and undisciplined airline which had a perfect recipe for its disaster. Bureaucratic mismanagement, unviable financials, huge and an expensive workforce, out of sync customer service are some of the ills plaguing the carrier. 

Being a prized PSU, none of the predecessors to the present government dared to privatize it with any seriousness. In fact, the privatization efforts were mocked at regular intervals. Now that the prized airline has fallen on the lap of Tata group, it is a million dollar question about the sustenance of the airline given the outnumbering amount of mismanagement issues. 

Airline is a tough business, World over. Given the very dynamic and volatile nature of the airline business, it is generally perceived to be tough as many external factors like crude prices and global economic outlook have a very very strong bearing on the sector's fortunes. Many global airline companies have consistently struggled to make money from the business given the threatening external environment and the price sensitive nature of the business. Passengers always want the best of service at the lowest possible prices in air travel. That has led to intense competition among the airline companies on offering the lowest prices with cutting edge services. 

Volatile global crude prices always give sleepless nights to the airline management and leave them on the edges of their seats. In the not so distant past, fluctuating crude prices have left the airlines reeling under extreme financial stress leading to shut down of several airline companies across the World. The current scenario is no different by any means, even as we witness a steady rise in crude prices. Added to it, the pandemic has left a huge hole on the pockets of the airline companies which are struggling to normalize their business operations given the huge restrictions the industry is facing, both on governmental travel restrictions as well as travel hesitancy as more and more people are adapting to video calls and other means of connect. The industry will probably limp back to normalcy but no one knows when as the raging pandemic still keeps the airlines on their tenterhooks.

Given such a challenging scenario, Tata group has a huge task at hand on resolving the internal and external challenges. Foremost challenge is to set right the work culture at Air India which has so far used to enjoy the perks and advantages of being a star PSU. People at the airline are accustomed to being unaccountable on any of the work parameters followed in an airline business. Right from the inflight services to financial matters, the airline has had no sense of accountability whatsoever and that is the precise reason for the airline to turn sick and remain sick for a prolonged period. 

Tata group needs to urgently address this flaw and make necessary changes to make Air India more customer and business centric. Though the existing jobs at the airline are guaranteed for some time, it would be imperative for the Tata group to realize it cannot move forward with this ageing and out of sync work force and methods. The group can do lots of management level and process changes which are well within the control of the group. The external environment for an airline is largely dynamic as crude prices and pandemic situation are not in anyone's control. But the external threats can be managed effectively only if the internal management and working becomes more agile and adaptive to changing scenarios. Sooner Tata group realizes this, better it will be for the company as the cost of acquisition and expectations have soared high. Once the emotions and celebrations settle down, the task of reviving Air India will be one of the toughest business challenges in the modern times!

V Gopalakrishnan

Religious conversions - Midas touch of the missionaries

If one travels down south in Tamil Nadu, particularly to the coastal places stretching from Tuticorin till Kanyakumari and to some extent uptil Trivandrum, you can bump into people having surnames with D'Cruz, Fernandez, Fernando, Rodriguez and so on and so forth. These Portuguese sounding names are not peculiar along the coastal Tamilnadu which witnessed a wave of conversions over the last several centuries. To understand the genesis of these coastal conversions, one has to go back to the 16th Century. Tuticorin and adjoining coastal villages were dominated by Hindu seafaring community called "Paravars" which derived from the word Bharathar. The group is mainly into seafaring and other Oceanic activities like Pearl harvesting, salt mining and fishing. 

They were considered to be the associates of Pandiya Kingdom which ruled from Madurai with Fish as its Royal emblem. Paravars, being seafarers naturally, were part of Pandiya Kingdom though not much is known about their antecedents and the exact role they played in the Pandya Kingdom. But the community with the help of Pandiya Kingdom controlled the coastal trade involving the Ocean. Tuticorin, being a pearl harvesting centre known for its finest pearls around the World, attracted the foreign traders, mainly the Europeans and the Arabs who frequently visited and later on invaded to take control of this Ocean rich area. 

