‘Cockroaches’ Swarmed Social Media

 

On 16^th May 2026, a post appeared on Instagram: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). It even presented a 5-point manifesto covering issues such as women’s reservation, anti-defection, judicial ethics, media accountability and electoral integrity.   

This satirical online creation by 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke, a public relations student in Boston, USA, and a former social media participant of the AAP, made history of sorts: Within a week of its posting, it acquired 20 million followers on Instagram. 

Since then, AI-generated images of cockroaches, either raising their hairy fists in protest or in suits appearing more like modern-day politicians, swarmed social media.  Indeed, it appeared to have struck a chord with the young (below 35) of India, which constitutes around 65% of the population. 

A 2023 survey reveals that 67% of India’s unemployed youth are graduates. And these are perhaps the least likely to get a job. Against a global average of 20%, our youngsters, who are neither in education, employment or training, are said to be around 26%.  It is this section of the population that could not realise the benefit of the so-called demographic dividend that was caught by this storm.

Fortunately, our youth, unlike the Gen Z revolutionaries of Nepal, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, jokingly dressing up as cockroaches, came out onto the streets to clean their neighbourhoods – a positive expression of resentment.   

This satirical movement sprang up online in response to the comments made by the Chief Justice of India. Press reports indicate that during a Supreme Court hearing on 15^th May, the Chief Justice of India said, “There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment and don’t have any place in profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, some of them become RTI activists, some of them become other activists, and they start attacking everyone.” It is also reported that he also called such people “parasites of society who attack the system.”

Of course, the CJI later clarified that his remarks were “misquoted” by the media and his remarks were specifically aimed at people entering professions using fake/bogus degrees, not all unemployed youth. But by then his remarks triggered widespread controversy and sharp reactions online. 

Incidentally, the words ‘cockroaches’ and ‘parasites’ carry historical baggage: A study, “Dehumanization and mass violence: A study of mental state language in Nazi propaganda (1927–1945)”, carried out by Stanford University, the University of California and Tel Aviv reveals that Hitler and Nazi propagandists used such words of animals to describe Jews as part of their deliberate propaganda strategy to deride and dehumanise Jews.  This must have also been one of the reasons for instantaneously stimulating ill feelings among the youth.   

Over it, angered by joblessness, corruption, NEET paper leaks, growing inequality, etc., the Gen Z kept the movement that primarily started as a satirical meme campaign alive. In the meantime, the X- account of CJP was banned on national security grounds. Unwittingly, this perhaps became the movement’s best advertisement. And, it soon reemerged under the name, “Cockroach is Back”.

That aside, the CJP movement harbours an underlying danger: Senior politicians and thinkers from academia can hijack it. And, with their experience, they can polish the movement’s thinking and even sharpen its demands. And, we have seen many such movements elsewhere in the past – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Italy’s Five Star Movement, Spain’s Podemos, Arab Spring – turning into more threatening over time.

Of course, experts opine that it “may disappear within months” as internet movements are often seen burning out soon. But it doesn’t mean that we can afford to forget the fact that it did provide a vent for the youth’s real frustration.

That being the reality, the government may have to listen to these voices and, importantly, address the root causes that left the youth in such deep frustration. Let us hope that it won’t take an ugly turn.

**

 

The Crypto Reserve: What Next?

On March 6, United States President Donald Trump issued an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a US Digital Asset Stockpile. The reserve would be built with Bitcoins forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings and currently owned by the Department of Treasury. The order also clarifies that other government agencies, if any, holding such currencies, would evaluate their legal authority and accordingly, transfer them to the reserve.  

The order also states that the US will not sell Bitcoins deposited into this strategic reserve, and it will be maintained as a store of reserve assets. It also authorizes the Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional Bitcoins, provided that those strategies impose no incremental costs to American taxpayers. It means the government will not acquire additional assets for the US Digital Asset Stockpile bnd those obtained through forfeiture proceedings. 

This reserve shall function much like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve that countries, including India, maintain as a hedge against unexpected problems with the supply and demand of the fuel, causing disruption. However, it is hard to visualize a situation where a cryptocurrency reserve can be used to meet such challenges emerging in financial markets. This reserve, indeed, raises several uncomfortable questions. 

Currently, the US is said to hold around $17 bn equivalent of cryptocurrencies seized from criminals, while China is said to hold around $19 bn. As of the date, many governments are in general, not comfortable with cryptocurrencies. Now the question is: Would this US announcement about creating a reserve spark more interest from Central Banks across the world? If that happens, a kind of de facto recognition may be afforded to the importance of these digital assets, which could spark a long-term rally. 

Here, it should be remembered that the supply of Bitcoins is fixed, and there are only 21 million in circulation. Similarly, for Ethereum and others, though they have different algorithms, their creation through computerized calculations is again limited. So, a big spike in demand could send prices skyrocketing. In a similar vein, any attempt to sell a large quantity would probably result in a price crash, since supply would overwhelm demand. No wonder, in such a rally, the US, with its huge reserves, would of course, become the dominant player in the market.   

