About DarpanaLABs-PraxisPolaris

Sunvistas

Professional experience (35+yrs) in India and the Arabian Gulf in the fields of International Trade and Marketing Research in national/ supranational organizations, corporate stints in Swedish MNCs in India in light engineering industry, EOUs in Bulk Commodity Exports, and in economic & financial research in a Gulf-based international Airlines major--, all have afforded me on the job corporate management experience (micro), and good exposure to “macro” economics. In recent years Indian Corporates, besides Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), have learnt to appreciate the importance of environmental scanning, as also trying to comprehend the impact of "big Picture” in a globalizing environment.

It was not until mid nineties, -- whence may I say, I had had a headstart as Specialist (Economics & Finance) with an International Airlines major in the Arabian Gulf, and an opportunity, thereat in Saudia, to study the nature and causes of the "miracle" of Asian Tiger economies of South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia vis-a-vis the Saudi Arabian economy --, that I had developed good interest, albeit on sidelines, in Development Economics. Post retirement, lately, since Feb 2000, I have had a chance to foray into some development research areas, in main: (a)-The UNDP Milennium Development Goals; (b)-Poverty Reduction through Gender Empowerment (eg., Transpolars), (c)-Tourism Centric Special Economic Zones in India, (d)-Application of Information & Communications Technologies (ICTs) in Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev), (e)-e-Governance et al, with two International Conference Papers to my credit.

The great depression of the Nineteen thirties was one of the worst that happened to the World economy in 1930s. It severly tested and strained its resilience over a prolonged 13-year period, culminating in the Second World War (1939-43) that happened ten years after the onset of the great depression of 1930s, and remorselessly impoverished the great economies of the West viz., USA, Britain, France, Germany, Italy. Sir, Winston Churchill, the war time British Prime Minister, had a bitter pill to swallow, whence by 1944, the British Economy, in the aftermath of Second World War, as it headed to its logical culmination of victory for allied forces, was in utter shambles. This prompted British intellectuals of the likes of Sir John Maynard Keynes (the 1936 Nobel Leaurate in Economics, for his seminal treatise on "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money") write yet again. In an audacious bid calling a "spade a spade", that war expenditure represents an enormous waste, a huge deadweight, Sir J.M. Keynes authored another book on war economics titled "the Economic Consequences of Sir Winston Churchill" which won accolades from all over the World.

Those were the times when no one in the world had the benefit of modern Information & Communications Technology (ICTs), yet people communicated across continents and understood each other's view points. In contrast to the "old unhappy far of times and battles long ago" (William Wordsworth's Solitary Reaper), man finds succor in wealth, more wealth, more and more endlessly, -- "greed, like a bottomless pit" for cornering wealth and appropriate all the natural resources under the command and control of one single powerful super power eg., USA (Oil) and now China, allgedly buying up the World's Uranium resources). Yes, the pole and polarity of the world situation with regard to resources oil, metals etc is quite stark, forewarning the possibilities of class wars. Doomsdayer prognosis this ? No. At no other time is the role of Supranational Organizations like United Nations is more important and critical to world peace and stability than now. Although Bretton Woods is passe, the much debilitated UN is again looked upto to provide leadership and guidance (thanks to great leaders and visionaries like Barrack Obama) in resolving the newer problems surfacing on earth in relation to: for eg., identification, production, extension, expansion and exploitation of natural resources. Information when processed and dished out consistent with consumer needs is knowledge, and knowledge is "power".

Analyzing the "praxis of the poles and polarities" in all their myriad hues and dimensions in the emerging world that is inexorably hurtling into a fast-paced "Information Age" is a challenge. Lest they do not sweep the entire world off its feet like a tsunami, there should be a "saefty net", a "shock absorber", "ever ready and primed" to bringing about some semblence of order in what seems to be a complex web of dynamic fast changing economic contextualities and corresponding relativities of poles and polarities, micro and macro, impacting peace and the world order (stability of equilibraing forces and outcomes in a churning process as it were). Implicit in the subject "PraxisPolaris" is a pervasive embrace of socio-politico-economic interface. Yes complex indeed it is. Where there is chaos and turbulence, a "cut and sue" approach to bring about order is needed. An analogy to draw upon here is the Calcutta metro under construction. Indeed it is one of the main tasks I am seized with in every discussion on my blogsite DarpanaLabs-PraxisPolaris. May I submit here that even to the extent the faultlines impacting each pole and polar contextuality, could be correctly identified without any analyst bias, that, in my mind, should be enough for others to take on the leads, and offer possible solutions.

The PraxisPolaris Concept: The current international financial meltdown is gradually heralding a new era whereby a strong, emerging India, "well-oiled" and largely "decoupled" from dependence on the Western "domino effect" for prosperity and growth is emerging. It has been my cherished ambition to communicate with the “GenNext” as well as with “thintanks” via the InterNet, -- and perhaps, even better by way of Blogs. India is right now on the cusp of a high growth trajectory; at cross-roads sort of. And how we, as a nation, should respond to the unfolding national and international economic situation at this historic juncture is, inter alia, the prime task of my interactive Blogs on DarpanaLabs. To start with , therefore, I have chosen four thematics close to my heart viz., (a)-e-Governance for Quality of Growth (QOG) and Development, (b)-Politics, Democracy and e-Governance; (c)-Self-Help Groups and Micro-finance; and (d)-Gender Empowerment for Peace and Disarmament.

