Outshine: an Indian blogger's perspective

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Contents

Politics

Polarisation of Indian politics….Quid pro quo politics of India….Monarchy, democracy and dynasty.....Mayawati and her delusions....Probity not pertinent to Indian politicians….The sycophantic politics of India....Caesar's wife, Manmohan Singh and Jaitley….Quest for democracy….Anna Hazare's crusade against corruption….Fasting-thus far the only non violent potent weapon for protest….The Sagacious Indian Voter….PM under Lokpal bill's ambit….An appeal to politicians - please introspect....Will the national parties learn the lesson?....Energy crisis and Coalgate scam …Mango people of a banana republic….Quips, sallies and quality debates….An anatomy of poll results 2013

Governance

Mumbai attack and its aftermath….Telengana Struggle….National ID card….Liberalisation in education….India in retrospect….A much delayed confession….Retirement Age....Mullaiperiyar issue….EC's order to cover elephant statues is laputan….The layman and the S&P report….How safe is Koodankulam nuclear plant ?....Power crisis a case of mismanagement….Padma Awards

Poet Bharathi

Athichudi Maxims in English….Need a resolute will ….Come on play my child …Perception

Tamil Language

World Classical Language Tamil Conference ….Tamil at Kremlin Palace…Tirukural in France Railways .…Tirukural in Tiruvalluvar era script ....Antiquity of Tamil ....Testimonies for Tamil's antiquity....Tamils' hoary past and Sumerian connection….Shiva temple in China

Sri Lankan issue

Violations of the laws of war….Haughty disregard to Tamil sentiments….UN report on Sri Lankan war crimes….United we rise, divided we fall ….Alleviate Lankan Tamils ….CHOGM 2013 -Will India go the Canadian way?

Music /Films

Ilayaraja the invincible maestro….Ilayaraaja -the wizard of music…..Ten avatars and tons of talent….Bachan on Ilayaraja .…Globe Trotter wins Golden Globe- Jai Ho Rehman....Dam 999….Why this unfathomable kolaveri?....A proud moment for Tamils....Viswaroopam embroiled in a tangle

Blogging

Homage to a fellow blogger….Trilingual bloggers of the world

Science

An overview of climatic changes and its effects….Chandrayan-1….The controversy over BT brinjal....Aiko, cyborg, trans humanism and the future….Robot….Robotic revolution ....Astounding Androids …Bird migration

Sports

The Harbhajan slap….The new face of cricket….Abinav Bindra's Mida's Touch…Is Soccer a dying game in India?....Gilly reveals his true colours….The King defending his King….Ponting's scurrilous diary….IPL- Indian Preposterous League….Commonwealth Games 2010….Kudos to Team India….Global media reports on India's historic win…..Gamesmanship Vs Sportsmanship Mr.Hussain,please spare the donkeys….What went wrong with Dhoni & co?....Another Abject Surrender….Chip off the old block…India at olympic 2012....Sports and Politics …IPL a business model to make money by vile means

Popular posts

Busy Beijing -Changing Chinglish to English….Every thing about New Year….Unparliamentary language…..Telegrams…..Shoe Throwing….Millineum year of Thanjavur Big Temple….Anna Centenary Library…..Honorary doctorates….Indian English

Personalities

Kunnakudi Vaithyanathan....Subhash Gopinath …Arundathi Roy…Rahul Gandhi …Maruthanayagam alias Khan Saheb

Odds and sods

Gender inequality….Eternal life….My reflections on ethics….Intenational Mother Language Day -Feb 21….Paul - The improbable and inexplicable Octopus….Changing face of Bangalore….World elder's week .... Fall out of Fukushima nuclear plant disaster….Teenage behaviour problem and social network sites

Polaristion of Indian Politics

The leftists were running the government by proxy. But it seems on the Indo-US nuclear deal, they have rubbed the congress on the wrong side. Even an accommodative PM like Manmohan Singh finally decided to take on the left's opportunistic withdrawal of support and challenge them on the floor of the house. The left pushed the PM too far on the nuclear deal issue. PM has rightly said that it was a 'mis judgment' on the part of Prakash Karat. The government has got a lease of life .But the next general elections are not far off.

