Politics of Suggestions ?

This post refers to the recent visit  by Mr. Rahul Gandhi to the relief camps of Muzaffarnagar riots victims and the subsequent comments on it.

Specifically referring to the comment made by the UP Chief Minister Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, he said that "We'll act on any suggestions on the rehabilitation of the victims" and moreover he was not interested in any political allegations on the subject.

Why can't we do this ? Instead of blaming the existing government or leaders of doing nothing, why not give constructive suggestions that what particular steps might help more ?

Instead of political gains, why can't the benefit or the betterment of the victims be the primary target ?

Public collaboration across issues and in public interests might give the media a big headline but will create wonders for the people and our Nation at large. 

Do you actually want caste discrimination ?

This refers to the recent case of an Indian Diplomat posted in US and being arrested and not handled properly. The matter is under wide scrutiny and both the Governments seem to be responding on it.

While speaking on this issue in Rajya Sabha today, Ms. Mayawati (from Bahujan Samaj Party) said two contradictory things :

1. She said that since the diplomat belonged to a weaker section of the society (Scheduled Caste), the section is feeling aggravated and people feel that had this diplomat not been from such a section the Central Government would not have delayed in their response

2. One should not bring caste in such issues

She then also went onto blame the congress that had she been from any other caste there would have been much swifter reaction.

But ma'am aren't you the one bringing caste into such an issue ? Is it really the case that there was a delay because of her caste ? Why do we want to talk or rather even think in such lines ?

If a leader of such a stature accuses the Government of such a thing isn't that actually scaring or encouraging people from the respective section to feel discriminated ? Isn't this promoting caste discrimination ? Had there been such a delay then why didn't you raise the issue much earlier ?

Why can't we start seeing things over any divide especially above caste and communal lines and act like a united Nation ?

Kindly do the needful !

This refers to the recent Delhi Poll Campaigns by Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party.

During this campaign, Mr. Kejriwal keep appearing across various TV Channels answering questions, which is good.

However while answering one question on "Why won't you become corrupt ?"

He says "I used to work as a commissioner in the Income Tax Department, and there even an inspector can earn 1 crore rupees in a year. And I was a commissioner, so if I wanted I could've earned crores but I didn't".  

So while we appreciate his mentioned honesty we would like to request Mr. Kejriwal to kindly report any such things which made him to beleive that an inspector in the income tax department can earn a crore in a year.

Obviously he didn't intend to publicize a lucrative career option for corruption based money seekers.

What he mentioned in such a casual way seem to reflect corruption in part and parcel of a job at the Income Tax Department.

So on behalf of making our country better and corruption free we would request Mr. Kejriwal to kindly disclose/report anything he knows about such happenings at the Income Tax Department to the requisite authorities/vigilance/police/judiciary/media.

We also request the Income Tax Department to kindly take notice of this allegation and if they claim its incorrect then kindly seek an explanation from Mr. Kejriwal or else take action against those involved.

We need the Fight !

This refers to the public scuffle today between the the two MPs from Andhra Pradesh over rescuing the Andhra people from the flood hit Uttarakhand. The two MPs one from Congress and the other from Telugu Desam Party almost had a physical exchange for both had made travel arrangements and wanted the people to go with them.

Even though I completely disagree with the use of violent means to solve any sort of disputes and also there might have been a "showoff agenda" over here but in principle i agree with and promote the spirit of competition for public service.

It will be big boon for our democracy if our leaders keep competing with each other in terms of constructive public service in the hopes that who works more for the public will get more votes. 

In a country where leaders get their votes on the basis of caste, religion, communities, parties etc it will be highly democratic if they have to work and work hard for the public to show their mantle and get votes.

And we the public should only give our votes to such candidates whom we feel will work extremely hard with full dedication for us and for our society at large (irrespective of their caste, party or community etc. ).

We need Meritocracy !

Be it our Public Administrations, Various Government Offices, PSUs, and even the Political Systems we need people to have the ambition and aspiration to work as hard as they can inorder to move forward in their careers and for the betterment of our nation.

To curb huge menaces like corruption, we need a zeal in our systems where the only way forward is to work and that too as efficiently and effectively as one can. It should be something like "this way or the highway". Moreover in our Public Systems and offices we need the discipline of the private sector (work - you grow, don't - you are thrown).

