Nation before Party !

This post refers to the priority given by many of our leaders to their respective parties before National interest or even what they personally might think is correct.

Referring to the recent row about the appointment of the CBI director: since the term of current director is about to end, the Government following the rules and norms of the present day appointed a new director. However there is a clause in the Lokpal Bill (which has been tabled in the Rajya Sabha but not yet passed) that there would be collegium of the Prime Minister, the Leader of opposition & the Chief Justice of India who'll appoint the CBI director.

But since the bill hasn't been passed yet, the Government used the existing norms and appointed the new director. And this became an issue for the opposition who started objecting over the appointment and demanded that a collegium should be formed first and then the appointment. But what they need to realize is that they first have to allow the Parliament to run, discuss the lokpal bill, take care of the due diligence, pass the bill and then make such a demand if the Government doesn't already follow.

And here it is important to praise Mr. Ram Jethmalani (BJP Rajya Sabha MP & Supreme Court Lawyer) who going again his party lines expressed his own opinion and questioned his party's objection.

There should be more such instances where our leaders express themselves more, express what they feel is right for the Nation irrespective of what their party feels or what might help/not-help their party in the elections.

Politics should be more of a noble work instead of an ambitious job !

Are our MPs so jobless ?

I don't intend to point fingers at anybody or do any mudslinging but i do have this peculiar observation: I can't seem to digest that a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) can go for a month long hiatus, come back and still get involved full time with some other work for a long period of time.

It just makes me ask: "Are our MPs so jobless ?"

Specifically this is about Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu (MP, Amritsar) who went on to a month long break for a Television reality show named Big Boss and even after coming out of it, he is busy with commentating duties for the India-England Cricket Series.

I understand that the Parliament session is to begin from 22nd but still is a incumbent Member of Parliament so free ? Aren't we still a developing country ? Isn't 30% of our people still below poverty line ?  Don't we see a outcry of hopelessness towards our country everyday ?

And all such questions make me feel that our leaders certainly can't be that jobless, on the contrary there is so much that they can do, a lifetime might seem less.

With a country like ours where there is so much scope of work, improvement in almost all areas, one expects his/her elected representative to devote his/her full time to the duties bestowed upon by the Constitution. And even if there is some free time one would expect our leaders and people with such high stature to actually work, take some initiatives for the betterment of the people, their constituencies, and society in general.

Getting elected to such a high office certainly comes with a lot of responsibilities and power, but more importantly it gives them a big platform to do all they can for the best of our country. And taking such "breaks" doesn't seem to do our country any better.

Going Hi-Tech are we?

This post refers to the recent Mobile Application launch by the Gujarat wing of Congress for poll publicity in Gujarat.

Considering the soon to be held elections, the Gujarat chapter of Congress has launched a mobile application for Android, Blackberry, I phone etc etc. And even though i appreciate their efforts to be getting technologically advanced, but the question is: who is the target ?

In a country like ours, where we have more than 30 percent people below poverty line, more than 60 percent not even earning 2 dollars a day, how many people actually have these smart phones ? The rich and elite who already have access to all sorts of media and don't necessarily need a mobile application to tell them about party agendas.

This also reflects one of the biggest problems of our society today : the gross Inequality especially in economic scales.

And instead of putting resources for pleasing the elite, wherever possible more and more efforts should be placed to get the economically weak sections to catch up with the others (irrespective of their caste, creed or religion).

Autonomy of the CBI ?

Is CBI, the premier investigating police agency of our country being used & manipulated for Political gains ?

This is the allegation being put on the CBI and the current government by the prime opposition parties (BJP & group)  and the social activists. The claim being that the SP & BSP are only supporting this government because the government is threatening them with CBI cases. And various cases are being downplayed and even closed for political gains. These are the claims and allegations of even the senior most leaders of the BJP.

However my question is : BJP was the ruling party from 1998-2004 and if they claim that the ruling party has undue influences over the CBI and it works according to the wimps and fancies of the ruling politicians,  then did they not see/do that during the time they were in the Government ? and even if they themselves (as they claim) didn't do anything like that but still knew that such abuse is possible then why didn't they make the CBI much more autonomous, something like the Election Commission or the Judiciary ?

And even if they have just noticed the problem now, the Agenda No. 1 in their election manifesto for the 2014 elections should be "making the CBI autonomous" ! and if not done so will only mean that they want to do the same thing they are alleging the government to be doing right now.

Fear is good !

Without going much into the details of the various corruption and other charges leveled against the big ministers, politicians and prominent people, this post refers to the 'Aura' of corruption created nowadays and its consequences.

During the past few days there have been numerous allegations against many people be it politicians, bureaucrats, social activists etc. and there have been many "media trials" going on 24*7 with people from all the involved sections defending themselves and accusing others.

