What does India gain by robbing Shahid Afridi of an employment opportunity?

I wrote this note before Abdul Razzaq was selected for the IPL. This note was published in a Dubai newspaper Khaleej Times. However the newspaper edited major portions of my note. You can see the newspaper version at http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayLetters.asp?valid=5&strpath= (4th article)

I write this note to express disagreement with the joy many of myIndian brethren find in the conspiracy to leave out the Pakistanicricketers from the Indian Premier League. While Lalit Modi and Shilpa Shetty might say this was no deliberate snub we cannot expect peoplein their respective positions to say otherwise.

I can understand a case being made for an Umar Akmal not finding aspot in any IPL team. But who does Modi think he is fooling whensomeone like Shahid Afridi is not even bid on. Was he not even worth his base price? So we can safely assume this exclusion was a politicalmove by the ruling Congress party.

Obviously the Indian government and some of my Indian bretheren believe this maneuver will benefit India in some way. So tell me what does India gain by robbing a Shahid Afridi of an employment opportunity?

There are valid reasons for Indians to be upset with Pakistan. But our grudge should be with the Pakistani political class. Not with thecommon Pakistani. It is India's claim that Pakistani politicians allowanti India elements to thrive. But it is clearly not India's claimthat the 200 million citizens of Pakistan are actively plotting against India.

So Indians can say that the Pakistani politicians represent Pakistan. But we Indians should be the first to recognize the flaw with this argument. Most Indian politicians are not representative of theaspirations of the Indian people. If we cannot correct our own sorrysituation we should then grant the benefit of doubt to the commonPakistani for not being represented accurately by their politicalmasters.

So again what does India gain by robbing Shahid Afridi of an employment opportunity? We Indians have first hand experienced how improved economic conditions in India have diverted the attention of those who have benefited from the economic boom from loitering aroundto more productive activities.

My radical suggestion is that amongst the various tactic India deploysone we should actively pursue is to reduce idle minds in Pakistan.India should strive to increase employment in Pakistan. India should extend tax sops to the Reliance's & Infosys's of the world in lieu ofcreating a 1000 jobs each across Pakistan. To this extent we have reduced a few thousand idle minds.

India and BCCI might have moved miles ahead of Pakistan economically. So on all issues Pakistan, India can behave like a ruler. But rulers are remembered for thinking big.

Driving license NOC requirement is regressive

I wrote this note in Dec 2009. This note was published in a local Dubai newspaper Khaleej TImes. The link at which you can read the letter in the newspaper is http://alturl.com/t4ij. Or even better you can read the complete note below.

While I have grown up in Dubai I only recently applied for my UAE drivers license. I was shocked to learn about an NOC requirement from your employer.

While personally it mostly did not affect me since I am my own employer but in general I think this restricts many employees from increasing their personal value. On asking around I figured many employers are progressive enough to give an NOC without a thought but there are others who purposely do not give an NOC since they understand this will increase the value of that specific employee which means they will have to pay them more or they stand to lose the employee to another employer.

I feel this policy is regressive. The UAE is striving to be recongized as a world class country. As much as possible it needs to have world class policies. I have earned drivers licenses in the US and in India and never had to encounter anything close to such a requirement.

Earlier I said it mostly did not affect me. I was even more shocked by my situation. I have an investors visa. I own my business. My local sponsor is my local service agent. Yet I had to ask him for an NOC. Considering the supposed seniority of the investor visa I find this a servere requirement for such a mundane issue.

I request the RTA to reconsider the regulations around the above topic. Incase there are good reasons for such regulations I would request the RTA to make the general public aware regarding the same.

Linking value of foreign driver's license to the country of origin

I wrote this note in May 2009. This note was published in 2 local Dubai / UAE newspapers. The newspapers ofcourse took the liberty of editing the note. The links to the newspapers where you can find this note are as follows:

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090426/OPINION/704259920 (between 3rd and 4th letter)

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=weekend&xfile=data/weekend/2009/may/weekend_may33.xml (3rd letter)

This note is regarding the Road & Transport Authority’s system of linking the value of a foreign driver’s license to the country of origin. The RTA sensibly assigns preferences to those holding driver’s licenses from certain countries (e.g. USA, UK, etc) over other countries (India, Pakistan, etc.). The preferences include being allowed to convert with reasonable ease the preferred DL to a UAE DL. I believe this is appropriate since the RTA has correctly judged that the driving culture in some countries is more appropriate than others.

My concern is with the RTA then requiring the preferred DL holder who seeks to avail of these preferences to also be a citizen of the country issuing that DL. So for example a Sri Lankan citizen with an American DL is denied the right to avail of these preferences.

I feel this specific restriction is inappropriate since a candidate’s driving ability should be judged based on where they secured their DL but not on what passport they hold. Especially since these preferred countries in question are themselves not imposing any special hardships on non citizens applying for their DL’s as compared to their own citizens.

For example I first obtained my American Driver’s license in 2001 and then renewed the same in 2007. I have driven across the USA for now 7+ years. However I am not an American citizen. I am now in the process of moving back to Dubai (I grew up here) and am thus securing the various permits required to live smoothly in Dubai. I stumbled into the above set of rules and was wondering if I am the only one who finds the restriction unfair. On speaking with others who I thought would be in the same boat as me I gathered there are others also who feel this system of linking the preferred DL to nationality needs to be eliminated.