M Raghuram
Vivek Raj, 28, a resident of Mangalore, is among the youngest CEOs of a company that has the potential to become a billion-dollar one. His achievements have been recognised by the World Economic Forum. At Summer Davos in China between September 13 and 15, Vivek will brush shoulders with captains of industry from across the world. Leading lights from Pepsi, Airbus, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Reliance and 100 other companies will be present at the meet. Raj is also scheduled to meet the Queen of Jordon, and the CEOs of Sinosteel, world’s largest steel importer, Nestle and the Chinese prime minister.
The young entrepreneur’s business model is sure to take leaders from core sector industries across the world by surprise. He has developed a formula to add value to low-grade (45 grade) iron ore, so that it is turned into high-grade ore (65 grade) with minimum wastage. “It makes perfect economic sense. All the countries are now looking at importing high-grade magnetite ore, but that is hard to come by. The prospecting for high-grade ore takes a lot of investment and funding, but it is the best way to transform low-grade ore into high-grade ore.”
“I have a technology product called benefaction of ore. This is a process of treating crude ores and mineral products in order to separate valuable minerals from waste rock or gangue. It is the first process that most ores undergo after mining, so that a concentrated material is obtained. The primary operations are called ‘comminution’ and ‘concentration’. I am planning to set up a plant in Goa. The government of Goa has already given me the initial permission to acquire land; this will be the first ore benefaction plant in the country.”Vivek Raj further explained,“It does not make good economic sense to export raw ore. Benefaction of ore will help to create greater value for the produce, as it will be converted into high-grade ore. Crude ore is exported at Rs200 per tonne; if it is subjected to benefaction, it could be sold at Rs3,500 per tonne, which would still be at least 20% below the market rate. That would represent huge forex earnings.”
Such is this young man’s wisdom that he even has a plan for the by-product, ore slurry, which results from the benefaction. He would like to make bricks with the slurry that can be used in construction. Some costs incurred in the whole process will also be covered by the brick manufacturing process.
So how did the young man get into all this? “I come from a poor family. I started work when I was 14. After matriculation, I migrated to New Zealand with the help of a family friend. I studied for an MBA degree, and then took to export of New Zealand’s dairy produce to Sri Lanka. Later, I also started export of mining produce. Then I returned to India and set up Panama Group in Mangalore.”
But why Panama? “Was any ship ever stopped at the Panama Canal?” he asks with a sparkle in his eyes.
m_raghuram@dnaindia.net
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_mangalore-youth-will-show-wef-a-way-to-make-ore-export-more-profitable_1436609
Showing posts with label Young leaders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Young leaders. Show all posts
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Today's young politicians inspire Bollywood stars
NEW DELHI: Call it a reflection of changing times or a desire to be real, young Indian leaders like Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot and Priyanka Gandhi are defining the image of on-screen politicians in Bollywood.
Till recently, politicians had been portrayed as old, potbellied and often sleazy. That has now changed.
Abhishek Bachchan, who played a young politician in R Balakrishnan's 'Paa' says he modelled his look on young leaders like Sachin Pilot and Milind Deora.
"I modelled my look after Sachine Pilot and Milind Deora in the film. There were no special effects taken for my look in the movie because we wanted to keep the character as normal as possible," Bachchan had said about his role.
The actor will be playing a young leader once again in Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se', where he portray's the role of communist activist Surya Sen, who was hanged by the British. Based on Manini Chatterjee's 'Do And Die', the film tells the story of 1930 Chittagong uprising.
Similarly, 24-year-old Deepika Padukone, who is famous for her glamourous roles, has opted for cotton sarees and a no make-up look to play Sen's comrade Kalpana Datta.
Katrina Kaif, in the latest Prakash Jha hit 'Raajneeti' picked up pointers for her character from Priyanka Gandhi. Kaif said she watched Priyanka's election videos to get her body language and look right.
"Priyanka is a young, strong, independent and modern leader with the right blend of values. Though my character is not based on her, I watched her campaign videos to observe her body language and how she campaigns and interacts with the crowd," Kaif said.
Earlier, reports had said Katrina's character in 'Raajneeti' was modelled on Sonia Gandhi and that had landed the film in trouble with the censors. But Katrina's admission that Priyanka was her inspiration, quelled the controversy.
Jha, who mixed epic Mahabharata and 'The Godfather' to make his blockbuster, said his film was a reflection of the changing face of Indian politics.
