VOX POPULI
                                                                     by
                                                                 S Kamat
                                                                     as
                                                               Aam Admi
                                                  Issue: 215     Date: 21.08.2017

                                skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com 

Contents:

1. The Infosys Crisis

2. Bank Strike On 22nd Aug Was Completely Irresponsible

3. Lucky 7 Casino Ship Disaster & The Panjim Election Parrikar Is Banking Upon

4. Kala Academy For The Traditional Ashtami Fair! 

                                 A Happy Ganesh Chaturthi & Chavath To One All

                                                       The Infosys Crisis

The Infosys crisis is brought upon by Narayanamurthy refusing to give up the reins of the Company and on one pretext or other criticising the present management that had resulted in CEO Sikka's resignation. It is easy to pick on issues when you are outside the Co. more so when you happen to be the founder with access to some of the employees inside the Co. who are bound to show allegiance to their ex-boss and feed him information. This has been the basis of Narayanamurthy's wanting to run Infosys on a back-seat driving basis. One cannot comment whether this is good or not but it has surely damaged the Co. no end particularly when it's  performance has been lacking compared to its peers in the IT industry. Narayanamurthy's intervention in Infosys affairs is rather unfortunate and gives the impression that he does not want to let go of the Co. It is all the more dangerous considering that  Narayanamurthy in many of his recent TV interviews has shown himself to be quite incoherent. Hence the earlier the Co. reverts to professional management, if will be better but even that task has been made to be all the more difficult with the contenders for the CEO post chary of taking the assignment because of the founders guns being trained in them. Narayanamurthy's approach in these interventions also seems to stem from the fact that if Ratan Tata was able to dislodge Mistry and retain control of the Tata group why should I not try and do the same thing with Sikka and have at the least outside control of Infosys affairs which would mean wielding authority without responsibility which is not a good thing for the Co. But all in all a sad state of affairs in Indian corporate affairs where it is being brought out that when you scratch the skin, the typical Indian crab mentality spurts out even if you do it on holy grounds like corporate governance etc. etc.

                         Bank Strike On 22nd Aug Was Completely Irresponsible

The bank strike on 22nd Aug was completely irresponsible on the part of the bank unions. You do not strike 3 days before the Ganesh festival and expect people's sympathies to be with you. The unions should have realised the inconvenience they were putting the people in Western & Southern India where the festival is celebrated with great fervour in not being able to buy things and generally organise themselves for this annual festival. One would also believe that Lord Ganesha whom the bank employees also pray to would definitely not be pleased with their going back on strike and by the same example strike himself by withholding his blessings to them. The bank employees are now well paid and with computerisation the tedium of their workload has been reduced so one wonders why they should be striking from work time and again. 

                   

                         Lucky 7 Casino Ship Disaster & The Panjim Election Parrikar Is Banking Upon

Manohar Parrikar is back to his old tactics again of making multiple statements on any issue in the belief that people would not connect what he said. So one would presume that either he is a fool which he is surely not or that he has the firm belief that his audience in Goa are fools. So it must be the latter. This is a rather sad state of affairs for someone who is out canvassing for votes to win an election. 

In this context consider what Parrikar said at different times about the Golden Globe Hotels owned Lucky 7 casino ship over the last one and half months or so. First, he said that the casino vessel is coming into the Mandovi based upon the High Court's order which is a fait accompli and the government cannot do anything about it. Later he said that the casino ship would not be allowed to come into the river which was echoed by the Captain of Ports. Now, last week he said that the Lucky 7 cannot be removed because there is gaping hole at the bottom of the ship which is enlarging with the movement of the ship because of the tides. Though this fact about the hole in the bottom of the vessel has been confirmed by later events, at the time Parrikar made the statement it sounded like yet another red herring he was drawing across the issue to justify the remaining of the vessel on Miramar beach. At that point in time this information was also not verifiable and in any case it is not up to the CM to come out with this kind of information but for the CoP which is the responsible authority. Was Parrikar trying to imply that the aground ship as likely to stay there for some time to come? Another point is that if the Lucky 7 ship was in such a bad condition as made out even earlier, how did the CoP give it a seaworthy certificate? This confirms the suspicion that all junk vessels in the name of casinos are being brought into the Mandovi and if and when the government asks them to move out of the river, the owners will throw up their hands and say that they are not seaworthy and therefore cannot be removed. The Mandovi will then become a junkyard of dead vessels! Parrikar was as is his usual practice seemed to be jumping the gun, so to speak. 

Not only that he said that if the ship is pulled out with the gaping hole at the bottom now, the ship could sink some 200-300 meters from shore which would be a bigger ecological disaster. There is something very fishy, not that it is because the vessel is in the sea, about this whole Lucky 7 incident which smacks of it being manouevered into a River Princess kind of situation. For this reason Manohar Parrikar should arrange for an arrest warrant to be issued immediately against Gopal Kanda and the Directors of the Golden Globe Hotels under the Environmental Act for deliberately conniving to run the ship aground on Miramar beach thus endangering the environment of Goa by damaging its beaches specifically Miramar. Additionally there seems to be some help that was offered by the CoP office to the Lucky 7 owners to bring in the ship into the river, otherwise they would not have the guts to bring in the ship into the Mandovi. If so, the particular official should be hauled up and administrative action taken against him. This will at least show that Parrikar has the guts to translate his words into action. The reasons for this are given below.

