The India News

Is the U.S. getting ready to wipe out Pakistan's nukes and terror machinery?

2011-06-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

The recent reports about how Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is figting to keep his job and how adamant anti-U.S. forces in the army have become are cause for serious concern.
If Pakistan falls to a military coup by Islamist officers, there is very real danger of the state itself using nuclear weapons for terrorist purposes -- at least making them available to terrorists.
The option before the United States and other world nations in such an event are not very palatable: take out Pakistan and its weapons.
The haste with which the United States is trying to get out of Iraq and Afghtanistan makes me think the Americans are already getting ready for such an eventuality.
They cannot take on and destroy the state-sponsored and protected terror apparatus in Pakistan if the U.S. army continues to be fighting many wars that are bleeding their resources.
And considering that the Pakistanis have a direct or indirect hand in fueling these conflicts, it makes eminent sense to destroy the fountainhead of terror than to let their army fight such bleeding actions which do not achieve much.
So is the U.S. getting ready to finally "bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age?"
Not sure, but from the haste with which they are trying to get out of Afghanistan -- by even talking to the Taliban -- and the simultaneous arm-twisting of the Pakistanis -- show the Americans have finally started seeing sense.
The world of Islamic terror cannot be wiped out without wiping out Pakistan.
And it is only karmic justice if the Americans -- who helped set up Pakistan as a dirty-tricks state -- do it.

Hazare is 'unelected tyrant'; so does the Congress want to go back to the elected tyranny of Indira Gandhi?

2011-06-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

Congress has called Anna Hazare, who is leading a completely legitimate protest against corruption, an unelected tyrant! So what does the Congress want? An elected tyrant like Indira Gandhi?
People like Pranab Mukherjee have flourished under the tyrannical regime of Indira Gandhi and it is understandable they want back such regimes.
However, they forget that India of 2011 is not the India of the 1970s. The youth today have access to disruptive technologies that have the entire Middle East in upheaval, they want change, and they want accountability.
Political fossils like Pranab Mukherjee may not understand that but people like Rahul Gandhi may.
If the political class, which everyone knows is corrupt and is in cahoots with the corrupt in plundering India, does not want change, they have lost grip of reality.
The desire for change in India's middle class and youth just needs a spark and playing people like Baba Ramdev against these aspirations will only work for so long.
If India's political rulers, with the arrogance that they have been elected by the people -- a people we know care the least about the principles of democracy when the cast their votes -- think they can suppress the genuine aspirations of the Indian people, God save them!
Anna Hazare and his cause will win, whatever political detritus like Pranab Mukherjee or Digvijay Singh think.

China has more dam plans; more damage to the ecology

2011-06-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Here is this news about China planning to divert the Brahmaputra river to tackle its chronic water shortages, and the Facebook post by the Himalayan International Institute of India about maintaining nature's balance that I came across.
What this news shows is each nation trying to address its on self-created problems in isolation: without realizing that the world is a connected whole.
Whether it is India trying to dam up the rivers flowing to Pakistan or China trying to build dams on the Brahmaputra and other rivers, governments tend to forget that any so-called damage to downstream countries is not going to be restricted to those countries and populations.
Similarly, India's so-called experts have time and again come up with projects to link rivers in the north of the country to those in the south.
What these experts and short-sighted politicians don't understand is that our unsustainable development paradigms cannot be rectified and propped up with more damage to the ecology. They try to whitewash any ecological concerns with references to projected short-term gains.
The planet is being ravaged by human greed. It is time to look for holistic solutions to these problems rather than apply 19th and 20th century models of development and norms of human development.
The Himalayan International Institute's post shows puts it correctly: serving nature is serving the whole of creation; all development that hurts nature is not development. The faster we learn this lesson, the better.

Baba Ramdev breaks protest asana; focus now on Hazare

2011-06-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

So the Ramdev drama has ended. Sri Sri Ravishankar and numerous others helped the yoga guru out of the convoluted political pose he got himself into!
Ramdev's jumping into the anti-corruption protest and the drama that followed almost took attention away from this important issue. And the way he conducted his protest showed up his amateurishness as a political leader.
Now that the yoga guru has ended his fast, he should try to stick to what he knows best -- teach yoga -- and let the fight against corruption be led by Anna Hazare.
Also the general public would be interested in all those allegations that flew around about Baba Ramdev's business empire and the content of his popular medications.
Meanwhile, whether the prime minister or certain others officials and ministers are involved in the ambit of the Lok Pal Bill may not be very important for the fight against corruption.
What is more important is that corruption that is eating into every day transactions like cancer be put an end to. That law-abiding citizens should be able to get their work done without worrying about greasing palms.
Every honest Indian is looking to Anna Hazare to see if he can pull this one off. The future of the country depends on this.

Anna Hazare saves India's fight against corruption from Baba Ramdev!

2011-06-09T22:30:00.001-07:00

Anna Hazare has saved India! By disawoing Baba Ramdev's call to arms, he has in one stroke saved the struggle against corruption and the non-violent nature of the protest.
Baba Ramdev had some relevance in the fight against corruption as long as he kept within the limits of the law and his methods did not threaten the fabric of the country and society. However, after Ramdev talked about setting up a militia, Anna Hazare wisely realized the perils of Ramdev's path stayed away from the yoga guru.
The country needs change and an end to corruption. And it is lucky to have someone like Anna Hazare who understands the importance of non-violence to achieve those aims.
Baba Ramdev has marginalized himself and Hazare has saved the anti-corruption struggle from being snuffed out by the guru's looniness.
From here on there is no looking back for the fight against corruption. Anna Hazare has made it into a juggernaut and in the process showed himself to be a statesman par excellence.

Baba Ramdev undermines himself but fight against corruption must go on

2011-06-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

Baba Ramdev's call for arms clearly shows his intentions for power. Going by some of the demands he has articulated, his aspiration for power is not good for India. The government should, as Home Minister Chidambaram said, let the law deal with him if he creates a private militia.
Ramdev's protest and its breaking up by the government helped bring public focus on corruption; now by talking about building a force, Ramdev has done the biggest harm to his cause.
Of course it can be asked whether his true motive has always been power. Or whether the government action helped change a shift to his new cause. Whatever that be, the serious issue of fighting corruption is now going to get buried in all the cacophony around the militia Ramdev has said he wants to create.
From here on, however, it is a downhill ride for Ramdev. He will see that India's youth and the middle class, which have supported his fight against corruption, will not support him in an armed agitation. India's young, Internet savvy and wanting change, are also not zealots who can be swayed by narrow sectarian agenda. Ramdev has effectively undermined himself by his utterances.
However, the people who supported him should also ensure the fight against corruption is not centered around a personality and should go on regardless of whether Baba Ramdev can lead it or not.

The government better act against corruption, or an Indian Spring is not far away!

2011-06-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

It is ridiculous to see the levels to which the Congress-led UPA government is going to divert attention away from the core issues raised by Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare.
Not only has the government failed in its duty to govern, but it also showed some of the traits hidden in the Congress's DNA when it used the police to break up a totally democratic protest. A protest against the corruption which is eating into the common man's life and helping fatten the purses of the rich and powerful.
And then the government makes a ruckus about how Sushama Swaraj's jig during the protest in Rajghat will hurt Gandhiji's sentiments! They should be doing what they are supposed to do -- govern and bring accountability not try to paint protesters' activities in black and white. The real world is a lot more grey!
This government has shown it cannot rule and worse, it is clearly trying to protect the corrupt -- or at least hoping the protests would blow over.
If young protesters aided by cell phones and the Internet can force change the world over, especially in parts of West Asia, India's rulers should well be warned that it can happen in this country too.
This country has a predominantly young population now -- a population which does not care about protecting fossilized social and power structures.
They want change and accountability; trying to protect elitist power structures with a veneer of democracy is not going to help.
India's politicians should see the writing on the wall or an Indian Spring is not too far away.

India's corruption is linked to our democratic sensibilities, or lack of them

2011-06-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

Why is corruption thriving in India? Because we, as voters, have no qualms in voting to power the corrupt!
Every election we tend to bring back the same old culprits to power, blithely forgetting all their misdeeds, giving them a second, third, fourth,... chance.
In a democracy the responsibility to elect the right rulers rests with the people. And we as people have thought our responsibility is to elect people from our own castes, creeds, geography, language and such other considerations.
And we tend to think any regime is good as long as it helps us profit at others' expense. Think of it: isn't that corruption in a subtle form?
Isn't the corruption we see at the top levels of our government just a more grosser form of the same evil that lurks in our own minds?
Yes, we need to suffer.
A Baba Ramdev or an Anna Hazare cannot weed out corruption in India. That can be done only when we as a people decide to punish corruption.
But we have shown again and again that public memory is worse than a dog's. And the corrupt have taken heart at that and went about happily deceiving India, and profiting from it.
Or may be we are not ready for democracy! But Plato's Philosopher King is not just around the corner, at our beck and call. We need to make do with this system and for it to succeed we need to take long-term views and act on them.

Baba Ramdev's demands may sound anachronistic, but his cause is very relevant

2011-06-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

Some of yoga guru Baba Ramdev's demands might have sounded out of sync with the modern world and bordering on the lunatic. But that does not take away from his cause: crackdown on corruption.
What the government is trying to do is divert attention away from the core issue that Ramdev has raised and drown it in a cacophony about BJP/Sangh Parivar support for the agitation.
Also, there is no doubt that whatever reason the Congress government advances in support of its actions, the crackdown on Baba Ramdev's peaceful protest was completely undemocratic.
So why is the government fearful of the agitation and trying to tarnish Ramdev's reputation? Because it is common knowledge that most of the Indian who have stashed away black money in foreign banks are connected to our political class.
If the details of those accounts are made public many heads will roll and the vast network of corruption will be exposed.
It is worthy to remember that it is these same people who direct state agencies at people to harass them over unpaid taxes and other supposed financial irregularities.
If the details of black money in foreign banks is obtained, it would show how laughable is the system we are in.
The simple fact is this: people like Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare are doing a service to the nation, something our elected political leaders have been trying to torpedo for decades.

Thank You, BCCI, for Hitting Back at Dave Richardson

2011-03-02T07:20:00.000-08:00

When will the westerners ever get out of their colonial hangover? ICC official Dave Richardson criticizing Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni shows some of them still think they rule the world.
It was good to see the ICC hit back, and hard.
If it was the English captain who had said this I am sure the ICC would have gone ahead and scrapped the system.
The balance of power in the world is shifting, and if these guys don't understand that we need to show them their place.
And it nice of the India cricket board assert to itself even though India's political masters still know only to kow tow.

Does India Really Need an Annual Budget?

2011-03-01T07:23:00.000-08:00

Another budget. As the cloud settles over the annual financial ritual I can't but help wonder why we still need this relic from the past.
We are no longer a planned economy in the true sense of the term, 5-year Plans not withstanding. And policy changes now cannot wait for the annual acrobatics; they need to be announced to catch the fast-changing economic landscape.
So why do we need annual budget? Frankly I don't know.
But there is serious money in celebration of this annual rite -- for the media. Just as our elections are a way for the media to mint money.
Apart from that I see no need for this exercise. But then, when has India shown that it can break away from the burdens of the past?

Is India ripe for mass protests too?

2011-02-26T19:34:00.000-08:00

The protests sweeping the Middle-East and Northern Africa make me wonder if it is time Indians too stepped into the streets to hold mass protests against the government.
We all know how corrupt and putrid our political system is, and going by the corruption scandals that erupt steadily and get squelched as steadily, I suspect India's political rulers are way more corrupt that some of those despots in the Middle East. Think of the government's reticence to find out and bring to book Indians who have slashed money in tax havens.
The question, maybe, is not whether we should hold protests -- but who will lead them and what next?
The drama playing out in the Middle East is far from ended, and big question marks hang over how the political vacuum there will be filled -- without the anarchy that we saw in Iraq soon after the Saddam regime was toppled and before the Americans finally wielded power.
Is India ready for that. And, given how manipulative our politicians are and how prone to divisive doctrines we as a people are, can we ever put up a unified protest?

Pakistan Hurtles Toward Failed State Status

2011-01-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

The assassination of Pakistan’s Punjab government by his own guard over his opposition to that country’s draconian blasphemy laws show how much the rot has eaten into Pakistani society. And how near Pakistan is to being a failed state.

The killing muddies the options for United States which is trying to bring the Pakistanis around to its view on terrorism sponsored by militant Islamists.
The stranglehold that Islamists have on Pakistani society has been thrown into stark relief by the governor’s assassination, and makes it even more difficult for the Pakistani government to ignore their power.

The consequences of the murder in broad daylight are clear: the weak Pakistani government is not going to go after the Taliban. Any hopes the Americans have on this count are misplaced.