"The Gandhi-topi and dhoti-kurta wearing politician is a thing of past. Today politicians are young have studied in foreign universities. They are from the urban milieu," Jha said.
Other Bollywood hits focusing on the youth politics in India are Mani Ratnam's 'Yuva', Varma's 'Sarkar' and 'Sarkar Raj', Anurag Kashyap's 'Gulal', Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Satta', Tigmanshu Dhulia's 'Haasil' and Gulzar's 1975 classic 'Aandhi' and 'Maachis'.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/Todays-young-politicians-inspire-Bollywood-stars/articleshow/6498137.cms
Till recently, politicians had been portrayed as old, potbellied and often sleazy. That has now changed.
Abhishek Bachchan, who played a young politician in R Balakrishnan's 'Paa' says he modelled his look on young leaders like Sachin Pilot and Milind Deora.
"I modelled my look after Sachine Pilot and Milind Deora in the film. There were no special effects taken for my look in the movie because we wanted to keep the character as normal as possible," Bachchan had said about his role.
The actor will be playing a young leader once again in Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se', where he portray's the role of communist activist Surya Sen, who was hanged by the British. Based on Manini Chatterjee's 'Do And Die', the film tells the story of 1930 Chittagong uprising.
Similarly, 24-year-old Deepika Padukone, who is famous for her glamourous roles, has opted for cotton sarees and a no make-up look to play Sen's comrade Kalpana Datta.
Katrina Kaif, in the latest Prakash Jha hit 'Raajneeti' picked up pointers for her character from Priyanka Gandhi. Kaif said she watched Priyanka's election videos to get her body language and look right.
"Priyanka is a young, strong, independent and modern leader with the right blend of values. Though my character is not based on her, I watched her campaign videos to observe her body language and how she campaigns and interacts with the crowd," Kaif said.
Earlier, reports had said Katrina's character in 'Raajneeti' was modelled on Sonia Gandhi and that had landed the film in trouble with the censors. But Katrina's admission that Priyanka was her inspiration, quelled the controversy.
Jha, who mixed epic Mahabharata and 'The Godfather' to make his blockbuster, said his film was a reflection of the changing face of Indian politics.
"The Gandhi-topi and dhoti-kurta wearing politician is a thing of past. Today politicians are young have studied in foreign universities. They are from the urban milieu," Jha said.
Other Bollywood hits focusing on the youth politics in India are Mani Ratnam's 'Yuva', Varma's 'Sarkar' and 'Sarkar Raj', Anurag Kashyap's 'Gulal', Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Satta', Tigmanshu Dhulia's 'Haasil' and Gulzar's 1975 classic 'Aandhi' and 'Maachis'.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/Todays-young-politicians-inspire-Bollywood-stars/articleshow/6498137.cms
Monday, August 30, 2010
Geriatric Power
We might have one of the youngest populations in the world, but the difference in age between our leaders and the populace is palpable. There is thus an increasing disconnect between the leadership and the people. Apart from the age gulf dynastic politics too is a massive hurdle to youth finding expression. The present lot of young leaders has to live in the shadow of political patriarchs until the latter make way, which in the Indian context could take an extraordinarily long time. A gerontocracy is fundamentally conservative and risk-averse, blocking reform in any direction. India's yawning age gulf goes a long way towards explaining the quality of the leadership we get. Reservation for women is now a hot-button political issue. Perhaps we also need to think in terms of reservation for youth, leaving out the creamy layer of those who come with dynastic connections. Institutionalisation of inner-party democracy would help, too.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The agony of the hereditary turks
Politics of youth
As if Omar Abdullah’s contribution alone were not enough, now we have the collective ‘GenNext intervention’ from Delhi on J&K! Right when the country’s youngest chief minister has squandered away, in a matter of a year, the hope and optimism the last two successful Assembly elections and the subsequent political process had generated in J&K, around 40 young members of Parliament, cutting across party lines, issued a joint appeal, urging the agitating Kashmiri youth to join the negotiation table. On the face of it, their resolve indeed is praiseworthy. But the problem lies in an uncomfortable question; about the political and social credentials of these MPs, barring a few exceptions, to be the true representatives of the youth of democratic India and their credibility to command the respect and trust of the country’s aspiring and struggling youngsters, from Kanyakumari to Srinagar.
