Modi's personality analysis

Like any other urban middle class person, wielding all comforts of education and in disconnect with poor and rural masses of India, I too believed that Modi will  eradicate most evils pulling down progress of our nation which is predominantly poor, illiterate, agriculture based and living in villages with meager facilities & comforts, despite certain doubts about his vision and understanding about India.

His traits broadly are:

• Great public speaker.
• A natural leader and authoritative commander. 
• Self confidant and arrogant person.
• Ruthless, headstrong and adamant. 
• Not given a single fudge in his career.
• Makes most of all PR opportunities.
• Jack of all trades and master of none. 
• Thinks that he is right all the times. 
• Doesn't dwell over past mistakes.
• Plans to minute details. Tough minded. 
• Emphasis more on his administrative works.
• Focused on productivity and best use of time. 
• Solution important than the process. 
• Maximum follow-up.
• Figures out the relevance of a very small detail.
• Focuses on the long term structural reforms.
• Tweets are always to the point. 
• Cares about his party members. 
• Doesn't care about critics.
• Judgmental and have tendency to learn from his mistakes. 
• No real friends.
• Makes no bones of his RSS inclinations etc.
• Bent on dismantling of the Nehru-Gandhi-Congress names from government schemes.

Modi's surprise & unprecedented demonetization move on Nov 8, 2016 was hailed not only in India but around the globe as a daring step towards eradication of black money, fake money, corruption & terror finances and some countries mulled similar exercise in their countries to eradicate social ills. But his hidden objectives are purely political and aimed at disarming political opponents to win next year's several elections hands down and establish BJP's authority at invincible position and destroying Congress completely, despite insignificant achievements so far and sagging economic parameters. His hobnobbing with businessmen & industrialists from western India with questionable integrity doesn't portray him as selfless leader dedicated to the national interest.

With in days demonetization, resultant chaos and is a total failure with economists analyzing none of the stated objectives are achievable with this move and in fact impacted economy greatly with informal sector completely grounded. Even western media moved by public sufferings and bank queue deaths touching 100 declared the move as cynical and warned of serious damages if unmitigated. Instead of announcing corrective steps to mitigate problems faced by public, arrogant Modi demanded patriotism from public to suffer 50 days ordeal and long term results will pour in gradually which anyway are un-quantifiable. He avoided any kind of questions both inside and outside parliament. High pitch campaign for cashless payments as a solution to remonetization failure was seen as diversionary tactic in the absence of preparedness and is not even 50% even in small, wealthy & developed nations. With no serious steps taken, sufferings are likely to ease ony after two months and normalization after six months and economic restoration is two years away.

Patriotism is the last resort of the scoundrel.

Pseudo patriotism is the last resort of the incompetent.

My View:
Modi pretends to be a benevolent dictator and pretends to Lee Kuan Yew of India. But unfortunately LKY stands much much taller than him with simplicity & public interest way above personal or political interests. In a populous, poor, developing and complex democracy like India saddled several social ills, democracy is the only way, even though results are slower. Commonsense tells that any change must be slower, steadier, gradual and seamless. Sudden decision will result in confusion and chaos and must be avoided at any cost. Devoid of sense, Modi resorted to illegal & secretly planned demonetization, taken the nation & world by surprise and instead of making surgical strike against black money, he carpet bombed the whole economy and also shot in his own foot. His action without any mandatory process compliance and approvals is totally authoritarian and falls short of a Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy.

Modi suffers from worst possible type of corruption; an insatiable desire for personal glory at any cost; an extremely deep moral and spiritual corruption. Modi belongs to the line of autocratic ideologues rather than the western tradition of revolutionary neo liberalism, or marxist rationalism. He also represents the worst aspect of democracy: a demagogue who caters to an irrational populace’s cravings for self-identity and release from self-responsibility. He might not have taken any bribes in recent years but there is no way he could have risen to his position without having made massive and horrendous economic & moral compromises.

While his inept handling of Godhra rites & killings is an indelible black spot with many western countries including USA denying him visas, he was also rumored collecting 4% kick backs on all contracts awarded to successful bidders during his 10+ years as Gujarat CM.

Generic Medicines saves money

A generic drug is identical--or bioequivalent--to a brand name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, performance characteristics and intended use.  Although generic drugs are chemically identical to their branded counterparts, they are typically sold at substantial discounts from the branded price. The term may also refer to any drug marketed under its chemical name without advertising, or to the chemical makeup of a drug rather than the brand name under which the drug is sold.

