Education, reservation, do-good fallacies

The business of reserving seats is again on. This time the 'honorable' Supreme Court thought, it would help the downtrodden society a lot if private schools are made to not only enrol poor children but let them sit with rich children. This type of impractical do-gooder thinking does not take us far. Be practical and find doable solutions, not taking extreme positions for a purported good end.
Let me explain. Rather ask questions?
Will it not lead to instant comparisons and ill-will between the children of the rich and the poor? Even if they are mixed up early in life for good integration, won't their parents perpetuate the classdivide that harms not only the poor children but also the rich ones?
Not all private schools are run by rich trusts. I read a report sometime back that stated that even in Delhi, a majority of private schools hardly give quality education. Their teachers are worse than governmetn run schools in terms of training and capabilities. Over three-foruths of them take receipt of Rs. 8-10 thousand from teachers but pay them about Rs. 2000 per month. In some colonies, teachers of such 'English medium' schools are paid as low as Rs. 500 a month! My question is will these schools pay even less to their teachers? How good quality education will these exploited, demoralised, ill-trained teachers impart?
Why can't the government, instead of subsidising a new form of corruption in the name of RTE, use the money to improve infrastructure of government schools in terms of teachers, facilities and so on?
Why should the middle income group people be penalised for the governemnts's follies, by paying up to 30 percent more fees? If schools are forced, even if they are subsidised, they will charge enhanced fee in one or the other pretext. Many will increase under-hand 'management quota fee' that they charge from hapless parents by creating scare about lesser availability of non-poor seats and so on. The parents who'd suffer would mostly be from lower and middle strata withing the middle group. 
Will it not lead to another corruption: declaring oneself poor? Will it not fatten the purses of politicians, babus and touts?
If finally, you don't listen to any sane logic, and think that this RTE of yours is the panacea for all education-related ills, why don't you eliminate the caste based reservation to that extent? After all, SC and ST children will be covered predominently if poor children are enrolled under RTE. Why do they need a reservation and special treatment over and above the children of others who might be equally backward and poor?

Bloody Economic Times says, Supreme Court judgement is 'unfair'

Today I felt like spitting at the Economic Times.
The otherwise respectable English economic daily - the largest circulated one in India - says, the Supreme Court judgement on 2G scam is 'unfair'.
It is not an meotional outburst, and I understand economics well.
If punishing the guilty for blatant misuse of authority and blatantly unethical trade practices based on bribe-giving is unfair, what is fair, dear ET? It is only because papers like you support crony capitalism that the country is growing in statistical growth while poverty, hunger, diseases, civic mess, farmers' suicides and so on continue in this country. Papers like you encouage businessmen and third-rate political leaders and bureaucrats to keep doing what they do.
Shame on you.
[I have praised your mother paper, the Times of India, and your sister TV channel, ET Now, for taking up relevant causes. So it is not my bias but your absolutely irresponsible take on SC judgement that makes me upset with you. I have decided that I will rant against you as much as I can do till my anger subsides and you apologise. If not, I'll keep spitting on you.]

Lokpal Bill, Jan Lokpal Bill and the two together

Anna with supporters burning the bill

The Lokpal Bill has finally been introduced in the Lok Sabha - the lower house of Indian parliament. Meant to put accountability on Ministers and public servants, and to take action against the corrupt, this bill is the outcome of enormous pressure put on the executive by social activist Anna Hazare.

The authority that is to be created for the purpose of taking action against the corrupt is called Lokpal [lit= people's protector].

I give here the link to the full text of the bill the way it has been introduced in parliament here:
Lokpal bill.

This is the link to the Jan Lokpal bill, the draft prepared by Anna Hazare's team: Jan Lokpal bill
This is the link to the pamphlet circulated by Anna's team to educate people about the shortcomings in the official draft, which is dubbed as 'joke pal' by the activists.Pamphlet on Jan Lokpal vs Official Lokpal
They burned copies of the official draft after it was introduced in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

Just to complete the story, Anna Hazare has threatened to hold fast and satyagraha [=protest] in Delhi on August 16 against dilution of terms of reference of the Lokpal bill by the government in the official draft.
[Since these linked files are hosted on a free server and are big files, do save them instead of opening in the browser itself.] 