And that means all that money and armament the Americans are pumping into Pakistan is going to one day add to the military muscle of the Taliban. More dreadful, that day may not be far off when the Taliban actually will rule

Pakistan

or a truncated form of that country.

So where does all this leave India?

As a nation we should arm and ready for the day when the Americans will throw in the towel and beat a retreat out of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

We may still get American armed support in such an eventuality, but the battle will be ours to fight.

The question is, are the netas and babus in New Delhi up to the task?

Sarrazin Roils Germany but we Cannot Wish Away Islamic Terrorism

2010-11-17T00:32:00.000-08:00

One man, who reminds me of Hitler in this photo, has Germany roiling again!

His thesis: Muslim immigrants in Germany are socially, culturally and intellectually inferior to most everyone else.

I don't like castigating any ethnic or religious group, because all of them have their follies and foibles.

And I think we are all human.

But some of Mr Sarrazin's conclusions seem so normal, and the opposition to him seems so politically correct. Why

Because the world is getting tired of Islamic terrorists and their fanatical view that if you are not Islamic you deserve the most brutal form of death. Not that Christianity was different in that sense; but they have come a long way from that position -- through the marginalisation of the Church in political matters and through the spread of more inclusive thinking in the Western world.
More insidious, the world is getting tired of being politically correct and want to call a spade a spade.

The problem I think is not with Islam, or Christianity; any religion where the priests are allowed a say in political power will deteriorate to what Islam is today. Simply because power corrupts.

The problem with Islam is it is being by ignorant Mullahs, who have neither education nor wisdom. They try to apply their tribal rules -- having had no chance to see a broader world or the wisdom and intelligence to appreciate other points of view -- to the modern world.

The fast-paced changes affecting today's global village and the deep philosophical issues that hover over human development and survival (a quick example is global warming) just go over their heads. And they think applying middle century Arab tribal rules can solve all problems.

Lack of education in the Islamic countries and use of religion by the ruling elite in those countries to cling to power accentuate this situation and give more power to the Mullahs.

So what is the solution?

Political elite in Islamic countries are playing a double game -- using the Mullahs to retain power and giving lip service to modern ways of life to make money through global trade.

If the rest of the world wants to clean itself of the scourge that is fanatical Islam, the way is to clamp down on the cash flow to the political elite in the Islamic countries. That way, I think, they will be forced to heed the demands of the civilized world; after all they don't want to let the Mullahs have the power.

That needs arm twisting but it's a small price to pay for ridding the world of these ignorant savages and their handlers.

Much vilified, Sonia Gandhi brings hope for India

2010-11-14T18:06:00.000-08:00

How can corrupt politicians hang so long to power? That speaks volumes about the state of the value system in Indian politics.

However, I am heartened by Sonia Gandhi's leadership now, despite my being no Congress supporter.

The lady has been vilified, as inept, corrupt, loyal to foreign masters ... Yet she has been able to blow in change, through her subtle, often behind-the-scenes ways into Indian politics.

And many Congress leaders who have been under the cloud of corruption in the past have suddenly emerged as 'clean' ones.

We don't have to search far for the answer to that one.

Congressmen have always been lackeys of the supreme leader. Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi never much cared about reining in corruption, for different reasons. Congressmen quickly read the message and went on to make money merrily.

Sonia faced, in many ways, a mostly hostile senior leadership, and had to cut them to size. Also the support she got from the electorate, again for different reasons, worked to her advantage. And Congressmen have been quick to read the signals.

Suddenly corruption is not something brazenly boasted about in the party, though it thrives more healthy than ever.

Thankfully, Rahul Gandhi hasn't let a coterie build around himself; and that gives hope to India.

Yes, because the BJP, Left and the Third Front have effectively demolished themselves in the country's political landscape.

Shifting Equations, Rigid Mindsets

2010-11-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

The shift in economic power is clearly changing and, after centuries of extending the begging bowl, India and other supposedly Third World nations are finally in a position to demand from the West.

Look at this report. The world is suffering from an economic slowdown due to the excesses committed by the suited bandits on Wall Street and the hope lies with India and China. Manufacturing in both the countries continued to rise in October, though it slowed a little from the year-ago period.

Many are the signs that show the the post-recession world belongs not to the West but to the East. In that context, this report should evoke some surprise among readers.

It is about American companies' demands that India water down the compensation provisions in its nuclear bill to protect conglomerates such as General Electric. This at a time when French and Russian companies are going ahead with the signing of contracts with the Indian government! Some chutzpah!

These U.S. companies still think they call the shots? The sand is washing off from under their feet and they don't seem to be in any mood to drop their arrogance.

But this is the way to go, India.

West Uneasy About Shift in Balance of World Power

2010-10-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

China's rise is forcing its neighbors to forge alliances to defend their interests, says this New York Times article. Good, and expected. Now comes the familiar US-centric view: A whirl of deal-making and diplomacy, from Tokyo to New Delhi, is giving the United States an opportunity to reassert itself in a region where its eclipse by China has been viewed as inevitable.
The Americans are seeing the nascent revival in intra-Asian politics as a way to reassert their power in the region. Come on, NYT. Stop behaving like the colonial British.
That age is over when you could sit in Washington and call the shots easily. Of course, you may still call the shots, but it is becoming difficult day after passing day.
This reminds me of an ancient astrological theory -- that political and economic superiority with move across the face of planet Earth over a period of time -- from the east/Asia to Europe, the New World, to East Asia and finally back to India.
I think right now what we are seeing is that power, both economic and political, is moving definitely from the New World to East Asia.
As Indians, we should prepare ourselves for this great opportunity and also be sure that China, with a political system that can be hijacked easily by a potential dictator, is not allowed a free run
in such a scenario.

Pakistan's classic game - dupe, and get paid

2010-08-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

Another day, another report of Pakistani mischief in Afghanistan. Now the NYT says Pakistanis helped the Americans pick up a Taliban leader to scuttle peace talks he had been having with Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai without the ISI's blessings. And the Americans, it seems, fell for it lock, stock and barrel.

At least that latter part is not surprising, considering the Americans have let themselves be fooled by the wily Pakistanis for decades now.

And then there is a report from Somalia that Indian and Pakistani jihadis were killed there. While the part about Indian jihadis should be shocking, that reference should be to Pak-trained Kashmiri terrorists.
What is surprising to me is how deeply involved Pakistan is into all this -- all across the globa -- and how the world is swallowing the explanations that the country's army and government have been forking up time and again to hide their roles.

The world has donated them millions of dollars and they get this in return.

Hmm, may be that should not surprise either. The United States has been doling out billions to Pakistan for years, and what do they get in return? WTC attacks, sanctuary for Taliban ...

It seems like there is no solution to the Pakistani problem but to nuke that country. That is a very extreme solution, I would agree. But extreme situations need extreme solutions. And Pakistan is quickly becoming an extreme situation for the global community -- a gangrene on the world body-politic.

The Obama administration is holding on, hoping that constant engagement would help them bring Pakistanis to march the marked path. I now think that is at best a dream. The Pakistanis won't end their deceit and guile for anything. And why should they -- the more they do it, the more the world is willing to bankroll them.

True, the Pakistani people deserve sympathy and help. But most of that help will be diverted by the jihadist elements in their society and government to harm the very people who extended that help -- if past record is any indication.

Every calamity, political or natural, is just another way for these Islamist terrorists to get money from the world to push their agenda. It is like biting the hand that feeds.

The question now seems to be how much longer the world community is willing to let the Pakistanis continue with their mischief. There is no answer to this. Religious and geo-political considerations would mean the Pakistanis always will have backers, from China to Iran to Jordan.

The only solution will come when the Israelis decide enough is enough.

My own gut feel is if Pakistan is taken off the map, much of the world's terrorism will end. Of course, the world will have to pay a price. But that would be much better than allowing the Pakistanis to destroy world civilization itself.

IndiaPay to swipe Visa, MasterCard out of India!

2010-08-08T10:35:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wondered how much money you contribute to the U.S. economy when you use your credit or debit cards? Visa and MasterCard have been minting money from India, thanks to the soaring use of plastic among Indians.

And now, the Economic Times reports that the Reserve Bank of India is working to dam some of those flows and keep some of that money inside India -- with IndiaPay, a state-backed payment platform.

China, as always, and Malaysia have already put in place such platforms.

Once IndiaPay goes on stream, a India's banks can pay a lot less as charges for such plastic transactions.

This is definitely good news; in a free-trade world the flow of money should come both ways.
And as with outsourcing, you can now expect the West to cry 'Wolf' over this too. Because, for them free trade is trade that benefits the West.

Another Arab invasion pushes into Indian subcontinent

2010-08-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a candid look at the forces shaping the Pakistani political and cultural landscape -- came across it in livemint.com through a friend's Facebook post - Losing Faith in Pakistan

It is all the more insightful as it is written by someone with Pakistani roots.
Yes, the writer has hit the na0il on the head. Pakistan's problem is not just hate for India.

It is fast succumbing to a second wave of the intolerant and rigid of Islam is trying to push into the subcontinent from the Arabian deserts.
The hate that the Punjabi ruling elite in Pakistan has been injecting into the populace there has served as nourishment to the proponents of this version of Islam.

And it is no secret that petro-dollars have been flowing into India, too, into the hands of radical Islamists.

And Indian politicians have, in their quest to preserve vote banks, been helping these zealots in one way or another.

The British conquest of India put an end to radical Hindu forces that were expanding to fill the void left by the decline of Islamic rule in India.

But if India's democratic rulers cannot rise to the occasion and crack down on zealots of all hues, soon we will be seeing history, and bloodshed, repeating itself -- with radical Hindus rising to challenge radical Islam.

Both are bad -- for the country and for the syncretic culture that India has been famous for.

How to cut India's fiscal deficit? Stop paying taxes!

2010-08-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

When the government got an unexpected pay check in the form of 3G and broadband auction payments it seemed like the fiscal deficit monster was finally on the way to be slayed.

But it seems our politicians never learn -- in any case why blame them; there is absolutely no pressure on them to perform or to stop the plundering of national resources.

Govt to gobble up 3G cash; wants Rs 50,000 cr more -- said rediff.com

So the more taxes we pay, the more we will be told every year that India is deep in fiscal deficit. While daylight robbery in various forms -- from the Commonwealth Games contracts to the iron ore mining in Bellary -- goes on unhindered.

Democracy was supposed to bring accountability to rulers. Here we see them exploiting differences in the ruled community to plunder away.

Is there no recourse for tax-paying citizens? Yes, just stop paying your taxes.

Demand that the government stop paying lazy and corrupt bureaucrats.

Well, it may sound like a steep ask, but it is not.

If the tax payers finally come together and demand accountability no government can hold out for long. It is time to do that instead of forking up cash every time a bunch of unscrupulous and effete politicians ask us to pay up.

Why are we still not showing the Brits their place?

2010-08-03T01:43:00.000-07:00

Cameron flew ‘blind’ over Delhi?

Here is yet another instance of the British media trying to trash India. It is as if their prime minister was put to grave peril because a flight control system failed at the Delhi airport. The Brits really need to get out of their colonial hangover. It is as if such systems do not fail in their country -- just think of the SeaKing helicopters they sold the Indian Navy and were grounded almost immediately because almost every system in that chopper started to fail.
After being daylight robbers for centuries, and then having spawned the world with many of the geo-political conflicts in the world in their attempt to keep their superiority despite losing their empire, the Brits still think of themselves as the saviors of the world.

Such a puny country that has lived on the blood and sweat and food of billions of people, being allowed to continue with their gratuitous meddling in the world's affairs is beyond my understanding.

But then, they have been past masters of the divide-and-rule policy!

India's IT sector starting to roar again? Maybe not

2010-08-02T00:17:00.000-07:00

So India's vaunted IT/ITES sector is on the roll again, media reports indicate. Q1 Earnings: TCS, Infy, HCL emerge as showstoppers - screamed an ET.com headline today. But is it all that rosy a picture? Is the IT sector about to regain the glory it lost once the downturn hit in 2008?

Rents in Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, are still depressed. And it is rather easy to find vacant houses for rent in Indiranagar and HAL II stage, in the heart of the city -- unlike in 2008.

IT hiring is up, stats indicate -- but my talks with friends say those hirings are for freshers.

Salary hikes are not what they used to be; foreign assignments have dwindled.

Mid-level professionals are disenchanted; many feel under-utilized. Media going to town about India emerging as a global IT research powerhouse, professionals I spoke to felt they were still doing the repetitive tasks of a backroom operation than real, cutting-edge research.

My own gut-feel is the IT sector will never be what it used to be. It would sure be a job engine -- but that would be for entry level people; there will not be much that the sector can offer in terms of promotions or pay.

So why is India not banning the BlackBerry?

