Random Thoughts

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Random Thoughts                                27 Feb 2013

Bengal is sitting on a powder keg

It is rare for the policeman to be killed on duty. It is inconceivable that a policeman can be shot dead in daylight] surrounded by colleagues, while his shooter escapes. Yet, under chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s watch, that is precisely what happened to sub inspector Tapas Choudhary on Tuesday, February 12, in the heart of Kolkata.

Media reports that trinamool leaders also told the police to arrest people from rival parties and keep off their own people. To its credit, Kolkata police went about its job competently and soon arrested Suhan and some of his associates. So far, all the people implicated in the crime seem to have links with the Trinamool. At the time of writing. Iqbal, one of the main accused, is on the run.

Today, both the Congress and CPM allege that Banerjee ‘s administration is trying to derail the investigation, because it points to people in the Trinamool. This is not hard to believe.

Since coming to power nearly two years ago, Banerjee and the party she leads have adopted a shockingly casual attitude to law and order in the state. One evening, Banerjee herself marched to a thana to order the release of her party’s goons. After a horrifying rape at Park Street, Banerjee initially denied the crime. After Kilkata police arrested some of the people involved-and proved that the rape had, indeed, occurred –Banerjee had the lead investigator, Damayanti Sen, transferred to another job.

Parallel to the process of emasculating the police, Banerjee is determined to prop up the goons who are the Trinamool’s real foot soldiers. Most of these people are petty enforcers and extortionists, who come to the aid of politicians when required. Bobby Hakim’s relationship with Iqbal illustrates this well.

Devoid of ideology, discipline and internal organization, the Trinamool is not constrained by anything other than Didi’s whims. And Didi has shown, again and again, her utter contempt for the law and the machinery to enforce it. This can only end in tears.

Adopted from TOI, Abheek Barman

ASSASSINATION OF A SONG

A young girl band is silenced in Kashmir after a fatwa. Where will the infringement on freedoms stop?

Hindustani vocalist Shubha Mudgal believes that “tradition is never static. And rules can never be imposed”. But the rules in Srinagar are being imposed by a man who blames women for getting raped and insists that men cannot be blamed if something wrong happens to women. “If they want they can sing in front of their mothers and sisters,” Bashir-ud-Din told reporters on February 5.

Aneeka says she is “too little to know whether music is un-Islamic” as the Grand Mufti decreed. But thanks to ‘wise’ men like him, the teen trio has done some serious growing up in the past week.

Section of society have clamped down - On music and art as they have a very narrow understanding of tradition.”

Adopted from India Today

Closing the mind

The narrative of hyper-nationalism and constant outrage at artistic expression is dominant today. There is no alternative narrative. This is dangerous for India.

The narrative of hyper-nationalism, hurt sentiments, constant outrage at artistic expression is dominant today. There is no alternative narrative, no alternative voice, no counter-argument to those daily upholding their religious, nationalist and regional credentials. Unless a robust alternative narrative emerges both in politics and in society, newer generations will continue to tear down paintings, burn novels and send out bloodthirsty war cries against, “traitors” and “anti-nationals”, because they will not know any better.

Adopted from HT-Sagerika Ghosh

State of the National Adulterated & Derailed India

The ad nearly on all channels sponsored by “Sahara India” “aap Khane ko khatae hain ya khana aap ko khata hai” ¼vki [kkus dks [kkrs gS ;k [kkuk vki dks [kkrk gS½ This ad on adulteration is endorsed by “Team India” (Cricket). This ad must have triggered many minds. I travelled through the internet and tracked photographs, on items of food, vegetables, fruits, milk, ghee, sweets, condiments, tea leaves, is spared not, only that even medicines which are the cure and life saving are adulterated. I also tracked various rivers being polluted. Whether its Ganges the most sacred river from its origin uphill till the end the river is highly polluted, Disposal of factory wastes, human wastes, and dead bodies are flushed in to the river. Recently PM of Nepal (the only Hindu state in the world) visited Varanasi, he worshipped there and thought of bathing in the sacred river, but by seeing the filth and dirt around the river, he changed his mind. Who is responsible for all their adulteration of food Medicine River, We the people of India.

