Animal Welfare or Class Warfare ?

There was a time, not long ago, when natives in India, Africa, Australia and other countries were deprived of basic human rights and their way of life. Oppression through violence, discrimination, slavery and other inhumane ways were critical tools to exploit human and natural resources of a state. Last century, most nations fought wars for freedom and civil rights against colonialism.

Decades later, we are dealing with a different kind of war globally – It’s class war waged by the “Haves” against the “Have-Nots”. Income inequality can be associated to most social issues that we face today in the globalized world. Animal Welfare is probably one of many areas where you can vividly see the class war both implicitly and explicitly. Our world is full of people with immense love for animals and this article is certainly not about them. Under the pretense of animal welfare, an industry has been created that proclaims itself as the savior of destitute animals, but in reality exploits both people and animals to advance its agenda. The goals of the animal welfare industry and its methods to achieve those goals are highly questionable. It is questionable because their actions are causing significant damage to a section of the society that is economically unprivileged and cannot fight back. On the other hand, the animal welfare organizations enjoy unlimited access to the law makers due to their socio-economic status, which helps to advance their agendas seamlessly. In a grand scheme of things, the nonexistence of a level playing field in matters of animal welfare is causing anxiety and pain on fragile segments of the society, and no one seems to care. Ivory tower activism by the likes of Menaka Gandhi, PETA and their lack of compassion towards the plight of fellow human being is deplorable.

What are they really fighting for?

Animal Welfare groups are not fighting for bull or the bull. It’s almost impossible to understand the mission or its value when you look at some of the hollow victories touted by these organizations. In this dog and pony show activism, the real beneficiaries are the organizations alone and not the animals. But then, why not just call them sloppy activists? Instead, why do we accuse them of being hypocrites that don’t care about the plight of common man or animal for that matter? Well, if you are an antiwar organization, it is natural to focus all your resources against holocaust/genocide and if you are a real animal welfare organization you will be focusing all your energy to fight areas of animal abuse where the impact is high. In today’s world, industrial animal farming and slaughter houses are undeniably the worst forms of animal abuse. We can quote numerous other areas that scream for help including horse racing, abuse of elephants in some temples and more importantly, deforestation that drives animals out of their habitats.

It may or may not be appropriate to critique the effectiveness of a nonprofit organization but when an organization focuses all its efforts on issues that impact a certain segment of a society (which BTW, is the majority) it is hard to not notice the elite entitlement mentality. No one accuses anybody of being elite, but driving changes into the society oblivious of its impact to the economically marginalized people is ethically not palatable. One can carefully deconstruct the pattern of milestone victories achieved by these welfare organizations from Jallikattu to stray dogs and rarely not see the shameful pseudo-activism. This pseudo activism is all about symbolism with very little or no benefit to the real cause. Bombastic celebration of these hollow victories gets them even more social and economic fuel to perpetually advance their symbolism driven agenda. Pseudo activists cleverly patronize showbiz folks to help with their propaganda to further their reach. This is all well and good and no one gives a hoot about the snake oil business. But the problem is that these charades are causing irreparable damage to the society impacting both humans and animals alike.

 Entitled?

Animal Welfare Groups and their high society elite friends rallied to get laws enacted on stray dog culling. When was the last time a PETA executive or their elite friends had to ride a TVS 50 at night only to be attacked by a stray dog either to sustain severe injury, get infected with rabies or even death due to the fall? Never. What gives them the right to decide that the life of a day laborer carrying her infant son back from work is less important when she is attacked by rabid stray dogs? Compassion towards fellow human being is the first revelation in any sensible activism. Obviously, killing all dogs is not a solution, but the point is before advocating the new law, these elites refused to think about the poor who have to bear the brunt of the stray dog menace. Today, some animal welfare groups and their elite leaders are enacting laws that deprive the poor of basic human rights. Do the underprivileged have to sacrifice everything including their safety, health, children and lot more because someone in the elite society had an emotional moment about stray dogs?