Before going to the fault-lines in these young MPs’ political makeup, one should look at the backdrop and timing of their ‘peace move’. It took almost two months of agitation and nearly 50 deaths on the streets of Kashmir for Omar to realise the basics of politics and governance; that in a democratic system, the true leaders have to remain constantly in touch with, and reach out to, the people and not remain like a king in an ivory tower especially when outbursts of popular discontent are on display.
It was only after the cultivated ‘bright kid’ image of Omar was razed down, ironically , by the very (stone-throwing) youth of his home state through 24×7 reality TV shows, that he thought it fit to visit a hospital to see the injured. It was exactly on ‘Omar’s day out’ that his young friends in Parliament chose to launch their own ‘peace mission’. It is a different matter it took some experienced political brains in Delhi and the octogenarian Syed Ali Shah Gilani in Srinagar to provide the battered young CM a temporary relief.
In short, in their two-month silent watching of Kashmir crisis and their final decision to venture out, Omar and his young friends put up a perfect display of synchronised reflexes. Did these young MPs snap out of their collective slumber to see their own potential future in Omar’s total disconnect with the youth of his state?
The plot only thickens when you consider that these so-called young turks had neither been shaken nor stirred by a series of recent events that had special significance for India’s youth. Many young couples are being hounded or hacked to death in the name of ‘honour killings’ or ‘upholding the caste pride’ by hoodlums. But none of us had the privilege of seeing these young MPs, supposedly champions of India’s youth, issue an appeal for reason or launch a movement against caste authority. Instead, one of them vowed to take ‘the khap panchayat cause’ to the PMO!
We recently saw a young Dalit girl being made to wash toilet at the school where she studied, leading to her suicide, and how a social boycott forced the Uttar Pradesh government to abandon its plans to employ Dalit cooks in schools. But none of this pricked the conscience of these ‘young and progressive’ MPs.
The nation is also witnessing an animated debate on how to tackle the Maoist problem, especially when many young men and women of the neglected social sections are joining the radicals’ bloody war against the state. Have you heard our Gen-Next MPs air their views on the matter? They also suffer no bout of collective anger when the Commonwealth Games, meant to boost the spirit of Indian’s sporting youth, has turned out to be a mega show of corruption and mismanagement.
But, then, it is no accident that these young MPs who display their collective agony over their friend Omar falling flat on his GenNext nose, remain indifferent to the real issues and causes of the Indian youth. Because, they, like Omar, owe nothing to India’s youth, or their aspirations for becoming what they are; MPs, ministers, chief minister and tomorrow’s rulers. They have made it big not because they have risen from a genuine youth movement or political process or by charming the voters with some exceptional talent.
They owe their rise to just two factors: the powerful political families to which they belong to, and the way they systematically and collectively degenerated our democratic system into hereditary rules that ambush the genuine youth activists, snuff out their political careers and leave voters with no genuine choices.
And the fact that most of the national and regional parties, including those that harp against the ‘dynastic Congress’, have started accepting family raj and started churning out their own Hereditary Turks is posing amajor threat to the democratic process.
As Srinagar revealed the disconnect between Omar and the youth on the street, no wonder his true cohorts in Parliament too felt the heat.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/comments--analysis/The-agony-of-the-hereditary-turks/articleshow/6278871.cms
As if Omar Abdullah’s contribution alone were not enough, now we have the collective ‘GenNext intervention’ from Delhi on J&K! Right when the country’s youngest chief minister has squandered away, in a matter of a year, the hope and optimism the last two successful Assembly elections and the subsequent political process had generated in J&K, around 40 young members of Parliament, cutting across party lines, issued a joint appeal, urging the agitating Kashmiri youth to join the negotiation table. On the face of it, their resolve indeed is praiseworthy. But the problem lies in an uncomfortable question; about the political and social credentials of these MPs, barring a few exceptions, to be the true representatives of the youth of democratic India and their credibility to command the respect and trust of the country’s aspiring and struggling youngsters, from Kanyakumari to Srinagar.
Before going to the fault-lines in these young MPs’ political makeup, one should look at the backdrop and timing of their ‘peace move’. It took almost two months of agitation and nearly 50 deaths on the streets of Kashmir for Omar to realise the basics of politics and governance; that in a democratic system, the true leaders have to remain constantly in touch with, and reach out to, the people and not remain like a king in an ivory tower especially when outbursts of popular discontent are on display.
