Economy. Sports. Politics. Nature.

America's Immigration Problem

2011-04-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

As someone who has been through (and is still going through) the labryinth that is America's immigration system, this story of a close friend and classmate is all too painful to bear:

America's National Suicide

Over the past few years, there have been calls from various quarters, including some business lobbies to initiate an immigration reform, but this has focused mostly on the illegal immigration issue.

An issue that either goes unnoticed or doesn't get much attention is legal immigration. This article highlights the plight that highly-qualified legal immigrants go through.

Given that this section of skilled immigrants from countries that have traditionally a high degree of emphasis on higher education have historically created jobs and have grown the American economy, this blase attitude towards such a critcial element of immigration reform does indeed constitute America's march towards a more insular and closed society.

Unemployed Activist Fails to Land Herself Behind Bars

2010-11-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

Unemployed writer and full-time newsmaker Arundhati Roy has failed to get arrested yet again despite her latest efforts to run afoul of the law.

With her statements that Kashmir has never historically been part of India, Ms. Roy was hoping to join the illustrious company of eminent historical jailed activists of the distaff persuasion. Notable members of this club include Zsa Zsa Gabor, who notably spent 3 days in jail for slapping a cop, (and looked fabulous while doing so), Martha Stewart, who did a stint in camp cupcake for undertaking the controversial but indubitably noble campaign for the equality of cream and off-white walls, and of course Paris Hilton, a tireless campaigner for POOP (or the Prevention of Obscurity to Ostentatious Personalities).

Upon hearing that the comatose government, by dint of its sheer laziness and steadfast refusal to take steps on any matter, had once again thwarted her attempts to achieve martyrdom, Ms. Roy was said to be bitterly disappointed. In a brave but ultimately futile attempt to save face, she has said that the latest statement was aimed not at compromising the unity of the country, but to promote justice for the average Kashmiri. Or Cashmere, as Ms. Roy charmingly pronounces it in her clipped public school accent.

In fact, Ms. Roy has allegedly always taken a rigid stand against a breakup (or makeup for that matter, judging by her media photos) of any kind. She first rocked the jhola-wala community by joining her mentor and fellow anti-makeup activist Medha Patkar in her steely-minded opposition to the Narmada dam through her NGO, the Narmada Bachhao Andolan.

Even during those early days, her pro-national/pro-Bharatiya Sanskar were obvious to all, given that her stated reason for opposing the damn was that using mild swear-words were against Indian values. In the same vein, she went on to successfully oppose the Bramhaputra Heck and the Godavari Egad. The lack of publicity around these projects shows how effective Ms. Roy was in getting this project cancelled.

Ms. Roy has stated that she will take this latest setback in stride and put a brave face as she announced to reporters that she will continue her self-righteous struggle to go to jail. And just like that, she defiantly did a pirouette and vanished into the recesses of her New Delhi slum, also known as a Chanakyapuri mansion, accompanied by her fellow activists, also known as servants to sip on some much needed Narmada water, also known as a chhotta peg in these parts.

The Truth About Tigers

2010-04-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

A documentary made by Shekar Dattatri is raising awareness about the dwindling Bengal tiger population in India. More here:

http://www.truthabouttigers.org

Race and Diversity in Sports: Whither Diversity?

2009-05-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

An article that I wrote on diversity in professional tennis was featured on the tennis front page of Bleacher Report. It is here.

Trouble in the Sunderbans

2008-11-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

Man and beast continue their daily tussle in the mystical Sunderbans. A perfect storm of climactic, economic and human factors is endangering this Unesco World Heritage Site:

Article

The Case for Indigenous People in Tiger Conservation Efforts

2008-06-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

A case for giving people preference over tigers in tiger conservation efforts. Also takes a look at China's conservation approach.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/15/wildlife.india

All your Business Processes are Belong to Us: The Culture Clash that Ensues when ‘Equals’ Merge

2008-06-06T06:26:00.000-07:00

In the corporate world, a merger or a takeover is never a dull event, whether it is benign or hostile. Cultures clash, systems migrate, and people displaced. To synchronize all these moving parts is a Herculean task, and very few companies (merged entities) are able to pull it off successfully. It should come as no surprise to anyone that over 50% of all mergers fail.