Development by Design and Contextuality: I believe the areas identified above lend themselves to innovative business modelling with an international flavor and outreach. Given the endowment factors, patterns of politico-economic behaviour, -- be it of nation states, sub-nationals and/ or local community dispensations --, depend on experientials (viz., levels of acceptance/ satisfaction with delivery mechanisms for each given (or articulated) contextuality of development needs), that must be weighed and tested, given the kind of political economies such individual development entities are placed in Democratic, Socialistic, Totalitarian (Monarchic), Single Commodity-based, Land-locked, Small Island nation states et al. And in large pluralistic democracies like India, Russia, Brazil, and possibly Australia and South Africa, I believe that development outcomes can be better managed, provided policy makers are alive to “the rational expectations of the polity”.

Development by Design and Contextuality: Policy makers should be sufficiently sensitized to ground realities, be positive and optimistic with a conviction that, within the framework of everything that is good, including possibly e-Governance, there exist “Oases of Excellence”, elusive and unknown, in what one may see in, and, perhaps construe, the existence and dynamics somewhat of abstract phenomena viz., the “Pole and Polarity of Power Structures”, universally and severally. Seasoned thinktanks and intellectuals can perhaps discern some of the "deterministics" in this welter of abstractness. Such distilled wisdom, -- analyzed at the right time (with contextualities duly identified, coded and channelled into Policy Interventions (PIs) --, can help secure "development dividends" in terms of: (a)-capacity building and preparing the developing nations for faster growth outcomes, locally and regionally; and (b)-usher in "steadying effects " to facilitate what are perceived by thinktanks and/or powers that be as “wholesome quality development outcomes”. If captured and archived, the Development by Design and Contextualities approach can potentially offer scope for use of "Value Engineering", "Statistical Design of Experiments" techniques et al. Such thinking, besides leading us to new "hunting grounds" for research in development economics, will facilitate an enabling environment, where we can try and postulate hypotheses for "Quality of Growth Outcomes".

The basic premise of "Contextualities" is that there are no "One-size-fits-for-all" solutions to development. They embrace "spatial" and "temporal" parameters, and, as a rule, must combine both the supply side and demand side issues suitably captioned and coded for their proper, accurate identification. Among important hunting grounds for research of this genre comprise, inter alia, perfecting "Development Tools catering to "Prognostic" as well as "Diagnostic" situations in terms of each Treatment-to-Outcome, inter-related in a Matrix situation as it were" as applicable to a given set of Development Design paradigms (or what one might say "contextualty"). There seems to be good scope for using statistical "Design of Experiments Techniques" like randomized blocks, lattice square design etc. to fathom the inter reationships. In this context structuring the Development Tools across a wide spectrum of subjects in developinment economics, and tying them in with each Policy Context (let us recap here that the concept of "Micro Impact of Macro Economic Policies (MIMAP)" propounded by the International Development Research Centre, Canada is an important challenge). Toward this end I am veering round to the view that given the prognosis of development issues even in a limited context is fraught with complexity of sorts, it is better to leave the issues so identified and cast in neatly structured contextualities for others to take on the search for solutions. Considering the need especially for linking primary anaytical outcomes up the value chain to "value-added solutions" capable of leading to "Quality of Growth" outcomes, perhaps a separate web portal (if not a blogsite) is necessary for this purpose.

My Focus in DarpanaLABs

Darpana (Sanskrit) is "Mirror": My Blogs seek to focus wherever possible on the qualitative and quantitative benchmarks of socio-political economy of the world in general, and India's pluralistic society in particular, mirroring peoples’ aspirations and expectations in the myriad facets of Vividh Bharathi, and explore the potential not just for development, but also sustainable Quality of Growth, and the kind of political-economies that could best serve the purpose at various levels, together with respective contextualities thereof. I am trying to get a feel of what I intend doing with my blogs by having them followed on select sites that have a Governmental and/ or international canvas. Based on feedback, I propose to enhance and enrich the content of my blogs for future research endeavours. In respect of parameters like transparency (meaning governance with integrity, purity and probity, benchmarks characterizing as necessary pre-Conditions for facilitating good Governance. At this juncture, the praxis of deploying appropriate e-Governance techniques and methodologies, thereby facilitating the consruction of delivery mechanisms as outcomes of this process are important for me.

At times some eerie philosophical/ mythical insights envelop the kind of blogging ambience I tend to generate. My Blogs on “DarpanaLabs-PraxisPolaris” are conceptualized in the mold of a Kali Manthan, shall I call it the “Churning in Kali Yuga” (sort of “seperation engineering" in the modern socio-politico millieu). Incidentally, there is a village in India by name Kali Manthan. The kind of churning or manthan that General Elections '09 has set in is upheavalistic. Separating "good and bad" as the outcomes of a churning process (in a separation engineering exercise as it were, inasmuch as I used to learn about the same, on the job, at Alfa Laval (India), Pune). The PraxisPolaris processes, I have in mind, are'nt manmade. Once they get set in motion, they are irreversible, as nobody (no single mortal or power group) can wade through the swirling momentousness of cross currents, rudderless as they might have to be --, can stop the force of dharavauhini (flow of f into a bigger confluence of streams. Imagine the force of Niagara Waterfalls (it is God's creation !).