I might not agree with these things being almost put to trial in the media instead of the proper judicial system, or even the fact that some people just want to gain some political points or play the politics of perception. But instead of all that i can see a merit in these.

With the sudden burst of all these corruption cases and their trials being held so openly in public domains, and with people digging out something almost out of nothing, what is being created is a 'fear' - fear of getting caught.

and this fear is good ! it is good for our society and our Nation.

With such rampant vigilance and the fear of being caught, people will refrain from getting involved in corrupt practices and quid pro quo(s).  The Right to Information act, the media and the social activists have been and will continue to play a major role in this direction.

And in a country like ours where we have huge amounts of corruption almost everywhere and public policies never actually reaching out to the target people this is the "need" of the hour.

However as our Hon. Prime Minister pointed out as well that a fine balance is required to be maintaied between RTI and personal privacy, similarly huge amount of care (proper proofs & evidences) needs to be taken before such public allegations and charges.

Subsidies & Reservations ?

This post is about the most sensitive topics of India Politics - Subsidies & Reservations. Recently we saw the hike in diesel prices & a cap in the number of subsidized LPG cylinder (i.e. cutting the subsidies on them by the Central Government) and a huge uproar went around and we are seeing mass protests and bandhs till date. The justification for such protests is that the middle and lower class (stratification on the basis of Income) of our society can't just afford a hike.

Whereas the upper-middle and upper classes don't mind about a cut because even when they can afford it very comfortably they are still enjoying a huge subsidy.

For e.g. before the hike the government was providing a subsidy of almost Rs 17 per litre on Diesel (as mentioned by the Hon. Prime Minister in his address to the Nation) and after the hike it is still more than Rs. 10 per litre to everybody irrespective of the fact whether you are a rich SUV owner or a poor tempo driver.

And this screams a question : Why are we giving subsidies to people who don't need it ? and as a consequence of that we have to cut the overall subsidies and make life much more difficult for the overly burdened poor people.

Shouldn't we try to move towards an economical way of giving subsidies i.e. people with a certain level of income don't get any subsidy and people below that level get a subsidy.

Such a move will not only help our poor and will be step in the way to decrease the huge gap between the rich and the poor in our country. I can understand that implementing this in a country as big and diverse as ours will be a very difficult task but we have to move towards it.

One possible way i can see for this would be to use our Unique Identification card Aadhar when it is fully distributed and functional. We can link the income levels of a person/family with his/her unique identity and that will determine whether they will get a subsidy or not.

I understand that this is being very ambitious but such ambitious aims on the one hand might take a long and hard time for implementation but will prove to reform our country for the better on the other.

Similarly for the reservations we have in all sorts of things be it higher education, government jobs and now even the recently talked about reservations in promotions in government jobs etc. Reservations are from the time of our Independence and are aimed at giving opportunities to the weaker classes to come up but everyday we see huge misuse of these reservations. We can easily see well off people belonging to weaker classes who don't necessarily need any reservations taking advantage of such reservations and in turn causing the policy to never reach the actually needy people (despite measures like creamy layer etc). Also nowadays we have all sorts of people in need in almost all sections and types of classes, so how do we take care of them ?

Again i think time has come & we have to think about handling reservations in a economical way rather than on the basis of caste etc.

And as evident above, I truly believe that our upcoming Unique Identity card has huge potential to support & facilitate such Institutional changes in our country (maybe another post in the future)

Coalition Dharma ?

Even though i personally might not agree with the way UPA coalition parties like TMC, BSP start giving ultimatums to the Government and block major reforms but I appreciate the fact that they stand by their principles and ideologies irrespective of something called "Coalition Dharma"

They feel something is done wrong, they oppose - as simple as that ! 

However on the other hand, recently on the issue of the CAG report of Coal Blocks allocation & subsequently BJP blocking the functioning of the Parliament. BJP was adamant on "NO Debate" and constantly kept asking for the Prime Minister's resignation and thereby completely ruining the Monsoon Session of the Parliament.

And on this very issue, one of the leaders Mr. Sharad Yadav of JDU (one of the Coalition party in NDA) gave a statement that even though they are in favour of a "Debate" and Functioning of the Parliament but since they are in the NDA coalition, so going by their "Coalition Dharma" they'll oppose it as well.

How illogical, undemocratic & materialistic is that ?

Even if you believe in A, but your coalition and the bigger party believes in B, so you'll blindly support B irrespective of what you think is better in terms of National interest. This is just ridiculous and makes a complete mockery of the principles and ideologies the political party claims to have.

Pure & Simple Vote Bank Politics !

This post refers to the Hike in the Diesel Prices (by Rs 5) and Capping of the subsidized LPG cylinders to 6 per family per year and the followed criticism by BJP & TMC.