We need 1. Motivation 2. Honesty 3. Efficiency 4. Effectiveness - for a developing country like ours to thrive.

However such an environment can only be built/survive if people at the highest levels, our leaders show us the right way, but that seems to be one of the problems. I'm hinting here at the recent comments made by Mr. Charan Das Mahant (an Union Minister of state for Agriculture and Food Processing and CG Congress Committee's acting President). He said " If Congress president Sonia Gandhi asks me to pick up a broom and sweep state Congress office in Chhattisgarh, I would do it".

In his statement the problem is not with his intention to pick up a broom and sweep, in fact that's quite noble and shows his humility. But the problem is with the language and the way it is framed shows and highlights "Sycophancy" i.e. wining people or getting favors by flattering influential people.

And as per media reports (and not my own assessment as I've not been a part of any political system) such sycophancy strives in our political systems where you have to be a "Sycophant" or a "chamcha" (in Hindi) to make your way forward.

However if people of such high stature as a Union Minister indulge in such statements and acts, what message and motivation does it give to the common man ?

In our Country, we need people to strongly put forward their views and also follow orders but only when they agree with it within the boundaries of the system.

This is just ridiculous !

Background Story:

One of the Senior Ministers of the UP Government Mr. Azam Khan of the Samajwadi Party recently went to US on a trip and was restrained on the Airport by the Airport Officials for about 45 minutes.

Now, What is Ridiculous:

So now before returning to India from the US Trip, Mr. Azam Khan issued a statement claiming that there was a conspiracy to defame him by none other than Mr. Salman Khurshid the External Affairs Minister of India.

He claims that Mr. Khurshid colluded with the Homeland Security of the US in order to defame him. As if the External Affairs Minister of India and the US Homeland Security are best buddies in the sense that they collude to take care of each other's personal vendettas.

He also mentioned that in the past prominent Indian people like the Hon. Ex President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had also been briefly retained at a US Airport but that was a "different issue" and should not be compared to his case.

Moreover he said that since he recently headed the organization of the Allahabad MahaKumbh (which according to him was very successfully conducted), he had gotten "International Recognition and Fame" and hence the conspiracy to defame him.

However he forgot to mention that it was the same Allahabad Maha Kumbh, during which we had a huge stampede and 36 people lost their lives and many more got injured and because of which he publicly had to tender his resignation for the post of the head of the Kumbh organization.

This article however is not at all intended to justify Mr. Azam Khan's detention at the Airport however it highly condemns his statements and allegations.

By making such farcical allegations against a senior leader (that too by a senior UP leader himself) not just makes a mockery of himself but degrades and embarrasses the whole of our Politicians and Leaders.

Ref: 1. Article_On_Times_Of_India

Empowerment !

In a country as vast and diverse as ours, Governance cannot be Centralized. We simply cannot expect a single person or a group of people to govern the Whole Country out of Delhi  or the State Capitals.

What we need is distribution of power, we need our people (ourselves) at the lowest levels to be empowered !

This thought stems out of the recent press conference by Mr. Arvind Kejriwal (AAP) during which in order to tackle the menace of the regular "inhuman activities towards women" happening in Delhi , he proposed creation of a "women protection cell" comprising of local people.

Even though it is extremely difficult to implement & function, the idea could really be effective. He talked about empowering people at the local levels who can help curb this menace and moreover help the victims (if any) and keep the administration (Police, Hospitals etc.) in check to function properly.

He called out for volunteers irrespective of their political ideology or following and gave a message something like "our own safety in our own hands".

The crux of the matter is we need to be more vocal, more attentive, more concerned & much less selfish towards the society we live in.

Investigative Media !

This post refers to one of the most important pillars of our Democracy i.e. the Media.

The media not only ensures that the people are well aware of what all is happening around us in our cities, states, the Country or the World but also reflects and reports on the performance of our leaders by taking up people's grievances or appreciations.

Following this chain of thought we need much more of an "investigative" media who at all levels i.e local,state or national keeps a check on what is happening.

We need our journalists and media to be much more of a democratic instrument whom the common people can use as a grievance or appreciation reporting tool.

For instance even at a district level we need our media to constantly report the problems that are being faced by the people, what steps are being taken by the administration, are our leaders and bureaucrats fulfilling their roles and responsibilities etc.