It started with the Arabian traders who started frequenting Tuticorin coastal belt and with the help of Calicut's Zamorin, they started taking control of the area and its population which largely consisted of the paravars. Disturbed by the sudden invasions and enslavement under the sea traders, Paravars sought the help of the Portuguese who ruled the roost on the eastern coast of India, starting from Goa till the Malabar coast. Upon meeting the Portuguese representatives, paravars were assured of protection from the attacks of the Muslim traders. The prospect of a new area of control also interested the Portuguese in offering protection to the paravars. But the conditions did apply. Portuguese clergy wanted the paravars to embrace Catholicism and it was instantly accepted by its group head Vikrama Aditya Pandya who got baptised as Joao de Cruz, following which his clan got baptized in large numbers under the advice of Portuguese.

The visit by Francis Xavier, the head of Portuguese clergy in India and the person behind Goan inquisition, ensured the entire community of Paravars embraced Catholicism in and around the coastal Tamilnadu, Srilanka and some parts of Kerala. Some of the paravars also embraced Islam and can be identified by the surnames of Marakkayars, who were also seafarers. But the vast majority embraced catholicism under the pressure of Portuguese in exchange of protection to their lives and livelihoods. 

It's another matter that these paravars converted for the sake of protection and were not aware about the nuances of the new faith and probably they continued with their age old practices and rituals even after their conversions. Over the Centuries, subsequent invasions and occupations of the other Europeans ensured they remained catholics though their identity was more Portuguese and less British & French and the Dutch. Time for these ancient seafarers for a warm ghar wapsi!.... 

With Tata in arms, government says bye bye to Air India

It's official. In a move which brings in huge relief, GOI has handed over the ailing and struggling Air India to Tata group based on the financial bids it received from the prospective bidders. And with this move, the life of Tatas and Air India has come to a full circle, first by being taken over by the government from Tatas in the early 50s and now with the government returning it to the group, albeit in a bad shape. 

With the offloading of Air India, the last citadel of the PSU ecosystem seems to have been clearly breached and it is a commendable & a bold decision on the part of GOI for having relentlessly pursued the disinvestment of Air India despite the multiple roadblocks it faced due to the poor health of the national carrier. Despite all those pessimism floating around on Air India disinvestment, offloading the airline will be a monumental decision by the government. Running an airline involves sharp minds and clever execution, both of which were missing in Air India all these years.

Like most PSUs, Air India too appeared complex, corrupt, loss making, bloated, inefficient, lackluster, money gulping, wasteful, bureaucratic, out of sync and what not. Air India, over the years, had become a huge and mammoth enterprise laden with all sorts of burden, mostly financial and operational burden for the government. The national carrier symbolized the towering inefficiencies created by such state owned enterprises which were launched during the Nehruvian days of socialism. 

Air India, on its part, has been consuming hundreds of crores each day drawn from the taxpayers money for its very existence, which in the current times and considering the future, is highly ludicrous. People who have been running the airline, right from the simple ground staff till the suave bureaucrats in the Ministry of Civil Aviation have been living off like "Maharajahs" & "Maharanis" with the airline at their disposal for almost anything and everything. Free tickets, free accommodation, unlimited perks and incentives for the people at Air India sucked out the blood from the company's finances to the point of no return. Corruption and mismanagement ruled the roost in the erstwhile PSU set up, with almost every politician attached to the Ministry treating it like his/her personal fiefdom. 

There were cases in the past when politicians traded Air India to extract financial gains from the private airlines in terms of route allocation and permits.  Aircraft procurement and fleet expansion too had their huge share of corruption. National carrier was systematically weakened to allow the private airlines to thrive. In a true sense, Air India was destroyed by the political and bureaucratic establishment in a systematic manner to find itself reeling in such a pathetic condition. Time and again, Air India proved and demonstrated the fact that the governments can be highly inefficient and woefully ineffective when it comes to running businesses given the multiple constraints and challenges it is facing on several other fronts. 