Let's first look into why this rise was necessary ? The diesel prices haven't been increased for more than a year and the international crude oil prices have been souring up, to add to that rupee has gone significantly weaker in comparison to the dollar making the imports much more costlier. And as a result of all this, the oil companies are facing huge losses which are covered by the Government in the form of subsidies.

However the amount allocated for subsidies this year has already been used up, the fiscal deficit is rising & the economy is in a very difficult situation. The subsidies almost amount to more than 2% percent of the GDP which is way too high. If no steps were to be taken, we'll be no where near the target fiscal deficit of 5.1% of the GDP. Even more the investment sentiments would keep dipping down and India would have been in a high risk of a "Downgrading" by the rating agencies which would have meant much more fatal to our economy.

All the economic experts view this as a very essential move especially in the current economic environment.

And i agree that this will mean more inflation and more monetary problems for the middle and lower classes of our country but this is the price to be paid to avoid a much bigger economic mess.

And now after the price rise, the BJP & the TMC (maybe others as well but i've seen specific comments from Mr. Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) & Ms. Mamata Banerjee (TMC)) opposing & condemning the rise and asking for a roll back.

And I believe this is just Pure & Simple Vote Bank Politics ! Don't they realize that this is very much needed for our economy and we will be in a much bigger mess in the future if no action is taken. And if at all they have any another solution for the problem, why don't they suggest that. But no, they'll just oppose the hike and gain points with the people.

BJP on the one hand criticizes the Government for not taking tough decisions and on the other hand criticizes those tough decisions  once they come in. As a opposition party one doesn't necessarily have to oppose each and every move of the Government irrespective of whether it's right or wrong for the country.
 
We should realize that becoming leaders is more about working for the betterment of the Nation and not just trying to win points for next elections every time one gets a chance.

Is it all just for some Political Gain ?

This post again refers to the mockery of the Parliament made by the main opposition party BJP. They have been stalling the parliament proceedings from the past week and giving no opportunities for the Government & the Prime Minister to explain themselves.

However they have been giving speeches, participating in debates all over the media.

A big blow to the dignity of the Parliamentary system came when, the Prime Minister of the country isn't allowed to speak in the Parliament. And about an issue of such National Importance, the Prime Minister had to present his side amongst huge disruptions by the opposition. The opposition didn't even care about the dignity of the Post of Prime Minister and the Parliament.

And the biggest mockery comes when the BJP who is "opposed to any debate/discussion in Parliament" comes in the front of the media with a copy of the Prime Minister's speech (which they disturbed & opposed even when he was speaking) and started asking various questions of it.

How illogical is that, on the one hand you don't want a debate/discussion in Parliament and on the other hand you want to ask questions in front of the media that you could've asked the concerned person directly in a Parliamentary debate.

Also, as far as the matter is concerned their is enough evidence which defends the way the allocations were done. And even the opposition leaders/parties were well aware of how and when it was happening. Even many state cheif ministers of various parties wrote letters provocationg the screening committe way and not the auction way. Anyway I've no intentions of passing a judgment of who was guilty or who was not. I'll leave that to our legal/judiciary institutions who are looking into the matter.

But it all seems at the moment that the Opposition party instead of clearing up the matter in the Parliament, just want to stall the legislative process, cause disruptions to get some Political Gains.

But they need to understand that It's not just enough to win elections, you actually need to fulfill the trust the people have put in you and deliver on that.

Are we Aware ???

First of all, I would like to appreciate and applaud the TV News Channels which are one of the most far reaching form of Media in the current times. And this appreciation comes out of the numerous shows/debates hosted by various TV News channels, which takes up very important National issues and discuss them with great vigor and detail.

The most common formats being the interview shows and the debates where experts/politicians/leaders/activists are called from various fields and the mediator/anchor grills them with pretty tough questions. The most wonderful example of democracy and accountability are those when the leaders & politicians from various parties are grilled on their actions/stands/wrong-doings etc. Such shows not only bring a lot of awareness amongst the common people by this far reaching medium but also helps us understand and make an opinion about our political leaders and their ideologies.

This is certainly a very good step in the direction of a responsible media, aware citizens, accountable political leaders and a model democratic Nation.

It is the truest form of democracy when the public servants are being held accountable for the trust that the people have put in them.

However despite of all of this, there is a sad reality "How many people are actually aware ?" How many people actually know that a Parliament Session is going on ? How many people know that the primary opposition party is stalling the Parliament ? or the Prime Minister of our country is being demanded for a resignation ? or How many people actually care? How many people would actually like to watch such shows of high National Interests instead of a movie ?

I haven't done a survey but i can say that the percentage will be very low. Even the well educated section of the population will not get high numbers on the above questions.