The rise of a third front has become real now and is almost inevitable. Parties like Ajit Singh's Lok Dal and Deva Gowda's JD(s) fallen a prey to the baits offered by another power monger Mayawati. With Mulayam's SP aligning with the congress, naturally Mayawati's BSP got a hearty welcome in the UNPA. Regional parties like TDP, Biju's JD,Chautala's Lokdal and JD(u) have welcomed the leftists joining with them as it would strengthen the third front .All the more the leftists also had no other go. Having come out of the UPA, they can not obviously join with the NDA .They need to support the formation of an alternate third front at least for their own survival in the ensuing polls. The only other regional party worth its salt that is out of all the three fronts is Jayalalitha's AIADMK. Since AIADMK has no MP's in the current Lok Sabha; understandably she has been keeping a low profile. Had AIADMK a couple of MP's in the current Lok Saba, she would also have jumped in to the fray. She is playing a waiting game. She is currently undecided on her possible allies at the state level. That makes her keep her cards close to her chest. In all likelihood the congress DMK alliance may continue. That means the PMK may have to find another alliance partner. There is the likelihood of a third front in TN also. With Vijaykant's DMDK and Sarat Kumar's SMMK trying to form a third front with them in the lead. The left may have two options in TN. They can either align with the proposed third front or with Jaya's AIADMK front. But joining the AIADMK would mean that she will not have any truck with BJP in the state and central elections. This remains to be seen. All this points to one thing that is certain. The coming state elections in TN and the next Lok Saba polls would be fought between three fronts. The congress led UPA, BJP led NDA and a third front including leftists and fringe parties. All said and done the leftists have committed an 'historical blunder' by withdrawing support to the UPA. Mr. Jyoti Basu of CPM said some time back, by refusing to allow him become the PM long time back, the CPM committed an 'historical blunder'. This time the CPM has committed the same 'historical blunder' courtesy Prakash Karat .If the leftists get a major chunk of the seats in WB, Kerala and Tripura, with a sizable win for BSP in UP, TDP in AP along with few fringe party's support the third front will be a major force to reckon with and the leftists will again call the shots .They will not obviously join the government, but would enjoy power by proxy. The coalition politics is here to stay. Hence with the national interest in mind the Indian electorates would do well to give a decisive mandate in future polls so that we may not have to witness the ugly horse trading once again and bring the nation to shame in the eyes of the international community

23rd July 2008

Quid pro quo politics of India

The Indian general elections are scheduled to be held from 16th April 2009 to 13th May 2009, and the new government would be formed on 2nd June 2009.714 million Indians are going to exercise their franchise to decide on the next Indian government. As one of world's largest democracy, the Indian general elections would assume greater importance and the entire world would be anxiously waiting for the outcome. This is especially so in the context of the turmoil's surrounding India's South Asian neighbors. The combined India, Pakistan and Bangladesh got independence 61 years ago. For most part of the 61 years, Pakistan was ruled by military and the voice of the general public was stifled. Look at the current turmoil's. The army chief threatens the democratically elected president on governance. India played a role in the independence of Bangladesh in 1971.But Bangladesh also had its own share of political turmoil and military coups. Bangladesh's father of the nation Mujibur Rehman was killed with in 7 months of assuming office by a group of army officers. The recent revolt by the Bangladesh Rifles says 'all is not well' with Bangladesh also. The three decades old Sri Lankan crisis and the systematic annihilation of an ethnic race has made it almost impossible for the Tamil and Sinhala community to remain together in peace, even if a political solution is arrived, at a future date, with in the constitutional frame work of an united Sri Lanka. Another South Asian country Afghanistan is troubled by the Taliban's and the US troop presence. In this context the Indian general elections assume greater significance. By far the Indian general elections are free and fair. The enormity of holding such a difficult democratic process, country wide, without many hiccups, is itself a challenging task. Barring the recent controversy, between the CEC and EC, the autonomous body conducting elections in India deserves praise. Ironically, despite so many diversities the common Indian thread has become strong, after the rise of regional parties in Indian politics. The rises of regional parties have made it almost mandatory to give them a share in the center's coalition politics. The federal representation has in a way served to boost the regional pride also. The era of coalition politics has forced the main contenders like Congress and BJP to accommodate the regional parties on a quid pro quo basis. This has strengthened the bond between parties. Another fall out of this mutually beneficial arrangement is the national outlook of these regional parties. Regional parties are forced to accommodate the national political agenda of Parties like Congress and BJP with a view to cling on to power. This has forced many regional parties to put in cold storage many of their essentially chauvinistic and jingoistic agenda. One finds the democracy in India is growing stronger after every general election. The quid pro quo politics is only making Indian political scenario more interesting with each party vying with the other to prove their vote bank strength and thereby increase their bargaining powers, in forging electoral alliances.