As the year was closing possibly on a happy note. We faced the most gruesome crime on 16 Dec 2012 night. Crimes have been committed small or big from time and memorial but this gang rape of a woman shook the whole nation. It appeared for few days as the whole of India has been raped. People came on the roads demanding serious action, as they felt their woman have become unsafe for normal like.

The essential India

This year have us many joys and disappointments.

We did not have a tsunami-like natural disaster that kills hundreds and uproots many more. We did not get thrown by a pandemic leading to countless deaths. We did not suffer air accidents of the type that scarred 1966 when Air India flight 101 names ‘Kanchenjunga’ crashed into Mont Blanc, killing Homi Bhabha among 106 others and 11 crew.

Or like the one that disfigured 1985. With Air India flight 182 ‘Kanishka’ getting blown up mid-air, killing 329 persons abroad, is including the distinguished chemical engineer, Y Nayudamma. We did not have, in 2012, the kind of bizarre rail accidents like the one over the Bagmati in Bihar (1981) at Gaisal (1991) and Firozabad (1995) that killed hundreds of simple folk travelling on work or looking for work, on pilgrimages, or to meet relatives.

We did not have political assassinations, 26/11 type traumas. And, praise God, despite communal tensions simmering in various parts of the country, riots of the 2002 kind were nowhere around in 2012. We can give thanks for all this Negative, relief is relief.

But does the absence of pain spell happiness?

Dark, Silent night

The Indian family hides terrible secrets. Unless we reveal them in the cold light of day, India’s misogyny (A Hater of woman) will never end.

As 2013 begins, a great anger is evident across the land, born from the unspeakable horror of the gang rape that has let us to speak. What we do not speak of is the issue that is at the crux of our dysfunction- the Indian family’s moral decline. Deep hypoerisies lie under this family’s mask; terrible secrets hide behind its culture of religiosity and community spirit.

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2011 tells us that 94.2% of all rapists are known to the victim, meaning they are friends, family or neighbours. That men try to force themselves on the most vulnerable is evident if you slice the Delhi data: Nearly 60% of females raped were between two and 18 years old. It is no surprise then that 57% of Indian teenage boys between 15 and 19-and 53% of girls-believe it is alright for a man to beat his wife, according to the Unicef’s ‘Global Report Card on adolescents 2012.

The vast majority of Indian women are brought up in subservience, and they in turn ensure their daughters remain subservient and aware of their secondary role in life. Consequently, very few accounts of sexual abuse within families become public. The data make clear that this-not the government’s apathies-is the overwhelming cause of rapes.

Mindset doesn’t fall from skies, says Taslima

“Rape has been a weapon of war,” the writer said. “Armies do it. Community and castes inflict rapes on women as a strategy for domination. This is an outcome of the male dominated society that we live in; where men are megalomaniac and misogynists, and it is considered ‘manly’ to terrorize and torture women”, said Nasrin, who has been living in India in exile. “Girls are being tortured and raped by their fathers, uncles and grandfathers,” she said. “I spit on the faces of these men.”

BEWARE BARBARIANS ON THE PROWL

“She had deep bite marks all over her body. Her face was badly bruised. Most damaging were the injuries inflicted on her private parts. The rapists had brutalized her with an iron rod and a beer bottle, causing severe damage to her. The mutilation was deep, injuring her intestines and abdomen,” says a doctor treating her. Shaken by her injuries, he says that he has never seen such savagery in his 25-year career as a doctor. A woman is raped every 20 minutes in India. We take pride in saying 65% of population is below 35 years of age and 50% is below 25 years of age. Just look at the six who committed savagery.

THE UNFORGIVEN

The six men who shamed the nation lived a life of deprivation. Their horrific brutality is symptomatic of Indi’s dark urban underbelly.

