@rgumental @dvisor

Excerpts from a conversation with a person who works as a cleaning staff in Dubai. Actual conversation happened in Hindi.  Me: So how do you save money in India? Him: I transfer money to my uncle’s bank account. He takes it and gives it to my father. He keeps it. Me: So, a person keeps the all the money of earning members in your family? Him: Yeah, and he lends out money at 2% interest to our immediate & extended family members & friends when someone needs it Me: (My finance mind starts to work) Well, why don’t you open an NRE account? You get 4% interest tax free on savings account and 7.5% on fixed deposit (Thank God, I didn't advise Stocks & Mutual Funds) Him: Banking doesn’t work for us Sir. Our financial needs are different Me: Can you explain? Him: Sometimes for my daughter’s school fees, I need some money urgently. Maybe for some agricultural expenses, I may have some unanticipated need. If I go to banks, they ask for many paperw...

One of the most mis-informed notions about democracy is the term 'participatory' . Much of the literature that you would see on politics / democratic society uses this term to say that citizens / electorate should have a say in every decision that Government takes. And, to this basis, many Governments / media / someone else often calls for referendums to decide on a crucial decision. The Lokpal referendums happening in India is a classic example..The main problem with this referendum process is that often, the electorate is mis-informed / does not think about the real implications while exercising their votes. For eg:, If you do a referendum in India on whether income tax should be abolished or not, you are quite likely to get a 95% + vote on the affirmative side.. Similarly, if someone floats a referendum on whether India should attack Pakistan, the answer is likely to be on the affirmative side more often... But the point is that, such decisions have quite a lot of other i...

" If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience. "   - George Bernard Shaw So, again it happened.. One more round of blasts in Mumbai..  As I'm abroad now, I'm somewhat away from the 24 hour sensational / breaking news culture of Indian news channels. Yes, the Government should put in better counter terror mechanisms in place, better intelligence or whatsoever.. But I don't think they can eliminate this scourge altogether.. If some stupid wants to blast some area, there is very little that a Government can do about it..  even a well funded & efficient organization like Mossad has not been able to eliminate terror completely..   Eliminating these, if at all possible, is a political & societal solution rather than a military or intelligence one. And I think I buy some of the comments made by police officers quoted in media.. You may prevent a lot of these ..But one fault , entire wor...