RAILWAY MINISTER RESIGNS AT LAST

At last the railway minister of India, Mr Bansal resigns. The media is happy, the opposition is happy and even the ruling combine is happy, for all of them can beat their drum and further fool around the simpleton masses to carry on with their respective march to glory. The media seeks greater viewership through this success, the opposition seeks some credit for getting more votes in the next elections whereas the Congress party will seek credit for being the only party which has taken action against its own minister in the light of corruption charges against the individual. But the fact is something else. The railway minister has been sacrificed at the altar of the demon of corruption by these wise men only to give themselves a chance of carrying on with the national loot at all fronts. It is a measure that is only to calm down the gullible masses and kill the very seeds of a silent revolution that is brewing up within the citizenry to find an end to the colossus corruption, bribery, loot and even the high handedness of the powerful and mighty of the nation.

Corruption is not confined to a few odd  individuals and actions. It is the whole system, it is the entire gamut of activity of governance, activity of allocating natural resources in the name of national good. The involvement in corruption activity is so large and widespread that even if India devotes half of its human resource in probing, investigating and prosecuting  those involved in the art of corruption, it will take ages to achieve something more than simply touching the tip of the iceberg.

Sisters and brothers of India, whether from villages or cities, from  any religion, caste or creed,rich or poor, don't be taken in by any of the tricks of politicians, for end of corrupt people  and corruption will be the end of your poverty and miseries.Your poverty is a direct result of  corruption  by  those in authority and power.

And unless and until there is a systemic change in the method of finding out the corrupt and guilty, to bring them to book and putting the loot back into the national exchequer, India and its hapless masses will keep on suffering the pangs of hunger and pain. This change will not come through merely begging/asking all those who have tasted the blood of corruption but has to be wrought by forcing them to write their own death warrant of complete removal of corruption, corrupt practices and black money. 

JUDICIAL CASES' PENDENCY IN INDIA : APATHY OR COMPULSION OF POLITICIANS

While inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of bar council of India, the prime minister showed concern to the huge pendency of cases in Indian courts and urged the legal fraternity to devise ways and means of solving the problem. While on one hand it was heartening to note that the chief executive of the country is aware of the problem but equally painful was the fact that instead of the government finding a solution to such a major problem, a problem which nullifies all efforts of the government in fighting corruption and criminality. In fact it is the biggest thorn in improving the citizenry satisfaction index of governance and government.

Corruption mitigation and a war on corruption may have many impediments from unwilling polity to formulate new, effective legislation measures which will be to the detriment of their ulterior motives. A solution to judicial cases' pendency does not require any legislative action but action is needed to fill up all vacant judicial positions quickly and increase the number of vacancies commensurate with the increase in population at all levels of judiciary. Understandably, a large number of legislators may not like this but they are in no position to block this action for it does not require their nod or approval. In the light of all this, the apathy and compulsion on the part of ruling polity to tackle judicial cases' pendency in India is not understood.

INDIAN RULERS - ALL SAINTS ??

Every day, the Indian scene is jolted by one scam or the other and surprisingly the polity and rulers of the country will appear on the media to convince the gullible Indian citizenry that there is nothing wrong in the country and the whole matter is nothing but an attempt of casting aspersions on Indian rulers who are all saints. These shameless guys pretend to be unaware of the reality of Indian nation when every hapless common citizen of the country is aware of the fact that nothing, I dare say nothing, including getting an audience with an officer to getting payments for the jobs done or material supplied to the government fructifies without resorting to a bribe in cash or kind.

There was a time when one could think that India being bestowed the epithet of A Land of Scams was perhaps a little too harsh but today with more and more scams emerging and the couldn't care less attitude of the rulers one is left with no option but to accept this harsh reality. India is perhaps the only country on this globe where being corrupt is an asset for success in life in any sphere and politics being no exception. If it weren't so, India will not have 40% Parliamentarians and legislators with not only dubious and shady records but criminal and economic offence cases pending against them. The others are guilty of camouflaging/ ignoring such malicious activities of their esteemed colleagues for the attaining and retaining power. The lust and the illegal perks associated with the power motivate them to ignore everything that is shady according to normal social and economic norms.

In fact a small beginning has been made by social activists and civil society to awaken the country on the pros and cons, implications and the remedies of the phenomenon on being corrupt in India and unless and until all saints of Indian rulers and polity change their thinking or are coerced to do right things towards corruption mitigation through a political revolution, India will not only fail in its poverty alleviation goals but miss its rightful place as a global economic superpower of the 21st century also.