Cisco, the takeover powerhouse of the 90’s has a well defined and structured process complete with regular milestones and targets for “on-boarding” acquired companies. Over the course of the ten years from 1990 through 1998, Cisco’s market value surged over several hundred times, owing mostly to its growth by acquisition. Barring StrataCom, which had revenues of over $400 million when it was acquired, most of its other acquisitions were small, startup companies. Cisco largely avoided culture clashes with its acquisitions as most startups have little or no defined business processes, and readily adopted the “Cisco way”.

But what happens when two established and ‘equal’ entities merge? Do one company’s business processes prevail over the other? Or do they form ‘synergies’ (that much maligned word) that make the merged entity greater than the sum of the two merging companies?

In the auto industry, when Daimler and Chrysler merged in 1998, they were looking to combine their respective offerings to form a complete suite of vehicles. Less than ten years later, the merger collapsed, and the two companies parted ways.

What happened?

Daimler tried to bring its disciplined approach of doing business while hoping to leverage Chrysler’s innovative design methodology. While this was a sensible strategy on paper, it didn’t quite work out in reality. Industry experts’ opinions on the cause of the debacle ranged from the group’s failure to fix quality issues to their inability to reign in costs. While these definitely may have been contributing reasons, they do not usually cause demise of companies (case in point: GM).

The reason for the failure of the merger can be boiled down to one word: culture. Successful cross-border mergers have taken place before, but ironically it failed in this case because of the strengths of the two companies involved, not their weaknesses. Both companies are icons of the auto industry, and played prime roles in shaping the industry landscape in their respective countries from its inception. When it came to adopting a common, shared culture, there was significant resistance from both sides, making the joint entity a headless chicken. Indeed, the most surprising aspect of this merger is how long it lasted, not how soon it collapsed.

One of the most fundamental follies of a merger is that once executives sign on the dotted line, the role of managing the new entity is generally passed on to middle management, who tend to be operations-minded. Though it could be termed micro-management, the need of the hour is for executive management to remain deeply vested in the operations. This way, the CEO learns about problems first-hand, and not from sterilized dashboards carefully prepared to appease.

Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan-Renault, is a prime example of how the CEO should retain hands-on control on the merged entity. Nissan is Japanese, Renault is French, and Ghosn is Brazilian. But Ghosn stayed engaged and understood the culture of the two companies and hand-held the new entity until he rectified cultural issues.

While there is no secret recipe for making mergers of equals work, companies would do well to learn the following from past successful mergers:

1. Executive management should remain committed to the new entity
2. Ensure that neither company enforces its culture on the other
3. Experiment often, and quickly discard strategies that are not working
4. Keep shareholders informed of company decisions
5. Focus on growth first, costs second

Myanmar Needs Your Help..

2008-05-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

As you may have heard, the government in Myanmar is preventing aid from reaching the victims hit by Cyclone Nargis, which is reported to have claimed more than 100,000 lives already (at a conservative estimate).

However, there are some organizations with boots on the ground that can deliver those much-needed supplies reach the victims and prevent the death toll from rising further.

Please donate whatever you can. It took me less than 5 minutes on Google checkout (you need to have an account).

UNICEF: http://www.google.com/myanmarcyclone/
CARE: https://my.care.org/05/myanmar/?source=170860490000

Good News for the Indian Rhino

2008-05-02T09:26:00.001-07:00

The Manas Wildlife Reserve in Assam, India, gives us some rare good news. The Indian Rhino makes a comeback:

http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=131281&_sc=1

India's Declining Tiger Population Gets More Coverage

2008-04-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here is an article on Newsweek about the declining tiger population in India. More coverage = more awareness = better chance for conservation.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134268

The Perfect Drought: The Global Food Crisis is Now

2008-04-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

Over the past week, we have witnessed food riots in a half-dozen developing countries (thanks for the tip, Ravi). Rising prices have made it almost impossible for the lower-income groups in Haiti, the Philippines, Indonesia and Cameroon to feed themselves. Why have prices risen and what can we do about it?

