“Stealth Campaign” of Al Gore…..and the whole world is waiting for a “Goracle”!!

“Will he run?”….That’s the unanimous Question about Al Gore, which is in mind of every American today and the whole world at large! There is no denial that with a smallest possible allusion, Al Gore will be able to mount a formidable presidential campaign this autumn. According to Elaine Kamarck, a former senor policy advisor, “He Would have all the people who have been with him in the past and all those who have become involved in his work on climate change.”

As reported in Sunday Times, all the features of a stealth campaign are in place. Gore is receiving rock star treatment and chants of “Run, Al, run” on the coast –to-cost of The Assault on Reason, his new book attacking the “politics of fear” of the George Bush era, while 1,000 trained volunteers are promoting his slide show about global warming in schools and meeting rooms. In July, his Live Earth concerts will give him a global audience from New York to London and Shanghai.

The democrats currently have the “luxury” to choose between their presidential candidate. On one hand they have a young and audacious candidate with the grassroots appeal of Barack Obama—someone with a message that transcends politics, someone who spoke out loud and clear and early against the war in Iraq. But on the other hand, they have a candidate with the operational toughness of Hillary Clinton—someone with experience and credibility on the world stage and who could be first ever woman president of United States.

But with all due respect to both of them as well as other democratic presidential candidates, there is one democrat who has taken the whole United States and world at large by storm with his deeds and intellect and has attained the stature of a brilliant human being and politician. And that candidate is Mr. Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr.

Millions of Democratic activists are exasperated that their party didn't live up to it's role as the loyal opposition-- watching in dismay as the Bush administration met little resistance from the legislature on issue after issue. What the Democrats need is a candidate who has always stood unequivocally against the invasion of Iraq, and who has never hesitated to speak out against the Bush administration's power grabs, from the Patriot Act through the NSA wiretapping scandal. They need a nationally recognized figure with strong national security and foreign policy credentials, with the moral authority to capture the imagination of "values voters" on the left, right, and center. No one fits this description, with one exception.... Al Gore stands alone as the conscience of the Democratic Party.

AS reported in Time magazine by Eric Pooley, what US needs today is someone like Al Gore—the improbably charismatic, Academy Award–winning, Nobel Prize–nominated environmental prophet with an army of followers and huge reserves of political and cultural capital at his command. There's only one problem. The former Vice President just doesn't seem interested. He says he has "fallen out of love with politics," which is shorthand for both his general disgust with the process and the pain he still feels over the hard blow of the 2000 election, when he became only the fourth man in U.S. history to win the popular vote but lose a presidential election. In the face of wrenching disappointment, he showed enormous discipline—waking up every day knowing he came so close, believing the Supreme Court was dead wrong to shut down the Florida recount but never talking about it publicly because he didn't want Americans to lose faith in their system. That changes a man forever.

Eric Pooley further observes that Gore knows it's in his interest to keep the door ajar. It builds curiosity. Before he could get serious about running, however, he would have to come to terms with the scars of 2000 and accept the possibility that he could lose again in 2008. That prospect may be too much to bear. "If he ran, there's no question in my mind that he would be elected," says Steve Jobs. "But I think there's a question in his mind, perhaps because the pain of the last election runs a lot deeper than he lets most of us see." There's an even deeper issue here, and with Gore, it's always the deepest issue that counts. What's at stake is not just Gore losing another election. It's Gore losing himself—returning to politics and, in the process, losing touch with the man he has become.

It would be pertinent to quote Steve Jobs of Apple. He says “"We have dug ourselves into a 20-ft. hole, and we need somebody who knows how to build a ladder. Al's the guy," says, "Like many others, I have tried my best to convince him. So far, no luck." He further states, “We’re hoping that he will stand because we believe his impact on the global stage will be critical. We are awed by his intelligence, his kindness, his experience and his stature in the world. If he ran, there’s no question in my mind that he would be elected. But I think that there is a question in his mind.”

So why doesn't Gore show more interest in 2008? Partly because he's too busy (saving the planet while Bush is in office isn't exactly a part time job), and partly because he's one of the few potential candidates who can wait to decide. David Moorehouse, Gore's 2000 Senior Counselor asserts, "Gore can wait longer than other candidates, because he can raise money on the Internet.... Should he decide to run, he can raise $15 million in two days." It wouldn't be smart for Gore to signal an interest in 2008 too soon. Donna Brazile, his campaign manager in 2000, believes that the best way for Gore to win in 2008 is to continue his work off the campaign trail for as long as possible. In an article for Roll Call entitled "The Best Thing Al Gore Can Do Is Not Run — for Now," she observes: "Throughout our history, Americans have been known to fall deeply in love with non-candidates for president."