In additon, while Bitcoin is decentralized with no owner of the blockchain, others like Ripple, Sol and Ada are run on blockchain controlled by private entities. This phenomenon creates further complications. With Gray Gensler resigning as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, it is anticipated that there is going to be a shift from an antagonistic stance to a pro-crypto stance.

This emerging “combination of greater legitimacy and light regulation is what I really worry about”, said Eswar Prasad, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Adding, “The broader adoption of crypto at both the retail and institutional level certainly could pose some risks”.

The risks are indeed evident already: After Trump’s statement, Bitcoin price has slumped about 20%, while Solana, XRP and ADA have slumped by about 50%, 30% and 22%, respectively. The apparent reason for such slide is: the crypto industry is not happy with Trump administration not buying Bitcoins but only capitalizing on the value of Bitcoins forfeited by criminals, which are already in the possession of government agencies.

That aside, as Hilary Allen, Law Professor at American University, said, “the crypto industry is built on a foundation of regulatory non-compliance”, and this lack of response has led to spectacular frauds in the past. Still luckily, their consequences—price crash in 2022—were contained because the volatile and fraud-prone cryptocurrency market was then not so integrated with the traditional financial markets, which factor worked as a firewall limiting its damage to actual investors in the crypto asset alone. But with the kind of easing of the regulatory regime in the offing, there is going to be a much broader adoption of cryptocurrency, which is more likely to pose systemic financial risks. If there is a run on coins, it could, this time round, “set off a chain of events that end up destabilizing various parts of the traditional financial system”, said Prasad.

Risks aside, according to some economists, there appears to be little or no economic justification for creating such a strategic reserve. More so by the US, for its dollar is the world’s reserve currency, because of which, it could easily settle its overseas liabilities by printing dollars. Indeed, creation of a cryptocurrency reserve may, as feared by a section of economists, undermine faith in the dollar. For now, that is the irony!

**

 

Happy Alumni Meet!!

It’s almost after two years of our first Alumni meeting (Bapatla Agricultural College: 1962-66 batch), we met again in Hyderabad on last Friday at Hotel Jubilee ridge. Courtesy—the initiative and the untiring labour of Mr Ramachandra Rao, Mr Ajaykumar and Dr Veerabhadra Rao…. 

The meet started with the breakfast… nice idly though not steaming… was something like back in the hostel. With chutney, karappodi and so on… followed by coffee … Yeah coffee was good… 

So, being once again amidst old friends, it simply became an emotional event… At once it sparked nostalgia… I think everyone went down the memory lane to experience those golden days of their emerging adulthood at Bapatla.… Slowly started chit-chatting with friends/roommates to relive those wonderful moments after decades… 

Mike in hand, as Mr Ramachandra Rao went on calling names, old faces presented themselves to the gallery, and here and there one has to struggle a bit to match the grey-haired wrinkled faces with the young faces of the early 1960s… 

Nevertheless, memories are after all what we all cling to … and this meet brought out those lost moments … indeed they swarmed all over.. While the ladies were sharing their own Covid-related experiences in the domestic chores among themselves, their husbands were sharing the worldly experiences that they have faced after stepping out of college. 

But everyone, taking a walk down the corridors of nostalgia, recalled the past events of those four years’ stay in Bapatla gleefully. Psychology says that if you are friends for more than five years, then you are not just friends… indeed, become a family. And when it comes to staying for four years in the same campus, both day and night, with the same folks, then it certainly becomes something more than all these descriptions. Now, when such people meet after so many years, so many funny events of those years at once erupt like a volcano and nostalgia plays its own trick: it makes us laugh crazily recalling all of that lived in the campus and also cry….of course, silently or even openly.

We yearn to go back to those happy days, for we feel very blessed to have such wonderful experiences at the campus. And Alumni meet, be it in the campus or outside of it, simply refreshes all those memories. And I am no exception to this sensitivity.

Suddenly my mind, taking a virtual tour along the main artery of the College— surrounded by lush greenery, with well-trimmed Acalypha siamensis hedges on either side of the road, multi-whorled moonbeam flowers, Gaillardia, Cosmos, etc., displaying dazzling colours: white and rose-pink, yellow and pale orange, magenta and purple on one side, and woody-stemmed evergreen creepers, Petrea volubilis with drooping flower clusters of blue delightfully swinging in the air on the other-side—that connects the main gate to that magnificent old building of massive granite stones with its long corridors adorned by gothic arches, my mind looked for those favourite hangout spots—pavilion steps, basketball court, the sandpit abutting it—around which I spent many evenings with my roommate, and a few others chatting about all sundry under the Sun. It was so much fun to silently revisit those memories.