More so with the host of factors mounted against the aviation sector particularly post Covid-19, it is next to impossible for the airline to get back to some decent shape in the near future. Airline business needs astute leadership and business acumen at least to survive and they were found hugely wanting in the PSU set up. If somebody says the government needs to run an airline with a service motive, it would be nothing short of bullshit. When the government has its priorities marked on other service areas like health care and infrastructure, the airline is the last place to be in for draining its precious financial resources.

Remember, many of the most efficiently run private airlines have either folded up or are struggling to be in business due to hostile external and internal environments. Airline experts would know how difficult it is to profitably run an airline business given the fact that most airlines are staffed by the best in the business.  Air India, in the current scenario marred by Covid-19, can never be expected to recover its financial losses in the foreseeable future. With Air India, mostly run by the bureaucrats in the past, failed to justify its existence by being on the lap of the government. Hope Maharajah becomes one in the truest possible sense under the leadership of Tata group!

V Gopalakrishnan

Moody’s thumbs up to India

"Moody's at times gets moody" was a famous & a cryptic quote decades back by an Indian bureaucrat who handled the economy. The frustration stemmed from the fact that Moody's abruptly downgraded India's sovereign rating a few decades ago much to the chagrin of the Indian policy makers then . This partially explains the highhandedness of the global rating agencies methodology of rating nations sovereignty. The whims and fancies of the rating agencies came to the fore during the global financial crisis, when the crisis emanated from the rating debacle in the US.

Nevertheless, for the starters, Moody's has just upgraded India rating from negative to stable giving a leg up for the country's economic outlook, which is even otherwise looking extremely promising leaving aside rating agencies' outlook. In a broader framework, rating upgrades by global rating agencies do give a lot of positive push for the Indian growth story.  In the post pandemic economic era, Indian economic outlook remains extremely robust when compared with the comparable nations around the world. Having said that, India's hunger for capital to be deployed into various nation building projects, gets a huge boost with this rating upgrade. 

Availability and cost of capital from the global markets could become more vibrant in the coming days and months. That said, FDI flows into the country will also accelerate in a big way due to this rating upgrade. Overall, India is in a sweet spot for a spectacular economic recovery post pandemic, given the fact that the country has managed and handled the vaccination process quite efficiently than any other nation in the World. On on hand, we have seen countries with fraction of Indian population messing up with the vaccination process, India has diligently handled the process in a seamless manner.

With the vaccination process getting a quicker acceleration, India can hope to vaccinate most adults by the turn of this year, more or less. That would give a fillip to the country's economic recovery, which is on the cusp of stepping into a double digit economic growth with an ambitious aim of hitting $5 Trillion economic size. Yes, Moody's gets moody at times. These things can pack into a perfect economic recipe in the longer run!

V Gopalakrishnan

How will the bruised US deal India?!

PM Modi's visit to the US is happening at a spectacular time when India is staring at quadrangular challenges at this juncture. Biden's blunderous Afghanistan withdrawal coupled with his apparent aloofness towards the regional security framework, Chinese aggression across the South Asian region, Pakistan's ever threatening nefarious designs and a chaotic Afghanistan post Taliban takeover pose serious quadrangular challenges to Indian security establishment. In fact the peace of the entire region remains threatened owing to those quadrangular factors, largely triggered by the blunders of Biden administration. 

Topping them all is the manner in which the US and its administration rushed up the Afghanistan withdrawal which has created a huge and an evolving security nightmare, not just for India, but for the whole World. Terrorism once again is expected to get deep rooted in Afghanistan as the Taliban takeover is complete with taking over of the troubled nation. The whole nation has passed on to the UN designated terrorists who are at the helm of affairs. Without doubt, Taliban's rule will be a definite proxy of Pakistan and China in a number of ways. Pakistan is interested in proxy ruling the country, while China is interested in using Afghanistan for its BRI expansion and other trade interests like the minerals. 

No doubt, the US's unplanned and a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan without having an iota of thought about the after effects, has eroded much of its global credibility to fight terror as in the past. "Over the horizon" plan of Biden to fight terrorism across Pakistan & Afghanistan may not be easy at this juncture as the war weary US administration may find it too shy once again to venture into the most volcanic region in the World. Any faltering on the US side in the fight on terror will be even more disastrous for the US as well as the World. 