Throughout our history be it from the times of our freedom struggle to now, our media has been doing so and have been playing a very vital role in our system of governance but it needs to be more proactive and vigilant.

However it is of utmost importance that while doing so it has to abide by its core principles of unbiasedness, transparency and honesty.

Trust the System ?

This post again refers to one of the recent speeches made by Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav where he went on to claim that it is tough fighting with the Government as they can "use" the CBI and put anyone in Jail.

He also said that "Congress used to take support by threatening. I supported the UPA government in bad times but Congress has put CBI after me,"

Now these statements raises a lot of questions:

1. If a leader as tall as Mr. Mulayam Singh feels/finds that the Government is misusing the CBI, then why doesn't he ask for its autonomy i.e. making CBI an independent body like the Election Commission or the Judiciary ?

2. Why does one has to fear about any CBI/Legal investigations, if one has done nothing wrong ?

3. He says that Congress used to take support by threatening, does he mean to say that he was threatened into supporting the Congress led Government ?

4. If the Central Government is such a mess, why does he and his party still continue to support the central Government ?

5. His second statement is a contradiction on its own: he says that Congress used to take support by threatening (i.e. if somebody doesn't support then they put a CBI case on them), but the Samajwadi Party did support the Congress Government so going by Mr Mulayam Singh's logic he should have been immune to any cases but still there are misappropriation of assets cases against him.

6. If big leaders and politicians like Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav don't even have trust in our system, how can we expect the ordinary citizens to have so ?

We need to not only trust our systems but strengthen them. If at all we find anomalies like this in our systems we need to tackle it (and not succumb to) and make it much more stronger !

we need Trust !

This post refers to two aspects of the speech given by Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav during his recent rally in Lucknow.

Firstly he said that Mr. Advani has personally called him and informed that corruption is rising in UP and he further went on to warn his ministers. He also said that he trusts Mr. Advani completely and mentioned the fact that he never lies. Furthermore he promised to meet Mr. Advani and understand the specificities.

This is the kind of trust and cooperation we need amongst our leaders. While we are plagued with problems, such unity (with or w/o any political motives) is what we require most.

Secondly, during the same speech he went to blame the Central Government for the rising corruption in the country. But now the question is if the Central Government is not performing well and is working its way into corruption, then why is the Samajwadi Party supporting it and making sure that the Government stays in power ? If Mr. Mulayam Singh believes that the Central Government is not following its mandate, he can simply withdraw his support and call for fresh elections !

this is called Criticism !

This post refers to the speech given by the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh during the BJP National Council Meeting.

This recently held meeting was covered widely by the media, especially the parts referring to Mr. Narendra Modi. However what stood out most to me was the speech made by Dr. Raman Singh. His speech was "point blank" meaning without going into any sorts of "name-calling" or "political-vote-bank-tactics", he simple iterated what his government has done over the past decade, what all schemes, experiments, pro-grammes they have developed and how they benefited the people. He even explained the various challenges faced and how they overcame them.

For example, for a system as messy and complicated as the "PDS System" not only did his Government worked extensively only it (with a lot of innovation, technological integration and tight monitoring) but he explained it with so much simplicity and passion, it truly reflected the sweat and hard work put behind it.

However the highlight of his speech was the Criticism that he brought upon the National Food Security Act, which is soon going to be brought by the Central Government. And what was exceptionally great about his criticism was that he was not just criticizing because he belongs to an opposition party, far from it he went into specific details, compared it with the food security act that they have brought in their own state & iterated the various challenges associated with it. He went into the intricacies of the act and explained why he is opposing and what he is opposing with alternatives and solutions that they themselves have implemented.  He even went on to give specific suggestions which could be added/modified to the act.

Add to that he backed his claims and the act in Chhattisgarh by another report/claim that there was "No Hunger Death" reported in the past 4 years in Chhattisgarh.

And this is what is called Criticism !

Anger is good !

It is good to be angry and pissed off ! This is when we see somebody responsible for something not doing his/her job be it an elected leader, a bureaucrat or any official.

We got to be active, care about and do something when we see someone not doing what they are supposed to do. However this anger should come out in an entirely non-violent and systematic way.

What India needs most is to empower the system i.e. making our systems, administrations, processes so efficient that nobody inside it dares to defy it or work against it.