The problem is in our way of thinking - we don't give a shit ! Unless and until something directly affects us we don't care and there in lies the problem. We need to understand that it does affect us, if not directly then indirectly but in a huge way. We need to care about the malice around us in our society as well rather than just in our homes. If we care that our home is clean, we should also care if our localities are clean, our cities are clean, our states are clean and our Nation is clean.

"to expect our country to be perfect, we need to be perfect citizens first"

And in order to do so, the first step is to be aware. What happening's in our country ? our state ? our city ? our locality ? and voice our opinions, voice our agreements or disagreements. This will also help us decide who should we elect as our leaders at the times of elections, for we will know a lot more about their policies/workings/ideologies etc.

To conclude : " We need to give a shit !"

Parliamentary Democracy ?

This post refers to the most sensationalized CAG report on the Coal Block Allocations and the repercussions it has had on our Parliament and our Political System.

Before i begin let me clarify that i'm not a legal expert & the views below are just my personal views and should be taken as such.

From what I've heard, read and gathered about this so called "Coal Block Allocation Scam" is that there were some misappropriation in the Coal Block allocations & as a result of which there was a loss of lakhs of crores to the Nation during the time when our Prime Minister had the Coal Portfolio as well .

What exactly was this misappropriation : Instead of following an auction process, there was a screening committee (people from the State & Central Governments) which screened the applications and awarded the Coal Blocks. However the CAG reports takes into account all sorts of factors, it is estimated by CAG that there were lakhs of crores of loss and the companies who were alloted these blocks made windfall profits. However there are many aspects to it :

1. The Congress View : Many States (including BJP ruled stated like Chhattisgarh, then Rajasthan, etc.) objected to auctioning process, there were rejections of auctioning by Law Ministries several times, Screening committee has representations from all sides, Allocations were done on the basis of State's recommendations, Way-Over Estimation by CAG, Same process was followed by BJP in their tenure, Not even a hint of Corruption, Open for Parliamentary Discussion etc. etc.

2. The BJP & NDA View : The most corrupt Government, demanding PM's resignation immediately, alleging that the PM & the Government is corrupt and has caused a halt to both the houses of Parliament for the past 2 days, Demanding for resignation first (no discussions).

3. Others (JDU, TMC etc.) View : Serious matter, In favour of Parliamentary discussions.

4. CAG View : Reported lakhs of crores of Windfall losses, but did not blame anybody (nor the Prime Minister nor the Ministry of Coal)

My View : I understand this definitely smells of a big corruption case which might have created a loss of lakhs of crores for our nation but how can we pass we judgment on something without giving them a chance to defend. As far as I understand the judicial system of India, we give the accused to present their side as well. There is already a CBI probe going on in this matter, the results of which are yet to come. There is also enough evidence at the outlook to suspect that other parties were aware of the process as well.

My Question is what's the purpose of disrupting the Parliament for continuous days, the Prime Minister wants a discussion so that the Government can present its view as well, so why not have one. Have a proper debate for once !

Why not all those Leaders asking all sorts of questions in front of Media  ask those in the Parliament directly to the person they are accusing.

There are many institutions already in place to prove one guilty, why jump the gun and directly ask for the PM's resignation instead of proving the guilt first ?

If we can prove/find evidence that there was corruption in this case, then ask for the PM's resignation, even throw him in Jail like the others proven guilty of corruption.

But just disrupting Parliament in times like now, when there is already a buzz of Policy Paralysis and the session is as short as 20 days will only hamper the economy, the legislation process, the spirit of democracy and by all the people of our country.

To conclude, I'm not defending the government nor i'm against it. I'm just saying respect the institutions like the Parliament & the Judiciary, Prove the guilt and if anyone is found guilty throw them in Jail.

Is this the right way to fight corruption ?

This post is regarding the two major protests led by Shri Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev recently and particularly about the way they want to fight corruption.

First of all What is corruption and who all are involved in it ? Corruption can be vaguely defined as misuse of an official position by preferential treatment for own vested interests. It can be seen around quite frequently in India where one pays a bribe to get some work done preferentially. It can be as big as those multi-crore scams or even as small as a bribe of Rs. 10. In my opinion, people from every economic level & strata are involved in it. Mind you i'm not at all saying that everyone is corrupt.

But I'm saying that people involved in corrupt practices can be seen in all sections of the population. So blaming only the politicians for corruption is just wrong.

Corruption is caused by two reasons : need & greed. People with low incomes have to take bribes to earn their livelihood and other people are just plain and simple greedy.

And in my opinion it is this greedy people that form the major element of corrupt practices. And better vigilance (Lokpal) will definitely be helpful in stopping this menace but that will be action by fear (e.g. fear of losing their job or fear of action them).