Comparing a 5000 year old tradition, Jallikattu to Sathi is a great example of how far and low these pseudo activists are willing to go to attract attention towards their propaganda. The comment about Sathi was offensive, biased, prejudiced, discriminatory and ignorant. For thousands of years Jallikattu was thoughtfully weaved in to an agrarian lifestyle for the benefit of both humans and cattle. Most people involved in Jallikattu are farmers and farm hands who work in tandem with the bulls on a daily basis. If there is anyone in the world who can understand and take care of the bulls better, it’s the farmers. But again, we have these animal activists, some of whom don’t even understand basics of animal husbandry or have ever set foot in a farm, marching up to the Supreme Court to ban Jallikattu. The only reason the verdict was in their favor is because of money, the money that was spent on senior counsel who spun stories of abuse out of thin air. Poor farmers were no match to the elites when it came to spending power; now this my friends is Class Warfare. Money talks and bull walks, well in this case bull walks directly to slaughter houses because pseudo activists needed to showcase a milestone victory that was actually counterproductive to both bulls and farmers alike. A few cases of abuse cannot be the primary reason to ban an ethnic event to which people are emotionally and culturally attached. Arrogant refusal to evaluate merits of the arguments by ones counterpart is text book repressive behavior. Unfortunately, this repressive behavior against the common man is shielded by the socio-economic benefits that these organizations have accrued with their hollow victories in animal welfare. If only they had addressed horse racing and elephant abuse in some temples with same vigor then this would’ve been a different conversation. They won’t and can’t, because these are protected by the rich and the elite that are probably funding and helping the animal welfare activists propel their agenda.

Hope

After sipping imported wine at their party “protecting animals” at the affluent Lalit Hotel in Mumbai, IFA executives will get in their Audis to cruise home, while the waiter who served them will probably be chased by rabid dogs as he walks back home through the dark alleys. The irony is that the elites can never empathize or sympathize with the waiter or the dog. History is a good teacher and their sheer arrogance is a ray of hope. These organizations meeting at exquisite hotels in their bow ties and designer dresses for animal welfare “Parties” can never trump the campaign of thought leaders like BICCI who are spending time educating youth in schools and colleges. An animal welfare organization that spends 80% of its revenue (donations) on administrative costs can be never as effective as people with true passion for animals spending their days at farms and forests. Animal welfare cannot be treated as an industry to achieve monetary or personal gains and it will not be effective if it is practiced and organized exclusively.  Welfare can only be achieved through communal inclusiveness.

 Last century was mostly a struggle for freedom from tyranny and colonialism, in this century people will rise against inequality and cronyism like never before. The common man will not tolerate this high society farce any more than he already has and will certainly fight back with determination.

#IncomeInequality #Jallikattu #classwarfare

FDI

"Beep", sounded the door when Kumar swiped his ID card at the employee entrance of Sal-Mart at Saravanampatty. Saravanampatty,riddled with IT companies is a small and thriving suburb of Coimbatore. Sal-Mart came to town five years back with a lot of fanfare and our honorable prime Minster Shri. Dharmendra Kodi inaugurated the store personally. He even paid Rs.65 and bought 1 litre cola infused with fruits at the opening ceremony. Kumar opened the door and entered the office area corridor of the 45,000 square feet retail super store of Sal-Mart. His manager Achuthan Nair had sent a whatsapp message 30 minutes back stating - "Urgent. Please see me in my office". Kumar entered Achuthans office thinking "God, please don't make me do an other shift". "Nair sir, tell me" he said. Achuthan looked at Kumar and gestured him to sit. "There is no easy way for me to say this, I got orders from Mumbai that ours will be one of 40 stores that will be closed in India". Kumar a floor manager responsible for managing 14 people didn't understand. "Sir?" and thinking for another second he asked "for how many days?". Achuthan calmly explained, 40 stores all across India will be closed as part of a country wide Right Sizing effort to have Sal-Mart better prepared for the changes in the market and to protect share holder interests. Regional director for South India Sal-Marts will be announcing this in a press meet tomorrow and we need a plan to liquidate the current stock and close the store in 30 days. I also need you to convey this to your staff tomorrow morning when they walk in. Remember, there may not be any severance package for level 3 and level 4 employees. Kumar fell back in his chair with a feeling of the wind getting knocked out of him. Few minutes later, didn't wanting to have an animus conversation Kumar gently nodded his head and walked out of the room without uttering a word.Unable to control his emotions he walked straight in to the store trying to get his usual smiling composure that everyone around him loves. 

Aisle after aisle he looked and finally found Sathyamoorthy checking the inventory on Organic MSG free noodles." Kumar what are you doing here? It is 8:00PM,shouldn't you be home by now?". As Kumar walked towards Sathyamoorthy tears started rolling from his eyes and he quickly zoomed past Sathyamoorthy and exited the building through the fire exit in the back. Sathyamoorthy ran after him and found Kumar leaning on the loading dock. Sathyamoorthy didn't ask anything, he waited for Kumar to pull himself back together. After few minutes Kumar looked up asked- " You remember the day when I told you that I'm leaving your store at Ganapathy and I'm going to start a new store at Kalapatti?"