An important daily chore after early morning bath observed in all humility and devotion per chaste Hindu saampradaya is regular recitation of the vedic sloka "Gangecha Yamune, Krishne, Godavari Saraswati Narmade Sindhu Kaveri Jaleasmin Sannidhim Kuru". All of ancient India's (Akhand Bharath's)'s jeeva nadee nadamulu -- right from the triveni Sangam of Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati (the Antarvahini), to the Sindhu, Narmada, Godavari, Kaveri and Brahmaputra all in full flow--, as the prestine Bharatha Jatheeya Jeevana Dhara as they were, impart a purifying effect to the Society at large. Those who have not observed this chore yearn for this purifying effect. The so called Indian Political League (IPL) as it was nicknamed during the General Electons '09, is a very happening, natural, polarizing phenomena separating truth and falsehood, and. mirroring what is good and bad for the country. When in full play, the Praxis Polaris (PP) phenomena is capable of generating tectonic shifts unawares and indeterminately with an instant, stunnig suddenness (imagine "defractionation" in a hefty thousand GIG computer?). Stupefying, implosive, like the detonation of India’s first nuclear device in 1974, unleashing “people power” in all its enormity, hitherto dormant and unknown. Such shifts may leave some in a "Stupor" and make them realize how much of "mortals" we all are.

In the ancient times, vedas and upanishads explained the people power phenomenon. For example, in the "Taitareeya Upanishad", the origin and evolution of man, his relationship with nature's five elements and his pancha indriyas, along with relative cause effect relationships governing them were clearly delineated. Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation, espoused in his own inimitable style that people power lay in concentric circles within the man (Aatma Ram) himself. In a brief footnote narrative, Swami Paramahansa Yogananda of YAGODA SATSANGA SOCIETY OF INDIA, Ranchi, in his "Auto biography of a Yogi", elucidated, "Man's body battery is not sustained by gross food (bread) alone, but by the vibratory cosmic energy (manifest in the word "Aum"). The invisible power flows into the human body through the gate of medulla oblongata. The sixth bodily centre is located at the back of the neck atop the five spinal "chakras" (Sanskrit for wheels) or centres of radiating life force (chaitanya). The medulla, the principal entrance for the body's supply of universal life energy (Aum), is directly connected by "polarity" with the Christ Consciousness centre (Kutastha) in the single eye between eyebrows (Bhriguti)., which is the seat of man's will power. Cosmic energy flowing in via the chant of Aum, rejuvinates the mortal body by storing it up in the Seventh centre, in the brain, as a reservoir of infinite potentialities (mentioned in the vedas as thousand-petaled lotus of light). The Bible refers to "Aum" as the "Holy Ghost" or invisible life force that divinely upholds all creation: "What ? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" - I Corinthians 6:19 (Bible).

In zeroing in on Praxis Polaris (PP) as the fulcrum of my Blogging platform, my aim is to show that in a large democracy like India (of over one billion people) how the complexity of under currents and cross currents of the "dhara" of people power crisscrossing the country represent an ever changing kaleidoscope, an ever evolving phenomena of poles and polarities, that cannot be comprehended and controlled by manual interventions: such as vote banks, social engineering or deliberately "targeted", "calibrated" policy prescriptions, however powerful a provenance they may have been originating from . For example, those who are used to exerting political muscle via large monoliths, those who boast of a wide reach and grass roots level presence with private armies etc. to support them, will certainly be in for a surprise,. They can't beat what is said in Purusha Sookta ("Sahasra Seershah Purushah Sahasraakshah Sahasrapaath") described in the Vishwa Roopa Sandarshana Yoga of India’s greatest and holiest of religious scriptures ”The Bhagavadgita”, which is an integral part of the great epic "Mahabhratha", also called : "Panchama Veda"

What can be more democratic? or may I pose is geometry so deterministic ? The entire universe and the surrounding cosmos is full of geometry. The praxis of "Nine-point Circle" and the “Polar and Polar" theorems in pure geometry (my father's pet theorems), seen together, seem to aptly describe the current political under currents, the Indian Political League and of the "upheavalistic churning" (manthan) represent a purifying, elevating process separating the good from the bad (evil) every time elections are contested. An optimist to the core, I believe that good always prevails over bad, and in any struggle, in the long run, the eventual outcome will be akin to a "Manthan", separating the wheat from the chaff, men from the boys, as it were. It does considerable good for the country and it should work wonders engendering a more honest, peaceful, God fearing, and, last but not the least, a "balanced, forbearing society" that has, after undergoing eight hundred years of alien rule, has patiently taken on yet again, another 60+ years of secular divides of sorts (history may say it is a kinda tyranny!), continual strife and turmoil, thanks to an intrasigent neighbour.