Month-In-Perspective

KARNATAKA: A Bijapur date lined news informed about a government school being used for commercial coaching. Karnataka govt. had continued the mid-day meal for school children in the districts affected by drought. While it was a good gesture form the state govt. the touts wanting to make a fast buck used the occasion to use the premises for coaching, since students would anyway come for food. Of course it was a brilliant idea in time management, but the commercial aspect was rather exploitative. They should have taken the local administration on board and could probably have taken some token payment of say Rs: 100/- a child instead of the Rs: 200 to 400 as reported.

Surely it would have been a happy experience to all. But we have always exploited a situation to benefit only a few, with the school headmaster in the loop for an illegal payment. The crassness of the venture included coaching even LKG and UKG children. Of course all concerned have reportedly promised action. But then how could anybody be so bold to do it so brazenly?

That C.M. Ibrahim, the politician from Karnataka was the villain, who played dirty with Tatas with respect to their Bangalore International Airport proposal was a well known fact since years ago. But he succumbed to the pressure from Jet Airways for a joint venture proposal by Tatas with Singapore airlines is a lesser known truth. M.K. Kaw who has exposed this has done a signal service to the country. It is unlikely that Ibrahim, as Aviation Minister has played the ball for Jet Air without a huge price. Since Tatas didn’t give any bribe for the Airport proposal, it could be that he wanted to fix Tata’s and enrich himself in the process. Yes people like C M Ibrahim are in the politics only for making illegal money and there are many like him in the parliament. Wasn’t Arvind Kejriwal damn right , how can we respect such a parliament, where members tolerate and co-habit with such nasties?

TAMIL NADU: Indians, harken! Mr. Purno Agitok Sangma, the former speaker of Loksabha wants to be the Numero Uno of Federal Republic of India. He wants to be the next occupant of the Viceregal palace, the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. You know why, because he is a tribal, and “its time” according to him “that a tribal becomes the President of India.” Surely nothing wrong in this desire. He has all the qualities, according to Amma from South, the iron lady of Tamil Nadu, Ms. Jayalalitha. And she has endorsed his candidature and got in touch with many political parties to drum up support for him. Mr Sangma has even told TV journalists that he will contest the election, ‘come what may’.

While there is nothing apparently, to deny him the position of the 1st citizen of the country, what is bothering is why is he so ambitious, having done already pretty well for himself and his family?

Most Indians, who are in the know of things, are aware that his daughter Agatha Sangma, is a minister in UPA II, his one son is the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, and another son is a senior cabinet minister in the state, while he himself was the former 1st parliamentarian. How many family in India can boast of such array of heavyweights. And come to think of it, they are all tribal, since they are children of a tribal!

It is all very well to have a tribal as the president, but why Mr P.A. Sangma? Mr. Sangma could propose some other tribal name. Why is he so ambitious that only he wants to be the next president? Is there no limit for one's desire? Are we having only one tribal family? I think its time somebody musters enough courage at the national level to show him his place. Enough is enough. You better propose some other tribal’s name, who you think is as competent and educated as you are. That will at least show a bit of selflessness, or else it is very evident ‘you are being very self centred Mr Sangma'.

Of course, if I have a choice, I would rather go for Mr Hamid Ansari, who is by all accounts a very deserving candidate and is already next in command. For him, to be president of India is a natural elevation. Hope our ‘going in circles’ politicians shall stop somewhere and plump for him.

UTTAR PRADESH: Whatever be the success rate of RTI act, by any stretch of imagination, this is the best piece of legislation that has come from the parliament. For the last couple of years, there have been steady increase in the graceless fall of many men and women from power centres within the corridors of all three estates of the democratic governance. Whether it is from legislatures, the politicians including ministers, or from Executive, the babus and their hangers-on or from judiciary, the judicial & legal luminaries, there have been persons of eminence falling from grace, accused of personal aggrandisement at the cost of nation, courtesy RTI activism.

The latest to be exposed is Maayawathi. The report, datelined Lucknow, informs “For renovation of Maayawathi’s residence Rs: 86 crores”. The details obtained under RTI, informs that this renovation has been a ‘five year plan’ started in 2007 when she became the Chief Minister, on her own, and finished when she had to leave the office in 2012, after the assembly election debacle. It was one year ago that an opposition politician had sought these details, however, it was stonewalled by Maayawathi govt. But now that her opponents have taken up the reins of power, the information was easily made available. Courtesy, of course, partisan politics. According to a senior official, who mustered enough courage to admit that, at least Rs 100 crores were spent on the house. Of course, it was not a case of personal aggrandizement, but a comprehensive misuse of power, all the same. It’s a shame that one could so brazenly spend scarce resources to bolster the ego. It is an irony and quirk of fate that the mansion she so elaborately done up with 2 exclusive 20 ft high statues of herself and that of her political mentor Kanshi Ram, will not be used by her, now that she lost the power and has shifted to Delhi as Rajya Sabha member.