What about the Morality of it all ? Shouldn't our spiritual gurus like Baba Ramdev use their mass following to teach a lesson of morality to people to stop engaging in such activities.

Corruption is like a multi-story building, and if you keep smashing it's pillars the building has to collapse. What i mean is saintly people like Baba Ramdev & Shri Anna Hazzare, can't they use all their charm and mass following to teach a lesson of morality as well ? By telling people to themselves not involve in corrupt practices.

If there will be no participants, there will be no corruption.

They can keep going with their Government & Parliament bashing way of protest, but in the sidelines why don't they try to teach our people to take the moral high ground and be the great moral country that we used to proclaim ourselves as. 

I'm not saying that this way there will no corruption or we don't need lokpal or anything like that. Instead what I'm saying is why not attack corruption from grass root levels as well.

And since their is huge following of both our civil activists groups, why not take this opportunity to teach the citizens of our country to be moral, ethical & above all good human beings.

are you kidding me Madam Chief Minister ?

This post refers to one of the prominent leaders of our Nation Ms. Mamata Banerjee and her habit of pinning the tag of Maoists on people and storming out of Interviews or rather sending them to jail.

Some days back I was watching an Interview of Ms. Mamata Banerjee in which along with the anchor there were students from colleges of West Bengal who were asking some tough questions. And out of no where Ms. Mamata Banerjee got totally mifffed with the questions and started pinning the tag of being Maoists on those few students who were asking her questions and refused to answer them and then she just stormed out of the interview right in the middle.

And a very similar incident happened today when in a public meeting when a person asked her a tough question about "what is she doing for the farmers ? and the promises have not been fulfilled ?". She immediately got super angry, called the person Maoist and even got him arrested.

I start by clarifying that i don't have anything to do with the Maoist ideology. But my Question is "even if" those people were actually of maoist ideology, being the chief minister of the state more importantly being the chief minister, a public servant of the people of the state it is her responsibility towards anyone and everyone irrespective of any ideology he/she follows.

Even if the above people have been Maoists, it is her responsibility and she is answerable to them. And I saw the interview and can surely say that those students were not causing any disruptions nor were they hostile, they were just asking some honest and tough questions, so one can't blame them for anything.

The Chief Minister of a state is answerable to each and every person of the state, irrespective of their cast, ideology, financial status etc. Our honorable Chief Minister might be doing some wonderful work but such incidents simply diminishes her image and credibility.

These instances looks to me as a total misuse and even arrogance of power and makes a complete mockery of  a Democracy which our Nation so proudly is.

are you kidding me Team Anna ?

today early in the morning we had a massive power cut across the northern India which affected various states, many trains and even flights.

It was a grid failure because of overconsumption by some states (as stated by the Power Minister) and this has happened after 10 years. Also the power was mostly restored in about 10-12 hours. And as a technical man myself i can understand that such things can happen and i appreciate the appropriate steps taken in a timely manner by the Power Minister and the concerned authorities.

However this post is about the mockery the Team Anna has made of themselves by calling this is a "Government Conspiracy"  to stop people from coming to their agitation. Are you kidding me ? I understand that Team Anna is doing a noble thing and we very much appreciate and support their efforts but Not Everything is about them. The Government actually has a Country to run as well and they are definitely not going to Cut off power to multiple states, delay innumerable trains and flights just so a thousand or so people can't go for a protest. Such kind of acts literally "ridicules" the whole movement.

All said and done we support you Team Anna and the movement but why mock yourselves and reduce your credibility by such cheap media theatrics ?

are you kidding me ?

this post refers to the media coverage of the current movement again corruption by Mr. Anna Hazare & his team. I personally am a supporter of such a movement which has raised some very serious concerns & moreover made us the citizens of this country much more aware.

However this post refers to the media coverage of the current movement (from 25th july) where three of the Team Anna members have sat on fast to mark their protest. The insensitivity & irrationality of our media reflects at the fact that our media (especially the TV News Channels) are MUCH MUCH MORE concerned about the number of people at the movement rather than the cause for which this movement is going on. Instead of creating more awareness amongst the citizens (which is by definition the job of the media) about this cause taken up by the social activists they are instead totally undermining their efforts by just looking at the mere number of people physically present at the location.

In the past I've seen some pretty good debates/discussions on these topics on the very same TV News Channels but the current coverage just baffles me !

Isn't explaining that why the hell is this movement is going on ? much more important that number of people at the location ? 

Is this Politics ? Should this be the way we should vote ?

I for one generally don't go around bashing our politicians and our politics but this time i can't stop myself. This refers to the current happenings about the Presidential Nominees and before i start let me clarify that i don't hold any personal grudge against anyone or any party for that matter and this is just my own personal opinion.

