Bihar's date with history

Bihar has finally broken out of its regressive cycle of backwardness. Four fifth majority to an incumbent NDA government on the plank of development is a trend setter and is also full of hope. Some have called that Bihar has entered the age of renaissance. Nitish Kumar is much taller now. He deserves all accolades. We has seen what he has delivered on the ground in terms of roads and law and order. Now the time has come for him to work for electricity. A friend called amid counting of votes with suggestion to buy land near Patna as software companies would start locating there to cut their costs (I do not have that much of money to buy land, given the kind of hand to mouth living that I have). Many commented that Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and other states' land lords may find difficult to get Bihari labourers, with one colleague stating that this is already being witnessed in Punjab. It's a beginning of a journey of hope and Nitish Kumar has been charged with the task to leap-frog Bihar into front ranking states in the next five years.

There was never a doubt that Nitish would come back to power. My estimate was that NDA would cross the 150 mark, which I had later revised to 170 but had never thought that it would cross 200. Such a decimation of opposition has not been seen in any of the state in India. It has no parallel. The dread of Lalu Yadav must have made the people to turn out much stronger to reject him, thus helping the NDA more strongly.

Lalu and Paswan never stood any chance. But the way the Congress contested the polls is open for review. Such a large party could have fought such an important election in such a manner was quite idiotic. The Central ministers parachuting to charge that the Centre gave so much of money and not much of them was spent must be taken up by the Election Commission for abuse of power by the ruling party at the Centre. The transfer of funds to the states is anyways a statutory provision and not just a prerogative of the ruling party at the Centre. The decimation of the Congress was a fitting reply by the people to the joke of the Congress. A Congress state leader who had earlier contested the poll told this author that the party gave Rs 35 lakhs to each of its 243 candidates, with some pegging that party having spent to the tune of Rs 200 crores in Bihar elections. This seems believable given the way all resources that the party had put in use in the state. If Congress goes this way only, UP in 2012 could give it another shiver down its spine.  

Jobs have begun being created in the state. People there are much more informed. The state has real resources to make an economic turnaround. It is also blessed with immense human resources, with a large number of them educated and energetic. Nitish has to keep to the basics and rest will follow. He has given roads. He has to give reliable supply of power. And also he has to convince the banks to give loans to people who can take up enterprises, which they have been avoiding. Bihar figures at the bottom of the list on the banks disbursing its deposits to the people as loan. This has to go up. Nitish needs to talks to the RBI. Also, without rushing in to invite the big business honchos it would be more prudent to revive the jute, silk, sugar industries which have deep roots in the state but were killed over the time.

Millions of people in Bihar and outside wihsh Nitish that he further delivers on the promises. The hope must translate into reality. This can be done, as it's not a big asking.  

Mayawati's Ayodhya booster

The UP chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati appears to be taking leads by miles over her political adversary. The Panchayat election results indicate that none of her political adversary is anywhere near her. She is marching ahead in a way which may see UP going ahead for political stability in her. Though having no stake in Ayodhya controversy, Mayawati appears to be the only benefitiary with the Congress and Samajwadi Party faced with the task to save their sinking boats. 

September 30 Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya land title and December 6, 1992 Babri mosque demolition were perceived to have similar kind of consequences. Former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh let the mob take control of the state in 1992, while Mayawati ensured that the police had full control over the mob in the run up to the September 30 court verdict. The results of the two actions were in contrast. In the first case riots ensued with hundreds losing their lives, while in the second not even a single stabbing case was reported. The political ramifications are also in total contrast. While the BJP is floundering in UP, Mayawati is gaining strength from strength so much so that her opponents are faced with prospects of political disasters.

Continuing with Kalyan-Mayawati comparison, it's important to bring certain facts here. On December 5, 1992, the BJP had staged a huge rally in a sensitive area of Lucknow, with three of its top leaders namely L. K. Advani, M. M. Joshi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee leading three rath yatars from different parts of the state which converged at the rally ground. Amidst addresses by leaders in the rally, Kalyan Singh left the rally and headed to his residence. After a while, Advani, Joshi and Vajpayee also left, which brought the rally to an abrupt end. They all headed to Kalyan Singh's residence, where Kalyan was reportedly nervous with the kind of intelligence inputs he was getting from Ayodhya.

A top official, still serving, who was privy to what was transpiring at Kalyan's residence revealed that Vajpayee let out his anger on others by saying that he had warned to bring so many kar sewaks at Ayodhya. Vajpayee left Kalyan's residence for the railway station and left for Delhi. All the BJP leaders left for Ayodhya. "Advani, Joshi and others were manhandled by kar sewaks on December 5 mid night when they tried to bring sanity among lakhs of foot soldiers who had come from all parts of the country. They had lost control. The consequence was demolition and ensuing communal riots," the official revealed, saying that the riots intensified after the news was broken that the Kalyan Singh government was dismissed by the Centre.

In the run up to the September 30 High Court verdict on Ayodhya title suit saw similar kind of build up. In fact the police found a bomb placed in a market in Lucknow on that very day and even all the news channels had the footage but they chose bot to broadcast. Two more bombs were found and diffused in two different towns in the state. "The media should be thanked that they voluntarily chose not to break these stories. The state government had not given any such diktat to them," added the official.

The icing on the cake was Mayawati herself stealing the show by hurriedly calling a press conference at 5.30 pm amidst all kinds of confusion. She ensured that all electronic channels headed to her presser and she ensured that the channels broadcast her live and there she delivered her master stroke, that none would be spared for any kind of trouble. She conveyed the message that she would enforce law and order "ruthlessly". She won the day and is now counting the political windfalls. Muslims in UP need her kind of leaders, just like Nitish Kumar in Bihar, who can guarantee security.

People in UP, particularly from the minority community, immediately trashed Mulayam Singh Yadav's attempt to fish in the troubled water, when he termed the court  verdict unjustice to the Muslims. People in Ayodhya effusively thanked Mayawati for saving the day and keeping the monsters at the bay. The Congress is fast losing the plot in the state. Though there are about one and a half year to go for UP state elections, the winner for the now is just one and she is the iron lady of the BSP.  