It was only after the cultivated ‘bright kid’ image of Omar was razed down, ironically , by the very (stone-throwing) youth of his home state through 24×7 reality TV shows, that he thought it fit to visit a hospital to see the injured. It was exactly on ‘Omar’s day out’ that his young friends in Parliament chose to launch their own ‘peace mission’. It is a different matter it took some experienced political brains in Delhi and the octogenarian Syed Ali Shah Gilani in Srinagar to provide the battered young CM a temporary relief.
In short, in their two-month silent watching of Kashmir crisis and their final decision to venture out, Omar and his young friends put up a perfect display of synchronised reflexes. Did these young MPs snap out of their collective slumber to see their own potential future in Omar’s total disconnect with the youth of his state?
The plot only thickens when you consider that these so-called young turks had neither been shaken nor stirred by a series of recent events that had special significance for India’s youth. Many young couples are being hounded or hacked to death in the name of ‘honour killings’ or ‘upholding the caste pride’ by hoodlums. But none of us had the privilege of seeing these young MPs, supposedly champions of India’s youth, issue an appeal for reason or launch a movement against caste authority. Instead, one of them vowed to take ‘the khap panchayat cause’ to the PMO!
We recently saw a young Dalit girl being made to wash toilet at the school where she studied, leading to her suicide, and how a social boycott forced the Uttar Pradesh government to abandon its plans to employ Dalit cooks in schools. But none of this pricked the conscience of these ‘young and progressive’ MPs.
The nation is also witnessing an animated debate on how to tackle the Maoist problem, especially when many young men and women of the neglected social sections are joining the radicals’ bloody war against the state. Have you heard our Gen-Next MPs air their views on the matter? They also suffer no bout of collective anger when the Commonwealth Games, meant to boost the spirit of Indian’s sporting youth, has turned out to be a mega show of corruption and mismanagement.
But, then, it is no accident that these young MPs who display their collective agony over their friend Omar falling flat on his GenNext nose, remain indifferent to the real issues and causes of the Indian youth. Because, they, like Omar, owe nothing to India’s youth, or their aspirations for becoming what they are; MPs, ministers, chief minister and tomorrow’s rulers. They have made it big not because they have risen from a genuine youth movement or political process or by charming the voters with some exceptional talent.
They owe their rise to just two factors: the powerful political families to which they belong to, and the way they systematically and collectively degenerated our democratic system into hereditary rules that ambush the genuine youth activists, snuff out their political careers and leave voters with no genuine choices.
And the fact that most of the national and regional parties, including those that harp against the ‘dynastic Congress’, have started accepting family raj and started churning out their own Hereditary Turks is posing amajor threat to the democratic process.
As Srinagar revealed the disconnect between Omar and the youth on the street, no wonder his true cohorts in Parliament too felt the heat.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/comments--analysis/The-agony-of-the-hereditary-turks/articleshow/6278871.cms
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Out with old in with New
Making political predictions is a difficult task. Ask the psephologists. The task gets even tougher should you be brave or foolish enough to predict the moves of the Gandhi family.
Last week, in Parliament and the corridors of power, inside TV studios and in newsrooms across the country, one question was being hotly debated by politicians, journalists, opinion makers and those who like to be known as just analysts: Why were the Gandhis keeping a stoic silence when the government was being hauled over the coals by the Opposition which suddenly seems to have discovered a spring in its step? While the Prime Minister and his A-team were under fire for multiple failures on the price front, Kashmir, Naxalism and now the Commonwealth Games fiasco, both Sonia and Rahul were nowhere to be seen. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refrained from making a symbolic intervention. The Gen Next, once the Congress's in- house shoutdown- the- enemy brigade, kept a low profile while the UPA ministers and AICC functionaries, rather than taking on the Opposition, were busy settling scores with each other.
A brief interaction with the ruling party's many Mr Know-alls in the central hall of Parliament last week has now convinced me that the Gandhis are aiming to make drastic changes both in the government and the party establishment. The dilemma that faces them is: How to wield the axe without spilling much blood.
The exercise is expected to start next month with the re- election of Sonia as the Congress President, a mere formality. She would then become the first Congress leader to hold the post for over a decade without a break. After Indira, Sonia remains the only Congress leader in more than four decades to steer the party to a second consecutive victory in the general elections.
In the party, she shares with Rahul, now the most popular leader in the Congress if not the country, a veto power that no other Congress functionary has. I understand that they are giving finishing touches and waiting for Parliament's monsoon session to get over to effect a massive shake up aimed at revitalising the party and the government.