2010-08-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

UAE, Saudi set to ban BlackBerry services
The Associated Press reports that both UAE and Saudi Arabia are set to ban BlackBerry messaging services. Research in Motion, the Canadian maker of the popular communications device used by business and corporate users worldwide had been in talks with UAE authorities from 2007 over the issue, the report said.

The Gulf states' concerns are similar to what Indian authorities have been raising over the last couple of years -- the encrypted messages that zip between BlackBerrys cannot be intercepted, and that terrorists could make use of the devices and the network to plan attacks.
Why the Indian authorities chose to remain quiet after raising a hue and cry is a mystery. Contrast that to how the two Gulf states have wielded their power to deliver a strong no-nonsense message to the Canadian company.

While there would never be an end to the debate on whether it is right to ban the service or not, what I loathe about the Indian authorities is their apparent surrender to the arrogance of the foreign company.

Many of these western companies still think India is a banana republic and they can get away with what they want to do; think of how Canada denied visas to Indian security officials recently.

These companies still are living in a time warp and would like to believe they are the master of the world.

Whether India would end up banning the BlackBerry or not, we need to send companies like RIM a strong message -- that we will tolerate no nonsense when it comes to national security.

Why Sashi Tharoor? Thiruvananthapuram deserves better

2009-04-03T03:43:00.000-07:00

I am amazed at this phenomenon of fielding toothless bureaucrats as candidates for elections. Every party is guilty of this crime. Now Congress wants to field Sashi Tharoor from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency. And the Left seems to have already accepted defeat by fielding a little-known CPI leader against him.

Sashi Tharoor may be a great bureaucrat (though there is nothing much in the history books I can find about him) but that is no reason to foist him on the people of Kerala's capital. What has the gentleman done for the constituency, or for that matter the state, pray?

Surprisingly, a lot of people in the city that I talked to seem to be already falling prey to the Congress propaganda machine, and saying Tharoor is the best candidate and deserves victory. And there seems to be some behind-the-scene deal in the works, going by the way the Left has almost ceded ground. Personally, I hope Neelalohitadasan Nadar, who is contesting on a BSP ticket, wins. That is because, despite all the clouds hanging over him over the Nalini Netto case, this man is a honest politician and effective administrator. And there is no contesting his track record when it comes to what he has done for the constituency. It would be a shame if the people of this city rejects him and chooses an 'import' like Tharoor to represent him. That would be a body blow to the city's reputation as a giant killer, having send of political giants like Krishna Menon into political oblivion.

In many ways the media savvy Tharoor is like Krishna Menon, trying to leverage his clout in the corridors of power in Delhi and certain Western capitals to earn a Lok Sabha seat. And it could well be that the people of the constituency could pay for their mistake, i.e., if they ever decide to hoist Tharoor to victory -- they could see their 'star' MP caring two hoots for them as he negotiates the bylanes of power.

Will that happen? I fervently hope it will not, and I hope Neelan wins!

The world will mourn the beginning of end of Pakistani cricket

2009-03-04T02:40:00.000-08:00

The terror attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan can lead to a cascade of unwelcome consequences for cricket-crazy south Asia and for Indian corporates with millions of dollars riding on the various cricket matches and players.

True, the attack wasn't on Indian cricketers but it almost certainly ends the prospect of Pakistan being a serious player in the world cricket map. And what is cricket if you take away the traditionally famous rivalry between the Indian and Pakistan cricket teams?

I am sure this will prevent a lot of world teams from touring Pakistan. While Pakistani cricketers can still tour the world and play, it takes away a lot from their skills and exposure, not to mention the cricketing money.

And with Pakistani cricket team losing its teeth, cricket in India will become more and more tepid. The sport will continue to be lapped up by a billion-odd people starved of sports glory, but I fear it will see a definite cooling off of interest.

The terrorists, whether they calculated it to be so or not, might have hit where it could hurt Pakistan most. This one was better than bumping off the Pakistani premier.

Pakistan is a failed state whatever its government says. And few will worry about it going to the dogs except for the threat of its nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of terrorists. But a lot many people will feel sad about its fading cricket glory, especially since it is going to be caused by terrorists, once home-grown and let out into the world.

The downturn is getting worse but politicians make merry!

2009-02-20T02:02:00.000-08:00

The economy is showing new weaknesses almost every day and the pain is just starting to be felt. I have been wondering how the return of Indian workers abroad will affect the country's economy. Those workers have been sending home billions of dollars every year, substantially adding to our foreign exchange kitty and also boosting the spending power of relatives back home.

Now with that money flow drying up and the workers back home without work, it could be a double whammy for the Indian economy.

States like Kerala, with virtually nothing to show for industrial production or agricultural production, are going to be the worst hit.

Sadly, no one in the government or outside seems to have realized the impact this slowdown will have on the economy. Things are going to get a lot worse and there seems to be no concerted effort to mitigate the aftershocks.

The stimulus packages that are being talked about and offered are going to be just drops in the ocean, I feel.

Today the father of a guy doing his executive MBA from a top business school told me placements have become an issue. That surprised me, because I had thought that there would always be top B-schools. And that is also an indicator or how deep the rot is.

Unfortunately, the politicians are still playing politics and have little time for the common man. Why should they worry anyway: the more suffering there is the more opportunity for them!

Indian economy: a lot of denials and some crooks

2009-01-22T05:23:00.000-08:00

So Ramalinga Raju of Satyam actually siphoned off money from the software services giant, contrary to what he said in his open letter to the company's Board before his arrest. Well, I had all along held that while Raju might have been doing a con job, he was unlucky in getting caught and there are bigger villains in corporate India who are not caught because they are smarter. I still hold to that view.
That apart, I think the economic scene is going to get much worse and the worst is yet to come. I still can't understand how analysts and thier ilk can say Indian business is going to do well in 2009. I suspect this is an attempt to fish in murky waters. A stockbroker recently told me how he had a difficult time fending off people who approached him wanting to invest in stocks, even with borrowed money. And mind you, these were just ordinary lower middle class people with average incomes of 10-12k per month. With their being no dearth of people willing to be taken for a ride, I am not surprised at the pundits prophesying that India will rock in 2009 while the world economy will crumble!
And here is a NYT article about how investors may be losing patience with Google and Microsoft. Yes, the same New Economy giants who many other companies are hoping to model themselves after. And here we are talking about a rosy picture for the economy.! View through rose-tinted glasses, I would say.

Can Obama manage those expectations, and those forces of change?

2009-01-21T02:43:00.000-08:00

Finally Barack Obama is president of the United States. A judging by the crowds that attended his inaugural, it seems at least some Americans think the new president has some sort of magic wand to pull the country out of the many problems it is mired in currently, and most of which are being blamed on George W Bush.
It evokes in me memories of the first time Manmohan Singh became India's Finance Minister. The Congress had promised to roll back prices in the run-up to those elections but once he took over Mr Singh famously said: "I do not have a magic wand (to roll back the prices!)".
Well, at least Mr Obama did not say he had a magic bullet for all of America's problems but a lot of Americans and people in other countries seem to think so. The biggest challenge for Obama would be managing those expectations.
And Obama could be classified as a success or failure depending purely on how he manages those expectations, not on how he really performs on the ground.
Will the world change with Obama? I doubt so. The changes we are undergoing right now are so momentous and old solutions simply cannot work. Indeed, we may not realize it but these changes are so sweeping, they are not amenable to any solutions. My feel is they will run their course and trample over any force that is trying to channelize them, till they change the world order and society in hitherto unseen ways.
Will Obama be a victim of those forces, or will he be able to keep his head up?

Democracy, my foot! Kick out the jokers

2009-01-18T20:34:00.001-08:00

The national political scene is hotting up but, sadly, there seems to be no player in the horizon who can enthuse the masses in the next General Election. There if the BJP-NDA, Congress-UPA, and an assortment of parties that can or cannot coalesce into a Third Front.
But the situation of the ground is that no one is really interested in whether it is the Congress or the BJP or the BSP who will rule India. Because for the common man, all of them are the same.
All of India's political parties bat for the rich and powerful. The policies that are announced for the common man are done so as an afterthought. This kind of government that we eulogize as the magic of democratic rule is actually is a government of exploiters who can put the deeds of the Raj to shame.
Why do we, the taxpayers, tolerate these fools and criminals and exploiters? Beats me.
Is there no way out? Is there no freedom from these jokers?

The Sinhala chauvinists are back. Is anyone listening?

2009-01-14T23:49:00.000-08:00

If the LTTE had helped bring the Tamil ethnic discrimination problem in Sri Lanka to the world stage, it has also helped the most to damage that cause. With its ruthless terror tactics the Tigers have ensured that there is little sympathy left in the world for them, and by extension to the suffering Tamils in the island nation.
Even India, which sent in its troops to help the Tamils has almost washed its hands off the problem, it seems. Domestic political compulsions are forcing Indian politicians make some noises once in a while, but it is clear no one is serious about the Tamils' problems. So why should the Sinhala fundamentalists in Lanka worry about those Tamils?!
The fact is, the Lankan army's recent victories over the LTTE has also ignited some amount of Sinhala fury and the situation is now almost a throwback to the 1980s when killing and maiming Tamils mercilessly never raised eyebrows.
Indian politicians here are shedding crocodile tears over the Israeli bombing of Gaza, but they don't seem to see the suffering of Tamils next door. Obviously, Gaza is a way to attract Muslim votes in the country and guarantees political visibility. The poor Tamils have anyway "allowed" the LTTE to hijack their agenda, and they don't have any supporters left in the world stage, except a bitter diaspora that is hardly visible here .
Stranger still is the fact that even Tamil politicians are not worried about what is happening in Lanka. Look at this leader from the Sunday Leader. And Then They Came For Me
It is obvious the Sinhala chauvinists are back at their old game, intimidating and killing, with government help.
But for our politicians in India, votes lie in slamming Israel, not Lankan government, and crying for Gazans, not the Tamils in our neighbourhood.
For the Tamils in Lanka, well-meaning Sinhalese, and others in the world who are concerned about the state of violence in that island nation, hope lies in the Tamil people of India. Is anyone listening?

It is going to get worse, not just for the IT crowd

2009-01-13T19:22:00.001-08:00

The Satyam fiasco has hit India, Inc. hard, or it is not the case, depending on who you are talking to. But a lot of people in the know say Ramalinga Raju was caught out because he was unlucky. They say a lot of big companies in India, among them some real heavy hitters, are doing exactly what Raju has been caught for doing. Just that they are a lot more smarter and are better connected.
The thing is the IT crowd is worried. For some years now they were the high-fliers in India - in professional and social circles. But all that has changed. There are reports from Bangalore that IT pros have lost their sheen in the marriage market, the most important indicator of social status in India. Well, that has been happening for a couple of years now, but has gained momentum with the setting in of the slowdown and now with the Satyam scandal.
The IT sector is not the only one affected by the slowdown, but a lot of people in others sectors are still in denial. They seem to think India won't be affected much by the downturn and things will be as hunky-dory as they have been.
Wrong. I was talking to a stock broker yesterday and he confirmed my worst fears: the downturn is yet to reach India and things will be pretty bad by March this year. Of course, a lot of companies still have the money to weather the slowdown but it would be a grave mistake to think the party of the yesteryears will continue.
And you have to worry about the millions of youngsters who will graduate from our colleges this year, some of them having taken courses promising jobs in the sunrise sectors, after paying huge fees. They will add to the unemployment and social problems in the country; the surplus in the labour market will see salaries take a dive. Especially in such blotted sectors as retail. Someone told me a couple of months back that a retail professional with just 2 years experience was commanding a salary of Rs 36 lakh a year! Those are definitely going to be rationalised and it will have an effect on consumer spending.
I am sure we haven't even seen the beginning of this downturn yet. And a lot of people think we won't be affected by it. More scary, think of all those expats, especially from the Gulf countries, who may start to return if that area of the globe is hit by the recession.

Madrassas to be made equivalent to CBSE, what next?!

2009-01-04T01:38:00.000-08:00

So the RSS has come out against the Central government's move to make madrassa certificates equivalent to the CBSE. This is yet another move by Arjun Singh to cash in on minority appeasement. This, to say the least, is playing with fire.
Soon you will be going for proportional representation in Parliament, and the way this kind of appeasement is being carefully calibrated, no one is going to say anything against it, too.
How can madrassas, which mostly teach the Koran and Shariah and are mostly run on a curriculum developed by that bigot Mughal Aurganzeb, be n thought to be equivalent to the CBSE syllabus? That question would beat any thinking, rational individual, but not crafty politicians like Arjun Singh, who will do everything to hold on to power.
The insidious nature of this kind of politics is evident from the fact that no one other than the RSS wants to oppose it owing to the fear of being seen as politically incorrect.
And no one is raising the corollary question either: if Christians and Muslims can have their own board exams in secular India, why not the Hindus? Is it a punishment for being a majority in this country?
Islamic terrorism and fundamentalism have thrived in India just because of these self-serving politicians. But I can see a glimmer of hope now. Post-Mumbai terror attacks, people are raising their voices. And sooner or later, these parasite politicians will be washed away in the anger that is welling up.