The FDA requires that generic drugs must be as high in quality, and as strong, pure and stable as brand-name drugs. Generic drugs use the same active ingredients as brand-name drugs and work the same way. They have the same risks and the same benefits as the brand-name drugs. Generic versions of brand medicines are usually at a savings to consumers of 30% to as much as 80%. By asking your doctor or pharmacist if there is a generic version of your prescription, you can reduce your health care costs while receiving the same quality of care.

Trademark laws may not allow generic drugs to look exactly the same as another drug already on the market. For that reason, the color and shape of a generic pill may be different than the brand-name. Sometimes it will have a different coating or flavor. These "inert ingredients" also are carefully considered by the FDA. Differences in taste or appearance do not affect the drug's safety or effectiveness.

Branded generics are not always as affordable as a true generic. By sporting a brand name, some consumers may incorrectly assume that the branded generic is a higher quality product than a true generic, but that is not usually the case. However, branded generics may be less expensive than the original brand.

Generics sold under license from the patent holder are known as authorized generics. An authorized generic is an exact copy of the brand name version authorized by the original patent holder of the drug product. An authorized generic is a prescription drug that is produced by a brand company and marketed as a generic under a private label. It is identical to the branded product in appearance (shape, color, markings) and unlike a generic, the authorized generic has exactly the same inactive ingredients.

In most cases, generic products become available after the patent protections afforded to a drug's original developer expire. Once generic drugs enter the market, competition often leads to substantially lower prices for both the original brand-name product and its generic equivalents.

Generic drugs sales accounts for 88% of the the total drugs sales, in USA.

Recently, a generic medical shop was opened in my neighborhood in Hyderabad and my family's monthly medical bill has come down to one third i.e from Rs.3,000 to Rs.1,000. As a retired person, monthly saving of Rs.2,000 is impressive.

Narcissist & Self Aggrandizement

Narcissism is the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one's own attributes. Narcissism is a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of understanding of others' feelings. Narcissists ruthlessly pursue the aggrandizement of the individual self, even at the price of diminishing others and at the risk of sacrificing the interpersonal bond.

Hotchkiss's seven deadly sins of narcissism are:

1. Shamelessness – In a healthy person, shame is processed in a normal manner, whereas narcissists have difficulty processing this feeling in a healthy way. Narcissists also tend to inflict shame on other people.
2. Magical thinking – Narcissists tend to perceive themselves as perfect and flawless. The distorted thinking and illusion that causes narcissists to feel this way is referred to as magical thinking.
3. Arrogance – Arrogance and a disregard for other people’s feelings are typical characteristics of narcissism. Narcissists often have a low self esteem which they try to relieve by insulting or degrading others. 
4. Envy – Due to their sense of being superior to others, narcissists may feel insecure when faced with another person’s ability, which they may try to belittle by demonstrating contempt or dismissal of it.
5. Sense of entitlement – A sense of being perfect and superior means narcissists often expect to receive favorable treatment and for people to admire and agree with their opinions or actions. A person who flouts their authority, the narcissist will proceed to demean them in front of others. 
6. Exploitation – This refers to the narcissist’s tendency to exploit others and show no regard or empathy for their emotions or interests. This often occurs when the other person is in a subservient position, and this subservience is often only assumed rather than real.
7. Lack of boundaries – Most narcissists fail to understand their boundaries and recognize that other people are individuals rather than extensions of themselves. The narcissist fails to recognize the independence of the other person.

Narcissists:

• are not aware their thought patterns are inappropriate
• think about themselves without taking the perspective of others
• believe they are unique and special (they have something you don’t)
• think of themselves in highly positive ways
• are self-important
• fantasize about power and fame
• feel entitled to have whatever they want
• exploit people's 'weaknesses and vulnerabilities'
• are indifferent to other people’s needs (callous)
• overrate their intelligence (exaggerated belief in self-importance)
• are focused on maintaining power and control
• perceive themselves as superior to others
• manipulate, manipulate, manipulate

All these traits contribute to the narcissist’s illusion that he or she controls reality. That financial success or fame is the result of their extraordinary and superior capabilities. However, the appearance of taking responsibility for their success is countered by attributing failure to others. They blame a partner for an unsuccessful task outcome.

Narcissists also regulate strategically self-concept positivity in several ways. These include outward displays of self-importance, fantasies of fame and power, and negative affective reactions to perceived self-threats. Finally, narcissists are described as having poor interpersonal relationships. 

Narcissistic relationships are characterized by a sense of personal entitlement, exploitation of the partner, indifference toward the partner’s needs, and a dearth of genuine love. Narcissists will not only implicitly derogate others in the process of maintaining positive self-views but narcissists also explicitly derogate others. 

