Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Why 2014 has been a year of setting the field level

In a matter of couple of weeks, life and death uncertainties apart, I would turn 35 .  One more year and it will be 36. Why is that number so significant ? - it is like becoming an adult twice ! (sorry, that is probably inspired by a Malayalam movie dialogue). And again, if health and stars permit, that makes it about 1/3rd of active life left !!!

Some churning has started on what I really want to do with that remaining life.. and most likely it will continue for the next one year.. or may be even after that, I will probably just keep thinking and leading life as usual, with all its "still something not satisfactory" part. Interestingly, career wise too, my current job is now in a situation that major transitions within are going to happen for next 1 year, assuming the job stays or I stay !!

So basically, at a personal field, and at a career field, I feel its kind of a start all over !

Interestingly, I feel that Indian politics too have come to such a stage. With the Maharashtra and Haryana state election results now over, I think pretty much major (state or National of course) elections for 2014 are over - I doubt if Delhi can be done before December. So what did 2014 have in store for us ?

At the surface, it looks like a BJP sweep and upswing, but I would say, so far they have only leveled the field. Look at the number of states currently (or in a matter of few days) ruled by Congress, BJP and others - alone or with allies
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_Indian_chief_ministers and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_governments_of_India#mediaviewer/File:Indian_states_by_ruling_party.png

Congress

Alone: Arunachal Pradhes, Assam, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram . Total - 6
Alliance: Kerala, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand (CM from Congress), J &K , Jharkhand . Total - 5


BJP

Alone: Chattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan . Total -6
Alliance: Maharashtra(hopefully BJP CM),Andhra Pradesh, Punjab,Nagaland. Total - 4 .

Others:

Bihar, Delhi, Orissa, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Tripura, UP, WB. Total - 9 .

So its Congress+ still in 11, BJP+ in 10 and rest in 9 . True, the Loksabha is with BJP, but Rajya Sabha is still not. And though the intial 3-4 months of Modi government has seen reasonably bold decisions and at least "on right track" decisions (like on diesel/coal, like on Swach Bharath, labor reforms, proposed housing plans...) , it still is taking time to put the economy and the mood in general, first on to a level playing field and then build on it

Hopefully, the churn thus far is almost over, and from now it is a matter of how things shape up from now on. The Modi wave (in other words, the good will, trust and hope factor that Modi enjoyed that helped him win Loksabha elections , the momentum of which also got carried forward to some extend to Maharashtra/Haryana)  will not be there for ever. And none must be knowing this as much as Amit Shah, and he must be working out newer strategies.

Sometimes uncertainty is interesting, from the point of view of curiosity. But not beyond a certain point !!