Games over, time to go after scamsters

From Games falling apart to historic day, the media, both Indian and foreign, travelled a full length of rope, beginning from unbridled self-doubt to exultation. To put the matter straight, it was the administrators who brought the self-doubt to forth, while it was the Indian sports women and men who gave people to celebrate in the times of sombre. So, cheers to the sportsperson for saving the day for the nation, while an unbiased probe needs to be carried out against the culprits who brought the nation to the point of disaster.     

A day after the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, Twitter was full of people calling for the heads to roll and they have reasons to say so. Much has been written about all such things. However, it is unbelievable to see the extent of bungling in the Games. Watching spectators at JLN stadium yesterday, my attention was drawn to a dalal kind of a man who was brandishing two VIP passes for the closing ceremony, which he wanted to sell in Rs 25,000. There were a large number of such people in and around the stadium. Not to be left behind were the bureaucrats who had access to end number of passes which they liberally distributed among their staff, relatives and even to the scribes close to them.

It's to be seen if an enquiry could dig out the statistics to let us know what was the percentage of passes printed against the tickets which were really sold from the counters. It's a fact that many enthusiasts could not go to the stadia to cheer for the Indian sportsperson for want of tickets. The Commonwealth Games website stated that the tickets were sold out, a fact which was repeated at various counters but the live telecast of the events showed that the stadia were not even 10 per cent occupied in most of the matches except for the final two days. The ticketing bungling in itself must have accounted for losses to the tune of about Rs 100 crores at least. Contrast this with the fact that the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee was given about Rs 2000 crores as grant from the Central government which was supposed to be earned through its income from the sales of tickets, advertisements and so on. 

Most shameful act which was on display was the haste with which the chief minister Sheila Dikshit rushed in to take credit for cleaning the Games Village, which had come under intense criticism. This was against the fact that various agencies under the command of the Lt. Governor had toiled hard to clean the mess. One just could not help wondering that a politician of any stature could fall down to any level to gain popularity, while ignorant audience, read voters, easily believe such make-believe.

Much noise is being made that Delhi could now host the Olympics. It would be only a disaster. If at all India ever bids for Olympics, it should not be Delhi but some other cities, as the capital city just does not have enough space to accommodate huge number of athletes, delegates and tourists that Olympics brings to any city.  

Rains, Dengue and Games

Delhi is wet and getting wetter everyday. It has not rained like this for over a decade. More rains are to follow. The Met department says that September could be the wettest. You walk anywhere in Delhi, pools of water will be there for you to negotiate. They are also the breeding ground for dengue larvae. More than 1200 people are in hospitals, many of whom do not have reserve blood platelets for the patients. Delhi is also dug out, as government and various other agencies keep clueless how to get their hands off to the unfinished Commonwealth Games projects. A diseased city awaits the Games in less than a month to rejoice in the splendour of going to host the mega sporting events, which will make the nation proud.

Dengue outbreak had kept the city on nerves in 2006 also when 36 people had lost their lives. This year dengue outbreak has nerved the people the most. So much so that the people are just praying that they are not the next in the daily count of new patients. Delhi government says that the dengue this year is not virulent and hospitals have enough blood platelets. The government was hardly seen so openly lying.

A day before I went to donate blood platelets to a Delhi government hospital, Institute of Liver and Billiary Sciences, where brother of a friend was admitted. He was admitted there after the AIIMS, Max and Fortis said they had no beds. This hospital hardly had any bank of blood platelets, while it was also stated to be full with patients. Approach to this hospital, including its uncovered premises, was all littered with pools of water with mosquitoes buzzing enough to scare the people.

Delhi should have celebrated rains. But not as it has been raining diseases. It will be utterly wrong to blame the rains for diseases, as the buck stops with the government agencies who forgot what their jobs are and remained dug out in the quagmire of the Games preparations. Apparently Rs 40,000 crores have been spent but there are no signs that the mega sporting events would bring any pride for the nation. Those in charge of organising the events and putting up infrastructure are at best busy in ensuring that they are not caught with their pants down.

It was a surprise to see the municipal workers finally fogging and spraying chemicals on pools of water to destroy dengue larvae. This was a pleasant surprise as they were hardly seen so far. If the municipal safai karamcharis were also put on their jobs, Delhi would have hardly seen so much of water lying everywhere. But they are seldom seen, though they number quite large to the extent of more than 60,000.

India is applauded world over for making plans and slammed in equal intensity for shoddy implementation. The Games alas is heading for one of the worst managed sporting events. Hopefully, accountability will be fixed once the Games are over. But it appears that we have not only lost an opportunity but also played with the lives of hundreds of people. Hope the cost is not too high, though it has already been very high. 

Killer husbands, wives in wrap of murderous laws

Reading the first report on murder of Priyanka Gupta, wife of an Infosys staffer in Bangalore, had given enough hints that she might have been murdered by her husband. A week later, another report on the murder case confirmed that she was really murdered by her husband, Satish Kumar Gupta. Nothing exceptional in this murder case to warrant a blog piece, but it's part of a larger crisis. Husbands are killing their wives and vice-versa.

The laws dealing with Indian marriages have become more murderous. The social change mostly brought in by soap operas on TV channels have emerged marriage destroyers. And to top all, the transition that India is making economically, by which a large number of people are migrating from one economic class to another, has left the young people clueless where to draw the lines.

The one who had earlier anticipated the social crisis and who sought dissolution of marriage was the one whom his disciples call "Osho". In his books on "Concept of Man" and "Concept of Woman", Osho discusses radical ideas of dissolution of marriage on the grounds that this binds man and woman into slavery of each other, while they would love to kill each other if given a chance. Though the gist of his analysis was sexual in nature, he may find justification in the way the marriages are getting dissolved not only in big cities but also in smaller towns.

The reported confession of Sathish in Priyanka's murder case can be stated for all the husbands of his likes. The wife scheming to snap off her husband's relations with his parents, change of place, refusing to adapt in the roles of daughter-in-law and so on. The husband too takes revenge and does the same with his in-laws. The result is a chain reaction, with the end result being that of the marriage giving births of a score of enemies on both the sides.