Some people who know Gore assume he's biding his time, waiting to pounce; since he's at 12% in the polls—tied with John Edwards, without even being in the race—he would easily get on the primary ballots if he declared before the deadlines. He may not be rich enough to self-finance, but with his Apple and Google stock, Web following and Silicon Valley connections, money wouldn't be a huge problem either. "He just has to say the word," says a wealthy friend. But those who know him well would be very surprised if it happened. He hasn't built a shadow organization. His travel isn't calibrated to the primaries. And he's just not thinking much about politics anymore. "He used to be intensely interested in political gossip—who's up in the latest poll, and did you hear about so-and-so," says Carter Eskew, an old friend and former media adviser. "I haven't had a conversation like that with him since 2002 or 2003 [around the time he decided not to seek a rematch against Bush]. He's moved on, at least for the time being." In recent months, as Gore moneymen were recruited by other campaigns, they checked in with Gore. "I said, 'If I'm raising money for the wrong person, please tell me,'" says one. "Everyone asked that question, and his answer was always the same: 'Don't keep your money in your pocket waiting for me.'"

"It happens all the time," says Tipper Gore. "Everybody wants to take him for a walk in the woods. He won't go. He's not doing it!" But even Tipper—so happy and relieved to see her husband freed up after 30 years in politics—knows better than to say never: "If the feeling came over him and he had to do it, of course I'd be with him." Perhaps that feeling never comes over him. Maybe Obama or Clinton or John Edwards achieves bulletproof inevitability and Gore never sees his opening. But if it does come, if at some point in the next five months or so the leader stumbles and the party has one of its periodic crises of faith, then he will have to decide once and for all whether to take a final shot at reaching his life's dream. It's the Last Temptation of Gore, and it's one reason he has been so careful not to rule out a presidential bid. Is it far-fetched to think that his grassroots climate campaign could yet turn into a presidential one? As the recovering politician himself says, "You always have to worry about a relapse."

He was never quite the wooden Indian his detractors made him out to be in 2000 (nor did he claim to have invented the Internet), but he did carry himself with a slightly anachronistic Southern formality that was magnified beneath the klieg lights of the campaign. And his fascination with science and technology struck some voters (and other politicians) as weird. "In politics you want to be a half-step ahead," says Elaine Kamarck, his friend and former domestic-policy adviser. "You don't want to be three steps ahead." But now his scientific bent has been vindicated. The Internet is as big a deal as he said it would be. Global warming is as scary as he had warned. He wasn't being messianic, as people used to say, just prescient. And today he's still the same serious guy he always was, but the context has changed around him. He used to spend his time in Washington, but now his tech work takes him to Silicon Valley, to the campuses of Apple and Google, where his kind of intellectual firepower is celebrated. At Apple, where Jobs invited him to join the board in 2003, Gore patiently nudged the CEO to adopt a new Greener Apple program that will eliminate toxic chemicals from the company's products by next year. Last summer, Gore led the committee that investigated an Apple scandal—the backdating of stock options in the years before Gore joined the board—and cleared Jobs of wrongdoing. Political people were surprised Gore took that controversial assignment. "That's silly," he says.
Gore's role at Google is less formal. He started as a senior adviser when it was still a small company, before the IPO. "I assumed he'd give us geopolitical advice," says CEO Eric Schmidt, "and he did—but he was also superb at management and leadership. He likes to dive into teams that don't get a lot of attention—real engine-room stuff, like problems inside an advertising support group. He offers his strategies and solutions and then goes on his way. It's fun for him."
"It aggravates me when people say, 'He's the real Al Gore now' or 'He's changed,'" says Tipper. "Excuse me! He hasn't changed that much. This is somebody I have always known." The old Gore, she says, "was an unfair stereotype painted by cliques in the media and Republican opponents. Now, yes, there were constraints"—the vice presidency, the Monica mess, the campaign—"that weighed on him. And, yes, you grow and you change and you learn. So I see the same person, and I also see a new person who is free and liberated and doing exactly what he wants to do. And that is fabulous."
That's the person Gore would risk losing if he re-entered politics. "He learned something from his very difficult time after 2000," says Schmidt. "I think he got more comfortable with who he is. He had to go through a difficult personal transformation in order to achieve greatness. That sets him up for the next chapter. I have no idea what he'll do. My advice is to do whatever he's most passionate about. Because that is working." (Eric Pooley in Time Magazine)