Savage Six

Faces in the crowd who turned monsters

Ram Singh 33-A driver by profession. An alcoholic and sex maniac. Had a history of getting into violent fights. Mukesh Singh 26- Ram Singh’s brother. Did as he was told. Also a driver. Has a history of misbehaving with the children. Pawan Gupta 18- Son of a fruit seller. Lived in a cramped one-room shanty with parents, three sisters and a brother. Vinay Sharma 20- A gym assistant. Pursuing a B.Com degree. Performed at religious ceremonies. Regrets the crime. Akshy Kumar Singh 28 - A bus cleaner. Abandoned his wife and daughter. Worked at a brick klin and hooch factory earlier. Rahul (name changed)17 -The most aggressive in the group. Does petty jobs. Initiated the most  brutal attacks on the victim.

The whole episode of 16th Dec brought out some very negative behavior pattern of Indian society. The boy and the girls who had been treated in a most gruesome manner for more than 90mts, the place in Delhi “Mahipalpur” where they were dumped.

a)      No of people passed by the place. Boy and the girl were lying on the road injured and bleeding, nobody stopped and looked at them, what to say of offering any help.

b)      PCR vans did appear on the scene. The police was also insensitive to the human touch. They did not even help in putting the lady on the PCR Van.

c)      This attitude of the Indian public reflects the indifferent attitude ¼xSj ftEesnkj ukxfjd½.

d)      Even on reaching the hospital they could not be offered any suitable cover on their bodies. Reflects total insensitivity.

All these attitudinal behaviors are peculiar to India.

Why are we facing such insensitive India. Biggest problem is we are too many-Population is exploding 1.25 billion now (125 crore), 1.4 billion by 2025 (140 cr), 1.6 billion by 2050 (160 cr) and 2 billion by the end of the century (200 cr).

Supply is too much and demand is less, we have lost the value of life.

Are we serious in shaping a well developed balanced and progressive India.

We need to have a (just a few suggestion)

a.      Defined population Policy

b.      Political Reform - Stop mushrooming of political outfits. Stop corruption & criminalization of politics.

c.       Electoral Reform - Any individual who is charged for rape, murder, attempt to murder, and embezzlement of funds should be barred for election, till the individual is acquitted by the court. Out of total 4835 legislatures and Parliamentarians 1448 fall in the category of corrupt/criminal elements.

Are we serious to save India?

Films sanctify pestering and talking of women

31 December 2012

Films sanctify pestering and talking of women

The ghastly assault and rape of female paramedic in Delhi has produced an avalanche of protest and comment on why we treat women so badly. But a major cause, the film industry, has hardly been mentioned. It has fostered thoroughly retrograde male attitudes that tare at least partly responsible.

Some feminists focus on the commodification of women in Bollywood’s “item numbers”, sex-laden dances by Isha Koppilar, Mallia Sherawat and others. Others highlight the popularity of rape scenes to titillate audiences. Old –time villain Ranjeet did close to 100 rape scenes, with the audience almost cheering him on.

I don’t see films in other India languages. Some say they are even cruder, so let’s not blame Bollywood along. I’m told such crudity doesn’t happen in big Bollywood films any more. Really? I saw Rockstar, in which Ranbir Kapoor forces his attentions on a girl, who initially resists but then asks him to take her to a raunchy film!

Let the last word come from somebody in the film business. “There are films in which romantic wooing has been replaced by a kind of harassment of the heroine. The heroes of these films could be considered stalkers in some civil societies. Now imagine that this actor is a role model to millions….wouldn’t his fans think this behaviour is okay? Now imagine that this actress is a role model to millions….what message does it send to women across the country?.”

(An extract of an article published in TOI dated 30 Dec. 2012

by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar)

Comments and opinion:

This is one of the reasons for degradation of women’s status in India. The brutal rape of “Damini” on 16 Dec in Delhi has caused the biggest upheaval in the country. There are many other social evils in the society. We need to thoroughly examine such short comings in our “social structure and social behaviors and come out with long term measures to enhance women’s status and finally the women’s, security. 