Thanks to multitudes of soap operas on TV channels to which the women remain glues all the times and changing lifestyle, which has already made the concept of neighbourhood redundant, the marriages are mostly stressed out. It must also be noted that the youth of this generation is under tremendous stress, again thanks to a score of region. Most often in a troubled marriage, there is a basic breach of trust. Husband spying on wife and vice-versa, with the mobile phone playing havoc in their relations is just a new phenomenon.

A recent visit to GB Pant Hospital to seek a second opinion for a distant relative suffering from brain tumour turned out to be interesting. The head of the neurology department of the hospital was in the mood to talk a lot and went on to share that if married couples in strained relations just started seeking counselling of trained psychiatrists 80 per cent of the lawyers would lose their jobs. "Husbands think that their wives are sleeping with others and vice-versa. In 80 per cent of strained marital relations, the reason is psychological disorder of one of the partner. This is treatable with simple medicine. Alas, people hardly consult psychiatrists in India," he stated.

Indian law makers are the worst in the world when it comes to framing new laws. Most often Indian laws are drafted by bureaucrats for whom just one word is enough to depict them, which is "arrogant". The Indian politicians are mostly lazy. They most often are ready to nod to what the bureaucrats says. The result is a plethora of laws, which have only prisoned the people. 

Indian laws dealing with strained marriages like the dowry act and others could emerge as one of a significant killers of people if a real assessment is made out. To top to all the madness is the police and the dirty lawyers who fleece the victims of such laws to the extreme, leaving them for no use at all. Only an idiot will confront elders for the misdeeds of their adult children, but unfortunately in India the parents of grown up boys and girls are the most harassed lot for committing the crime of being their "parents".

Live-in relations may just find India the most receptive country, as marriages prove to be great tormentor to the people. The day the people find an answer to bring a new soul to the world without social ostracizing, they will rush to give marriage a final burial.   

Junta's state managed Myanmar polls

World history is a testimony to the fact that the military rulers’ craving for power never allows democracy to take deep roots. Sadly, Myanmar is no exception. The democratic voices across the world rightly wanted Myanmar, also known as Burma, to look at India, the largest democracy, as a model as it unfolded its roadmap for elections. But to the discomfort of all pro-democracy voices, the military rulers of Myanmar chose to look at its giant eastern neighbor, China, for inspiration in place of its eastern neighbor, India. The world wants the military junta of Myanmar to free all political prisoners, who number more than 2000 before the November 7, 2010 elections and ensure their participation. However, the junta remains unmoved and is adamant to hold elections under an oppressive law, which bars all those convicted by courts from contesting the elections. If this was not enough, the military junta left the pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy party with no option but to boycott the elections. Critics have rightly called the November 7 elections a sham designed to cement the military rule.

It was exactly 20 years that the people had overwhelmingly voted in favour of Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy party in 1990. However, people’s mandate was subverted and the military usurped the power. The military junta has kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for more than 14 years. The Myanmar elections can not gain legitimacy without the participation of Suu Kyi, whose term for house arrest is expiring

on November 13, few days after the elections. It is rightly a big asking from the military junta to expect the world to give their stamp of approval to elections without the participation of Suu Kyi and her party.

A brief mention of the oppressive Political Parties Registration Law, which is exclusive in nature, will explain why the world community is livid at the military junta. This law excludes electoral participation by any member of a political party who has been convicted in court. This law called for Suu Kyi's party, NLD, to choose between honoring her as its leader and risking the party being declared illegal, or removing her from the party and contesting the elections. Naturally, the party chose to boycott the elections. Further, a 2008 constitution adopted under the junta's roadmap reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military and says more than 75 percent of the lawmakers must approve any amendments to the charter. Also, members of religious orders are barred from taking part in the elections. If they were not enough, tight rules have been laid down for campaigning, thus prohibiting parties from chanting, marching or saying anything at rallies that could tarnish the country's image. The critics have rightly pointed out that free and fair elections can not take place without a free media and expression.

However, the November 7 elections are all set to see a limited participation of political parties, which mostly belong to ethnic groups in the country. Forty political parties have registered to contest the elections, and six others are awaiting approval. Several of the parties are also linked to the military. A breakaway faction of the Suu Kyi led NLD has registered itself as a new party under the name “National Democratic Force” with Khin Maung Swe as its leader. Ironically, this party has adopted the symbol of a “Bamboo Hat”, which was the symbol of the NLD in the 1990 elections, though with a minor addition of two stars above the hat. However, Suu Kyi has expressed dissatisfaction through her lawyer with the breakaway party.

The world leaders have been exerting pressure on the South-east Asian grouping ASEAN to persuade Myanmar, a member country, to ensure free and fair elections. It is under this context that despite the sfated

policy of ASEAN not to intervene in the domestic affairs of the member countries, Vietnam, who chairs the group this year, issues a statement stating that the ASEAN encourages Myanmar to further accelerate progress in the implementation of the roadmap for national reconciliation and democracy.

The foregone conclusion is that the November 7 elections will be dominated by the USDP under the leadership of Prime Minister Thein Sein, who has relinquished his army rank. It is important here to mention that the junta’s powerful mass movement, the USDA (union solidarity and development association), has now been disbanded and its assets transferred to the USDP, having the manpower of 24 million.

The western world has been unreasonably looking upon India to exert pressure on Myanmar to hold free and fair elections. Such an expectation was raised again when Myanmar’s Head of State, Senior General Than Shwe, visited India from 25 to 29 July 2010. However, it is important to point out that such an expectation is unreasonable, given the kind of role being played by China in perpetuating the military rule in Myanmar.

Barking idiot box

Being a print journalist, I have long avoided to comment on TV news channels. Though I stopped watching them long back, I tested if I could find some interests in them regularly, and have always turned against them more bitter.

This Friday, I reached home a bit earlier and thought of watching Zee TV for the Dance India dance Little Masters but was disappointed as the grand finale was in Saturday. I must add here that the talent of little boys and girls are just unbelievable. So, scrolled down and stayed with Times Now to see what it was saying on Commonwealth Games. What I saw left me with wonder how its anchor, Arnab Goswami, got a Journalism award from the Indian Express. I always had suspicions about such awards, and now I have more.