The whole experience of 2000 election has changed Gore for the better. He dedicated himself to a larger cause, doing everything in his power to sound the alarm about the climate crisis to wake the whole world out of its “Sleep of Procrastination”, and that decision helped transform the way Americans think about global warming and carried Gore to a new state of grace. So now the question becomes, how will he choose to spend all the capital he has accumulated? No wonder friends, party elders, moneymen and green leaders are still trying to talk him into running. Gore was quoted recently in The New Yorker about his ambitions for 2008 as "I really do not expect that I will be a candidate. If I did expect to be a candidate again, I would probably not feel the same freedom to let it rip in these speeches."

The popularity of Al gore and covetous expectancy by his die hard fans for Al Gore’s decision to run for 2008 presidential elections is evident with the campaign “draftgore.com”. These campaigners are grassroots Democrats from across the country who believe Al Gore is the true voice of their party and the only leader and statesman who can return the White House back to the American people. Their Web site boasts 70,000 signatures on its Draft Gore petition. They are not affiliated with any candidate or political party. Their supporters include members of Democratic Party organizations at all levels, but they take pride in being truly a grassroots movement -- one that's neither financed nor orchestrated by the powerful, but that builds on the enthusiasm and passion of the American people. These campaigners still believe in an America in which the people can and will make a difference. They are committed to doing all they can to promote Al Gore's candidacy. Recently it was reported on draftgore.com that 44% democrats from Iowa want Al Gore to run for president even though he has not yet thrown his hat in race for next US president in 2008.
A recently concluded The Quinnipiac University poll showed that non-candidate Gore, who lost the 2000 presidential race to George W. Bush in a controversial Florida showdown, could do better than Hillary Clinton against Giuliani in those states. Giuliani led the now-global warming activist 47-43 per cent in Florida and the two were tied at 44 per cent each in Pennsylvania. But Gore trailed Giuliani in Ohio much more, with the poll 47-39 per cent for the Republican. "Mayor Rudolph Giuliani remains the front-runner, but he and the entire Democratic field should wonder if Al Gore will become an inconvenient truth in the 2008 presidential race and go for the biggest Oscar of them all," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

As reported by Eric Pooley in Time Magazine, Gore is not carrying a mirror. He's not selling himself; he's selling a cause, a journey. There are no consultants fussing at him, telling him how to be himself. "There's no question I'm freed up," he says. "I don't want to suggest that it's impossible to be free and authentic within the political process, but it's obviously harder. Another person might be better at it than I was. And it's also true that the process is changing and that it may become freer in time. Obama is rising because he is talking about politics in a way that feels fresh to people ... But anyway, I came through all of that"—he waves a hand that seems to encompass everything, the advisers pecking at him, the attacks in the media, his own mistakes, the unspeakable Florida debacle—"and I guess I changed. And now it is easier for me to just let it fly. It's like they say: What doesn't kill me makes me stronger." What would this Gore be like as a candidate? This Gore is just not all that tempted to find out.

The best thing about his documentary “The Inconvenient Truth” is that it has made many people across the globe to see this crisis through his lens. The awareness has multiplied innumerably and many personalities from the world of Hollywood, sports and music are coming forward to unite with him in this cause. The film leaves a more direct political thought. You watch and you curse the single vote on the U.S. Supreme Court that denied this man — passionate, well-informed and right — the Presidency of the U.S. in favour of George W. Bush. You realise what a different world we would live in now if just a few hundred votes had gone to Mr. Gore (rather than, say, Ralph Nader) that fateful day. But you also remember what that election turned on. The conventional wisdom held that Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush were so similar on policy — Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, the pundits said — that the election was about personality. On that measure, Mr. Bush had the edge. Sure, he couldn't name any world leader, but the polls gave him a higher likeability rating. If you had to have a beer with one of them, who would you choose? Americans said Mr. Bush, every time.
Even that was not enough to give Mr. Bush a greater number of votes: remember, Mr. Gore got more of those. But it got him closer than he should have been. And the world has been living with the consequences ever since.

