Amit Srivastava's Blog

Migrant workers crisis -This is the time to Build

What Government of India can learn from the Nawabs of Awadh.

Migrant Workers plight is the single biggest concern during the COVID19 crisis in India. The ugly underbelly of development without planning has been exposed in this crisis. Labourers are walking thousands of miles, dying on railway lines & scraping food off the roads. The scenes are gut wrenching. It has been 50 days that the lock-down started but central & state governments do not have a solution. How we reached here as a country is a complicated debate. We can get into that debate when things go back to some semblance of normal. Now that we are here, what can we do about this problem? The answer it seems is already there in our history books.

The Chalisa famine which started in 1780 and lasted almost 10 years, decimated close to 50% of population in areas of Delhi & Awadh. The famine was so devastating that even the elite of Awadh were failing to meet their daily needs. In 1784, Asaf-ud-Daula the nawab of Awadh started a grandiose project of constructing an Imambara. On the surface building a large monument during a famine seems heartless but as you dig deeper you see a different story. The goal of Imambara project was to provide employment for people in the region. A unique method was developed where the project could be extended indefinitely. Commoners used to work in the day building up the edifice, while elite worked at night to break down anything that was raised that day. The project lasted almost a decade while the famine lasted and gave employment to 20,000 people. The generosity of the Nawab is still remembered in the couplet:

Jisko na de Moula, usko de Asaf-ud-Doula

Meaning: He who does not get livelihood from God, receives it from Asaf-ud-Doula.

This was 150 years before Maynard Keynes suggested intervention for employment generation, during the recession of 1930’s. We need the current government to learn from the Nawab & implement the same.

As the migrant labourers go back to their villages, we will have a semi-skilled labour force spread over large part of our country with no work. It will only increase the pressure on the fragile rural economy. It is imperative thus that we develop industries for these labourers close to their villages. For these industries, infrastructure will be needed. This is the time to build that infrastructure. There are 2 impediments to doing the above:

Labour Laws – The current officer-raj of many forms & compliances chokes the spirits of industry. These bottlenecks need to be removed ASAP. Labour Laws are dependent on State governments & it is good to see some progress across board starting with Rajasthan, UP & MP.Cost of Land – If we artificially raise the cost of land for industry, we will have development concentrated to certain states & areas. This concentration of industry in certain states is the source of migrant labour problems. In 2014 the Modi government gave up on Infrastructure Development, after the Land Acquisition Ordinance debacle in Rajya Sabha. So much so that Mr. Modi’s bullet train project has not acquired even 1% of land it requires. It is time to revisit that Ordinance.Every crisis brings with it an opportunity to rebuild with better hindsight and purpose. COVID19 is an ideal opportunity to solve India’s infrastructure problem while providing relief & rehabilitation to migrant labourers.

#migrantlabour #infrastructure #covid19 #india #employment

Your reactions,shares and comments are always appreciated.

Amit Srivastava is an author & consultant based in New Delhi, India. You can reach him on Twitter at @askaks

Buddha’s 8 rules of Knowledge

Fake News” & “Alt Facts” have been here forever. Even at the time of Buddha (400 BC) some 2500 years ago, people had the same concerns as we have today.

What is the right source of information?How to gather information?What is the test for validity of information?

Buddha gave them a “Charter of Free enquiry”. His birthday is good time to revisit it.

The story says that Buddha was passing through the village of a clan called the Kalamas. People of the village approached him and asked

“Many wandering holy men pass through this village expounding their teachings and criticizing the teachings of others. So, whose teachings should we follow?”

Kalama Sutta is Buddha’s reply.

(I have tried to contextualize it to today’s realities.)

Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing. (Do not trust everything that is trending on Social Media)Do not believe in traditions merely because they are old and have been handed down for many generations. (Age does not equal authenticity)Do not believe anything on account of rumors. (Alt Facts /Fake News exist, please check facts before deciding)Do not believe anything because you are shown the written testimony. (Internet/books have biases too)Do not believe in what you have fancied, thinking that, because it is extraordinary, it must have been inspired by a god. (Your faith in something does not make it the truth)Do not believe anything merely because customs of many years incline you to take it as true. (Rituals do not add or subtract anything to authenticity of information)Do not believe anything merely on the authority of your teachers and priests.The same, said Buddha, must be applied to his own teachings.

But, whatever, after thorough investigation and reflection, agrees with reason and your experience. If it is conducive to the good of one and all, accept only that as true, and shape your life in accordance with it.

Do not accept any doctrine from reverence, but first try it “as gold is tried by fire”.

Happy Buddha Purnima 2020

Irrfan — Why his death seems like a Personal Loss?

Irrfan — Why his death seems like a Personal Loss?

It has been 7 days that Irrfan Khan passed and I am surprised how personal the loss feels even today. On the day he passed, I thought my emotional response was an impact of being in a lock-down. I have been stuck at home for last 40 days and all that frustration needed an emotional outlet. So, the facade of bravery crumbled on 29th April when Irrfan passed. As I look back now, that was the lazy answer.

Last few evenings have been interspersed with going through interviews about Irrfan & watching “The Namesake” and “Piku”. Among those amazing interviews, there is one of Tigmanshu Dhulia. He described Irrfan as someone who cultivated himself to improve over time. That was my clue or so I thought. In some sense I have seen Irrfan’s journey and have been a part of it. For a teenager in 1990s Irrfan was a fixture in many Doordarshan TV serials. As an above average TV actor doing average roles in Chandrakanta to occasional flashes of brilliance in Chanakya, I followed his journey from TV to cinema.

Then “The Warrior” happened and brought him international recognition. Predictably, once he was recognised outside India, producers started taking bigger bets on him in Bollywood. Maqbool (2003) happened and rest is history. I thought I had figured out why he meant so much to me. It was a journey of self-improvement & self-expression which led to his self-actualization. I aspire for that too.

But somewhere I knew that my answer is incomplete. I know hundred other stories of people who have had similar journeys. Maybe not in media, but in other walks of life. More importantly it did not talk about Irrfan as an artist. His artistic contribution must be measured differently.

And then like most other things in my life, this too struck me through Ghalib’s sher:

दिल ही तो है न संग-ओ-ख़ीश्त, दर्द से भर न आये क्यूँ ?

रोयेंगे हम हज़ार बार, कोई हमें सताये क्यूँ ?

It’s just a heart, no stony shard; why shouldn’t it fill with pain?

I will cry a thousand times, why should someone complain?

Ghalib expresses a certain arrogance about being in pain. Arrogance stemming from ownership of pain. For him pain is a direct consequence of being human and being sensitive. To deny expression of pain is an act of blasphemy. Pain must be acknowledged & given its due.

Irrfan’s best work appeared when he was celebrating pain. The arrogance of suffering without lament.

Typically, we see our heroes as righteous, purpose driven, unflinching woman/man ready to jump into action. Irrfan on the other hand excelled at characters that were faced with a difficult choice… a moral conundrum.

He could express the difficulty of weighing difficult options through his silences, glances and sometime an expression of utter disgust. That one extra pause when the conundrum passes through the space between the ears was his trademark.

Acting is nothing but an act of creating emotional resonance. Nobody created that resonance of conundrum better than Irrfan. Every time I look at his scenes, I do not have to guess what is going through the character’s mind, I know it because the same is going through my mind.

I knew Irrfan through his art, and that body of work is enduring. Thank you Irrfan for making it personal, making me think even after you have gone.

China’s Chernobyl -Why China created a global Pandemic?

The Chernobyl conundrum.

Last year the amazing HBO series Chernobyl shook global audiences. It brought the horrors of a nuclear disaster to our drawing rooms. The series portrays hows scientist & leaders scrambled to save half of Europe. While they succeeded, it was at great human cost.