What did I saw was that Goswami was parroting Times Now expose for everything, that he was asking the man already in dock for a long time, the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman, Suresh Kalmadi. The way he was haggled in the so called interview by this TV channel, I found myself sympathising Kalmadi. Any budding journalist shall better watch out Goswami to learn how not to conduct interviews.

Then followed a short talk show, which the anchor must be regretting, after Kirti Azad tore into him. The poor chap did not get any support from the three other panelists as well, while he kept demanding from them that Kalmadi be executed right there. Watching this great barking tamasha, I recalled how Mani Shankar Aiyer had blasted the same anchor when he matched his shrillness by telling him on his face "you are a good prosecutor, but a terrible diplomat". This comment came when this anchor wanted to pass an instant judgement within seconds of the conclusion of the Islamabad Press Conference of Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers. 

Then tired of shrillness, which could even induce blood pressure among the viewers, I scrolled down further and found Nidhi Razdan on NDTV, who was nothing but completely at a loss of ideas in the company of Manish Tiwari, Swapan Dasgupta. Though she looked quite graceful, her show appeared nothing but a filler. 

  

I did not waste any more minutes to switch off the idiot box to take up a book "The Palace of Desire"  to read before I went for sleep. However, I felt a kind of headache, which I took some time to come out of to find myself engrossed in the book. In the meantime, I recalled a comment of a retired diplomat who refused to give a sound byte to an EEnglish News Channel by stating: "I will give you byte the day your channel comes anywhere near the BBC but seeing the current state it will take more than 100 years." 

Games slur: Kalmadi in dock, Sheila yet to be tested

The Commonwealth Games 2010 will leave one legacy for sure, that when it comes to loot of public money no one in the world can match the Indians. The Games are less than two months away but its managers are already muddied. If cash guzzler Indian Premium League for twenty20 uncovered a corruption czar in the form of Lalit Modi, the Commonwealth Games is heading towards getting the fame of mother of all scam, with Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi as its head. However, it's interesting to note that Delhi chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, continues to dock the kind of attack that Kalmadi is getting. This is to do with perception. The media honchos think that it's Kalmadi's Games, little knowing that more than Rs 20,000 crore out of the total budget (actual) of Rs 35,000 crores have been spent by her. Kalmadi needs to learn few lessons from Dikshit how to escape the censure.

As Lalit Modi managed IPL as his private limited firm, so did Kalmadi, with the same modus operandi. The two belong to the same class. They do not reveal anything new, except for confirming that given an opportunity Indians, particularly politicians, have to loot the public exchequer. What lies behind the loot in the spending of more than Rs 20,000 crores by Dikshit led Delhi government presents a new trend in corruption, which is the nexus of the government agencies and private contractors to collude right from the stage of conceptualisation of a project till its execution.

Once the limelight fades away from Kalmadi, the focus will surely shift to Dikshit. The beginning has already been made with the CBI reportedly registering cases in the procurement of low-floor buses at an inflated costs. The CAG in its report, which was tabled last year in the Delhi Assembly, had already rapped Dikshit led Delhi government for procuring low-floor buses at an inflated costs. This particular deal is part of the preparations of the Commonwealth Games also, as Delhi government had been working on a plan of complete phase out of blueline buses before the sporting events. However, even this effort has remained shoddy and the rogue blueline buses ram through the length and breadth of the capital with imputy, given their ownership pattern, which again shows a nexus of politician- police to hijack the transport system.

The CAG in its next report will surely dig out facts of omission and corruption in the execution of road and flyover projects. Their pathetic quality, with little rains leaving big holes on important roads, make even a layman to suspect if Dikshit led government has just gifted away tax payers' money.

It's to be noted here that the biggest spending in the name of Commonwealth Games has been done by Delhi government, followed by DDA and Sports Authority of India. However, it's also a fact that no one will be able to hound Dikshit the way Kalmadi is facing. The reason being that she will easily shift the blame to engineers and department heads and secondly for the reason being that the Congress will not dump its electorally highly successful chief minister due to the allegations of corruption, as that will have a high political cost which the grand old party can never bear. 

The Games will take place and it will be the worst, that too by giving too many pains to the people. All estimates of the organisers are already disappearing in thin air. They could not get worthwhile sponsorships. For the estimated footfall of about two lakh tourists, not more than 10,000 are expected to come to Delhi for the Games. There is no credible revenue model. All the much touted infrastructure legacy will also come to a farce, as the work has been short-sighted and amounts to a colossal waste of public money. The Games will leave just one legacy and that will be unbridled corruption.

Those who talk of hosting the Asian Games and Olympics must be raided by the income tax and CBI officials, so that the systemic cancer can be weeded out.

Can Manmohan do a Rao, derail Rahul Gandhi's PM bid by 5 yrs?

Skeleton is finally gaining muscle. The July 5 Bharat Bandh tactically called by NDA and Left in a way that about 17 Opposition parties took part and brought the country to a grinding halt. Price rise often rejected as am election issue just appears to have infused life into dead Opposition, with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh helping them revive through his "economic-bureaucratic" policies directly hitting the middle class where it hurts the most. The UPA has a mandate till 2014. Four more years to go for political churning to take place.

The reign of former Prime Minister Narsimha Rao had taken the Congress out of power for about eight years, with the NDA ruling for about six years. Though it will be a little premature to take a call on the outcome of 2014 elections, the young scion of the Gandhi family, Rahul Gandhi, who already turned 40, might have to wait a little longer to occupy the coveted post if the Opposition continues gaining muscles with fodder supplied by Mr Manmohan Singh.

