Hope for best or work for best?

As I have been talking with my friends and colleagues about the change in government, a typical response has been "Let us hope for the best". In fact many a times I also gave the same response. And just now, it struck me that this is nothing but passive thinking. After giving the mandate to the new Modi government, we just want to sit back and "Hope for the Best".

What if we just replace "Hope" with "Work" and start thinking "Let us Work for the Best".  A simple change in word has a major impact in our approach to governance.  Rather than being a passive observer to the charade of governance, we become an active participant in the governance process.

There are many ways, we can keep ourselves involved with the governance process. The least we can do is to use the social media to provide constructive criticism towards the actions the government is taking or not taking. If something is not working, raise it. If government decisions are improper, cry hell. If the government is doing something right, appreciate it. If the government needs our support in making some decisions, help them. If you have new ideas to solve a problem, share it.  If any member of BJP or affiliated organizations is trying to abuse his power or reach, make it known. But don't indulge in unnecessary rants. Don't complain about imaginary problems or apprehensions without any factual basis.  Use twitter, facebook, whatsapp and other social media to the best of the ability. Know that people in this government do react to simmering anger in social media and take corrective actions quickly. An example is when Pramod Muthalik was inducted in BJP during the campaign, an aggressive twitter lashing led to he being thrown out of the party the same day. Know that Modi wants to be here for a long term and he will not do anything which would lead to erosion of his support base.


There are other avenues also for engaging with the modi government. At his website http://www.narendramodi.in/ you can directly write to him, or join him in his "Serve the Nation" campaign.  I am sure many more initiatives will be launched by the government in upcoming months to have a greater involvement of young and capable people in the governance process.

Even if you don't like BJP ideology, or something that has happened in the past, the government is here to stay. So better engage with them rather than just saying "Hope for the best".

Handling illegal migration from Bangladesh

Illegal migration from Bangladesh into India turned up as an important electoral issue while campaigning in West Bengal. While BJP didn't give a specific solution to it, it did show its tough stand that illegal migration is not acceptable.  In this post, I suggest a WIN-WIN solution which can be helpful to both India and Bangladesh.

A fundamental issue to understand is why migration happens. Essentially there are two reasons for migration: economics and politics. If people don't find job opportunities or other income sources in their native place, they tend to go to other more prosperous places in order to find jobs. The prosperous places are always in need for more blue collar workers or even general labor. So there is an economic benefit associated with them to allow illegal migration to happen.

The second reason is political. There are two sides of this. When a small group of people is harassed in one locality, it attempts to run away and find refuse in some other more friendly place.  On the other hand, politicians sometimes allow illegal migration as long as they can cultivate their vote bank.

Of the two, majority of migration happens due to economical reasons and vote bank politics is just incidental to it. Thus, if the core reasons for migration due to economic reasons can be taken care of, then migration will automatically come down. Not many people really want to leave her home place and wander in foreign lands.

In order to solve this problem, it makes sense for India to help Bangladesh develop into an economically prosperous nation. If India can help develop infrastructure in the country, build ports, roads, and help grow labor intensive industries, then most of the Bangladeshis who have left the country, will naturally be motivated to go back to their home land and stay there. Further, with right kind of partnership between India and Bangladesh, this will also help India develop its north-east region much more effectively. As the roads through Bangladesh will help connect the north-east to the Bay of Bengal and excellent ports on the coastal line will help increase international trade, India will automatically benefit a lot. Such an excellent India-Bangladesh partnership will help solve so many problems in one go.

Now, it doesn't mean that the illegal immigrants problem will be solved completely through this master stroke.  The political refugee problem will still remain and will have to be addressed differently. But, its good to solve the 80% of the problem first and then come out with more challenging approaches to solve more tricky problems.