The objective is clear: Four years from now, the Congress must win a majority on its own.
To raise its current tally from the current 206 to 272 plus, the party has no option but to concentrate on Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka and choose leaders who can make a difference.
Manmohan Singh Experience has taught the leadership that it is not the performance but a perfect connect with the local leaders and voters that is vital to ensure victory. At the moment, there is an utter lack of compatibility between high-profile ministers and senior party functionaries.
Party leaders have for long lamented that, with the disconnect that exists between the government and the organisation, it is difficult for the latter to carry the message across to the grassroots. I am told some of the senior ministers who command respect may be moved over to the organisation with a view to make Congress ministers accountable to the party. Armchair strategists who wax eloquent at seminars and TV debates may have to give way to those with a readiness to face the heat and dust and take the rough and tumble of Bharat.
So far, Rahul has studiously stayed away from the politics of the parent organisation even as he energised the Youth Congress to make it a parallel power centre.
The genuine competitive elections for Youth Congress officebearers that were held across the country at Rahul's directions were, in reality, talent scouting exercises that brought thousands of new workers into the party's fold and threw up hundreds of hugely talented men and woman who have both the drive and vision.
While a shake- up in the party was never expected to pose much of a problem, getting rid of the many non-performing ministers was not that easy. Plans earlier for a purge of the old order were met with stiff resistance from the well entrenched. This time, they may not have an option. Congressmen in general know that they have a lot of broken promises to keep. But it is perhaps only Rahul who acknowledges that it is probably the last chance to convince voters that they are worthy leaders ahead of 2014.
Sanjay gets a rare mention in Parliament
For the five years that he was in active politics - which include the Emergency, the Janata wave of 1977 and Indira's triumphant return in 1980 - Sanjay Gandhi remained the most controversial political figure in the country.
He was opposed and despised so much that since his death in an air crash exactly 30 years ago, even his most committed former followers, some of whom are powerful ministers in the UPA government, dare not take his name. It therefore came as a surprise to me last week when during a debate in the Lok Sabha on population growth, the JD( U)' s Sharad Yadav praised Sanjay to the skies.
Remember, Yadav was at the forefront of Jaiprakash Narayan's Total Revolution movement which led to the Emergency, during which he was jailed. Surprise, surprise, but this is what he said last week: " Some people blame Sanjay Gandhi. But I feel something has to be done to arrest the spiralling population. Sanjay felt issues such as population should be dealt with a strong hand. I feel that along with incentives there is a need for harsh measures and only then can a solution be found." And this is what health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, a member of what was then known as the Sanjay brigade, had to say: " There is a difference between Sanjay Gandhi's days and now.
We are not going to force anything.
Everything has to be done through awareness and voluntarily." Though it was just a reiteration of oft- stated government policy, it was amusing to see the eagerness of some leaders to show that they are already practicing what the government is preaching.
Mulayam Singh Yadav vouched he had only one son, Sushma Swaraj said she had just one daughter and Maneka Gandhi also said she adhered to the one- child norm. It was just as well that Lalu Prasad, a father of nine, was not present.
On a more serious note, it was heartening to see our elected representatives give the subject the attention it deserves.
A lesson in national interest by GenNext
While the old guard in Parliament kept up their favourite pastime of hammering away at each other, there was an unexpected and upbeat message of hope and reassurance when young MP's cutting across party lines came together and put up an unprecedented display of solidarity over the troubled paradise that is Kashmir.
A joint statement they released suggested they were appealing to the youth in the Valley to shun violence and settle for dialogue, but Parliament's youth brigade left no one in doubt that they were rallying around Omar Abdullah, who at 40, is India's youngest chief minister.
Considering the deep divide in Parliament, the cross party concern for one from their own generation should serve as a powerful symbol of what can be achieved if the national interest is put before partisan political interest. In Parliament's central hall, I saw Priya Dutt and Deependra Hooda going around enlisting support for the statement and the 38 signatories represented the entire political spectrum. There is speculation about the brain behind the show and the list of signatories indicates that it was the Rahul Hand that took the initiative for this morale booster for common friend Omar.
Akhilesh Yadav ( SP), Anurag Thakur ( BJP), Dushyant Chowdhary ( INLD), and other Opposition scions who signed the statement are all Rahul's political rivals, yet share a close personal rapport with him. More importantly, like Rahul, they believe that for the larger good, it is important that politicians set aside their narrow partisan interests.