INDIAN WOES : HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Infrastructure and human resource development is certainly the next gen growth engine of Indian economy and surprisingly precious little is has been done on both fronts by the self acclaimed messiahs of the welfare of common man and Indian prosperity. The politicians, the ruling class and the intelligentsia of the country all have been guilty of slogan raising and playing vote bank politics to further their ulterior motives of getting power and remaining in power. In a scenario of deceit of nation by the mighty and powerful of the country for the last six decades, it was very refreshing and hope giving to read the views of Kancha Ilaiah under the heading ' Even if 10% dalit children got English education, India would change'. He is absolutely right in saying that it is the quality education that will transform their fate as also the fate of the nation and reservations are just a means of fooling the vote bank for the mean ulterior motives of the polity. What a bargain for the polity, a promise of couple of thousand jobs a year for ensuring more than 200 million votes. What kind of sincerity and concern for these hapless millions is this?

The have nots and less fortunate of the Indian masses, particularly belonging to dalits, scheduled tribes and the other backward castes constitute more than 50% of the Indian human asset and it is shameful for the nation that we are still striving for providing 100% literacy only even after 65 years of getting independence. It is still not too late that the nation strives to change our rudderless education system , on a war footing and provide value addition in terms of quality of education to improve upon the employability and earnability of the individual along with turning them into a real asset to the nation.

The mindset and philosophy of the rulers of India must change. Let them see two working hands available with a human being rather then seeing the stomach to be filled in. Let them strive for value addition by changing the unskilled labour to semi skilled labour. Let them strive to move this vast resource from the unorganised to organised sector of employment. That has to be the only way forward if Indian masses have to  feel the results of GDP growth impacting their lives, for otherwise India will develop into a semi industrialised country without much impact on the condition of general poor masses with small pockets of affluence in an otherwise sub human level existence matrix.

Apathy of Indian Nation

Today Team Kejriwal gave the Indian nation 4th dose of expose on corruption and the government's unwillingness, helplessness and perhaps compulsion not to tackle this malaise. The whole country has been  a witness to the criticism of the team's efforts on grounds of shoot and scoot nature of these expose, not providing a foolproof/sufficient evidence for his expose and not taking everything raised by them to the logical finish to a court case.

To an unbiased and nation loving commoner the following things come to mind which somehow or the other escape the attention of people who govern this nation. 

• The main points raised by the team so far should not be taken as isolated cases of corruption but as pointers to the systemic muck prevailing in the country in the form of politician industrialist nexus and inadequacy of laws and intentions to fight this monstrous menace of corruption. Surprisingly in India such instances are  the rule of the game rather than an exception and deserve topmost priority in terms of systemic changes.

• Whenever there is a pointer to some modus operandi which is brought to the attention of the government which results in windfall gains and creation of black money, it is the responsibility of the government to investigate and plug loopholes at the speed of light so that the government, country and its masses do not have to suffer again and again through the same route by the powerful and mighty of the nation.

• All the rags to riches stories are a result of manipulations of government policies on allocation of national resources, government and community land and change of land use, licences and quotas and it is a naked fact that the beneficiaries invariably belong to polity and those close to power corridors. 

Team Kejriwal must be lauded rather than condemned for bringing out and highlighting these facts. Many a time the nation is told that there is nothing new in the expose and all information is there in the public domain. His efforts in bringing about an awakening of the general public to the biggest problem facing  the country will ultimately prove to be a watershed event in the country's march to prosperity.

INDIAN WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION

Strange logic and rhetoric is being raised by politicians over inevitable corruption and corrupt manipulations being made by mighty and powerful of the land. When something is raised against a matter that has resulted because of some wrong doing on the part of union government and its functionaries the protests are justified because action against the wrong doings has to be initiated by the union government, for the organisations which are supposed to investigate and prosecute are under the direct control of this government. But when the ministers and powerful individuals like the general secretary and the president of the ruling party also start protesting against the corrupt practices of others, it appears a sparring match is going on. We often hear funny quotes like 'Those who live in glass houses don't throw stones at others' and 'It is the case of pot calling the kettle black' when leaders of different parties confront each other on corruption charges against each other on national media. This perhaps is a candid admission of the fact that the whole system is mired with corruption and corrupt practices.