MAHARASHTRA: The print media news, datelined Thane, informs, “Keep off Muslim Personal Law, Islamic Scholars tell govts”. The news or what it tries to convey is not something new in the context of a secular India. A convention on Muslim Personal Law held at Bhiwandi, outside Mumbai had, referring to Supreme Court observation seeking to insist registration of “nikaah”, reportedly stated that “it is an interference and hence this cannot be tolerated”. The report also informed that a scholar, Allama Qamruzzaman Khan Azmi, was commenting on the proposed bill by the Maharashtra government seeking parity for women in the distribution of husband’s property. According to this Azmi ‘the move had hurt the sentiments of Muslims’.

Problem with these organisations and their leaders is the insistence of their point of view. The remark in the earlier paara that ‘this interference cannot be tolerated’ is blatantly assertive and gives the impression of a closed mind. Similarly the later statement ‘the move had hurt the sentiments of Muslims’ appears to be unconcerned about the hurt of Muslim women, but apparently concerned only about the hurt of Muslim men. Equity demands that there should be a penal provision to protect the interests of women in situations where such interests are left to the whims and fancy of only men.

In a democratic polity, mouthing secular socio/political platitudes, debate is the sine quo non of co-operative co-existance. We are a country wedded, at least constitutionally, to the welfare of all, where equity is the basis of all welfare programmes. In such scenarious, abrasive assertions viciate the tranquil social atmosphere. Something, some of these clerics and their leaders, need to understand.

The news that the govt. in Mumbai is on track, to set-up 22 new check-posts, with modern technology application, to keep tab on every vehicle entering the state, is a very important development with ramifications of myriad kind. The reported and planned objective of this very good development, however, is rather limited. According to report, it will help in checking tax evasion and corruption in tax and excise duty collection, since these check posts shall be jointly operated by transport, sales tax and excise duty departments. A separate company, Maharashtra Border Check Posts Network Ltd. has been reportedly set up. This makes sense for better accountability. All check posts will have video camera, number plate reader, automatic vehicle counter, classifiers and lane controllers. There will be a Central Control Room monitoring round the clock, the working of all 22 check posts.

This is certainly a state-of the-art arrangement for maximum efficiency and productivity. However, what the report did not inform, or the authorities did not think and therefore did not report, is the crucial input and support these 22 check posts can provide to the managers of internal security apparatus of the country.

This benefit alone can outstrip the entire financial benefit of revenue mopping for the state. What can we call this? Complete lack of imagination!

If it is Vithal Malekudiya in Karnataka, it is Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) members, six of them, in Maharashtra, who have been arrested by the Anti Terrorism Squad for ostensibly aiding Naxals or spreading Naxal ideology. Quite frankly these are desperate measures by the authority. Can anybody who is truly responsible in the state hierarchy tell, how these arrests are going to help solve the Naxal problem or reduce the Naxal menace? If any, it is only going to act negatively towards the resolution of the burning problem. There have been lot of negative publicity to the government crackdown. In Karnataka, lot of thinkers, writers and activists have been agitating for Vithal’s release. Even University of Mangalore were not playing very fair with the examination of Vithal, who has to appear for his P.G. examination in Journalism. Just the other day Prakash Karath of CPI(M) had called on Vithal in Mangalore Sub-Jail, and had promised agitation for the release of the young man, who’s promising career is at stake. In Poona, reportedly eminent citizens have come out openly in support of arrested members of KKM.

Governments all over India are having a muddled approach in handling naxal issues, with problems like state & federalism dimension, the problem has only eluded lasting solution. Of course even Naxals, who seem to have their head stuck in the sand are making things increasingly difficult for themselves and their civil society supporters. There appears to be some leadership crisis among Naxals. However, it is eminently possible for the govts-both central and state-to come up with an imaginative plan of action to combat and to overcome this menace.

BCCI and IPL, both rolling in money shall always provide for juicy stories for the press. We all know that both do not want to come under RTI for obvious reasons. There is big money and hence can lead to bigger scandals, therefore RTI is out. IPL has suddenly exposed the money potential of the participants and of course the earning capacity. Every thing may not be hunky-dory, that is why Kirti Azad, a former cricketer and M.P., has gone public against IPL. Close on heels, the cricket bosses decide to distribute Rs:70 crores to some 170 former cricketers. But since Azad had gone ballistic his name was deleted from the list of beneficiaries.

