Talking Shop: Naukri. Mockery. Etc.

Demoralization caused by

vast unemployment is the

greatest extravagance.

Morally, it is the greatest

menace to any social order.”

Franklin D Roosevelt

Not for nothing was Franklin D Roosevelt the longest-serving President of the United States. Roosevelt served from 1933 till 1945, the only president to serve more than two terms, the initial two combating the ‘Great Depression’, while the third and fourth saw him oversee America’s involvement in World War II. It was ironical that FDR’s successor, Harry S Truman, had been US President for just two months when he dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing the curtains down on WW II. Truman soon outlined a 21-point program – including expansion of social security, full-employment, a permanent Fair Employment Practices Act and public housing. The program was known as the ‘Fair Deal’.

Almost 80 years later, India seems to be standing at a similar crossroads, needing a ‘Fair Deal’ of its own. In earlier columns on these pages, we have spoken of crores of Indians without jobs. Today, we speak of graduates from India’s top universities getting rebuffed, including those from the IITs (Indian Institute of Technology). This is not the Indian dream; it qualifies to be a nightmare anywhere on the Planet. Reports have it that as many as 25 per cent of IIT pass-outs have not received any job offers in this year’s campus recruitments. How will they, when India’s human resource-hungry sectors such as IT, automobiles, telecom and manufacturing are in the doldrums themselves?

What we have, then, is a scenario where IIT engineering graduates are receiving monthly salary offers as low as Rs 33,000-50,000. May the Almighty bless the experts and economists who are lamenting the sluggish sales of automobiles and high-end mobile phones. It would be more sensible and down-to-earth for them to discuss pyaaz, tamatar, adrak-lehsun and dhaniya.

Soliloquy: What sums up the employment fallout today was captured by Thomas Carlyle when he said: “A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune’s inequality exhibits under this Sun.”

Electoral battles resume

Well, those days are back; days when India’s political lions break free from their cages and spew verbal vitriol at one another; when the hapless herd of people brought to election rallies in rickety buses pays a terrible price with their bleeding ears, all for a free samosa, banana and Frooti; days when hateful things are said, with cusses and curses ruling political lecterns; and days when some sections of the media will use lips and lip-service to kiss the feet and other body parts of certain elements, while using their steel-toed Opancis to kick others to political oblivion. Welcome. Soon after the General Elections that threw up a fractured verdict, we now witness assembly polls in four states – Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir, the first two being viewed as a definitive brush-stroke on the nation’s political canvas.

Let’s talk of Haryana, a state that inevitably ends up giving India the maximum number of sportspersons. It is so steeped in sports that physical activity is given due importance even in remote areas and villages. Therein lies the twist for the ruling party, with the masses frothing at the mouth and smarting over what happened to its wrestlers. As a nation celebrated the inauguration of a new Parliament House, wrestlers protesting against an allegedly glad-eyed administration were dragged on the Capital’s roads barely 200 metres away. Those images are just not going away, much as the mainstream TV media may have tried to kick the ruckus under the political carpet. Throw in the 46,000 graduates who applied for sweeper’s jobs in the state last week. Add in an Olympian who joins the Opposition, while a gangster’s missus joins the ruling party. You have a powder keg on a slow-burn here.

Maharashtra is a mixed bag, forcing supremoes to pay obeisance to tumbling statues, as a scattering sena of warriors and ministers offers sage advice on the virtues of stainless steel. This may just turn out to be one episode in politics where warriors of yesteryears return to slay today’s rulers who are being adorned by the masses in the garb of tyrants and autocrats. Well, most have done much to deserve the epitaph.

A beeline for America

Christopher Columbus may have been credited with discovering the Americas in 1492, but some insist it was Asians and (Red) Indians who (150,000 years ago) walked across the Bering land bridge from Siberia to Alaska. Well, Indians are now headed to the US en masse, but not to commemorate their generations; they are there to settle and chase the ‘American Dream’. Some say these chasers are running from their own lands which also have plenty – plenty of unrest, ladles of uncertainty, oodles of lost opportunities, and cradles of babies putting at risk of starvation the already overflowing cup of humanity.

Today, we are speaking of a beeline being made for the US to take a symbolic stand or make a statement. For instance, Rahul Gandhi’s visit, ostensibly at the request of US Vice-President Kamala Harris and certainly to the consternation of the planners of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own visit to the US soon. Rahul’s US itinerary includes engagements with the Indian diaspora, meetings with business and academic leaders, and participation in other activities. He will address students in American universities and anchor a Press Conference in Washington, something that some Indian leaders are not famous for.

This will be a special occasion for Rahul, for he would be following in the footsteps of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi; the fourth-generation family member to visit the US. The architect of Rahul’s activities in the Americas is a Red(-blooded) Indian too – Gandhi confidante and close family friend Sam Pitroda. Incidentally, this visit comes exactly three years after Rahul took a swipe at PM Modi, when he asked whether the PM (then on a visit to the US) understood Kamala Harris’ remarks about “protecting democracies and institutions”. “Did he get it,” Rahul cheekily asked then on Instagram.

Manipur burns yet again

A deafening silence continues. Rocket attacks and drone recce-strikes are stirring up emotions and blood in Manipur as often and nonchalantly as you and I order ice-cream to remember a summer that is gone or a monsoon that refuses to do so, but there are people who continue to play adamant and remain silent. The North-Eastern state continues to burn, and the authorities have only one thing to say – “we are taking stock of the situation every three hours and maintaining a strict vigil”. Thank Heavens for small mercies, for this high vigilance has continued for a year-and-a-half without managing to sort things out between two warring tribal factions in a ‘modern nation’ in 18 months, and counting.

Over the last fortnight, fresh violence has erupted in the state, with suspected Kuki militants launching drone attacks on villages. This is the first time that drones have been used to drop bombs, a development causing concern among security forces as this is tantamount to terrorism. What is causing raised global eyebrows is the lack of a crackdown by national authorities, which seem to be turning a blind eye to the raging conflict between the Kuki and Meitei tribal communities. The cauldron is being allowed to simmer, potentially cooking up further trouble. Given the severe limitations faced by security forces in a region delineated by ethnic divisions and trust deficit, there is an urgent need for a political solution involving both the state and central governments. Manipur needs a healing touch, fast.

A dog’s stubborn tail…

After hibernating for a decade, the media seemed to have found its old gumption for reporting with guts, at least that’s the message one saw on TV screens recently. This sent naysayers into a tizzy, wondering if there was a deeper message to be read into this turnaround. Part of this wishful thinking stemmed from stories on mainline media channels on “toll taxes being extorted by various wings of the authorities”, even after investments had been recouped and hefty profits booked. Some rival channels played background scores from the Mahabharata to celebrate the significance of this about-face.

It was short-lived, though, as it turned out, much like the dog’s tail which will never give up its convoluted shape (and ways). The same channels ran the same stories again last week, with a caveat – yes, hefty toll was being charged for highway use, but it was only being done so that you and I can get more new highways. The new stories didn’t talk about more and higher toll charges on the new highways. It may just be a matter of time before this tale of the toll eventually takes a high toll.

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist. He can be reached on [email protected]. Views expressed are personal