VOX POPULI by Aam Admi Issue: 119

Date: 30.06.2012

Contents:

1. Congratulations, ACP Dhoble! Keep Up The Good Work.

2. Turkey's Provocation Against Syria Was Unnecessary

3. Finance Ministry: Pranab Out, Manmohan Singh In

4. Our Politicians: Blaming The Whole World Except Themselves

5. Of Beef Eating & Trying To Make A Point

6. White Paper Required On Malaria Research in India

7. Convenient Fires Help Out The Rich & Influential

8. Storing Grain A Priority

Congratulations, ACP Dhoble! Keep Up The Good Work.

What ACP Dhoble is doing in Mumbai is absolutely correct and nowhere near moral policing as alleged by some people. People in the entertainment business and those that seek entertainment believe anywhere and not necessarily in Mumbai or India that if you grease some palms they can get away with anything. They operate on the belief that everyone has a price and in the grey area of time lags that exist between issuance of orders/laws and their enforcement they continue to flout regulations. Carry on as long as you can but do not get caught, is the moral of their trade. Thus when a Dhoble comes along once in a decade or more then a hue and cry is made about implementation of the laws. Irrespective of the laws being archaic Dhoble's job is to enforce them. If the people do not like the laws or they need to be updated then it is for the people to amend the laws and it is not Dhoble's job. Thus let public spirited policemen get on with their work such that some sense is drilled into the heads of people who seek entertainment at any cost irrespective of its impact on society in general. We have another comment covered by the media over 29th June 2012 that ACP Dhoble and his team had asked some German women tourists who were at a pub in Mumbai to come with them to the police station. The video grabs showed the German women arguing with the policemen asking why they should go to the police station. The media, one thinks, should stay away from such incidents and let the police do their job particularly at these times of terror. The visit may be innocuous enough to establish the validity of their visas, check their antecedents and then let them go. These kind of things routinely happen abroad where sometimes visiting Indians more so in Communist countries are asked to come to the police station. We have no hullabaloo done about such incidents and when our ex-Presidents, Ministers and publicly known members of our society are put through security procedures in the West particularly in the US, we react by saying that they should comply with established regulations and should not be expected to be treated as VIP’s as at home when they visit foreign countries. So why should these German women not go through a simple procedure of visiting a police station to check their antecedents. Should we not have the same yardsticks for Indians as well as foreigners? Or is the colonial mindset so embedded in our psyches that we will bend backwards whenever we see a white skin?

Turkey's Provocation Against Syria Was Unnecessary

The Syria Turkey incident in which the latter’s jetfighter was shot down for straying into Syria’s waters is a prelude akin to the manner in which the Libyan invasion commenced with first a ‘no-fly’ zone enforced, then aerial bombings and finally a seaborne attack to supplement the rebels supplies. In the same way Turkey is attempting to rope in NATO into the fracas and let loose the dogs of war. There was no need for such unnecessary provocation by Turkey who could have ensured that its air force trained away from Syria’s boundaries since it full well knew the sensitive nature of Syria’s current political problems and rather than create more tension it should have tried to resolve the imbroglio as much as it could. Instead of that it continues to support the rebels of the Free Syria army and give them shelter in its territory. Thus it full well deserves the punch in the nose from Syria in downing its jetfighter. Let Syria resolve its own problems in its own way rather than have outside interference in its affairs.

Finance Ministry: Pranab Out, Manmohan Singh In

Beginning of this week the Presidential candidate of the Congress & the UPA-2 and the outgoing Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee in conjunction with the RBI was to announce major initiatives to revive a stuttering Indian economy but what came out was a tepid prescription remaining consistent with his track record over the past 3 years of doing nothing but talking a lot, mostly excuses for the problems faced by the economy. Thus the newspapers coming out with headlines stating nothing major announced on economic initiatives, should be asked what did you expect from this man a complete non-performer and who is reported as being the main stumbling block to reforms that are required to be brought in the Indian economy. With the PM Manmohan Singh now holding, one would assume, temporary charge of the Finance Ministry and in the first briefing of the ministry officials asking them to kindle the 'animal spirit' in the economy sounded a trifle blase and the phrase more suited to a pagan or tribal society and clearly an insult to a more than 5000 year old civilisation that is India. This coming from an erudite and cultured person like the PM added only insult to injury. We hope this does not signify the wrong start to put right the mess that Pranab Mukherjee has left the Indian economy.

Our Politicians: Blaming The Whole World Except Themselves

The Dy CM Chagan Bhujbal defending his portfolio under which the PWD comes while commenting on the Mantralaya fire sounded very much like Home Minister R R Patil after the 26/11 terror strike in Mumbai saying they did everything but co-ordinate among the various law enforcement authorities after the incident, ignored the Central intelligence alerts, had no quick response teams at the scene of the attacks since primarily they were living in a cocoon that such things could not happen in Mumbai. Even after the latest bomb strikes in Mumbai after close to 2 years it was found that Mumbai was unprepared as much as it was prior to 26/11 and all forward looking initiatives like CCTV on Mumbai roads, providing for bullet-proof vests to the police etc. was all mired in bureaucratic procedure. In the same manner Chagan Bhujbal claimed that the PWD had implemented 11 out of the 12 recommendations made by the AG’s office in connection with fire prevention and protection. The 12th recommendation was probably - Do not look the other way in case of a fire! Chagan Bhujbal could do well to remember that emergencies like fire come unannounced and it is more of an approach or frame of mind that contains the loss of lives and property damage. That is exactly why Disaster Management Authorities need to be in place. No AG report can help the Dy CM to fight a fire. Interestingly both Chagan Bhujbal now and R R Patil on the earlier occasion as mentioned above suggested that they had not been given sufficient funds to protect government property and common citizens. This is the standard bogey raised by our Ministers to escape responsibility. On the many conspiracy theories doing the rounds the one about the destruction of Adarsh files seems to be the front-runner but people do not realize that while deluding the public with Adarsh our ministers will have probably destroyed other files which would in aggregate exceed the Adarsh scam value. CM Prithviraj Chavan while asking the people to stay away from conspiracy theories has asked them to wait for the official report. For this Mr Chavan, the official report need to come out quickly and not after another 10 years as is the practice that we see in our country. Until then conspiracy theories should circulate and pick up momentum since only then the government would come out quickly with the official report to either clarify or deny any particular conspiracy theory which is in the lead.

Of Beef Eating & Trying To Make A Point

Sometime back in columns written by Kancha Ilaiah & Sunanda Datta Ray in the national papers they expounded on the aspect of eating beef in India. While Kancha Ilaiah vehemently supported it on the basis of the lower castes having a need for protein and that beef has been the traditional diet of the Dalits and hence the festival celebrating beef held lately in Hyderabad should be supported. This argument stems from the author’s grouse against the supposedly higher classes and the feeling of repression which would make him justify anything that the Dalits do, be it right or wrong. Sunanda Datta Ray came through with examples from the early 20th century in Calcutta where eating beef was considered avant garde and modern. Thus it was something to carry as a distinction in the English supplicant and sycophant bhadralok society then prevailing in Bengal is what he positions. (The society adjectives or definition is mine.) Additionally he takes the route of compulsion to justify eating beef by quoting the example that while he was studying in the colleges in the UK mid-20th century there was no alternative but to eat beef in the college hostels to keep body together (and the soul could fend for itself). Here he brings up the fear of exclusion among peers in a social context and eating beef meant acceptance among English society, is what he says. Now let us look at meat eating first on a scientific basis and then attempt to put a sociological context to it. Human beings in their evolution on this planet were initially hunter-gatherers and over a couple of centuries took up farming. Thus the structure of the human stomach in the above progression would suggest that it is primarily designed to be meat eating or what we tend to call carnivorous. Essentially mankind is not designed towards vegetarianism. Even in our mythological books it has been written of Lord Krishna and his brother, Balaram, partaking of and enjoying beef particularly veal, well cooked and deep fried. This is because they were not only Yadavas and there is mention in the same texts that the Brahmans of those times also indulged in beef eating. It is also generally believed that the Brahmin class in Kerala, the Namboodiris, some among who eat beef due to certain compulsions relating to famine and starvation some centuries ago and the practice still persists. Thus the point here is that there is a time context to anything and which applies also to beef eating. But we have to recognize that the world and India has evolved and also science which positions milk that comes out of animals like cows, buffalos, goats, sheep, camel and the like is just the only nourishing liquid which in it has the three dietary needs of protein, fat and minerals. No other nourishing liquid has all three of these dietary components. In terms of evolution of society, we could possibly say that we have become more civilized and educated over the ages and with that has come about what we call the development of what we call, mores of society or value systems. These vary across the world depending on the people, place climate etc. etc. When we travel across the world we tend to respect these social values not to either offend in a limited time perspective or go along with these in an economically compelled circumstance like not being able to carry photos of Hindu gods and their idols in the Arab countries. Thus if India being the only Hindu nation in the world except for Nepal, which we are uncertain with the Communist majority control now, specifies that beef eating should be banned on account of religious and health reasons as explained above, then one does not see any problem in people including our own native Indians to accept it. In fact all milk-giving animals should be banned from slaughter in India and only after their natural or accidental death should we allow their hides to be removed for use as leather etc. and the meat interred. To argue against Kancha Ilaiah’s position one can say that the Dalits economic status across India is much better today than it was maybe a century earlier and they can afford to eat other meat. It is also important to note that if people approach any issue without taking a confrontationist position on it then there are more chances of finding a solution. As for Sunanda Datta Ray one should tell him that one can eat beef when one travels around the world but not when one comes to India since there would be no availability of it here. Also as regards the beef food festival held in Hyderabad, the authorities should nip these in the bud and ban it since it is only trying to make a point by showing the obstinate and stubborn aspect of our society and not the rational and compassionate side.