Indian electorate should exercise their franchise to elect an answerable government, a government with a mission to uplift the quality of life of all strata of people, a government that respects law, human rights, freedom of its citizens, a government that administers justice with equity and fairness, a government that is committed to tackle terrorism and other extremist activities. Indian electorates are well informed and would surely use some yardstick to judge each political party and each candidate before casting their valuable franchise. As the noted Political Analyst and satirist Cho Ramaswamy often says, the issue before the Indian electorate is very simple. Choose the lesser evil

10th March 2009

Monarchy democracy and dynasty

In a monarchy the authority is inherited from the monarch. On the other hand dynasty has a sequence of powerful leaders from the same family. India is one of world’s largest democratic countries, where we give prominence to dynasty and elect parliamentarians and leaders from the same family. It is a nice blend of democracy and dynasty almost bordering on monarchy. Look at the Indian political scenario. Most politicians hand over their constituency so keenly nurtured by them to their kith and kin as though they hand over their estates to the next generation. For example the Nehru's are in the business for the fourth generation. What do you call this? Rae Bareli and Amethi belong to the Nehru's. Unfortunately this happens in many fields now a days. Film industry is another place where the Kapoor clan ruled once and now most heroes and heroines have brought in their sons and daughters. Language is no barrier for art. Hence one can notice this in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu film industry. Next to the Nehru family, down south the DMK has most number of dynastic politicians. Starting from Mr.Karunanidhi one can can see a host of his family members in active politics, like Maran, Stalin, Azhagiri, Kanimozhi, Kayalvizhi, Dayanithi etc. They are the DMK patriarch's nephews, sons, daughters, grand daughters, grandsons, grand nephews.

The list of politicians who have brought in their kith and kin by virtue of their position in party has become a national phenomenon in almost all parties barring the communists and the BJP to some extent. The NTR descendants have their say in Andhra politics. In Karnataka Deve Gowda has inducted his two sons Kumarswamy and Revanna in to politics. In Kerala, Karunakaran has brought in his son Muraleedharan and daughter Padmaja in to politics. Father and son are in different parties now. The list does not end here. The Scindia family has five members in active politics. Charan Singh's legacy was inherited by Ajit Singh, Biju Patnaiks legacy by Naveen Patnaik, Devilal's by Chautala and the Abdullas from Kashmir are in politics for the third generation.Ramdoss has groomed his son Anbumani to hold fort at a future date. Shiva Sena's Bal Thackeray has initiated his son and nephew in to politics. The inimitable Lalu Yadav was unique by bringing in his wife Rabri Devi.Sharad Pawar has brought in his daughter Supriya Sule.There are a host of other lesser known dynastic politicians in many political parties in India.

One can see this phenomenon in almost all the South Asian countries. Bhutto and his descendants in Pakistan, Mujibur and his family members in Bangladesh, Bandaranaike and his family members in Sri Lanka were in politics. Even in US the Kennedy's and the Bush family members were in active politics.In India dynastic politics was opened up by the Congress. The bachelor politicians of India, Atalji and Kamaraj refrained from doing this. The kith and kin of politicians contest elections and get elected. But in the first place, how democratic it is to promote one's son, daughter or brother's candidature in the party? Or is it a mutually beneficial arrangement by the powers that matters in each political party? The assets declared by many candidates show, many of them are crore-pathis. If one compares the assets of a candidate between the last two elections, there is an apparent growth. Could it be one of the reasons for politicians trying to promote their kith and kin in politics? Has politics become a means for livelihood for these people? Do we have a paucity of young leaders? A debutant from a dynastic lineage can even become a central or state minister without any toil. Does it augur well for the Indian polity?