But Americans should ask themselves: is this any basis for choosing a leader? Surely we should choose the man of substance, no matter how he looks in a fleece or how breezily he can talk about his iPod. America made that mistake already and we are all paying the price. Let us not repeat it. In the end, I feel that the question will be decided by Al Gore's sense of duty. He knows that his party, and more importantly, his country, needs him. He will answer the call to serve, as he always has.

"Divine Intervention" never happened!!!!

So after last three agonizing weeks of pain and suffering, my cousin died at 3 in the afternoon today! It’s an excruciating moment for our entire family.

Although we were hoping for a miracle and some sort of divine intervention, it unfortunately never happened. The man was a good son, a good husband, a good father and most of all a good brother. He never did anything wrong to anybody on this planet. He lost his father when he was three and now his children are facing the same trauma which he had suffered as a child. Most of all, my heart cries for his mother, who lost her husband when she was very young and now losing her son was the last thing that she had ever imagined! Why is nature so cruel? What has it achieved by leaving two children fatherless, a woman widowed and a mother sobbing over the death of her only son???? This makes me livid and perturbed. The only message that I can give to his children is as in the words of Abraham Lincoln.

“In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares. The older have learned to ever expect it. I am anxious to afford some alleviation of your present distress. Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You can not now realize that you will ever feel better. Is not this so? And yet it is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again. To know this, which is certainly true, will make you some less miserable now.”

Now the only divine intervention that I am hoping for is that his whole family should come out of this mournful moment at the earliest and that they will have a bright and blissful future ahead!

My dear Brother, Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal and may your soul recline peacefully in Heaven. God Bless you and I will always miss your presence sorely!

All my grief and sorrow is summed up by this mournful poem written by Abraham Lincoln.

I hear the loved survivors tell
How naught from death could save,
Till every sound appears a knell,
And every spot a grave.

Remarkable Speech by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at CII!!!!

As reported by Indian express on 25^th May, 2007, the prime minister has been talking to us once every two days — 529 speeches in the 1095 days (three years) he has been in office. Was his 529th speech, delivered at the CII annual general meeting yesterday, something different? Did we hear a different Manmohan Singh? We did. The Prime Minister used some terminologies like “inclusive growth”, “conspicuous consumption”, “ostentatious expenditure,” etc. which demonstrated his concerns for “Bharat”. One of the most striking features of this whole speech was the use of word “vulgar” with respect to the ostentatious expenditure by the rich and famous.

It was heartening to see that our Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh delivered a speech which epitomized his credibility as one of the most Intellectual Politician that this country has ever produced! Although critics may say that it was an attempt to please “the aam aadmi” and the left, the speech entailed his concerns for a society for which inclusive growth is the paramount requirement. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh outlined a Ten Point Social Charter for inclusive growth while inaugurating the National Conference and Annual Session 2007 of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in New Delhi on May 24. His speech deeply resonated with the need of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, respect for workers and invest in their welfare, pro-activeness in offering employment to the less privileged at all levels of the job ladder, to invest in people and in their skills, to desist from non-competitive behavior, to invest in environment-friendly technologies, to promote enterprise and innovation, to fight corruption at all levels and promote socially responsible media. But the most talked about point was his reservations towards the excessive emoluments of executives and promoters, which unfortunately overshadowed his phenomenal ‘Ten Point Social Charter’ in media. I truly believe that the emoluments of anyone should commensurate with the work that he is designated. Every executive and promoter, like a craftsman, is responsible for crafting a successful corporation with his intellect, creativity, dexterity and innovation. Today, exorbitant salaries are offered to CEO’s in order to keep up with the “global norms”. If the salaries are not proportionate to these “international standards”, then there is every possibility of the talent being soaked by the rivals. As expected, the Prime Minister’s thinking about restriction of CEO’s salaries is not in consonance with the opinion of India Inc., who seems to be divided over this issue. CII and ASSOCHAM have already stated that the remuneration should be left to companies themselves while FICCI said it would consider the issue. The statement of the new President of the Confederation of Indian Industry Sunil Mittal is quite pertinent here. He said, "These things cannot be legislated. Shortage of skills in key areas at the top level is a serious and genuine problem specifically in the services industry, which is facing pressure of high salaries". He, however, said that there should be a co-relation between the size of a company and the salaries to their employees.

