N-talk shows up Sena; Modi needs to cut it to size

It is appalling that the Sena choose to assert itself with Narendra Modi by talking of exercising the nuclear option against Pakistan.

The comments, on the eve of the swearing of the Modi ministry, not only are inopportune but also shows up the shallowness of the Sena leadership on weighty matters affecting the nation. The Sena either has no knowledge of the cataclysmic consequences of the nuclear option, and the ability of Pakistan to survive a first strike and launch a devastating counter strike, or they lack the caliber to grasp such issues. Additionally, by talking like ruffians engaged in a street power game, they have shown themselves up as unable to provide leadership to the nation.

The very fact that the Sena, an important ally to the BJP and a key Hindutva party, was willing to think of an option that would send billions of living beings into oblivion, is even more worrying. Sena watchers may not be surprised at the statement but the callousness with which it was uttered makes it frightening to think the kind of leadership India is going to get.

Makes it all the more imperative for Narendra Modi to run a tight ship, and if need be, to press the eject button on allies like the Sena. The way the Sena has been carping about getting more cabinet berths shows it is more interested in power and pelf rather than good governance. Modi has made a good start by resisting those pressures. He should now slowly tighten the screws on the Sena and bring it in line -- he can do that; the Indian people have gifted him a majority for strengthening the nation.

Mumbai's top cop gets a tight slap from Thackeray but will he get the marching orders?

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has given a slap on Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh's face, and rightly so. Thackeray asked the  city's top cop what is the need for a police force if Ganesh Mandals are to be made solely responsible for the security of women devotees.

Singh has the habit of pontificating about social issues beyond his grasp to hide the dubious record of his force in bringing crime and criminals under control in India's financial capital and his own ineptness in leading them. This time he tried to bite more than he could chew.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan gave a meek response that he will speak to Singh about his statement, a clear sign that nothing will happen and the cop will get away without even a rap across the knuckles. But it is time someone did something about this police force which has cut such a sorry figure. The only persons who can do that in the current political spectrum are the Thackeray cousins but they seem to be in no mood to grab power which is for their asking. Their mutual bickering will only let the effete ruling front get away with their follies.

If Mumbai has to be saved from further going down the spiral of crime and violence, a beginning has to be made somewhere and the top cop has offered himself as the most visible choice for that beginning. Will someone bite the bullet this time?

Why Iran may not be behind the Israel embassy attack in India

The bomb attack of an Israeli embassy car has, predictably, led to accusations that Iran is the perpetrator.
For those accusing Iran for the attack, the link is very obvious: a bomb was found and defused in an Israel embassy car in Georgia around the same time; Iran's nuclear scientists have been killed recently in similar attacks suspected to be carried out by the Moss and and that country had threatened to hit back ...
A U.S. commentator said the attack shows how panicky the Iranian leadership is to have carried out the attack in a country that has now become its main oil customer.
Well, it is not so simple. None of this 'evidence' actually is fool-proof it you look at them impartially.
Granted, Iran has said it will hit back but that is not evidence that country carried out these particular attacks. Not even the fact that there were two coordinated attacks in two different countries at almost at the same time. At the most that just proves Israel was attacked in a coordinated manner -- it could have been any one. Iran is just an easy suspect.
Now to look at another aspect that is largely being ignored as Western media push the official line of American and European governments ranged against Iran over that country's nuclear weapons program.
If Iran wanted to strike at Israeli targets, why should it do that in India and try to sever its economic lifeline? Iran or its proxies could have done that in any other country, as they have proved many times before. The Iranian leadership may be in panic mode, but they are not fools.
They could as well have carried out such a strike in any western capital and proved their point much more forcefully. And if they carried out the Indian attacks, they could have done it much more effectively!
So who could have been behind the attacks? It is much more easy to suspect western intelligence agencies if you look at the circumstantial evidence. It is they who want to stir up things and rupture India-Iran relations . India is now that country's major oil customer and has resisted western efforts to cut down buying its oil. India has even worked out a payments system that is not impacted by the U.S.-sponsored sanctions.
Naturally it is in western interests to cut off this economic lifeline to Iran. And they would have calculated that such an attack would create a situation wherein the Indian government is forced to cut off its trade links to Iran.
So what about the coordinated attacks? The bomb in Tbilisi, Georgia, was only an attempt to ratchet up pressure and show a 'pattern.'
Well, both attacks failed. Could the western agencies have been so unprofessional? No, but the same applies to Iran; they may be technologically behind the west, but when it comes to such clandestine  attacks they have proved that they can strike at will, and effectively.
The failures just show that the brains behind the attack employed some ill-trained proxies. Why should that be Iran?