White Paper Required On Malaria Research in India

The world is busy tackling malaria with fundamental methods like finding out that only female mosquito bite and genetically engineering for more males to be produced, inhibiting the protein which enables the malaria parasite to take root in the mosquito, working on methods to quickly analyse blood samples of infected people rather than go through the time-consuming culture process to keep a tab on the rapidly changing DNA of the malaria parasite and the latest discovery being finding a common fungus – beauveria bassiana - which kills the mosquito. While we in India which is one of the areas which is worst hit by malaria are not told what our scientists are doing to firstly, check the spread of the disease and secondly, eradicate it. Our administrators, corporations and municipalities across India are logically working on the front end of the disease control mechanism by stopping the breeding of mosquitoes in stagnant water and resorting to spraying insecticides to kill the mosquito eggs and also in the protection stage by distributing repellant impregnated mosquito nets for the population. However, it is time that our research establishments in science and medicine come out with a white paper on their efforts in the field of malaria control and eradication so that we know what is going on. We need to remember that if we remain a follower then it will become very expensive for us to tackle this disease considering the massive population base that we need to protect since then we will have to depend on foreign MNC’s to provide us the medicine and also the technology to produce this in India if at all this is possible.

Convenient Fires Help Out The Rich & Influential

The situation relating to the fire at Mantralaya in Mumbai last week represents a microcosm of what is happening in contemporary India. Irrespective of the reason of the fire it is clear that there was some ulterior motive in the fire destroying mainly the Urban Development Department, the CM's and Dy CM's office. These offices deal with papers concerning decisions which run into hundreds of crores if not thousands and with the Adarsh and other scams relating to out of turn land allotment people will naturally be suspicious that the fire saved some very senior people from further or more embarassment on counts of corruption or benefited some builders lobby substantially. Now if the CM and Dy CM's cannot be protected against fire or for that matter any natural or man-made calamity or at least a pretence made in that regard then surely the leadership aspect of the State is in question which is the same situation at the Centre. The fact that the Fire Dept. in Mumbai had to combat the fire based on old and outdated drawings which had not been updated and there were partitions and additions made in the corridors of the Mantralaya and in the structure which hampered fighting the fire and to organise successful rescue operations is also representative of the chaos that we not only have in Mumbai and Maharasthra but also in the rest of the country under the present regime. The fact that there was a similar fire albeit on a smaller scale earlier in this month in the Ministry of Finance at Delhi in rooms housing the Income Tax sections points to very unusual coincidences that fires seem to be happening in places which are of interest to those in positions of wealth and influence. Is there a message there, somewhere?

Storing Grain A Priority

The world is laughing at India for the fact that we in the initial instance did not produce enough food for which some or a substantial part of our population used to starve and now over the last five years or so we produce enough food but are unable to store it properly and therefore have it rot out in the open and still have people starve. The fact that storage space was required for foodgrains was known for a long time now and particularly over the last 3 years the media has randomly exposed the fact that grain lying exposed to the elements have been rotting and/or being eaten away by rodents. Why nothing was done to enhance even temporary storage is anybody’s guess? If one goes by what is reported in the media, it is almost as if the government is in competition with the private trade since we had the Central Food & Civil Supplies Minister last week claim that whatever has been acquired by the government is stored safely. Again, as said earlier with the lack of credibility with anything related to the government, we do not how much of this is true and whether it has been said just to get the heat off the government. In any case, does government not have a role that the private sector ensures it keeps foodgrains stocks safe? In all this mess it is heartening to note that a 2 million tonne grain silo is being built in Haryana, at least a start has been made in the context of a record procurement of some 39 million tonnes. Earlier there was no information on granary or silo projects to store foodgrains but for M S Swaminathan’s comment once that a project is being taken up for storage on a massive scale for grains across the country to provide easy reach to consumers. Why the government cannot be open about such projects is again anybody’s guess and whether there is at all a project like this is again anybody’s guess. The same way the government puts the lid on issues like farmer suicides which have hit 334 in just Vidarbha and Maharasthra in the first 5 months of this year alone. After the massive write-off of farmer’s loans a couple of years back and the pronounced intent of the government to make available easy credit to farmers, why they should continue to take their lives is something which needs to be seriously investigated. On the back of all this is news that fertiliser prices are likely to go up by 30% which would break the back of some more farmers and we will be having more of them hanging from village trees as time goes by. A holistic approach is required to be taken for agriculture on an individual crop basis on the cost of inputs, MSP’s and the final retail price so that the entire thing works smoothly or the government should wash its hands from the whole thing and fully privatize agriculture and allow market forces take over. This is being said in the context of the recent increase of the MSP for paddy being hiked by Rs. 175/quintal and some time back to that of sugar and cotton. These ad-hoc increases are not good for the farmers of particular crops in the long run and this system is prone to lobbying by vested interests who have large holdings in one or the other crop.

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VOX POPULI

by

Aam Admi

Issue: 118

Date: 23.06.2012

Contents:

1. The Killing Fields In Kerala

2. The BJP Needs To Be Clear-Headed

3. Pranab Mukerjee Incapable FM Jumps Ship For Presidency

4. India’s Economy Stuttering

5. The Nuclear Power Option Being Forced Down Through People's Throats

6. Pranab Mukherjee as the Presidential Candidate

The Killing Fields In Kerala

Soli Sorabjee writing in his weekly column in a national newspaper on the killing of the ex-CPM leader Chandrasekharan recently in Kerala and the comment of the CPM leader Mani that these things are routine and such people deserve to be killed, claimed kind of assumed ignorance that such things happen. This is rather sad for such an eminent legal luminary people with an extensive practice over a few decades or more. The coastal region in the Malabar north of Kozhikode (Calicut) and until Kannur (Cannanore) and to a lesser extent up to Kasargod on the border between Kerala and Karnataka have for long been known as the killing fields of south India where political rivalries demand the elimination of class enemies and the communist proletariat at the two ends of the scale. Preferred weapons have been have been choppers and country made bombs and there are many a youth whose lives have been snuffed out or have been maimed for life, their mutilated limb stumps are mute testimony of a trek into the realm of transitory insanity. Every person in Kerala and the Communist cadres in the country along with the Congress and RSS who have among them victims of these attacks cannot claim that they are unaware of this situation. However Soli Sorabjee, who one can categorise as belonging to the ‘genteel’ India dabbling in legal matters over his lifetime, one must say prefers not to see the seamy and more often than not the violent streak in the lower strata of our society. This is what we say when we talk of the new partition of this country into India and Bharat. The first affluent and seeking the best and most luxurious in life styles while the latter continues to fumble in trying to make do and frequently gets enmeshed in the mills of crime, violence and political mayhem.

