CAPITALISM AT WORK

-The pursuit of profit may finally be self-defeating
By Ashok Mitra
The Telegraph, July 29, 2011

It was late afternoon on the fourth day of the third and final Test between India and West Indies at Dominica earlier this month. The West Indies were tottering in their second innings, seven wickets were already down, Rampaul, the pace bowler, had just joined the dour Shivnarine Chanderpaul. A risky run was taken, Rampaul made a dive towards the wicket-keeper’s end, the fielder at square leg made a sharp, accurate throw, Dhoni collected the ball and thrust the bails out. While Rampaul was still clearly out of the crease, the field umpires were not altogether sure though whether Dhoni had the ball actually in his gloves when he broke the stumps. They referred to the third umpire, who took quite a while before making up his mind, looking closely at the video takes from different angles. Seconds ticked by, suspense mounted in the field and among the millions watching the match on the television channels. Time is money, each second works out to perhaps a few thousand dollars or more, the telecast was peremptorily interrupted, what followed was a rush of maybe a dozen advertisements stretching for a full five minutes, the viewer had no way of finding out during this interregnum whether Rampaul had been declared out or not, agony got added to the continuing suspense. It was only after the telecast was resumed to show Fidel Edwards keeping Chanderpaul company that one had confirmation that the eighth West Indies wicket too was down.
A safe wager to take; the same commentary was being telecast by some channel or other in the West Indies, in England, Australia and New Zealand, in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, possibly in South Africa as well, in none of these countries were the viewers denied their right to know the third umpire’s decision the moment it was flashed across the big screen on the field. In India, it had to be different. Capitalism is here rushing to its climacterics. Money-making — maximization of profit — is here not merely a humdrum professional goal of the business and industrial communities; it is the be-all and end-all of their existence. Squeeze to the limit whatever is squeezable is a religious credo, the rate of return must be pushed up and further up. In the context of this overriding objective of profit maximization; all other considerations are of zero worth. A television channel owes its allegiance only to the quantum of money it makes through the display of advertisements, not to the game of cricket; the Test match commentaries are merely a cover for the advertisements that are the source of amassable wealth; letting the viewers watch the proceedings while the game is actually on is reckoned to be enough, the time the third umpire takes to give his verdict cannot be allowed to go to waste. What do the Indian entrepreneurs care about the agony of the cricket buff?
The perpetrators of this kind of outrage that reduces cricket lovers to helpless fury have of course their own point of view. They are not the least apologetic in airing it either. Cricket, they will argue, has long ceased to be an indolent game to be savoured in a lazy, leisurely manner, conforming to the civilities of pastoral life. It is now an industry, an international industry; it is entertainment: at the same time, more than entertainment, like horse-racing or motion pictures. Cricket as business involves investment of millions and millions of dollars. If these millions were sunk elsewhere, the rate of return would have been of a certain order. If investors fail to attain more than that rate from their outlay on cricket they will have no alternative but to move away, that is to say, phase out their investments in cricket and depart with their kitty for other pastures. Among other things, that will also mean the end of global telecasts of cricket commentaries, a surcease of the luxury viewers enjoy, lounging in their living room in Patna or Madurai and watching Sachin Tendulkar launching on a delectable straight drive to the fences — which also fetches him his umpteenth Test century — the moment he launches on it. The viewers have a choice, they either accept cricket telecasts with all their imperfections and alleged crudities or push back the game to the insularity of the pre-information technology revolution era. Indian entrepreneurs, it will also be added, are least bothered about the extent of consideration accorded to the viewers by the channel in Australia, England or South Africa. None of these countries can match India’s scale of civilities or rate of growth. Cricket in India, in the manner it has been organized and managed in recent decades, has played its humble part in propelling this magnificent national growth. Those associated, directly or indirectly, with the business of cricket, including the channels, are determined not to do anything that could adversely affect the prospects of India’s rapid and yet more rapid economic progress. Is not the whole world watching in awe the spectacle of Indian capitalism single-mindedly at work?
Which means here in India cricket telecasts will continue to be choked off the instant someone gets out or an appeal to declare him out is posted with the umpires; no opportunity will be provided to the viewers to learn what the commentators have to say on the nature of the ball that claimed the wicket or the stroke that felled the batsman or the quite unbelievable catch the third man has taken — and of course there is no question of permitting television watchers in Mumbai and New Delhi the privilege of sharing with spectators in the field at Port of Spain the moments of exciting uncertainty preceding the decision of the third umpire on a dicey leg-before-wicket appeal. Pampering such flippancies harms the cause of profit maximization.
In a society assumed to be free, there ought to be some space for devil’s advocates. Consumer sovereignty is one of the essential features of the free market. It puts the imprimatur on the process that leads to profit maximization. Advertisement money spent by the sponsors is intended to win over the legions of cricket fans who sit glued to the television sets. Their number has already reached millions and is likely to grow even faster in future. They are, besides, quickly travelling through the learning curve and coming to appreciate to an increasing extent the charm wrapped in the mystique of this somewhat sophisticated game. Viewer psychology is a complex phenomenon. Once a sufficiently large number of television watchers enters the ethos of cricket, these watchers would conceivably like to experience every moment of it and share, along with the spectators actually present at the Test match venue many thousands of miles away, the excitement and suspense over an appeal pending for leg-before-wicket or a run out or a stumping, they will hate any distractions at this point. Initially, there will be no grouse, they will endure the sales pitches for the goods and services the sponsors are anxious to sell them. One never knows, as capitalism matures, consumer taste too can mature, tolerance can gradually gravitate towards impatience; impatience can beget irritation, that may, in the course of a short time, develop into hostility. When that stage is reached, the advertisements may turn out to be counterproductive. In the recesses of the mind, the wares being advertised can begin to be considered as infernal nuisance, sabotaging the right of viewers to enjoy their cricket. What a calamity, the sales curve may in fact start wobbling.
Such is the problem with resurgent capitalism. It does not at all know, or does not know enough, about the boundary conditions of profit maximization. A rising rate of profit tempts its protagonists to target an even higher rate of profit. At some stage, any sense of proportion gets lost, howlers are committed, howlers that have a negative impact on earnings, dragging down the rate of profit. The seekers of insensate profit, therefore, every now and then, need advice and counsel for their own good. In the present instance, sponsors have to fill in that role, and for their own interest. The consumer is sovereign; an excess of advertisements that cuts athwart the consumer’s right to savour his coveted leisure can be costly beyond measure.
But, then, there is a school of thought which is confident that capitalism of the Indian genre is maturity-proof and consumer preference too will always remain overwhelmingly banal.

