Deplatforming US President: Are Tech Giants Waking Up?

The last week has been quite eventful, there have been two seemingly unrelated developments involving Facebook that deserve close attention. The bigger event, storming of the US Capitol by Trump supporters is being discussed and written upon by nearly everyone who is capable of forming an opinion and is interested in US and World politics. So for now I would prefer to not wade into the politics except where it intersects tech ecosystem.

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Open Source Politics And Aam Aadmi Party (beta)

Who would have thought even five years ago that a political party with all India appeal could coalesce as if by magic out of social activism by several thousand volunteers and supporters scattered all over the planet, connected only by the tenuous strands of an Idea ?

The above paragraph is actually taken from Eric S Raymond's essay The Cathedral and the Bazaar, considered as the Bible of the Open Source Software Movement, the highlighted words are substitutions I have made to suit the present context; the original text is as follows:

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Scaling Up AAP Model And New Politics

Picking up the thread from my last post, Aam Aadmi Party's tremendous success in Delhi polls and speculations on its ability to deliver dominating the public discourse indicates that AAP may be Delhi based party, it is now a pan-Indian phenomenon. Support for AAP all across India and even abroad suggest a positive anti-establishment sentiment. Mostly, anti-establishment moniker is applied to subversive elements,especially the Naxalites and secessionist which seek to overthrow the state but AAP's anti-establishment posture is more about going back to the fundamental principles the Indian State was founded on and against the predatory system that has now become the establishment. During the high decibel negative campaign against AAP,the competitors charged the latter for negativism which is both ironic and somewhat ridiculous, the Delhi voters interpreted it as such. The fact is, AAP is heralding new politics which is difficult to understand when looking at it from traditional point of view.

The country it seems, is ready for the new politics but Arvind Kejriwal has ruled out going national now. Yet, AAP already has dedicated volunteers in all across the country. So the most pertinent  question would be , is AAP's model of new politics scalable ? If the party itself doesn't expand aggressively, can other parties emulate its model of politics and electioneering , especially regional parties, some of which even openly came out in support of AAP, even though the latter never solicited it.  Can political parties reconcile their respective ideologies with that of AAP ?  Does AAP even have a neatly defined ideology ?

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When The Unstoppable Force Meets The Aam Aadmi

What kind of political leader calls a truly overwhelming mandate, scary ?

"The people of Delhi have achieved something spectacular. It is very scary, the kind of support the people of Delhi have given us". Obviously it has to be someone who doesn't lust for power, who doesn't look at victory as merely laurels heaped on him but also responsibility entrusted to him and whose first thought is not to take victory laps but how to fulfil them. AAP and Arvind Kejriwal have not only swept the Delhi Assembly polls but have shattered many myths, including the myth of political ideologies being rigid frameworks but which can also be discarded for opportunism or its euphemism, political expediency. I am not sure if AAP has an ideology but it certainly is an idea in itself. An idea clothed in simplicity, based on universal ethics and on a single minded pursuit of helping people, resolving their issues or at least addressing them.

 With the mainstream media going orgiastic over the historical win there is little I can say in this post, avalanche of comments, reactions from veteran analysts, social scientists, journalists dominate the discourse over television and print media and the Internet already. I haven't written a single post on AAP since nearly a year mainly because AAP doesn't follow traditional politics, it innovates brilliantly as it goes along, brilliant because the motivation and intent are simple and real. My last post on AAP continues to be as relevant as before, except this time, the political dividend returned adds a lot of credibility to it.  So I wouldn't have much to say except in retrospection. It is incredibly interesting to find that nearly everyone has called electoral result as rejection of BJP and Congress (of course, Congress calls it BJP's rout and BJP labels it Congress' decimation) , except the AAP  itself, which views it as a positive mandate based on work they did in the 49 days stint as government and as volunteers/ activists since then. And the promises they  have made.

Undoubtedly, AAP faces enormous challenges and its not about fulfilling promises made, especially with BJP government retaining some key department and agencies under its control. The fact that the seemingly unstoppable Modi wave meeting immovable Aam Aadmi resolve has left the former train-wrecked, one can expect minor road-blocks on AAP's path. I say minor because the scale of mandate by Delhi electorate backed by a pan-India consensus is something even the union government cannot undermine as brazenly as they have done before, without expecting fresh backlash. However, expecting the Sangh Parivar to take the defeat graciously, especially when they have come so close to fulfilling their destiny, would be an enormous blunder. If at all any political party is likely to learn from AAP's electioneering tactics, it is the RSS cadres but most likely adapt by perverting them. Of course, one cannot rule out Congress cadres resurging and doing the same, the grand old party's roots go deep and wide.

However, ideologies of the Sangh, Congress and the Left occupy the political Right-Centre-Left spectrum, they are confined by it, AAP transcends it. Therein lies the hope. In a truly aspirational India the politics of ghettoisation, communalization and crony capitalism might not work. Indian democracy has emerged stronger and much revitalized after a period of tense political churning.

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Decontextualized Discourse: The Curse Of 49

The avalanche of information this election season is not just diluting the political discourse but is also decontextualizing events, altering their meanings completely. The Aam Aadmi Party's phenomenal rise has been affected negatively as electoral campaigns reaches a feverish pitch, with personality cults, controversial statements and general mood of festivity drowning the more earthy issues taken up by the Aam Aadmi Party. As of yet, traditional parties, being unable to counter the very real stands taken by the Aam Aadmi Party had been attacking it for its lack of experience in governance and impracticability of its demands but now AAP government's resignation on 49th day of it assuming power in Delhi Assembly is being touted as vindication of their claims. It is nauseating to find even editorials of India's largest selling newspapers' mention AAP's 49 day stint as failure and abdication of responsibility.