An Opportunity Beckons Sri Lanka in 2009

2009-01-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

Killinochchi has fallen. The LTTE has lost its face, and the symbol of its power. But where does the Tamil people and Sri Lanka and LTTE go from here?
Most probably the LTTE will wage a guerilla war from the jungles. But with their supply routes cut and their manpower depleted, the outfit will steadily lose its teeth. Expect more internal power struggles.
The more important question is, will the Lankan government use this opportunity to create a more inclusive political process? The Tamil people have suffered for long - from fanatic Sinhalese, self-serving politicians and last but not least from the power-hungry LTTE.
Let us hope 2009 will bring in hope and cheer for the island nation, and peace and prosperity to one and all.

Abhaya case shows up Indian judiciary

2009-01-02T06:38:00.000-08:00

The Kerala High Court's handling of the bail application of the accused in the Sister Abhaya murder case has shown up the rot in the judiciary in India. Not only has the court overstepped its limits, it has also tried to tarnish the image of the CBI and went against the earlier judgements of several courts in its very clear attempt to help the accused go free.
Well, this was not unexpected. The Christian clergy in Kerala, nay India, have always been power brokers. During the time of the Raj they used their clout with the British to get their way; in democratic India they slice and dice the willing Christian flock into pocket electorates so they can wrest concessions from whoever is in power.
But all that is expected of this breed of stinking manipulators. The question is how long can we citizens allow our power-hungry politicians to continue in this vein? They will do everything -- including undermining the unity of the country -- to cling to power. The current one-upmanship on minority appeasement is just one face of the problem.
I think there should be a movement to sweep these scum out of power. The earlier the better. Because the deeper this rot sets in, the more violent and radical will be the reaction against it.

Headwinds for the economy, but there's a silver lining

2008-12-13T02:39:00.000-08:00

Just 20 years back, the average Indian would have known pretty much nothing about the economic state of the country or the world, and even cared less about it. But the last 10 years have changed that so much that now almost everyone one meets is worrying about the impact of the current economic slowdown on their lives. At the very least, the economy is now racking up the worry quotient in Indian society.
That apart, the economy is a cause of concern. The boom, though most of it powered by the black money flowing into sectors such as real estate, is slowing visibly. The job scene is getting cloudier by the day -- today someone called me from Delhi to say the Times group is planning to fire 1,200 people. Well, even the media scene which showed so much irrational exuberance is getting dark. How will this impact the country and its people?
Of course, not everything is going to be bad. Here are two areas where I think the slowdown is going to be good. Think of the ecology. For the last 10 years we were more interested in exploiting to the hilt what Mother Nature had offered us. Now, the slowing down of the economy would mean the pace of exploitation would slow down too. That is going to be definitely good for the earth and its environment.
Also in the last 10 years our politicians have managed to get away with their corrupt and inept governance of this country as the boom offered jobs and riches to more people than they ever could hope to. Now things are going to change. Once again these effete class of people will come under the scanner; if they don't deliver (and I very much doubt they can), it won't be long our ossified political system could be washed away by the rage of the people.
Will all this lead to a new way of life? I hope it does. If we have to suffer some pain for something that is going to immensely benefit all of us, all living beings, then it would be something worth suffering.

LTTE has sqandered its moral high position

2008-12-11T21:15:00.001-08:00

I came back to updating this blog after a long time and was surprised to see a comment posted, with a link. Going there, makes me think all over again about the ethnic problem gripping Sri Lanka in its most gross and gory form.
Children under 10 being conscripted! I have heard this before, but now that I have a kid I can understand the anguish such a prospect brings to hapless, defenceless parents; and also the depths of moral turpitude to which the conscriptor, in this case the LTTE, has fallen.
True, the Sri Lankan problem has many causes and needs to be addressed forthwith, without shedding any more blood. More blood and death does not bring peace. But the LTTE should be striclty told what is acceptable and what is not. It cannot run with the hare and hunt with the wolf.
Any dispassionate observer over the years would clearly see the LTTE not just stands for Tamil freedom; it stands for the LTTE version of the Tamil freedom.
V Prabhakaran had a laudable cause when he started on this path. But along the way he has spilt so much blood and tears and blown up so many bodies, he no longer is fit for that high moral pedestal he once stood on. He has shown himself up to be no more than a blood-thirsty tyrant and the cause of the Tamil people and that of peace itself would be best served by dispossessing him from his current position as chief of the LTTE.
But how much more blood need to be spilt beore we reach that goal? And the real peace process starts only then. And there is the healing process left.
Can the politicians in India and Sri Lanka raise to the challenge?

A Dark Diwali for the Tamils

2008-10-28T00:29:00.001-07:00

The spirit is muted this Diwali.
The markets are tanking, the political climate is muddled, there is more ambient violence around the country.
Still, one cannot ignore the plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Granted, the LTTE bungled in bumping off Rajiv Gandhi. But that doesn't mean the Tamil people in that country should be punished for the crime of the LTTE. With the Congress-led government in New Delhi happy to turn a blind-eye and with a politically besieged Karunanidhi-led DMK trying to hold on to power, I think the Tamil people have been thrown to the mercy of Rajapakse's Sinhala wolves.
I have not sympathy for extremists, of either the Tamil or Sinhala variety. But even while understanding the Sinhalese's feeling about keeping their country under a single rule, I cannot agree to their letting the Sinhala extremists take on hapless Tamils and hunt them down in the name of political unity.
If India and its current crop of politicians can't engage the Sinhala government in Colombo constructively on this issue, the day may not be far when Tamils in this country will feel antagonistic about New Delhi's political control over them.
And till things take a better turn, who will answer for the innocent Tamil blood that will be spilled?

Shabana Whines, But What About Those Poor Hindus?

2008-08-19T22:26:00.001-07:00

So here is Shabana Azmi saying Indian polity has been unfair to the Muslims. Again! This time her grouse is that being a Muslim she could not get a house to buy in Mumbai. And just because of that she thinks Indian Muslims are given unfair treatment. It may be politically incorrect, but I need to say that Muslims in India, or at least some of them, need to get out their "we were the rulers" complex and stop wallowing in self pity.
I am glad the BJP and even some Muslim leaders took her to task for her comments. Some of the latter even said there are Muslim housing societies in Mumbai who don't sell houses to non-Muslims. Why did Ms Azmi not respond to that?! Forget housing societies, there is even a place in Kerala's coast, called Anjuthengu (formerly Anjengo) where Muslims don't let non-Muslims buy houses or property. And they don't have any qualms in doing that even while clamouring for more state-appeasement by citing their minority status!
I think Ms Azmi should be strippe of her Rajya Sabha MP post. Muslim leaders like her can thrive only when the community feels that they are threatened and they keep crying "wolf" for petty political gains.
It is the bane of Indian democracy and secularism that leaders like Shabana Azmi can thrive and at the same time blame the country's political system for creating Muslim terrorists and Hindu terrorists. These wolves in sheep's clothing are the more insidious lot and should be dealt with sternly and in an exemplary manner.

The Passing of the Left Era

2008-08-01T04:07:00.000-07:00

On a day when one of the veteral old guard of the Communist Party of India, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, passed away, the CPM also got another jolt - in the form of a hard-hitting statement by Lok Sabha speaker and expelled senior leader Somnath Chatterjee. Well, old leaders die and the CPM has expelled veteral leaders earlier in their history, too. So these are two things that need no special comment. But I am feeling the current mainstream Leftist ideology in the country as represented by the CPM and CPI and some other smaller parties that constitue the Left Front is entering the last lap. The Leftists have long ago become political players more interested in power politics than their constituency - the rural poor. And their hunger for power and machinations to hang on to or get closer to power has create a vacuum, which is now being occupied by the Naxals. If you look at the map of India, you will find the Naxals are almost everywhere. That is because our democratic politics, with all its lofty ideals, has failed to alleviate the suffering of the rural poor. Even in the much-touted Leftist bastion of West Bengal, the poor lead a dog's life. Often it seems as the comrades want to keep the poor confined to their wretched existence for fear of being robbed of their vote bank - in much the same way the Congree wants to keep Muslims as a discriminated community. We can brush the threat of Naxals as being financed by China or as the handiwork of radical Leftist elements, but that would do little in tackling the situation.I am not happy to see the Leftists' influence waning, for whatever faults they had, they still acted as a stabilizing force against the likes of Nehru and Indira Gandhi and now the US agents like Sonia and Manmohan Singh.But I guess that has not been enough. And as the system itself is collapsing, the Left is no exception. Where will all this end? I don't know. I just know that change is inevitable.

Home-grown Terrorists are Still Terrorists

2008-07-31T01:51:00.000-07:00

Are Islamist terrorists to blame for the recent serial blasts that have rocked India? Has the community failed to rein in its extremist elements? Should these elements be tackled with a iron hand? These are questions that would have arisen in the mind of any average Indian in recent days. However, the questions that media, especially the so called secular media, in India is debating is whether the terrorists who carried out the crime are home-grown or foreign. As if that really does matter to those killed and their kin!
The sinister logic of skewed secularism that has brought the country to the brink of a religious and ethnic cauldron is at work again. The logic of these apostles of secularism seems to be that such homegrown terrorists are justified because of the perceived injustices to which the Muslim community in India has been subjected to. And therefore, the logic goes, the real culprits are Indian Hindus!
In the first place, I would ask the Muslim community to do some introspection as to why they are still backward in many respects. Many of them still harbour that 'ruler' complex from the Mughal days. And many still harbour illusions of being able to make India a Muslim country. And the community's leaders are only too happy to keep stoking these illusions. Little wonder members of the community cannot mix with the mainstream and feel alienated. But does that justify the kind of violence that has been unleashed on the country in the last week?
Never. But then we have the media and the pseudo-secularists who are out to fish in troubled waters. With their eyes set firmly on short-term political and financial gains these people are out to spread the image of the 'injured Indian Muslim', whatever that would do to the country's security.
It is time to show these misguided jehadis - whether homegrown or foreign - as what they are - heartless and cruel killers, and that their actions are in no way justified. The sooner we do that the better, or we could have another Gujarat on our hands soon.

Time to tell our leaders: Act now or get out!

2008-07-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

The terror seems not yet over - not even a temporary respite is in sight. Today police defused around 15 live bombs in Surat. Yes, the killers are at large and audacious enough to go around and plant some dozen more bombs in public places. This is something India has never seen before. Earlier, there was at least a few months' lull after a serial bomb blast before the killers struck again.
What we see here is a total failure of the police and intelligence machinery. Not only have they been able to nab the terrorists, they have not even been able to bring enough pressure on them to make them lie low. It just shows all their claims of arresting the perpatrators of all those earlier terror strikes was pure gas.
The Union government is blaming state police and states are blaming the Centre. In all this din what is forgotten is our police and intelligence machinery have failed completely, and have left the Indian society helpless victims of terror. Are we paying taxes just for our politicians to move around in armoured vehicles with commando escort and for our police officers to pick up and harass law-abiding common citizens whose only crime is that they lack political connections?
We have been abandoned by our rulers and our police, the very people whom we pay to help keep this a law-abiding and secure society.
It is time to tell these busybodies to go nab the terrorists or up and leave. Indian people can and will manage such threats. But we do not need such parasites eating our money and not being able to capture a bunch of terrorists who have killed over a hundred people and are still terrorising us.
Stop the politicking, stop the religious appeasement. Act now, or get out!

No Future Left For Left After Congress 'Betrayal'!

2008-07-11T22:46:00.000-07:00

The Left is now crying foul.What a bright idea! For four years you misused the mandate extended to you by people from Kerala and West Bengal to support a Congress-led government at the Centre. And you did that by holding strikes almost every week in those states, derailing the life of the common people. And now the Congress having outsmarted you, you cry foul!
I wonder if Karat and co have any moral authority left to point fingers at the Congress. You had four years to keep this government under control and you did nothing. All you did was make life hell for the very same people who elected you.
Compare that with what a regional politician like Karunanidhi did. He could manage to make the UPA government change its policies in his favor even though he did not have the same number of MPs in the Lok Sabha as the Left parties combine did.
If the Left had pulled the rug from under the government the last time it kicked up a furore over the 123 nuclear deal with the US, they would still have had some credibility left. Now all they can do is bawl over the 'betrayal' of the Congress.
I am sure if the country goes to the polls today the Left will end up with less than one third of the number of seats in Parliament as it does now. That is because the misrule in its two main bastions - Kerala and West Bengal - has reached it peak. People in those two states may not care about the nuclear deal, but they do care about how governance has suffered as the party mandarins go about their own agendas.
So keep crying, Mr Karat and co. No one has any sympathy left for you. You were given a chance to help save the country from the American stooges in the Congress and you bungled. Period.