My earlier posts on the Lokpal:
Baba Ramdev and Anna
Anna being pitched against Ambedkar
Anna's fast: what next

If Digvijaya Singh is their brand ambassador, God save the Congress

Diggy, the Rahul acolyte

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's statement on Mumbai blasts suggests that the party has become victim of a twisted mindset where it sees hand of RSS in every terrorist act. It is unfortunate that Congress has made such leaders its Brand Ambassadors. This vote bank politics spreads communalism and serves the interests of terrorists who want to divide the country on communal lines.

Ironically, it is the Congress leaders who see a communal hand in even innocuous acts of the Sangh Parivar. I am not giving a clean chit to the Parivar fellows, but Congress’s indulging in a propaganda on a matter on which their hands are equally – though differently – dirty, does not wash either.

It is worse that Diggy is seen not only as one who speaks all nonsense on behalf of Sonia and Rahul, he is the party’s torch bearer in UP and a close associate of Rahul. Heis a courtesan waiting for the day his boss becomes the country’s PM. In this respect he is more dangerous than his mentor, the wily Arjun Singh. Dangerous for the boss as well as the party.
You may like to see my earlier take on Rahul's SS-Simi link and Diggy's cussed secularism. 

My quick simple posers to Kapil Sibal

When you negotiated with Anna and Baba Ramdev, did you represent me through the government or you represented Congress? Yes, because you did not represent us, the countrymen, you showed your ugly face when you failed.

You say, a baba should do yoga and not meddle in politics. Since when has politics become the exclusive domain of super-rich lawyers like you?

Is the wealth accumulated by you through legal practice reasonable? Have you not earned it by taking up rich people’s cases? How many cases of public good have you fought?

Why can’t you keep your mouth shut when it is not required? Only because you can speak well should you talk nonsense again and again?

What makes you a negotiator? Your being a good lawyer and the cunningness that you possess? You messed up negotiations with Anna and Baba Ramdev so badly because you felt, you will ‘defeat’ them through your lies and machinations?

Don't let some farm agitationists hold economic preogress

Rahul courting arrest at Bhatta Parsaul

Uttar Pradesh is going to polls next year, and a farmers’ agitation is not good for Mayawati at this stage. The opposition is playing its cards rather well, with Rahul striking the right chord with the locals by his surprise visit, and Mulayam making the right noises. Chief Minister Mayawati’s image as a champion of social justice has got a severe beating with police high-handedness in quashing farmers’ agitation in Bhatta Parsaul.

It is high time, a central act on land acquisition that is hanging fire for long, is enacted soon. The Act must not be delayed only because some ally in teh UPA government does not agree with it. The ground reality is that majority of farmers would agree for a negotiated compensation for their land and only a few would like to relolutely hold on to it. We must find a solution to this issue that has emotive, greed and political elements. Otherwise the progress as well farmers’ welfare would be hostage to a handful lot.

You can see our earlier take on farmers' agitation here.

Baba Ramdev's fast and a third-rate government

Baba Ramdev

For now, Baba Ramdev has been quashed.

But this shows terminal weakness in the government, not in Baba Ramdev. Of late, Baba had acquired a cult figure and unfortunately he was conscious of it. Had he been more sober and not play into the government's hands, his movement would not have ended this way. His and his advisers' inexperience in handling a cunning government resulted in his 'deal' being 'exposed' by a government waiting for any such opportunity, and he became defensive. Then the government machinery struck.

Thanks to Baba's appeal for calm and no use of violence, the Delhi Police were emboldened to carry out the task assigned to them, when people were half asleep. This is no great show of government's strength; it shows government's insecurity.

