ISSUES AND CONCERNS ಸಮಸ್ಯೆಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಕ್ಷಕಿರಣ

INDIAN BUREAUCRACY LEAST EFFICIENT Singapore : SINGAPORE’S civil servants are the most efficient among their Asian peers, a business survey of 12 economies released on Wednesday showed, but they tend to clam up unhelpfully when things go wrong. India’s “suffocating bureaucracy” was ranked the least efficient by the survey, which said working with the country’s civil servants was a “slow and painful” process. “They are a power centre in their own right at both the national and state levels, and are extremely resistant to reform that affects them or the way they go about their duties”, Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy said in a 12-page report. Singapore was ranked first for a third time in a poll of 1,274 expatriates working in 12 North and South Asian nations on the efficiency of bureaucrats in those countries. The poll was last held in 2007. “During normal times, when the system is not stress-tested, it operates very well,” PERC said. “However, during difficult ...

UK cops identify 200 children as potential terrorists OFFICIALS RE-EDUCATING MUSLIM SCHOOL CHILDREN AS YOUNG AS 13 Two hundred school children in Britain, some as young as 13, have been identified as potential terrorists by a police survey that aims to spot youngsters who are “vulnerable” to terrorism, Geo TV reported. The number was revealed to a British daily by Sir Norman Bettison, the chief constable of West Yorkshire Police and Britain’s chief officer in charge of terror prevention. He said the “Channel project” had intervened in the cases of at least 200 children, who were thought to be at risk of extremism, since it began 18 months ago. The number has risen from 10 children identified in June 2008. The programme, run by the Association of Chief Police Officers, asks teachers, parents and other community figures to be vigilant for signs that may indicate an attraction to extreme views or susceptibility to being “groomed” by radicalisers. The Channel project was initially started ...

Hearse driver stops at bar, keeps dead man waiting BOGOTA :A dead man’s family had to wait for hours at a cemetery in Colombia, as the hearse driver went to have a few beers, leaving the vehicle carrying the corpse outside a motel. Relatives of Tito Vasquez, who died Saturday, as well as dozens of friends, waited for several hours at the Campos de Cristo cemetery in suburban Bogota for the hearse to arrive so that they could bury him. The body originally had been picked up by a hearse so that it could be taken to the funeral home to be embalmed and prepared for burial, and after that it was placed in the establishment’s viewing room, where friends and relatives paid their last respects. “But neither Tito nor the vehicle nor the conductor arrived at the cemetery” for the burial, the daily EI Tiempo reported. Vasquez had no enemies during his life, his relatives said while they waited at the cemetery, and they could not understand why his body was not being delivered for the funeral. In ...

Dr. M. V. Kamath For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under the heaven, says the Bible. How true. In the forties of the 20th century socialism was the battle- cry of the young leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Ashok Mehta and others were focused in presenting it as the final solution to India’s visible poverty, though, years later, a disillusioned Jayaprakash Narayan was to opt out of politics to join the bhoodaan movement launched by Acharya Vinobha Bhave. Jawaharlal Nehru himself conceived a socialistic pattern of society, howsoever poorly defined. Those were the days when socialism was the accepted tool for the establishment of a just society. India looked up to Great Britain as a model where the Labour Party was entrenched in power. The catchy slogan was “Turn right and you will be left; Turn Left and you will be right”. Nationalisation of core industries was the ‘in thing’. But the concept had its day and not long after, its failure to...

FOCUS ISN’T THERE ROOM FOR A THIRD NATIONAL ALTERNATIVE Election 2009, has come and gone into history. 15th Loksabha has already started its business of deliberating the administration and management of the country and its resources. Fortunately despite the umpteen predictions, the fear of a hung parliament is not there. Electorates have thrown up a reasonably stable verdict to enable the country to have a government for all the 5 year term. As the country has seen there were 4 groupings this time. Congress led UPA and its allies, BJP led NDA and its allies then there were 2 more fronts 3rd front and 4th front. Although all were fighting each other ostensibly to serve the ‘aam aadmi’, the, fact was they were only looking for the crumbs of the office as shamelessly proved by the adament attitude of DMK leadership. Their self promotion was in abundant display.As we all know there were at least half-a-dozen Prime Ministerial aspirants. UPA had declared its incumbent PM as its candidate, s...

Politics, we are told, is truly the last refuge of scoundrels. But in the India of 21st century, it is not just scoundrels but also their heirs who shall eat the political cake and have it also for the family. Politics, like it or not, is a powerful attraction for a lot of people. It is especially so in the third world. The creamier side of political office makes it especially so in the third world. Remember Sukh Ram! In a raid on the residence of the then telecommunication minister Sukh Ram, the raid party found over 4 crores of rupees in cash lying all over the house. The notorious Bofors case involved a kickback of 64 crores rupees and there are umpteen such cases of massive escape of public money from the net of accountability. A good number of politicians, in the right place at right time, find that politics is, indeed, a very lucrative career. No questions are asked how these politicians and their families afford their expensively tasteful life style? GUCCI GANDHIANS! Did we hear...

President-elect Obama & The World at Large "Rosa Parks sat (she occupied the white only bus seats in a show of defiance, which instantly propelled her into a folk heroin), so Martin Luther King Jr. could walk ( America’s most famous civil rights activist, who had famously observed " I have a dream", addressing Afro-Americans). Martin walked so Barrack Obama could run. And Obama ran so that our children could fly". This is understandably a popular verse in the U.S. Incredible , unbelievable, even as early as 2 years ago, it was unthinkable, yet it happened. Yes, Barrack Hussain Obama, a non- white, skinny guy with a funny name became the newest President of the United States of America. Obama is non- white but not black as the media and whole lot of people, white, browns and even blacks referred to Obama, as black. Its indeed the generosity of the man, who made history as the first coloured man to occupy the White House, that he never disputed or argued about his...