Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts

Damned Lies and Statistics, remarked Mark Twain. I am reminded of that when I get to see the Inflation figures released by the Govt of India.

The Govt says that it is taking all efforts to prevent India from slipping into Deflation. Steps taken by the Govt apart, let us first analyze, How real is the threat of India slipping into deflation in the first place? If Roger Federer were to lose to the 500th ranked player in a Grand Slam tournament, then yeah India too would slip into deflation.

There are strong reasons for me saying this, New found optimism coupled with Reduction in Production of Crude has meant that Crude Oil is on the rise again as a consequence of which Fuel prices back home have been hiked. Fears about the Monsoon has meant that prices of Groceries and Vegetables which were already high have risen further and I would say it is almost getting out of ordinary people like me.

To put it across more clearly, a middle class family which was managing its show with 5,ooo INR would now require around 6,500 to 7,000 INR to sustain the same standard of living and here we have the Government speaking about Deflation and steps to propel the Economy.

Now you call that deflation???

Seems like the Govt has got some special parameters on which it measures Inflation. It would be great if they can furnish those parameters so that the common people like me can actually understand what does the Govt mean when they use the terms "Inflation" and "Deflation".

How do you feel when you are made to wait at the Traffic Signal? How do you feel when you find that the train you board is delayed by some hours? In short, How does it feel to wait and wait knowing that you really cannot do anything to make the situation any better? Terrible isn't it?

or rather the Indian Voter has set the stage for reforms by voting with clarity and purpose. These results cannot be dismissed as a mere referendum on the State Governments. The results of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu clearly show that the Voter has voted for Stability and Clarity.

at this moment to the EC (Election Commission) of India for having successfully conducted this show so successfully. It is a "thankless job" with the media highlighting only the stray Incidents and the flaws. 

Mr.Rajapakse, Go ahead and etch your name in Golden Letters in not only Sri Lankan History but also World History. You cannot do it by Obliterating, LTTE, rather you can achieve it by making a simple announcement.

There is no need to call for a Ceasefire, you can rather end this whole war by making one simple announcement. Go ahead and Announce that Tamil Immigrants in Sri Lanka will be treated in the same way as the Sinhalese are treated. You can make the LTTE totally Irrelevant, get the Appreciation of International Community and save thousands of lives and put Sri Lanka on the growth path.

If one were to look at this issue closely all this, it started because the Tamil People who came to work in Sri Lanka were not even treated as Humans, let alone being treated on par with the Sinhalese. And if I were to delve a bit more deeply into this, it arises from Ignorance. Yes Ignorance of the fact that all Humans are Equal and you do not become superior or Inferior because of the fact that you are born in a particular country, or you speak a particular language or because of your color.

This is one Issue that should have not become such a big one and consumed so many lives, but Past is Past. Sir, you now have the opportunity to bring an end to all this. So go ahead,announce and etch Ur name in History forever.

Yeah that is the word that comes immediately to my Mind, when I think of all the Election based programs that are being televised, a small Consolation though is that these programs at least are entertaining unlike the Stupid Soaps and the Dumb Reality Shows.

Well on a Serious Note, if one were to dissect the Contents of these shows, one would observe that, Like Indian Cinema which has pretty much remained Unchanged in terms of Content, these shows too have remained Unchanged over the decades. All that has changed is the Packaging. Leaders still promise food, shelter and basic facilities for the weaker sections (Huh, it is indeed a sad state of affairs that we have this situation even after 6 decades of Independence), Leaders still speak of Free * ( Fill the (*)wild character with whatever u want to) to people.

The climax of this entertainment is the Election Manifesto and the discussions over it. I seriously would like to know how much of that Manifesto has changed over the past decades, and how seriously do these parties value this Manifesto?All they seem to value and treasure is their Money bank and Muscle Bank. They seem to have clearly understood that there exists a significant section of the Voting population who are very loyal ( read as Stupid) when it comes to Voting, and hence they confidently keep repeating the rhetoric, without caring a damn about the Implementation.

Well, Let us all enjoy this Time Pass, as this provides us all some relief from the usual Nonsense, But let us not make fools out of ourselves by continuing to Vote for these parties. Let us keep all our love for a family or for an organization at the doorstep and vote for a better future for all us. Let us Vote for 49-O.

Elections are on us again and the world's largest democracy will have its next Ruler in around Six weeks time, but is anything going to change for the common Man?

Government after Government has come and gone and in spite of all the Political parties claiming responsibility for the growth , the sad truth remains that salary has grown by just a percent against a growth of 5% in productivity, in the last 2 decades (Courtesy:ILO). Put in Simple words, people have not earned their respective Due.