Unilever Stinks! Now, Get Out Of Asia

2008-05-29T05:57:00.001-07:00

Unilever needs to make money, but that doesn't mean it can get away with doing anything for that. A senior executive at the company has alluded - in fact stated it unequivocally - in an interview that Asians stink. It is easy dismiss this as just politically incorrect talk with the aim of creating a market for the company's deo products. However, beneath this inocuous characterisation lies the fact that the statement is more about the arrogance of a white colonialist (or in this case a developed-world imperialist) about all things and people he deems as lesser mortals, who are only good and useful for the money they have to buy his cheap deodarants.
How shameful that such a statement has escaped the attention of most poeple in this continent. Asia is once place where a lot of religions and empires were born, the cultural and spiritual cradle of the world. And here is this imperious white-skinned business executive who thinks the people of this continent is no good without his cheap mix of ethanol and some smelly chemicals.
It wold do well for Russel Taylor, Unilever’s global V-P for Axe deodorants, to remember that Asians were the most advanced people in the world, and the best in personal hygiene, when his ancestors did not even care to wash, let alone brush their teeth.
There should be a mass boycott of all Unilever products by Asians till this haughty neo-imperialist is forced to apologise for his intemperity.

A Case For Limiting Media Freedom?

2008-05-27T05:53:00.000-07:00

The media scene in the country is full of fizz now, what with new newspapers, channels and magazines either hitting the market every day, or slated to hit the market soon. Well, for once I hope this will put an end to the dominance of the few traditional media players who knew how to play politics with their media clout to get what they wanted from our political leaders.
If professionalim is ushered into the media by this boom, I am only too happy about it. And from the frenzy that some of the traditional players are working themselves up into, I guess they are very much threatened.
The sad part may be that all this new media may not mean much for our democracy. The freedom of the press enshrined in our Constitution is there so the media can help keep a check on those in power. However, our media players invoke that right only to dish out the sleazy and seamy side of human life. They have consistently forgotten their political duties, while clamouring for their constitutional rights. And I don't doubt the new players will be much different either.
Media is a business and every player here thinks of it as a business. That brings us to the question: do we still need that clause about media freedom? It would be draconian to just delete it from the Constitution, but it would be equally diabolic to let these profit-focused media houses enjoy that freedom - and use it - only for making money, while giving the go by to their primary duty as conscience keepers to the nation.
Is there a way out? There could be and we need to find one. Media houses worried only about making money should not enjoy the benefits any other business does not enjoy - whatever guise they may give it to cling to it.

The BJP Has Won, But...

2008-05-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

The BJP has stormed the South Poll, say the newspapers. Well, I am wondering if that will help the party in the 2009 general elections. Because there is many a slip between the cup and the lip, and there is still a few months left before the votes are cast. How will the party deal with the Gujjar violence, and how will the other parties exploit it in the cow belt, and how the issue will pan out, along with many other already live and yet-to-be-live issues - all these make it too premature to say if the Karnataka victory will be a precursor to such a victory at the Centre.
The fact is, whoever comes to power, it isn't going to change the lot of the poor millions or the state of the environment much. Apart from paying lip service to these causes, our politicians aren't going to do anything concrete about these.
Things are going to get worse, the gap between the rich and the poor is going to get wider, the environment will be ravaged even more by greedy businesses, and communal and casteist differences will be exploited with elan. It seems there was never a better time to be a politician in India!

The Pied Pipers Of India

2008-05-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

Where is this nation heading? Every one and his community now wants to be on some privileged list. Yes, I am referring to the Gujjars clamouring for Scheduled Tribe status. While I don't know the merits of the demand and I am not going to comment on it, I am worried about where this state of affairs will lead to.
This is more like the proportional representation on the basis of religion that the British once held out to Indians and was rejected by Gandhi. But today's Congress and other parties are clamouring for, in essence, the same thing.
Women's quotas, SC/ST quotas, Muslim and Christian quotas, OBC quotas... we are heading for quota raj. It would be politically incorrect to criticise this competitive votebank politics, but I am pained for the nation.
These corrupt, greedy, and shortsighted politicians are presiding over the dismemberment of this once-great nation called Bharat. Hell, even that is politically incorrect now - India is more correct!
Our politicians, intellectuals and idealogues have taken up western notions of political correctness. And without an educational system that can show us our real greatness we are just following those peddlers of misery, like the children following the Pied Piper.

A Welcome Move, But ...

2008-05-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

The Muslim clergy in the country, reports say, are now mobilizing against terrorists from the
community. It is a welcome change, considering the Deoband school which is considered to provide the ideological underpinning to the extremist Wahabi brand of Islam, is at the forefront of the new movement. But then, there are other clergymen opposing them. Their argument: terrorism is not something which only the Muslims should be ashamed about. True, but those intellectuals who parrot the arguments of these clergy forget that all these new-fangled arguments are just a way to cover the extremist intentions of some Muslims at least. Leftist intellectuals have already bought into those arguments, and allowed Islamic extremism some amount of respect, in a trade off for votes.What is disturbing this time around, is the extremists and their intellectual backers are back at a time when there is a serious introspection within the community. Remember, these are the same people who opposed some films saying they were against Islam, when in truth they wanted to suppress a film showing a Muslim girl falling in love and marrying a Hindu boy. If it would have been the other way round, they wouldn't have minded. So much for their secularism! It is time we called the bluff of these wolves in sheep's clothing.

I have nothing against the Muslim community; many of my friends are from the community. What I am against is the competitive appeasement politics that is allowing these preachers of
violence to thrive under a garb of secular respectability.The earlier such idiots are put behind the bars, their intellectual backers exposed, and the moderates in the community given a chance to reasser themselves, the better for humanity and India!

Back to the podium!

2008-03-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

I am back to updating this blog. Sorry for the interruption.
Plenty of interesting things have happened from the time I made my last post. But it would be impossible for me to start from where I ended. Forward H!
The comrades are back to their favorite game at the Center, threatening to pull down the government if the nuke deal is signed with the US and at the same time saying there is no threat to the government.
They are also facing a roiled polity in the two main states in which they wield power - Kerala and West Bengal.
Funny thing is they haven't learnt anything all these years!
If elections are called today, I am sure the Leftists will lose power everywhere. They are trying hard to make their relevance felt with talks about a Third Front but all that is bull shit that is going to go nowhere. Let us face it comrades: the UPA has only benefitted the Congress!

Make Kodiyeri The CM Of Kerala; Give Achu The Boot!

2007-10-01T03:38:00.000-07:00

What is the CPM leadership doing? Are they going to sit and watch as the VS Achutanandan government is steadily frittering away the goodwill of the people through its inability to rule the state? With the issue of the 123 nuclear agreement with the United States coming to a head, it is understandable for the party's leadership to wish not to have two crises in hand at once.
The problem is this attitude is not going to solve the problem. If the party needs the same number of MPs in the next Parliament in case of a mid-term poll, it needs to act quickly. At the current rate the party will end up with a tally of a handful of MPs if elections are held now.
The unrepaired roads, the health machinery that has ground to a halt, the unending scandals involving the ministers, the problems the CPI is creating for the ministry with its hard headedness, and above all, the effete chief minister himself - all these are going to finish off the government in the state.
The only two ministers who are really governing in all this mess are the Home and Industries ministers, and unfortunately, the gains they have made are being sought to be nullified by Achumama's supporters in the party and media. Because they happen to be Pinarayi faction members.
But fact is fact, and Achu has proved to be the most hopeless chief minister a state can have. And if the CPM leadership wishes for the party's and people's well being they should immediately elevate Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to the chief minister's post and send Achu into a forced sabbatical from politics.
That is the least they can do now, at this late hour, if they feel they have any responsibility to the people of the state who brought them to power!

ISRO Embroiled In Land Scam; How Deep Does The Rot Run?

2007-09-21T02:57:00.000-07:00

A lot of people had asked me why I wasn't commenting on the current biggest crisis gripping the LDF government in Kerala. The fact is I was thinking it is no help commenting when a blind and deaf CPM leadership is allowing VS Achutanandan and his faction to fritter away the goodwill of the people. Things have come so far that IAS officers in the state have become bold enough to question the policy decision of an elected government, and more seriously, have their way.
Yes, I am talking about the issue of the new chief secretary. I feel ashamed to think that I belong to the only state in India where IAS officers still think they are the ones who rule. They succeeded in making the chief minister revoke his earlier decision on appointing someone junior as chief secretary.
Now compare this with how IAS officers get slapped around by political thugs in some other states. I don't for once say what is happening in Bihar is wrong, because this service of suckers specialized in enriching themselves at the cost of tax payer money, without helping to make the administration efficient. I am not saying there aren't good officers but most of them are inept and corrupt. The sad thing is such a cadre of opportunists has been able to arm twist an elected Leftist government!
Okay, but that is not the main issue why I decided to write this post. That is about the land scam involving the CPI ministers, the CM, and the ISRO.
The CPI ministers I don't care two hoots for; the party was hand in glove with Indira Gandhi during Emergency and poor Karunakaran got thrashed for the atrocities committed during the time. CPI has always specialized in running with the hares and hunting with the dogs.
But what is making me, and many others angry, is the involvement of ISRO, India's premier space research agency, in this deal. News reports have indicated that someone from the organization was keen to get the land sale approved faster than usual and followed the proceeds personally.
The question then is who is this person and what has the ISRO done about finding his culpability or innocence. Also, is this a one off affair or a deeper malice in the organization? Whatever it is, there is something rotten here, something that is not expected of a premier organization like ISRO.
I am wondering how the ISRO chief and others can go on making noises about getting land for their money is enough. Why can't these technocrats see the role of that villain officer in the whole scam, order an enquiry, and if necessary, boot the guy out. Come on, don't tell me guys who know rocket science cannot fix this problem. To all my instincts they are just trying very hard not to see this issue.
Or is it that even the ISRO higher ups have a hand in this deal? In that case, this needs some serious investigation - maybe by the Central Bureau of Investigation. In an organization where a sex spy scandal once exploded I won't rule out this possibility.
Or why are the ISRO higher ups trying to brush the issue under the carpet? This country with its millions of poor is paying you guys in the hope that you will make our name in the annals of space science. And, speaking for those poor people, let me tell you that if you don't come clean of this the day won't be far off when you will be held answerable.
To me, dear friends, this is the major issue here: Achu may go as CM, CPI ministers may have to quit, but the real issue is - if there is a rot in ISRO and, if there is, how deep has it gone? When you are trying to launch satellites for the global market, you need to keep your backyard clean. I am wondering if ISRO and its chiefs are up to the task. If you are, the whole of India will bow in gratitude to you, otherwise time won't be far off when your photos will be trampled on in the streets.

India's Tech Success: Powered By Sweatshops And Slave Labor

2007-09-04T05:09:00.000-07:00

I am departing from my usual topics for this post but I think this topic is more important than any of the political games being played in New Delhi right now. Yes, it is about how some unscrupulous IT companies are exploiting India's IT professionals.
I have heard over the last few weeks several stories of how companies are forcing rookie programmers to work under the threat of legal action. Many of my readers may not be unfamiliar with the problem, but what has astounded me is the depth and scope of it.
It goes like this: a young chap just off college is recruited by an IT company. He is mostly from a small town or a village and not very familiar with the tactics being employed in the job market. Nor are his parents much aware of it - they are just too happy their son/daughter landed a job even before getting his/her degree.
Okay, now the guy finds himself in an office where he is not learning anything of value - he is being used as a simple coder (no major addition to his skills). Soon he get disenchanted and is looking for a way out. And given the scarcity of good workers in the Indian IT market, he sure enough gets an offer from another company. He wants to leave.
Now starts the game. His employer says he can't. They talk about a bond he has signed when he joined. They threaten legal action. They demand money for training expenses (!!!) incurred. They call up his parents and threaten them of legal action and criminal cases against their son. (Mostly such companies leave off the girls, fearing it could lead to harassment complaints being filed against them). They bring all sorts of pressure to bear - it is mental torture. And if the guy still insists on leaving they deny him any certificate to show his experience, and may even go to the extent of serving legal notices on him.
An advocate friend tells me 90 per cent of the time such companies win. The guy stays back - he resents it but he has no choice. If the bosses were sane guys they would have realized that having such people in the workforce is counterproductive. But then, they are sadists - they just want to ruin his life, just don't want him to make it in life!
Why do they do it? No easy explanation. It probably is just a mixture of some of these: bruised egos of the bosses, the difficulty in finding talent, resentment at your junior getting a higher paid and better job...
It sounds terrible and so improbable. But it does happen.
Why? Mostly because the young guys who face this problem aren't aware of their legal rights in this country. And because their parents are cowed down by the threats of legal action the company bosses make.
I recently helped a few such guys to get out of such a company. And I know those guys still have friends there who don't want to continue but are afraid to jump.
I am not saying all IT companies are like this, but there are many out there. A quick scan through some of the discussion boards will tell you what I mean.
We are talking of becoming an IT power. If we cannot guarantee basic rights to our IT talent how are we going to do that? Makes me wonder. And before you get me wrong, let me tell you this is not about cutting costs. These companies have the money but just treat their employees like shit. Maybe it is about mindsets not changing with the times.
We aren't talking about illiterate workers in some rural brick kiln being made to do bonded labor, but about our cutting edge workforce - our IT professionals - being treated like slaves. Are we out to build an IT superpower or an IT slave empire?