BCCI/IPL and all former cricketers can be believed to be sportsmen. But nobody, even a single soul, among all the 170 former cricketers, did not think, even for a second, that a fellow cricketer, a sportsman was denied his claim of his share in this booty of Rs:70 crores. That’s the sportsmanship of our Indian cricketers. And did they say they are playing for the country! No Sir, they are just playing for the money therein, period.

WEST BENGAL: Justice Katju is in the news, for all kinds of reasons, because he has the capacity to rake up issues relevant or not for his position as PCI chairman. “Don’t Give Bharat Ratna to Sachin” was one of them. Speaking at a function organized by Kalidas – Ghalib Foundation in Kolkatta he also praised to the sky, the mercurial boss at Writers Building, Mamata Bannerjee. Justice Katju had reportedly heaped praises on the West Bengal Chief Minister, describing her as a ‘person of outstanding quality’ and many other commendable attributes.

Of course we have no quarrel with his statement, India is a free country and can air one’s views freely. But it appears he revels in making sweeping statements. However we should give him marks for his Bharat Ratna statement. There are enough grounds why the cricketer need not be given this national honour. And we have Mamata, who just walked out of an interview recording with CNN-IBN, since the anchor asked questions which she was not comfortable to answer, although they were very relevant. But this is how this ‘very honest and fearless political leader’ reacts. She unfortunately is suffering from a huge sense of self importance, or do we call it ego!

NEW DELHI: Election to the Rashtrapathi Bhawan is already heating up the atmosphere in the capital, with all political parties having visions of self importance of having an ace up their sleeve, although the president is only a de facto head of the state. Like governors in the states, a president too can play politics. Thus what drove all political parties to propose their possible candidate was also with political considerations. One of the earliest to make their choice clear was BJP. Its floor header Sushma Swaraj had, while proposing APJ Abdul Kalam for presidentship exposed her bias by rejecting Vice President Ansari for the No: 1 position. She had reportedly stated, rather shockingly, that Vice President Ansari did not have the stature to be the president. That was indeed in a poor taste. Was she saying those who are in the Vice President’s seat are not the natural claimants for the position of President? If one is good to be a Vice President, he is good to be a President as well. Look at Dr S. Radhakrishnan, or Dr Zakir Hussain, or K.R. Narayanan, they were all very illustrious VPs who later became Presidents. So is Hamid Ansari, a scholar and diplomat. She exposed her sense of prejudice or the possible but unconfirmed role of APJ Kalam in denying the PM’s position to Sonia Gandhi, could have influenced BJP decision to plump for the Mulayam Singh’s proposal of Kalam for a second term?!

MPs are at it again. “We have lost our honour” screamed a cross section of MPs over the purported remark of Yoga man Ramdev. Ramdev had reportedly remarked, that there are “dacoits, murderers and illiterates” among MPs. The remark apparently has incensed lot of Members of Parliament. If one is given a choice to take sides, I would rather go with yoga guru, rather than Members of Parliament. Firstly he has not insulted parliament and he has stated some of the members of the august house are dacoits, murderers and illiterates, which is true. So where is the issue? The issue is quite simply the ego of these members. We talk about freedom of speech but condemn it when we do not like it. It is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, that there are “dacoits, murderers and illiterates” in the Parliament. Of course to take the arguments further, we have to perforce make a list of persons who have cases against them on above charges and are sitting in the hallowed precincts of Samsad Bhavan. Arvind Kejriwal has done his home work better than yoga guru. He has released a list to the press, the other day. Since then MPs are quite. Not hankering for Kejriwal’s blood. But media hyperbole, whether it is TIMES NOW, HEADLINES TO-DAY or others, all had a field day interviewing a cross section of so-called opinion makers, for their TRP.

To say that Baba Ramdev, the Yoga businessman, is apolitical, is to make a big mistake. He is every inch a politician. His intentions may be good for the country, but he certainly desires a grand image of himself. If possible he wants to play the role of a ‘King maker’. His advantage is, he has a huge personal wealth, believed to be all accounted, since, the central govt of the day couldn’t, so far, fix him of any financial wrong doing. Even communists have failed to make a case of labour exploitation against him. He had fairly an acceptable image of himself, until the ‘Dharna fiasco’, in Janthar Manthar, where he tried to escape police in female ‘Salwar Khamis’. After staying quite for a while, he is again up and about and shared the dais with some Muslim leaders playing pure politics of ‘quota-khota’. The print media report ‘Ramdev to fight for quota benefits to Dalits among minorities’ said it all. He reportedly announced that ‘he would launch a struggle to support their demand for amending article 341that excludes Muslim and Christian dalits from the ambit of reservation’.