There will be no Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh to repeat the resounding victory of the Congress in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress has lost Rajshekhara Reddy in AP. Kerala and TN are known for a revolving door mandate. People in Delhi are beating their chest for having voted the Congress. UP results in 2009 are all turning out to be a fluke, with the Dumariyaganj Assembly byelection result where the Congress came fifth though the party had bagged the Lok Sabha seat just a year back has already sent consternation in Rahul Gandhi camp. The emergence of the Peace Party in UP on the support of the Muslim constituency is only helping the BJP to limp back to life. With major states out of the kitty of the Congress, Mr Gandhi might have to just work a little extra for the revival of the party apparatus in Bihar, West Bengal and UP where it is not even among the top two contenders.

Former BJP leader and ex-UP chief minister Kalyan Singh after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections had given a long postmortem of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Basically, he had two contentions. First, price rise is not an elections issue. This is now proving to be wrong, as a large section of population, including those who earn quite handsome salary, are being hit where it hurts the most. Also, the euphoria of the sixth pay commission bonanza has long subsided. His second contention was that it was suicidal on the part of BJP's L. K. Advani to have personally attacked Mr Manmohan Singh, who is revered by the middle class for probity and knowledge. Having spent six years in the office, the people could just now be losing faith in the "knowledge and leadership" of Mr Singh, which has only made the life difficult of many. People in India take a long time to discard their loved ones but when they do it gives a feeling of a bolt from the blue, as was the case with Mr Vajpayee.

Though there are four more years for Mr Singh for course correction, he, however, has unflinching faith in his medicine, that he would go on in the same way if Mrs Sonia Gandhi does not decide to install her son Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister in 2012 after the UP Assembly elections.

Afzal's fate: Criminal subversion of rule of law

Though the Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was ordered to be hanged in 2006, he continues to live another day thanks to criminal subversion of the rule of law. He may live another two years or more or even get some reprieve given the kind of spineless political leadership that we are blessed with. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that the law of the land will take its course not only invited scorn but a kind of distrust that the citizens are bound to have such loose talks come out from the highest in the echelon.

The law of the land had awarded death to Afzal. The parliament attack had almost brought India and Pakistan to war, with their respective armies staring at each other on the border, though the Big Brother (the US) played the referee in the hard ball game of politics.

In 2006 Afzal Guru filed mercy petition plea, apparently on the ground that he had an ailing mother and was the sole bread earner for the family. The mercy petition plea file was diverted to the Congress led Delhi government and the chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, did what she was asked to do by her bosses in the party, that to let the file gather dust in her home department. Then after four years, the file moved only to land up at the desk of the Lt. Governor Tejendra Khanna who is now "studying the document closely".

The home ministry had sent the file to examine the merits of the clemency plea, that is whether the claims made by the convict were true or not. However, Mrs Dikshit shocked the media by stating that one of her former chief secretary had noted that there would be law and order problem in Delhi if Afzal was executed. Such a comment by that bureaucrat, who would qualify to be an idiot of the highest degree, has been rewarded by Mrs Dikshit after his retirement by appointing him the special advisor for the Commonwealth Games. His new job is to just write letters to private companies carrying out various construction works in the capital for the Games, which is nothing but a loot of the taxpayers' money.

Why was the Delhi government studying the genuineness of the Supreme Court verdict awarding Afzal the death punishment is baffling. It was not the mandate. It just had to go into the merits of the mercy petition. Now, Mr Khanna is studying the 75-page verdict of the Supreme Court. Is he qualified enough to examine the verdict of the Supreme Court. Does he have the mandate to review the verdict of the highest judiciary in the country?

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Obdulla has been making statements as if the principle of management schools of LIFO (Last In First Out) of FIFI (First in First Out) applies on the 30 convicts who are on death rows and are awaiting disposal of their respective mercy petition pleas. He should rise above from making such stupid statements.

Lastly, the President of India, which is a rubber stamp position for all the practical purposes, can be a little active in disposing off the files at her table or rather should prod the home ministry to clear the files concerning her at the earliest. She being the Constitutional head must ensure that the rule of law is not subverted for petty gains of spineless and brainless politicians.

No takers for truth in Mahatma's land

Call them three musketeers who dared to speak to tell the truth and in return got unprecedented backlash in the country of Mahatma Gandhi who stood for nothing but the truth. The men in question are Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Union minister for environment Jairam Ramesh and the BJP chief Nitin Gadkari. They all stated what were accepted to be truth in the public domain but faced unbridled attack to the extent that they were all called names. 

First thing first. No one in their right frame of mind expected India to win the T20 world cup. The Indian players were not only spoiled by the gruelling IPL, which lasted for one and a half months, but also faced total burn out. The IPL late night party which lasted till the dawn will not figure in the itinerary of any sports management but only in the IPL, which is nothing but crass commercial exploitation of cricket. Dhoni had remarked before he headed for the Caribbeans that he had never been to such IPL parties but the same could not have been true for others. The body language of Indian cricketer's appeared to be nothing but of a dull lot out there to party at the beaches in the Caribbeans with little regards for millions of fans' expectations. Dhoni is absolutely right and he showed the guts that he call a spade a spade and suffers no insecurity.

The cricket crazy nation paid no interest to the exploits of Indian hockey players who showed unexpected performance in the Azlan Shah trophy. No wonder why these people are the poor lots. 

The BJP president Nitin Gadkari is a raw politician and has not yet honed his skills for shrewed political talks. He talks straight. That is why the RSS has picked him for the post. He literally called the Samajwadi Party and RJD president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav "dogs licking the heels of the Congress" to use a Hindi phrase. The political observers will not find any lack of truth in the statement. The SP and RJD leaders acn fall at the feet of the top Congress leaders any other day and both are facing serious charges for amassing assets beyond their income. However, Mr Gadkari was hauled like anything.

Lastly, Mr Ramesh has always been a politician not known to follow the established political diktats. First, he called the ceremonial robes worn at the times of taking college degrees a colonial legacy. That is true. All will agree. Then he went on to deliver the bombshell on the Chinese soil that the Indian internal security managers are a paranoid lot when it comes to deal with the issue concerning the Chinese. This is also true. Mr Ramesh also was hauled up. Mr Ramesh had earlier cut Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit to size for all her "achievements", which he called were due to judicial activism. That was true but that time has was saved as he had attacked a lesser mortal.