The BJP Needs To Be Clear-Headed

The BJP seems to be a confused party and in taking a long-term view on the 2014 elections and squabbling with its NDA consitutuents over who should be the Prime Minister, if and when they win, they have completely lost sight of the imminent President's elections next month. Gopinath Munde, the Dy Leader of the BJP in the Lok Sabha thinks it fit to comment on the lack of consultation within the UPA on the President election in the context of the Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamul issue of proposing Kalam's name but forgets about the muddleheaded thinking wihin his party & the NDA on not being able to even name a candidate for the President. Saying that the Congress took 2 months to name Pranab Mukherjee as the Presidential candidate and how can the BJP name their within 2 days is neither here nor there. Will therefore the BJP take 3 months to name their candidate in which case it would be advance preparation for the succeeding Presidential election and not for the imminent one. To retain their credibility the BJP particularly and the NDA in general should align their actions to convey the impression of competence, the ability to perform and have original thinking and not remain forever on the path of being just critical of the Congress.

Pranab Mukerjee Incapable FM Jumps Ship For Presidency

When Mamata Banerji named Manmohan Singh as her top candidate for the President of India, it is understood that Manmohan Singh was upset that if this suggestion was considered by the Congress party it would mean that the party and the nation would consider him a failure as Prime Minister. It is believed that he sulked for a day until the Congress party gave its official denial to this proposition and had even threatened to not go for the G-20 & the Rio environment summits. In comparison, Pranab Mukherjee did not seem to have any similar qualms when named the Congress President candidate. Is it because he knew his below normal performance as Finance Minister and thought it better to jump ship now rather than wait for the economy to become any worse?

India’s Economy Stuttering

The GDP story of 5.3% growth with core sector at a sluggish 2% for 1Q.2012 has set off panic buttons around the country whether we are back to the pre-90’s level of 4-6% called famously the Hindu rate of growth. The Rupee also hit a low of Rs. 56 to the US$ around the same time that the GDP story broke. Exports for May are down by 5%. Inflation close to 7.5% on account of rising vegetable prices. IIP for the first time has gone negative. In foreign countries a successive three times that the manufacturing index becomes negative, it is meant to show that recession has set in. Do we have any similar standards in India or do we continue to fool the common public by having the FM or the PM talk things up and hide the actual facts. Thus from a projected superpower in the year 2020 to a laggard in the world on economic growth it has been quite a transition that the UPA has enjoined upon India. Not only that, India is the only country in the BRIC group to be pulled up for non-performance. The FM and all other senior functionaries in this government and the Planning Commission continue to give excuses, which they have been doing for the last 3 years, and blame the rest of the world for India’s economic woes but fail to take responsibility and you cannot but fail to notice that they never blame themselves. The FM after the GDP story broke famously said the following in different forums - That the low growth rates of the GDP have bottomed out. RBI will adjust monetary policy to spur growth. India has resilience to face grave challenges. The Rupee volatility is a concern. While Montek Singh Ahluwalia said – That people these days tend to look at the negative view more. The next day he says – That fiscal reforms and policy paralysis are the reasons for the stuttering growth. Thus you see that these people have their moralizing statements pat and ready and world economic problems come in very handy for them like the financial crisis in banks in the US and Europe first, then the Spain debt burdens followed by Portugal and now the Euro crisis brought on by the likely failure of the Greek economy. How many times have we heard these statements from our policy planners in the last 3 years? Surprisingly as said earlier none are admitting that to this kind of a pass have we led this nation into. Because of our not doing ourselves anything constructive in handling of the economy or policy paralysis as it is come to be called, we have Standard & Poor (S&P) threaten to downgrade our ratings. Why we should be bothered is anybody’s guess? Does anyone rate S&P who are known to fudge their reports as it came out on the back of the US financial crisis when it had threatened to downgrade the US economy? Like the US why do we not stand up to them. Is it because we know what they are saying is true? Similar all and sundry from abroad like various foreign governments, international banks are giving us ‘bright’ ideas on managing our economy. Do we need to listen to them? But even then it is time that we got down to brass tacks and move our economy out of the mess it is slowly sinking into.

The Nuclear Power Option Being Forced Down Through People's Throats

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) public hearing report underlines the lack of pursuit of democratic norms in dealing with the protestors in the lead-up to the commissioning of the nuclear plant in the start-up phase along with not sharing of technical information relating to the safety features of the Russian reactors and the geological/hydrographic information related to the site. Both the Central & State governments have been pulled up on this matter and asked to provide this information to the protestors. On its part the government is taking satisfaction in the commissioning of the start-up phase and the fact that it had filed thousands of police cases against the protestors including those of ‘sedition’. The similar pattern is being followed to mow down the protests at the Jaitapur NPP where just last week protestors agitating against the acquisition of land at the site were arrested in droves and the media reported that the protest was ‘crushed’. These phrases are surely not those that are used in democracy where the people are trying to express an opinion albeit in a united and forceful manner and are more common in dictatorial and authoritarian regimes. The government is also moving apace on the NPP’s considering that NPCIL management has again over the last week signed the long term purchase agreements for the nuclear reactors from GE-Westinghouse. One would recall that these reactors were not acceptable to be installed in its parent country, the US, while India in its fairmindedness is buying these based on the shred of a paper certifying these by a Senate Committee. These reactors along with the French ones are the most expensive in the world and India is going on a merry ride carried away in the zest of a spendthrift shopping spree.

Pranab Mukherjee as the Presidential Candidate

The candidature of Pranab Mukherjee as the Presidential candidate by the Congress party sums up all that is wrong with the Indian political scene. Here is a man who has albeit had a long innings as a Congressman and in public life. He has held mostly positions of the Finance Minister in successive Congress and its coalition governments and is the presently the incumbent Finance Ministerin charge of our sputtering economy. In this last innings Pranab Mukherjee has not covered himself with any distinction and has in fact presided over the economy going rapidly downhill over the last 3-4 years. A clear lack of ideas on what to do has been characteristic of his approaches towards the economy and instead of concentrating on his portfolio he has been chairing almost every single EGOM of the present government and also its main trouble shooter. Part of the reason for this could be that the Congress party does not have anyone to be, shall we say, multidisciplinary and also hold the can when things go wrong for which Pranab Mukherjee has more often than not been the fall guy. Thus one would say that if this government has been accused of 'policy paralysis' then he should shoulder a large part of the blame. Thus naming him as the Presidential candidate, in which contest he is most likely to win, is kind of giving him a promotion for his non-performance on the job assigned to him. In another sense it is 'kicking him upstairs' in the internecine politics within the dog-eat-dog world of the Congress party and both, Manmohan Singh would heave a sigh of relief that a likely contender for his chair is now out of the way, and P Chidambaran would be gleeful that a thorn on his path to the PM's chair is now cleared. But what we also need to remember about Pranab Mukherjee is that even with his long association with the Congress party and working closely with its top leaders including Indira Gandhi and now Sonia Gandhi, they have never really trusted him. His has been a case of being used whenever it was required and then cast away, like shall we say toilet paper. There have always been hushed whispers of his being close to the late T A Pai founded Manipal group and the first family of industrial India, the Reliance group and its founder the late Dhirubai Ambani and having passed on crucial favours to them at critical times, the first for their banking operations and interests in education and the latter in the hell-for-leather expansion in the petrochemiocals area and approving excess of manufactured capacity beyond those licensed. Given these issues one cannot take away the fact that he has what is called the gravitas and the pompousness that in fact comes natural to most Bengalis to hold the President's job. Thus this decision to field Pranab Mukherjee as the Presidential candidate by the Congress is more in the nature of a compromise than anything else.

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VOX POPULI

by

Aam Admi

Issue: 117

Date: 16.06.2012

Contents:

1. Mamata Banerjee Upsets The Presidential Poll Applecart But Where Is The BJP?

2. Manmohan Singh as Dhritarasthra

3. Petrol Price Hike, Need To Rationalise Fossil Fuel Prices

4. Manmohan Singh as Dhritarasthra

5. The West's ‘Agent Provocateur’ Methods

Mamata Banerjee Upsets The Presidential Poll Applecart But Where Is The BJP?