“Open Wide, O Earth” the 3rd episode of the 5-episode series — describes the work of Coal Miners. Melted uranium of Chernobyl was going to percolate down the Earth and infect the Black Sea. It would have contaminated the 180,000-square-mile body of water feeding Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and the Soviet Union. To prevent this, a refrigeration source needed to be installed below molten lava. Soviet coal miners were asked to build a tunnel underneath the lava simmering at 720 °C.

The most gut-wrenching scene is when the sweat-covered miners walk around fully naked but wearing their “protective” headgear. These men knew no amount of clothing could protect them from radiation. And working under molten lava was not possible in coal miner clothes.

Today, the same is playing out on healthcare workers across the globe.

There is a serious shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). It means healthcare workers are as exposed to the Covid-19 virus as the soviet coal miners were to radiation. They are forced to wear bin bags. Only difference being that we understand radioactivity better than corona virus.

here are other alarming parallels.First reactions of leaders have been similar. Covid-19 was compared to common cold. Radiation intensity from Chernobyl was compared to a chest X-ray.First response to reactor meltdown in Chernobyl was chemical. Helicopters dropped 5,000 tons of lead, boric acid, and sand on the reactor, in hopes it would contain the radioactive mess. It did not. First response to Covid-19 is chemical, Hydroxychloroquine. Without medical advice it can lead to eye, heart & skin damage without doing anything to the virus. But HCQ is being touted as miracle cure by some leaders.Only option for common people during Chernobyl was “distancing from the meltdown”. With Covid-19 distancing only option is “Social Distancing”. Why Chernobyl was contained to a 1000 square mile area while Covid-19 became a global disaster?

We need to dig deeper to understand where they diverge. There are two set of decision makers in both the situations and they have behaved differently.

Scientists: Soviet scientists were able to grasp and more importantly able to communicate the dangers of meltdown. They forced leaders to act for containment. While the Chinese scientific community did not do its job in warning the world. Even if they tried, they were silenced and are still being gagged.

Bigger blame is on WHO. Not only did it fail in its duty to give early warning to the world, it was complicit in its spread (Travel Guidelines). But, the real reasons might lie somewhere else.

Leadership: During the Chernobyl meltdown USSR was being led by Mikhail Gorbachev. His Glasnost policies of increased openness and transparency where leading to Perestroika (restructuring). He did everything to control the nuclear fallout, even though it cost him dear. In his own words

“The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later.”

In contrast Xi Jinping has projected himself as a Benevolent King, son of heavens. He has advocated imperial one-man rule by invoking of Confucian values of benevolence and filial piety. In 2018 he became “president for life” as term limits removed. Covid-19 would have proved disastrous for him if it were contained within China.

As opposed to Gorbachev, Xi chose to create a global pandemic by putting pressure on WHO. His logic being:

“You pay less attention to your own suffering ,when the whole world is suffering.”

China today claims that it has recovered from the crisis. But we still do not know how large is the pile of bodies that Xi Jinping is standing on.

Currently, the world is fighting a wildfire and China is the biggest manufacturer of water-pipes. China will remain unscathed for a while. For damage control China has embarked in the largest PR exercise in the history of planet. Reports from Germany, Spain & African nations suggest that Chinese diplomats are in overdrive. They are desperate for any positive word on China. They are willing to pay and/or arm-twist for this. How much it succeeds will decide the fate of world in 21st century.

35 years later the nuclear meltdown is still giving cancer to people of Chernobyl. Covid-19 is now part of our ecosystem, we still don’t know what would it cost homo sapiens as a species.

Why China created a global Pandemic?

Chernobyl might hold clues.

Last year the amazing HBO series Chernobyl shook global audiences. It brought the horrors of a nuclear disaster to our drawing rooms. The series portrays hows scientist & leaders scrambled to save half of Europe. While they succeeded, it was at great human cost.