To cut a long story short, the Indian Psyche is far detached from tolerating a blunt truth. The exponents are banished with no loss of time. Dhoni, Gadkari and Ramesh bring freshness, which hopefully will not wither away amidst all attacks launched at them

Delhi Police (Amendment) Bill, 2010 reveals colonial mindset

If you are inebriated enough that you can not take care of yourself, you could be liable to pay a fine of Rs 1,000. If you bring a servant from your home town and you fail to submit him or her for police verification, the fine could be Rs 5,000. Delhi Police (Amendment) Bill 2010 (http://www.delhi.gov.in/), which has seen spirited opposition from leading citizen groups in the capital, who went all the way to the Union home minister, P. Chidambaram, and the home secretary, G. K. Pillai, is now open for public scrutiny on April 24, with the conference to be presided over by the chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, after the Lt. Governor Tejendra Khanna refused to do the honour, and would be attended by noted jurist, J. S Verma, police expert, Kamal Kumar, and a host of people drawn from all walks of life, including four journalists.

This legislative proposal, which will go to the Parliament, needs to be studied closely and enough voice need to be raised, as it has serious consequences for the citizens. At the outset, one can summarise this legislative proposal an attempt by the Delhi Police to garner as much power as it can in the name of improving effective policing. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and it applies very well on the Delhi Police, which is fat enough to have more than 60,000 cops on its roll.

There have been backgrounds for this legislative proposal in the form of Supreme Court directions, Nanavati Commission recommendations and reports of the Administrative Reforms Committee. Delhi Police (Amendment) Bill, 2010 does not conform to the above cited backgrounds and rather bares the mindset of the city police, which believes in just making laws for effective policing.

Against the provision of the CrPC, this bill says that no one can ask for report on arrests made by the police and also does away with the magisterial inspection of the arrests made. Further, the police commissioner or any member of the police (even a constable) can give a "verbal order, declaring riots situation, which will be notified in 24 hours". These two provisions are against the spirit of the freedom of the civic society and the concept of checks and balances and will have serious consequences.

Further, the new bill proposes to empower the police commissioner, being the head of the proposed Police Establishment Board for transfer and postings of junior officials, while for the seniors the proposal does away the concept of a three member screening committee, which includes the chief secretary, home secretary and a member from the police. While the first proposal leaves the scope of corruption in transfer and postings, which is reported to be the biggest source of money making by corrupts, the second does away with the civic society having any say in this matter.

All the earlier recommendations of excluding the non-core functions of the police have equally been ignored. Take for the instance, Delhi police has roughly 200 staff  designated for the work of issuing all kinds of licenses, which does not happen to be its core functions. Licensing in all the states is with the civic departments, which even in Delhi can be done that too with higher satisfaction for the citizens.

The preposterous proposals in this bill are regarding the fines, which have all been raised roughly by 10 to 50 times. All the fines would be in the range of Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000. A jaywalker would be liable for a fine of Rs 1,000, while the same applies for those urinating in public and much more. The question here is whether a commoner keeps Rs 1,000 in his wallet all the times. As is the image of the police, this will lead the police to indulge in taking Rs 200 in place of Rs 1,000 to relieve the man from the charges of offending the law and would just add to the rampant corruption among the men in khakhi.

Delhi Police (Amendment) Bill, 2010 needs close scrutiny and is available on http://www.delhi.gov.in/ and people can leave their comments for Mr Vishvendra, Deputy Secretary of the Home department of the Delhi government. All the public comments will be compiled and will be sent to the Union home ministry along with the draft of the bill, so that the Central government can take a reasonable decision on this proposal. It's time to be informed citizens and become a part of the decision making process.

Save buffalo!!!

In few years buffalo might be extinct from India. Tough to swallow, as it sounds so! However, an hour long analysis by a credible official in the know of intelligence inputs, who keeps a tab on the scale of illegal slaughtering of the bovine animal in Delhi, drove hard the point that the buffalos are on their way to extinction. So far we know of "Save Tiger" campaign, but later on the campaign to save buffalo might be on the anvil, as it appears so.

If this sounds weired, then check out the scale of illegal slaughtering going on not only in Delhi but also in rest of the country. In Delhi alone, at least 10,000 buffalos are slaughtered a day, mostly for the purpose of export. Top meat exporters in the capital were given a presentation few months ago on how buffalos are on their way to become extinct. They were told India would soon become like the Arabian countries where there is no bovine animal, as men there ate them all during the course of time.

Also, the scale on which the people in the Arabian countries are eating the Indian bovine animals far outmatch their replenishments. Though there are laws forbidding the slaughter and keeping of meats of the agricultural cattles, read the buffalo, cows, etc, the greed for short money by the people in the authority are assisting in finishing off the animals quite freely.  

The might of those involved in the trade of illegal slaughetring is so high in the capital that despite a man giving all the proof in the form of CD, which had the photographs of his home soaked in the animal blood due to the illegal slaughtering in his neighbourhood, hardly any action followed.

Recently, after the BJP created much din  in the Delhi Assembly over the issue of whether the permission to serve beef would be allowed in the Games Village during the Commonwealth Games, the city government with much hesitation stated a day later that it would abide by the existing law, Delhi Agricultural Cattle Protection Act, which forbids slaughter as well as even keeping their meat in the National Capital Territory by any person. Though the Delhi government has not done anything to enforce the law, the BJP due to its ideological leaning is itself searching out for those in the trade to get them arrested.

A new legislation in the form of Delhi Police (Amendment) Bill, 2010 is empowering the police to take action against those involved in the trade of illegal slaughtering. Lets hope that the insatiable demand of those within and outside the country to eat the bovine animals fail and India in the coming generations live to see these peaceful creatures.     

India under siege

In a horrific act of violence the naxalites massacred about 75 security personnel in Dantewada in Chhatisgarh early morning today, with top officials suggesting that the victims walked into the trap. Dantewada has been one of the strongest den of the naxalites for few years and joint operations were being carried out in the area. The massacre is intolerable. This shows that India is very much at the doorsteps of a full blown war within its territory. The decision makers are now faced with the challenge to make choices between peaceful ways of bringing the warlords for talks or to accept the challenge and launch a no-holds-barred war with the insurgents. 