Fact File: FDI & The Politics

Fact File: FDI & The Politics                                                                                    10 Dec. 2012

All those who had opposed FDI in retail must now respect the verdict and move on

It has been one of the most divisive issues in recent times and one which brought Parliament to a standstill several times much to the dismay of the public. Now at last, one contentious issue has been resolved with the Lok Sabha vote going the government’s way with 253 voting against the BJP’s motion seeking the withdrawal of the government’s decision to have 51% FDI in multi-brand retail. There were 218 votes in favor of the motion in a House of 471. Of course, there was all the drama and emotion we have come to associate with debates on such controversial issues. But at least all sides were heard and a vote taken. The government had resisted the vote but finally gave in owing to persistent demands from the Opposition. Clearly the Congress has done its political management well. With the BSP and the SP walking out before the vote, the government sailed through.

The BJP certainly put up a good fight with the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, who moved the motion, making a fierce pitch against FDI in retail. But the BJP was always on somewhat shaky ground given that long ago and far away it had actually supported FDI in retail. In addition, its apprehensions that foreign companies coming into multi-brand retail will source their products from outside seem unfounded given past experience. But the more important point is that we have always demanded a level-playing field in international commerce and trade. Indian companies have taken over foreign businesses, the prominent among them being Jaguar Land Rover by the Tatas. Indians have taken over prized hotels and invested in several other areas abroad. The Indian economy is robust enough to withstand what many political parties seem to think is the ‘threat’ of FDI in retail. If they think that the Indian farmer is going to be ‘enslaved’, as one speaker put it, or will be driven out of business, we could well ask what out political worthies have done to make our agriculture more competitive and technologically efficient.

The arguments in favour of FDI in retail are far more persuasive than those against it. As one speaker put it, the decision can always be reversed if it is found that it is affecting local businesses and farmers in an adverse manner. Now that the vote is over, all parties must move forward and deal with the many legislation pending before Parliament. Enough time has been expended on this issue at the cost of other crucial matters which have a far more significant impact on the lives of millions of Indians. The commerce minister has said that this decision was taken after consulting all stakeholders. He has outlined the many benefits, including a drastic reduction in wastage of food that will accrue from this decision. Now that it has been decided upon in the august house, it is incumbent on those who were opposed to it to respect this. This would be true democracy in action.

Not only that some of the observations in the press our worth noting and referred to:

·        “Our opposition seem to have made a habit of “blind opposition”, to what our Govt wants to implement. When the leftist (Marxist) oppose they project as they are the biggest savior of the down trodden. When they support the project as they are the biggest revolutionaries.

·        The opposition does a misinformation campaign as when “Mal Mart” would come to India they would bring an army of white skinned people and take over the reins of India as the “East India Company” did.

Not telling the people.

(a)   They would make substantial investment 

(b)   This would generate a great deal of economic activity

(c)    New techniques and practices would fructify existing norms to modernity.

(d)   Healthy competition would bring   in better customer service. We have seen in Banking, Insurance, and in some selected consumer goods (Cars specially)

(e)   Shashi Shekhar says- “Politician by their utterances spread fear, lawlessness divisiveness just to derive political benefits.

Let us not forget the 1990-91when our economy was at-its worst. The preceding non congress govts (VP Singh, Charan Singh, and Chandra Shekhar) had pawned the country to the global markets, It was Dr. Manmohan singh with his astute economic vision put the country on the right path of liberalization and brought it parallelely to global economy. Opening up the “Retail” for FDI is a bold step and would yield handsome results.  

Anna, former Army chief launch joint attack on govt

Anna, former Army chief launch joint attack on govt                    

                                                                                                                07 Nov. 2012

Demand Parliament Be Dissolved; Hazare Backs Kejriwal

“A new set of parliamentarians is needed. Let election be held so that people can decide if they are satisfied,” said V K Singh. “As per our Constitution India is a welfare state in which a democratically elected government is duty-bound to protect and improve the life of the masses,” said Singh. “But the current system has completely ignored these principles and has surrendered to markets forces.”