“Open Wide, O Earth” the 3rd episode of the 5-episode series – describes the work of Coal Miners. Melted uranium of Chernobyl was going to percolate down the Earth and infect the Black Sea. It would have contaminated the 180,000-square-mile body of water feeding Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and the Soviet Union. To prevent this, a refrigeration source needed to be installed below molten lava. Soviet coal miners were asked to build a tunnel underneath the lava simmering at 720 °C.

The most gut-wrenching scene is when the sweat-covered miners walk around fully naked but wearing their “protective” headgear. These men knew no amount of clothing could protect them from radiation. And working under molten lava was not possible in coal miner clothes.

Today, the same is playing out on healthcare workers across the globe.

There is a serious shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). It means healthcare workers are as exposed to the Covid-19 virus as the soviet coal miners were to radiation. They are forced to wear bin bags. Only difference being that we understand radioactivity better than corona virus.

There are other alarming parallels.First reactions of leaders have been similar. Covid-19 was compared to common cold. Radiation intensity from Chernobyl was compared to a chest X-ray.First response to reactor meltdown in Chernobyl was chemical. Helicopters dropped 5,000 tons of lead, boric acid, and sand on the reactor, in hopes it would contain the radioactive mess. It did not. First response to Covid-19 is chemical, Hydroxychloroquine. Without medical advice it can lead to eye, heart & skin damage without doing anything to the virus. But HCQ is being touted as miracle cure by some leaders.Only option for common people during Chernobyl was “distancing from the meltdown”. With Covid-19 distancing only option is “Social Distancing”. Why Chernobyl was contained to a 1000 square mile area while Covid-19 became a global disaster?

We need to dig deeper to understand where they diverge. There are two set of decision makers in both the situations and they have behaved differently.

Scientists: Soviet scientists were able to grasp and more importantly able to communicate the dangers of meltdown. They forced leaders to act for containment. While the Chinese scientific community did not do its job in warning the world. Even if they tried, they were silenced and are still being gagged.

Bigger blame is on WHO. Not only did it fail in its duty to give early warning to the world, it was complicit in its spread (Travel Guidelines). But, the real reasons might lie somewhere else.

Leadership: During the Chernobyl meltdown USSR was being led by Mikhail Gorbachev. His Glasnost policies of increased openness and transparency where leading to Perestroika (restructuring). He did everything to control the nuclear fallout, even though it cost him dear. In his own words

“The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later.”

In contrast Xi Jinping has projected himself as a Benevolent King, son of heavens. He has advocated imperial one-man rule by invoking of Confucian values of benevolence and filial piety. In 2018 he became “president for life” as term limits removed. Covid-19 would have proved disastrous for him if it were contained within China.

As opposed to Gorbachev, Xi chose to create a global pandemic by putting pressure on WHO. His logic being:

“You pay less attention to your own suffering ,when the whole world is suffering.”

China today claims that it has recovered from the crisis. But we still do not know how large is the pile of bodies that Xi Jinping is standing on.

Currently, the world is fighting a wildfire and China is the biggest manufacturer of water-pipes. China will remain unscathed for a while. For damage control China has embarked in the largest PR exercise in the history of planet. Reports from Germany, Spain & African nations suggest that Chinese diplomats are in overdrive. They are desperate for any positive word on China. They are willing to pay and/or arm-twist for this. How much it succeeds will decide the fate of world in 21st century.

35 years later the nuclear meltdown is still giving cancer to people of Chernobyl. Covid-19 is now part of our ecosystem, we still don’t know what would it cost homo sapiens as a species.

How China & WHO created a global Pandemic — COVID-19

How China & WHO created a global Pandemic — COVID-19Chernobyl might tell us what went wrong.

Last year the amazing HBO series Chernobyl shook global audiences. It brought the horrors of a nuclear disaster to our drawing rooms. The series portrays hows scientist & leaders scrambled to save half of Europe. While they succeeded, it was at great human cost.

