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).