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.