The Presidential race with its odd twists and turns over the last month or so has seen the absence of one major player and that is the main Opposition party, the BJP. But for the passing mention of a compromise deal with the Congress led UPA about Murli Manohar Joshi as Vice President in the event that Pranab Mukherjee is the Congress candidate for President and the further fleeting news that Jaswant Singh could be contesting for the Vice-President's post, we find that the BJP has been bereft of ideas on this issue. The comment that the BJP would announce its candidate once the Congress announces theirs only confirms that the BJP has no ideas on the subject. It also shows that the BJP is incapable of being a leader on any major issue and prefers to be a follower with its mind-set that of a perennial Opposition party. This is where the downfall of the BJP will come about given the fractious in-fighting that their top brass is prone to. In contrast look at the street-fighter that Mamata Banerjee is. With less than one-fifth of the MP's than the BJP at her command she has up-staged the Congress and their President Sonia Gandhi by being the one who announced to the nation that Pranab Mukherjee is indeed the Congress candidate for President, before the 15th June date that the Congress had set for announcing the names. Not only that Mamata Banerjee went further by rejecting Pranab Mukherjee's candidature and announcing her own 'impeccable list' including Abdul Kalam, Manmohan Singh and Somenath Chatterjee and by this putting the Congress into a quandary and turning the Presidential poll on its head by hobnobbing with the SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and appearing to suggest that they were allies in the list announced by her. Why did the BJP not have its own 'impeccable list' very much ahead of all this hustle and bustle? Is it because they were too busy sorting out their internal issues of who will be the PM next time, when they are yet to win the next election and thus loosing sight of the imminent President's election which is now poised for a nail-biting finish? With this we can surely say that Mamata Banerjee not only up-staged the Congress/UPA alliance but also BJP in the process.

Manmohan Singh as Dhritarasthra

Kiran Bedi has called our PM Manmohan Singh, like Dhritarasthra, the blind patriarch king of the Kauravas. In fact Dhritarasthra's sin is much less than Manmohan Singh since being blind he was dependent on inputs from members of his court on what was happening in his kingdom, while Manmohan Singh in spite of being able to see prefers to remain dumb and refuses to take any action and presides over Bharat which is increasingly sliding into a morass of gloom, degeneration of morality and ultimately doom.

Petrol Price Hike, Need To Rationalise Fossil Fuel Prices

The petrol price increase recently by about Rs. 7.50 per liter was more than unfair and the jiggling by reducing it by Rs. 1.50 with a promise that further reductions are in the offing is not helping either the aam admi or this government. What was required to be done was that a migration plan should have been put in place from a subsidized regime to a no-subsidy regime a long time back. Then there would have been lesser public outcry and people would have got used to the high prices by now and also put in place their own economizing routines. This plan should have included all the fossil fuels petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG. On all these we have been aware that the government has been subsidizing them. Why? That is anybody’s guess. The whole process is just like robbing Peter to pay Paul. On one side you subsidise commodities but on the other side to compensate that you raise taxes. This has clearly led to an imbalance in the pricing of these commodities since any of the increases have been knee-jerk and very much ad-hoc. The anomalies created are where diesel has been priced at almost 50% of petrol and also lower than furnace oil leading to its diversion for uses other than those intended like for agricultural pumpsets and long haul transport apart from car manufacturers spewing out a whole new range of diesel car models since consumers prefer these to save on operating costs. There is no argument that diesel and petrol prices should be priced at the same level with maybe diesel marginally lower. The migration plan for fossil fuels should include inputs on long term plan to explore our own reserves like exploration for oil and gas, development of shale reserves etc. since nowadays with international prices for oil ruling at close to US$100 a barrel new sources for oil like shale can be looked at, older higher cost oil wells could be re-opened etc. The reasons for this are manifold since we become more self-sufficient, save foreign exchange and as a strategic measure depend on our own resources. Nothing like this is done to take the aam admi into confidence by the government and random and irregular price increases are rammed down his throat. That is where the objection is and not in the hike per se. There could be a need for subsidy to the lowest strata of society since we still have close to 63% of our population below the poverty line and for these under the UIDAI or Aadhaar scheme directly transfer the cash subsidy to such targeted population groups. Will we now see any more rationality in the manipulation of the prices for petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG?

The Congress’ Sonia Gandhi Syndrome

Sycophancy is being taken to the extreme by having Sonia Gandhi to decide on the candidates to be put up by the Congress for the President & Vice President posts which are falling vacant shortly. Why the Congress should continue to leave things to her is something which is beyond the comprehension of every right minded citizen of India. It is almost as if we, having been under the British until 1947 are under Italy for the last decade or so. Sonia Gandhi remains a foreigner and though she may be welcome to stay in India as many such other people stay, she should not hold any public office which is the rule even in her native Italy and all countries in the West. In that event why should we be magnanimous and allow her to be the Congress President? Giving credit to her for not taking up the post of Prime Minister and handing it over to a pliable Manmohan Singh in the first innings of the UPA is nothing much of a great sacrifice as it is made out to be since she, very much, knows the limits of her ability and therefore did not want to carry this onerous burden. With Manmohan Singh accepting to be the fall guy she got the ideal position of ruling India without any accountability as we have seen playing out before us in the second innings of the UPA. Many journalists have commented in the same manner not only about Sonia Gandhi’s backseat driving the UPA government but also forming the NAC and such other bodies and stuffing it again with people who will dictate policy but without any corresponding responsibility. It is time therefore for the Congress to shake itself out of somnolence and see reality. They have to strike it out without Sonia Gandhi but maybe hitch its bandwagon to the younger scions of the Gandhi dynasty like Rahul & Priyanka to achieve any tangible political gains.

The West's ‘Agent Provocateur’ Methods

Syria is going the same way as Iraq and lately Libya in terms of orchestration of forces against the incumbent rulers by the West and its crony multilateral institutions like the UN. A similar exercise akin to Syria is continuing in Iran also. The same pattern of first supporting the dissenters in these nations posing in the garb of democracy and then having the multilateral agencies be it the IAEA or the EC or NATO or the UN jump on them for contravention of some international law/agreement or infarction of human rights followed by trade and financial sanctions and then having a pliant Ban E Moon, the UN Secretary General make noises about the suppression of the voices of democracy in the affected nations and then suddenly an air strike by one or the other NATO nations like in Libya or a full scale invasion like in Iraq. In the last named military measures there could be many civilian casualties who are decorated as martyrs in the cause of democracy by the aggressors to lighten their burden and that of the victim society of having lost a near and dear one. The civilian deaths euphemistically called ‘collateral damage’, which would have normally meant property damage in earlier times, could be many times higher than what the supposed authoritarian rule of the victim country would have caused in a decade or more but who cares. With military intrusions the borders of the victim country would be opened up to make it a hotbed of nuisance and anarchy as we have seen in Iraq where explosions and/or terror attacks almost every other day would be taking innocent lives which would all be blamed on the Al Qaeda or some such terrorism body leaving the aggressor country clothing itself in holy robes of compassion and piety while nobody would question them on why they actively worked to dismantle the protective system and the law and order structure of the society in the victim country. It is not only the number of lives lost in the victim country but also the lives which are completely shattered or turned upside down because of the aggressor country’s entry and the mayhem that is generated in its wake. These are all created by the West to support the military-industrial complex in their nations which without war and military strife cannot survive since peace and normalcy are anathema to them. Is this any kind of civilization that we are talking about? Or are we back in the Dark Ages where we follow dog eat dog methods under the veneer of assumed civilization. In the light of the second 'supposed' massacre in Syria by Assad's forces, there was news in the media that the UN observers have reached the place to investigate. Firstly, would the West in the event of any incidents like this or even marginally equivalent allow UN inspectors to come for inspection? Thus if Syria has allowed the UN inspectors is it not that Assad and his forces have nothing to be afraid of and irrespective of Western provocations, he continues to cooperate? Let's not have double standards in these matters and play the games by the same rules as applicable to the West.

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VOX POPULI

by

Aam Admi

Issue:116

Date: 09.06.2012

Contents:

1. Justifying The 2 New Toilet 'Complexes' At The Planning Commission

2. Gag Order On Gen(retd.) V K Singh

3. The IIT Admission Test Controversy

4. MIPB The New DGTD

5. For ‘Janata Toilets’ Talk To Sulabh Shouchalaya?

Justifying The 2 New Toilet 'Complexes' At The Planning Commission

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Dy Chairman of the Planning Commission is trying to do the indefensible by batting for the 2 toilet 'complexes' built at the Planning Commission offices at a cost of Rs. 35 Lakhs. This is completely irresponsible and irrespective of the number of people using the toilets at the same time, 10 for each as stated by Ahluwalia, it still works out to Rs. 1.75 lakhs per person. When the PM & the FM are talking of austerity measures, should the Planning Commission not have taken the lead in continuing to use the existing toilets. Also the aspect of pilferage is no logic to support Ahluwalia's contention for using a smart card system to control and limit the access to these toilets to a select group of officials since then it shows that the Planning Commission is playing true to form since it oversees the loot of the country's resources by its politicians. In any case, now that the 2 toilet 'complexes' have been built, let them be converted to Pay per Use toilet at Rs. 10/- for each usage so that the cost can be recovered, which exercise can also be accelerated by throwing it open to all personnel, visitors and the like to the Planning Commission and charge Rs. 2/- per use per head as per Sulabh Shouchalaya rates. There is now news that come 1st July 2012 everything will come under Service Tax except very few activities on the negative list. Thus if the government expects us to pay for every service and also get taxed on it, one would think that Montek Singh Ahluwalia and the Planning Commission officials should take the lead in setting the ball rolling by converting the new toilets as a Pay-per-Use facility as suggested above.