“Open Wide, O Earth” the 3rd episode of the 5-episode series — describes the work of Coal Miners. Melted uranium of Chernobyl was going to percolate down the Earth and infect the Black Sea. It would have contaminated the 180,000-square-mile body of water feeding Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and the Soviet Union. To prevent this, a refrigeration source needed to be installed below molten lava. Soviet coal miners were asked to build a tunnel underneath the lava simmering at 720 °C.

Naked Coal Miners in Chernobyl

The most gut-wrenching scene is when the sweat-covered miners walk around fully naked but wearing their “protective” headgear. These men knew no amount of clothing could protect them from radiation. And working under molten lava was not possible in coal miner clothes.

Today, the same is playing out on healthcare workers across the globe.

Healthcare workers using bin bags as PPE

There is a serious shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). It means healthcare workers are as exposed to the Covid-19 virus as the soviet coal miners were to radiation. They are forced to wear bin bags. Only difference being that we understand radioactivity better than corona virus.

There are other alarming parallels.First reactions of leaders have been similar. Covid-19 was compared to common cold. Radiation intensity from Chernobyl was compared to a chest X-ray.First response to reactor meltdown in Chernobyl was chemical . Helicopters dropped 5,000 tons of lead, boric acid, and sand on the reactor, in hopes it would contain the radioactive mess. It did not.First response to Covid-19 is chemical, Hydroxychloroquine. Without medical advice it can lead to eye, heart & skin damage without doing anything to the virus. But HCQ is being touted as miracle cure by some leaders.Only option for common people during Chernobyl was “distancing from the meltdown”. With Covid-19 distancing only option is “Social Distancing”.Why Chernobyl was contained to a 1000 square mile area while Covid-19 became a global disaster?

We need to dig deeper to understand where they diverge. There are two set of decision makers in both the situations and they have behaved differently.

Scientists: Soviet scientists were able to grasp and more importantly able to communicate the dangers of meltdown. They forced leaders to act for containment. While the Chinese scientific community did not do its job in warning the world. Even if they tried, they were silenced and are still being gagged. Bigger blame is on WHO. Not only did it fail in its duty to give early warning to the world, it was complicit in its spread (Travel Guidelines). But, the real reasons might lie somewhere else.

Leadership: During the Chernobyl meltdown USSR was being led by Mikhail Gorbachev. His Glasnost policies of increased openness and transparency where leading to Perestroika (restructuring). He did everything to control the nuclear fallout, even though it cost him dear. In his own words

“The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later.”

In contrast Xi Jinping has projected himself as a Benevolent King, son of heavens. He has advocated imperial one-man rule by invoking of Confucian values of benevolence and filial piety. In 2018 he became “president for life” as term limits removed. Covid-19 would have proved disastrous for him if it were contained within China. As opposed to Gorbachev, he chose to create a global pandemic by putting pressure on WHO. His logic being:

“You pay less attention to your own suffering ,when the whole world is suffering.”

China today claims that it has recovered from the crisis. But we still do not know how large is the pile of bodies that Xi Jinping is standing on.

Currently, the world is fighting a wildfire and China is the biggest manufacturer of water-pipes. China will remain unscathed for a while. For damage control China has embarked in the largest PR exercise in the history of planet. Reports from Germany, Spain & African nations suggest that Chinese diplomats are in overdrive. They are desperate for any positive word on China. They are willing to pay and/or arm-twist for this. How much it succeeds will decide the fate of world in 21st century.

35 years later the nuclear meltdown is still giving cancer to people of Chernobyl. Covid-19 is now part of our ecosystem, we still don’t know what would it cost homo sapiens as a species.

Covid-19 is like Chernobyl on a global scale

Photo by cheng feng on UnsplashHow WHO & China put the whole world in danger

Last year the amazing HBO series Chernobyl shook global audiences. It brought the horrors of a nuclear disaster to our drawing rooms. The series portrays hows scientist & leaders scrambled to save half of Europe. While they succeeded, it was at great human cost.