A combination of many factors has resulted in the perfect drought. While the most visible reason is the continued usage of corn to produce bio-fuels such as ethanol, it cannot explain the shortage of rice, the staple grain of half the world's population. There are other reasons at play:

1. Rising affluence in China and India: More affluence = more meat = less efficient usage of grain
2. Climate change: Vagaries of climate change = falling food production
3. Construction boom: More buildings = more water required
4. Water shortage: Rice production is critically dependent on water
5. Reduction of Arable Land: More malls = less arable land

More importantly, what can we do about this? In the short-term, the G-7, the group of the seven most industrialized nations, urgently needs to send food supplies and funds to the countries most affected.

In the longer term, the following things need to happen, in no particular order:

1. Tackling the water shortage: A huge problem with no easy solutions
2. Ensuring proper urban planning: More due diligence needs to happen before committing agricultural land for urban usage, such as malls and highways
3. Using efficient agricultural methods: Countries that have advanced agricultural techniques need to share these techniques with less developed ones, even the ones that don't have a food crisis yet
4. Studying the climate crisis: Commonly-accepted scientific standards need to be defined to resolve cause and effect of the global climactic change
5. Using more fuel-efficient transport: Smaller, fuel-efficient cars, more public transport

While the global food crisis will probably not escalate to a full-fledged war, it will most definitely cause mini-wars such as the ones we witnessed over the past few days unless we act now.

Why the World Should Not Boycott the Beijing Olympics

2008-04-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

"Citius, Altius, Fortius", or "Faster, Stronger, Higher" in English. The famous Olympics slogan breaks down man's physicals endeavours to the simplest possible level.

Ever since the advent of the modern Olympics in 1896 in Athens, the 'Games' have embodied the celebration of the human spirit. But over the course of the next century, as the Olympics became more and more commercialized and complex, the event has seen some tumultous times.

The infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics, the pride of Hitler and his Third Reich, preceded the horrors of World War II. The U.S, a minor sporting power back then, sent a contingent amid much controversy. Avery Brundage, the U.S Olympic Committee chairmain, said, "politics has no place in sport".

The 1980 Moscow Olympics were held in the era of the Cold War, and was boycotted by several Western governments. The U.S, by now the pre-eminent sporting power, led the boycott. The USSR duly reciprocated by refusing to participate in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, taking 14 other countries with it.

Personally, I have never been a advocate for boycotting the Olympics for one simple reason: the sheer ineffectiveness of the approach.

More records were set in the boycott-affected 1980 Olympics than the previous edition in Montreal in 1976. Often, positive human stories have triumphed over negative national policies. Jesse Owens, the celebrated African-American athlete who won four gold medals in the Berlin Olympics, famously stated that he was treated much better in Nazi Germany than he was in his own country, which was still heavily segregated then. One could argue that this was a crucial chapter in the eventual change in America's segregationist policy.

Which brings us to the present-day wherein Western government are debating boycotting the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetans, and the person who probably has more at stake than any other leader in this saga, has not called for a boycott. While this is being attributed to his pacifist, non-confrontational mindset, there is more to it than meets the eye.

Recently, Tibet has seen a massive Chinese investment, some of it with bad effects, such as a huge influx of Chinese Han settlers, who are genealogically different from Tibetans. This will inevitably lead to ethnics strife in the future. But overall, Chinese money has had a positive impact on the lives of ordinary, impoverished Tibetans. The Dalai Lama knows this, and is tacitly acknowledging this fact. As well, He has publicly stated that he does not desire complete independence for Tibet, but only an 'autonomous' status.

