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Dream merchants, not politicians

Politics these days has no relation with policies. In today’s materialistic world, politicians sell dreams and the one who does it successfully becomes a winner. Obama promised to regain the lost glory of America. He promised to revive economy, create more jobs and bring in health care reforms. He even promised pro-gay and pro-abortion policies. Obama has definitely grown as an astute politician. In the victory speech he delivered on his win, he used the most famous and perhaps the most quoted words” the best is yet to come” (editorial ‘Obama again’, November 8)

There is no difference in a politician’s psyche all over the world, be it America or India when it comes to selling a dream to the gullible voters. What tangible achievements has Obama got for the American people during the last four years of his tenure? Has American economy recovered? Is there any improvement in jobs or health care? Coming to Obama’s foreign policy, apart from killing Osama which definitely was a big feat, what territorial gains has the American army achieved in Afghanistan? And that too at what cost? Has Obama been able to win over the Arab world or settle peace in Syria or Iraq or mend relations with Iran? And remember recent elections in America have been the costliest elections in American history!

ARUN HASTIR, Babehali

II

Obama’s re-election as US president also worries the India Inc particularly in the IT sector. Obama during his election campaign has been giving slogans like ‘Say no to Bangalore and yes to Buffalo’. But, this worry is misplaced in a competitive environment.

Innovation is the key to excel and sell by cutting costs of production of goods and services. Permitting outsourcing though will remain a hard choice for every government, yet it will stay put in the truly global environment of today. Thinking and acting both locally and globally can succeed simultaneously and businesses will continue to grow as long as outsourced services are truly economical for the end user. The US government earlier mandated that HI-B visas will be given only to those who train at least one American in the same job simultaneously.

BRIJ B GOYAL, Ludhiana

Personalities supreme

Most of the commissions and committees, formed to probe various scams, have more or less let us down (Shankkar Aiyar’s article “Corruption: Catch me if you can” November 6). Meanwhile, most of the real culprits have gone scot-free and they have grown stronger and have been rewarded with bigger roles in their organisations or parties. More surprisingly, many of them are now part of the corruption eradication process. This is because in our country, personalities are bigger than rules, but in the developed countries, rules are supreme.

In a recent debate on a TV news channel, an NRI residing in the US said that despite having reasonably tough laws, India lags behind because of poor implementation of laws.

The government itself admits that every second bag of food grain never reaches the intended beneficiary and is siphoned off. Most of the people know who the real culprits of this ‘benefit transmission’ loss from the top to bottom are.

We, the common people, also seem to have accepted corruption as a way of life. We always vote for the same candidates again and again for our own petty interests. Then what right do we have to complain about the situation we are in. Shouldn’t we change our own thoughts and actions? The worst part is, this hypocrisy is hitting us (common man) the hardest.

SUMEET SETH, Karnal

Canadian PM’s visit

Over 650 policemen were out on the roads of Chandigarh recently to guard the route to be taken by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and were also engaged in a 2-day rehearsal session for the same.

If the police force would take the day to day grave affairs as seriously, their pending files could infact have reduced quite a bit. Deploying such huge police force for one particular purpose as normal as a dignitary’s visit means halting all other important work concerning citizens.

AMIT TANDON, Sydney (Australia)