I believe that this should not eclipse the gist and essence of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s entire speech, which should be considered in its entirety. If the India Inc. makes a sincere and diligent Endeavour to adhere to this “Ten Point Social Charter”, it will be beneficial to the society at large.

I would like to reproduce this must-read speech (As released on http://pmindia.nic.in) in verbatim, which is as undermentioned.

PM’s address at CII annual general meeting – 2007

May 24, 2007
New Delhi

“Thank you very much for inviting me to share my thoughts on “Inclusive Growth – Challenges for Corporate India”. Our Government has just completed three years in office. On this occasion, we released a “Report to The People”, setting out in great detail the policies and programmes we have been pursuing to make our economic growth processes socially and regionally more inclusive. In my remarks, day before yesterday, I clearly stated that the guiding principle of our Government has been to ensure that, while sustaining higher rates of economic growth, the improved performance of the economy must contribute to employment generation, poverty reduction and human development. The aim of each of our flagship programmes is to ensure that growth is more equitable and that it empowers the most deprived of our citizens.

I do believe that we have a reasonably good story to tell. I will come to the growth story later. However, I do recognize that we have a long way to go in addressing the needs and concerns of all sections of our society, especially the poorest among us. Our Government came to power to address their felt needs and aspirations. We remain committed to that goal and that vision.

Employment generation is one important pillar of any strategy of inclusive growth. I continue to believe that while we continue to focus on agriculture and accelerate its growth, we must also focus on creating far more jobs in manufacturing. Given the small size of our farm-holdings and the limits to which technology can go in making farming on these small holdings viable, it is imperative that we rapidly expand the creation of jobs in the manufacturing sector which alone can absorb the large surplus manpower in our rural areas. This is an axiom which all political leaders and opinion makers must realise if we have to provide a decent livelihood to all our people.

While our Government will continue to create an environment friendly for the growth of manufacturing, leaders of industry must also facilitate employment creation in their industries. This requires expansion of economic activity, investment in human capabilities and the pursuit of socially, politically, environmentally, and financially sustainable growth processes. Our Government has its role and responsibility, and we recognize that so do the better off sections of our society. This is where I look to the CII for leadership.

While I am on the subject I should like to pay my tribute to the leadership of the CII. In the last 15 or 16 years, your association, your organization has played a glorious role in moulding the mindsets of our people to face the challenges that lie ahead of our country. I congratulate you and I thank you on behalf of a grateful nation. As I stand before you, I am reminded of the perceptive words of Lord Keynes on the positive social role of private enterprise in 19th century Europe. Writing in The Economic Consequences of Peace, in the year 1925 I believe, Lord Keynes said:

“…European Society was so framed as to throw a great part of the increased income into the control of the class least likely to consume it. The new rich of the 19th century were not brought up to large expenditures, and preferred the power which investment gave them to the pleasures of immediate consumption. In fact, it was precisely the inequality of the distribution of wealth which made possible those vast accumulations of fixed wealth and of capital improvements which distinguished that age from all others. If the rich had spent their new wealth on their own enjoyments, the world would long ago have found such a régime intolerable. But like bees (these captains of industry) they saved and accumulated, not less to the advantage of the whole community... (they) were allowed to call the best part of the cake theirs and were theoretically free to consume it, on the tacit underlying condition that they consumed very little of it in practice. The duty of "saving" became nine-tenths of virtue and the growth of the cake the object of true religion.” That is how modern capitalism has developed as a powerful entity in transforming social, economic and political scene all over.

You have all been the beneficiaries of our improved growth performance. When I read about the growing number of Indian millionaires and billionaires, about Indian companies buying up multinationals abroad, about our clogged airports, about the real estate boom, about new holiday destinations, about soaring CEO compensations, I know that you have benefited from the growth process.

I also know that increasingly you benchmark yourself against global practices. I appreciate the fact that a corporate entity’s primary responsibility is to its shareholders and to its employees. Your businesses have to be globally competitive. However, even to win this race, you must work in a harmonious environment, an environment in which all citizens feel equally involved in processes of economic growth; an environment in which each citizen sees hope for a better future for him and for his or her children.