Gag Order On Gen(retd.) V K Singh

There should be a gag order imposed on Gen(retd.) V K Singh for continuing to shoot off his mouth even after demitting office. Apart from asking the defence forces to stand up to civilian officials which is quite an unnecessary comment really and is probably to shore up his position on the antics that he orchestrated in the last 4-5 months of holding office, Gen(retd.) V K Singh should be hauled up under the Official Secrets Act for blowing his mouth about Siachen & the 'mythical' Chinese tunnel that China is building in that area to outflank India in case of war with either them or Pakistan.Talking of people who live but do not learn, Gen Singh is but a shining example and fit for psychiatric case studies in our medical schools.

The IIT Admission Test Controversy

The IIT issue of admission based on the weightage of the 10+2 exam and then a two stage test is probably the correct way to go. To ensure that all students are given a level playing field, the marks from the State boards and those of the CBSE/ICSE in the short term need to be normalized to take away the fact that the State boards are more liberal in giving marks. It is understood that IIM Kolkata has done an extensive study on this and is ready with a statistical system to rationalize the marks. Ultimately in the long run we should think of having a single 10+2 exam doing away with these multiple boards and syllabii which are all a part of our colonial heritage. Something similar to the A & O levels should be implemented across the country. But that is another debate. If the IIT admission test is given based on the 10+2 marks then students will then give proper attention to these 2 years of school rather than become engineering or medical school automatons and keep rushing to coaching centres to prepare for competitive exams. The new system will also give a better leverage for those who are not able to afford the fees of coaching centres and who do well in their 10+2 exams. This apart we need to look at the situation on the ground vis a vis the IIT’s where we had three-fold comment lately. One is that the teaching faculty at the IIT’s is not paid properly, that their quality is not good and that there is a shortage of teachers. The second is the industry comment led by Narayanmurthy of Infosys fame that the standard of engineers from the IIT’s is not at par. The third is that the majority of IIT-ians upon passing out go abroad and leave their technical discipline to pursue MBA’s or end up working in multinational banks. The first is a real problem since getting good teachers at the college and post-graduate level in India is a difficult exercise and the IIT’s are no different. The issue also is of paying top grade salaries to lower than par or indifferent teachers. This could be one of the reasons for the lessser standards of the students coming out of the IIT’s. It is also a known fact for more than 50 years now that IIT –ans look for greener pastures abroad and pursue careers in other than technical professions while the country subsidises their education substantially. It is not possible to control this and therefore the best way is to do away with the elitist tab of the IIT’s. This has already happened to some extent by the spread of IIT’s beyond the traditional locations of Kharagpur, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Kanpur in the last few years. For those talking of brands the IIT brand has already been diluted by this spread and will be diluted more by the clamour of more IIT’s by individual States. Therefore it is best that since the country needs more of good engineers rather than few exceptional engineers we willfully dilute the brand further through this process of the new admission test system. This will also be good for the teachers since their demands will thus be scaled down and we will not have the ugly situation of teachers from IIT/IIM’s going on strike since their aspirations will be balanced with their ability. The mushrooming coaching centres of one or the other type for the IIT and other technical competitive exams will also be reduced over time. There is also the question about different tests for admission to various engineering colleges and here again we should aim to wards a GRE kind of score based on which admission can be given even at the IIT’s. Thus the test becomes college independent. In fact for MBA programs we should move towards something similar to GMAT based on which IIM’s will also give admission. This also applies to similar tests for medicine and other professional courses. This comes from an IIT-ian of 41 years vintage from Kharagpur and after seeing the degradation of standards at the IIT’s and firmly believing that it is pointless pursuing a philosophy of elitism in contemporary India.

MIPB The New DGTD

The DGTD under new avatar ‘Manufacturing Industry Promotion Board’ harks the ‘Licence raj’ back to the India political scene. With elections likely in 2014 if not 2013, it is imperative to raise money or not! That is the refrain within the UPA.

For ‘Janata Toilets’ Talk To Sulabh Shouchalaya

One cannot understand why should Jairam Ramesh talk to Bill Gates for ‘janata toilets’ and not to Sulabh Shouchalaya? The latter organisation has an experience of working in rural India and can provide a more appropriate functional and cost-effective solution. But if lobbying Bill Gates was to get him to fund these projects then it is OK, but one cannot understand why we still continue to beg foreigners for this, that and the other need rather than fend for ourselves.

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VOX POPULI

by

Aam Admi

Issue: 115

Date: 02.06.2012

Contents:

1. Gen Bikram Singh Has The Nation’s Best Wishes

2. Massive Coal Reserves Nullify Nuclear Power Need

3. Why Is Pakistan's Nuclear Program Ignored While Iran's Is In The Scope Sights

4. Media Should Expose Coal Scam

5. Mapping Gen V K Singh's Psychographic Profile

Gen Bikram Singh Has The Nation’s Best Wishes

The nation welcomes Gen Bikram Singh as Chief of Army Staff and wishes him all the best in the assignment to restore morale in the rank and file of the Army and get back its position as the 3rd best fighting force in the world. Gen V K Singh with his massive ego and psychological drawbacks had used the position as Chief of Army Staff to whitewash himself and blame the rest of the world for his insecurity with scant regard to the effect it would have on the Army. Gen Bikram Singh has to put all these issues behind him and move forward to evolve a better relationship with the Defence Minister, MoD and other branches of government. We are sure that he is up to the job and will show excellent results in a short frame of time.

Massive Coal Reserves Nullify Nuclear Power Need

Proven coal reserves in India are 118 billion tonnes which can be mined up to a depth of 1.2KM and which GSI has estimated that it will last India for another 200 years. While Kakodkar, the erstwhile head of India’s Atomic Energy establishment, has been plugging for India’s nuclear program by saying that our coal reserves will finish in another 50 years! This is clearly a case of massaging data statistics to suit one’s objectives like what is represented in the saying – Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics! The 118 billion tonnes is just the proven reserves while the estimated total reserves for coal are put at 293 billion tonnes. With such massive local coal availability we continue to import coking coal for our thermal power plant (TPP) and other industrial needs. Mind you this has gone on for the last 60 years or so without any serious large-scale effort made to process our domestically available coal to be suitable for our bulk users like TPP’s or approaching the problem from the other direction, to engineer our boilers to accept domestic coal. We have taken the easy way out and deliberately resorted to imports and made mostly the Australian mining Cos. richer. It is a comedy of errors that foreign mining Cos. like Broken Hill and Rio Tinto are coming into India to seek mining leases and may ultimately take over our coal mines and supply us our own coal which we have been chary of touching. Many a time over the last 40 years there have been plants set up to liquefy coal and convert it to fuel that would replace imports of fossil fuels like petroleum, furnace oil and the like. None of these in the early years could be accepted because of the cost difference of imports of fossil fuels and the expensive coal-to-oil process. But over the last 10 years or more with the petroleum prices hovering at US$100 a barrel and even touching at one time some 3 years ago US$150 a barrel, it was time to review these coal-to-oil projects and put them on the fast-track. However, from our governments which are perennially stuck in banality we have not seen any plans to use our coal either way, that is direct or through the coal-to-oil process.