Public perception  that government is supposed to take action against the corrupt (correct me if I am wrong) is being proved totally wrong through such deeds. In fact as a common man one is left wondering whether the role of the government and its functionaries is to curb corruption or merely to inform the public that a certain individual or organisation has indulged in wrong corrupt practices. All the same it has great entertainment value for the commoner and he is getting it in plenty absolutely free of charge. Of course he has to pay the penalty of remaining poor, uneducated,neglected, hapless and helpless.

A piece of advice to my deprived countrymen. You have to help yourselves. We have all heard that God also helps those who help themselves. It is common knowledge that even a mother does not feed its child until and unless it cries. All these mighty and powerful are so because you voted them to power and enabled them to suck your blood and put you in a miserable condition. They are all united in fooling around the masses for their personal gains. If one and all of the Indian polity was not  so, half of India which has governments of opposition parties would be on the fast track to prosperity. Sadly enough that is also a mirage.
Indian war against corruption is a war between one billion people who are struggling for getting an above basic existence level living and a couple of thousand people who want to have the status quo to make merry at the expense of these have nots. The huge illegal wealth going into these handful pockets can work miracles towards alleviating the miseries of have nots in a very short time and enable them to enjoy the benefits of prosperity.

Sisters and brothers of India, whether from villages or cities, from  any religion, caste or creed,rich or poor, don't be taken in by any of the tricks of politicians, for end of corrupt people  and corruption will be the end of your poverty and miseries.Your poverty is a direct result of  corruption  by  those in authority and power.

India needs real reforms, says Dhirendra Kumar CEO, Value Research

Wave of reforms that govt has unleashed threatens to sweep all before it. Or rather, wave of media applause for reforms threatens to sweep all before it.

The wave of reforms that the government has unleashed threatens to sweep all before it. Or rather, the wave of media applause for the reforms threatens to sweep all before it.

In the middle of this noise, it is sobering to take a moment and think about what the attitude of the investors outside India is. Last week, here's what I heard Alan Chua, a portfolio manager with the Templeton Global Equity Group, say about business environment continuity.

He spoke about Thailand, which has suffered huge discontinuities in the system, with military coups and violent changes of government, but a high degree of business continuity.

Businesses grow and expand and businesspeople make decisions that facilitate growth in conditions that are not just conducive to business but are predictably conducive and can be reasonably expected to remain so for extended periods of time.

However, having an apparently bipolar, manic-depressive attitude to reforming the economy does little to instill any confidence in continuity. A government that stays in its depressive phase for years together and then goes into a mania of reforms that builds to a crescendo within days is no doubt very exciting for headline writers and TV anchors. 

The who’s who of mining are funding India’s political parties

by Raman Kirpal Sep 11, 2012

There are strings attached to every charity! A list released by Delhi-based NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), reveals that 26 of the top 50 companies, which made political donations to the Congress Party, are associated with mining of natural resources in one way or the other.

These companies belong to Jindal group of industries, Adani Group of Industries, Shyam group of industries, Essar group of industries, ACC and Ambuja Cements, Vedanta group of industries, Torrent Power Ltd, Salgaoncar, Chowgule, etc. Other companies listed are service providers, and provide logistics and infrastructure to these companies dealing with power generation, cement, steel, sponge iron and export of iron ore.

Thus, most of these companies require captive coal blocks, captive iron and bauxite mines. These companies are not only generous to the Congress, they are also liberally make political donations to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other political parties, and seem focused on keeping the political class happy.

Representational image. Reuters

The Jindal Group alone holds control over 10 captive mines. The Jindals made a contribution of Rs 1.05 crore to the Congress. Essar has captive coal mines at Chakla and Karanpura districts in Jharkhand and its contribution to the Congress was Rs 75 lakh.

ACC and Ambuja Cement companies donated Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore respectively to the Congress war-chest. Both belong to the same management and they too have captive coal mines at Raniganj, West Bengal. They have cement plants at Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

THE ROAD TO SCAM-FREE RESOURCE ALLOCATION

India has been plagued by many scams over recent years involving allocation of national resources. Whether it is the allocation of minerals, as in Coalgate, of telecom spectrum or of land, as in the Adarsh scandal, each of these scams has hurt industry, robbed the people and stalled India’s march towards becoming a super power. There may be many more in the making unless the government settles on a process of auctions and the right method of doing so. TOI put a lot of thought and consulted experts to analyse various methods of auctions of natural resources. There is widespread agreement that long term industry profitability, consumer good and efficient use of resources are far more important objectives than revenue maximization when allocating national resources. There is also a consensus that some methods should be banned outright as they are anachronistic in modern times and are tailor made for corruption because they lack transparency. So what’s the magic solution?                                                             
                                                                                                                   Best way to Avoid Scam

‘Profit can be made even after selling petrol at Rs30’

THURSDAY, 06 SEPTEMBER 2012 01:49

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN.