Baba Ramdev need to understand the genesis of reservation so also how, why and when Dalits became Muslims or Christians. In every argument for and against reservation, truth has always been the victim. It was the opportunistic convenience that threw up different ‘truths’ at different points of time, never the “truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth”.

So, the dirty tricks department of central govt. is on overdrive. Reportedly Income Tax deptt. has issued notice to the Trusts belonging to Baba Ramdev for the tax dues of Rs. 58 crores on the income of about Rs. 120 crores during 2009-10. It is well known that Baba Ramdev has three trusts, Patanjali Yoga Peeth, Divya Yoga Mandir and Bharath Swaabhiman Trust. These trusts were enjoying tax excemptions since the beginning. But ever since the Yoga guru has been seen to be a thorn in the flesh of UPA govt in Delhi, the government wanted to have a re-look at these tax exempted activities of the trust. Reportedly the I-T deptt., after ‘investigation’ into the activities of these trusts have classified them as ‘commercial’ and have withdrawn the tax exemptions given earlier and hence slapped a demand notice for tax recovery. Govt has also reportedly ordered Special Audit to find out all financial and banking transactions of these trusts. Clearly it is vindictive driven move and hence may not ‘win friends and influence people’.

For the last, a decade or so, from 2003 and even upto 2009-10, India presented a picture of robust growth. But suddenly it started dragging. Its the same India and same people. Despite European crisis of 2009/11, India didn’t do badly. But it’s the yellow metal, which is truly the villain. The increasingly massive imports of gold has certainly having a telling effect on the overall economy. Suddenly the money saved is not available for circulation, either on bank deposit or any of those investments which lead to growth. But into a dead investment.

In the early 2000s it was just $ 5 billion. In 2011/12 (only 10 months period of April/Jan) the gold import was an alarmingly high $ 50 billion. This is pure and simple definancialisation of savings, which did not flow into productive channels instead it went into unproductive investment in gold. It is an economist's nightmare to visualise the frittering away of such a huge domestic house hold saving.

It is a fact that in Indian economy, household savings contribute the bulk of financial savings. Hence such decline, if it persists will erode the basic strength of the economy. Therefore to funnel the house hold savings into productive channels of different kind, instead into gold buying, there has to be policy shift, to decidedly discourage gold imports, without any delay or else we can get into serious trouble. Finance Minister has to take the call to stem the worsening growth indices, but strangely he does the very reverse of it. He withdraws the duty proposed on gold in the budget. This is how we always worked, act in haste and repent in leisure.

60 years are old enough to be matured, but some people, including Members of Parliament simply do not grow. Parliament has just completed 60 years. ‘Will MPs also grow up?’ asked a Mumbai based news paper. But did they just prove that they will not grow up?

Just on the eve of the 60th anniversary of our elective democracy both houses of parliament created needless ruckus on an innocuous Shankar’s cartoon of some 60 years ago. There was absolutely nothing to portray Ambedkar in poor light. Both Nehru and Ambedkar were trying to coax the snail (which represented Indian constitution) to move faster. But the humour was completely lost on the thick headed leaders of ever floundering Dalit movement.

If these ‘thekedars’ as one paper called them, meaning agent or contractor, of Dalits were bad in reacting so churlishly on the reproduction of this cartoon, merely to embellish the text book on political science by the writers of NCERT, the HRD minister Kapil Sibal was another joker. He wasted no time in ordering the removal of the ‘controversial’ cartoon. In a sense that was the end of democratic dialogue, all because of, as a paper called it, 'ill informed and ill motivated bedlam in parliament'. That was a sad day for the parliament in the cusp of its 60th birthday.

There was this letter in the pres saying “No one is buying Pranab’s excuses”. The writer, one G. Pal accuses the Union Finance Minister that “all that he has to do is to threaten to disclose the names of those black money a/c holders abroad, if they do not deposit their money with I.T deptt”. And not mouth platitudes like resorting to austerity measures.

With, what Mr Pal is saying ispossible or not, it is very well known that Mr Pranab Mukherjee is a person who knows too much, especially about all wheeling-dealing in high places.

He has been variously described as the “best PM India didn’t have or the PM in waiting”, or as Ram Jetmalani saying “Pranab Mukherjee is Prime Minister material”. Whether these adjectives are meant to cause disquiet to Manmohan Singh or not is not known. But the fact is Pranab Mukherjee is a very intelligent person and generally good with people with power and money hence it is believed that he is in the know of lot of crucial information which can upset many apple carts. Hope one day, these informations become useful to the nation. In the interest of the nation, he should come clean.