Government Formation
The Delhi 2013 Assembly elections results not only threw a hung assembly but also a unique situation n which the three parties were so ideologically opposed to each other, that any genuine understanding between them was out of question or so it seemed then. Later on it transpired that Congress and BJP had unsaid agreement over several issues.

• Neither wanted re-poll as it pretty much guaranteed AAP winning majority of seats.   
• Both wanted to discredit AAP through propaganda as opposed to taking them on in elections. 
• Despite being the single largest party the BJP did not stake its claim to form the government, something it has done numerous times in the past, including the 13-day and 13-month NDA governments in 1996 and 1998-99. But BJP hadn't declined right away, its first response after the declaration of results was that it will "try to give Delhi a government but wouldn't resort to horse-trading"
• Congress offered unconditional support to AAP to form government but what has been wiped off public memory is the fact that the BJP too extended support but strictly issue-based.

BJP on Friday asked Aam Aadmi Party, the second largest party in Delhi assembly with 28 seats, to form a government while assuring it of constructive cooperation in fulfilling its promises such as slashing tariff by 50 per cent and providing free water upto 700 litres daily. [Indian Express Dec 13th 2013]

• AAP faced a dilemma; if it refused to form government, the two parties could accuse it of running away from responsibilities and also for having promised things in manifesto which couldn't be implemented. If AAP formed government, it wouldn't be able to bring sweeping changes without majority and thus still be discredited. Though both the Congress and the BJP promised to help AAP fulfill its pre-poll promise, there was little doubt on it being false promise.
• Support for AAP's 18-point agenda was agreed upon by the Congress though the response bordered on ambiguity. 
• Further, Arvind Kejriwal sought people's feedback through SMS campaign. In a political culture where people have to be paid money for even participating in a rally, 5 lakh Delhites SMSed in response to Kejriwal's call referendum and overwhelming majority was in favour of government formation.

Why is Arvind Kejriwal shying away from his resposibility to form the government in Delhi as he already has support of 8 MLAs of Congress?
— Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) December 14, 2013

Right after Kejriwal was sworn in, the BJP began a malicious campaign accusing AAP of going back against their pledge of having no trucks with the Congress, conveniently forgetting that even the BJP had offered issue based support at that point in time..

While the BJP's attack was from the front, the Congress had a more insidious agenda. Given the unique nature of NCT of Delhi's administrative structure, the AAP government was left with very little room to manoeuvre, leave alone bringing systemic change. With the high level of expectation from the AAP government and Union government tightening the shackles of technicalities, the situation was similar to being thrown into a boxing ring with your hands tied behind your back.

Resignation
That the AAP government had a limited lifespan was a foregone conclusion but the manner of it going out was still a matter of speculation. Arvind Kejriwal quit on his own terms after the Janlokpal bill was defeated in the assembly. However, with a sustained campaign by various stakeholders in the present order managed to bury AAP's achievements in those 49 days, only the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal was allowed to live in public memory and that too in a perverted form.

The media's focus is too short and too enamoured by sharp and vitriolic sound bytes made by popular political personalities to dwell on the way things played out after the Delhi elections and decisions taken by parties in view of constitutional propriety. The fact is that the Aam Aadmi Party had formed the government on assurance given by the Congress that it would support the passage of Janlokpal bill, the issue on which the movement had begun. After blocking the bill the Congress not only went against its commitment, it also proved that the AAP did not command confidence of the house and its constitutional obligation was to resign. Minority governments functioning through horse-trading or jugaad during the test of strength on the floor of the house may have been the norm in last two decades but AAP cannot follow the path and occupy the moral high ground that it does. 

Has personality-centric politics so diluted civil discourse that following the ethical and constitutional path is now seen as folly even by intellectuals ? Or has too much real-time information decontextualized events of  recent past, allowing them to be reinterpreted as part of the media wants it to ?

Posted By Danish 5:40 PM

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Are Gov 2.0 and E-Governance Synonymous ?

Picking up the thread from my last post, it seems , Indian politicians do see the tremendous power of the Internet but only for self-propaganda. That would explain the huge amount of money they spend on social media campaigns but not an iota of grey matter to think how the same technology can be leveraged for strengthening the democracy.  It reflects the attitude of the political class of viewing the electorate as subjects to be ruled, herded through carrot and sticks and not as the collective sovereign they are part of and represent. Even when information sharing becomes imperative, it is done in a manner so as to make its consumption, a bland and difficult experience. Visit any government website and you are likely to find the interface incredibly outdated. It almost reminds you of rows of somber looking, bespectacled babus tapping keyboards monotonously, almost like the machine they are staring into.

However, the websites exist, exist like numerous contradictions that make India unique. Another example would be the $35 tablet Aakash that the Ministry of Human Resource Development promoted and got global fame, even if there have been hiccups. But at the same time the ministry's websites itself isn't mobile compatible. As a matter of fact, for the first time, in 15 years, I have come across a website that restricts others from linking to it ! The National Portal of India website is quite  upto the mark and does encourage linking and solicits feedback (I don't think they would like this feedback :p) but ironically links from it to detail information on e-governance either returns "page not found" status or a security alert by Firefox (the reason could be that the pages have been moved from National E-Governance Plan to Initiatives but the links have not been updated).

 Now is e-governance the same as Gov 2.0 ?

I don't think so. E-governance is about using the electronic medium to extend governance, typically governamental stuff, a one-way route. Gov 2.0 concept is about participation of private players, innovation not authority should determine the course of action. Transparency and access to information the poorest as well as those living in the remotest corner of the country should be the first step forward. Smart phones, tablets, Internet may seem luxury items used mainly by the urban middle class and higher, but the same applied to mobile phones too, Initially, the mobile phone was a rich person's accessory, gradually the middle class adopted it but it was only after those in lowest rung started using mobile phones that a change in livelihood, lifestyle and outlook came to be perceived. Ironically, despites its numerous advantages cell phones were and are cheaper, require less resources, investment and even effort in procuring one.  Similarly, providing Internet enabled devices and providing coverage in remote areas can much cheaper if done in the proper manner. If EVM can be taken to the remotest part of the country, kiosks offering other information can also be installed to provide better access to people.