Compare this against the $1.5 trillion stashed away in Safe Haven of Switzerland. Although the Government of Switzerland has expressed its willingness to provide details of its account holders, the Indian Government has not asked for it.

The BJP, which is the main opposition party , claims that it will bring out the details if it comes to power, but I seriously doubt it and the reasons for it are too Obvious to be stated.

In such a scenario, what do we do? whom do we vote for? Our vote seems hardly seems to matter as there is not much of a difference regardless of whoever is in power. The Election Commission says that 70% of the people in the age group of 18-25 have not even registered with the Election Commission. The response that you are likely to get is that, Things are not going to change regardless of whoever comes to power.

Well, My dear friends, we finally have a way out. Our choice 49-O. The right which the constitution provides us to say that we Vote for None. A few clarifications here, Even if 49-O were to emerge with the highest number of votes to its name, the elections will not be held again or be declared as null and void. The candidate who has got the highest number of votes (excluding 49-O) will be declared as the winner.

Then why the hell vote for 49-O? 49-O will serve as a Warning bell to our candidates,Imagine the amount of embarrassment that a candidate will have to face when he comes to know that more people have voted for None in his constituency. In this age of Media, this will create a huge embarrassment and whichever government which takes charge ( Some Government will.I say this because most of the Rural public are not aware of this option) will strive its best to salvage its image.

So Let us start this change, let us go out and vote,let us create awareness about this amidst the Masses, let us do it for all the people who are suffering, let us do it for our fellow friends and for the future of this Nation.

would be an understatement. Never did I ever think even in my wildest dreams that things would come this far.Democracy in India perhaps has reached its Nadir. Although not widely reported, I consider this to be a really significant event.

People scolding election officials for preventing the disbursement of Freebies, an euphemism for Bribe. This Recent happening at a Constituency in a part of Tamil Nadu has come as a real shock. All along, Politicians and bureaucrats were painted (wrongly) in black and the general Public in White (again wrongly). This incident would have cleared all those doubts.

Add to this the recent survey finding that "4 out of 5 people in BPL(Below Poverty Line) category confess to having accepted money for casting their vote in the state of Andhra Pradesh and states like Tamil Nadu are not too far behind with 70% of people in the same category"

In case if someone is going to brush this off as a problem with the under privileged section of the society, I must inform them things are not greatly different with the other sections too.Sometime back we had a survey which said that Majority contracts in countries like India are won through Bribes.Not for a moment am I supporting the politicians, But all I would like to highlight here is the fact that the overall standard of the society seems to have dropped so low.How come people who preach the highest standards in public stoop to any extent, when it comes to getting things done for themselves? I leave this question to the Psychologists and people who study Social Sciences as I am sure that it would be a fascinating subject for them to research upon.

There is a Sanskrit Saying which goes "Etha Raja Tatha Praja", which means People follow the King. Now we need to tweak this as "Etha Praja Tatha Raja" which means The King follows the Subjects, or to quote Bernard Shaw "Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve".

So let us stop complaining about and make that we as responsible citizens and civilized humans do our bit to get us out of this mire into which we have got into.

Back in May we spoke about the poor handling of the Gujjars issue by Rajasthan's Chief Minsiter Vasundra Raje Scindia. The poor handling of the issue meant Vasundra Raje lost the trust of both the castes and this coupled with neglect for the masses in general has cost this election for the BJP and Vasundra Raje

Yeah, a couple of people have done this recently through their statements.

Lets start off with the Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr Karunanidhi, he has taken a swipe at Hindus and Hindu Culture for the Umpteenth time now. The recent one being the criticism of people's habit of wearing a Tilak on their forehead and a community's habit of wearing a thread over their shoulder.

He has gone on and said that Equality is the need of the hour and caste differences need to be uprooted and people should stop fighting over the existence of a Supreme power.

While i do fully aknowledge the need for Equality and the need to refrain from fighting over the existence of a Supreme Power or Not, i do have some questions for the Chief Minister

1. How does wearing a thread or Tilak on the forehead contribute to Inequality? Now why target a community again and again and create the illusion that a particular community alone is responsible for Inequality, when the reality is very different?

2. And why doesn't the Honourable CM speak about the caste differences that exist in other religions in the state? What is preventing him from speaking about other religions? Votes???

The Second Person is one of the most loved cricketers of the modern era, Adam Gilchrist, Following his recent swipes at Tendulkar, Ganguly and Harbahajan, he has gone on record and called Muralidaran a Chucker.

