Breaking News in India: Chief Minister Jaya Convicted

This just in: Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was convicted of accepting bribes and sentenced to 4 years in prison and an additional 6 years before running for office. I'll put some news links below, but the only western news source I saw that even reported on it was the BBC. Although this seems like a pretty big deal (imagine a state governor getting convicted while in office), it is actually not the first time she'll be leaving office to serve time in prison. The whole Wikipedia article linked above is pretty interesting, it really gives you an idea of how much different politics are in the "Worlds Largest Democracy."

This whole thing hasn't affected us too much, though our Regional Security Officer (RSO) did briefly request that we all return home and stay there. This was primarily a precaution against possible riots. I was talking to one of my employees from the mail room, and he said he was sad to hear about her conviction. He said despite her guilt, the case is from almost 20 years ago and (in his opinion) the government has been running much better since she took office. With the last Chief Minister, government offices (which officially open at 10) would often open at 10:45 or 11:00 and then shortly there after shut down for tea. However, since her taking office, they open at 10:00 every day. His testimony was certainly biased, but it does give another glimpse of how fluid the government is here.

BBC Article
Hindustan Times Article
Indian Express Article

Two Years in India, Week 13: Sponsorship!

One Baker's dozen weeks in Chennai. I'm going to run out of unique ways to count weeks soon. Nothing major to report on the work front, things are just chugging along. 

The biggest news this week was that new officer I'm sponsoring came into town! I learned that there are a ton of work related responsibilities to being a sponsor that I totally failed at (like arranging the expediter to meet him and his family in baggage claim). Fortunately, I was able to flag them down on their way out of the airport and things went fairly smoothly from there. Oh well, hopefully I can make up for it with awesome social sponsoring! 

I do feel a little weird being a sponsor when I haven't even received my HHE yet (at my first post, none-the-less), but the post was really hurting for sponsors since fully half of the officers transferred this summer. I've definitely been taking notes on "dos" and "do differentlys" of being a sponsor, so I hope to iron things out for next time. I'm a pretty social person, so I'm planning to volunteer as a social sponsor every transfer season. Let's face it, there's no better way to meet the new people than to pick them up at the airport in the middle of the night!

I have a funny work anecdote to share this week. When I was flying solo at post, before our IPO came, I had to make a list of end-of-year purchase items for my department. Being relatively new, both to post and to the Foreign Service, I didn't have a great idea on what we needed. This turned out to be a bummer when the IPO did arrive and pointed out all these great things I could have requested (doh)! Anyway, one of the purchase requests that I did put in was for safety shoes for the mail room staff. They regularly carry heavy pouches and it only takes one broken foot to more than cover for the cost of the shoes. This seemed like a pretty run-of-the-mill thing to me. However, now that we've received the steel-toed shoes, I realize that it was a much bigger deal for my staff than I'd realized. Shoes in India are kind of a status symbol (which I don't understand, because they're not that expensive, but people generally only wear sandals). Apparently many of the LES from other departments have been quite jealous of the mail room's new shoes... also, morale in the mail room has skyrocketed. All for something that seemed so trivial to me at first. Guess I still have a lot to learn about working with people from other cultures!

Calling all Office Managers

I don't want to make people think that IMS are the only specialists that I care about... That being said, a req just opened for Office Management Specialists! People regularly say the OMS are the people who make the post operate day to day. Their duties go way beyond the Office Manager stereotype of being "just a secretary." Often working directly with the front office (Ambassador or other prime officer), they can be involved in high level diplomacy almost from day one. It's quite a unique job!

Two Years in India, Week 12: New CG

One dozen weeks in Chennai. That could be a book... I guess... Anyway, week 12 was most notable due to the arrival of the new Consul General. The consulate was a flurry of last minute activity as everyone tried to tie up all their projects before he arrived. 

He is incredibly friendly and invited all of the consulate families to his house for dinner and drinks on Friday. As with every time I've been to the CGR (Consule General's Residence), the food was delicious and the drinks were... included. (Ok, I'm not much of a drinker.)

On the work front, I finished cleaning out the mail room. I was rewarded with (and I quote) "Wow!" from the management officer. I've always been good at cleaning up cluttered work spaces and I'm looking forward to starting in on our storage room. Unfortunately, I've been warned that messy storage rooms are endemic in the Foreign Service. Fortunately, that'll give me a great selling point when it comes to bidding. "Take me, I'll clean the heck out of your Embassy!"

Last but not least, I took the IPO on his first (at this post) pouch run. Nothing like staying up almost all night at the airport. I'm looking forward to doing it again next week when my sponsee comes into town. Though... next week I won't get to take awesome selfies with airplanes and tractors!

Indian Bank Scheme: Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

The first we heard of Prime Minister Modi's new "banking scheme" was when our "all 'rounder" Harriet, asked for most of a day off to go to the bank an open an account. Bank accounts are something we take for granted in the US, since the minimum balances are so low that pretty much everyone (that wants one, at least) has one. This isn't the case in India, where minimum balances and monthly fees make bank accounts unobtainable for huge portions of the population. It's estimated that less than two thirds of Indian households have access to banking services. Harriet is a prime example; she makes much more working for us (probably twice) than she would performing a similar job for a local family, and she still couldn't (or wouldn't) afford a bank account. That's one of the reasons gold is so popular here, it's a way for people to store wealth.

Anyway, getting back on topic, the Prime Minister announced a plan to allow people to open bank accounts with zero minimum balance and much looser identification requirements. To encourage people to do so, he sweetened the pot with free accident insurance and life insurance. The new bank accounts will also allow for microloans after a set period of good standing. The goal of this scheme is to break the current dependence on usurers and ponzi schemes for loans and investments (respectively). It also may help reduce burgulary rates, by giving people an alternative to storing cash (or pawnable jewelry) in their houses.

The government has a lofty goal of 7.5 crore (or 75 million) new bank accounts by the end of the year. Numbers like that always put into perspective the amount of people in India... that's more than 20% of the population of the United States. Harriet left our house yesterday in time to get to the bank before it opened. Even so, she ended up waiting at the bank for 6 and a half hours to register for her account.

The Hindu Business Line Article
ZeeNews Article
Reuters Article
BBC Article

I can't help but notice that the American news companies either didn't notice, or didn't care to write about this topic. (And the comments on BBC and Reuters exemplify how most Westerners just have no concept of the impact something like a bank account can have for someone living on a few dollars per day.)