If the government had been (i) committed to uprooting corruption, (ii)showing its intention to resolving conflict borne out of civil society activism and public anger, and (iii) firm, it would have acted much before Baba took the fast. Insted of rushing very senior ministers to airport to talk to Baba, it should have engaged Baba much earlier. Administratively, it should have not allowed Baba Ramdev to hold yaga shivir in Ramlila Ground or for that matter anywhere in Delhi. It [basically Congress only] first bent forward, then backwards and then prostrated and then exploded: figuratively it was what Nalini did to Rajiv Gandhi, no?

I wrote earler, I am not a Ramdev disciple. I am against government's conduct and its slimy ways. Most of our leaders are corrupt to the core. They make laws and they lead the nation. They are protected while innocents die from malnutrition, terrorism, etc. They are responsible for the poverty, caste divide, naxalism, land issues, poor infrastructure.... all our woes. Then they treat the public anger with utmost contempt. In case of Congress, it has contempt for its allies and opposition too. They need to be taught a lesson - the sooner the better.

My earlier take on government's plans on Baba Ramdev's agitation.
All my corruption related posts.

Lokpal, Baba Ramdev, Anna Hazare and the government

The following developments have taken place in the last few days:

• PM says, Lokpal Bill will be placed in Parliament before the deadline of June 30.
• Governement develops cold feet on including PM, judiciary, even MPs uner the purview of Lokpal. Hazare’s team in the drafting committee shows unhappiness.
• Government is seeking views of political parties and states on the proposed Lokpal Bill.
• Baba Ramdev wonders how PM and judiciary can be included in the Bill.
• Govrnment has set up two committees to assess money stacked by Indians in foreign banks and find ways to tackle black money.



Government's game: Anna Hazare vs Baba Ramdev

• Baba Ramdev sticks to his fast threat.

What does a common man make out of it all? Prima facie, the government is not serious about tackling corruption in a big way, perhaps apprehending political problems. It also does not want to take on higher judiciary as it is fighting many sensitive cases in the Supreme Court. It does not want to annoy politicians in general as it will be the pliable MPs from any party who may come to its rescue when it is in trouble. So, it is playing politics with the two prominent camps – under Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev.

Baba Ramdev seems to be a man with a mission to clean India of its ailments – biological as well as social-political. But he is impetuous, he is easy to play into the hands of state players, he is one-man institution without an internal system for deliberating on issues, and he speaks too much before TV cameras. If you play into others’ hands, you tend to lose your purity of purpose and purity of action. You have already fallen prey to others’ machinations before you realize your mistakes. Baba does not know this, and nobody is in a position to tell it to Baba.

The government fears Baba Ramdev more than Anna, and has opened many channels of diplomacy on him, because of his huge fan-following. But if Baba does not reform his ways, he will be weakening the momentum created by Anna’s fast against corruption, and his own mission to reform the society and politics will fritter away. This is what the government wants and all corrupt bigwigs want.

The top agenda of Hazare camp right now should be to make Baba Ramdev see the game behind the government opportunistically agreeing to his demands and propping him up. Ironically, right now this assumes more significance than the fight against corruption.

Earlier, we carried a post exposing how Ambedkar was used to weaken Hazare's movement.

Krittika Biswas: victim of a racial America?

Krittika-suffered for being Indian?

The story of Krittika Biswas’ being arrested on false charge of sending obscene emails to her teachers was flashed across media yesterday. She has slapped a claim of $1.5 million on the city of New York.

We don’t need to repeat the story and we are not bothered why she was not given diplomatic immunity, but highlight some instances of unacceptable conduct on the part of school and police authorities:

• She was not given a chance to prove innocence before being handcuffed. Can you arrest a student just because someone says she sent her indecent emails? Had the complainant given enough proof of threat?

•  She was put in the lock-up and ill treated by the police. Can you do that to any person, even a young lady, who is not known as a habitual offender or a hardcore criminal?

•  She was threatened that she would be put up in prison along with criminals if she didn’t confess. Is such mental pressure acceptable in a civilized society?