 Further, the major milestones in the history of technology have always been invention of newer means of transport and communication. The ark, wheel, papyrus, Gutenberg printing,railroads and metalled roads, the telephone and the Internet, gave mankind the power to take quantum leaps, every time covering several times more ground than before but spending much lesser. Perhaps the government should prioritize extending Internet accessibility even the remotest corner of the country and wait upon instead of concentrating on e-governance initiatives.  In instances such as soliciting bidding from contractors online has been great tool in fighting against corruption. But devoting money and resources for certain public welfare measures, using the Internet, it could let the new breed of social entrepreneur do it. Concern for security of data shared, is futile as long as those very data are available as public data in hard copy or is dynamically served on web. During the ongoing election in India the web is being used for endorsement only. I haven't come across any information specifically related to leveraging Internet to help the poor and  marginalized communities, instead what comes across chest-thumping, back-patting and  appealing for votes.

In my earlier post I wrote about Election Commission of India's bid to tie up with Google and how the idea was crushed by politicians. True India based-companies may be given priority when outsourcing such projects but is there a single Indian company which has a user-base that is even remotely close to Google, Facebook or Twitter ?  Even a cursory glance at Google Civic should reveal the fact that there is no scope of secretive or partisanship in the proposed services. It is aimed solely at empowering voters and even leaders as long as they are for the people's benefit. Check this out.

https://developers.google.com/civic-information/docs/us_v1/elections/voterInfoQuery

Posted By Danish 8:10 PM

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AAPidemic: The Socio-Political Epidemic of India

Not a day passes by without any of the leading newspapers of India not carrying a column on AAP by one intellectual or the other. While overwhelming number of these news columns hail AAP as having surpassed expectations and for making a positive impact on political culture of India, these statements usually end with a "but" clause followed by an advice,apprehension,warning on how a particular party line could damage its future prospects. Right from the day AAP was formed to this very day, nearly everyone in the habit of writing, articulating personal opinion to the public, from political pundits to part-time bloggers (including this one) have been speculating self-convincingly that the "next" step of this new party is too risky and may boomerang, yet nothing of that sort has happened. The AAP phenomenon is truly unprecedented but perhaps there is something more, something that doesn't fall into any of the categories we know.

Is it epistemic contempt ?   AAP's successes continue to prove that the experts, who have been studying all the equations, examining the numerous variables so painstakingly are being proved wrong continuously. Electoral results turning out contrary to the psephologist's predictions are indeed victories for democratic system but the entire methodology being proved wrong is quite embarrassing. So despite genuine admiration, a bit of skepticism, cynicism and even hostility continues to creep into columns and  statements on TV. One has to presume that lot if not most of these mixed messages are genuine appraisal. But this too raises another question, why would rational and intellectually honest people hold the opinion that they do.

There may not a a single, satisfactory answer to this question, it is a fact that Kejriwal has continued to represent himself as a common person through symbolic gestures, oration and his government's policies, but there have always been people like him, perhaps it is because Kejriwal has offered less and not more that sets him apart and also triggered a phenomenon that most people find difficult to define. A flashback into the genesis of the movement, may shed some light.

Less than a year back, the media was rife with speculations on whether the 2014 election would take place in the shadow of Narendra Modi or of Rahul Gandhi. Loyal Congressmen anticipated their reluctant messiah to finally lead them to deliverance. Sangh cheerleaders sang of a Modi wave, even tried hard at manufacturing it and therein lay the fault. Waves are laud,powerful even spectacular but have a relatively tiny lifespan and ultimately crash on meeting the shore. In the information age, ideas are contagious. More importantly, positive, constructive ideas are more contagious than highly emotive but shallow ones. The ideas of the Aam Aadmi Party spread like a highly resilient pathogen creating a social epidemic as Malcolm Gladwell would say. As a matter of fact, I believe Modi's campaign managers have tried to create strategy keeping Malcolm Gladwell's best seller, The Tipping Point in mind (but can't substantiate in this post), but can say it didn't turn out that way at all. People joining the AAP in droves without any incentive or even persuasion is symptomatic of spread of a contagious disease rather than political movement.

Gladwell lays down three characteristics of an epidemic-
Contagiousness - This is quite different from carefully thought over behavior, when newspapers describe the idea of AAP going viral, it can also be read as a phenomenon of ideas spreading like jungle fire but travelling beneath the surface. Isn't that  similar to how a biological virus works.

Small is Big- Little causes have big effects. The AAP grew out of IAC, the movement launched to

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pressurize the government to pass the Jan Lokpal bill. In itself, it wasn't even tackling corruption in all forms. Anna Hazare's immediate call was to pass a particular bill, no one believed it was a magic pill that would eradicate corruption from the country. Arvind Kejriwal's electoral plank wasn't building India a military superpower or promise of billion dollar schemes nor was it about eradicating poverty at one stroke. He talked about cheap water, electricity, on diverting resources meant for the lavish lifestyles of the VIPs
towards welfare of the poor. These promises also had "Stickiness Factor" but to a  lesser extent. Corrupt politicians storing their ill-gotten wealth in Swiss banks, is big, it does infuriate the public but mostly in that instant or later when there is a context. Kejriwal laying down documents describing how water/electricity price is high because of endemic corruption remains in public memory persistently.

Change Happens in One Dramatic Moment - This doesn't need explanation. The AAP's phenomenal rise began with its impressive performance in Delhi Assembly poll results. Once the party had shown its capability to win election, there has been an avalanche of support, people from every section of population are lining up to join the party.