19th April 2009

Mayawati and her delusions

The UP Chief Minister Mayawati is all set to unveil about 40 statues in UP. This includes 6 statues of her own along with her mentor Kanshi Ram. The statues of Ambedkar and other Dalit icons are also in the list. The total cost of all these statues are reported to be over Rs 100 crores. It is also reported the statue of Mayawati in Ambedkar Udyan alone costs around Rs1.55 crores. This is official information given in response to an RTI query. She is obsessed not only with erecting statues, but also in building grand memorials and monuments. Extravagant memorials are being built as monuments for Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram. Her contention is that each political party has tried to construct memorials for their party leaders during their regime. Why should people make a big hue and cry when BSP is building its monuments? Teen Murti Bhavan, Jawarharlal Nehru Memorial is even cited in support of her claims. But the intriguing point is these memorials have 60 mammoth elephant statues (BSP symbol) made of expensive stones at an estimated cost of Rs 3000 crores.

Down South Mr.Karunanidhi also has a penchant for erecting statues and building memorials. But to his credit, he did not erect his own statues. Also he had built memorials for all netas cutting across party affiliations. He has built memorials for Kamaraj and Rajaji also. He did erect the huge monolith statue of Tiruvalluvar at Kanyakumari. Valluvar Kottam at Chennai is his brain child. Statues of Tamil literary giants along the Marina beach were all erected during his regime. Karunanidhi also has a liking for monumental arches. Lots of them were put up in many places of Tamil Nadu during his regime. Jayalalitha and her party for her part did erect statues of MGR all over Tamil Nadu. The most number of statues in Tamil Nadu would be that of the DMK founder Anna and that of MGR. Whether it is Karunanidhi, Mayawati, Saddam Hussein, or North Korea's Kim, the underlying fact is their desire to find a place in history. But in Mayawati's case she is using whopping public money for her pet projects. She also intends to project these as tourist spots. But her adversary Mulayam says these monuments and statues are epitomes of corruption and misuse of public funds. He has also gone on record, that when his party returns to power all Mayawati statues would be bulldozed. Already there are two PIL petitions before the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court on Mayawati's spending spree.

Even the SC has questioned Mayawati's fetish desire to install her own statues all over UP. Experts believe apart from spending 3000 crores, it may require an annual outlay of 300 crores to maintain these monuments thereafter .But Mayawati is unfazed by her critics and will go ahead with her projects. It would be of great interest to note how the courts deal with this PIL. Mayawati's arguments would pivot around memorials of leaders of other parties in the country and their worth. She would also play the communal card cleverly. She would cite that the number of monuments for Dalit icons are comparatively less when compared with that of upper caste leaders.

Environmentalists say five of Mayawati's pet projects are being carried out at the expense of large green areas. This is something really deplorable. At a time when the whole world is concerned about Global warming, it is an unpardonable crime to destroy large areas of green cover for the sake of monuments and statues. It is believed even Hitler and Stalin had plans to build huge cities in their honor. Who knows, perhaps Mayawati also may be harboring such plans. Lucknow could well be changed as 'Maya Nagar'.

2nd July 2009

Probity not pertinent to Indian politicians

Many major political scams like the 2G spectrum scam. Adarsh housing scam and CWG scam have rocked the Indian politics one after the other and many heads have rolled. Going by the report of the Transparency International, this is not at all astounding. The report says Indian politicians are the most corrupt lot .We are not able to fight corruption in public life because the people who run the government are corrupt. A cursory glance of the assets disclosed by our legislators and Parliamentarians between two successive elections reveal the growth of their assets. Unfortunately many political aspirants in our country consider politics as a career. The moment they consider it as a career, naturally a return is expected out of the career. The loot begins there and as a natural corollary the politician ensures he amasses enough to cover the cost of his next electoral battle. When a corruption is reported in the public domain, the initial reaction by the concerned politician is always a denial. When he runs out of defense, corruption charges are traded between the accused and the accuser to show the accuser is also not above board. Finally some probe or investigation is initiated and slowly blanked out. Once these scam tainted politicians become oblivious they are gradually rehabilitated by the same party.