AUKUS pact which binds Australia, the US and the UK on defence cooperation has left out India, Japan and few other key European partners. The signals are ominous from the White House. Biden and his team are clueless on handling the post Afghanistan phase of geopolitics. Biden’s consistent fall in approval ratings suggest even the Americans are largely worried about the slide in the US’s global hold. The World seems to have fallen apart when it is supposed to come together under one umbrella to fight global terror and Chinese threats. 

The US under Biden, instead of forging a global unity seems to have floundered at every possible step right after the botched Afghanistan surrender. His peace sermons at the UN sent several doves across the spectrum, but the ignominious defeat in Afghanistan has punctured the ego of the US's might. India and PM Modi, at best, can only hope that some kind of sanity comes back to White House after all the avoidable mess the World witnessed in August. The US is possibly at its lowest ebb in many decades since the Cold War era after the debacle it witnessed in Afghanistan. 

The Biden Administration needs to understand that the US needs India as much as India needs the US on various fronts, most importantly when the US is preparing to launch "Over the horizon" to manage the implosion in Afghanistan. With the US scrambling to douse the Covid-19 fire, India's support on vaccines is most needed for the US. The US too needs India's support to de-link the US dependence on China on trade & industry. 

The priorities for the US are very clear to know who the real partner should be for its fight against terror and to forge trade partnership. But the real question is - after all its bungle ups in the recent months, will the US administration under Joe Biden ever realize its priorities given the serious missteps on foreign policy it has been taking since taking office? Only time will answer that question.

V Gopalakrishnan

Afghanistan turmoil - It's advantage China at the cost of the US

The manner in which the Taliban stormed Kabul and the entire take over of Afghanistan has stunned the World, particularly the US, which has received bruises in its policy. The US administration led by Joe Biden's costly mistake of an abrupt withdrawal could take a huge toll in the geo-political sphere in the coming years, for sure. For the first time in many years, the US is clearly clearly on the backfoot in the eyes of the World and not without a reason. And for the very first time, China seems to be on the top of the World due to the foolish behaviour of the American administration in its hasty exit from Afghanistan. The worst part is, China never aimed to muddle into Afghanistan as long as the US was in control. The moment the US exited, came the Chinese.

China has been on the global prowl for some years now. Through its ambitious Belt & Road initiative, China is creating a global circle around itself. Many of the impoverished nations have become perennial debtors to China owing to the huge debts they have taken from China for various infrastructure projects. Pakistan, for instance, is on the verge of bankruptcy and is heavily dependent on China. And that gives China a huge leeway in taking charge of the country's critical assets including the precious border areas along India under the garb of infrastructure. Afghanistan in the current shape will be hungry for money and investments if at all Taliban wants to rebuild the economy. No one other country other than China would want to hand over money to a rogue regime like that of the Taliban. 

The US's hasty exit from Afghanistan has left the room wide open for China to get in and dictate its terms. The quick endorsement and acknowledgement by the Chinese on Taliban’s victory is a clear case pointing to its intentions. China, after all, is sitting on a huge treasury chest to dole out liberal funds to the Taliban even if it means the return of the money is uncertain. On the other hand, it’s a huge win win for China as it can lay claim to some of the virgin fields of metals and minerals deep inside Afghanistan which can fulfill the ever hungry Chinese on the rare minerals. On the strategic view point, China has gone one notch above the US by tactically getting into Afghanistan and possibly getting the Taliban to their side. For the first time, China is getting somewhat closer to the middle east by putting its stake behind the Taliban.

By bringing both Pakistan & Afghanistan into its fold by sheer money power, China would effectively build a dangerous ring around India. And that does not augur well for the Indian strategic interests. With the depleted reputation of the US, thanks to the foolishness displayed by Joe Biden, the US has lost the tag of being a reliable partner against China in any of its future endeavours, be it trade or strategic interests in Asia. The West has started grumbling about the pathetic exit the US carried out in Afghanistan without consulting its key allies. 