Let's get to the heart of the matter, we have the presidential elections coming up in the month of July and this is not a public election but a one where our MLAs and MPs vote. And what generally has been the case over the years is that the ruling party/coalition and the opposition both nominate their candidates and an election taken place, the result of which is always anticipated (rather known) well in advance. This time around there have news going around that the Congress and most of the UPA is going to nominate Mr. Pranab Mukherjee as their nominee but they hadn't made any official announcements. However there have been talks going around amongst the politicians to garner support.

Now comes a meeting between Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and Ms. Mamata Banerjee and after this meeting Mamata Banejee comes out and declares to the media that Congress's first choice is Mr. Pranab Mukherjee and 2nd choice the current Vice President Mr. Hamid Ansari even before the Congress or the UPA has said anything about it. What happened next is Mamata Banerjee told the media that she will discuss it within their own party and with Mr Mulayam Singh (SP) and then decide. And next comes an joint announcement by them (TMC & SP) that they don't want to support any of the 2 choices of Congress and they went to propose 3 names (our Ex-President Dr. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh & Ex-Loksabha Speaker Mr. Somnath Chatterjee) of their own. Of which it seemed as though they haven't even taken the consensus from anybody. I can be sure that at least they didn't talk to Prime Minister before proposing his name.

And then what came next is the official announcement by the UPA and within hours of which we saw Mr. Mulayam Singh talking to the media and pledging his and his party's support for Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. He took a complete U-turn completely embarrassing Ms. Mamata Banerjee.

But what happened in the midst ? What caused the U-turn ? Some reports say there was a meeting between Mr. Mulayam Singh and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, but who knows.

Anyhow all this showed how Mr.  Mulayam Singh made a complete mockery of the democratic system and the Presidential Election where he seemed to put his vote behind anybody for his own vested interests. Irrespective of any thinking on the lines of Merit.

Also maybe we can learn something here, why shouldn't we vote for the person by whom we can gain something of irrespective of going along party lines? Vote for somebody who can give us not short-term but long term benefits. Maybe all our personal benefits or personal vested interest will add up and make it for the society's interest.

Why Not Collaborate ?

this post is regarding people at top executive positions who take decisions on a whim or without proper consultations with the key stakeholders or about those stakeholders who don't try to understand the changes suggested and blatantly oppose it. I'll take up one case of each type.

The first can be specifically concerned with the MHRD's (Ministry of Human Resource Development) decision to introduce a common engineering entrance exam from the very next year. This has been on the ministry's agenda from quite a while and the first model was proposed quite a while back which faced huge criticism from all around be it IIT faculty, alumni or students. The issue regarding consideration of the board exam marks, their scaling or normalization (as there are in-numerous boards in the country) being the center of criticism. Also the stakeholders never quite felt being adequately consulted. This criticism and some new round of discussions brought in a new model which had two different levels of exams for IITs but still not much clear about the board exam issue. And yet again it is seeing huge criticism from not only IITs but NITs & IIITs as well. Where faculty are opposing (some news even went around about IITK professors not going to their Convocation to mark a sign of protest), some alumni are talking about going to Court, etc.

So my question is why can't we have proper round of discussions between all the stakeholders, try to take everyone's point of view into considerations, try to tackle all mutually agreeable problems in mutually agreeable ways and then go on to bring in this new system of so much importance (with a minimum of 1.5 million students expected to go through it every year). Why are we in such hurry to bring it in this year ? Can't we just go through the system that we follow every year once again in 2013 and in the meanwhile consult with all the stakeholders to bring it in mutually and in a proper shape ?

I understand that reaching agreements with such huge stakeholders base can be extremely difficult but the best of attempt should be made to cater to all reservations and suggestions.

The 2nd case can of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, this was taken as an executive decision by the government but had to be taken back within 10 days because of heavy opposition. But their seemed to be clear lack of discussion as to why it was introduced and what were its merits in the current economic times (where we have a Eurozone crisis slowing the whole world economy down and even the foreign investment in India seems to be going down). This particular agenda now seems to be in a limbo where their is no clearly defined way forward whether the opposition parties who were opposing are being made to understand its importance or the government realizing their reservations ?

There has also been talks about a "Policy Paralysis" around these days, where the government has not been able to push necessary reforms and take crucial decisions because of heavy opposition by opposition parties and coalition partners. But it is important to understand that those very opposing parties that are claiming that this government is in a state of policy paralysis are themselves the one who are causing it .

Again my question is simple why not collaborate, discuss various pros and cons, take everybody's suggestions and bring out the Best as everyone is supposed to have only 1 final motive i.e. betterment of the system. So with the same final goal let's work, collaborate and rise together rather than fighting like cats and dogs.