In a modern, democratic society, business must realize its wider social responsibility. The time has come for the better off sections of our society - not just in organized industry but in all walks of life - to understand the need to make our growth process more inclusive; to eschew conspicuous consumption; to save more and waste less; to care for those who are less privileged and less well off; to be role models of probity, moderation and charity.

Indian industry must, therefore, rise to the challenge of making our growth processes both efficient and inclusive. This is our endeavor in Government. It will have to be yours too and I seek your partnership in making a success of this giant national enterprise. If those who are better off do not act in a more socially responsible manner, our growth process may be at risk, our polity may become anarchic and our society may get further divided. We cannot afford these luxuries.

I invite corporate India to be a partner in making ours a more humane and just society. We need a new Partnership for Inclusive Growth based on, as what I would describe as, a Ten-Point Social Charter.

First, have a healthy respect for your workers and invest in their welfare. In their health and their children’s education, give them pension and provident fund benefits, and so on. Unless workers feel they are cared for at work, we can never evolve a national consensus in favour of much needed more flexible labour laws aimed at ensuring that our firms remain globally competitive.

Two, corporate social responsibility must not be defined by tax planning strategies alone. Rather, it should be defined within the framework of a corporate philosophy which factors the needs of the community and the regions in which a corporate entity functions. This is not an imported western management notion. It is a part of our cultural heritage. Shri Seshasayeeji quoted Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi called it trusteeship. It is based on the idea that the wealthy have an obligation to society and balance in nature. Responsibilities commensurate with their rights. I am aware that some of our companies are doing creditable work. I compliment them. But we need more such inspiring examples. I appeal through the CII to our industry to come forward in a much more substantial manner and engage extensively in activities which benefit society at large.

Three, industry must be pro-active in offering employment to the less privileged, at all levels of the job ladder. The representation companies give to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other Backward Classes, Minorities and Women, in their workforce and staff must increase. I am, therefore, encouraged by CII’s Report on Affirmative Action. I commend your example. I hope it will be widely emulated.

Its recommendations should be implemented by CII members in a time-bound manner. I look forward to credible results at an early date. You must show sensitivity to those who are physically less-abled, in providing a work‑place conducive to their employment. You must employ retired members of our gallant Armed Forces who spend their youth defending our nation but retire at a relatively young age.

Four, resist excessive remuneration to promoters and senior executives and discourage conspicuous consumption. In a country with extreme poverty, industry needs to be moderate in the emoluments levels it adopts. Rising income and wealth inequalities, if not matched by a corresponding rise of incomes across the nation, can lead to social unrest. The electronic media carries the lifestyles of the rich and famous into every village and every slum. Media often highlights the vulgar display of their wealth. An area of great concern is the level of ostentatious expenditure on weddings and other family events. Such vulgarity insults the poverty of the less privileged, it is socially wasteful and it plants seeds of resentment in the minds of the have-nots.

Five, invest in people and in their skills. Offer scholarships to promising young people. Fill young people with hope in their future. High rates of growth mean nothing for those who are unable to find employment. We must invest in skill-building and education to make our youth employable. Here too, I appreciate the CII’s initiative CII in upgrading ITIs. This is a very good beginning, but there is more to be done. Indian Industry must allocate sufficient resources to skill development, either managing ITIs or setting up a network of Greenfield Skill Development Centres across the country. CII’s current efforts need to be multiplied a 1000 times and Indian companies need to allocate resources for this vital work of building the capabilities of India’s youth.

Six, desist from non-competitive behaviour. The operation of cartels by groups of companies to keep prices high must end. It is unacceptable to obstruct the forces of competition from having freer play. It is even more distressing in a country where the poor are severely affected by rising commodity prices. Cartels are a crime and go against the grain of an open economy. Even profit maximization should be within the bounds of decency and greed! If a liberalized economy has to succeed, we must give full play to competitive forces and the private sector should show some self-restraint in this regard.

Seven, invest in environment-friendly technologies. India's growth must be enhanced and, yet, our environment and ecology must be protected and safeguarded for our future generations. Industry has an enormous role to play in this regard. Evidence shows that many of our companies are becoming increasingly environment friendly. Our track record in resource use is good, but must improve further. Conservation of natural resources is a national mission. Industry can and must provide leadership on this front. As a country of a billion plus people, with a scarcity of natural resources on a per capita basis, we cannot afford the wasteful lifestyles of the Western world. Conspicuous consumption must be reduced not just because it is socially undesirable at our level of development but also because it is environmentally unsustainable.