As the World is grappling for answers on the origins and the role of China on Covid-19, such a strategic victory can put China on top of the World with no country that could come forward and raise uncomfortable questions on its dubious role in the spread of Covid-19. The World, without doubt, is staring at a perilous Geo-political scenario and with the weakening of the West & the US, the future is going to be a lot of challenging while facing an aggressive China on many fronts, including Trade and strategic issues. China, in fact will get even more belligerent post the Afghanistan crisis and may simply never allow any meaningful study on the virus origins inside China. The crisis in the South East Asian waters and Taiwan crisis could worsen due to the significant punching the US received in Afghanistan crisis. 

The US administration led by Joe Biden has to do a lot of soul searching after the botched up disengagement in Afghanistan and even a slightest refusal for the course correction could erode the left over prestige of the US in the eyes of the World. It's time for the US & Joe Biden to change course and make quick amends for its blunders. Else the World should pressurize the US to change!

V Gopalakrishnan

The US has put the World on the mat

Twenty years seems too fast in Geo-politics. One can only feel so while seeing  the quick pace of political upheaval taking the centre stage in the war torn Afghanistan. World was just settling down after a prolonged absence of Taliban from the global terror map but all of it changed in a matter of few weeks and its back to square one. American withdrawal from Afghanistan has ended up in an unprecedented chaos with most of the global governments, including the key allies of the US resigning to the fact of Taliban being back at the saddle. The easy take over of Taliban speaks volumes about the failure of the US intelligence and the administration’s sleepy response to the unfolding scenario. 

Joe Biden possibly miscalculated and underestimated the might of Taliban and was in sort of a hurry to pull back the troops before September 11, the self declared deadline for the troop withdrawal. The World at large is shocked and staring at a prolonged battle against Taliban brand of terrorism and extremism. The emergence of Taliban from nowhere will have huge ramifications for the global peace in the years to come. Just when the World has got sick and tired battling Covid-19 and this has come as a political pandemic to deal with. 

The World has not forgotten and in fact recollecting the brutalities of Taliban 1.0, before which Taliban 2.0 has happened right in front of our eyes at a quick pace. The US and its newly elected President have a lot to answer to the global community and to its own people about the Taliban fiasco given the fact that till a few weeks back Biden was downplaying the threat of a Talibani takeover of Afghanistan. Biden went on to boast about a 3 lac World class army of Afghanistan. But they meekly surrendered to a militant army which had less than a lac in its ranks. 

Now that the Taliban 2.0 has happened and is a reality, the implications for the World and in particular for India are too large and dangerous to ignore. India now has to confront a resurgent terror network in Afpak. With the rogues encircling India on all directions, the future is going to get tough in our neighbourhood. Taliban is known for its brutal methods of governance while implementing its textbook governance bringing back medieval times in the modern era. Excesses committed by Taliban 1.0 on its citizens, particularly the Women, are still fresh in the minds of the people. 

Moe than anything else, with Taliban 2.0, Afghanistan is now all set to become a breeding ground of global terrorism actively engaged and nurtured by Pakistan and its partner, the neo global power, the China. China's rather swift acknowledgement of Taliban's victory is a clear indication of its geographic ambitions encircling India. It has also indirectly cheered the snub received by the US during the withdrawal process.The immediate middle eastern neighbours are concerned too with the possibility of radicalism spreading to its borders from Afghanistan. Europe too is grappling with fears of renewed terror threats which may emerge from the Afghan soil. 

The US administration is privately worried about the situation spiraling out of control in Afghanistan, with its administration struggling to safeguard its interests and personnel based over there. The snub and damage to the US reputation has come at an inappropriate time when the US is still struggling to douse the Covid fire in its land. The US seems to be appearing at its weakest position in the recent years, thanks to the myopic policy on Afghanistan executed by Joe Biden administration, worrying both the administration and its key allies. 