"BREAKING NEWS" : Is It ?

Before i write this post let me clarify that I'm a big supporter and fan of Media and i think it has played a huge role in creating awareness about a whole lot of issues among us - the common people of our country.

Now getting to the agenda, this post related to the in-numerous 24*7 News Channels that we have today, i want to comment on the seriousness, merit & impact of the news shown on them.

The word "BREAKING NEWS" when it was started to be shown by the news channels maybe 7-8 years back only used to refer to those news which were really breaking i.e. something that was really important, had some urgency to it etc. I will agree that it is a matter of perception for an individual for what he might call a breaking news and what he might not but nowadays for our news channels every news is a breaking news and they have lost the true meaning of breaking news. So how does one differentiate one news which might be of national importance with one which says which film actor links up with which actress as both are 'Breaking News'.

Isn't journalism (which tv news channels are a part of) about using wisdom, looking at facts, proofs, history and then reporting it in a simplified & truthful way so that the common people understand it and get aware ? Why can we call the normal stuff simply "News" and the really important ones as "Breaking News".

This trivial issue apart, let's come down to the content of it ? How often have you seen some comedy show from some other channel playing in news channels ? How often do we see innumerable reruns of stupid linkup stories of actors and actresses ? How often we see people completely misquoted in which, the person in the video might be saying something in some perspective and the title of it or the underlined statement as breaking news saying something else altogether in a fully different context ? How many times have we seen too trivial or miniature issues projected as national calamities, essentially as in the Hindi phrase "राई का पहाड " ?

So the question is are those news channels really want to make this mockery of journalism or are they doing all this just to get the maximum TRP(s) in-essence making the maximum money out of it after all its a business and not a charity or a non-profit organization ?

But in a country like ours where people almost blindly believe those news channels, shouldn't they be more concerned and responsible ?

Even after all these criticisms, there is a lot of good work that our media has done. There are a lot of shows which talks about various happenings in the country, various good interview shows where the people at top are held responsible and asked about their doings, and many other things which creates huge amount of awareness amongst us.

To conclude, all i want to say is our news channels should "Keep up the good work" but do it in a more sensible and journalistic way rather than a commercial or a "breaking news" kind of way.

Why do we have to be Party people ?

this post refers to those of us (common people not the people working for the party) who call themselves party people, for e.g. some people say they are Congress people and they always vote for congress, some say they are BJP people and they always vote for BJP etc.

But my question is why ? Can't we be the "best candidate people" who votes for a candidate only if we think he/she is the best person for the job ?

I agree that one might have an inclination towards the political ideologies of any particular party but not all candidates of that party can be good and not all candidates of the other parties can be bad. If we seek an average citizen of our country, he votes for the people contesting for the posts of parshad, mayor (in some cities), MLA, MP etc. and that citizen might like a candidate of one party for one post and another candidate of another party for another post yet if he chooses all from a same party just because he likes that party might not be the best way forward for our democracy.

However i see this problem (i perceive it to be one) majorly happening with the not so educated yet quite affluent & not at all educated and severely deprived citizens of our country. Their is a large chunk of our population who are too ignorant for all this and the truth is we cannot blame them, we cannot expect someone who's deprived of basic necessities like food, home and lives in "zhopad patties" to be really considerate of all this. It is very simple for them, who gives them food or money or anything that helps them there and then gets their vote. They don't have the means to think of long-term for they have to fill their stomachs short-term.

But on the bright side, i think things are headed in the right direction, i think we the people of India are getting quite aware about our rights and the kind of people we should elect. We are starting to look at candidates on their merit and not on party lines.

Is Criticism the only option ?

This post comes after seeing all out politicians praising themselves and their own parties about how great work they have done and criticize all the others about they haven't done anything or they are just corrupt etc.

What i want to say here is, why can't the opposition political parties access the situation properly and then decide whether the party with the government has done the right thing or not ? or whether they have done something adequately or not ? etc. Why can't they do an honest assessment and then go on to take actions whether it is praising or opposing the government. Why is it so that they always have to criticize the government ? The same goes for the ruling party, why they have to always criticize the opposition parties views on things, they should also assess it properly and then go on to accept it or reject it.

Today we saw one of the biggest rise in Petrol prices (Rs. 7.5 per litre) in the history of India and all hell went loose, every other party other than the ruling one came out and opposed this move like anything. But do they realize that this was inevitable and out of government's hands. If they think that this should have been avoided why don't they give/propose an alternative to the government ?

Also quite a while back government have successfully taken out the subsidy out of the petrol prices and now it is the oil companies that decide the prices not the government. However considering its importance and significance government must be having a huge say in this but the current economic conditions are such. We also understand that this big a rise will have a huge impact and our people will suffer a lot because of it but with the current economical conditions, the fall of rupee against dollar by such a huge margin , the ever rising prices of crude oils this was inevitable.