Brits Tested Mustard Gas On Indians, So What Is Our Government Doing?

2007-09-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

The Guardian report on imperialist Britain testing poison gas on Indian soldiers has shocked me, as it would any self-respecting Indian. I now want to spit on Manmohan Singh for his utterances glorifying the British occupation of India. Does the Indian prime minister think testing mustard gas on Indian soldiers is something that we Indians can be proud of? Of course, Singh would undoubtedly be proud of such an event if he were one of the unfortunate guinea pigs. He likes to flaunt his servility to the West and act as the White Man's agent while adorning India's highest elected office. How sad.

It is 60 years after we got rid of the White Man and his rule and it pains me no end to see our rulers falling over each other to please their pale skinned masters in the United States and Europe. When can we get rid of these blood-sucking double agents from Delhi? They are the greatest blemish on modern India's face, sucking the blood of Indian poor millions and imposing the neo-imperialists' wishes on a people who cannot raise their voices.

I am waiting to see when our rulers will ask Britain to explain its conduct, and at the very least, cut off diplomatic relations with that country. However, I am not hopeful that anything worthwhile on this front will come from our current crop of political leaders. They have too much invested in the West to fight to redeem the honor of those fellow countrymen who were treated as animals by the imperialist British. If India ever needed a revolution, we need it now - to get rid of these political bastards in Delhi.

Joseph, Kuruvilla... It's Time For The LDF To Jettison KC (Joseph)!

2007-08-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

It is clear Minister Kuruvilla from the Kerala Congress (Joseph) is going to lose his seat in the government. Many media guys see Achumama's victory in the LDF decision to keep Kuruvilla out, pointing to the Pinarayi faction's initial refusal to oppose the tainted minister.
However, to my mind, there is a broader issue at stake here - concerning the LDF. The Kerala Congresses, irrespective of which front they have aligned with, have always been headaches. Filled with leaders who are corrupt to the core, the only difference between the various Kerala Congress parties are that of the difference between tweedledom and tweedledee.
That is no surprise considering these parties have their own sectarian political agendas, trying to keep their Christian vote banks to cling on to power, and in turn, distribute the spoils of power among their vote banks.
The Congress, the main constituent of the UDF, has no no but to cling to such communalist outfits to try to gain power. But it is time for the LDF to think if it needs the support of such corrupt outfits.
Despite all the media efforts to whitewash Kerala Congress (Joseph), it is clear as hell that the party and its leaders are corruption incarnate. Plus, party leader Joseph's weakness for women is well known, leading to his humiliating exit from the LDF ministry.
Now Kuruvilla who replaced Joseph is on the way out. Question is, will the next entrant to the ministry from the party add to LDF's headaches? I have little doubt that will be the case.
I just cannot understand why LDF needs to carry around such dirty baggage. Why can't LDF just jettison Joseph and co and say enough is enough? That will definitely add to the CPM's and LDF's image.
Let me hope that better sense prevails in the LDF leadership!

2007-08-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

Another Onam. Phew! While working in Delhi I never even used to notice Onam days. Back here in Kerala, now I see people trying to shirk work every day in the name of Onam. Where else in the world will you see a government giving offs to people in the name of a festival, pampering them with cash advances, and then spending a fortune on festivities - in addition to burning up electricity in a electricity-deficient state?!

If Kerala is nowhere on the industry production charts, you don't have to look elsewhere. Onam is a good concept, but in the modern, globalized economy you cannot shut shop for four or five days in a row and expect to get business.

Not only is the Kerala government not realizing this truth, it is also encouraging this laziness in the people!

Mayawati Doest It, The Left Still Balks!

2007-08-23T04:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe this. But here is another regional party showing what it can do on exactly the same issue that the Left has held protests over for months. Yes, I am talking of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati asking big retailers, read Ambanis et al, to shut shop and go home. And here in Kerala and in New Delhi the Left has been holding protests and disrupting public life when it could have just done what Mayawati has done!
It is like how Karunanidhi showed the Left how to make the Center tow his line without putting to trouble all the people who voted for him.
I am not die-hard Leftist. But from what I have seen the Congress and the BJP do in the name of administering a state or a country, I earnestly hope that the Left remains in power in Kerala. I know many people who voted for the Left last elections aren't Leftists either, but simply those who chose them as they were fed up by the Congress or the BJP.
However, it seems the only people who don't want this goodwill to continue are the Left leaders. Why block traffic and call for shop shut-downs in Kerala when you can just ask Ambani to pack up and go home? Why let one of your leaders inaugurate Reliance Fresh's shops and then hold protests against the company? Search me!
But that is how the Left has always been. When people bring them back to power they will do everything possible to lose that power. And then they will go for another round of violent protests as the Opposition. The only losers, in both cases, are the people of the state.
Dear Karat, please learn from what Karunanidhi and Mayawati have done. If you thought that what they did was impossible, at least now don't stick to that line. It is possible and has been done.
If you want to protest against something do what you can about it first before putting people's livelihoods at stake.

Callous Officials Spoil Onam, But Kodiyeri Stars

2007-08-21T02:25:00.000-07:00

The Onam fever is gripping Kerala, but rather than help the people enjoy this festival the government and the bureaucrats are trying to spoil it for them. The wave of fever infections sweeping the state is showing no sign of abating, and the health minister is still not in sight!
And the roads are still looking like canals. The roads minister went on a tour of the roads and elicited promises from officials that those potholes will be filled in "2 days." But let us wait and watch! If they couldn't repair it all these days, I doubt if they can do it in 2 days.
The only silver lining is the home minister's order to the police to stop harassing the public over not wearing helmets and seat belts. This home minister has time and again come out with orders that have helped the people - a welcome departure from the UDF days when the politicians in power let the police make as much money as possible from the public. Keep up the good work, Kodiyeri!
Lest I be painted a Pinarayi supporter for praising the home minister, let me say that the state health minister is a total failure. It is not enough to keep telling the people no one has died from chikunguniya in the state. At least show your face to the public. Mr Pinarayi, please take this woman out of this government. She is destroying the entire good image of the LDF. I pity this woman's ineptitude - even after an MP is down with fever she has done precious nothing about the health care machinery.
One heartening thing that happened yesterday was the tribal people marching to MP Veerendrakumar's son Shreyamskumar's (not sure if I have spelled it right) illegal land. The police shooed them away but I have a feeling Veeran cannot brush this issue under the carpet anymore. He may use his rag Mathrubhumi to settle political scores or divert attention but he will have to give up the land he has held on to illegally.

Ahcumama, A Hero? My Foot!

2007-08-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

So the Left has pulled back from the brink and Manmohan Singh can sigh in relief. But then, there is nothing new in the Left's decision to keep supporting the UPA government. Power is too sweet to let go!
My question is did we gain anything by all this tough talk, or did the Left gain anything? The Indo-US nuclear deal remains as it was.
From a personal viewpoint, though, I am happy the Left did not resort to its ancient tactic of calling strikes in Kerala and West Bengal against a central government that it supports. From Keralites and Bengalis: a huge "Thank You", Mr. Karat!
One reader tells me in his comment that I am full of Hindutva garbage. Wrong and right. Because I favor the Hindutva ideology, though it is not any of the particular flavors now afloat in India. My Hindutva leanings (though I don't think it would fit the connotations of that word) are a logical culmination of my thought that in a country with a 80 per cent Hindu population, you cannot avoid Hindu politics. Beyond that I don't think I am a Hindutva supporter.
The same reader tells me Pinarayi and Achumama are the true heroes of Kerala. I doubt if we can apply the word 'heroes' to either of the leaders, and I think definitely not to Achumama.
Achumama knows only wanton destruction, as I mentioned in an earlier post. And if his faction is being ousted (or cut down) from CPM committees in Kerala, he is just reaping what he sowed. I would like to repeat: this man single-handedly has sown the seeds of destruction in Kerala CPM and watched over those plants. He, along with cronies such as MM Lawerence, kicked out and ruined the political future of many earnest party workers. If he is getting paid back for some of those deeds, why cry about it now?
And in this new world I think it is Pinarayi's brand of Communism that will find more takers. Anyone who thinks Achu can be their savior is just living in a fool's paradise. The man is just living for fame, something that is never rightfully his, but which a media syndicate comprising of Veeran and others is trying to hand over to him.
But as I said, stay tuned for my post on Pinarayi and Achu. And, yes, more such stinging comments are welcome!

On Taslima And The Left

I am waiting to know how the Left Front government in West Bengal will react to the proclamation of an Imam from the state that he will reward anyone killing Bengladeshi woman writer Tasleema Nasrin. Well, I doubt the fundamentalist Imam will be jailed - the Left likes to cultivate the radical Islamists against Hindu vote politics. But how can you allow a weirdo to take the law of the land into his hands and issue death threats? As always, the Left would have two rules in this case too, I guess!

Kerala MPs Deserve A Clap On Salem Division Issue!

2007-08-16T05:54:00.000-07:00

Could not update this blog as much as I wanted as I got busy, but the last few days have been interesting.
For one, I think for the first time in my memory, the MPs from Kerala flexed their collective muscle. Yeah, guys it wasn't the MPs from Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh, for a change. I remember the Narasimha Rao government, packed with MPs from Kerala and K Karunakaran in the kingmaker role. Yet, Kerala continued to get the step-motherly treatment that it always got. Frankly, when the Left supported the UPA at the Center, despite all the headlines, I did not believe Kerala would benefit in any way. History was heavily loaded against our poor state. And the CPM is more concerned with West Bengal, at least the Commissars at the top of the party are.
But this time Kerala MPs showed we can expect pleasant surprises from them. And their combined show of force on the creation of the Salem Division by the Railways came after Oommen Chandy going to press saying Sonia Gandhi attending that function is not wrong. I guess Chandy has swallowed his words.
That one Kerala MP was sent out of the House by the Speaker shows how strong the protest was. Till now the state's only voice at the Center was a bureaucrat - TKA Nair in the PMO. It is good to know our MPs are finally taking their job seriously instead of playing a game of duplicity with the people who have sent them to Delhi. Hope we can see this camaraderie in more issues concerning the state, such as Mullaperiyar.
Dear MPs, we the people of Kerala, are extending you a heartfelt clap. Keep up the good work!
Okay, but the show of force notwithstanding, the political scene is a bit roiled. Will the UPA express derail over the Indo-US nuclear deal? From the Left's record, I can easily say it won't. But maybe, yes there is a very slim maybe here, Manmohan's throne is a bit shaky this time.
I have got angry responses from Achumama's supporters among my friends to this blog, accusing me of supporting the Pinarayi faction. Let me tell you that is far from the truth, even though I don't like Achumama one bit. But I will soon be making a post comparing Pinarayi with Achumama. Keep tuned for that!

Mr Karat, Stop Biting The Hand That Feeds You!

2007-08-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat's warning to the UPA government about the Indo-US nuclear deal is a step in the right direction. But I doubt if the CPM or the Left will go the whole way to stick to their stand, and let the government fall if they try to push through the deal in Parliament.
For long the Left has been acting like a toothless tiger, pushing the government on various issues and meekly giving way when the Congress pushed back. They did that in the name of not allowing the BJP to come to power. And then they resort to organizing strikes in Kerala and West Bengal against the central government that they support! The only ones who have suffered from this political joke have been the very people who elected the Left to power. The people in Delhi or elsewhere in the country have gone through their day's work without even knowing life had been brought to a standstill in Kerala and West Bengal. What a farce!
I hoped the Left will stop this game when Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu showed how to get what he wanted without any of the theatrics. I don't specifically remember the issue (it was about the trade unions in Neyveli Lignite Corporation, I think) but when the central government moved against his political interests Karunanidhi just sent word to the Prime Minister through one of his ministers that he is going to withdraw support. No noise, no nonsense. And no strikes in your state against a central government that depends on you for survival! It did the trick - the Center caved in! And the people of Tamil Nadu did not have to suffer any loss of business from a strike.
Newspapers across the country carried cartoons calling the Left's bluff the next day - comparing Karunanidhi with the Left. I really hoped the Left had learned its lesson then. I mean, when the central government is dependent on you for survival why put the very people who voted you to power through difficulties. The Tamil strongman showed what you can do if you did not know already that you could do it!
Still - this is the most unbelievable part of this tragedy - the Left has continued with the farce. They have continued their bluff, calling nationwide strikes against the Center that affect only Kerala and West Bengal. Plus regular statewide, disctrict-wide and even panchayat-level protests in the Kerala and West Bengal! If this isn't punishing the very people who gave you a voice at the national level, what is it?!
Okay, coming back to the point we started with, will the Left finally be able to show that it can bite and not just bark? I hope it will, but I don't think the old goats in the Politburo will go the whole hog. I strongly suspect it will be the same old story again. Power is too sweet to let go once you taste it, even if you are a Leftist! And it will be the unfortunate people in Kerala and West Bengal who will lose business - for the crime of voting for the Left. The Left's history shows it can bite only the hand that feeds it!