“People are feeling oppressed due to these policies. MPs too have stopped raising the issues of ownership of water, forest and land in Parliament. Is it not necessary to determine who own the forest, water, minerals and land of this country? To facilitate them in taking this decision, it is imperative to dissolve this Parliament.” This government is looting the nation even more than the British did. It’s time we brought it down.

As reported in the media

Dear General VK Singh

As reported in the newspapers, your recent boldness to caste aspersions on the functional democratic system is atrocious in totality. Reflects your frustration and sense of defeat. You need to update your knowledge on two counts:

(a)   The “British Raj” of more than 150 years and their misdeeds you praised the British Govt indirectly.

(b)   What progress has India made during last 65 years (1947-2012)

You are ignorant and devoid of any rational thinking & reasoning. You claim to have fought wars, the only war you fought as COAS was for revision of your DOB . Which reflected only your personal interest to ten month additional service, and you wanted to set the hierarchical order of succession to the post of COAS to your “CHAMCHA’  pepk

Finally the highest court of the country “Supreme Court” Indicted you and you were made to shut up. You should praise the present democratically elected govt to complete your tenure (as COAS) and retire honorably which you didn’t deserve. You should have been sacked and dismissed from service as Admiral Bhagwat was dismissed and removed as CNS on 30 Dec 1998.

You have shamed the Indian Armed Forces in general and Indian Army a great deal in particular. These are the views expressed by serving and retired officers.

Latest news indicates that you have also decided to “Gherao” parliament in the immediate future. You will further ridicule yourself and put the Indian Armed Forces personnel to greater shame. We wish the almighty better sense should prevail in you.

Air Marshal Ashok Goel (Retd)

Kejriwal-The crusader and damaging

Chortle  ¼tksj ls ‘kCn djuk½ Kejriwal- Utopian & Cynical

“The uncompromising Kejriwal is on mission to end corruption do not extend beyond a magical ombudsman, a Lokpal. A recent caravan profile also suggests that he ignores advice from associates and tends to use people even crowd pullers Baba Ramdev & Anna Hazare. (Who had a public falling out with Kejriwal) The magazine quotes Ramdev’s aide Acharya Virendra Vikram, “He smartly used our platform and then turned his back at a crucial time”.

Samar Haliker

Kejriwal’s Hype is No Harbinger of Hope

“So trust him to continue to turn his press conferences into a kangaroo court where he can level wilder and wilder charges against powerful individuals and indict them with no opportunity to appeal to a higher authority. That is the chosen stratagem of a usurper. If, as a great French thinker, Benjamin Constant, wrote in a pamphlet published in 1814, ‘despotism banishes all forms of freedom, usurpation, in order to justify overturning what it then would replace, needs those forms; but in seizing them, it profanes them’. This is what Kejriwal has in fact done: with his moralizing zeal he has sought to delegitimize the system of governance as a whole. Sooner than later, this is bound to result either in anarchy or in the advent of a messianic leader who promises to impose a muscular regime in the republic. The way to nip this ominous development in the bud is for the political establishment to reassert its legitimacy with deeds, not words, to stem the rot in the system”.

Dileep Padgaonkar

Miss the Lokpal

With an institutional body to look into public impropriety in the cold storage, did we really expect everyone to keep quiet, asks

Couldn’t these charges of impropriety against individuals holding public office have been brought to notice and investigated by an institution rather than by a high-pitched individual? It is, after all, for strategic as well as functional reasons that institutions are preferred over individuals, however well-meaning and noble the latter may be. Now Kejriwal and his band of merry crusaders are convinced that Gadkari and his benefactors are guilty as charged. Their confidence in being right is understandable as they would be silly to make a half-hearted pitch. But being played out in the gamboling grounds of the media, especially in the ‘the-truth-will-return-after-a short-commercial-break’ television media, the invitation to take a leap of faith with IAC is as touching as it is pointless.