The scenes inside Parliament where the old guard was busy pointing fingers and outside where the young MPs jointly addressed the media showed just how wide the chasm has become.
So, was the joint show intended to tell the grand old men and women that they don't intend to follow in their footsteps? For the country's sake, I hope so. At least we can be sure that the future is in safe and capable hands.
****
Watching the powerful Yadav troika in Parliament reminds me of the British MP who was in the habit of intervening in every debate and after waxing eloquent for six hours or more would conclude by saying " Mr Speaker Sir, with these brief words, let me conclude". Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav are among the senior most members of the Lok Sabha who know their rights but seem blissfully unaware of their responsibilities.
If Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar had acted like the school marm that she was reputed to be, they wouldn't have been allowed to waste the precious time of the house as they do now. The trio don't even wait for the end of question time for zero hour to begin before launching their daily assaults. Backbenchers are irked to see the three raising their hands in unison with a supplementary for every question raised in the house. What's more, many of the junior ministers seem intimidated by their aggressive postures. Last Friday, Lalu was at his aggressive worst trying to corner the government on the non- performing assets of public sector banks. But he chose the wrong target, as finance minister Pranab Mukherjee told him bluntly that he will not reveal the names of the industrialists who are in the NPA list.
The scathing putdown nearly set off a round of loud desk thumping, but by then Lalu had made his customary walkout.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/108446/India/out-with-old-in-with-new.html
Last week, in Parliament and the corridors of power, inside TV studios and in newsrooms across the country, one question was being hotly debated by politicians, journalists, opinion makers and those who like to be known as just analysts: Why were the Gandhis keeping a stoic silence when the government was being hauled over the coals by the Opposition which suddenly seems to have discovered a spring in its step? While the Prime Minister and his A-team were under fire for multiple failures on the price front, Kashmir, Naxalism and now the Commonwealth Games fiasco, both Sonia and Rahul were nowhere to be seen. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refrained from making a symbolic intervention. The Gen Next, once the Congress's in- house shoutdown- the- enemy brigade, kept a low profile while the UPA ministers and AICC functionaries, rather than taking on the Opposition, were busy settling scores with each other.
A brief interaction with the ruling party's many Mr Know-alls in the central hall of Parliament last week has now convinced me that the Gandhis are aiming to make drastic changes both in the government and the party establishment. The dilemma that faces them is: How to wield the axe without spilling much blood.
The exercise is expected to start next month with the re- election of Sonia as the Congress President, a mere formality. She would then become the first Congress leader to hold the post for over a decade without a break. After Indira, Sonia remains the only Congress leader in more than four decades to steer the party to a second consecutive victory in the general elections.
In the party, she shares with Rahul, now the most popular leader in the Congress if not the country, a veto power that no other Congress functionary has. I understand that they are giving finishing touches and waiting for Parliament's monsoon session to get over to effect a massive shake up aimed at revitalising the party and the government.
The objective is clear: Four years from now, the Congress must win a majority on its own.
To raise its current tally from the current 206 to 272 plus, the party has no option but to concentrate on Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka and choose leaders who can make a difference.
Manmohan Singh Experience has taught the leadership that it is not the performance but a perfect connect with the local leaders and voters that is vital to ensure victory. At the moment, there is an utter lack of compatibility between high-profile ministers and senior party functionaries.
Party leaders have for long lamented that, with the disconnect that exists between the government and the organisation, it is difficult for the latter to carry the message across to the grassroots. I am told some of the senior ministers who command respect may be moved over to the organisation with a view to make Congress ministers accountable to the party. Armchair strategists who wax eloquent at seminars and TV debates may have to give way to those with a readiness to face the heat and dust and take the rough and tumble of Bharat.
So far, Rahul has studiously stayed away from the politics of the parent organisation even as he energised the Youth Congress to make it a parallel power centre.
The genuine competitive elections for Youth Congress officebearers that were held across the country at Rahul's directions were, in reality, talent scouting exercises that brought thousands of new workers into the party's fold and threw up hundreds of hugely talented men and woman who have both the drive and vision.
While a shake- up in the party was never expected to pose much of a problem, getting rid of the many non-performing ministers was not that easy. Plans earlier for a purge of the old order were met with stiff resistance from the well entrenched. This time, they may not have an option. Congressmen in general know that they have a lot of broken promises to keep. But it is perhaps only Rahul who acknowledges that it is probably the last chance to convince voters that they are worthy leaders ahead of 2014.