Why Is Pakistan's Nuclear Program Ignored While Iran's Is In The Scope Sights

There has been news that Pakistan is putting on-stream its fourth nuclear reactor which considering the anarchic state of the country poses a big security risk not only to its neighbours like India but also to the rest of the world. This is something that the West particularly the US has been overlooking time and again. What needs to be done is to analyse this in perspective given the fact that almost every terror incident particularly in the West has had a Pakistani hand in it. Apart from that the obduracy shown by various incumbent regimes in Pakistan in not toeing the logical line for fighting terror and continuing to shelter as we had seen Osama Bin Laden & now the Taliban leaders like Mullah Omar and others, the continued interference in Afghanistan affairs by supporting the tribals linked with the Taliban operating out of Waziristan and the other North West Frontier provinces along with blackmail of the West in keeping open the overland transit routes to Afghanistan, shows Pakistan’s complicity in keeping the terror machine against the world alive and ticking. And to a nation like this the West not only continues to give aid but allows it to operate its nuclear program. This obviously should be clear and present danger to the world and in the target of the IAEA & other UN watchdog bodies. Iran in comparison is a future nuclear threat, if and when, it is able to process higher grade nuclear fuel and again, if and when, it can make a fissionable bomb. Thus the myopic approach of the US and the West is to ignore what is under their very nose and look askance at Iran’s nuclear program. This could be because as it was widely rumoured that the Pakistani nuclear weapons arsenal is under the control of the US, though the Pakistani establishment vehemently denies this fact, which if true can lead to India and the rest of the world heave a sigh of relief.

Media Should Expose Coal Scam

The easiest way to put something that is embarrassing to any incumbent government is to have a JPC constituted for it. Look at what has happened in the case of the JPC on the 2G scam, there is nary a murmur from it and with A Raja, named as the main perpetrator, out on bail and also attened Parliament just before the last session ended, we wonder whether anything will come out of the JPC except for a stale report which may not be worth reading. Since the 2G scam being so long in the media focus, the whole of India knows everything about it and there is no new light that the JPC can throw on the matter. Similar is the case on the CWG scam where all the accused including Suresh Kalmadi are out on bail and no status indicated on what is happening on the prosecution of the case. These comments are being made in the context of the coal allocation scam to the private sector being suggested for a JPC probe. Nothing will come out of it and it will just be taken off the public eye. Therefore it is time that the media got interested in it and exposed the actual facts to the citizens of India.

Mapping Gen V K Singh's Psychographic Profile

Gen V K Singh should have been sacked the day he moved against the government in the Supreme Court on his date of birth (DoB) issue. This was a clear case of indiscipline and going against the service rules. For lesser aberrations in the Army you would get courtmartialled and Gen Singh also would not have been averse to taking such kind of action against his juniors. The fact that the government had let Gen Singh off lightly has boosted his courage and if you his public statements since that time concluding with the latest interviews to some of the TV news channels he has been bad-mouthing everyone starting from his immediate junior officers, to the Defence Ministry, to the PMO, the Defence Minister. Why he has spared the PM is not understood? What he is saying is like a release from him at the end of his career and the disappointments he has had particularly at the fag end relating to the stirring up the muck on the DoB issue. But in trying to whitewash himself, he has been playing havoc with the institution that is the Army and its morale down to the serving jawans. By casting slander against his successors and at levels of Lt General, he is not exactly ensuring a smooth transition for the Army organization, which he claims he respects. In fact there is something wrong in Gen Singh’s psychological make-up which should have stopped him from holding any leadership position. Now that we have all been exposed to Gen Singh’s behaviour, the MoD and the three service arms of the armed forces – Army, Air Force and the Navy along with maybe the para-military and police set-ups should incorporate in their systems that all senior officers after a particular level should go through mapping of a psychographic profile to determine whether they are suitable to handle the pressures of their job and lead their men in times of adversity so that they do not get the nation into an unavoidable mess. On Gen Singh, he still got a farewell dinner from the PM in spite of his mal-utterances. One wonders, going by things whether Manmohan Singh lives at all in this country. You know the rarely seen, and even rarely heard syndrome!

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VOX POPULI

by

Aam Admi

Issue: 114

Date: 26.05.2012

Contents:

1. Complete Mismanagement Of The Indian Economy

2. Petrol Price Hike Breaks The Back Of The Aam Admi

3. Aerostats Create Privacy Issues In Afghanistan

4. Keeping Alive Terror Benefits Departmental Budgets & The Terror-Industrial Complex

5. The Cartoon Controversy

6. The Presidential Race

7. Wheat & Milk Powder Piles Up As Nation Remains Starving & Malnutritioned

8. Indian Economy In a Mess

Complete Mismanagement Of The Indian Economy

On the back of the Finance Minister saying in Parliament at the end of the passing of the Budget, that austerity measures need be brought in, we have the Prime Minister during the function for celebrating the 3rd anniversary of this UPA-2 government echoing the same sentiment by saying we need to tighten our belts. Now as far as celebrating the 3rd anniversary of UPA–2 we need to ask Manmohan Singh whether a celebration is at all deserved or should they have not been mourning that their ordeal has not yet ended. But the point remains by parroting these statements that we need to tighten our belts and implement austerity measures we need to factually see what is achieved in terms of its impact on the economy. Why everyone is upset on the economic affairs situation is that the same scenario has been prevailing for inflation which first started pinching us some 3 years back. The same people the FM & the PM among other economic heavyweights in this government assured us that in another 6 months if not a year, inflation will come down. But nothing like that happened and inflation continues to remain stubbornly going its own way – up and up. Thus these palliative statements like austerity etc. are being made just for form’s sake and come another 6 months the same people will repeat the same statements. This clearly shows that there is no intent with this government to take any concrete steps to set right our economy. They are hopelessly incompetent and shameless in not admitting that on the economic front they do not have a clue of what is going on. Take the case of the White Paper presented in Parliament the other day on Black Money. Going by the content in the White Paper it highlights the ‘Black Day’ on which it was presented for all those who have been keenly wanting to pursue Black Money be it stashed abroad or at work within the country. The White Paper says nothing and given its quality of content, it is equivalent to toilet paper The same goes for the petrol price hike, the highest one-time rise in living memory. While the oil Cos. have been asking for a hike for past under-recoveries and the Petroleum Minister has been asking for a hike to compensate for the falling value of the Rupee, no one really knows why a hike was done now when international oil prices have lately softened. This is the kind of obfuscation which is characteristic of this UPA-2 government where nothing is backed with basic data. All decisions are taken based on convenience and political expediency and not for the benefit of the citizens of this country. With the country going through a bad patch on the economic front at the 3rd anniversary of this UPA-2 government, the emphasis was on political survival by trying to pull the Samajwadi Party closer into the UPA alliance and ensuring that the incumbent gaddis are not rocked, the aam admi be damned. The petrol hike was also implemented after the Parliament session was over and the anniversary celebrated.

Petrol Price Hike Breaks The Back Of The Aam Admi

Just the petrol hike leaving diesel and LPG is completely illogical given the argument that oil prices and under-recoveries demand a hike. The fact that petrol being a deregulated item and thus eligible for a price hike is again a contrived argument. The timing of the hike is also important considering that just the day before the UPA-2 government celebrated their 3rd anniversary of taking over the reins for ruling the country. The next day bang they hike the petrol prices by not a rupee or two but by Rs. 7.50 a litre. If this is not being irresponsible one should ask what is? Look at the behaviour of our Petroleum Minister Jaipal Reddy in this context. On Tuesday (22nd May) he makes a statement that oil price hikes are desirable and runs off to Turkmenistan and on the next day Wednesday (23rd) the ‘oil Cos.’ hike the huge petrol price. And on this the Congress party also claims that it was not consulted. Is this not like a child’s prank of doing mischief and then running away from the scene of action? Jaipal Reddy deserves what he got of almost being held by the ear and asked by the government to return post-haste to India. We need to remember that the petrol hike hits the aam admi in the gut first and foremost since most of the rich have switched to diesel cars and it is the man who rides the 2-wheelers and the lower end cars who is suffering or whose backs are being broken by the petrol price hike. During the last presentation of the Budget there was talk of a one time cess on hi-end diesel cars so that those buying SUV’s and the like could not benefit from the lower price of diesel. The car industry bigwigs made presentations and nothing came of the one-time cess and it was shelved. The differential excise duty that could have been imposed on diesel passenger vehicles of a certain capacity and above was also not implemented. Thus we know whom this government is favouring, the rich at the cost of the poor people. Thus let us be clear that any petrol price hike is against those who for their day to day living have to run about in their 2 – wheelers and the lower end cars and in no event affects the rich who go about in diesel powered SUV’s and the influential like politicians who ride cars in which the government fills the fuel be it diesel or petrol.