Pakistan government defaults on its electricity bill

By Aijaz Maher
BBC News, Islamabad
Wednesday, 30 June 2010

Government institutions in Pakistan owe $2bn to the cash-strapped national power company, it has emerged.
Power Production Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf told parliament that the defaulters included the army, the Supreme Court and the presidency.
Pakistan is currently going through a major power crisis which has slowed down the economy and led to riots.
The latest disclosures will embarrass the government which has threatened to jail people who do not pay their bills.
It has launched a massive campaign against private defaulters, accusing them of being unIslamic.
The crisis is due to a massive power shortfalls caused by poor electricity infrastructure and the shortage of new production units. Both problems stem from a lack of finances.
'Raising hackles'
"The biggest single defaulter is the ministry of defence, which includes the three armed forces," Mr Ashraf said in parliament in reply to a question.
The country's energy infrastructure lacks investment "The amount owed by defence comes to a billion rupees ($11.76m)," he stated.
This is about half of what the federal government owes to the country's Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda).
Pakistan's Presidency, on the other hand, owes a comparatively low 20m rupees ($235,294).
The Supreme Court's dues are pegged at 2.5m rupees ($29,400).
The figures are likely to raise hackles across the country as ordinary Pakistanis continue to grapple with long hours of power cuts.
The government's discomfiture over unpaid bills is likely to be enhanced because it has recently launched a new television advertisement campaign which portrays defaulters as working against the national interest.
The government has frequently warned that that bill defaulters are liable to imprisoned and fined as are people who have illegal connections.
The authorities regularly disconnect supplies to those companies or individuals who miss out on even a couple of months' payments.
But it is unlikely that any punitive action will be taken against defaulting government institutions.