With the problems such as the rising fiscal deficit, decline in growth rate and the problem of rupee vs dollar at hand this was unavoidable, and those who criticize it (I'm talking here about the Leaders and other intellectuals who are criticizing this not the common people who certainly are suffering a lot because of this) should propose a alternate first keeping in check all those other aims and then go on talking about it.

Just saying time and again  that the government had failed is not justified, if at all you claim that then prove it by justifying what the government did wrong and what should have been done or what shouldn't have been done for the betterment of the country.

Are we all Cry Babies ?

this post is about all our comments like "Politics is crap" "All Politicians are corrupt" "Nothing could happen in this country" "The country is going down in the dumps" "Politicians or leaders just make promises but don't actually do anything" "All Politicians are criminals and a lot of them actually have cases going on against them" and so on....

But my point is aren't we the citizens of this esteemed democracy are the ones who elected these politicians to represent us ? If they were corrupt or criminals or uneducated then why did we elect them in the first place ? I think it's time we realize this as our responsibility and voice against anything that we feel is being done wrong. How many times have we seen problems like bad roads but how many times do we actually go to municipal offices to inquire about what plans have been made for the roads and if not anything then suggest them to do something about it, if they don't listen then there are Parshads, Mayors, MLAs, MPs and so on. And I think if we unite and take these problems of society as problems of our own we can easily get the work done.

Right to Information - a very powerful tool given to us by the government but how many of us know about it, leave aside using it ? I don't have the backing of official statistics but i don't think apart from a very few activists (as compared to 1.2 Billion people in this country) anybody has ever used or even knows how to use RTI. 

What i say is instead of cursing our politicians and leaders for not doing their job effectively why don't we play our part and select the best of candidates irrespective of their party, religion or cast but based on their merit. And those of us who think themselves capable enough should come forward and fight elections themselves.

But just crying like babies that politics is bad or our politicians have ruined the country is of no use. So its time we wake up and fight for the problems of society as our own !

For instance if a tube-light in our house goes out don't we replace it immediately then why not the same with those lights on the street shouldn't we make sure that they are in proper shape ?

It might be difficult, tiring & time taking but shaping our Nation the way we want is totally in our own hands.

60th Anniversary of the Indian Parliament

the date 13th May 2012 marks the 60 years of Indian parliament and it's been six long decades since the soul of Indian democracy has been in place. I wasn't actually aware about this but the special sessions of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and a Joint session today on a Sunday made me look into it. In both the houses i saw all the big leaders given a chance to say something about how great the Indian Democracy is , how great our Parliament system is or some went on to be skeptic about the things we achieved, or the way our Parliament works. Most interesting or rather funny i found was Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav who started with criticizing the Lokpal as someone who might sit on the head of the MPs and then went on to praising the finance minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee (maybe that has something to do with Mr. Mukherjee being the frontrunner in forthcoming Presidential elections)

But my question as also raised by many is are our MP's professional in their work in the parliament ? How often do we hear or read about the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha sessions being disrupted ? How often we seen different parties shouting and fighting like cats and dogs?

Can't we have our MP's to behave more professionally and discuss and debate things in an orderly manner and bring something constructive out of it in a timely manner. There have been in-numerous hours of session time being wasted by the shear indiscipline and this is one simple thing in hands of our elected leaders to correct.

Also it has almost become a trend for our parliamentarians to act first as a party member and then as the house member, if something is introduced by the government and if an opposition party decides to oppose it then even those members of that opposition party who might actually agree with the proposal or the discussion don't raise their voice to support it. I understand that people in same parties follow the same ideologies but i fail to understand how can they all agree on something all the time. The same goes for the MP's of the ruling parties, it's their responsibility to raise their concerns about government policies and working, even if it is their own parties government.

All I'm calling for is our leaders should be leaders first and then the party-men they are.

disclaimer

Well I'm a random Indian guy, who had been fortunate enough to have a reasonably good education and understands or is trying to understand various issues that our country faces or even us as individual citizens face. And this blog is aimed at putting out all my thoughts on paper (not literally but still :)).

I wanted to put this disclaimer upfront to emphasize that all my blog posts will be my own personal thoughts and i don't represents anything or anybody nor i want to offend anybody. And if at all i offend or hurt anybody's feeling i apologize in advance but rest assure it is not intended.

Also I'm not to be held responsible if i get my facts wrong anywhere, I'll try my best to put forward my thoughts based on update facts but a humane error is very much possible.

Rather I'm not to be held responsible at all in any case, so read this or use this blog at your own wisdom.