It was seven years ago. Back then Sathyamoorthy was owner of Lakshmi Stores in Ganapathy next to the Krishna Sweets and Kumar use to work for him.Lakshmi stores was 850 square feet convenience store that even sold vegetables. It was a classical "Maligai Kadai". Sathyamoorthy had three guys working for him including Kumar. Store was open 6 days a week from 7:30AM to 9:00PM.  Sathyamoorthy was a proud owner of Lakshmi Store and everyone in Ganapthy knew him and his store. Lakshmi store's phone (0422-55580805) was always buzzing since customers would call and order stuff that would be delivered by one of store guys. They even had an gmail id ganapathylakshmi@gmail.com to which customers use to send the list of items to be delivered. Kumar helped Sathyamoorthy to setup the id mainly to cater to his IT customers that lived in the large apartment complex near by. All in all, Sathyamoorthy, a true small business entrepreneur was doing well. A happy man wanting the best for his family and his workers. He took good care of Sathyamoorthy, Kumar and others, they were family like any other small business or at least most of them.

Kumar was always a motivated guy. Few years later Kumar told Sathyamoorthy he wants to start his own store in Kalapatti, few kilometers away from Ganapathy. He said he has even found a place that was well suited. Sathyamoorthy was a fair man, he was proud and he helped Kumar to get on his feet.He gave some advice to Kumar along with 2 Lakh rupees loan. Not that many small business owners are magnanimous like Sathyamoorthy but Kumar was lucky. Few months later Sathyamoorthy had the privilege of inaugurating "Modern Mart" at Kalapatti owned by Kumar. The story of the rich entrepreneurial small business eco-system was even in the city news sections that weekend, thanks to K.Srinivasan, a reporter from  TheHindu who happened to live in Ganapathy and was a regular at Lakshmi Store. Kumar hired Abdul and Anburaj to help him at his store. It was not all hunky dory for Kumar but there was sense of accomplishment and more importantly Abdul and Anburaj had a sense of optimism that someday they can have their own store.

On the same issue of TheHindu that published the heart warming story about the Modern Mart there was a more colorful story of the newly elected prime ministers first day in office. He too came from a poor background, he was selling tea and coconuts for devotees visiting Ram temple in Gujarat. The news focused on his first signature, allowing FDI in India to propel India to new heights. Little did Sathyamoorthy and Kumar understand what FDI meant that day. Two years down the road Mr.Dharmendra Kodi was opening the Sal-Mart at Saravanampatty. It was the 4th store in India and 852nd store world wide for the retail conglomerate based out of Greedyville, New York. People in general were thrilled and they made daily trips to enjoy the sprawling 45,000 Square feet, 24 X 7 store full of choices. It was a consumer heaven on steroids. Kumar visited the store too and he was astonished at the scale. But he also noticed something that planted a sense of fear in to him that day. Rin soap was 3 rupees less than the sticker price but his socially fair mind thought may be its to get customers into the store the first week.

It was all down hill from that point. Sal-Mart cut the prices across the board to lure customers. With deep pockets, investment interests and Ivy league educated analysts they were able to cut costs optimally for an extended period of time that Modern Store and Lakshmi could not compete without taking losses. They all tried, Kumar even took a bank loan at 9.5% interest to retain his customers. But the customer base fell so sharply because of the deep discounts that Sal-Mart offered. Kumar went to his guru Sathyamoorthy to get some advice to sustain. Sathyamoorthy who ran Lakshmi stores for 25 years was giving up. He was in so much debt he was selling his store (mainly the land) to AFC a fast food chicken store to repay his debt.

Seven months after Mr.Kodi opened Sal-Mart at Saravanampatty, Sathyamoorthy closed Lakshmi store and three months from that Kumar closed Modern Mart. Abdul, Anburaj, Kumar and Sathyamoorthy were all out of jobs and livelihood. But then Kuldeep Pandey from "Gateway to career" a headhunting firm that organized interviews for Sal-Mart reached out to Adbul. Abdul referred Kumar and Kumar referred Sathyamoorthy. With in weeks they were are all on a bus to Chennai to get trained in effective retail at Sal-Marts regional head quarters. Kumar and Sathyamoorthy got a level-3 role and they were floor managers at Sal-Mart, Saravanampatty. On his first day at Sal-Mart, Kumar noticed that Rin soap was now priced 3 rupees more than what he use to sell. Sathyamoorthy and Kumar swiped in and out everyday and worked for hourly wages at the fabulous 45,000 square feet facility until today. 