Epidemics have a limited lifespan too but they also have a way of reshuffling our priorities and restructuring society, thus leaving their marks behind which can be a blessing in disguise. Something similar to epidemiological transition, except that diseases and sickness can replaced by government policies and general social behavior. The biggest epidemic in human history was the the Black Death in  14th century Europe and parts of Asia,which claimed lives of a significant portion of global population. The Plague killed about 30% to 60% of European population but the social upheaval in its aftermath also contributed new thoughts,reforms and ultimately Renaissance. Thankfully, social epidemic is about ideas not diseases and hopefully the deaths will be those of undemocratic practices, corruption and discrimination and the aftermath bring about systemic change.

That would explain why the AAP effect defies conventional wisdom, it may appear chaotic but there is an order that we are able to perceive but not understand (at least I am unable to). Perhaps it is some sort of collective consciousness, not spiritual or metaphysical but purely anthropological with cyber space being a part of it. While similar phenomena are taking place across the world from Cairo to Manila,the happening in Delhi and rest of India is bit different in that there is no precedence to it. The two national parties are making every  effort to discredit the AAP but the most important part they forget or rather, never noticed is that this is indeed a movement of the common people. Established political parties are known to bribe and ferry people in trucks or dumpers to showcase support. Today, lakhs of people from diverse sections of the society are lining up for membership of the Aam Aadmi Party. Parties  distribute TVs, laptops and other freebies for vote but after the Delhi Assembly election results, 5 lakh people actually sent SMS in response to Kejriwal's call for referendum.

What this really means is that Kejriwal is correct when he says even if CM, he is still a common man, representing other common people. The Congress and the BJP attacking the AAP government in Delhi, attempting to bring down top leadership of the party may be a futile exercise, Arvind represents the movement, he  doesn't take credit for it. Before the AAP was formed, Anna Hazare was phenomenally popular during the protests against corruption but he disassociated himself from the newly formed party, the party did not go down but Anna's media coverage decreased but the party's popularity increased. So its time that other politicians, intellectuals, media person understand that this is a socia-political epidemic, it may not last for decades but regardless of who is in charge it will run its full course.    

Note: This post was composed nearly 2 weeks back but wasn't published, it doesn't take into account recent events. But nonetheless, my opinion remains the same :)

Posted By Danish 9:03 PM

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#AAP Effect: The Politics Of Denial In Delhi

Denial is not just a river in Egypt,  it is also a strong current of a sentiment flowing in the corridors of the established political class of India. For once we see the Right, Left and Center of India’s traditional political spectrum publicly uniting against motley group of ordinary people who neither have great legacies, wealth nor fame but still believe they can contest elections in a democracy!  The very idea of winning polls without exploiting identity-based issues whether fictitious or real, making hollow rhetoric or bribing, coercing voters would be the height of incredulity.

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Herding Proles The Only Hope ?

Recently, Chetan Bhagat published an Open Letter to Indian Change Seekers on his Times of India column which I found quite out of sync with reality and to be brutally honest, completely absurd and insensitive if not diabolic. I did comment there but character limit prevented me to actually refute his "theory" though I had written it. What I ended up doing is criticizing without giving appropriate reasons which is not very mature thing to do. Further, attacking a person instead of his argument violates the rules of rhetorical logic so I am not even writing a reply,only refuting his argument.

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Digressive Rhetoric Dominating Public Discourse In India

Public discourse is essential for the functioning of a progressive democratic society but sometimes too much of it can be counter-productive especially in a society such as ours where politics dominates every sphere of our lives. For a long time public discussion was compered by print media journalists, radio hosts and electronic media,which took and transformed  most  somber debates to desi tamashas. Social media revolution has had a very different impact,while it has thrown numerous thought-leaders who would otherwise have passed away in obscurity or limited success,social media has also brought in partisans,radicals and mischief-makers. I refuse to call them "trolls" which was originally used for Usenet users with single-point agenda,but even they were far more knowledgeable than some of the current twitter celebs :p (note to self: post a short entry to elucidate the point).Anyway, blaming a horde of hare-brained web users can hardly be blamed for hijacking public discussions on national television shows. The fault must lie with the greater part of the debating public.

Posted By Danish 6:09 PM

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Even Mamta Can Set Precedence

Politics is such a funny game,you never know on which side of whose bed you are going to wake up in the morning. A centrist firebrand leader like Mamta Banerjee with a short history of alliance with the Rightist BJP, now seems to be reaching out to the Ultra Leftist militants in a bid to topple the three decade old CPM rule in West Bengal. This does not come as a surprise, Indian politicians are not particularly known for allegiance to their respective ideologies,in fact, leaders of smaller regional parties such as Shibu Soren,Paswan, Mulayam Singh, Kalyan Singh,Deve Gowda et al have given up even the pretension of adhering to  any ideology or ethics.

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Tharoor, Twitter And Controversies

Oops @ShashiTharoor has done it again! Does he serenade controversies or controversies have ways of seeking him out ?

I believe it is a little bit of both. For over-excited media channels vying with each other for TRPs, a candid Shashi Tharoor on a promiscuously open platform like Twitter, it is a wet dream and there is no way they could miss such golden opportunities to manufacture news. In this instance too the controversy couldn't have started without the media's active contribution. But then those were not verbal statements that were then put in words by a reporter to mean differently,the minister had tweeted them and they are still there for the whole world to see. How could he then have been quoted out of context ?

Well, the media is seldom neutral while reporting news , it tends to be far more judgmental and passionate, even to the point of being untruthful. In almost every instance of news reporting, the facts,allegations are never served in isolation but are packaged with the opinion of the journalist, which again  is influenced by her/his craving for sensationalism. This exactly isn't a secret, media's penchant for sensationalizing even the most drab story is very well-known but in Tharoor's case, Twitter seems to be a recurring factor. Twitter is just another platform, if at all Shashi Tharoor's statements were objectionable, they could have been made anywhere! In fact,  it is Tharoor's questioning of the Home Ministry's visa restriction policy that has stirred this controversy, why is "Twitter" emphasized and hyphenated with Tharoor on all news channels and print media ?