As I was ruminating over those sweet memories, suddenly a man draped in blue and white striped shirt over a matching pant slowly walked in. I could place him with no difficulty: Mr Prasad Rao from Rajahmundry. Seeing him, my hope to locate the whereabouts of my roommate swelled-up, for he too hails from Rajahmundry.

As he finished exchanging pleasantries with the active guys, I went to him and introduced myself as Murty. Sensing his difficulty to place me, as I narrated his visit to Godavari station at the middle of night with my roommate, Mr Rai to greet me when I was going to Kalyani University by 38 Dn Howrah express, their travelling with me up to Rajhamundry station chit chatting in the 3-tier sleeper… he at once exclaimed, “Ha! Radha Krishna”. Then, I enquired about my roommate. He was also clue-less, indeed expressed his exasperation at his not being able to trace his whereabouts.

At that point, we were all hurried up for lunch. Then he enquired about a batch-mate who he found often hanging around me … I mentioned a few names, but he said, “No Radha krishna, when you two stand together, it was such a contrast…I cannot forget it…” Then, as somebody with a plate in hand and munching a chicken leg, chipped in to have a dialogue with Mr Prasad, I just moved to the buffet counter to help myself with a refill.

After lunch, as everyone had reassembled in the hall, Mr Ramachandra Rao invited participants to share their experiences with the gallery. Of all that, the takeaway for me was the narration of Mr Prasad Rao. Taking the mike Mr Prasad Rao started talking slowly and feebly, which in itself caught my attention: 

“Right from early days, I have no great respect for Bhakti. I was, of course, going to the temple, but it was more as a ritual. Never took it seriously. Not looked at with the usually associated reverence and sraddha. 

I was posted to a tribal belt as an Agricultural Officer. I am the eldest in the family. I have two sisters and two brothers. My parents were teachers. A new pastor came to our area. He was telling that God won’t approve of filthy mouth and craving for things that are not one’s own, I have not paid much attention to him. 

One day he asked me to observe fasting and come in the evening for prayer. Thinking fasting and my office work won’t go together, I haven’t heeded his advice. However, in the evening I went with my family for the prayer. The pastor conducted it till late into the night. We returned home. That night I could not sleep. As though somebody is narrating, I am hearing all the sins committed by me. I cried uncontrollably. I told my wife, ‘how Prabhu will pardon me?’ 

Thereafter, I had spent many such sleepless nights. On one such sleepless night, I saw a big chart listing all the sins committed by me. I could not believe it. But it is there right in front of my eyes. I accepted it. Next day onwards, I never used language of bad taste, nor did I commit any sin. 

I am not saying all this to show off as though I am great. I only felt like sharing my past with my old friends, thinking they are no less than my family. Ever since I am living in peace and spent my free time in the service of Prabhu. I have two children and they are well settled. Prabhu has taken care of my family.” 

What an incredible clarity! And what an act of courage! I only heard in novels/cinemas protagonists confessing in a church to a pastor that too often with a veil in-between. But this is amazing! Nothing in between the penitent and the others in the hall—everything was thrown bare open. I simply stared at him in admiration. Amen… 

As the evening advanced,  the event came to an end with Mr Ramachandra Rao et al thanking the alumni for making it happen despite the pandemic. Some 0f the friends thanked Mr Ramachandra Rao, Mr Ajaykumar and Dr Veerabhadra Rao profusely for all the trouble they have taken in arranging the meet and wished for the next meeting at the college campus, while a few others wished for it in Visakhapatnam/Vijayawada, etc. 

In the meanwhile, the hotel fellow hurried us to take tea/coffee over a bite of Punugulu/biscuits. Finally, every one left the hall relishing the fun-filled day, or, should I say .... again with a heavy heart.

 **

Photos: Top to bottom - Mr Pappu Ramachandra Rao, Mr M Ajaya Kumar & Dr M.Veerabhadra Rao

Climate Change: Averting It Is a Global Public Good

 

Of late, hardly a day passes off without hearing someone or the other talking about ‘climate change’. Indeed, discussions and discourses on ‘sustainable development’ have become a routine affair of the 21st century. 

Scientists keep talking about global warming—“a phenomenon of climate change characterized by a general increase in average temperatures of the earth”—that resulted owing to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and their worsening effect. They proclaim that the average temperature of the planet has increased by 0.8oC compared to the end of the 19th century. Looking at the pace of current carbon emissions, scientists expect an increase of around 1.5-5.3⁰C in average temperature by 2100. And, if no action is taken immediately, it would alter our ecosystem for a long time. This will have harmful consequences for humanity.

Scientists, who identified massive use of fossil fuels, over-exploitation of forests, intensive farming, mining, poor waste management, and over consumption as the main contributory factors for global warming, have been arduously pleading nations to move away from fossil fuels to renewable energies such as solar, wind, biomass and geothermal; to encourage public transportation; to undertake sustainable agriculture and forestry; and responsible consumption and recycling, all in the anxiety to reduce CO2 emission into atmosphere. 