Sanjay gets a rare mention in Parliament
For the five years that he was in active politics - which include the Emergency, the Janata wave of 1977 and Indira's triumphant return in 1980 - Sanjay Gandhi remained the most controversial political figure in the country.
He was opposed and despised so much that since his death in an air crash exactly 30 years ago, even his most committed former followers, some of whom are powerful ministers in the UPA government, dare not take his name. It therefore came as a surprise to me last week when during a debate in the Lok Sabha on population growth, the JD( U)' s Sharad Yadav praised Sanjay to the skies.
Remember, Yadav was at the forefront of Jaiprakash Narayan's Total Revolution movement which led to the Emergency, during which he was jailed. Surprise, surprise, but this is what he said last week: " Some people blame Sanjay Gandhi. But I feel something has to be done to arrest the spiralling population. Sanjay felt issues such as population should be dealt with a strong hand. I feel that along with incentives there is a need for harsh measures and only then can a solution be found." And this is what health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, a member of what was then known as the Sanjay brigade, had to say: " There is a difference between Sanjay Gandhi's days and now.
We are not going to force anything.
Everything has to be done through awareness and voluntarily." Though it was just a reiteration of oft- stated government policy, it was amusing to see the eagerness of some leaders to show that they are already practicing what the government is preaching.
Mulayam Singh Yadav vouched he had only one son, Sushma Swaraj said she had just one daughter and Maneka Gandhi also said she adhered to the one- child norm. It was just as well that Lalu Prasad, a father of nine, was not present.
On a more serious note, it was heartening to see our elected representatives give the subject the attention it deserves.
A lesson in national interest by GenNext
While the old guard in Parliament kept up their favourite pastime of hammering away at each other, there was an unexpected and upbeat message of hope and reassurance when young MP's cutting across party lines came together and put up an unprecedented display of solidarity over the troubled paradise that is Kashmir.
A joint statement they released suggested they were appealing to the youth in the Valley to shun violence and settle for dialogue, but Parliament's youth brigade left no one in doubt that they were rallying around Omar Abdullah, who at 40, is India's youngest chief minister.
Considering the deep divide in Parliament, the cross party concern for one from their own generation should serve as a powerful symbol of what can be achieved if the national interest is put before partisan political interest. In Parliament's central hall, I saw Priya Dutt and Deependra Hooda going around enlisting support for the statement and the 38 signatories represented the entire political spectrum. There is speculation about the brain behind the show and the list of signatories indicates that it was the Rahul Hand that took the initiative for this morale booster for common friend Omar.
Akhilesh Yadav ( SP), Anurag Thakur ( BJP), Dushyant Chowdhary ( INLD), and other Opposition scions who signed the statement are all Rahul's political rivals, yet share a close personal rapport with him. More importantly, like Rahul, they believe that for the larger good, it is important that politicians set aside their narrow partisan interests.
The scenes inside Parliament where the old guard was busy pointing fingers and outside where the young MPs jointly addressed the media showed just how wide the chasm has become.
So, was the joint show intended to tell the grand old men and women that they don't intend to follow in their footsteps? For the country's sake, I hope so. At least we can be sure that the future is in safe and capable hands.
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Watching the powerful Yadav troika in Parliament reminds me of the British MP who was in the habit of intervening in every debate and after waxing eloquent for six hours or more would conclude by saying " Mr Speaker Sir, with these brief words, let me conclude". Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav are among the senior most members of the Lok Sabha who know their rights but seem blissfully unaware of their responsibilities.
If Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar had acted like the school marm that she was reputed to be, they wouldn't have been allowed to waste the precious time of the house as they do now. The trio don't even wait for the end of question time for zero hour to begin before launching their daily assaults. Backbenchers are irked to see the three raising their hands in unison with a supplementary for every question raised in the house. What's more, many of the junior ministers seem intimidated by their aggressive postures. Last Friday, Lalu was at his aggressive worst trying to corner the government on the non- performing assets of public sector banks. But he chose the wrong target, as finance minister Pranab Mukherjee told him bluntly that he will not reveal the names of the industrialists who are in the NPA list.
The scathing putdown nearly set off a round of loud desk thumping, but by then Lalu had made his customary walkout.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/108446/India/out-with-old-in-with-new.html
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