The other reason is a bit more nuanced. His Holiness knows that a boycott will lose him his prime bargaining chip in negotiations with the Communist Party leadership. A confrontational approach now will further harden the resolve of the Chinese in holding on to Tibet by force. Instead, talks should be held with Beijing to force it to change its policy on Tibet, the Sudan, and environmental issues, such as a reduction in greenhouse gases.

The average Che-T-shirt-wearing, ultra-liberal activist cannot be blamed for simplistic reactions to such a complex issue. Even then, the effect of these misguided protestors is minimal at best. But at the geopolitical level, there needs to be an in-depth analysis of the ramifications of actions that may influence the lives of oridinary Tibetans, and indeed the rest of the world for the coming generation.

India Earns Its Spurs and Loses Its Stripes: The Plight of the Tiger

2008-03-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

The year is 2020. India is close to fulfilling the promise of India Vision 2020, the brainchild of India's former president, A.P.J Abdul Kalam. It was an ambitious plan that started 15 years ago with the stated aim of transforming India into a "developed country".

Why the quotes? For starters, the phrase is so subjective that it is impossible to attach a satisfactory definition. But there is another reason that really puts the so-called development into perspective. India's rise into the ranks of industrialized nations has come at a terrible price: the loss of is natural habitat and ecosystems. While there have been many victims (both flora and fauna) of this rapid march towards development, no other story is more tragic than the near-extinction of the Panthera tigris bengalensis, or the Royal Bengal Tiger.

In 1972, the Government of India launched 'Project Tiger', a conservation project aimed at reviving the tiger habitat in India, home to more than half the world's tiger population to this day. While the idea was noble, the story of Project Tiger is an illustration of how bureaucracy stifles new initiatives. A 2004 census of the tiger population across the nation's 28 tiger reserves revealed some startling data. The tiger population had declined in most reserves, and in one case, the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, once the hunting ground of the Maharaja of Alwar, the population had been wiped out completely. The number of tigers in India has dwindled to 1,500 odd, down from even 3,000 at the turn of the century, a mere eight years ago.

A combination of poaching and village encroachment in so-called protected areas has had a deadly impact on the habitat of the Royal Bengal Tiger and other endangered species. One of the prime drivers of poaching has been the illegal tiger parts trade for use in traditional Chinese medicine. Caches of tiger skins, rhino horns, bear paws and elephant tusks are openly sold in parts of Asia and are transported across borders with impunity.

To its credit, the Indian Government has been taking steps to prevent poaching, but the efforts have largely been in vain. There is an urgent need to achieve the following:

1. Manage the demand of traditional Chinese medicines by either
a. Banning the tiger parts trade outright, or
b. Legalizing the trade and breed tigers in captivity for this purpose
2. Relocate settlements and villages that are currently situated in protected national wildlife reserves to other areas, and give villagers a sustainable form of living.
3. Cross-breed tigers and other animals in captivity (inbreeding causes problems) and release them into the wild in a scientific manner (environmentalists are divided on this method)
4. Create new habitats for the most endangered species to prevent eradication of the whole population due to localized natural and man-made calamities.

William Blake, the English poet wrote the poem 'Tiger' more than a century ago:

'Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?'

One can almost visualize the aura and glory of the tiger in Blake's immortal words.

Unless we conserve our natural habitat and protect its inhabitants, the development of India, and other developing countries will be incomplete. Indeed, we shall have regressed by losing our most precious treasure.

Populism in American Politics: Why the Next President Needs to be an Elitist

2008-03-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

Amid the ruckus of 3AM calls, superdelegates, and allegations of racism, one curious factor has been lost in this presidential race: the increasingly important role of populism in American politics, especially during election year.

All three candidates in the fray are singing a distinctively populist tune. Barack Obama (Anti-NAFTA), Hillary Clinton (Job-protectionism) and John McCain (National Security) have significantly racheted up their appeals to the working-class. One cannot really blame them for adopting this strategy. By and large, this section of Americans voters is increasingly wary of free trade causing jobs to be shipped overseas, as well as being fed up with the confused approach to national security of the current administration.