Yet, political debate across nations about climate change is oversimplified and often portrayed as a choice between saving the economy and the environment. This of course, is not true. For, scientists assert that we can tackle climate change, and transform our economies in such a way that we would be better off than what we are today, provided nations exhibit necessary political will.

In between came the Paris Agreement—a legally binding international treaty on climate change— kindling a ray of hope, for 196 countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2oC, preferably to 1.5oC, compared to pre-industrial levels by lowering green gas emissions. It also fostered a great scope for its success, for it had a built-in frame work for financial, technical and capacity building support to those developing countries who need it. 

This however, did not last long. On June 1, 2017, the then US President, Donald Trump announced his retrograde stance on climate: US would withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change citing dubious claims such as “Paris Agreement punishes the United States, … world’s leader in environmental protection while imposing no meaningful obligations on the world’s leading polluters”. This had obviously undermined the universality of the Paris agreement: “doing everyone’s best and achieve a win-win scenario”. It simply impaired the international cooperation on climate change by virtue of cancelation of donations meant for the multilateral environmental fund of the US. 

And, then came the Covid-19 pandemic causing biggest disruption in decades to the global economy. As the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the globe, climate change seemingly lost public attention. But the irony is, even the pandemic could not nudge the nations/national leaders away from ‘ideology’ towards the much-needed ‘pragmatism’: China, the epicentre of coronavirus, still said to be non-cooperative in sharing the essential information that could aid scientists in understanding its evolution, pathology, spread, and “To establish priorities for a collaborative program of work, research and development to address critical gaps in knowledge and response and readiness tools and activities”. 

Encouragingly, with Joseph R Biden Jr becoming the US President, a new chance to address climate change through science has dawned: not only the US rejoined the Paris agreement but also reinstated environmental regulations such as that governed methane emissions in oil and gas production. 

As the world is rejoicing this change, there came the deadly heat wave in the US and Canada with temperatures raising above 49.6^o C, which is a stark pointer to the human-caused climate disruption. Scientists are of the opinion that such extreme temperatures at such latitudes are virtually impossible without human-driven warming. 

Following it, the world had witnessed the deadly deluge in the Central Europe that stunned scientists. Carlo Buontempo, director, Copernicus Climate Change Service at the European Centre for Medium-Range weather forecasts, said: “With climate change we do expect all hydro-meteorological extremes to become more extreme. What we have seen in Germany is broadly consistent with this trend”. The latest is: floating cars in the ‘streets-turned-canals’ in Zhengzhou, China. 

All these events have made experts to comment: climate system may have crossed a dangerous threshold. Looking at these extremes, some even wonder if these extremes are pointing to a “non-linear” behaviour of weather.

Amidst these calamities, something to cheer about emerged from China, the top polluter: it launched national carbon emission trading system on 16^th July to become carbon-neutral by 2060. Though the prices were modest —48 Yuan ($7.42) a metric ton vis-à-vis $69.22 of the European Union—which, according to Henning Gloystein, an analyst at Eurasia group, “won’t immediately induce a drastic shift, but which will allow Chinese companies to get used to the market” 

Needless to say, be it climate change governance or the management of pandemic, there will always be naysayers. It is therefore incumbent upon the intellectuals to impress on the political leaders and the public as well that preventing climate change is a global public good, and the core issue in its sustainable management is not to exert negative impacts on economy and society but to reduce greenhouse gasses through technological and institutional innovations to achieve low-carbon development. 

Since every country’s citizens have a direct interest in climate change, we must ensure that our fight against it will not become a partisan issue, and instead international cooperation on climate technologies such as harnessing the world’s offshore winds to generate electricity, designing turbines that float in sea, etc., should be promoted. 

Ultimately, what matters most is: We must all act as one to avert this catastrophe to pass on a liveable-planet to the next generation.

 **

Locust swarms: Yet another Challenge for India

Alongside the COVID pandemic, India has to now fight against another threat: the threat posed by the locust swarms that invaded vast swathes of land in India since April 11^th this year. Favoured by rain-bearing winds, the desert locust swarms, after wreaking havoc in East Africa, entered several districts of Rajasthan from across the border and moved to parts of MP and some parts of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh within a few days causing extensive damage to the vegetation en route. It is reported that crops spread over 500000 hectares of land in Rajasthan, mostly in the western and eastern parts of the sate were damaged.

Locusts have, of course, been a bane of agriculture throughout the recoded history of man. There were locust plagues throughout the world in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 60s, 80s, and the early 2000s. The last such locust swarm we had in India was in the early 2000s. Of course, we have been handling their periodic outbreaks with the advanced information provided by the Locust Warning Organizations (LWO) established by the erstwhile British colonial government at Jodhpur and Karachi in the Indian subcontinent in the early 1900s. After independence, LWO at Jodhpur along with other Locust watch centres in the boarder districts of Rajasthan are keeping an eye on their movement and warn farmers in advance to take appropriate measures to minimise crop damage. They also undertake spraying infected areas with pesticides using ultra low volume sprayers. Recently, they have even used ULV sprayers mounted on aircrafts and drones. However, what matters most in minimising their effect on agriculture is: detecting the swarms early and killing them as they move, but our monitoring centres are reported to be facing resource crunch for years.