The Taliban fiasco by the US has indeed given China an upper hand given its super aggressive global power ambitions in recent times. With this fiasco, its one up for China against the US. On the whole, the World is right now searching for the answers just because one nation, the US and its President Joe Biden committed a monumental and historic blunder of pulling out unilaterally throwing the entire region into turmoil. And a weakened US does not augur well for the Geo-politics against the backdrop of an aggressive China which would push its global agenda even faster than ever before. It may take a long while for the US and Joe Biden to retrieve their lost reputation in the eyes of the global community. The buck stops at the White House for whatever blunders the administration committed in the last few weeks!

V Gopalakrishnan

Thirty years of liberalization and the elusive 10% GDP

India witnessed historic economic liberalization in July 1991 thus bringing to an end an era marked by anemic economic growth with high levels of red tapism. SInce the Independence till the late 80s India famously treaded the path of socialist economy through which the keys of growth lied with government and government run businesses. State owned Enterprises (SOEs) called the shots by making bread to heavy machinery in this country. Private sector was minimal and it grew in adverse business conditions during those decades marked by licence raj and notorious bureaucracy. Ease of business was a crude joke during those times which involved meeting scores of bureaucrats to keep things moving in the corridors of power.

No wonder, the socialist pattern of economy contributed to high levels of poverty aided by other social ills. Population too grew at a brisk pace contributing to adverse social and economic ills marked by high levels of unemployment and low per capita income. Thus said, government agencies and SOEs were the largest employers in the country with very little job creation outside the government sector. Thus the 1991 economic liberalization was not a choice before the then government led by Narasimha Rao, but was a forced  embrace of liberalization due to extremely adverse economic conditions which were ailing the economy back then. 

Forex reserves plunged to historic lows putting the country at a risk of sovereign default. Rupee’s free fall compounded the problems for the economy and the balance of payments. India was left with few weeks of forex reserves as against burgeoning imports. The gulf war in the 1990 accelerated the oil crisis which nearly consumed the Indian economy. Twin deficits, namely the Current Account and Fiscal deficits went through the roof due to ballooning fiscal crisis compounded by astronomical import bills. India had to pledge its gold reserves to seek some sort of bail out from the global agencies, mainly the IMF. 

A full blown economic crisis was staring at India for the first time since Independence. India always had the practice of reacting to crises and the 1991 economic crisis was one such forced opportunity to come out of the economic mess which was created by the political governance through faulty economic policies over the years. And it was ultimately left to the political establishment in 1991 to undo the economic mess. India opened its economic doors in a hurry to the World. Series of economic reforms were unleashed to open up the economy and make the business environment far easier than in the past. With a slow but a steady entry of private sector in many sectors which were otherwise dominated and occupied by the SOEs, started creating much needed jobs in the country giving rise to per capita income. Foreign companies restarted their entry into India giving the country a much needed economic face lift. Many sectors in the country, particularly the financial markets underwent radical changes by way of fresh reforms.

Have we done enough since then?

The answer is Yes and No. As a nation, we have progressed pretty much in the last three decades when we look at the various economic parameters, mainly the GDP which has grown by leaps and bounds. India’s total economic numbers have been phenomenal over the last three decades since the economic reforms. Prior to 1991, the country witnessed low single digit growth in GDP primarily due to faulty and myopic economic policy making. Once those anomalies were rectified India's growth was quite forceful compared to the past. 

Having said that, we as a country haven't consistently treaded the path of economic reforms, in a sense we haven't had continuity in economic reforms because of change of political helms at the Centre. Flip flop of going back and forth on the path of economy has cost us huge in terms of missed opportunities. For instance, GST, the much talked about indirect tax regime, must have been introduced during the first wave of economic reforms in the 90s. But we could do that only a few years back, leading to huge and painful adjustments in the economic processes. Like wise many reforms ought to have introduced during the first wave of economic reforms when the economy required minimal economic adjustments against the reforms. 

10% GDP target

Country badly needs to cross over to 10% GDP growth which has so far been an uncharted territory. Comparatively many peer group nations like China has raced past India on economic growth parameters because of their consistency on economic reforms process. Remember, India and China were almost on similar growth trajectory with almost identical economic indicators till the late 80s but since then China has zoomed past India on various economic parameters. India has a lot to catch up with nations like China. 