Though oil marketing companies are pressing hard for a third hike in the current year in the price of petroleum products claiming they have to ‘shell out’ an additional Rs800 crore per day to buy crude oil from international market, their balance sheets for the last five years speak  of windfall profits. Financial experts and economists point out that they could make neat and reasonable profit even if they sell petrol at the rate of Rs30 per litre.

“Petrol could be sold in India at the rate of Rs30 and still the companies can make a neat profit. The frequent hikes in prices made by them are unjustified and they are cheating the public,” said Dr Subramanian Swamy, noted economist and former Union Minister for commerce and law. He said petrol and diesel prices in India are quite high compared to other countries.

Dr Swamy pointed out that the balance sheets of  Indian Oil Corporation, BPCL and HPCL are proofs of the windfall profits made by these companies during the last five years. The IOC, the biggest public sector oil giant, declared a dividend of 95 per cent to its shareholders for the year 2010-2011. “A cursory glance at the balance sheet of the company for the last five years show that IOC had declared dividends of 193 per cent, 55 per cent, 76 per cent and 130 per cent during 2006 to 2010. This proves that the company is making huge  profits. Let there be an open discussion on the balance sheets of IOC, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. We can understand how they are taking the common man for a ride ,” Dr Swamy said.

Black money: Public wants demonetising of high-value note

NEW DELHI: The common man wants the government to demonetise high denomination currency notes like Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 to effectively combat the menace of black money in the country, a Finance Ministry report has revealed.

The other salient demands by the public include bringing a voluntary disclosure scheme for black money hoarders and bringing a strong Lokpal Bill.

Throw corrupt out of power: Gen V K Singh from Anna's dais

August 03, 2012 20:46 IST

Lending his support to Anna Hazare's movement against corruption, former army chief Gen V K Singh on Friday asked the people to "throw" the corrupt out of power and support the alternative political force sponsored by the activist.

Making his first public appearance in New Delhi [ Images ] since retiring from the Army and sharing the dais with Hazare at his hunger strike site, Singh spoke at length about how sepoys are treated in the army and the kind of training they undergo to tackle any kind of disaster or problem.

The former army chief, who was among the 22 eminent personalities who appealed to Hazare and other activists to end their fast, asked the people to travel to every village in the country and spread awareness about corruption, its ill-effects and the alternative political force. 

"It is in your hands. The right to vote is with you. You can throw the corrupt people out. Annaji is providing an alternative political force. Go to every village and spread awareness among people," Singh, who had a confrontation with the government on his age issue, said.

He also spoke about the J P movement of 1970s and said the famous slogan 'Quit the Throne, Public has arrived' is apt in today's atmosphere.

Cleaning Indian politics is next challenge for Team Anna: VK Singh

File Photo

Former Indian Army chief Rtd General VK Singh on Friday requested Team Anna to take their anti-graftagitation to next level by entering politics.

Addressing the gathering at Jantar Mantar, VK Singh said that the next challenge for Team Anna is to clean the Indian politics.

“There is no governance in the country. There are many problems in the country. Corruption and black money are key issues. The governance is missing and we are directionless. Team Anna will have to come forward and clean the political system,” Singh said after sharing dais with Ana Hazare.

Singh said that corruption is the biggest issue in this country.

“Most of the government policies failed due to corruption. Government says, it has no magic band to change the system but I say the magic band is in weak hands.”

Zenith of Corruption and Nadir of Governance

The recent news of an IAS couple having assets of the order of Rs 350 crores was quite disturbing in itself and only confirmed the extent to which the corruption has made inroads into our system. This certainly is not an isolated case or an aberration in a misconceived honest system but is a true representative sample of  mighty and powerful of Indian government.Saddening still was the fact that our system has only asked for tax and penalty of Rs 45 crores as if it were a case of plain and simple tax avoidance on normal legal earnings. Somebody seems to be showing undue favours in a case where money has been gotten through theft and dacoity. The total salary income of an IAS couple during 30 years of service will not even exceed Rs 3 crores.We need better legal procedures, an honest will to award correct and deserving punishment otherwise all Indians will like to indulge in a loot of Rs 350 crores of ill gotten money,pay Rs 45 crores in taxes and penalties and have the balance Rs 300 crores as legal wealth for making merry at the expense of Indian Government.