The most disturbing news about the current swarm is: experts from LWO are describing it as

potentially the “worst in decades.” And the reasons are not far off to seek. The locusts that have entered India this time round are said to be of 10-12 days old and thus still have longer life-span.  Which means, they are likely to start lay eggs after the onset of monsoon and continue to breed for two more months. And each female that has a life span of 90-days can lay as many as 95-158 eggs in each pod. Further they can breed in India three times. Which means, as India is getting ready for Kharif sowings, these swarms are likely to continue for the next four months. This is likely to amplify into an agrarian disaster, for these locusts are voracious feeders and according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the destructive power of a typical locust swarm can be enormous.

It means, we need to move forward with better and more innovative methods to fight this menace successfully. The starting point of this fight would be to understand how this known recluse and a singleton insect that won’t mix-up with others in its group, suddenly as the crop-harvest season arrives, teams up with others and form into swarms to attack plants for food. Studying the biological mechanism that triggers this sociological transformation, Stephen Rogers of Cambridge University found that the tactile stimulation resulting out of solitary locusts touching each other while searching for food is the cause for their behavioural change. This mechanical stimulation resulting out of a touch even just in a little area of the back limbs of the insect found to affect a couple of nerves in their body leading to their coming together. Their subsequent studies shown that substantial changes in some molecules that are known to modulate their central nervous system, the most important among them being serotonin, regulates their mood and social behaviour.  In a laboratory experiment they have also found out that application of serotonin inhibitors such as 5HT or AMTP to the group of locusts reduced their coming together significantly.  

This finding raises a new hope: Can we arrest the swarms by spraying serotonin inhibitor molecules as the swarm begins to form?  This is what perhaps our experts at LWO in Jodhpur have to examine. There is also a need to study the impact of climate change on the swarm formation, for that enables us to know about the likely occurrence of swarms well in advance so that we can prepare the farming community to tackle the swarms effectively.  Meteorologists have commented that warming Indian Ocean is an indirect cause for breeding and formation of recent locust swarms. For, record-breaking rainfall in India and eastern Africa precipitated locust breeding in the moist African deserts and favourable rain-bearing winds aided their move into India. Over it, the corona related quarantine measures in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan that disturbed the usual coordinated efforts of these countries in controlling the swarms with insecticides had further aggravated the threat. Paradoxically, the current forecast for good rainfall in Rajasthan is sending jitters, for it would be pretty conducive for locust breeding during sowing season. And locust swarms do not respect national boundaries. So, we have to get ready with necessary wherewithal to minimise their impact on agriculture by adopting timely coordinated action along with the countries on these swarm-routes.

While it is some comfort that there is now limited standing crop in India, forecasts for good rains in Rajasthan are feared to create conducive conditions for locust breeding during the sowing season. We need to be ready with pesticides etc., to control the second wave of swarms by killing it at the formative phase itself with necessary pesticides. There is also a need to abandon any territorial blame game and focus on policies that will ensure an equitable, sustainable future for all.

Financial Planning Makes All the Difference

Gone are the days, when jobs were for life: once joined in a job, he or she enjoyed the benefit of certainty in earning a fixed sum every month with of course, intermittent raises in pay outs/statuses, till one is told, “You are retired”. Even after retirement, the erstwhile employer used to ensure that the ex-employee’s livelihood is guaranteed through pension payment.

During the last two-and-a-half decades of liberalized economic environment, the employment scenario in the technology-driven market has so drastically changed that no one is sure today how long the present job would continue, when one would be on the bench, and when one will be handed over a pink slip along with slim envelope. Even the very nature of jobs has changed drastically: they became highly amorphous, calling for knowledge from different disciplines and the ability to work simultaneously in different ways.

The cumulative effect of these two developments on the present crop of employable youth is: an all-around uncertainty, which is traumatizing to an individual both psychologically and financially. At times it is even reaching tragic proportions: “Harini, a junior software developer [from Hyderabad] committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan after her company announced lay-offs”, reported Hindu on November 21.  

This is soon going to be a story of the past, for the future is emerging still more threateningly. The technology-driven world of today is more frightening even to imagine: Cars that drive themselves, machines that read reports and even offer algorithm-driven responses, diagnosis and prescription of drugs by machines and all such manifestations of new forms of automation in the offing, though sure to increase productivity and improve our lives, are all set to displace human labor.

The emergence of these disruptive technologies is sure to alter the very nature of peoples’ occupations: there would be more jobs lost, more jobs changed and perhaps, new jobs created. This transition is going to be more challenging to the workforce than what it has hitherto faced. These disruptive changes will even challenge our current educational system and training methods too. And the most important demand would be: income support to the workforce caught in the cross-currents of Artificial Intelligence-driven automation. 

