I see a trend in three of these – ‘Cauvery water’, ‘TASMAC’ and ‘H1B Visa’; It may sound weird but there is a similarity with these three ongoing and never ending issues. Politics is the underlying reason for these never ending issues but end of the day it all boils down to $$$$. Rules are rewritten in the name of laws, Governments change, new regulation/act appear, New teams are formed in the name of committee, Court comes up with a decision but still nothing changes and problem remain the same and more importantly people are made scapegoats. Let me go one by one.
Cauvery Issue
Right from my childwood I see this issue coming up, Karnataka and Tamil nadu governments fight over water and when one demands, a series of events happen like Transportation is halted between two states, tension arises as naysayers target tamil people in Karnataka, Tamil movie screening is stopped in Bangalore, Rajini is questioned to raise voice, Tomato prices go up in TN as Bangalore Thakali no longer comes to TN, Centre is pressurized to show support and Central government forms a High profile committee to work on the issue and then slowly news loses its steam before it becomes flash news once again in few months.
Since Cauvery water is a high profile issue it becomes a major topic for governments during campaigning and every party promises to find a solution in their election manifesto. Kauvery is basically a perennial river that originates in Karnataka and flows through Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and finally merges in Bay of Bengal. Tamil Nadu depends on the water for its Agriculture and drinking needs. Key issue is unlike rivers in the North which originates through Glaciers, Kauvery is a monsoon fed river line. Therefore poor monsoon forces Karnataka government to release less water which in turn affects Agriculture badly in Tamil Nadu. Karnataka also says since River originates in its territory it is entitled to use the way as it wishes and state also argued that it is not bound by any agreements signed during the British era thereby immensely affecting Tamil Nadu which relies quite a bit on ‘Agricultural economy’. Bangalore’s Global status and its influence to attract global investors and city’s glorious run during SM Krishna tenure as silicon valley of India and phenomenal rise and expansion of real estate markets made its argument very clear on why they don’t want to release more water to TN. Water dispute tribunal was setup to address this issue and requested Karnataka to release a set amount of water every year but Karnataka couldn’t release it over the years citing poor rainfall and also its demand of water for Drinking needs. After lots of back and forth cat and mouse game Supreme Court finally made its verdict saying Karnataka will release 14.75 TMC lesser water to Tamil Nadu making the equation 177.25 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu. Now I believe Tamilnadu Government through various measures has brought enough water to TN but whether we have arrived at a permanent solution still remain a question mark.
Politics
Elections play a major role in how things unfold – Tamil Nadu election, Karnataka election and Central government formation and timing of these elections influence the final output. It is tough nut to crack for either BJP or Congress on its own to get into Tamil Nadu and hence they have to tie up with DMK or ADMK in order to make their presence felt in the state. Since BJP and Congress cannot make inroads in Tamil nadu it is advantage Karnataka and centre inclines towards local government in Karnataka if they favor the centre. End of the day politics, power and money has the final say and poor farmers just keep protesting with no fruitful result.
TASMAC
TASMAC stands for Tamil nadu State marketing Corporation Limited is a wholly owned by government of Tamil nadu and is a company incorporated by Companies act. TASMAC takes over the wholesale and retail vending of alcoholic beverages in the state and also controls the Indian made Foreign Liquor trade in the state. Turnover in 1983 (the year it was incorportated) was 183 crore rupees – Yes you read that right ‘183 crores in 1983’ and has an annual revenue of growth of around 20% every year. Though it may not be morally right to take TASMAC as an example to understand operations but still if you want to understand how to efficiently run a Supply chain then TASMAC may be a good one to do a case study. It procures stock from 11 manufacturers in the state (Distilleries) and has 7 breweries on top of that for Beers. There are 43 depots spread across the state and they in turn distribute to the local stores. Apart from the huge revenue from Taxes, organization also collects money through licenses to run bars in its retail outlets. There is also huge increase as far as consumption of alcohol and for poor person who is tired physically after an intense day at work, 250 ml of alcohol at an affordable place through a TASMAC store sounds too good a deal. Since poor cannot afford to visit bars the bitter truth is liquor is an inexpensive way to spend his hard earned money. The worst part is TASMAC stores location are all over the city and sets a bad example for kids especially during festive times like Diwali, New year etc., It is even more bad for ladies living in and around the store and feel very sorry for them. DMK criticizes ADMK regarding TASMAC and vice versa but the ugly truth is any party who is ruling enjoys so much of money (I would say money earned effortlessly) through TASMAC. According to me TASMAC is here to say and will continue its glorious run in the state.
H1B Visa
People may say whatever about USA but the crowd that stands in US consulate, Chennai always paints a colorful picture when you look from Gemini flyover. For those of you who doesn't have any clue what does H1B visa mean - it is a very common work visa for Non-immigrants and gateway between student visa (F1) and becoming a permanent Resident in USA. Immigration is always a huge topic for Republicans and Democrats since there is so much at stake for both the parties.
Now let me go over the amount of money involved for a Non immigrant from the time he/she land in US and become a Green card Holder - on an average it takes 10 years with so many factors to consider before one can become a Green card holder. I am going to skip amount of money needed for education since money put on education goes to University. After one finishes studies one has to apply for OPT (Optional practical training) which involves few hundred dollars. Then one has to renew which again involves $$$, then one switch to a company where they sponsor H1B visa which easily costs around 4-6k $$$ from start to finish including attorney fees; People may get 1/2/3 years and there is renewal charges too; On an average people work 4 years in a company and when one switches from one company to another company there is again 4-6 K involved. Since people are Non-immigrants they may be forced to travel home country once in 1-2 years and people pay Visa stamping charges (around 13000 INR for one individual). Now to further add up the numbers when people get married spouses become dependent and come under dependent visa (H4 visa); At some point individual has to start Green card filing which involves as many as 3 stages and it roughly costs 15000 USD for a couple for filing which includes employee as well as employer expenses. With Visa renewal, Green card filling, H1 transfer filing, EAD renewal, Dependent(s), filing, Stamping charges it easily comes around 40000 to 60000 USD per family to get their Green card. Every year there are around 80000 to 85000 H1B visa gets filled up. On top of this there is still L1 visa, B1/B2 visa , Investor visa etc., With the growing number of people who want to migrate to US it just sets the cash registers ringing big time for US government. Immigration is one area where USA make quite a lot of money.
Indians are so calculative that they avail the 2$ coupon they received through mail to buy Kellogg's corn flakes in Costco for the next 4 months. When people are so particular about 2$ but still end up spending 40-60 grant (may not be entirely from their pocket since it involved employer expenses too) then that talks about how much people make. People see immigration expense just as an investment since they believe they can easily make up the money spent on Immigration.
Now do you see a trend with these three :
[1] Cauvery water is in demand and issue is politicized and fetches government Power and money
[2] TASMAC outlets are in demand and acts as a huge revenue generation for Government
[3] H1B visa is one of the most sought after visa and since government realizes this they make use of the program to extract funds from Non immigrants
So whether it is BJP/Congress or DMK/ADMK or Republicans/Democrats once there is a demand from public then governments will just continue to make money at the same time continue to make false promises to public saying problem will be fixed.
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