Level playing fields from Kalapatti to Ganapathy were leveled by Sal. There are now lots of Kumars and Sathyamoorthys - the entrepreneurial zombies. After a long conversation and without any hope in the horizon, Sathyamoorthy and Kumar walked back in to the fluorescent light and the door beeped. They looked up when they heard an even stronger beep coming from the TV. The election commissioner was demonstrating the new voting machine! #FDI #Smallbusiness #Elections

The Business of Democracy

Every time an election is announced the anxiety is insurmountable. Quest for a person or party that’s going to change it all begins. But then some of us are old enough to see how this plays out, hind sight is 20/20. We are inured to the sense of dysfunctional democracy except when we come up for air once every four or five years during an election to look for alternatives. Its possible we are looking for alternatives presumably in an incorrect dimension.May be the design of democracy is outdated or maybe it was designed the way it is by the mythical conspirators who wanted to be monarchs in sheep skin as legislators for generations. So what do we do? Go back to complete monarchy or bring in anarchy? Of course not. If we need to have some peace and civility then more objective democracy needs to be defined and practiced.

I will leave the naming of such a democracy to the marketing team with a focus group but for our discussion let's call it "Accountable Democracy". Let's start with something basic like an Service Level Agreement (SLA) . It's basically two individuals or organizations signing on a dotted line to say the service provider will comply to the terms set forth by the service receiver. In case of democracy in some ways the elected government is the service provider and we the people are the service receivers. In our world of democracy we pay before we receive the goods or even seen them. We only hear about them(may be). I think that concept has to fundamentally change given service providers (elected officials) are not driven by passion but driven more by factors that are tangential to service mindedness. So let's agree that people representatives are business men/women and let's start treating them like who they are (of course with respect)! Let’s get in to the business of democracy and slowly getaway from emotional of democracy that we are so entangled in.

Let’s contemplate a model ( I know this is naïve but hear me out) - In this model there are two basic concepts 1. Contract 2. What happens when the contract is violated.

Every party in a democratic system publishes a paper weight a.k.a election manifest. Instead of each party telling people what they can do we create a Manifest for each election whether it's local , state or central. The manifest can be created in the same way as how the 5 Year plans are created by the planning commission. This manifest doesn't have to boil the oecan but instead foucs of few items that are ciritcal to the smaller geographic. The list has to be very objective,for example "power cut reduction by 95% by certain date" etc., Instead of completely relying on a nonbinding contract published by the party we should move towards adopting the manifest created by the people as binding contract   for the election. One can contest in an election only if the mandatory manifest is signed by him or her.

Now, let's talk about enforcing the contract. The contract has to be continuously and periodically managed from the beginning of one’s term. Every outcome should be measured and the outcomes determine the rest. If outcomes are not as stated in the contract then it’s a violation. Violation's have serious repercussions including not being able compete in an election ever again. Enforcing accountability for a legislator is not possible if he/she doesn't have power or means to implement the contract - empowerment and accountability have to tango. If we take our current world of democratic governance defining or enforcing the contract will be challenging or even impossible since things are vague and way too centralized. There has to be radical change in the way legislative bodies and executives are empowered and structured. There will be a need for us move towards decentralized autonomous power structures that can be empowered appropriately to achieve the intended accountability based on outcomes. In short we need to reorg the system.

Don't get me wrong, democracy has filled the void for more than a century and has tried hard to achieve equality and justice. But if you take in account current trends in our democratic society it's clear that the degeneration of this democratic model has started aggressively decades ago and the cancer is spreading faster than what the diagnosis (our media) reveals. If we intend to take a nonviolent path towards betterment of human society then we cannot be married to the current concept of democracy as its sold today. If democracy is construed as philosophy then there are too many open interpretations leading to tangential thought processes that are only driven by greedy agendas. Instead, if democracy is structured as business like organization where you have measurable out comes then you start deconstructing the public service myth that you are being sold today ( This is almost like legalizing pot).

Deep inside we all want that one person or party that will be the savior but at the same depths we also know that real unicorn from utopia cannot be bought in amazon. Let’s stop trying to mend this and it’s critical to end this union with non-functional democracy. Social engineers and scientists should take the mammoth task of building better governance models leaning extremely towards practical governance (like the model discussed above) so we move towards a better social setup. I know this is not something that can be considered for a decade or two or even more but the bottom line is we need to detach ourselves from the fairy tale vision of a savior evolving within the bounds of the current system. Let’s move on people!! Let’s engineer an Accountable Democracy!!