Simply put, the digital future that is in the offing can cause painful consequences for the workers, for the economy would certainly take time to come to terms with them. Secondly, although economists continue to argue that historically an equilibrium between the supply and demand of jobs in labor markets has always been reached, technology experts are arguing that this time things will be quite different, for they will affect multiple sectors of the economy simultaneously.

All this is going to challenge the stability and sustainability of the individual lives. Now the question is: how to protect the interests of workforce during this transition? And who has to manage it? No doubt, at the macro-level, policymakers will definitely work towards smoothening this transition by initiating necessary policy measures. But that would not suffice. Prima facie, it is the worker at the micro-level who has to brace himself—plan himself to weather the storm. There is yet another important development of the recent past that merits our attention: our average life expectancy has gone up appreciably warranting stretching of one’s monetary resources for many more years than in the past.

The good news is: individuals can manage this transition with a few positive changes in their life style. The starting point is to build confidence in oneself to plan for facing the AI-threat squarely. And the first tool that comes handy to weather the storm is: personal financial planning. For, it helps one in managing today’s cash flows to achieve one’s own economic satisfaction by affording a feeling of security for the future too. Importantly, such financial planning minimizes the stress in life.

The first rule of such planning is: define your life goals clearly, estimate the inflation-adjusted requirement to meet the set goals and then set aside the required amount regularly to fund the goals. This, of course, calls for questioning one’s current consumption pattern: Is it meant for material satisfaction? Or, for delivering ‘psychic gratification’? Incidentally, most of the new-age Indians are today found looking for more of pre-programmed ‘experiences’ than for material satisfaction. So, if one has to navigate through these conflicting demands safely, one must practice paying first for the accomplishment of set goals and use the balance income alone to meet the current expenses. It is always desirable to involve one’s spouse in the financial planning exercise.

All may not be good at investing the set aside sum to maximise the returns and also ensure safety and security of the principle and returns thereof. Such individuals can take professional guidance from wealth planners from banks and other financial services providers. Identifying a good financial adviser is, of course, a challenge by itself. Enquiries with friends may pave the way for selecting one, but once selected, you must take periodic performance review of the adviser. If such analysis warrants changing the adviser, you must exercise your right immediately.  Do not hesitate to put as many questions as you have to the adviser and be not satisfied until you feel you have been answered alright. And, in course of time, you may yourself become a wise investor. But all this involves cost.

Obviously, a man of modest savings cannot afford such luxury. But he need not lose heart. One safe way of investing for a man of modest savings is opting for SIPs of Mutual Funds, for they are professionally managed.  Even prior to that, whether one is a man of modest savings or of high worth, everyone need to take note of the uncertainties of life and secure it from the associated risk – the risk of premature death. One option that immediately strikes the mind is: insurance. Get insured for a sum that enables the family to maintain its present standard of living even in the absence of the bread-winner at a very early age on a long-term basis to encash the benefit of low premium payments to service the policy.      

Lastly, one must always remember the two underlying principles of financial planning: One, that execution of a plan is as important as planning itself; and two, that not planning means planning for a certain failure.

Good Luck!

Jeevitame Oka Naataka Rangam (All the Life’s a Stage)

Many a summer ago … lying on the cot, I was staring at the starlit sky … after all, what else one could do when the sleep was so elusive? 

Suddenly a fine breeze blowing from south made the leaves of the neighbouring tall Palmyra trees standing before a half moon … … sway at once making an interesting—gala gala—sound, of course,  … there is a certain beauty in that fine rhythm of theirs, particularly in that silence of the night.

And along with the breeze, there came the deep notes of a piano melody … the waltz beats accompanied by violin phrases from a faraway marriage-pandal (temporarily erected structure for celebrating marriage), perhaps. Listening to the prelude I could instantaneously realize … I am going to listen to one of my favourite melodies ….

Andame aanandam II

(Beauty is joy)

aanandame jeevita makarandam II

(Joy is the nectar of life)

The interlude of sweet violin phrases followed by flute bit flew like a fine breeze … just swaying the listener in the very aanandam of the lyrics …

Padamata sandhya raagam II

(the tune of the twilight  from the west)
kudi yedamala kusuma paraagam  II

(The mating of left carpel’s pollen with the right stamen)

odiloo cheli mohana raagam

(the sweet cooing of love in the lap)

The beauty of orchestration reflects right here: as the enunciation of the words: “odiloo cheli mohana raagam…ends, flute, making its entry …  coos so melodiously as though odiloo cheli is cooing mohana raagam … and obviously, in that bliss, life, as the next line reveals,  can’t but become an abode of  affection …jeevitame madhuraanuraagam  (Life itself is an abode of affection).