Yet, our strong economic platform coupled with positive demographic trends offer us immense opportunities to take us to a 10% GDP growth economy in the near future. We need to treat the economy and economic reforms with the same seriousness of the 90s failing which complacency can cost us the much needed 10% GDP economic growth. For the economy, we need to follow the thumb rule of Day 1 method on treating economy and reforms. Every day has to be a day of a reform towards the elusive 10% economic growth. Am sure the goal of 10% GDP is not very far away from achieving. 

V Gopalakrishnan

Founder & CEO, Money Avenues.

Tyranny celebrates Centenary

The tyranny called Communist party of China celebrates Centenary. Xi Jinping, Chinese President and the general secretary of Communist Party of China or CPC, thundered about the greatness of the CPC in his speech marking the Centenary celebrations of CPC. He lauded the role of the CPC and its role in making China a global superpower. CPC, known for its outright brutalities and stampeding even the basic rights of people, has reached its Centenary. And the World has no reason to celebrate and in fact has more reasons to be extremely worried about CPC's very existence as it threats the whole World through its evil and nefarious designs. 

While the Chinese government and its people take pride in celebrating the centenary of a disastrous and forgettable history, for the World at large, it remains to be a dangerous demon for the entire humanity, without any doubt. Chinese communism through Covid-19 has so far killed close to 4 million human beings. And it's still counting. Formed hundred years back by one of the most dreaded tyrants masquerading as a revolutionary, Mao Zedong or Mao Tse Tung or just the Chairman unleashed untold brutalities killing millions of Chinese over the last 70 years or so. And all in the name of revolution. CPC has the blood in its hands right from its journey to power in 1949 till today. In its long existence of power in China, through various names and methods, the party has taken the lives of its own citizens in millions, the bloodiest being the Cultural revolution which sealed the supremacy of Mao. CPC did face public wrath and anger. Crushing of democratic values and the rights of the citizens led to a massive uprising by the students, culminating with the blood shed in Tienanmen Square which witnessed the killing of several thousands of students by its own Army.  The latest round of excesses include trampling of democracy in Hong Kong, a territory ceded by British to China ending the colonial rule. Uighur Muslims in the restive Xinjiang province have been subject to ethnic cleansing by the Chinese government led by CPC. Its neighbours across Asia, including India have been subject to frequent invasions in its pursuit of territorial expansion by the CPC. Tibet remains a province which has been forcefully occupied without its mandate. Taiwan, a province claimed by China as its part, is still facing the risks of an invasion. It's frequent run-ins with the neighbours on account of boundary violations have made more enemies in the recent past. 

China, in its aim of creating a global Chinese colony as part of its global ambitions, has been pursuing huge economic projects like BRI which involves development of huge infrastructure projects in the BRI corridor. Many nations, particularly the poorer ones of Africa have been saddled with huge debts provided by China to further its expansion ambitions. China with its huge cash reserves, has been funding poorer nations in return for handsome projects which bear the Chinese stamp in those nations. All roads seem to be leading a global Chinese colony in the near future.

Prosperity of China, which is now being touted by its rulers as a gift of communism, is nothing but farce and frivolous. Communism has unleashed deaths and devastation wherever it was in power. CPC under Deng Xiaoping, witnessed the fall of communist USSR & East Germany, leading to a cascading effect of regime falls in the Eastern Europe which saw the overthrow of several communist regimes. Communist regimes failed miserably on economic growth, leading to economic disasters, hyperinflation, poverty, hunger, devastation and deaths. Added to them, is the denial of basic and fundamental rights to its citizens.  

After all, the communist regimes across the World reduced all the communist nations to absolute dictatorship reducing the citizens to a cattle class. Communist regimes across the World caused immeasurable humanitarian crises during various periods of time. The anger of the people who were reduced to deep poverty without basic democracy responded to the communist regimes with counter revolution overthrowing the regimes. These global anti-communist events alerted the CPC, which started incorporating the capitalist beliefs and market economic fundamentals in the Chinese economy since the late 80s and early 90s to usher in an era of growth and prosperity. CPC realized only the happiness and prosperity of its people can keep the regime safe and secure against peoples' anger and a possible revolution. 