The results have shown that this particular strategy is paying handsome dividends. On the Republican side, McCain has sewn up the party's nomination despite being viewed with suspicion by the party's more conservative section. Even his detractors admit that McCain is someone who has the right background and qualifications to right America's national security policy. On the Democratic side, Clinton has always appealed to the White, working-class populace and to her credit, she has maintained her support base, as evidenced by her victory in Ohio and her positive poll numbers in Pennsylvania.

Obama's case is a bit more complicated. He started off weak, but made rapid ground in the race, largely due to his appeal to educated, urban males and Blacks. However, he has recently changed tack and his campaign rhetoric has taken a more populist approach. His calls for "change", heady slogans such as "the urgency of now" (whatever that means) and his staunch anti-NAFTA stance are viewed as his attempts to maintain support amongst swing voters.

In a recent article in the Financial Times, Alan Greenspan has argued that a free-market, tarriff-free approach should continue to be the cornerstone of American economic policy, the one success of the current administration. The venerable banker has history on his side. A protectionist economic approach has always tended to pay dividends in the short-term, but has typically backfired over the course of multiple business cycles.

Take the current credit crisis. Amid the carnage on Wall Street, one silver lining for the top investment banks has been what are known as Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), assets held by governments in another country's currency. These comprise of financial instruments, such as stocks, bonds and derivatives. It is hard to believe, but had it not been for SWFs, behemoths like Citi and Merrill Lynch would have been in an even worse situation than they currently are.

Thus far, most Western economies, including the U.S', have maintained regulations that have allowed freer capital and labor flows. Given that US economic policy still sets the tone for the Europeans, the current rhetoric in the American electoral landscape could set a dangerous precedent in the years to come.

Alexander Hamilton, America's first treasury secretary, and a staunch Federalist, believed that the well-educated elite should set the nation's economic agenda. All three presidential candidates in the 2008 race would do well to follow his sage advice.

Fed's Bailouts: Money for Nothing

2008-03-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

$2 can buy you a lot of things. Even today, with the dollar approaching historic lows, $2 goes a long way in most places on earth. It can get you a burger at McDonalds, or a Pound Sterling, or even a month's supply of medicines for a child in sub-Saharan Africa (Thanks for the references, Elon). On Wall Street, it is a small fortune, if today's news is anything to go by.

In a deal that was fast-tracked by the federal government to avoid bankruptcy of Bear Stearns, the nation's fifth-largest investment bank, JP Morgan announced that it was buying out the beleaugured said bank for $236.2 million, at $2 a share, in a press release issued before the markets opened today. This price was a fraction of its book value less than month ago. The Federal Reserve (Fed) and the US government did their part by extending a gurantantee of $30 Billion of Bear Stearns assets.

I am confused. First, on March 11th, the Fed bails out investment banks by giving them a $200 billion gift - essentially, an offer to buy their AAA-rated debt in exchange for treasury bonds. This, after it was revealed that said banks had made some rather questionable decisions with their excessive exposure to the subprime market, contributing to the world-wide credit crisis. In effect, the Fed (ergo, the tax-payer) is paying for the mistakes of a few greedy suits at the nation's top investment banks.

The reasoning goes that not doing so would lead to a severe liquidity crisis, which apparently, is much worse than what the financial markets are facing right now. Fair enough. But surely the people who led us to this situation will have to pay for their mismanagement, right? Absolutely, but only if you count multi-million payouts for outgoing CEO's as punishment. To add insult to injury, the hedge funds that have contributed to this crisis by their short-plays, stand to gain from the fall in the market indices by covering their short positions.

So, the lesson from the Fed for irresponsible lenders for creating a crisis that has led to a global credit contagion? No worries. Mistakes happen. Oh, and here is $200 Billion to help ease your troubles. The lesson for the average investor like you and me? If your market investments have lost a significant portion of their value largely due to a crisis that was created by a select group of lenders, tough luck to you.