 This may be because the media and the government both have issues with a Minister of State airing his views on an open forum. Had he given the same statement to a handful of reporters, these very words might have sounded "refreshing"and the media could have hailed him but to devoid the media agencies from raking the moolahs is not something the latter can forgive or overlook. No wonder, at least one notable journalist, who also heads a television channel has gone on record criticizing the Minister for his twittering ways. Ironically, he himself did it on Twitter.

Apparently the government in general and Shashi Tharoor's boss and the Home Ministry in particular are not at all happy. It is not about going against own government, Tharoor as the Minister of State for External Affairs was merely cautioning against implementation of a stricter visa policy which were not taken well by several important countries. As such he was doing his job but what has annoyed a lot of people is the platform he chose. According to them, governmental policies are too sacrosanct to be even exposed to common folks' perception.



What does a career diplomat like Shashi Tharoor know on foreign policy making ? India is a democracy but that should be restricted to voting only! Once the ballot has been cast and a government is in place the people should go back to their toils leaving things like laws and policies solely in the discretion of the on the ruling elite, of course they can later be used during future electoral campaigns but till then the public have no right to know anything about the policies, at least not from the minister himself ! 

http://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/status/7064122644

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Has Cattlegate Opened The Floodgate ?

Holy Cow! Shashi Tharoor's single tweet has taken Twitter to every nook and corner of India. Now, even the most obstinate bull squatting in the middle of the vegetable market wants to know what Twitter is all about. Of course the cows let loose by their owners to graze in Indian streets are equally curious even if they are not mooing it. Indeed, a lot of people are signing up on Twitter, a vast number intend to do it in near future. But I am a bit skeptical, if most of the people have an understanding on what Twitter is and how it should be used.

I have posted some of my own experiences here

There some facts and opinions that I should mention before proceeding further. I think all Internet users who are not on Twitter can be broadly categorized into 3 categories. The first category includes people who use the Web minimally, their professional as well as personal agenda doesn't allow them to explore the social aspect of Web. As such the whole social media debate is irrelevant to them, at times they are indistinguishable from machines .

Then there are people who think Twitter is just another way of wasting one's time that could be utilized for creating artificial intelligence or achieve major breakthrough in stem cell research. However, you won't find them doing either, instead, you can find them participating in Orkut. Socialization, interaction, collaboration to them means going through photo-albums of this cute chick they came across in the friend list of another friend's friend. The main activity would include sending persistent add requests, leaving flashy images,ASCII art or corny scraps in Hinglish or broken English or do stuff that require little or no intellect. People belonging to this category, who think that the phenomenal growth of twitter userbase, eminent personalities and biggest organizations and almost every website extending tweeting functionality, is because of a social media hype and
who are convinced that Twitter is a waste of time should strictly continue with Orkut, Twitter would be an incompatible medium since the latter requires intellect!

However, there is the third category of users who do not doubt the utility of Twitter but are still not using it because they don't fully understand it or it has not worked for them. Indeed,there is not a single social website that one can join up and start enjoying or get results from day one. How effective social networking sites turn out depends on how well the user has created her network. This is especially true with Twitter since there are no photo albums of users, no social games or "which movie character you are" quizzes (well, there are mechanisms to share images, files etc but they are not integral part of the architecture.) . In other words, your experience on Twitter depends totally upon how you interact with other users (Tweeps). If used properly, it opens a completely new world of options, from real-time news to reaching out to targeting customers/audience and getting the most relevant answer to your questions. The potential is immense! In my follow-up post, I will try to compose a guide for beginners.

Posted By Danish 3:37 AM

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Is SRK's Detention A Big Deal ?

Shahrukh Khan detained by authorities in Newark and all hell has broken loose since then! From man in the street to the Minister of External Affairs of State @shasitharoor, most Indians are outraged but some people around me, online as well as offline seem outraged by the outrage!

Of course, holding an opinion that contradicts general percepts is an essential trait of neo-conservative intellectualism. One cannot claim to be an intellectual that if s/he is found to harbour the same opinion that the more common segments of the society do. I myself have been guilty of that often so this is not aimed at anyone specific. Coming back to SRK issue, those apathetic towards it have a couple of very valid points:

• Thousands of people are facing the same problem everyday, why call foul now that SRK has been subjected to the same treatment?
• The second point is that SRK is taking advantage of the incident to publicize his forthcoming movie.
  

I have little doubt that the second allegation has some substance. SRK's initial statement that he was targetted because of his surname "Khan" sounds too conspicous to be a coincidence with the fact that the title of his latest movie is,"My name is Khan." In the age of social media, an incident that helps you your brand name go viral is nothing less than a dream come true. A shrewd buisnessman like SRK would undoubtedly exploit the issue for making loads of money and perhaps that is what he is doing.