Sindh: An oasis of peace and tolerance

By Manzoor Chandio

Published in Sindh Watch in June 2009

Why should we take sides and condemn atrocities wherever they are being committed, with a conviction that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”?

Decades ago, during civil rights movement, Dr Martin Luther King took this stand against racial discrimination in the United States. It would be no exaggeration to say that the same is also the collective wisdom of people of Sindh in southern Pakistan.

Since the start of war on terror, the people of the non-Muslim world have been shown a terrific aspect of Pakistan, which is also home to Sufi Sindhi people. Sindh’s Sufi saint Shah Latif promoted his philosophy of universal brotherhood centuries ago.

The people of Sindh have always stood up for justice and tolerance. Their home, the soil of Sindh, is popular as the land of saints and sages who always preached the message of love and brotherhood.

The world not only highlights the failure of the Muslim world but also points out to a deficiency of an independent Muslim political thought which works out automatically to get the Muslim countries and their people out of ancient thinking.

Sindh has poets like Shah Latif and Sachal Sarmast, who centuries ago, disseminated universal brotherhood. They are the epitome of religious tolerance. Some western scholars conclude that nothing is enlightened with the Muslims through which they can replace obscurantism and extremism. But this is not the case of Sindhi Muslims, who with their Sufi inclination are tolerant to all other religions.

The deficiency of free inquiry and interpretation is so acute among Muslim scholars, that an army General used Wahabi Sect for his own survival and created Taliban who today are the biggest threat to peace. But the people of Sindh rejected Wahabi teachings in Pakistan. Sindhis are the only group of people in Pakistan, who never followed the line of extremist Islam.

For that reason, the extremist Islamabad establishment victimized the people of Sindh. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands others jailed and sent into exile.

Similar examples of injustice and intolerance have been seen in other parts of the Islamic world. About 300,000 Kurd and Shia Muslims were killed during the Saddam regime in Iraq. The dictator used weapons of mass destruction, not against any non-Muslim country, but against fellow Muslims during the Iran-Iraq war and also used chemical weapons against Kurds in his own country.

Almost five thousand Kurds were killed in just one attack in Halabja in 1988. Iraq fought two wars against fellow Muslim states of Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990.Ironically, Israel deterred the Syrian army from invading Jordan on the pretext of supporting a Palestinian uprising in 1970. Syria occupied Lebanon in 1976 and effectively annexed it after 15 years.

In 1982, Syria massacred 20,000 people in the Muslim Brotherhood with strong hold of Hammas.Nearly 100,000 Muslims have been killed at the hands of Muslims in Algeria. After Dr. King, there were a few free thinkers in the West who challenged the perception and stood by the oppressed. If there were no Noam Chomsky (a Jew) and Edward Said (a Christian), perhaps all the Muslim had been dubbed as terrorists.

This is the time the world must know about Sufi Islam followed by the people of Sindh in Pakistan.During East Pakistan crisis, the extremist establishment projected false ideas of military and totally ignored realities on ground. The military massacred thousands of Bengalese. Today, people of Sindh and Balochistan feel that they are being targeted. The extremists in Islamabad, instead of bridging the appalling development gap that separates the Baloch and Sindhis from other nationalities, launched an action against them.

Somnambulists in Islamabad must understand history that the suppression of own people can only invite the ineluctable wrath of the mighty like the one we are seeing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The big question before the Pakistani establishment is whether it will ever be able to show its human face?

The collective wisdom of people of Sindh says yes. Before partition of subcontinent, people of Sindh following different religions, such as Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism and Zorastarism, lived together side-by-side.

Therefore, it is necessary for the world to understand the tolerant face of Islam, which is followed by the people of Sindh.

There are shrines of saints and sages across Sindh and mosques and temples inside one compound.Sindh is the soil where there is no room for Taliban. Despite being part of Pakistan, Sindh is an oasis of peace and tolerance.