The naxal incidents in the recent years show that the internal security managers of the country need to correct their fundamentals. Their report card otherwise suggest that they should be drowned into the bay of Bengal. The governments both at the Centre and the states have compromised on internal security by not modernising the police forces nor made them professional. The police forces in the country still live in the old world of registering complaints with their shallow investigation. The political leadership has made the police units in the states spineless, which is demonstrated time and again. The Mumbai terror attacks had proved that the people in the country are at the mercy of their fate only.

The new Union home minister P Chidambaram has wasted much of the precious time in speculating over bringing the naxalites to the negotiating table. The elusive naxalite Kishenji appears to have succeeded in fooling the security managers.

The damning fact remains that the naxalites in the country are well entrenched in the fortified Red Corridor, which stretches from Nepal to deep down in the forest of Chhatisgarh. Reports suggest that they are armed with much sophisticated weapons and are highly trained. Worst is that they have a domian of their own and they appear to rule their territory.

The time for soft approach towards the naxalistes (Maoists) insurgents is now up. Now, the time has come to look at the way the Sri Lankans wiped out the LTTE insurgents in their country. The internal security managers must set a timeline to finish off the insurgents with no conditions attached. Time is running out for them. It's better to act in time than to wait for the fate to hand out its verdict. 

History made: Women can now take the big leap

Few moments ago, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament passed the 108th Constitutional amendment Bill, which seeks to give 33 per cent reservation to women in the legislatures. This is a historical moment, which the women should rejoice, as two decades down the line the fate of the "weaker sex" will take a big leap. From the status of being condemned to live under the shadow of their husbands, women will now walk into the highest decision making body to script a turnaround in their fortune.

The votaries of backward politics, three Yadavs of the cow-belt, did all to stonewall the landmark Bill, which was undone in their own ways, as rogue Parliamentarian were marshalled out today in the Upper House for showing contempt to the House. These mandalites had heralded reservation in jobs and educational institutions two decades back, which is now showing the impact, with government departments condemned to semi-meritorious man power, which in turn is now threatening to derail India's leap into a developed nation.

The proponents of backward politics have been belliegerent in their demands for quota within quota for dalits, OBCs and minorities. These buggers have been oblivious to the fact that when they pick a candidate during elections they go by just one factor that is winnability and that is decided by caste equations, hence they have always been picking candidates of their own caste groups. So, reservation or no reservation, they will do what they have been doing, that is to pursue in their efforts to drag the country backward.

Why is this a historic moment? This will ensure that the women will now stake claim to power directly. The claims of cynics that the wives and children of established politicians will be fielded as candidates is also a nonsense. Who are the existing women legislators if not the members of the clans of the politicians, so what is the fuss all about. The claim that it will be difficult to find women candidates is an insult to half the population of the country. At least now non-criminals, no-cheats, non-dalals (deal makers) will occupy the prestigious place in the legislators.

The journey of undoing a historical error has just begun and much needs to be done. Now that there is a momentum behind the initiative, it will be fitting if all the formalities are completed this year alone or rather in a  span of three months, that is to get the assent of the required number of state Assemblies. This can be done and should be with no failings.

Wheeler-dealer Amar Singh and his exit

The media went all ballistic to report expulsion of Amar Singh, the vintage "dealer", from the Samajwadi Party. All the top honchos of the media a beeline at the doorsteps of Mr Singh, popularly called by his loyalists as Thakur Sahab, to get "exclusive byte" from him. Mr Singh, though accused in general to be the deal maker on the strength of his erstwhile party in the Lok Sabha, has been a drawing room politician and famously known for giving juicy bytes to the media. This author has spent long hours to catch his trivial bytes from the time he emerged as the saviours of the Congress led UPA government, which could have sunk in 2008 over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

In politics the obvious and the stated versions may not necessarily be true. So, a caution must be there for those interested in politics. Also, Mr Amar Singh is known for his theatrics and histrionics. He can stage drama and later on can even disown his acts. There is nothing wrong when people damn it by saying that "Politics is the last refuge of the scoundrels". For just an afterthought: Is he staging a drama in collusion with his master Mulayam Singh Yadav to save the party which has sunk too deep that no immediate revival of its fortune could be seen, that he could go into the camp of arch-rival Mayawati to destroy her politically (as he did with Mulayam!). Just an afterthought!!!

Why is Mr Amar Singh, the wheeler-dealer of Indian politics, so important for the media? The answer is that he symbolises the very character of Indian democracy, which since the time of Mr V. P. Singh in 1989, has been dependent on people like him to function. It will be quite a travesty of justice if a person like K Chandrsekhara Rao, famousely called KCR, emerges as the father of new Telangana state in Andhra Pradesh. However, such a travesty can not be ruled out, as Shibu Soren has finally succeeded in becoming the chief minister of Jharkhand. Was not his party men involved in taking suitcase of currency from the representatives of the government led by Late Prime Minister Narsimha Rao, again to save his government from sinking in the Lok Sabha. The list of such travesty is simply too long.

The son of Mulayam, who is an MP, Akhilesh had told this author that his party would go for restructuring in the month of January, after a series of poll debacle having dented the confidence of his followers. The party, which had banked on MY (Muslim-Yadav) support to survive had seen the whole minority flock deserting it in the recent times. Mr Singh's expulsion could give an elbow room to Mulayam to undo his mistakes by opening the door for leaders like Azam Khan, Salim Sherwani, Shahid Siddiqui and many more. Not a bad trade off for stars from Bollywood who were brought into the party by Amar Singh in the end one can say.

Amar Singh had told this author once that Mulayam used to ask him what benefit does his party get by his talking to the Delhi media all the times. Amar Singh could also have said what benefit does the party get from him. Finance could have been a possible answer if this question was asked. But Mulayam had to bear with the loss of his daughter-in-law Dimple or rather his izzat (honour) at the hands of bitter rival Raj Babbar at Firozabad, with Akhilesh never tiring to explain that the loss was because he could not match the money power of Mr Babbar. If this is true, then Amar Singh has to take the blame, as he is alleged to have poured in his money power to ensure the victory of Jaya Prada fom the Rampur Lok Sabha constituency last year.