Over the last 30 years or so, CPC has virtually given up the communist fundamentals only to be replaced with capitalist and market economy ideas for growth and prosperity. And that seems to be working with the per capita income of average Chinese rising multi-fold with more and more factories being allowed in the mainland aided by a huge push for foreign investments. Opening up of economy has to led job creation and reasonable economic prosperity, though China is still battling extreme poverty in many parts. Shadow capitalism using the mask of communism has given much needed economic growth to the country. And that could well be a weapon of mass destruction for China while dealing with the World.

But the tyrannical nature of the communist ideology persists with the brute force with which it deals with its own citizens and the World at large. Unleashing of Covid-19 into the World and refusing to go into the causes of the outbreak is a classic case of communist dogmatism followed by CPC. And that has led to 18 crore plus infections across the World. CPC's very existence is a grave threat to the human kind and the nations must realize this sooner than later. If left unchecked, China may well use the Covid distress of the World to pursue its global ambitions. And the CPC led China is carefully working on that agenda. World must unite to tame the Chinese dragon. before it swallows the World!

V Gopalakrishnan

China needs to be punished for crimes against humanity

Covid-19 is causing untold miseries and enormous amount of hardships to the World through the loss of valuable lives and livelihoods. The relentless virus seems to be taking new forms and shapes, creating havoc in the lives of the billions World over. The unabated circulation of viruses across the continents have crippled the World at large, except China, which is no surprise. After more than a year since the outbreak of Covid-19, Wuhan lab leak theory is gaining public attention over the last few weeks. Though vehemently denied by the Chinese administration, right from the beginning there were a set of public policy makers, global leaders, press, virologists and the scientists had raised serious doubts about the origins of the deadly virus, which has claimed several millions of lives World over. 

Time and again scientists have been raising these concerns given the unique nature of the virus, which seems to be multiplying through mutants. World Health Organization and its chief have done a shoddy and unpardonable job on not  investigating the reasons for the virus outbreak in Wuhan. WHO's soft pedaling on this issue has raised serious doubts about the credibility of the organization and its current chief, who became the Director General on China's backing. The efforts made by WHO on this issue seems to be highly suspicious and doubtful. China too has consistently and adamantly thwarted any attempts for a full and fair investigation into the virus outbreak in Wuhan. What was originally floated as a theory of virus having emanated from the Wuhan wet markets have practically no takers in the current scenario. 

Roles of the Chinese military and its dubious scientists working in Wuhan lab are suspicious given the nature and the destruction caused by the virus. It is more or less certain to say that the virus is a manipulated one and not a natural one. The role of Chinese government in suppressing the exact origins of the virus outbreak, thereby unleashing a hell in the World nations needs to be completely investigated by the World bodies. World nations should unite in demanding a comprehensive and thorough probe into the virus outbreak in Wuhan and if proved, China should be punished to the fullest possible extent. The punishment should be on the lines of war crimes, for having caused millions of death through its actions.

If some of the Chinese who live abroad are to be believed, it could well be the design of the Chinese military on unleashing the deadly virus as part of a global bio war. The discussions about a virus centric bio war have been part of the Chinese military, few years back. The virus outbreak has out-littled many wars and catastrophes looking at the magnitude of human and economic losses. Economies are devastated, so as the lives of the billions across the globe. It may take several years to repair the damages caused to the human kind and the economies. The complicity and the culpability of the Chinese government is very clear from the fact that it was able to put down the Covid-19 in its country with greater swiftness, but spread it like wildfire across the World. 

Chinese government, many believe, is hiding and holding back critical information about the virus origins from the World's eyes and the ears. It's time for the global nations to sit up and discuss the possible ways to bring China to Justice for the crimes it has unleashed on the World. China needs to be isolated socially and economically for the role it played in devastating the World through the virus outbreak. The World needs no silence, but lots of answers from the Chinese government. 

V Gopalakrishnan