The interlude of piano clinks and violin phrases is in sync with the beauty of lyrics … indeed elevated the meaning of the lyrics to further heights…More than the fine blend of orchestration with the lyrics,   it is Ghantasala’s understanding and appreciation of the finer nuances of language—note every line in this charanam ends with the word raagam: sandhyaraagam, kusumaparaagam, mohanaraagam and madhuraanuraagam—that came through in his singing making it so melodious …. So melodious that it simply strikes a chord with every listener of every age.

The next charanam is still more poetic, for it brings out so beautifully the other shade of the life…

Padilechee kadali tarangam o o o

(the crest and fall of the waves in the shore)
padilechee kadali tarangam II
vadiloo jadisina saarangam II

(the fear-struck deer in the net)
sudigaalilo … oo oo o o

Singing sudigaaliloo … Ghantasala reaches to the higher octave with an enviable ease … which perhaps he could only do it … and interestingly, as the singer’s humming OOO OOO OOO  O O O fades out slowly, piano fades in with its sweet clinks producing a warmer but much quicker and softer sound … … which appears to be a fine finish to the heights that the voice of Ghantasala reached—that too, as eloquently and swiftly as a whirlwind rises up—while phonating the words … sudigaaliloo … followed by the humming that climbs down so sweetly…. Perhaps, one feels that there is no better ending to that humming than those beautiful clinks of the piano … making the transition so beautiful. 

Equally soothing and amazing is to listen to the next line that Ghantasala sings so haigaa coolly— sudigaalilo egire patamgam (The kite flying in the whirlwind)…and finally wraps up the song with an apt line…  jeevitame oka naataka rangam (All the life’s a stage). So beautifully serene, right? And the piano clinks and violin phrases that make a subtle appearance from behind simply elevate the melody of the song. 

Every line in this last charanam ends with a similar sounding word: rangam— tarangam, saarangam, patamgam and naatakarangam. The lyrics with such simple words devoid of any ostentation and tricker strikes a chord with listeners. They, as a ribbon of words weaving through the breeze with their lilting rhythm … all wrapped in beauty … looping and pirouetting in the rendition of Ghantasala accompanied by the sonorous notes of flute and the sweet melody of the violin that are catchy and enjoyable for the whole duration of the song  as a whole, the song that was composed based on that ati-madhur (too sweet) and ati-priya (too lovely) raag, Bhimpalasi  which has the penetrating power to infect the human mind and sway it in its beauty for days on …  simply  transports the listener into distant lands … of joy. 

But once out from that trance, and as the conscious mind reflected on the meaning of lyrics, that too, in that stillness of the summer night under the soft moonlight made my heart leap out of my chest. For, in that budding young age it did stir up confusing thoughts:  there in it is pure romance — Andame aanandam /  aanandame jeevita makarandam /… odiloo cheli mohana raagam… jeevitame madhuraanuraagam—and also melancholy all wrapped in subtle threats: Padilechee kadali tarangam … sudigaalilo egire patamgam … jeevitame oka naataka rangam—life is a kind of waves tossed against the shore perhaps, whispering the hopelessness of life …;  a kind of a kite flying in whirlwind, and to put it simply  all life’s a mere stage.  On one hand it has this mortal world signifying pain and on the other hand there is also the other world that signifies joy.    

Oh my god! There is this and that world in the song, the very binaries of human love and the conflict between them did drag me down … for the rest of the night. The romance that was wrapped in melancholy—in the strut of that beaming moon—landed me in a feeling of disquiet haunted by a kind of searching, and longing questions … That sweetness and poise of the song with its subtle challenges—all that was so weird but still beautiful—particularly, those lines—sudigaalilo egire patamgam (The kite flying in the whirlwind) / jeevitame oka naataka rangam (All the life’s a stage), made fear clutch at my heart … For what, I don’t know!

While I was swarmed by such sombre thoughts, the marriage band in the pandal had suddenly raised its pitch:  blown the Shehnais, trumpets, clarinets to reach the highest pitch and drummed the percussion instruments to produce maximum sound perhaps, in sync with the act of bridegroom tying the knot…and luckily for me, it gave a pause to the stream of thoughts.

Intriguingly, the cacophony of the band accompanying the act of the bridegroom tying the knot appeared to have decocted my hitherto engulfing fear into tangible questions: Does this groom know that he is taking up a new responsibility? How prepared he is to discharge it? How sure he is to navigate his new life through the ebb and flow of time, through the whirlwind of life unknown? What if the groom, like the hero of the movie, Bratukuteruvu (Livelihood) from which this song is, has to give a go by to his values and even lie to secure a livelihood? 

The more I think of it, the more I get rocked. For, I felt we are permanently unprepared by experience—as our experience of youth has little or no relevance to adulthood—to navigate through the future … But then the fact that we have no choice but to go on until the end … whatever the end might be … all that one might have to do is: not to get bogged down by the paralyzing fear of making a wrong move … instead learn to take these images … thoughts with a pinch of salt  and jump into action—of course, a balanced action—to face the crashing waves on the shore of the life….