Indrajit Hazra

Comments

These are the views of three leading political commentators of the country. In a nutshell Kejriwal is Autocratic, Undemocratic, He thinks he is the only right person, He is choppy ¼njkjkas ls f?kjk gqvk½, Chortle ¼tksj ls ‘kCn djuk½ Clamorous ¼fpYykus okyk½  Media specially Electronic Media should get wiser and just ignore him.

As I was in the process of finalizing the write-up, Kejriwal exploded another IED on 31 Oct. This time on the firing line is Mukesh Ambani, the biggest corporate and the industrial house of the country, charge-nexus with the central Govts (NDA or UPA), having earned the contracts for oil exploration program in the country.

Kejriwal doesn’t appear to be in the know of high-tech and high capital investment in oil exploration programs all over the world. ONGC is the other Govt agency involved in oil exploration in the North East and Coastal based programs. Air Force has been a great support to the ONGC program. Any individual who is challenging such decision of the executive has to go into may technicalities and cost effective benefits and analyze before making such baseless allegations.

Do we realize that such baseless utterances would desist Corporate & Industrial houses to make investment in the development process of the country. Foreign investors would withdraw or think many a times for investment in India. Just to create political space for himself (Kejriwal) he is putting the countries development graph behind by decades.

Is he (Kejriwal) a friend or enemy of the country.

Fact File-FDI in Retail (India)

Don’t Kill The India Dream

On essential reform measures, opposition parties should support the government

               

The amendments to the pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011 are based on the of Indians is just a bogey.

investing in schemes providing minimum assured returns as notified by the authority. So the BJP, at least, should support pension reform, while there are enough safeguards to ensure

The CPM has lost popularity in recent years; the BP will not profit much by appearing as a CPM clone, even (or especially) with a Hindutva tweak. Likewise, it’s also in the congress’s interest to reach across the aisle and forge a recommendations of the standing Committee on Finance headed by senior BJP politician and ex-finance minister Yashwant Sinha. It would provide investors the option of that the idea of foreigners ferreting out the lifetime savings bipartisanship understanding with the BJP, on measures that are essential to tiding over today’s economic emergency and getting India back to a high-growth, low-inflation path. No party will reap any rewards from burying the Indian dream.

                                                          Extracts of an article in TOI

06 Sept. 2012

We must go with the flow

China has benefited from foreign investment. There’s no reason why India can’t

Empirical evidence suggests that FDI can fuel an economic boom. And a lack of it would only guarantee a Hindu growth rate. Foreign investment does not necessarily mean sounding the death knell for India’s mom-and-pop shops. Rather, it will offer opportunities to build thriving enterprises.

A more recent example is china, which took in as much as $45 billion a year in foreign capital in the 1990s. Its openness to FDI helped it grow more than 9% a year on average, boosting its per capita income fourfold between 1978 and 2000. By contrast, India’s income doubled, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates.

The fear of big retailers gobbling up mom-and-pop shops-a rallying point for the FDI opponents-is more of a myth than a reality. Giant retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Tesco, control barely 20% of the total market share in China two decades after the country opened up the sector to FDI.

Under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s plan, states are free to implement or shun FDI. But those that reject it will sign a pact with economic stagnation. West Bengal, for example, dimmed its prospect to be the shining jewel in Indi’s economic crown because of its misguided policies. The state slipped from rank four in 2007 to rank 13 in industrial investment plans.

Politiciians like Mamata Banerjee and Nitin Gadkari, who profess that they are dedicated to the cause of the have-nots, will harm the nation by pursuing their anti-FDI agenda. What they don’t realize is that capital inflows help everyone, the rich as well as the poor.

                                                                                              Extracts of an article by BZ Khasru,

Editor of the New York-based The Capital Express,

 Hindustan Times, 12 Oct. 2012