The world has changed, and it's payback time for British colonialists!

A column and a news story from the Economic Times have provided fuel for this article -- again on British aid to India.
First, Swapan Dasgupta writes about how British perception of Indians have changed over the decades as India's riches grew and Britian's declined. This is throwback to a few centuries earlier, or almost, when India's riches attracted the attention of the robbers in London.
Britain has, right from 1947 when it was forced to give India its freedom, tried to weaken this country and deny it its rightful place in the comity of world nations. That country's sole claim to fame is the wealth it plundered from the rest of the world, mostly India, and the way it brutally killed and pushed to poverty millions of people all over the world.
It has since then tried to keep India and the developing world weak through a variety of instruments, like the Commonwealth of Nations and British aid.
British aid in India has now become a joke, with India saying it does not want it and Britain says it won't stop giving it!
Clearly, there is something nefarious about the whole thing. British aid is going to cultivate Indian lobbyists, throgh non-profits and aid projects for the poor that actually line politicians' pockets.
But this time, with India opting for the French Rafale fighter, it is clear that British bribery is not working. India's decision to go for the Rafale is a sound one, and the Brits just cannot stomach it. As in the Mughal times, now they are hoping to overturn the Indian decision by greasing politicians' palms. The danger with India caving in is that buying British defense hardware will keep in place the unequal relationship that has existed between Britain and India. More importantly, it will help India's riches flow into Britain, again, setting off another round of financial exploitation.
The question that we Indians should be asking is why should we let these robbers get away with what they want. Any India politician who tries to scupper the Rafale decision and give the fighter contract to the Brits should be tried and imprisoned. The Brits' statements on tying aid to fighter contracts is enough evidence for that.
Britain should be let to die a slow, painful death, like the one it forced on many poor Indian artisans and farmers a couple of hundred years back. Those gruesome stories are equally horrible to the Nazi holocaust, just that the Brits were the winner of the World War II and were painted angels in history books.
If India wants to help any country in the West, it should be the United States. The steady stream of jobs that has come our way from the United States is responsible in a major way for our prosperity and economic rise. And we should try to reciprocate by giving the some arms contracts that will help them generate and keep jobs.
True, the United States has sided with the Paks several times but it was not with the aim of economic exploitation -- as was the case with Britain. The Americans were guided by their strategic calculus than economy in such decisions.
The second story is about how the Taliban has promised to capture and kill Prince Harry when he returns to Afghanistan. While we should not condone killing or threats of killing in any way, this statement from the Taliban shows how much the Brits have lost respect, and power, in the region.
They had kindled some of the world's worst, simmering conflicts during their colonial days and continued to stoke them by siding with one or the other party. Now is payback time!
This is called the wheel of Karma. For several generations of Indians who were pained to read about British atrocities and exploitation, with a feeling of helplessness, it is a time of joy. The Brits are getting it back!
With the power of the Internet the people of India can now make sure that our politicians cannot be swayed by British 'aid'. And we have nukes and long-range missiles now if the Brits every try any of their usual shenanigans.
Meanwhile, there is hope that it will not be easy for the Brits to swing the fighter contract their way -- read this article by Rajat Pandit in the economictimes.com.

Say 'no' to UK aid; it's a tool to dictate to India

It seems the UK is still in colonial-master mode if the controversy over that country's aid to India is anything to go by. Britain gives India about $280 million in aid, puny by India's standards and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said as much.
The latest round of controversy is about how India spurned the Eurofighter Typhoon for the French Rafale, despite receiving British aid.
This has been a typical British tactic -- give India aid and use that leverage to make us buy their arms. Think of the Sea King helicopter deal. India bought those for our armed forces from the UK, and soon enough that country stopped the supply of spares over India's nuclear program. The fleet was grounded, hobbling the Indian Navy's anti-submarine and fleet air arm capabilities.
The current statement from British politicians, and I am sure behind the scenes maneuvers by the UK government, to tie that country's aid to India's fighter purchases rekindles memories of that humiliating episode. We should never ever buy British weapons; that country has a history of siding with Pakistan and trying to dictate our foreign policy. They just want Indian money to keep flowing into their coffers.
And I am surprised by all this outcry in Britain over 'aid' to India: after all that country's riches are a result of centuries of plunder of the East, especially India. Now that the cash-flow channels are slowly getting blocked, they want to open up new ones to keep the money flowing.
New Delhi should ask London to keep its aid, or better still, give it to the Pakistanis. Those guys are faster when it comes to payback, just they they prefer to pay back in kind -- in the form of terrorist bombs!

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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?

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?

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

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?

Much vilified, Sonia Gandhi brings hope for India

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

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

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.