However, this does not change the fact that US immigration policy is utterly discriminatory and unjust. Time and again Indian citizens and even Ministers have been subjected to discriminatory treatment. Post-9/11, the US has been following a number of security policies which have been termed as prejudiced, unethical and in some case (like Guantanamo Bay prison) inhumane. There are people who believe that these rules have helped US thwart more terror attacks on its soil but that is not quite true (I have discussed this in one of my previous posts)

All that it has given is a sense of estrangement and humilation among a large section of global population. Forget the common man, the list of Indian celebrities detained/stripped frisked include former President APJ Abul Kalam,the then Cabinet Minister George Fernandez, Wipro Chief Azim Premji, actors Aamir Khan, Kamal Hassan, Mamooty, Irrfan Khan and scores of less popular Indian celebrities. Background information on any of these individuals shouldnt be difficult to access. After all, these people virtually live under the gaze of the public! Let me reiterate the fact that i am not justifying VIP culture, all i am saying is that since all of these people are well-known, collecting background information about them shouldn't be difficult at all. Moreover, it is not just frisking and question-answer sessions, from what earlier victims have described, it is an interrogation which can leave any one distressed

These incidents merely reflect the arrogance that the US officials display when dealing with Asian visitors. Arrogance which has resulted in traumatic experience for people whose only fault consist in carrying a Muslim name. No sovereign nation with even an iota of national pride can afford to allow its citizen being mistreated on regular basis. Brazil in 2004 gave an apt response to US racial profiling policy by implementing a policy of finger-printing US nationals only!
I would conclude with the question which has been it the back of the mind ever since Kalam was frisked. Is Musharraf subject to the same treatment that India's former President and one of its most respected citizen.

Posted By Danish 2:44 AM

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Munnabhai meets Mangalore Marauders

Culture vultures swooping down on helpless women in Mangalore, Rajasthan CM Gehlot and Karnataka CM Yedurappa vowing to fight "pub culture" and Sunjay Dutt's statement about his sister using their father's surname exhibit the role male chauvinism continues to play in the Indian socio-sphere. What is really alarming is the fact this is strain of thought is not restricted to the far right camp only. While Karnataka CM Yedurappa belongs to the BJP, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot is a Congressman and Sunjay Dutt has just joined the Samajwadi Party, yet all of them have expressed similar sentiments regarding Indian culture.

As far as Sunjay Dutt is concerned it is really unnerving that the actor has remained so uninfluenced from the role he plays so convincingly in the Munnabhai series. His statement reminds me of a fellow blogger Zaina's post. A lot of people may not take it seriously enough but the fact remains that women adopting their husbands' surname goes contrary to the notion of gender equality.As for the new saffron outfit running amok in Mangalore, it shouldn't surprise us the way it does now. For years now we have allowed rightists and communalists to take control of our society. Extremists of every hue, be they Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or any religious denomination, often justify their attempts to subjugate women in the name of protecting their honour and dignity.

Primitive human society (as well as animal societies) viewed their females as possessions that defined the individual's stature and represented the honour of the tribe. So when religious radicals talk of protecting woman's honour and dignity, it is their own primitive sense of honour of the tribe, that they are talking about. Further, dignity cannot be forced on anyone, it is a natural condition that exists until attempts, especially belligerent attempts are made by others to deny it. Use of coercive and brutal methods to bestow dignity actually means assaulting the woman's individual dignity and an act to protect the tribe or community's honour.

Since antiquity India has been a heterogeneous society, assimilating not only immigrants but their cultures too. Constant cultural synthesis is what Indian culture has represented throughout history. The marauding hordes of Mangalore are least likely to have any idea on the Indian culture, our heritage is too pluralistic, too composite and too rich to be understood by people with such primitive mentality.

Posted By Danish 12:45 AM

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The Fourth Estate of India

ANGRY.
Thats the one word that sums up the prevailing mood across India in the aftermath of the horrific terror attacks in Mumbai. Terror attacks have evoked similar sentiments in the past but every time the emotion have died out in a very short period of time, especially after the political parties and the media are done extracting the mojo from it. But the sentiment this time is far more vehement than it has ever been which is quite understandable considering the magnitude of the attack both in terms of devastation as well as audacity. Talk to the common person on the street, 9.9 out of 10 people would hold politicians responsible for the attack on the nation’s sovereignty, and it is not just the politicians in the government that are being blamed, the people have been quite emphatic in holding the entire class of politicians as responsible. This sentiment is quite understandable when we see politicians squabbling among themselves for a share of the pie bought from the hard earned money of the tax-payer. What is worse is the fact that even after coveting the people’s property, politicians do not seem to realize that they have certain duties towards the very people whose money they are squandering away.

The recent terror attacks in Mumbai has actually catalyzed the situation so that the debate now goes beyond this dastardly act to the various commissions and omissions of the ruling class all along at the expense of the welfare and security of the nation. Martyrdom of the Mumbai terror attack like Hemant Karkare, Sandeep Unnikrishanan and others who in many ways represented the middle class Indians served as rude reminders of the fact that unless the common people take the charge, their basic security was at risk.

As the world continues to condense into a thoroughly connected global village, intellectuals, the tax-paying middle class, the students and even journalists have found on the Web and the TV, ways to express their anguish and call for a change. Social software tools like blogs, microblogs, syndicated content, forwarded emails etc and mobile penetration have provided not only a platform to participate in the social and political processes, voice their opinions but also form communities with like minded individuals. This is the Fourth Estate of the Indian state, the child of the information revolution, powered by information and communication technology of the 21st century.
This section of people is more dependable and least susceptible to corruption (in any form) simply because there are no personal gains or losses for them. No wonder, political that "lip-stick wearing, coat tie wearing" Indians should be entitled to political opinions. Naqvi may have belled the cat but he represents the deep-seated resentment that a lot of politicians across party lines have towards educated middle class Indians taking interest in politics. What more evidence do we need? Is it a coincidence that a Leftist CM of Kerala and National Vice President of the BJP, a Rightist, were speaking on the similar lines on the same day? In the past, we have seen all political parties bury differences and come when the question involves a raise or a decrement in salary and other perks granted to elected representatives. Even yesterday i.e. 03/11/08, when asked (by TimesNOW) why such a significant portion of the nation's security asset including the NSG commandos were being deployed for personal security of political leader who apparently had no serious threat to life, politicians from all parties were found to be defending the decision unanimously. Yet, a couple of minutes later, Arnab Goswami of TimesNow was left begging for a consensus between political parties (the Cong and the BJP) on how to deal with this latest terror attack.
There has been at least one positive outcome from this tragedy and that is the galvanizing effect it had on the people, rousing them from slumber and forcing them to stand up and take initiative. Turn on the TV and you could be witnessing a watershed moment, this attack can be taken as a wake up call to rouse a nation from its self-induced slumber.
Prasoon Joshi's poetry, "Is Baar Nahi", TimesNOW's slogan "Action not words", rallies in Mumbai and the chatter across nooks and corners of India indicate the growing assertiveness of a section of Indians. The Fourth Estate of India.

