Techeek

Attitude. It is pure and simple. We lack a winning attitude towards life. We want to be rich and call ourselves a developed nation, but we do not want to work hard for it! If tomorrow, say a $ 100 billion is poured into our system, will the standard of living increase in India? I would rather say a skeptical no. I think, definitely there is a quality of living, which comes with increased infrastructure, better communication, faster cars and wider roads etc. Sure, these can be bought by money. And with the economy growing at 8%, I am sure the day is not far off, when we would have world-class facilities even in smaller towns. And then there is a quality of living which comes with having better citizens, who knows the value of being a law abiding citizen fulfilling his duties towards the society and the state, who appreciates his fellow citizens being a good Samaritan and encourages everyone else around to do their duty. Now, that is what is lacking in our country. We Indians neither understand the value of being a good citizen nor appreciate or encourage fellow citizens trying to be law abiding and duty bound. I am not saying that we are criminals killing and looting around. But surely we lack the ethics that must be the building block of any developed society. Want to get a job done? Blame the red tape, pay the bribe and move on. Got late for office? No problem. Run over the traffic light. Of course, when most of us running over the traffic lights, there is a 50% chance that the cop won’t stop you this time. There is a shortcut for everything in India. As long as we do not have a majority of us who respects and abides by the rule of law in their day to day life, no amount of FIIs, sensex boom or 8% GDP growth will be able to improve the quality of living in India.

And we have a million audiences for our drama, who couldn’t care less. They would say, ” Sab Chalta Hai!” and continue to sip their tea. This “chalta hai” attitude (couldnt care less) is destroying the very fabric of our development. This is the same attitude that is making people turn a blind eye towards all the evils and corruption that has permeated through the Indian society. Its not the wealth neither the lack of oil resources nor the years under colonial rule that is plaguing India, but it is this couldn’t care less attitude among us. In a democracy, bad governance and corruption is the price we pay for this attitude. And the worst part is, Indians become one of the most sincere and law abiding citizens when we leave our shores.

When are we going to learn to become law abiding and good citizens? And what can YOU do about it? May be start for office a little early, huh? May be.

It is more than two years since the first shots were fired in Iraq, by the coalition forces led by US in its war against terrorism. Not a single WMD has been found till date, which was the reason for which the war was fought in the first place. Was it the race to control the world’s dwindling oil resources that triggered this war? Or was it the way oil is being traded in the world economy? Strategic experts all over the world believe that there is more to this than what meets the eye. Many argue convincingly that this war is all about the fight between Dollar and Euro, and which currency the rest of the world uses to buy oil. For starters, there are some basic terms which I would like to bring to the attention for better assimilation. It is common knowledge that USA has trade deficit with each of its trading partners running to trillions of dollars. In simple terms, it means USA does not sell enough goods as much as it buys goods and services from other nations. It also means that the dollars it is paying for the goods and services it buys are merely printed fiat dollars without any backing. This dollar is used by nations to buy oil and thus the value infused dollar called the petrodollar is reinvested in the American markets and US financial instruments by these oil exporters, mainly Saudi Arabia. This petrodollar cycle is made possible by two important factors. Firstly, the dollar is the reserve currency for most of the world nations. The 1944 Bretton woods agreement that created the World Bank and IMF, it was made mandatory for all loans to be denominated in dollars. Hence, all repayments are also in dollars, making it necessary for nations to keep enough dollar reserves to service their debts. Secondly, dollar is the only currency accepted by OPEC and Non OPEC nations for oil trade as on date. This loyalty towards was ensured by several secret agreements between Saudi Arabia and Nixon regime in 1974 after walking out of gold standards, in exchange for protection of the kingdom by the US military might. Headed by Saudi Arabia, all other OPEC nations’ kindly obliged. This ensured that all nations (notably the industrial nations) needed dollars to buy oil to fuel their economy.