Where does the UP politics, which is most interesting for any political pundit to watch for, heads now. It must be stated here that Mulayam is going to be much more stronger than what he is today after the weeding out of Amar Singh elements from the party, which could be a bad news for Rahul Gandhi, who is toiling hard to win the cow-belt.

Queen's republic!

A Queen with her coterie at her command and a prince treading rough terrains to improve his understanding and a whole herd of dalals at command capture the state of affairs of this country which heads to celebrations of ceremonies. The occasion is another reminder, though somewhere deep buried, that the nation is a republic.

An old man, who spent most of his productive years abroad, sowed seeds of kingships veiled in the romanticism of democracy, by institutionalising cult of installing foreign bred at high offices. A whole era has passed by now and it is quite in the fitness of the things that one should sit down at a remote corner of India Gate lawn, overseeing the architecture of monarchy, with President's House overseeing centres of power at South and North Block, to reflect on country's state of the affairs and people whizzing past to meet their mundane works.

First look at the person who occupies the palatial building at the President's House, which spreads into acres of land and employs hundreds of people at the expense of tax payers' money for ceremonial work. Can the person inspire even a single man or a woman or rather ask a commoner what made the person to earn a position at the imposing position?

Ask a question here: In Delhi alone there are 1,50,000 homeless people dyings dogs' deaths on city roads, when the institution of ceremonies occuply hundreds of acre here. Why and what for?

Then turn to the man who heads the courtiers' wings. He should have people's mandate to take the seat to shape the destiny of the country but not though he is into his second innings -- a rare feat.

The subject though dulling the mind then has to trun to the place where the seat of real power lies in and who she or he is. The place is not at the usual spot and rather it is at somewhere else. The buck stops there. All those in charge with the task of shaping fortune of the nation and a milling millions chasing big dreams drop down there in absolute homage.

Sixty years of republic and what kind of political sytem people are blessed with. The largest political party is a family owned enterprise. Even a layman investor feels shaky in putting his money into the stocks of family run business ventures.

Move on and look at the ministers in command at the centre. Dalals rule the most in this domain. Sugar prices soard three times and equally short times, bringing in huge fortune to all the mills of this commodity. This man has direct interest in this business and he singulary stoked the prices high -- unchecked and unpunished. Irony is that he inspires the most to the new chief of the single largest Opposition party. The list is long.

In the states, collective loot is taking place and again unchecked and unpunished. The laws are rather to chain the people in place of liberating them. The police appears to be one orgainsed gangster serving the interests of the dalals heading the establishment.

Triple the size of the organised economy happens to be that of the black money. Fortunes are stashed in Swiss banks. The tax base remains minimal. Prices are at sky thanks to the power of the black money --a great gift of about sixty years of this nation being a republic.

Let the mind slip six decades. The nation relied on borrowed leadership. All those who captured the front positions mostly hailed from rich families and were educated by foreigners. Genuine home bred leaders remained among the last man standing -- overawed at the flawless communication skills in the English language of the "leaders", who shared one thing in common that is they were all "theorists". The result was license raj, giving birth to the cult of dalals, faulty economic and foriegn policies, which in the end not only pushed the country much behind but also plagued the nation with cancerous neighbours.

The apologetics safely take recourse to a quote again of a foreigner which stated that "democracy is as good as the electorates", failing conveniently to note that a cancerous system first needs a sustained chemotherapy to again start "living".

A new independence movement must be somewhere taking birth -- from the cult of dalals, family worship, fatalism and perennial inferiority complex. Ceremonies have bored the people enough and now they can step back. Let a new republic be born which can satisfy aspirations of those who have gone into the jungles of naxalism or to other extreme forms of disenchantment.

Vibrant Bihar on anvil?

The spectacular growth rate of 11.04 per cent in the last five years in Bihar has been music to the ears. The icing on the cake is 11.4 per cent growth in last fiscal, with experts raising hope of the "Bimaru" state turning into a miracle economy.

Immediate explanation could be a very low base which could have given a double digit groth rate. Preceding the NDA rule headed by Nitish Kumar, the misrule of 15 years by Lalu-Rabri combine had taken the state to the abyss. Coming out of a long dark tunnel, a glimpse of light could be sparkling enough to fill the hearts with hope. Bihar hopefully appears on the verge of a historical opportunity to script a new beginning of hope fuelled by an abundent and ambitious human resources, who have otherwise been flocking other places for better lives.

The fact hitherto unknown to others in rest of the country is the robust deposits in the banks of Bihar. However, killing the economy or rather discouraging the enterprising youth of the state is the fact that the banks have been too shy to lend. The credit to deposit ratio (the amount of money lent to the people against the deposits in various forms like savings, etc.) as per the Reserve Bank of India is a meagre 32 per cent. A growing and health economy shall require this to be above 50 per cent. This shows that though the money is there it's not being given by the banks for growth to the people for reasons best known to them and easily explained for their known prejudices. A case could easily be made that Bihar's money is being used to help other states to grow at the expanse of this poor state, which requires a much more benign banking system.  

A visit to the state after a long time was quite a pleasant surprise. Roads are much better. Police is more responsive. People have a better attitude, a departure from fatalist world view that they used to have. The people now openly express that a government in the state can really deliver and has delivered. Kudos to Mr Nitish Kumar and his team. A stark comparison befits a mention here. Your travel on Bihar roads will now be pleasant but the moment you cross into the neighbouring Jharkhand you should feel the urge to swallow a pain killer given all the bumpy rides that the crumbled or rather disappeared roads there offer you, which shall stand a testimony for five years of organised loot under the then Independent chief minister Madhu Koda.    

It must be noted that the growth in Bihar has been achieved with an apathetic Central government, whose Babus have been more interested in Mumbais, Delhis and Ahmedabads for the growth of the country. The success of Bihar should be a slap into the face of the jaundiced Delhi Babus, who badly needs to take fresh lesson in governance.