Aerostats Create Privacy Issues In Afghanistan

It is understood that Aerostats – 30 meter size hot air balloons are being deployed in the Afghan skies by the US & NATO commanders to be used for monitoring areas from the air and for collection of intelligence in Afghanistan. This is a follow-up of the drones which have randomly been killing innocent people along with the ‘supposed’ terrorists and militants belonging to the Taliban/Al Qaeda. Are there no privacy issues here? Would the US & NATO deploy such kind of devices in their home countries? NATO may claim that they have extensive CCTV coverage in their cities along with rigorous security in their airports and rail stations including body scanners. But this is not valid since in the majority of NATO countries there is a strong justice system and a vigorous public opinion which is available for moderating the excesses on intrusions of privacy. While in a country like Afghanistan this is being implemented without any consent of the local people and moreover by a foreign power which has no locus standii to intrude into the lives of the Afghan people. NATO may claim that in a country that they are at war with, these measures are legitimate. This is clearly disputed since the war against terror is illegal and has been declared so. Moreover NATO is working against a section of the Afghan people in collusion with a pliable government that of Hamid Karzai and hence it can in no case be justified as a war zone. Similarly, the intrusions of privacy can in no case be justified. This has also been the case with the drones that are being used and the data on civilians killed by these drones is being presented in a manner so as to show that it has been decreasing over the years to the current year, but they ‘officially’ still remain in the hundreds. How much of a hullabaloo is made in the West when even if tens of people are killed in terror attacks and even for that you have candle-light vigils and anniversaries in memoriam but for the poor civilian Afghans who get killed there is no such requiem. A clear case of double standards by NATO. It is therefore required that the deployment of aerostats be stopped and drones be discontinued from use in Afghanistan. If you have to fight, fight square and with some sense of equity so that the better man wins. Using aerostats and drones by NATO in that sense is a cowardly act.

Keeping Alive Terror Benefits Departmental Budgets & The Terror-Industrial Complex

The Western media orchestrates the support to the propaganda blitz against regimes which are inimical to the West like in the case of Syria now. The recent bomb blast which injured some 100 in Damascus is quoted by the Western media as ‘attributed to the Al Qaeda but with no confirmation yet.’ The Al Qaeda is the common bogey for the West to use and create a sense of fear among people which has been the pattern that we have seen ever since Iraq. This the West does not only do in the countries where they interfere but also within their own countries. After 9/11 the security checks at airports has gone up in rigour and now body scanners are commonly used in the US and are being introduced in the UK also now. Randomly over the last decade almost on a six-monthly basis one or the other plot attributed to the Al Qaeda has been ‘unearthed and the supposed perpetrators have been caught’ in the West which has essentially keep the ‘war on terror’ simmering in the minds of the citizens of Western nations. Even just prior to the recent 60 nation NATO conference in Chicago the US Homeland Security and FBI intercepted 3 terrorists who ‘surprise of surprises’ were local US citizens belonging to some ‘Black Bloc’ movement out of Florida and not the Al Qaeda. Similarly the bomber apprehended before getting into a plane in the Middle East on the anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s death anniversary with a bomb similar to the underwear bomber caught sometime back, turned out to be a CIA double agent who had penetrated the Al Qaeda network! These cases seem to be aligned to ‘manage public opinion’ in the West to persuade the war on terror to continue, which is otherwise flagging in other parts of the world. Just like the military – industrial complex was said to be behind the military interventions in all countries after the Vietnam war ending with the latest intervention in Libya by NATO so also it seems that this entity has morphed into a terror – industrial complex which has a vested interest in ensuring that terror remains uppermost in the minds of the people of the Western world. This will then feed then budgets for departments like Homeland Security and the industry which makes body scanners and the like. The easier way out of all this is for the West not to encourage mayhem in troubled countries and allow the local people and the ruling regime to deal with it. The last century or more has shown that the West whenever in their assumed knowledge has intervened in trouble-spots around the world more often than not they have been proved wrong and it has been at a massive humanitarian cost in the affected trouble-torn countries and at great financial and sometimes human cost to the West.

The Cartoon Controversy

The cartoon issue that has rocked Parliament and then the nation is essentially a matter that we need to decide whether textbooks should carry cartoons. It is felt that NCERT stretched discretion very fine when it included the particular Ambedkar cartoon in the political science textbook of Cl. X. The matter is not at all relating to Ambedkar and therefore the subsequent hullabaloo should have been handled as such. Cartoons have their place in certain media and textbooks is surely not the place to draw that smile or smirk. Textbooks particularly at the Cl.X and higher class levels and beyond should be serious and therefore they are called textbooks. When we tend to dilute the position of anything be it textbooks, history or whatever, we tend to be drawn into these rather unnecessary and infructious debates which grow into controversies. Our approach particularly in education should be like Caesar’s wife who is above any kind of suspicion or misdemeanour. This will retain then the purity of intent and get the message across to the students to remain focused on study and not frivolity. Thus if there had been no cartoon in the textbook in question, would all this have blown up in this manner? That essentially is the question that we have to answer rather than get caught up in the impropriety of it.

The Presidential Race

The Presidential elections true to our political scenario is turning out to be a messy affair. A cartoon which appeared in one of the national papers when the race was hotting up is truly representative of what the elections are turning out to be. In a competitive exam one of the questions was – How is the President of India elected? A candidate wrote – By the leaders of the political parties! By rights the President should be nominated by consensus and Abdul Kalam’s assuming the post was probably the best manner in which India obtained an exceptional President. This lobbying of candidates is rather demeaning not only for the candidates but also to the post of President. We should have avoided it or avoid it. The President should be a person of stature, character and have a personality which does credit to the country. In some quarters it is being said that we should have a Christian or tribal President. These are not criteria at all. People should remember that India essentially has no bias in persons of different religious persuasion or background from holding high office. We are a country which has had a Muslim as a President in Abdul Kalam and others earlier, a Sikh as Prime Minister in Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi as a Christian holding the ‘highest office of the land’ in controlling the PM! So let us keep the values high while choosing our next President.

Wheat & Milk Powder Piles Up As Nation Remains Starving & Malnutritioned

Record harvests of grain and the people of India are short of food or are at near starvation levels. The AFP photo of a labourer covering up rotting wheat at Khamano, a village some 40 KM. from Ludhiana carried today (20th, Sun) in the Navhind Times, Goa (and surely in some national newspapers) says it all. If you look closely at that the photo it kind of depicts a corpse stretched out on the rotting wheat with its skull on the right middleground. This must be the dead body of the aam admi, dead and left to rot with the wheat. Just like the grains, 15,000 tonnes of milk powder is stocked up in Maharasthra with no takers while our children suffer from malnutrition. Why cannot corporates be involved in these programs to reach such surplus food and nutrition items to far flung areas like in Orissa where pockets are at near starvation levels? The same way in tribal areas of Thane district in Maharasthra there were similar reports of starvation and chronic malnutrition, why cannot the milk powder that they need be sent from the piled up stocks. Can the Maharasthra CM not do a service to the tribals in his own backyard? Sharad Pawar as usual is trying to export it ostensibly to benefit the dairy farmers but actually traders who will buy the milk powder at rock bottom prices because there are no buyers at this point and then conveniently export it at remunerative prices.

Indian Economy In a Mess

March 2012 IIP down by 3.5%. The IIP has also shown that manufacturing of capital goods has fallen substantially which would mean that new investment is slowing down. Inflation at 7.4% in April 2012 is also restricting the ability for the RBI to cut interest rates and thus stimulate industrial recovery. Food inflation is soaring again on the back of a 61% price rise for vegetables. The Rupee has depreciated heavily, as a result of these factors and a soaring trade deficit, hitting close to Rs. 55 to the US Dollar and to almost the same levels as during the 1991 fiscal crisis requiring the RBI to intervene heavily so that it does not fall further. The stock markets are also in a tizzy and the Sensex has fallen below the 16,000 mark in a matter of days on the news of the Euro crisis and the inability of Greece to form a coalition government and pursue austerity measures. The FM on the back of these events stands up in Parliament and blames the world for India’s economic woes. When will we see someone in this government stand up and take responsibility by saying that inspite of the world in an economic mess look at our economic success story. Those days, like they say, will probably never come.