Arjun Singh was sacked as MP Chief Minister for his involvement in Churhat lottery scam .Later he became congress Vice President, Governor and finally a Cabinet Minister. At one time Indira Gandhi astounded the nation by making a statement that corruption is no longer an issue in India because it is a universal phenomenon. It is no wonder Gandhi even went to the extent of saying I would go to the length of giving the whole congress a decent burial, rather than put up with the corruption that is rampant. It must be remembered Gandhi made this remark about congress ministries formed under the 1935 Act in six states in the pre-independent era. Corruption started in the post independent time with the 1948 jeep scandal of V.K.Krishna Menon the then High Commissioner for India in London. Jeeps were purchased for army operations in Kashmir violating the procedures. A committee was appointed to probe the purchase deals. In 1955 government announced the jeep scandal case was closed. In 1956 V.K. Krishna Menon was made a central minister without portfolio by Nehru.

T.T.Krishnamachari finance Minister in the Nehru cabinet was involved in the Mundhra scam. He pressurized the government owned LIC to bail out industrialist Mundhra by buying shares worth Rs 1.24 crores in 6 companies owned by him. LIC followed the FM's instructions, bypassing the investment committee. Ironically this was raked up in parliament then by Feroze Gandhi, Prime Minister Nehru's son-in-law and the father-in-law of current Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Nehru ordered a probe headed by Justice M.C.Chagla. Unlike the present day probes, the probe hearings were public and proceedings were aired through loud speakers. Mundhra was imprisoned for 22 years and TTK was sacked

The Bofors scandal was exposed by The Hindu in the 80's.The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply guns to Indian military. Quattrocchi an Italian businessman was reportedly close to the family of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and emerged as a powerful broker between big businesses and the Indian government. In 2004 the Delhi High Court quashed the charges of bribery against Rajiv Gandhi and others. The Italian businessman does not figure in the CBI's list of wanted persons now.

The DMK chief Karunanidhi was indicted by the Sarkaria commission for corruption in allotting tenders for the Veeranam project. The AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha was convicted for criminal breach of trust and for illegally acquiring government property belonging to TANSI, a state-run agency, and sentenced her to five years' imprisonment. The conviction disqualified her from contesting the 2001 elections. She appealed against the sentence in SC. While the appeal was pending in SC her party romped the elections and she became the CM. But the SC ruled a person who is convicted of a criminal offense and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than two years cannot be appointed the Chief Minister of a State .Her appointment as CM was held null and invalid and she had to step down. But Supreme Court acquitted her finally for lack of evidence. Sukh Ram the then Union communication Minister in the congress government allegedly collected bribe for awarding a telecom contract. The CBI seized 3.6 crores cash from his residence in 1996.In 2009 the court convicted him for amassing 4.25 crores of disproportionate assets. The then BJP President Bangaru Lakshman,along with Jaya Jaitley, companion of the then Defense Minister George Fernandez was caught by the Tehelka sting operation accepting bribe .As a result Fernandez had to resign as defense minister. But the investigations later absolved George Fernandez.

The Lalu Prasad government in Bihar was involved in a scandal on alleged embezzlement of about 950 crores from the government treasury .They fabricated vast herds of fictitious livestock .Medicines and animal husbandry equipment was supposedly procured for these livestock. The SNC-Lavelin was another scam that rocked the communist government in Kerala. The CAG report charged the CPM led government of the mid-1990s for an Rs 374.50 crore loss to the exchequer. Former CPM Minister Pinaray Vijayan was allegedly involved in this scam.The CAG found that Lavalin was only a consultant intermediary and not the original equipment manufacturer .Owing to various technical defects in the equipment, the generation of power could not be maintained even at the pre-renovation level and the Board had to spend on repairs. The CAG found that the Government did not receive Rs 89.32 crores out of the grant of Rs 98.30 crores that