raja

Tin maintains a machine readable diary to record, though briefly, interesting encounters so he can go over them in leisure impassionately. Many a time strong messages emerge though they were not so obvious while happening. During a re-narration, however, some embellishments become due, in order it may not be a drag on the reader. In fact that is the responsibility of the writer.

Aik Din Ka Raja.. came to be given expression when they planned for two CMs in Uttar Pradesh (Kalyan Singh and Mayavati)

How can we improve the employment potential in a constrained economy?

The country is concerned. National leaders are worried. Yes, we all know unemployment is an evil -- as despicable as corruption. It reflects manpower and womanpower wasted. Forget the past. Future generations will blame us for allowing this rot to become precipitated. What have you done? How can you contain the situation and prevent, in the least, from its getting worse? Yes, there are solutions to those who only go look for them.

First and foremost -- diffuse the situation. Send a feeling of comfort. Proclaim the situation is under control. So what do you do? Improve the scope of the employable. Where you need to employ one -- take two. Where you need fifty, recruit five hundred. If you can justify a thousand vacancies, demand a million. That alone will neutralize most of the loud critics.

The second, while being innovative, complements the first. It is, in fact, multiplication by cell division. Make a norm that each Thana shall have two Station House Officers. One for the east side and the other for the west. Or one for the north and one for the south. Or one on-duty and the other off-duty. That should immediately trigger the imagination in you. You can propose two Collectors for each Revenue District -- until divided and four thereafter. Two clerks at every counter -- one for accepting the payments and another the bribes. The scope is endless!

It used to be a practice with the Bombay City Transport to entertain two drivers -- one upto Dadar and the other beyond south, on a Chembur originated double Decker.

That shall in turn, prompt -- two drivers in each public vehicle, by law. In a double decker one driver may be assigned to each deck. In a single decker, of course, it is tricky. We have to make do with a single seat for both the drivers -- which by itself is not an anomaly to start with. The Trade Unions can demand eventually and we may concede at an appropriate time -- that is after a hartal and a hunger strike -- to equip each bus with two driving seats -- with independent controls so that there can be one driver to negotiate the right turns and another the wrong ones.

Our last suggestion is really out of the world. In fact it was suggested by a visiting Martian. If we are to believe him, that is how they solved the issue in Mars.

It is one involving redundancy. The Martian says -- discover vacancies where there are seemingly redundant. For example, he says, you can easily justify the necessity for an operator in an automatic lift. The operator can ensure that passengers push only buttons -- not each other. He can also make sure passengers do not demand to go to the thirteenth floor in a building built only up to eleven.

In each street intersection with traffic lights, you can post five Policemen. They can be looking out for Charles Shobraj or Veerappan when not busy.

For each weighing machine, one inspector can be posted. His business will be to ensure that customers drop only the nominated rupee coins into the machine and not Dollars, Pounds, Marks or Francs. Next to every payphone there can be a phone mechanic on duty, who will ensure no obnoxious calls are originated!

When you approve the concept, you will find the outlook is becoming vast -- all of a sudden. You can engage a sanitary engineer in each toilet, a ticket examiner for every passenger booked in the superfast express and so on.

A nation can then justify two Prime Ministers -- one for winter and one for summer. And six Chief Ministers for each state -- one for each day of the week. Sundays there will be none -- that day will be spent in locating the six for the following week.

That is the how I shall also be, some day -- Aik din ka Raja...