Now the best part about his statement though is that not at one place has he blamed Muralidharan, he has gone on and spoken about how this whole issue was politicised and projected as a Racist Issue, thereby sidetracking from the main problem.

Notwithstanding the fact Racism exists, the recent hype over Obama being the first "Black President" is a live example of how we are still looking at people.Obama's colour and not his credentials have become the biggest talking point and it is something that i feel we must be ashamed of. We still subconsciously differentiate people based on such silly things.

Coming back to our topic, in spite of the aforementioned fact, I have always felt like Gilchrist that Murali's issue was side tracked and projected as an Issue of Racism. Now I am pretty sure that this Statement will create a tremor or two in cricketing fraternity.

Now people all over the world are asking "Why Gilly?"

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Food-crisis-Try-rats-says-Bihar-govt/350268/
This is the status in one of the states of our country. Absolute Shame. 9+ growth, Foreign Investments, Booming Real Estate, but still people are starved for Food. One more example to show that the growth is not INCLUSIVE and still there is a huge section of the population has not come under the Beneficiaries bracket.

The worst part is not that the people are asked to eat Rats. The worst part is the confession of the Official that " Half of the grains in the Godowns are eaten by rats". Yet nothing is being done to stop that. Although agriculture is neglected, we still manage to produce enough food to feed the whole of INDIA, the problem is Poor Storage, Black Markets and Hoarding.

"Eating rats serves double purpose" says the Official, Dunno whether he will feed on them, however well cooked it might be?

To Sum it all up "Shame On Us"

"Here, There and Everywhere" Nope we are not talking about God here, we are talking about Bombs in India. The word Security seems to have been removed from the Country's dictionary. More than the explosions i am alarmed at the ease with which these terror networks are able to operate. Terror network is growing at an alarmingly fast rate. Blasts are no more confined to MUMBAI and SRINAGAR .

How come they have been able to grow at this alarming rate?

1. "Vote Bank Politics", the bane of any Democracy, more so in the case of India with it being a culturally diverse country,is the single biggest factor. With the educated class not voting, the minorities and the oppressed become the deciding forces and this Government has gone way too far to get the share of the minority vote. The Pending execution of Afazal whose involvement in the attack was prove beyond doubt is a standing testimony to that. Terrorism is being equated to Religion and this if continues spells nothing but "DISASTER".Can vote bank politics be removed from the system? "NO" it can never be done in any democracy. So can it be minimized?" Yes". How?

Action Item for Us:

People must for their own sake must excercise their franchise, the more the voting percentage we have the better as that and only that can minimize the game of Vote bank politics.

Now for the Govt:

And I doubt whether someone in Redfort will see this, So what even if they see it? They see so many newspapers which all cry for action, but are unpertrubed by it. Then why are we writing, all hoping that someday or the other some awareness is created or some change takes place.

Action Points for Govt:

Invest Heavily in Technology. It is not going to be possible to monitor a billion people with out dated systems. Invest for the future.

Implement "POTA". Networks need to be broken, for which fear needs to be sent down the spines of the people who support the networks.

And

Educate the minorities and make them feel comfortable. Get rid of their apprehensions and fears and Insecurities.

Finally,A single attack on a Country, was reason gud enf for that country to carpet bomb another nation. I am not asking for Carpet Bombing, but please make sure that u dont welcome the anti social elements with a Red Carpet.

P.S: My good friend Nagrockz is also writing a very good series on Indian Politics and what needs to be done. Readers can also have a look at that too. His blog URL is nagrockz.blogspot.com

Readers will remember my article "How Come !!!!" in which i spoke about Brands being associated with us right from birth. Now people are fighting for recognition of one such brand. Wondering what this is all about?"GUJJARS"( now u would have got it for sure)

Gujjar brand now wants Brand Equity. Although a temporary ceasefire looks imminent,this whole issue has clearly shown how the policies followed by our politicians have become a "Frankenstein's Monster".

The "Divide and Rule" policy implemented under the guise of "Reservation" is now a Monster which is growing at an alarming pace. The recent decision of the Supreme Court has only accelerated this growth. With the governments all over the country scouting for more and more benefits to some sections of the society, it is only natural that more and more people want to be identified as those sections for which there are perks and benefits.

Gujjars to me seem to be only the Tip of the Iceberg. If they are successful then they will act as inspirations for more brands to follow suit and get themselves recognized. Now if they are denied and this agitation crushed,( well cant even imagine that,with so much media coverage to the issue).

So Gujjars have set the ball rolling. It might be Kapus tomoro,Some other caste the next day and who knows a day might come when we will see even the Brahmins taking it to the streets. Well i can now say with confidence that we will be there as the most Brand Conscious Nation in a short span of time.