Left Is Right, And So Is BJP!

2007-08-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

Is the Left's, and the BJP's, stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal good for the country? Well, it is too early to say. But going by past actions of the US, it is safe to be cautious and not to put too much hope on that deal.
We have seen on several occasions how the United States has left India hanging when it came to national security, while supporting Pakistan to the hilt. One could argue it is a whole new global strategic scenario now. However, that doesn't take away from the fact that the United States, and the West in general, will not repeat what they have done earlier with respect to India's legitimate security concerns.
The West now needs India's help to tame the monster of Islamic terrorism. And yes, it is also something in India's strategic interest. But what I hate about various Congress -led governments that have come to power in Delhi is that they try to see India's geo-political interests through the prism held out by the West. They have forgotten that the Indian have had strong relationships with various other nations and people, relationships spanning various planes. These governments have tried to follow a foreign policy that is largely a remnant of the Raj's policies.
The Vajpayee government, to its credit, made an attempt to go back to our roots and relationships by initiating the 'Look East' policy. But I think the Sahibs in the Congress have shelved that again.
We need to understand that our foreign and strategic interests are not exactly the same as those being preached to us by the West, mainly the United States and Britain. We have an existence of our own, something that predates the era of these two western powers. And our governments need to look at the various equations in that relationship before trying to lick the boots of the West.
In that respect - and not on the merits or demerits of the Indo-US nuclear deal - I would say the Left and the BJP are right. If they can force this government of western lackey Manmohan Sigh, driven by a westerner like Sonia Gandhi, to strike new paths in foreign policy then it is good for the long-term interests of this country.

Crossing The Rs 12 Red Line

2007-08-11T01:43:00.000-07:00

I started this blog to express my views about happenings in India but have been concentrating lately on Kerala and the theatrics happening in the state's political scene. But something has jolted me back to focus on my original goal.
There is this government-commissioned report that says 836 million Indians live on less than Rs 20 a day, or about 50 cents in US dollars. That figure comes to around 75 per cent of the Indian population. And some of them are not even considered poor by our government or planners because our own poverty threshold is around Rs 12 a day! Now, which one of us can survive on Rs 20 a day, let alone Rs 12? Still millions in this country lead such a terrible life.
The silver lining in their lives is that living standards and income levels are increasing and, if not they, their children can hope to be out of this terrible burden on their lives.
But it is not an easy road to that destination. Because, for one, the current rise in incomes is due to a strong global economy and outsourcing boom. The first one is already under threat with hedge funds and speculators trying to spoil the party. The second one, too, is not going to be there always. Because of job pressures from the West, and because our own politicians are trying to make life difficult for companies that are tapping into outsourcing in India.
I run such a company, and I cannot explain how much I am perturbed by the frequent stop-works and strikes our political parties indulge in. I am answerable to my clients and I cannot tell them every day that "oh, we got a bandh here".
There is a vested interest for the political parties here to see the poor remain poor - as permanent vote banks. So they don't care about raising them above the Rs 12 red line of poverty.
Just think of this: which of our politicians, including the Communists, would be able to survive on Rs 12 a day? But then, the poor have no voice!

Pharis: The Model For The New Malayali!

2007-08-10T02:16:00.000-07:00

Everyone who tries to paint himself a supporter of Achumama is these days gunning for Pharis. Maybe it is just because it has become fashionable to do so. Well, there are also some vested interests taking on Pharis. Like MP Veerendrakumar of Mathrubhumi. Veeran is angry that his illegal possession of acres of land is being highlighted in the media even as he and his paper have been egging on Achumama's backhoe loaders in Munnar.
Then there are those established vested interests - like PC George, MLA - who don't like an upstart like Pharis. They moan about Pharis' sudden rise to wealth - and fame. Discerning readers can easily recognize those cries as the fear of the established elite over being pushed out of the decision-making and opinion-leading roles in Kerala society.
Yes, far from being a danger I would say Pharis is the model for the younger generation Malayali to follow. And I would stick by that opinion even if tomorrow some solid evidence surfaces about some wrongdoing on his part (not the kind of stuff Veeran publishes daily in his rag. I wonder how his editor manages to keep working under such a moron!). He shows that if you break out of the limiting political and social molds currently in force in this state, you can make it big. Only problem then is that the established elite who profit from the current political, financial and social structures, such as Veeran and George, will gun for you. But that is because they fear they will be swept away by the currents of change sweeping the state; and they want to keep the status quo. The most enduring face of this obscurantist order that they want to preserve and protect is Achumama - the man who has never built anything, and who knows only to destroy wantonly. No wonder Veeran, George, and numerous other vested interests are supporting Achu.
But Kerala is changing. And the currents of time are sweeping away the old structures. Pharis can be maligned and tarnished. But tomorrow many more will follow his path, and the new generation Malayali will accept that to make a few crores in a few years is, in itself, not a sin.
Veeran and George and Achumama fear that day. But let us not!

Whither Achu? Whither Kerala? Whither CPM?

2007-08-07T03:17:00.000-07:00

It is indeed interesting to watch the Achumama-Pinarayi road show, what with everyone trying to paint every imaginable conflict in the Achu-Pinarayi colors, like the Catholic Church's fight with Pharis Aboobacker over Deepika. What prompted me to write this piece is the support Achu seems to enjoy amongst at least a section of today's youth. I really find it disconcerting that Achu, who is one of the most inefficient and inept chief minister that Kerala has ever had, enjoys at least some support among the youth. Even more disconcerting is the fact that they have falling for Achu's verbal gimmicks.

I know I stand the danger of being painted a Pinarayi supporter, but let us face it: Achu's administration has done precious little in the way of governance. Of course, if we believe Achu's media managers that tearing down illegal constructions in Munnar is a great achievement for the state, then Achu is the best chief minister Kerala has had. Sadly, bulldozing illegal constructions is not among the criteria on which I, and most pople, would like to rate an administration. Without taking away from Achu the credit for doing it in all his haste, let us remember that even if those buildings stood a fw more days it wouldn't have mattered for the average Malayali.

And there are a lot of things that matter for the Keralite and those for which Achu's administration has scored zero marks. Let us look at the health scene. I think a zillion types of viruses are wreaking havoc in the state, and the health care system has all but broken down. Still we are yet to see a concerted effort from the part of the government to lick the issue. Yes, you can say the health minister is a Pinarayi supporter and is to blame. But Achu as chief minister is not above blame. Why cannot he act - like in the case of the Munnar demolitions - and get the health machinery moving? Because that is not going to bring him cheap publicity. The picture I get is that of an old man hungry for cheap publicity, but completely inept when it comes to ruling the state.

Or look at the state of the roads in the state. Except for the showpiece stretch of tarmac in front of the Raj Bhavan there is not a single road in Thiruvananthapuram without potholes. I would not even classify some of these as roads! And this did not happen overnight. The roads were pretty bad even before the monsoons started. The sad thing is neither the CM or the ministers or the officials are worried about this rickety state of affairs.

These are just two things that come to mind when trying to evaluate Achumama's government. I highlighted them here because they affect the common man more directly than any other issue now. Yet it is sad that some think Achu is a fantastic chief minister. The people are clapping now, and they are being egged on by people like Veerendrakumar and other media guys. But the day is not far when open questions will arise about the Achu government. By then the damage would have been done to the LDF. The CPM Politburo should act fast and decide if they need a wily, power-crazy, and incompetent old man who is trying to build himself a larger-than-party image as chief minister and lose its credibility in the bargain or would rather have a more competent, disciplined and practical chief minister and save the future of the party and the state. The faster the Politburo addresses the question, the better.

Media Wars: Veeran Gets A Black Eye!

2007-08-06T01:39:00.000-07:00

One of the best things I love about the current roil in the media scene with respect to the Pharis-Achumama controversy is that Veerendrakumar, and Mathrubhumi, have been cut to size.
Ever since he defeated the entry of Times of India to the Malayalam media scene through his political connections, Veeran has been punching far above his weight. And now, Deepika, a featherweight in the Malayalam print media scene has screwed Veeran and his paper, and showed up their brand of journalism.
Everyone knows that Veeran took on the Pinarayi faction of the CPM and Deepika in trying to cover up the issue of his illegal possession of hectares of land. While clapping from the sidelines while Achumama's backhoe loaders were tearing down buildings in Munnar, Veeran forgot that he himself was sitting in a glass tower and throwing stones. Veeran stepped up attacks against the Pinarayi faction to distract readers from his land issue. And in doing that he bit off more than he could chew. If Veeran was accustomed to punching above his weight, now he has had to accustom himself to an adversary who punches far above his weight! Yes, I am talking about Pharis Aboobacker, the chairman of Deepika.
Whatever the controversy about Pharis' chairmanship of Deepika, he has managed to expose Veeran's double standards and his brand of tabloid journalism to the Malayali readers. Veeran's paper, the once-venerable Mathrubhumi, did the unthinkable in printing totally unsubstantiated allegations about Pharis and claiming that not even a photo of his is available. Pharis then appeared on TV and said Mathrubhumi could have got his photo from the income-tax office, or even worse, from PV Nideesh, one of the directors of Mathrubhumi and Pharis' close friend. In trying to obfuscate his mistake Veeran went on to dig up all remotely related trash about Pharis and publicize them under huge headlines, while conveniently censoring Nidheesh's denial from Mathrubhumi's readers.
Veeran has forgotten that we are now living in an information age and he cannot suppress the truth for long. If Veeran won't print his director's denial of a Mathrubhumi news story, it will still reach the readers. And discerning Malayali readers are beginning to lose faith in Veeran and his rag. Yes, I am pained to say that but Mathrubhumi is fast turning a rag in Malayalam journalism.
As Pharis said, there is no need to get overly proud over the fact that Mathrubhumi was started by nationalist fighters; those running the paper currently [Veeran and co] have no connection with those great men. Yes, what we are currently witnessing is the slow burial of a venerable newspaper, all to serve the personal agenda of a wily land grabber.
If those who say that Malayalis have a right to know the source of Pharis' wealth are correct, then Malayalis also have a right to question Veeran's agenda and the source of his wealth. He cannot obfuscate facts and keep a veil on reality as easily as he could have done a few years ago. Sooner or later the world will find out about Veeran. My only prayer is Mathrubhumi won't be dead by then.

Needed: Temple Entry For All

2007-08-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about the controversy surrounding the issue of temple entry to those born non-Hindus but are believers. A lot of arguments and counter arguments have been raised, with the ever obscurantist and casteist Nair Service Society throwing its weight (?!) behind those who want to maintain the skewed system of caste-based privileges.
But there are some larger questions to be asked before we approach this issue. For one, who decides someone is a believer or a non-believer? Can the temple priests vouch for someone's belief just because s/he has declared that s/he is a believer in the Hindu religion? For all you know that person could still be a non-Hindu in the core of his being!
Second question: if Hindus pride themselves to be the most inclusive religion with the loftiest of philosophies, why look into the question of someone's belief at all? If you really believe all creation is one, does it matter if some worm or homo sapien believes that s/he does not belong to the Hindu faith!
The argument has been raised by some that restricted access is needed in temples to maintain their purity. From what I have seen in various temples, there is no specious argument than this. Do you think all Hindu temples are clean and pure because only Hindus are allowed? I would disagree.
Also, this leads to another question: is spirituality connected to outer cleanliness. There were many men of god who were regarded highly for their spiritual achievements but who scarcely washed their bodies. And from my own experiences, I have felt the temples in Tamil Nadu and North India had better spiritual vibrations than those in Kerala with their haughty priests and Tantric rituals and restrictions.
In my humble opinion, Hindu temples should be open to everyone but with reasonable restrictions put in place to maintain harmony and cleanliness. Let us remember that even now many curious non-Hindus visit some of these temples without the guardians of Tantric rules even knowing it. Yesudas, who expressed his interest openly in visiting Guruvayoor cannot visit the temple (despite him being a great devotee and his records being played at every temple!) while many non-Hindus visit the temple daily without anyone knowing it! At the very least, it would be a farce to maintain this restriction when you can never really enforce it.
Also, we need to realize that this new world in which we live has little need for these retrograde traditions. We need to do away with them without a second thought and we need to do that fast. And for that to happen, each one of us need to approach the issue without the baggage of traditions that we have, a baggage the likes of NSS leaders and the Namboodiri priests are using to keep us from seeing Light!