Prasoon Joshi's poem reflecting the sentiment of the aam Indian post Mumbai terror attacks.

Posted By Danish 1:23 AM

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Politics over N-Deal question our democratic credentials

The nuclear deal debate has polarised all political parties in India into two camps- those who support the nuclear deal and those who oppose it. Some months back I posted an entry here on the nuclear deal. My opinion on the agreement remains the same but my opinion of the Indian political parties has been further infuenced by the politics sorrounding the deal.

I have always considered the polity of India as a successful and vibrant democracy. It is easier to adopt democracy in culturally homogenous, prosperous and peacful countries like those of Europe but for a third-world country like India with its diverse cultures and traditions, heterogenous ethnicities and communities and acute socio-political and economic imparities, success of democracy is no mean feat. However, there are times when we begin to question ourselves on whether we, as a nation, nurture democratic temperament along with a democratic polity. The current political bickering is one such time when we are forced to question our democratic credentials.

As I said in the earlier post, it is very difficult to predict the consequences of the 123 agreement . It is one of those decisions whose merits and demerits can be known only after the results start coming in. For me the nuclear deal is more about if I can trust Manmohan Singh or not. After all, the last time I faced a similar situation was when Manmohan Singh as finance minister was bringing in economic reforms. I was in school then but still remember the apprensions and fear that the Leftists and the Rightists propogated. But apparently their allegations were misfounded since the economic condition of the nation has improved drastically.

But then Manmohan Singh is afterall a human being and is as prone to making error as everyone else (for a while lets just forget that he is a congressman also :p )
That is, of course, my personal opinion but the views of national-level political parties cannot be and should not be allowed to be influenced by political personalities but by merit and demerit of individual policies.
However there are indications that the current political bickering is more of a clash of personalities than a clash of ideologies. If the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is staking his own credibility on the n-deal and the Congress party is supporting him whole-heartedly, the Leftists rallying behind Prakash Karat who has taken up the task of defeating the deal as a personal vendetta. With general election round the corner it is now Manmohan Singh vs Prakash Karat vs L.K. Advani vs Mulayam Yadav/Amar Singh vs Mayawati. No matter who wins, it is the common man that stands to lose the most in this struggle if the political parties and their leaders don't look beyond their own selves, interests and narrow ideologies and work for the national interest.

With general election round the corner all political parties have taken stands that is percieved by them to be the best to garner their traditional voter base. The Left, a key member of the ruling coalition has formally withdrawn its support from the ruling coalition making Manmohan Singh's government a minority in the parliament. The Left Front may accuse the government of compromising the sovereignty of the nation to a foriegn power but most Indians know that the Left protests simply because that is the only thing it ever does. In fact, I will not be surprised to find the Left protesting against itself ! In the present context the Left could not be expected to take a different stand. Its ideology does not allow it to get into any sort of agreement with an imperialistic power like the USA. It is pretty intriguing why communists in India are so opposed to any sort of agreement with the US but rarely raise voice when fellow-communist China makes deals with the US. The Left argues that the 123 Agreement would undermine India's sovereignty. This is a purely speculative argument which may be proved or disproved in the future but in the present reality India's sovereignty has been time and again undermined by China during its numerous incursions into North-Eastern states. The Left Front has not exactly been very vocal about these incursions as it is being towards the nuke deal. On the other hand it views the nuke deal as America's game plan to encircle China.


It is interesting to note that both Left and the Right are united in opposition to the nuclear deal. The BJP has never been as anti-American as other Indian political parties have been but in this instance the saffron party prefers to side with the L. It is worth mentioning that Indo-US relationship recieved major boost during the NDA's rule. In fact, it was the Vajpayee government itself that laid the groundwork for the 123 Agreement but the BJP now opposes the same deal accusing UPA of making "strategic blunders". Leaders of the BJP say that if the goverment collapses now and the Sangh is voted in, it would renegotiate the deal with the US. I am sure that even the leaders who make such statements are aware that if the deal doesn't get through this time, it never will. Most likely the BJP's opposition to the nuclear deal stems from the fact that it wants the deal passed when it itself is in power and not allow the Congress to hijack it .

Now that the Right and Left are resolved to take whatever steps necessary to stop the government from going ahead with the N-Deal, the centrists led by Prime Minister are admant to see the N-Deal through. This is where the smaller parties and the regional parties come in. It now appears that after being rattled by the BSP the Samajwadi Party is willing to bail out the government. It is not clear what deal the party has struck with the Congress for changing its stand but ideologically it was in a strange dilemma. It could not afford to be seen voting along-side its bete-noire, BSP as well as the BJP which also happens to be the next powerful rival. At the same time the party did not want to risk losing its crucial Muslim voters base by supporting the agreement with the USA. The Samajwadi Party may have overcome its fear of losing Muslim votes but it has raised a question on whether political parties should be willing to meet every reasonable and unreasonable demands of its voters or should politicians also try to educate the masses in instances where their demands are found to be unreasonable.

Lately,Muslims world over dislike the US but almost all Muslim countries at this point of time are more aligned to the US than India ever can. The newly-elected government of Pakistan continues to take order from Washington without upsetting its voter base seriously. This trend indicates that inter-state relations are almost always governed with national interest in mind and not individual and communal perspectives. There is no reason why Indian Muslims would oppose the nuclear deal unless some political parties feed them wrong information to consolidate their vote-bank. I am not really sure if the Muslims are against the nuclear deal, no one around me is. Had the government of India been planning a military alliance with the US, not just Muslims but the majority of the Indian population would bitterly oppose it and for valid reasons too.