Narcissists are predicted to be more rigidly self-enhancing.

Healthy narcissism is a structural truthfulness of the self, achievement of self and object constancy, synchronization between the self and the superego and a balance between libidinal and aggressive drives (the ability to receive gratification from others and the drive for impulse expression). Healthy narcissism forms a constant, realistic self-interest and mature goals and principles and an ability to form deep object relations. A feature related to healthy narcissism is the feeling of greatness. 

Modi's failures

Modi ascended to power in 2014 riding on the tsunami of anti-incumbency of scam ridden Congress led UPA. While Modi is still drawing huge crowds abroad with his charisma and is darling of upper middle classes which are in complete disconnect with lower classes, peasants & rural population is a colossal failure in India during the past two and half years, despite favorable crude oil prices at less than one third of its peak prices. Their argument that "those who governed us for 60 years should not ask for an appraisal in merely 24 months" is untenable.


Here is the list of failures:

1. Industry stagnating and exports are falling consistently.
2. Inflation especially food inflation is rising.
3. Job creation dismal. Textiles, leather, metals, automobiles, gems and jewellery, transport, information technology and the handloom sectors together created just 135,000 jobs during 2015, 67 per cent lower than 421,000 jobs that were added in 2014, the last year of the Manmohan Singh government.
4. Make in India remains a slogan only.
5. Bringing back black money in Swiss banks etc in 100 days remains a shallow promise.
6. PSU Bank's NPA doubled from Rs.2.86 to Rs.5.71 lakh crores in the past one year, due to default by corporate's close to ruling BJP. Improving liquidity or recapitalization needed urgently for banks remain operational.
7. Despite crude oil prices falling by 70% from its peak prices, consumer sale prices were reduced by just 15%. GOI retained 85% advantage to itself by increasing excise duty etc.
8. Riding on the wave of low oil prices, Modi government hasn't made any meaningful impact on Indian economy so far.
9. The BJP had promised to increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) at the rate of cost of production along with 50 per cent profit. Agricultural sector is in distress with  no hike in Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers.
10. The biggest failure, however, is the mishandling of the agriculture and drought situation across the country and the continuing neglect of agriculture. While Modi promises to double agricultural incomes, it is yet to be seen how he will achieve that target. Agricultural growth rate has fallen from about an average of 3.7 per cent per year under UPA to just about one per cent in Modi's tenure.
11. The drought situation was totally neglected. The drought manuals and rules by the government itself said that water trains and tankers are to be pressed into service as last resort and number of steps ought to have been taken before reaching that step which the government at the centre and state missed. Lack of seriousness by the government of India in assessing and mitigating the drought situation and crisis worsened afflicting nearly 33 crore Indians across several states. Drought is, perhaps, the only natural calamity one can plan against in advance, unlike floods and earthquakes. National Disaster Management Authority manual on management of drought speaks of "drought mitigation" as part of public policy and not just drought relief but this was clearly lost on the Modi government.
12. All schemes are being renamed and repacked with reduced central contributions passing on the burden on states. They are unable to conceive any new sensible scheme so far on their own.
13. Cross border firings and ceasefire violations in Jammu & Kashmir are at a high.
14. Modi's Pakistan policy and his foreign policy is defective. It has been driven by style over substance, adventurism over analysis; by self projection, vanity and petty domestic political calculations over larger interests. The ministry of external affairs has been more like a tour operator or logistics handler, and not a source of policy and executive inputs. Modi's relentless foreign travel remained pleasure trips burdening exchequer.
15. Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) remained a big failure, despite tough talk.
16. Demonetization of big notes of Nov 8, 2016, except for its secrecy in unveiling failed to achieve any of its stated objectives viz. black money, fake money, terrorist financing & corruption except causing disruption to civic life in all segments especially informal economy, agriculture and rural economy apart from causing innumerable difficulties for common man for exchanging old notes or withdrawing their own cash from banks. About 70 people died standing in bank/ATM queues and 15 bank employees died due stress and long work hours continuously. Manmohan Singh had rightly remarked that "I do not disagree with the objectives but the process of demonetization is monumental mismanagement and is a case of organised loot and legalized plunder of the common people".
17. Failed to recover Rs.8,000 crores lent to King Fischer Vijay Mallya who has absconded and banks have just written off as bad loans.
18. GST bill still incomplete.
19. Swachh Bharat, Yoga, LPG subsidy give up & Cashless transaction campaigns, even though good, doesn't deserve that much high decibel campaigns.
20. Smart Cities & Digital India projects are yet to take off from the ground despite announcements a year ago.
21. Has not fulfilled many of the AP Reorganization Act 2014 commitments or BJP promises of 2014 election campaigns to Andhra Pradesh. Whatever little has been done was with delay of two years reducing its impact and results.
22. Diverting lot of money for his pet project Ahmedabad - Mumbai bullet train which serves only rich & upper middle classes with ticket price of Rs.3,000.
23. Many agreements and concessions for enriching richer people but nothing for poor or rural population.
24. Modi and his Cabinet colleagues foreign trips cost the exchequer Rs.567 crore during 2015-16, an increase of more than 80% from the previous year Rs 269 crore. This is besides the over Rs.500 crore spent by his bureaucrats on their foreign travel.
25. Reliance has resorted to stealing gas from ONGC gas fields during 2009-11 to the tune of Rs.12,000 crores. Against the consultant recommended claim of ONGC for Rs.30,000 crores Modi passed orders on Reliance to pay up Rs.10,000 crores recently. This was contested in courts by Reliance.
26. Recollect BJP's political failed adventures in Uttarakhand and Arunchal Pradesh to usurp power leading to a suicide by an innocent Ex-CM in Arunachal Pradesh. It was rumored that BJP spent Rs.15 crore per MLA crossing in intense horse-trading.
27. NDA and all state governments are spending lots of money on advertisement campaigns while doing very little on the ground.
28. While Assam's BJP win can't be termed as endorsement of Modi's government, Delhi & Bihar's defeat is a clear rejection for Modi. In all the five states that went to the polls recently, BJP dropped its vote share since 2014, and minus Assam. Even the Congress party scored nearly twice as many Assembly segments compared to the BJP. The Modi tsunami is now withdrawing back to the sea and those who revelled when it hit the coast are now in a real danger of being drowned by it.
29. Artificial JNU controversy on nationalism is another black spot on Modi.
30. Modi government seemed more keen on confrontation than conciliation in order to get tricky legislation's passed. Consequently, very little has actually got done on the development and economic front.