Eight, promote enterprise and innovation, within your firms and outside. If our industry has to make the leap to the next stage of development, it must be far more innovative and enterprising. The success story of the last two decades has been the emergence of a large number of first generation enterprise. As industry aims to master increasingly complex technologies and becomes organizationally more complex, it must try to maintain its competitive edge by investing in R&D and innovation and promotion of enterprise. While government can do its bit, the larger burden is on industry.

Nine, fight corruption at all levels. The cancer of corruption is eating into the vitals of our body politic. For every recipient of a bribe there is a benefactor and beneficiary. Corruption need not be the grease that oils the wheels of progress. There are many successful companies today that have refused to yield to this temptation. I commend them. Others must follow. Businessmen who enter politics should erect a Chinese wall between their political activities and their businesses. CII should develop Codes of Conduct for their members with respect to business practices and for control of corruption.

Ten, promote socially responsible media and finance socially responsible advertising. Through your advertisement budgets and your investments in media you can encourage socially responsible media to grow and to flourish. You can promote socially relevant messages and causes.

These are 10 areas in which industry leadership can go a long way to ensure that our growth process is both inclusive and broad-based. This is not an exhaustive list. You may wish to add to it, and adopt your own Social Charter for inclusive growth. The objective of such a Social Charter would also be to encourage a culture of saving and investment. A culture of caring, sharing and belonging. We must end forever the debate whether our country’s march of progress has benefited India and not Bharat. India is Bharat.

The Social Charter I have spoken of is your responsibility to society at large. We in the government have our obligation to you as well. I firmly believe that the creation of wealth is the only way of addressing the formidable challenges of economic transformation that our country faces. And wealth can be created only through enterprise and creativity. We are committed as a government to work with industry for the transformation of our economic and social landscape. We do not believe in an adversarial relationship with industry but in a genuine partnership. We have worked hard to create a business friendly environment, an environment which is conducive to rapid growth.

The results are there for all to see. It is not by accident that the average rate of economic growth has been 9% in the last three years. It is not by chance that the savings rate of the country is 32% of GDP and the rate of investment has touched an all-time peak of 35% of our GDP. It is not by luck that the manufacturing sector is booming. It is not by good fortune that inward FDI is close to twenty billion dollars now. It is not by a miracle that we are today a trillion dollar economy. These are the results of balanced, prudent economic policies; policies which have focused on strengthening every aspect of infrastructure including airports, roads, railways and ports; policies which have reduced our revenue and fiscal deficits; policies which have promoted greater investment, both domestic and foreign; policies which have given a boost to manufacturing and services; policies which are designed to harvest the demographic dividend we are beginning to get from a youthful workforce; policies which have pushed development into our rural and backward areas; policies which have made India a great place to do business.

These are good times for Indian enterprise. Your energy and enterprise are making its mark globally. The world is beginning to look at us with respect, because they see Indian professionals and Indian businessmen competing and winning on the world stage. You have every reason to celebrate this success; to reap its rewards; to live more comfortably. But never forget that we are what we are because of what our Motherland has given us. The time has come for us to ask ourselves what can we give her back. India has made us. We must make Bharat.”

Glory, Glory AC Milan!!!

I am posting this Blog just after the full-time whistle!

As expected, the match was exciting till the last moment! Although Liverpool gave a brave fight, night belonged to AC Milan!

A season which started with a Nightmare has turned out to be a Golden Dream in the end for AC Milan!!! FORZA MILAN!!!!

The Night of "The Champion of Champions"

So today is the D-day…the UEFA Champions League Finale! I am writing this blog just before the kick-off (around twenty minutes to be precise!)

Well this has been an interesting season of European Football….specially what has happened in Serie A which was rocked by the match-fixing scandal. The absence of Juventus was badly felt by every one and as far as my memory goes back, there has not been a single champions League till this one which was played without Juventus! What a season it has been for AC Milan...The way they have emerged from the clouds of Match-fixing is truly commendable!

What a season of European Football it has been!!! Full of stunning performances which were well complemented by equally lack-luster performances. Not even in my wildest dreams, I imagined a rematch of 2005 Finale between Liverpool FC and AC Milan! Every one is talking about “Revenge”... but I believe that it’s going to be a hell of an encounter…it’s a mouth watering clash between two European Giants who have great precedence behind them!!!