Jai Hind.

This is an open request to an individual whom i respect and admire very much for his Conviction, Moral Values, Straight forwardness, Honesty and Knowledge.

Sir,

As usual it was enlightening to read your article in "Indian Express" a couple of days back. You were at your best in exposing how poor are Rahul and Sonia as leaders. Wonderful article.

I would also be more happy if u can write an article exposing the incompetence of Rajasthan's chief minister and the dictatorship attitude of the chief minister of Chattisgarh.

It has been a long time since the Gujjar issue came up and nothing seems to have been done in the meantime. It seems like the Chief Minister has the time to watch IPL games but not to address such serious issues. It also seems like not much progress has been made on the Jaipur blasts case.

Coming to Chattisgarh words fail me when i try to describe about his attitude in handling the case of a renowned doctor who has spent his life in servicing the poor and for whom support is now coming from all quarters of the world and that too from Nobel Laureates. Regarding the development of the Tribal people and the backward people in Chattisgarh, the less said the better.

I do accept your arguments about Sonia and the Congress but what i would also like to see from you is you criticizing constructively the BJP government too. I want to see this from you so that the you are not looked upon as someone who is biased and your views reach a more wider audience.

JAI HIND.

A recent survey says that India is the 3rd most Brand Conscious country in the world. India is more brand conscious than USA( which is perceived to be the most Brand Conscious Nation by Indians).

I am Surprised and Stunned!!! How come we are ranked 3rd. We should have been ranked No 1. Thinking why??? Well we have brand associated with us right from birth and the number of brands are only increasing by the day which leaves me wondering how come this Brand Conscious nation is not there at the top. Well with the introduction of more brands and with the fight for Brand Recognition hotting up, I guess its only a matter of time before we are ranked as the "Numero Uno."

I am writing this article out of sheer pain and agony. Someone who is responsible for my survival and existence is struggling to lead a life. The man whom according to me is the fulcrum of life for everyone is being ignored.The man whom according to a Saint Poet must be the leader of men is now the biggest Laggard.

This man is none other than the Poor Farmer. Cheated and exploited to the core he finds himself left out of the growth express in which many other Indians are now traveling in now.

I am now hearing some voices saying"Boss now that the Food prices have gone through the roof and hence the farmer must now be happy." Friends all i ask you to do is to visit Nagapatinam district or Tanjore district in Tamil Nadu once and you will get a hang of the real scenario.

One of the basic rule of business is that the producer or the owner decides the price of his own product. Agriculture is the sole exception.

The Governement and the Traders decide whats the price that they will be paying for the produce. The reason behind this being the protection of the farmers and the maintanence of the price of essential commodities. I could understand this when the country was an out and out socialist country. Now with the country Liberalizing and embracing capitalism as the way to go,i don't see any need for the government to do this.

The government is better when compared to the traders who form a cartel and make sure that the farmers are exploited to the core. With lack of good godowns and cold storage facilities and Interest costs weighing down heavily he has no other go but to sell it at whatever price he gets.

Words fail me when I try to describe the life of these "Real Heroes" of the society.

What needs to be done to better this situation: Long back ITC came with e-Choupal there by eliminating middlemen and providing farmers with the pricing power. Not one, not two around 100 e-Choupals are the need of the hour.

I would also like to see more of "Central Points" where the farmers can actually bring their produce and sell them directly there by eliminating middle men.

Providing them with more Cold Storage and Godowns there by preventing the exploitation.

Last but the most important: Eliminating money lenders( might be the most difficult thing to do since majority of the money lenders are big shots in the local political scene or people close to them) by the introduction of Stringent laws and also by ensuring that Banks cover the needs of these people.


I also find it Surprising when i see 100s of NGOs speaking about AIDS awareness but hardly any about more serious issues such as this.( Friends please let me know in case if there are any such NGO. I would be more than happy to know about it).

P.S: When i decided that i will start a blog, i also decided that not all my articles will be lighter topics like "My attempt at making Mirchi Bajji" or "Software Engineer's lifestyle in US" or " Carnatic Music reviews". I wanted to write on topics which i felt were of importance but not being given the required attention in Media ( I don't blame them, they were tied up with Indian Idol and Sydney test match yesterday, Sharukh and Aamir episode today, Might be Rakhi Sawant tomoro). I would be more than happy if this blog creates awareness in even 10 people( over ambitious perhaps, as thats roughly the number of ppl who visit my blog) and if it leads to the birth of "ONE IDEA"