Election Season in India

The elections to five Indian states have been announced and the Indian Polity at its unscrupulous best is on show as usual. This time the whole show has become all the more glamorous because of the high voltage drama the nation witnessed during deliberations on Lok Pal Bill in both the houses of parliament which showed the dubious character of all political parties of the country. It is absolutely clear that no body is interested in Lok Pal, for nobody wants to put his individual interests on the back seat for the sake of national interests.The nation expects them to be honest and sincere to the country whereas they are true to  H.L. Mencken 's most apt description of a politician “A good politician is as unthinkable as an honest burglar.” 

Everyday we hear leaders changing their parties without any feeling of guilt simply because our politicians unabashedly subscribe to the latter part of Winston Churchill's famous saying "Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others change their principles for the sake of their party." While we hardly find anyone conforming to the first part of the statement, the examples of belief in the second part have come forth in plenty during Lok Pal debate. In principle all politicians and all political parties of the country agree to fighting corruption and having a strong Lok pal, but on ground the position taken is entirely different and dirty politics and fooling around of public for vote catching histronics comes to the forefront.

I do not know if the politicians all over world are as bad as the Indian one's but the description of politicians and politics by many famous people are definitely more applicable to our political class.

“Politicians are like warts on the body of society. And the only thing worse than warts are lawyers and lobbyists.
” 

― Jarod Kintz
“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” 
― Napoleon Bonapart

A few classic and note worthy examples of true colours of our polity are reflected in the following:

• Uttar Pradesh chief minister has sacked some 20 plus ministers on charges of corruption after a full term of 5 years just on the eve of fresh elections.
• Every day news of a few politicians resigning from one party and joining another pours in, all because of personal principles ?
• Lok Pal war - Is it for the betterment of country or danger to the very existence of Indian Polity.

In these circumstances what should be the response of a common citizen during elections? I have no direct answer to this national quizz but definitely a small beginning must be made keeping in mind time tested observations and thought processes of universal wisdom.

“Society and political class is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top.” * ( poltical class inserted in indian context by yours truly)

― Edward Abbey
Politicians and diapers should be changed frequently and both for the same reason.  ~José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, translated from Portuguese

Lok Pal:The Most Contentious Issue

Lok Pal happens to be hottest issue of the day in India. Although every body from the government, politicians and intelligentsia keep on telling the nation that it cannot all alone destroy the demon of corruption, yet they spare no effort  in raising so many frivolous issues like who all will be covered in its ambit, regarding its selection procedures, its investigative and judicial powers and agencies etc. etc.. The basic idea behind Lok pal is that if ten or fifteen thousand of the most powerful and mighty of this country, with an effective check will be denied fruits of corruption and black money, they will see to it that others also do not enjoy this fruit and they will create necessary laws and mechanisms to destroy the demon of corruption.

Today CBI Director and CVC have met the prime minister of India and impressed upon him that their organisations should not be a part of Lok Pal on the premise of their autonomy, functioning and ---------. After all who will like to be associated with an office which cannot reward him for good work which is going to be against the mighty and powerful of the nation who are the only ones having powers of rewarding. One just cannot fathom out whether it is some hidden agenda or instigation by vested interests.

In all governance and administration when a particular job is referred to an expert, he wants to know whether the job is to be done or it is not to be done if he is not sure as to which side of the bread is buttered. For every  job there could be hundred ways of doing it and another hundred ways of not doing it. Our politicians with all their wisdom, experience and concern for the nation and its poor millions for once can find out those hundred ways of doing it and let the country have a sharp toothed Lok Pal.

Indian Concept of Equality

Indian constitution guarantees to all its citizens equality in all respects, but in actual practice the story is quite different:

What we have is something like this

• All men are equal but Some are more equal than others
•   Different rules for different people

This once again came to light after the unfortunate fire break out at AMRI hospital in Kolkata. Six directors of the hospital face charges of culpable homicide and were refused bail. Officials have suggested that the hospital did not meet safety regulations. Incidentally no such action has ever been taken after major train accidents and plane crashes. No blemish has ever been put on the ministers or board members of the managements of concerned entities, an action of this kind is simply unimaginable.

For a moment we presume that we have been lax in our attitude towards such incidents and this new yardstick will be applicable to all future disasters . In this context let the government and the nuclear lobby carry on with nuclear energy security concept they have been advocating vehemently.