There needs to be an efficient check mechanism and a complaint redressal mechanism for every public system be it the local level municipal offices, leaders or various other administrative hierarchies.

We would be a true democracy if and only if we can hold each and every leader/official or any other public servant responsible for his/her actions/inactions.

Collective Responsibility ?

This post refers to the comments made by various leaders after the Union Budget. The highlight of those being that the Government and its policies were responsible for the economic slowdown, the low GDP growth, high fiscal deficit, high current account deficit, low investor sentiments etc.

But the question is since a majority of the policy and legislative decisions happen/not-happen in the Parliament isn't it the collective responsibility of all the members (and not just the Government) for any policy/legislative action/inaction ?

A lot of legislative business (e.g. the land acquisition bill, GST, Pension and Insurance bills etc) which could have been beneficial to the economy are pending. And the main reason behind which being the Parliament unable to function because of constant disruptions.

And how is it useful to just trash the Budget and the Government without getting into the specifics or alternatives !

Indeed on the whole it is the Government's responsibility but the opposition is not just there to oppose each and everything so that they can work their way into the Government in the next elections instead even they are also there to work together with the Government for the people of our Nation.

right comment at the right place ?

this post refers to the comment made by Mr. Lal Krishna Advani regarding the Hyderabad bomb blasts in front of the media today. He commented that since our neighboring country failed against us in actual war so many times, they are taking the help of a "proxy war" i.e. pointing fingers directly at Pakistan and blaming them for the horrific incident.

But the question is : is it wise, rational and logical for a person of such stature (i.e. the Prime Ministerial candidate in the last elections and the senior most leader of the main opposition party) to make such comments without what any proper investigation ?

He might be right, but we don't have any investigations/proofs etc till now and even if he has some reasons/intelligence about it then the media isn't the right place for it.

For e.g. blaming Pakistan for the 26/11 attacks is correct and we've had ample proofs which we even have produced before the Pakistan Government but blaming them so early here just seems a bit irrational and that too by a leader as tall as Mr. Advani.

What ideally should happen is that our intelligence agencies etc. should investigate the matter as fast as they can, and then who ever is the culprit we all should be united (despite the party lines) in bringing them to the justice.

Playing the blame game without any legible proofs will only hit our credibility !

Going above Party Lines !

This post refers to the reactions by various Political Parties and Leaders to the execution of capital punishment of Afzal Guru.

More often than not we see the opposition parties thrashing the workings of the parties in power and vice-verse, it is extremely rare when we see the political parties actually speaking about the matter in question and maybe appreciating the steps by the Government. 

The point being, in a country with so many issues and problems plaguing us, we need a collaborative approach from our leaders and not a cat-fight  just for the sake of vote bank politics. Expressing genuine concerns and differences in ideologies are more than welcome but we need solutions not just debates and discussions (that too less in the Parliament and more in the media).

And what happened today, with the primary opposition party BJP welcoming the execution and sending a strong message against terrorism reflects the true strength of our country. We need much more collaboration & appreciation cutting across party lines which would lead to strong governance and action against our country's problems.

Are we Morally educated ?

Lack of Morality, Values, Ethics in us is one of the most fundamental cause behind the various issues trembling our Nation by its roots. Be it corruption, extreme efficiency in Government policies, pro-grammes, schemes, offices etc; Inequality, Heinous crimes like female foeticide, infanticide, rape; Honor killings etc all reflect a serious lack of morality, values and ethics.

What's even more alarming is that well educated people also indulge in such kind of activities !

This reflects the serious need of Value education in our schools and colleges. Along with teaching the young different aspects of sciences, languages, etc. it is extremely important to make them realize what's good and what's bad ! what's our duties and responsibilities ! what sort of activities we should promote/revolt !

Having said that it is also noted that there is no perfect definition of values and value education but even in the light of what we have seen in the country in the past 2-3 years be it the various corruption cases, extreme inefficiencies, inhuman crimes like rapes, violence we need the moral awakening now more than ever !

Even Tv Shows and Movies like Tarak Mehta ka ooltah chasma and Oh My God have done a tremendous job of conveying the right messages and making people much more moral, ethical, self-righteous and aware.

But we need these lessons a lot more and embroiled in as many domains as possible be it the Formal Education, Television shows, Movies, Media, etc.

Even all our religious leaders, political leaders, babas and gurus should aspire for making us the most morally sound people.