The State

Some individuals tend to speak precisely what they mean. It is an art to communicate your thoughts clearly. An interview appeared in Times of India wherein author Ms Arundati Roy spoke about how on its own State can’t be Moral is worth reading.

Birth of a State has been ancient. Previously, they were called Kingdoms / Fiefdoms and ruled by Kings. Off late, the kingship is replaced by State and elected representatives collectively Govern it.

However, experience has taught power has the ability to unleash itself and cause serious problems. Power unknowingly conquers its carrier. The rider suddenly becomes the driven.

The reason for power causing problem, can be attributed to “The disappearance of a sense of responsibility ……………………..”

In this context I wish to reproduce a statement by Ms Roy from the interview about how to have a dialogue with the State continuously:

“I don’t think a State can be moral—it can be forced by its people to take moral actions. That’s why it’s important where you position yourself. It’s important to police the state, to challenge it continuously—not because you’re just a knee-jerk, rebellious character, but because power must be kept on a short leash. That’s the holding position. I believe that’s what many of the various resistance movements in India are about – that constant challenge to the state. That’s of course not counting those who wish to overthrow the state. The BJP may have won the elections – but there’s a constant challenge, a constant vigilance. In itself, the state cannot be moral because the state holds power. It will misuse that power. There can’t be a benevolent, moral state.”

Let’s realize that we form the State and we have to be more responsible and vigil.

On a different note i believe that today the actions are required more on the Corporate front as the CEO's have attained unbridled power. The staff are more of aggravating the power of CEO by supporting and not questioning. What is applicable to a State is applicable more to Corporations.

References:

The disappearance of a sense of responsibility…: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/134222.Stanley_Milgram

Interview: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/the-interviews-blog/i-know-why-youve-come-to-radicalise-me-snowden-said-arundhati-roy/

Tolerance - J K Rowling

What is freedom of speech?

 In this context I wish to share the message of JK Rowling on defending the freedom of speech. The message was in context of a petition banning entry of Donald Trump from visiting UK. The debate was supposed to take place in Parliament and MPs participating in it.

Key portions are presented below (from VanityFair) :

“I find almost everything that Mr. Trump says objectionable. I consider him offensive and bigoted. But he has my full support to come to my country and be offensive and bigoted there. His freedom to speak protects my freedom to call him a bigot. His freedom guarantees mine.”

“If my offended feelings can justify a travel ban on Donald Trump, I have no moral ground on which to argue that those offended by feminism or the fight for transgender rights or universal suffrage should not oppress campaigners for those causes. If you seek the removal of freedoms from an opponent simply on the grounds that they have offended you, you have crossed the line to stand alongside tyrants who imprison, torture, and kill on exactly the same justification.”

Above message is a very fine way of explaining freedom of speech.

References:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2016/05/jk-rowling-donald-trump-free-speech

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-35321834

https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2016/07/j-k-rowling-intolerance-viewpoints/

History - Two Tight Slap

I wish to reproduce here a section of the article titled "Citizens Jain" by Ken Auletta appeared in New Yorker (8th October 2012 issue).

I will not dwell here about the persons who are distributing news (or advertisement) but leave it to the readers to be aware:

"Samir Jain is fifty-eight, but he looks older, his once stark-black hair now gray. He follows a strict vegetarian diet and has a slim frame and face; his clothes tend toward the baggy, his buttoned shirt collars loose. He often speaks in parables. Namita Gokhale, a well-connected novelist who co-directs the Jaipur Literature Festival, once sat next to Jain at a dinner. Jain told Gokhale, “I think history doesn’t exist, and if I were Prime Minister I would ban the study of history.” Gokhale devilishly responded, “What I’ll do is give you two tight slaps and a kick, and if you can’t remember it I’ll agree there’s no history!” Jain politely smiled, turned away, and ignored her the rest of the evening."

Samir Jain – Owner of Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd. Group which has Times of India, Times Now etc.

Source: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/08/citizens-jain

MR(i)P

Warren Buffet had famously quoted “Price is what you pay and value is what you get”.

In India, Maximum Retail Price (MRP) is mentioned on every packaged commodity purchased by consumers. This price is the manufacturer calculated price.

We, consumers, liberally shower appreciation on Flipkart, Amazon and other e-commerce sellers for providing hefty discounted price to MRP.

So there is an uncertainty over holiness of MRP.

A recent article appeared in New York Times by David Streitfeld (3^rd July 2016) titled “Amazon Is Quietly Eliminating List prices” (Economic times - 5^th July 2016). I will replicate here one section of the article:

“The problem with list prices or, as they are sometimes called, manufacturers’ suggested retail prices, is that they are regularly more of a marketing concept than what anyone is actually charging. When Amazon was saying the list price of the Breville Infuser was $800, Breville itself was selling the machine for $500 — about the same as Amazon. Other retailers sell it for $500, too. Breville confirmed the price was $500.”

Reflecting on MRP after understanding the above article generates few questions:

• If sold at heavy discounts why MRP is required?
• Is benchmarking the offered price with MRP to understand discount, is an incorrect method?
•  Can MRP be discontinued (what are the implications)?
• Were manufacturers unfair to customers by continuing to adopt pricing mechanism conceptualized in pre-technology times?
•  Is e-commerce sites are re-defining fair price in market?

I wonder whether dynamic pricing like airline tickets will be introduced to products. Today majority of the airline tickets are booked online and no one is aware about MRP. Agreed MRP is only for packaged commodities and not for Services, Space selling etc.

I think super markets like Big Bazaar, West side, D-Mart should incorporate dynamic pricing for products in their software. The prices should arrive based on procurement price plus demand, carrying cost of the product, cash flow requirement etc.

It’s time to move forward from MRP.

For further reading please refer article written by Anupam Manur – “Time to abolish the MRP” (The Hindu – July 23, 2015).