Dammit!  Shuddering to think any longer, closed my eyes tightly to catch up with that elusive sleep….   

Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Dispute: Time to Bury the Communal Cauldron!

The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Dispute has been fuelling polarization in the state of Uttar Pradesh along religious lines for almost more than half-a-century and rocked the state with frequent violent disturbances. It even spread to the whole of the country causing repeated religious violence threatening the very fabric of modern India.  This indeed became a bane of the country since partition inflicting economic and human losses.

Owing to its sheer potential for frequently causing communal violence and bloodshed disrupting economic and social life, the dispute needs to be resolved once for all, that too, at the earliest for enabling the nation to tread its chosen path of economic development and the concomitant eradication of poverty across the country.

Of course, as a rational analysis of the problem calls for its historical background, let us look at first things first: The dispute is all about the ownership of a plot of 2.77 acres of land in the city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh where the Babri Masjid was constructed by General Mir Baqi in the 16th century. This very piece of land is considered by Hindus as sacred for they believe it to be the birthplace of Lord Ram, the most revered deity of Hindus. They indeed argue that the mosque was built on top of Ram temple. As against Hindus, Muslims argue that the mosque is their sacred place of prayer and Hindus desecrated it by placing idols of Lord Ram inside the mosque in 1949. Following these arguments, the gates of the mosque were locked and it thus remained shut for the next 40 years.

In 1986, during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi as the Prime Minister, the gates were opened, of course, at the behest of the court. Within two days from the date of opening the locks, a group of Muslim lawyers filed a petition in Lucknow on February 3, 1986 praying for ordering that nothing more happens to the site. Accordingly, the court ordered for maintaining the “status quo.”

Later in 1989, just before the elections, Rajiv Gandhi evinced further interest in Ayodhya issue by sending his Home Minister, Buta Singh to Ayodhya to participate in a “shilanyas”—the symbolic temple foundation-laying ceremony. All this obviously escalated the dispute from a local issue to a national one—indeed placed the Hindus and Muslims on a collision course.

Finally, this collision ended up in the demolition of the Mosque by the participants of a rally that assembled at the premises on December 6, 1992. This stirred up communal riots across the major cities of north India. Notably, the Hindu-Muslim riots of Mumbai, the financial capital of India, caused 900 deaths and damaged properties running into thousands of crores.

Immediately after the demolition of the mosque, a makeshift temple to Ram Lalla, was built by Hindu activists. In the meanwhile, a new law was enacted by the Government of India to acquire a large area of land in Ayodhya that included the site where the mosque stood. It also set aside all the suits that claimed title to the site, but allowed Hindu worship to continue there. Simultaneously, a presidential reference was made to the Supreme Court: Did a “Hindu temple or any Hindu religious structure” exist where the mosque had been built in 1528?

The legality of this enactment and the Presidential reference were challenged by Muslim representatives stating that the government cannot acquire a holy site. The Supreme Court, by a majority decision, upheld the law acquiring the land, but declined to answer the question— Did a “Hindu temple or any Hindu religious structure” exist where the mosque had been built in 1528?—in the presidential reference, saying it was “superfluous and unnecessary”. Finally, law suits relating to property were transferred to the High Court in Lucknow from Faizabad.

In September 2010, a three-judge bench of Allahabad High Court, setting aside a lower court’s order, allocated two-thirds of the disputed site to Hindu groups, with the remainder going to Muslims. It also gave a ruling—obviously, based on a 272-page report submitted by the ASI which summarized its findings as: “indicative of remains which are distinctive features found associated with the temples of north India”—that the disputed spot was Hindu God Ram’s birthplace, that the mosque had been built after the demolition of a temple and that the mosque was not built in accordance with the tenets of Islam. But both parties appealed against the order in the Supreme Court.

Now, it is at the request of BJP MP Subramanian Swamy to constitute a bench to expedite the disposal of petitions filed challenging the judgment of Allahabad High Court order that the Supreme Court, observing that “These are issues of religion and sentiments”, suggested on March 21: “These are issues where all the parties can sit together and arrive at a consensual decision to end the dispute.” The Court, volunteering to mediate, if required, between the negotiators, directed the petitioner to inform the court about the outcome on March 31.

And thus, we are back to square one, for nine such attempts at arriving at an out-of-court settlement failed earlier. Although a solution for such a dispute of religious nature has to necessarily emerge from a perspective of generosity and a spirit of accommodation, there appears to be no such possibility, for warring groups are already airing their opinions in a belligerent tone.

In the light of this reality, the Court that has earlier stayed the High Court’s decree may have to expedite its hearing and give its verdict on the findings of the lower court and the merits of the appeal. For, it is apparent that negotiations over such strongly held religious passions would only vitiate the atmosphere further, and hence needs to be settled once for all by the Court alone. And sooner the better, for the aspirational India does not want to be pulled down by religious disputes any longer!