However, the 123 Agreement is not a military pact despite allegations made by its opponents, especially the Left Front. From what I learn from the media there is nothing in the agreement that could prevent India from walking out of it. Rapidly rising oil prices indicate that developing nations cannot depend completely on fossil fuels to sustain their growth rate in the future.
Even if we were to presume that this deal would actually influence India's foreign policy in the future, would we still be in a position to refuse negotiation for an indefinate period ?

As the world population increases and more and more regions begin to develop, the energy requirements would not be able to be met by the limited reserves of fossil fuels. Alternative and renewable sources of energy might then become crucial to sustain growth. Even a major oil producing country like Iran insists that it needs nuclear energy for development ( the US doesn't agree but its another story). For India to have access to nuclear technology and fuel even from traditional allies like Russia and France, it has to be formally admitted into the elite nuclear group which is unlikely to happen without US approval. Sooner or later India will have to gain admission into the nuclear bazaar by placing itself under the guidelines of the IAEA.
As the oil prices spiral out of control and inflation is on double digit Indian political parties should try to minimize their non-ideological differences and co-operate with each other for development's sake.

Posted By Danish 10:19 PM

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On Parochialism and Xenophobia

There seems to be a misunderstanding among a section of Indians that democracy is only about being able to elect a government. Such a democracy would be soul-less, farcical and at best a kind of dictatorship where the dictator is not one person but a group of like-minded individuals. I wouldn't call it an oligarchy because there is some semblance of democratic principles in an oligarchy too but there is none in a democracy that allows fascistic rule. The essence of democracy does not consist in just entrusting the individual with the right to hold a different opinion but also in accepting the right of others to hold diverse opinions. This also means that one has right to protest against opinions of others but all forms of protests should conform to the democratic norms and the founding principles of the civil society.
In recent times I have observed that while debating on a controversial issue participants usually generalize issues instead of judging every issue based on it's own merit. At times even a wrongful act is sought to be justified by citing similar instances in the past. The most gruesome instance is the post-Godhra riots where the Chief Minister justified genocide by dubbing it as a 'reaction' to the Godhra train carnage. Raj Thackeray's statement against non-Maharashtrians and his next statement justifying it by drawing analogy with instances of parochialism in other parts of India is another such instance. Mr. Thackeray has missed two fine points while generalizing his parochialism. The first and the most important part is that two wrongs do not make a right. He has a valid point when he says that political parties in Tamil Nadu that have links with the LTTE are equally parochial as are those people of West Bengal who come out on streets protesting Saurav Ganguly's exclusion from team India. However, his lack of understanding on why the media and general populace has singled him out and his allegation against Amitabh Bachchan proves that Raj Thackeray lacks the subtlety something as complex as human emotions. Patriotism, communalism, regionalism and all such isms are two-edged swords, their negative and positive ramifications depend on the individual.
People tend to see these ideologies as divisive and they are not very wrong when one sees that most ideologies in recent times have been propagated to divide the society and spread discord but when viewed from another perspective these ideologies appear as something natural, unifying and desirable. They are desirable when they form the basis of inclusiveness but are certainly undesirable when they form the basis of an ideology that advocates exclusiveness and apathy. Let us take the case of patriotism, patriotism means loving and caring for one's country-men but the meaning is often distorted to create hatred towards people not belonging to one's own country. The same applies to regionalism, it forms the basis of expressing solidarity with people belonging to one own region but often it is exploited to ferment hatred towards the outsiders. Affection and loyalty towards one's own immediate community is natural and desirable, one cannot love all the people in the world equally, some have to be dearer than others and the former always are people with whom one shares linguistic, ethnic, cultural, religious and other bonds. As the sphere of interaction widens and one becomes member of larger groups with lesser degree of commonality the affection does decrease but there is no reason why it should be replaced with animosity towards those with whom one has lesser bonding.
So from one perspective groupism consist of inclusiveness or finding commonalities and forging bonds with more and more people instead of being hostile or apathetic towards them but from another perspective, groupism consists of exclusiveness or finding out differences and antagonizing which progressively increases as the spectrum of commonality widens. If Amitabh Bachchan's contribution towards UP reflects anything it his affection for the state as well as the country and not apathy for Maharashtra or any other state. It is really unfortunate that his philanthropy was dragged into a mire of controversy which culminated into acts of mindless violence.
Senior politicians, conscientious citizens and the media have been quick and vociferous in condemning and have in the process given him publicity the likes of which he could only dream. In fact Baba Amte's death went largely unlamented as the media as well as the people were so engrossed in the ongoing slugfest.
Anyway, this controversy has reached its zenith, it will gradually climb down and disappear, TV audience gets bored fast and since Raj Thackeray and Abu Azmi have both been arrested and released on bail one can expect this controversy to die out changing nothing except making both these individuals a bit more famous than they had been. There has been abundant criticism of the media for giving the issue a lot more space than was due to it. But the question remains, was the issue handled correctly? Raj Thackeray may have been vilified by the media but the massive press exposure has actually helped him consolidate his base. What needs to be tackled is the sentiment that Thackeray exploited to gain political mileage. It should not be forgotten that a segment of the population, however small, does have a parochial mindset and the Thackerays have always exploited/aggravated their xenophobia for political gains. As we move towards globalization it becomes urgently necessary that efforts be made to educate the masses on necessity of tolerance and co-existence. In a democratic and heterogeneous country like India tolerating aggressive parochial ideologies can be dangerous and detrimental to the nation.

Posted By Danish 5:14 PM

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