Well it’s almost the time for Kick-off and I am off to catch this most anticipated clash of titans!!! Although I am little biased towards AC Milan, I hope that the best team emerges as the “Champion of Champions”!!!

Rajiv Gandhi, A Global Thinker

On 21^st May, 2007, it was the 16^th death Anniversary of Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi. He is known for being India’s Youngest and Dynamic Prime Minister, who was the man with a ‘vision’. What was this vision and what was it that was foreseen by Mr. Gandhi?

Rajiv Gandhi was a modern thinker having a foresight of a great nation which would be the major player in a geopolitical system and world economy. It was evident with the fact that the moment he became the Prime minister of India in 1984, he began dismantling the License Raj - government quotas, tariffs and permit regulations on economic activity. One of his major contributions is modernization of the telecommunications industry, the education system and he was also responsible for expanded science and technology initiatives and improved relations with the United States. Even more than two decades back, he was a global thinker who wanted India to be on par with all the major economies of the world. Rajiv Gandhi was not a natural politician or a Bureaucrat but he was a ‘Technocrat’. He always craved to increase investment in to modern technologies.

The strange thing about Rajiv Gandhi is that he was not a man with an extoordinary academics or qualifications. Till the death of his brother Sanjay Gandhi in 1980 and later assassination of his mother Indira Gandhi in 1984, he had never shown any skyward ambitions towards Indian Politics. He was an heir of the political legacy of his Illustrious Family after the death of Indira Gandhi.

It is believed that unlike his grandfather Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru and his mother Indira Gadhi, Rajiv Gandhi lacked the acumen of a Brilliant Politician due to the lack of intellectual capacity of a luminous Politician. It is said that his contribution to the positive growth of the politics and of the nation is meager and his inept and inexperienced handling of party affairs were responsible for the decline of Congress Party. Also, Rajiv Gandhi’s decision to send Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka in an endeavor to help the government there to eradicate militants agitating for a separate Tamil homeland was a huge mistake which ultimately resulted in his assassination by LTTE. But I believe that these are nothing but apocryphal hypothesis of people who never agreed with his ideology of a progressive and dynamic nation. Rajiv Gandhi was a representative of the youth of the country. I still remember that poignant day of 21^st May, 2007 when he was assassinated as I was an eight year old kid. Evidently at that time, my knowledge of politics and sociology was prosaic and minimal. But I looked up to Rajiv Gandhi, as a great leader who could steer this country out of the problems that it was facing. Although he could not get much opportunity, but whatever he did is still visible in this age of globalization. May be this is what he desired of and may be his imagination was even beyond what we have achieved today. But one thing that I am sure of is that his death was a major blow to this nation and with his loss we lost a global thinker who always thought ahead of his time. It will be a great exercise to imagine what would have been the place of India in world politics if Rajiv Gandhi was still alive. The only thing that can be done is to think, think and think!

So Manchester United Lose....who cares????!!

So it was the coveted Manchester United V/s Chelsea FA Cup Finale ....lots of anticipations to see a thriller…well you may call it a complete rip-off!!

Well the match started with both the teams doing what is called “Mid-field Battle” …which was to some extent annoyingly boring!!! Although I felt that Chelsea was a better team in the first half creating better chances and I must say that Jose Mourinho was bang on target with his strategy which entailed a well organized defense complemented by a disciplined mid-field. So as expected it was 0-0 at half-time!

In first 10 minutes of second half, Chelsea was a better team with a fluency that was really a silver lining in such a stale game!! But after an hour mark Manchester United came back pretty well due to some changes in their strategy and by bringing Alan Smith on! Some really fantastic chances (which I call “sitters”) were missed by Giggs and Rooney!!! They should have scored those precious chances on their way but there was something else which was scripted!!

Match goes in to the extra- time with the score stuck at 0-0! The extra-time started with the same intensity which underlined the whole match with lack of brilliant play on part of both the teams…and it looked like that Peter chezk and Van der sar are all set to decide the destiny of this tie. Then suddenly in 26^th minute of the extra-time, a one touch play between Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard leads the way for Chelsea becoming the 2007 FA cup Champions…and I sighed with relief as the great torture was over…a complete rip- off!!

Feels great!!

It feels good to be back on blogger......
It will be an honest attempt on my part to keep it posted with things that i find relevant to write about!!!!

Peace!!