The reason for the victory of Narendra Modi was the tremendous support he got from first-time young voters and floating voters who saw him as the best alternative then may very well change their opinion come 2019 and that is the nature of a fence sitter who isn't ideologically wedded to what the BJP represents.

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel but in the case of Modi's government, pseudo-patriotism is the last resort of the incompetent.

My View:

The last two years, if seen in totality, offer very little for the Modi government to gloat about. Modi government harping on the past that Congress hasn't done anything is futile. While Congress was certainly bad, they never meddled with the lives & livelihood of poor & peasants. In the absence of strengthening Lok Pal & RTI bringing Politicians, Bureaucrats, Judiciary & Businessmen under its purview, granting autonomy and teeth to CBI, CVC  & ACB etc and no steps to enforce transparency & accountability, Modi's talk about elimination of corruption & black money etc is shallow and is a mere lip service. Modi should do something for the nation with sincerity of purpose evident rather than blaming Congress for all the ills of nation even after two and half years of ascending to power. It sounds nice only during first quarter and second quarter but sounds awkward in the 10th quarter. Above all, Modi government in collision course with Supreme Court regarding judges appointment matters for prolonged periods of over an year doesn't august well irrespective of merits.

Cashless Transactions: Perils

Modi government had failed completely to provide replacement new cash consequent to demonetization of Rs. 500 & Rs.1000 notes on Nov 8, 2016. Instead of accepting the blunder and plunder, Modi relentlessly campaigning for cashless transactions as solution to cash shortage with an eye on increasing government tax revenues is a cruel joke on gullible Indians. Cash in circulation shrinkage is a hidden agenda item. These have devastating effect on overall economy and impacts employment growth.

Cashless transactions exposes innocent citizens to its perils of cheating and hacking apart from hidden costs ultimately payable them apart from privacy rights violation. The sudden push to cashless economy via demonetization is an arm twisting tactic in contrast to promoting technology for comfort & convenience. Anything by force is despicable in a civilized and democratic society.

The perils of cashless transactions are many:

• Data security breaches.
• Chips embedded on the cards reduces fraud on swipe machines, but it's not clear how much.
• Chips embedded on the cards don't help prevent online frauds.
• PoS machines are expensive and unaffordable for small traders.
• Every transaction will be loaded with 0.75%-2% charges payable either by merchant or customer.
• Going cashless means all your purchases are traceable and your privacy is up for grabs. 
• When governments have information they may attempt to use it in ways that are not fully vetted by due process.
• Since electronic payments can be traced, but constant government monitoring could turn everyone into a potential suspect, creating distrust between government and citizens.
• There are a number of cultural rites that we use cash for today, small donations, tips, religious contributions, and gifts. It's a lot more meaningful to give cash than a piece of plastic.
• It will be a fallacy to equate the ability of ordinary Indians to use a mobile phone with their willingness to replace their purse or wallet with their phone.
• Technology adoption is a complex process. Government orders or currency shortage can't force people to adopt to a new technology. Adoption of any new technology needs necessary infrastructure, awareness among citizens and their willingness to accept the change. 
• A favorable regulatory environment is also a prerequisite.