The credibility of Gopal Kanda and that of the Golden Globe Hotels is very low considering criminal charges of corruption and that of murder and/or abetment of suicide in Haryana and Goa have been framed against him. One would probably find out that  Golden Globe Hotels stands to benefit by way of insurance claims by having the Lucky 7 ship run aground. That is precisely the reason possibly that they were trying to bring the ship into the river after the monsoon had started. Even as late as last week as reported in the papers when Arihant was recommending that the ship after part-repair of the hole at the bottom could be towed out to sea maybe upto Vasco, Golden Globe Hotels was still keen to bring the ship into the river! This is the dispute based on which Arihant it is understood quit the salvage operations and a new Co., Madgaonkar Salvage has been asked to bid for the project now. These are the typical ways in which these people in the shady businesses operate.

As we had seen in the River Princess the salvage Cos. are not beyond reproach since they would act in their best interests primary among which is to make money. Thus it is not in the realm of impossibility that the hole which emerged at the bottom of the Lucky 7 ship could have been deliberately created in connivance of Arihant and Golden Globe Hotels so that the ship remains aground which is also profitable for the salvagers in the long run. In all this they know that the Goa government are toothless paper tigers who will only bark but will not bite. Not only that making the ship running aground issue as difficult as possible the owners of the ship and the salvage operators will know at some point of time the government will have to bow down to public opinion and then share some of the costs of salvage and removal of debris etc. This we have seen in the River Princess case which is fair enough precedent.

As for public opinion Parrikar has stated that during his election campaign around Panjim, no one has asked him about the Lucky 7 stranded at Miramar beach and the possibilities of ecological damage. This comment is neither here nor there. Sometimes looking at the gravity of the situation people are completely dumbfounded as to how such an incident could happen. Or the disaster implications of the ship getting stranded is yet to dawn on most citizens. But Parrikar campaigning to represent the constituency and with more information about the incident than the citizens, should he not be more responsible and take action on his own to remove and/ or mitigate the disaster? Or will he wait for public opinion to build up like in the River Princess case and allow the matter to become a bigger issue. 

All in all the Lucky 7 incident should be made an election issue for the upcoming Panjim poll showing the complete irresponsibility of Parrikar to allow the situation to develop to what it is today. 

As for the Panjim election, Parrikar having earlier represented the city for 3 consecutive terms as MLA has done nothing for it inspite of tall claims. The same congestion prevails, the lack of planning is apparent, the garbage issue comes up every once in a while and the transport system is in a mess. Parrikar is wont to claim the IFFI infrastructure that he created. One needs to be factual in these matters. So for IFFI what he did was to demolish a heritage medical college building and give the land and newly built multiplex on which it was built to a multiplex operator at throwaway prices. Then he built the new Patto bridge in the wrong place which he has come to realise now with the 3rd Mandovi bridge having no way to land on the Panjim side without major demolitions of buildings. 

Further Parrikar's frame of mind and ability to assess and recommend action on any issue can be judged from what he said at the convocation address at IIT Mumbai recently. He asked the engineers passing out to start schools and colleges to improve the standards of our educational system. Where engineers should do what they are trained to do and become the technical backbone of the country and maybe be encouraged to start industry or software units etc., here we have an engineer asking them to get into the educational business! Why? Because he moved into politics! Being an alumni of IIT Mumbai, Parrikar would surely know that the government spends Rs. 25 Lakhs every year on each IIT student. So if they do not remain in their trained field, would this money not be wasted? 

Thus Parrikar seeking election from Panjim is a no-no considering his lack of performance in earlier terms and sheer inconsistency in anticipating problems like the Lucky 7 case and inability to guide people wisely. But after all it is the choice of Panjimites, let them decide!

                                    Kala Academy For The Traditional Ashtami Fair! 

The papers inform that the traditional Ashtami fair is being moved to Kala Academy. This is an ill-advised move considering that the Kala Academy is a cultural and educational venue and it should be kept as such. The fair is linked to purchases for the upcoming Ganesh festival and the best place for it is its present location on the DB Marg proximate to the Panjim market. Purchasers are then provided the convenience of the fair as well as the market to complete their buying. If traffic problems are an issue then we can bear with it since the fair is for only a week and if at all has to be shifted then move it to the Campal area either the Football Ground or the parade grounds. The Kala Academy environment should be allowed to remain that of an art and culture institution and not bring commercial considerations into it. But for the annual Lokotsav festival and fair at Kala Academy that is related to the folk arts and crafts, the trend to use the venue for shopping festivals, real estate promos etc. should be stopped unless Kala Academy absolutely needs the money due to lack of funding from the government.
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