The Supreme court order did not come a day too early, to phase out Haj subsidy for Muslims to travel to Mecca and Madina. While Hindu organisations opposed it, as was logically expected, it was also opposed by a section of the Muslim community itself.

It was in 1973, ostensibly to mitigate the travel blues of Muslim devotees travelling to Mecca and Madina, the then government of Indira Gandhi decided to partly fund their travel by air after recovering the sea fare. On the face of it, the measure was indeed very noble. But India being a constitutionally secular country, the measure did smack of favouritism, or appeasement as some critics called it. Constitutionally the govt. had absolutely no business to do what it did, of subsidizing travels to holy places, whether Muslims, Hindus or anybody else. Besides, these subsidies, especially Haj pilgrimage, cost the national exchequer enormous amount of money, which country can ill afford. Last year the government spent around Rs: 700 crores, which is certainly not a small sum. Hence for multiple reasons, this practice of funding Haj and other religious activities has to be phased out completely. These practices are unfair, capricious, expensive and eminently against the national ethos of secularism or Sarva Dharma Samabhava.

Yes, Air-India is in the news for all wrong reasons. For far too long this national air carrier has been in the thick of controversies. There were allegations of all kinds with ministers and CEO’s of the airline working against the interest of the airline. There are reports of pilots being unmanageable with all kinds of negative tactics, like, absenteeism, indiscipline by consuming alcohol on duty, working to rule and cause disruption of flights and keep on demanding perks and salaries like Oliver Twist, comparable to international carriers. Stories of quietly surrendering profit making sectors to competitors for personal gain, and thereby causing financial loss to the airline, accusing ministers and senior executives like CMD, ED, G.Ms etc. has been there in public domain.

Thus, the report of problems of all kinds with AI, is not new, but an ongoing 'theatre of the absurd'. For years on, it has been a difficult child of the government with losses mounting every year. Frankly, as one paper puts it, ‘we fail to understand why Air India – the badly bleeding airline – is still in business’. Yes, either they should shut it down or sell it to some private buyers, Indian or foreign. Only then these tantrum infected pilots shall be tamed and take other corrective measures to put the airline back on health.

WORLD: There was this Washington datelined news about an US military course titled ‘Islam is Enemy’ being suspended. The news was rather reflective of the nastier side of the US psyche in the first place. To have a course with such name is the height of intolerance. Islam is a religion practiced by millions the world over. In numbers, Islam is probably the 2nd largest faith. One may have reasons of dislike, disagreement or even hatred for some of the practitioners of the faith. But to say that ‘Islam is Enemy’ is abhorrence in the extreme. Given the choice, why shouldn’t an average human, who practices Islam, hate United States, only because of this particular course?

It is good that sooner than later, somebody down the line decided to stop this optional course in the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk Virginia. “It was an elective course, but what motivated that elective for being part of the curriculum”, was the question that Gen. Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, was reported to have asked. It is a good question and needs to be deeply pondered by the U.S military establishment. After all the entire world has a common destiny and each one of us has the responsibility of protecting this place we call the earth.

Its time for the change in the world’s most powerful address. Later this year, the presidential election to the White House is due. While the current incumbent Barack Hussain Obama, the first coloured president of the United States of America is seeking re-election as Democratic Party candidate, Republicans are yet to decide on their nominee.

It is true that Obama’s innings at the helm of American affairs has not been very satisfying to Americans in general. It is also true that his term in office had problems of all kinds mainly inherited from his Republican predecessor George W Bush (Jr). His ratings had its share of ups and downs. But, he is the most honest and transparent man the White House had in recent times. He means well to his people and to the world at large and therefore deserves to be re-elected. Surely Americans are intelligent enough to appreciate this fact and shall return him for the 2nd term. Hope it happens.

Could it be the end of the road for nuclear power, at least in Japan?! Answer looks, “Chances are it could be”, according to Prof. Andrew Dewit, of Rikyo University in Tokyo.

Sometime early May, authorities in Japan shutdown its last working nuclear power reactor, just over a year after tsunami scared the nation with its apocalyptic devastation. Both psychological and physical scar of its people, forced Japan to go offline nuclear plant.

It will be for the first time since 1970, that the country will go to bed without nuclear power. Summer is on, and if the country survives without any major power shortages, possibilities are, these nuclear plants shall remain closed for good. Besides should authorities manage the peak demand in these summer months then public opposition to nuclear power will become more vocal and pronounced.

Of course, it is difficult to have the last word, because it is the relativity that decides a course or a course correction.

 

J.Shriyan