“Open Wide, O Earth” the 3rd episode of the 5-episode series — describes the work of Coal Miners. Melted uranium of Chernobyl was going to percolate down the Earth and infect the Black Sea. It would have contaminated the 180,000-square-mile body of water feeding Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and the Soviet Union. To prevent this, a refrigeration source needed to be installed below molten lava. Soviet coal miners were asked to build a tunnel underneath the lava simmering at 720 °C.

Russian Coal Miners

The most gut-wrenching scene of this episode is when the sweat-covered miners walk around fully naked but wearing their “protective” headgear. These men knew no amount of clothing could protect them from radiation. And working under molten lava was not possible in coal miner clothes.

Today, the same is playing out on healthcare workers across the globe.

COVID19 — Health workers using bin bags

There is a serious shortage of PPE which means they are as exposed to the Covid-19 virus as the soviet coal miners were to radiation. They are forced to wear bin bags because of PPE shortage. Only difference being that we understand radioactivity better than corona virus.

There are other alarming parallels.

First reactions of leaders have been similar. Covid-19 was compared to common cold. Radiation intensity from Chernobyl was compared to a chest X-ray.

First response to reactor meltdown in Chernobyl was chemical. Helicopters dropped 5,000 tons of lead, boric acid, and sand on the reactor, in hopes it would contain the radioactive mess. It did not.

First response to Covid-19 is chemical, Hydroxychloroquine. Without medical advice it can lead to eye, heart & skin damage without doing anything to the virus. But HCQ is being touted as miracle cure by some leaders.

Only option for common people during Chernobyl was “distancing from the meltdown”. With Covid-19 distancing only option is “Social Distancing”.

Why Chernobyl was contained to a 1000 square mile area while to Covid-19 became a global disaster?

We need to dig deeper to understand where they diverge. There are two set of decision makers in both the situations and they have behaved differently.

Scientists: The soviet scientists were able to grasp and more importantly able to communicate the dangers of meltdown. They forced leaders to act for containment. While the Chinese scientific community did not do its job in warning the world. Even if they tried, they were silenced and are still being gagged.

The bigger blame is on WHO. Not only did it fail in its duty to give early warning to the world, it was complicit in its spread (Travel Guidelines). But, the real reasons might lie somewhere else.

Leadership: During the Chernobyl meltdown USSR was being led by Mikhail Gorbachev. His Glasnost policies of increased openness and transparency where leading to Perestroika (restructuring). He did everything to control the nuclear fallout, even though it cost him dear. In his own words “The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later.”

In contrast Xi Jinping has projected himself as a Benevolent King, son of heavens. He has advocated imperial one-man rule by invoking of Confucian values of benevolence and filial piety. In 2018 he became “president for life” as term limits removed. Covid-19 would have proved disastrous if it were contained within China. As opposed to Gorbachev, he has chosen to create a global problem by putting pressure on WHO. His logic being:

“You pay less attention to your suffering ,when the whole world is suffering.”

China today claims that it has recovered from the crisis. But we still do not know how large the pile of bodies is that Xi Jinping is standing on.

Currently, the world is firefighting and China is the biggest manufacturer of water-pipes. China will remain unscathed for a while. For damage control China has embarked in the largest PR exercise in the history of planet. Reports from Germany, Spain & African nations suggest that Chinese diplomats are in overdrive. They are desperate for any positive word on China. They are willing to pay and/or arm-twist for this. How much it succeeds will decide the fate of world in 21st century.

35 years later the meltdown is still giving cancer to people of Chernobyl. Covid-19 is now part of our ecosystem, we still don’t know what would it cost over eons.

Intolerance Vs Freedom of Expression

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The Omar Khayyam Project

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The floating bubble

There are days when a song gets stuck in your head and however much you try to stop it, it just keeps ringing — sometimes to the levels of…

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