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VOX POPULI

by

Aam Admi

Issue:113

Date: 19.05.2012

Contents:

1. With A Raja Out, All Accused In Hi-Profile Corruption Cases Out On Bail

2. Point Counter-Point In US - Pak Relationship‏

3. Time To Close Down Air India

4. The Incident at the Mahi Army Firing Range in Ladakh

5. Sharad Pawar For Traders Under Guise Of Supporting Farmers

6. The Doublespeak on Iran by our Foreign Ministry

With A Raja Out, All Accused In Hi-Profile Corruption Cases Out On Bail

D Raja is also out on bail in 2G scam case, the last of those sent to Tihar Jail in the wake of the exposure of the scam. In the same manner in the CWG scam case everybody including Suresh Kalmadi is out on bail. Not only that Suresh Kalmadi as reported in the media is planning to contest an IOC position. Maybe those reports that he has gone woolly in the head may be true or it must be another big scam of pulling the wool over all our eyes of claiming mental issues to get out of jail. It is not that one objects to bail since that is a fundamental right of any accused and our judiciary is fully competent to decide on these matters but one need to know how our windmills of justice are churning. Are they churning fast or are they churning slow? As we all know that public memory is short and has it been the strategy of the incumbent government to send these famous (or is notorious, more appropriate) politicians, corporate honchos and bureaucrats and thus claim that they have taken immediate action on the accused and then after a reasonable period let them out. Once out of the public eye these cases as many before them can proceed at their own snail’s pace as Lallu Prasad Yadav’s case in the fodder scam in Bihar has been moving and effectively these accused go to leading a ‘normal’ life. It is not they should be incarcerated for life as said earlier but we, the common public, deserve to informed of the results of the process of justice and at what stage it is in. Justice in these cases, as in many others, needs to be speedy which has been the bane of our judicial system. Therefore it is time that these high profile corruption cases were passed onto a fast track court for a quick hearing and judgment. Point Counter-Point In US - Pak Relationship‏ The US is thinking that by negotiating with Pakistan that aid will be cut by US$ 50 Million for every US soldier killed with Pak connivance that they are smart. Pakistan as time will tell will countermand this by seeking similar compensation for their people killed by drones as has been rampant in the war zones of Pakistan and Afghanistan. With more numbers of Pak civilians and soldiers killed in such attacks compared to US soldiers, the US will find that they are forking out much more in aid than what they had promised. Like they say everything cannot always be measured in terms of money.

Time To Close Down Air India

The Air India pilots strike brings home the fact that it is no longer worth supporting the haemorrhaging airline into which another Rs. 30,000 crore was sunk recently. Air India like they would say is a ‘basket’ case, meaning hopeless in old world parlance. It would be more worthwhile in having the budgeted money allocated to Air India spent on other development projects that are starving for resource allocation. The national carrier banner may be put up for competition among domestic private airlines who will hold it on a rotation for maybe a 3 year basis. There are some newspapers who have been arguing that the Air India pilot strike is motivated by vested interests who want to benefit the private airlines. Is it not better to benefit our own private airlines than international airlines? Let the ones amongst us who are more efficient, grow. That is the way we should be thinking. The Congress party spokesmen are invoking the benefits of having Air India in the case of emergency needs like airlifting Indian diaspora abroad in the case of emergency like seen during the Kuwait invasion by Iraq or the recent airlift from Libya etc. For these once in a life time kind of situations we should not continue to support a bleeding Air India since with the airline industry, the way it is structured, there will always be cheap aircraft to charter in these emergencies.

The Incident at the Mahi Army Firing Range in Ladakh

The indiscipline at the Mahi firing range near Leh last week tantamount to a mutiny with the jawans having control of the armoury for albeit a short period of time and the run of the field guns show to what levels our Army has descended. When officers themselves do not comply with Army rules, in this case not having their wives around during the exercise, which led up to the confrontation between the officers and the jawans, then what can you expect. Such cases are part of a broader malaise within the Army & the Defence forces that anything goes encouraged by what is happening at the top echelon of the forces where the Army Chief gets embroiled in a date of birth scandal, Lt. Generals’ are courtmartialled and dismissed on account of scams relating to military land deals against which the scandals of yore like corruption within the Canteen Stores Dept. are but pale shadows. These incidents have sapped morale and the respect that the jawans had of their superior officers. The new Army Chief has his work cut out for him and requires like Hercules cleaning up the Aegean stables to get into his shirtsleeves and wallow in the muck and filth created by his predecessors and get rid of it as fast as possible.

Sharad Pawar For Traders Under Guise Of Supporting Farmers

Sharad Pawar has been advocating exports of agricultural commodities like sugar and cotton which essentially is not a bad thing. But what we need is a consistent long term policy on this and we cannot have knee jerk initiatives like now which benefits first traders and then farmers. Currently we have been recording bumper harvests for three years in a row and have surplus foodgrains for which having no place to store, it is rotting in the open. In such a situation exporting the grain makes sense after we have supplied the States their needs for the PDS. We also have to remember that climate change has impacted crops across the world including China in the last few years and India luckily has been an exception. But this situation is not likely to last long and climate change will take its toll on us also. This risk factor we have to include in our export policy. Again essentially our food should go to our people which is not happening with a creaking and squeaky PDS which is more known for its leakages to the trader community than guaranteeing food for the targeted people particularly the shortage situation in rural and tribal areas is very severe. Thus for the States why are we not just giving them the PDS quotas without insisting on payment and maybe just charge them transportation so that food can be reached to the intended hungry mouths is something that is not understood. In the papers recently we had Maharasthra and West Bengal claiming that the PDS supplies are low by close to 50% of allocation and they had no funds to pick up allotted stocks. The other States position would also be similar, one thinks. The above strategy will at least move out grain stocks to where it can be stored properly and progressively given to the people. The latest brain wave from Sharad Pawar is that MNREGA wages will be paid by way of foodgrains. On paper this sounds a great idea but it is essentially to pave the way for legitimate withdrawal of grain from government stocks and divert it to traders. When the regular PDS is unable to reach the grain to the fair price shops, will the foodgrains reach particularly the rural and tribal areas to be paid as wages under the MNREGA? Why do we also think even now that the poor and tribals eat only grain since do they not need some amount of money to buy other essential things that they need which they can do if their wages are paid in cash? These are some of the fallacies in Sharad Pawar’s proposal which apparently looks great but hoodwinks both the government and the poor people and fills up traders pockets.

The Doublespeak on Iran by our Foreign Ministry

The doublespeak on Iran by our foreign policy establishment is stunning. We are clearly succumbing to the pressure put on us by the US which was even reiterated during Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s recent visit to India. The public position as expressed by Foreign Minister S M Krishna is that we are holding fort on Iran and will not forsake our traditional cultural and economic ties. While what is fact is that India has cut down its purchases of oil from Iran and has also temporarily shut down the Mangalore Refineries & Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) at Mangalore which was the recipient of the larger portion of Iranian crude. Here also there is doublespeak with MRPL ostensibly having been ‘shut down’ last month due to water shortage which has been acute in the coastal city but in any case MRPL would have been shut down by now considering that supplies of Iranian crude had been disrupted. As for the US pressure, following on the heels of Hilary Clinton’s visit there is a high level US delegation here to support India on how it can still cut down its dependence on Iranian crude. The Iranian crude as far as one knows is low-sulphur light crude which is specifically suitable for refineries like MRPL which in fact was built to handle just Iranian crude along with the Kudremukh iron ore extraction and pelletisation plant which sadly is wound up now. The same fate seems likely for MRPL. Thus the US delegation as mentioned earlier is to sell additional equipment and technology to make Indian refineries like MRPL ‘flexible’ to handle other crude. Thus the US is a business delegation! It is true that with sanctions being imposed on Iran the payment for crude oil from that country will now be in Indian Rupees and to utilize the Rupee currency there is currently also a business delegation from Iran to examine what additional products or services can be imported from India. These are all good signs but there is a certain limit to which Indian exports to Iran can increase. But the principle that two essentially friendly countries whose links go back far in time are looking at increasing their trade on the back of pressure from a third country like the US is telling a rather sad story about the strength of will and firmness of resolve of both countries, India and Iran, particularly India. India should have stood firm and secured the right for Iran to pursue peaceful use of nuclear energy which in any case the US is pursuing in back-channel talks with Iran. And if these talks are successful then India will toe the US line and do as told while if it had held firm then India would have had more of an influence in, as said earlier, the right for Iran to pursue the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Would that not have been a foreign policy coup of sorts for India?

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