Finally, here are some numbers for you to ponder: Chuck Prince, Citi's ousted CEO, left with vested stock holdings valued at $94 million and roughly $53.1 million in salary he received over the four years during his tenure as CEO. He also received a pension of $1.74 million and another one million stock options. That's a lot of $2 bills.

In the meanwhile, I am off to get a burger at McDonalds. Unlike the Fed's largesse, which keeps giving, the burger at the Mac is a limited time offer.

The Americanization of Cricket

2008-03-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

February 20th will be remembered as the day the Americanisation of world cricket commenced. Is America taking to cricket? Actually, the converse. Cricket is taking to America. It is the day that player auctions were held for the inaugural version of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a two-month long cricket tournament that will be organized by BCCI, India's cricket board.

$1.5 Million. For the average Joe, that amount is hard to grasp. For the average Indian, even more so (even with its new-found riches, India is still largely impoverished). That's 2 Juhu sea-facing mansions, 30 Porsche Carreras, 200 Rolex Oyster watches. That's $1.5 Million for two months work. Nothing wrong with that.

Unless, of course, you are talking about two months of hitting a red leather sphere with a wooden paddle, or catching said sphere with oversized leather gloves. The benefeciary of this largesse, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the new ringleader of the circus that is Indian cricket, is probably most deserving of this bounty. The man has just led his country's cricket team to a tournament victory over her most capable rival. Indeed, he probably earned it last year, when he led his young team to glory in a tournament for Twenty20, the latest episode in cricket's march towards crass commercialisation.

Sure, sports such as tennis, club soccer and golf are commercialized, but are still thriving. Indeed, they are going places where they have never been before. Asia is the new frontier for these sports, and are poised to take off to an order of magnitude. But comparison of present-day cricket to a different set of sports is more apt. American sports. America's sports leagues - baseball, American football and basketball are probably the richest in the world, barring England's Premier League. But these sports are characterized by what Disraeli termed 'Splendid Isolation', who, of course, was describing Britain's foreign policy in the late 19th century, but this phrase may well be used to describe the landscape of American sports.

Played and watched mostly by locals, these sports have little appeal outside the shores of North America. Declining interest levels have made desperate tactics such as cheerleaders, halftime show gimmicks, and slick P.R the norm in American sports. Overinflated egos (Stephon Marbury of the NY Knicks and almost every NBA player worth his bling), callousness (Michael Vick of the dog-fighting infamy), drug scandals (Clemens, Giambi in baseball, Marion Jones in athletics), cheating (Bill Belichik of pro football) are the result.

Cricket, while certainly more global and pristine, is still limited to the Commonwealth, and is likely to remain so, given the intricacies of the sport, which make cricket, cricket. While other sports have the potential to grow in Asia, specifically India, cricket is already there, and there is no other country (with the exception of China) where it can grow on such a massive scale.

All this may be moot, and cricket's 'glorious uncertainties' may well win out over the 'certainties' of commercialization. But I have a feeling that cricket will go the way of American sports. Why do I think that? Well, to start with, I could give you 1.5 million reasons....

Listening to The Silence

2008-03-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Silence. I hear silence. I have so much to say, and so I hear ambient nothingness. Is it really silence, or are all the sounds canceling themselves out?

Noise. The defining characteristic of our time. A cacaphony of voices, opinions, advice, reviews, commentary, talk. "Talkte raho!", as the nightwatchman in your mind would say. What about listening? As in, closing the oral orifice, and opening the aural. Hmmm...

But Buzza, why do you write a blog when you advocate listening? Get in line like the rest of us and wait your turn to talk, you say. Ok baba, I admit it....I am a creature of my generation. I love talking. But I hope (against hope) that by blogging on my four favorite topics - Economy, Politics, Sports, and Nature, I may end up learning something from the multitudes of talkers on the Intertubes. In the process, maybe learn the art of listening. And maybe, just maybe, hope that the noise in my head heeds to the silence outside.

With that said, here goes.....