Pharis, Not Faris - And Not Paris!

2007-08-04T01:56:00.000-07:00

I got his name wrong in my last post. It is Pharis, and not Faris.
The second episode of the interview was even better. Our man went on to cut to size VS's bloated media image, something that was highly necessary. The points he raised were valid, questions that should have been asked about the Demolition CM's activities long back. But our media with its vested interests were busy "clapping" from the sidewalks - enjoying its lamp-post reporting role while forgetting its lighthouse reporting role. Thanks Pharis, you spoke for a lot of us Malayalis who have lost voice in this media frenzy - created by media barons with vested interests - over Achu's rule. And he went of to equate Achu's age old trick of resorting to trivia to tarnish opponents to what jealous school kids do - in reference to Pharis being referred to as Paris, our man said that is what my friends used to sometimes call me in school. He went on to paint Achu's conduct as puerile, despite Brittas trying hard to change tack!
And Mathrubhumi is still at its deception game with its readers - no news about its director being a friend of Pharis and more reportage about the former official of Singapore Kidney Foundation - connected with Pharis previously - being jailed.
Big photo, big headline on frontpage, but no serious reason for it to be there.
But then, what do you expect of a paper with Veerendrakumar as editor, eh?!
For the Malayali, tired of Achu's political circuses and oneupmanship the only hope now is the CPM Politbureau will do something to kick the government out of its inaction. Hope while they are reviewing Pharis' tapes they will have the sense to understand the message he gave - about delivery and performance mattering more now. Or will the ivory tower leaders - most of who can't even win a Panchayat election - still engage in endless debates about if the channel did the right thing?!
Maybe Keralites should give Pharis a chance to become their chief minister. At least that will show the politicians that they don't really matter!

Faris Shows Up Malayalam Journalism!

2007-08-03T02:08:00.000-07:00

I watched the interview Faris Aboobacker gave to John Brittas in People Channel of Kairali TV with joy. For once the interviewee was in charge, completely dominating the proceedings and leaving the interviewer struggling to catch up and trying to make some feeble interjections! Also, Faris showed what Malayalam journalists are really worth - blasting them for not doing enough homework and for practicing armchair journalism. And in a not so subtle way Faris leveled the same charge against Brittas, who could not even parry Faris's pointed questions.
The interviewee was clearly calling the shots, and by far a better journalist than the interviewer!
Another piece I loved about it was Faris tearing up Mathrubhumi's self-professed right to take the moral high ground citing its history as a paper founded by nationalists against British colonial rule. Faris said what every impartial Malayali reader had on his mind while reading such lofty claims by Mathrubhumi's nameless journalists: Mathrubhumi cannot pride itself on that count because it is not the descendants of those nationalists who are running the paper now but people who were opposed to the Congress till before the emergency - that one should strike Veerendrakumar in the eye. Kudos!
And Mathrubhumi fumbled repeatedly in its attempt to bat for Chief Minister Achutanandan: claiming there is no photo of Faris in existence and that he is a mystery to people even in his home village, while the truth was one of the directors of Mathrubhumi was a close friend of Faris. The director went on to blast the paper for publishing such reports but the venerable editor thought it prudent to hide that!
Whatever be the merits or demerits of this case, I like this spat for two reasons: one Faris showed up Malayalam journalim; two, Veerendrakumar has ended up with egg on his face!

Achtung! LDF Going The UDF Way In Kerala

2007-08-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

The infighting in the Left Democratic Front is actually causing a lot of pain to people who voted them to power. Let us first face the fact that a lot of people who voted for the LDF aren't members of any of the parties. They voted for the LDF because they were tired by the corruption and lack of accountability and complete breakdown of the administrative machinery during the United Democratic Front't rule.
I remember the last days of the UDF government. I had just returned from Delhi, and what I saw was something unimaginable in a state like Kerala which prides itself on its awareness and liberal outlook. Just one example: the police were out in the streets flagging down and checking any vehicle and fining them, trying to extort money from motorists. And if you wanted to complain about it to someone higher up, the officer you approached would ask you to grease his palms! The general feeling was the ruling leaders had let the policemen out on the streets to make money even as they themselves were lining their pockets.
Okay, now the funny thing was while the police were so active on the roads the thieves were having a field day! There were gangs of robbers roaming the streets, even in Thiruvananthapuram, and going about their 'profession' with immunity!
Now, this was one instance of UDF misrule. And the people were tired of it. So the LDF came to power - not because of the charisma of VS Achutanandan or the cadre folloewing of the CPM!
Look at the state of affairs now! The faction war has hobbled the administration. Even as various kinds of fevers ravage the populace the state health minister is not to be seen. The treatment and cleaning drives are non-existent. All that the chief minister and his cronies are worried about is image building, while leaving the day-to-day functioning of the government in the hands of an inept bureaucracy! Even the party machinery which usually steps in to correct such mistakes is split along factional lines and engaged in a game of trying to run down each other.
Little wonder even die-hard Communists are now saying they made a mistake in voting this government to power.
They may be exaggerating: the LDF is still better than the corrupt and divisive UDF; but their feelings can only be ignored to the peril of the current government. That is the most insidious part of the current state of affairs. Public memory is short; the UDF can come back to power if the LDF continues on this track. Will we go back to those days of rampant corruption and extortion? I fear to think of it.

Why All This Noise About Sanjay Dutt?

2007-08-01T02:26:00.000-07:00

Why is there so much noise over Sanjay Dutt being put behind bars? I just don't understand it. The man may not have directly planned the Mumbai blasts, but he definitely was pally with the terrorists who did it. And he possessed automatic weapons banned by law.
Now, let us forget all the issues about whether Dutt deserves this or not. Let us just look at how a common citizen would have been punished if he was in Dutt's boots - a common man who would not have the money or the celebrity status to gain media attention or to get an army of illustrious lawyers. None of us would have even given a second thought about the quantum of punishment such a person gets. Therein lies the crux of the issue - celebrities or common people, everyone has to be same before the law. Our justice system has flouted this principle umpteen times, but this time it has not. So instead of throwing stones let us for one celebrate the unbiased justice system and the characters in it who delivered this judgment.
Also, there have been some comments from Dutt's fellow actor community that a celebrity should not be given such a punishment. Come on, look at what happened to Paris Hilton. If the people giving such comments were in Europe or America they would have been behind bars for at least 3 days for the offence!

How We Measure Ourselves

2007-02-08T03:07:00.000-08:00

For the last few days I have refrained from commenting upon Shilpa Shetty on the Big Brother Show in the UK. After all, I thought, it is a Bollywood actress doing it for money, and the racism is part of the occupational hazard.
But seems like the media thinks I was wrong. They have been falling over each other trying to get mileage from the event.
But let us stand back for a moment and think: is the greatness of this nation to be measured by how Shilpa Shetty or any other actress behaves or is behaved to? I firmly think 'No.'
That would be like measuring America's greatness with the number of pubic hairs you can count on Britney's love cheeks, which she exposes very happily to eager paparazzi.
But we measure America by its economic and miliatary power, the prowess of its statemen, scienteists, and workers, the culture of its people, and a host of other factors.
In the hype over Shilpa Shetty we seem to have forgotten that is how India's greatness should be measured too. When Shilpa Shetty shouts Chicken Curry, that is in no way going to increase India's image before the world. For that we need to show we can do a lot of things that our license-permit Raj governments prevented us from doing for five decades.
Let us not get our priorities wrong, or we risk being pushed to the fringes of a world community which is racing to create a new world order.

SBI Computerization Fiasco

2007-01-25T04:32:00.000-08:00

There is no better example to public sector mismanagement than the story of State Bank of India' s (SBI) computerization. SBI staff have already held strikes against this 'Core Banking' solution. At that point many have criticized them over being not adaptive to technology or worried about serving customers better. But more interactions with the software and staff at the bank makes me think the decision to use this software (Bancslink) for SBI's computerization was either foolish or, more likely, driven by palm-greasing middlemen.
While Indian companies have world-class banking software like Finnacle or Flexcube, our biggest bank has decided to go with a software, the search of whose name hardly elicits a page of results in Google! Added to that the implementation has been tardy, and staff training inadequate. Probably someone is eating taxpayer money by giving SBI customers and staff a raw deal.
If this is how India' s largest bank treats its customers, and taxpayers, then where are we heading? Can the bank's management explain its decision to use this software and its implementation strategy publicly? I think there should be some such mechanism to hold public sector babus and corrupt politicians accountable.
However, the bank's current ills are not completely due to the software alone. Even if it had been some better software product, the staff would have been extremely unresponsive to adapting it. Now, bank unions (some of the strongest in the country) can give you any number of reasons for this.
But we should not forget that such computerization is nothing new. Many other countries have tread this path before India. If they, notably Europe and the USA, could do this why cannot we?
The answer lies in the pampered position our public sector employees have enjoyed for decades.
The will to learn and adapt was there in Europe and elsewhere as the employees knew if they did not master this monster called computer, they would be rendered jobless. That fear, sadly, is missing among Indian public sector employees. The result: a lot of taxpayer money is being wasted on people who care two hoots about the general public or customers.
In a country where there are millions of able and competent youngsters who can do the job better, cheaper, and more importantly, bring in a better work ethic to government offices, banks, and other such places, this attitude is criminal.
Isn't SBI and its staff answerable to the people?

Junk Parliamentary Democracy For A New India

2007-01-23T21:10:00.000-08:00

Another Republic Day. Remembering the day we threw off the foreign yoke decisively. Like every other Indian I too feel patriotic feelings rushing through my veins. But there is a tinge of sadness that mixes with this patriotism. How can I not feel sad when I see the slimy politicians taking salutes from ordinary men and women who are defending our borders for a living, with hardly a thanks or enough pecuniary benefits? The injustice of it angers me: the demagogue who is out to make a profit by selling off the country's wealth and security is taking, yes taking, salute from the real guardians of the country.

Today's Times of India Online has a report on a Goldman Sachs study that India will overtake the United States as an economic powerhouse by 2050, to become the second largest economy after China. Media survives by playing up such stories. When there is a boom you can sell such stories. But beyond the feel-good factor, we ignore the one class of people who can derail this dream - the politicians. Everyone else, except the politicians, and Islamic and Christian fundamentalists, have a stake in seeing India become a global economic powerhouse. Now, equating our politicians with terrorists may seem taking it too far, but the truth is the politician is more insidious than the terrorist.

If India did not have a licence-raj, a quota system, a separate set of privileges for the minorities, and umpteen other injustices, imagine where this country would have been today. Yes, the system is changing but the politician is not. They are trying to work the new evolving system to their advantage. And it is in their interest to build into the new India the same flaws that characterize the current Indian society and polity. Will the India of the 2050 be different from today's India, other than for its economic power? Nay, will India ever reach that 2050 milestone if these wily politicians and their crony bureaucrats are allowed to engineer the genes of the new India with the very flaws that have held us back for around 60 years?

Yes, it is time to think of a new India - a new India with a new political system. Junk parliamentary democracy. Junk the Westministerial system. They have been foisted on us by the West to prevent us from growing and achieving greatness. And the West has its handymen here in our midst in the form of our politicians. We need a better tomorrow - for India, for Me and for You. Let us think out of the box; let us get these parasites out of our midst.

The Way To A Great India

2007-01-23T02:35:00.000-08:00

A Great India - That which seemed an impossibility even 10 years ago is finally beginning to take shape. The silhouette is just about visible through the fog of the future. Sadly, our politicians and our media, with their divisive and self-serving agenda are trying to mold the new India in the image of the old. This blog will be my humble attempt to look at events, persons, institutions, etc., in a new perspective - to highlight their faults and to laud their virtues. I believe such a slap-on-the face discourse is highly needed if this country is to regain its glory, and not become just an extension of its current self - a sick and poverty ridden society full of social, political, and moral ills.

Our politicians and our media, it seems, are quite happy in letting this historic opportunity to pass by for their own selfish concerns. In the days to come you will see my on reading of events and persons relating to India - anything and everything will be held under a high powered microscope and mercilessly analyzed. Yes, you can expect a refreshing view of India, and a guide lamp to the glorious future, here. Read and let the world know about us.