India is utterly unprepared at this point of time for switch to cashless economy: 

• Out of 139 countries ranked in the Network Readiness Index (NRI), India stood at 91. On two counts - availability of infrastructure and level of skills among people - India ranked even lower (114 and 101 respectively). In terms of individual use of information technology, India's rank was 120 out of 139 countries.
• China got an overall rank of 59. Singapore topped the global ranking. 
• One third of the Indian population is still illiterate and a third of our youth are not enrolled in secondary education. Technology penetration is pathetic - only 15% households have access to the Internet and mobile broadband just reaches a few.

People take to new technologies when they see clear benefits, trust the providers, find it convenient and can afford it. The mobile wallet is a long way from fulfilling these basic criteria. As things stand now, cashless transactions is going to be an urban phenomenon.  Rural population adopting cashless transactions is decades away.


My View:
Informal economy including agriculture provides employment to about 90% population and is 55% of GDP that are mostly either unskilled or semi skilled without any meaningful qualification. This sector is 100% dependent on cash for all its transactions. Majority of the people are with earning far below Rs.250,000 per annum which is income tax free limit. It is important  to note that income tax (direct tax) is one among many other taxes (indirect taxes) collected by government. All sections of people pay all indirect taxes. Informal section pays very less income tax. Modi government attempting to shrink cash in circulation and weaken informal economy seemingly appear "in larger interest of the nation" but organised sector is not in a position to provide such a large number of jobs to unskilled or semi skilled people with relocation issues. Cashless transactions is an attempt to collect taxes from this section is futile. Collecting small tax from large number of people is an uphill task and at the end expenses far outstrip the income apart from promoting corruption. For Indian informal sector, cash economy benefits far outweigh meager cashless economy benefits. 

Chandrababu Naidu talks rubbish with Bankers

My View:
Everyone knows that Bank employees are seized with a single task of exchanging old notes with new notes and and are working daily around 12 hours instead of 8 hours but non supply of required quantities of new notes by RBI is exposing them to anger of public waiting in queues for several hours, for the past 25 days. At this juncture while Narendra Modi appreciated their efforts but AP CM Chandrababu Naidu pulled them for not working on Saturdays and Sundays to issue the RuPay cards. This has compelled bankers making revolting statements that they are not subordinates to state governments and are bound by RBI & their bank regulations. Ironically they stopped attending CM's review meetings but were represented by junior officers only to mark attendance.

Naidu, if he has guts he should point out at Centre & RBI for not supplying enough replacement cash for distribution, rather than pressurizing them to work on Saturdays & Sundays. His contention is that people are suffering and he doesn't care for bankers sufferings is deplorable. People are not suffering because of any act of God but for the mindless act of Modi and senseless support by Naidu and trying to score big on cashless transactions.

Naidu must stop cheap tactics thrashing others to showoff as a big man. Instead he should do big things to present himself as big man. If he is courageous & principled he should hit back at Modi for landing the nation in this imbroglio.

Vegetable farmers, first victim of demonetization driven deflation

Vegetable farmers are the first victims of demonetization resulting in cash deprivation consequently destroyed the markets deflating its prices due to disturbance in demand supply mechanisms because it is entirely cash driven. Only metro cities vegetable markets survived because of some availability of cash to support these markets.

Already, real estate, cinema production and construction workers are work less or job less since a month. When the work will resume and how many will get back their jobs is a mystery. Informal sector dependent casual workers, many are is disarray without work and income.

In coming days/weeks many more stories will get unfolded, the innocent victims of mindless Modinomics.

My View:
Demonetization is a well known mechanism used in many countries for tackling corruption, black money & fake money. Secrecy is important for getting good results but without proper preparation and mechanism to replenish cash into system with minimum pain to people of the country is nothing but audacity and insanity and reflects hidden objectives rather than sincerity of the purpose.

Modi, with just on hand 20% replacement cash printed in worthless Rs.2000 denominations and failing to foresee the necessity of re-calibrating ATMs to dispense the new currency notes has resulted in 86% cash sucked out and printing new notes & replenishing is at least 2-6 months away, has just botched up Indian monetary system and if it does't collapse he should thank his stars.