• The real perpetrator was found out, and yet was not arrested [so far] and Krittika was made to undergo suspension. Could the school not be quick in booking the real culprit and more lenient to the innocent girl?

On the face of it, this appears to be a case of a teacher wanting to teach a pupil a lesson for whatever personal reason, and the police acting recklessly and without sensibility only because she was a foreign national – particularly because she was an Indian.

Remember the case of Indian students being    in America earlier?

Long back, we carried the story of Vijay Kumar, an Indian who suffered in the hands of a callous US system.

Jairam Ramesh’s activism touches IITs and IIMs

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has excelled the art of creating controversies. This time, this IIT alumnus has said that IITs and IIMs are excellent because of the quality of students and not because of the quality of research or faculty. He is not wrong in that and many people say that, perception surveys say that, but when it comes from him it leads to raised eyebrows. Then, to say that these institutions need to do better is one thing and to say that their quality is mediocre is another. It is just ‘simplistic’, as one professor of IIM Ahmedabad said, reacting to Jairam’s remarks.

What is interesting is Kapil Sibal’s support to Jairam’s remarks. He adds, “As Education Minister, I am striving towards achieving world-class standards for our institutions. This is a fact that our institutions don't figure in the top 150 list.” It is often said in knowledgeable circles that Sibal is bent upon bringing foreign institutions in India and not supporting IITs and IIMs, the homegrown flag bearers of higher education in technology and management areas. 

Will Jairam limit his comments to 'go-no go areas', mining, mega energy projects etc, where he is making stupid noises and then relenting to pressure from lobbies? 

Quote-unquote

"There is hardly any worthwhile research from our IITs. The faculty in the IIT is not world class. It is the students in IITs who are world class. So the IITs and IIMs are excellent because of the quality of students not because of quality of research or faculty," Jairam Ramesh to reporters at New Delhi on 24 May, 2011.

“It shows that Jairam Ramesh has shown tremendous ignorance about the intellectual capabilities of these institutions. I would not deny the fact that these institutions needs to do much more,” Anil Gupta, Professor, IIM-Ahmedabad

When a local agitation leads to Sangurs and Parsauls

Mayawati Government is fully responsible for the bloody battle that has been taking place in Greater NOIDA.

It is obvious that without land acquisition, industries are not going to come in a big way, something that has led to China becoming an economic superpower. It is therefore natural that states want to acquire land. There are numerous vested interests in the land acquisition process: the farmers, local as well as big politicians, intermediaries and land developers, industries, governments. In this confusing scenario, farmers resort to agitations due to their genuine misgivings and [often] bloated demands for compensation, and such agitations are a good ground for opposition and goons to play. But while many such agitations have been handled well, inept handling of such issues leads to Singurs and Parsauls.

In UP, Behan Mayawati likes to handle every every issue by whims and without listening to other viewpoints. She wants everybody to behave as per her wishes, and so far her highhandedness has succeeded in dealing with Mulayam, Congress and BJP. But she forgets that she is dealing with real issues that affect people and that agitate people. Only a mature handling can defuse explosive situations such as in Singur and Parsaul.

Behanji, learn to treat humans like humans and deal with the situation with administrative acumen and political maturity. Blaming opposition and hooligans for what happened in Parsaul is a stupid excuse.

The UPA Government at the Centre is equally to blame. Land acquisition has become a national problem and many development projects getting delayed. The Central government is avoiding the land acquisition bill on the insistence of Mamta Bannerjee, but we hope the elections will pave way for passage of a sensible bill on land acquisition.

Joshi‘s PAC and Congress intrigues

Dr MM Joshi, PAC chief

Parliamentary bodies have been created to sort out matters that would be lost to party politics in the full house, but nowadays parliamentary committees have also become kabaddi play grounds between the ruling and opposition formations.

Dr Muli Manohar Joshi is known to be rigid guy. Tose who know him closely say that his stagnation within BJP too is partly due to his inflexible approach. When the opposition’s demand for JPC on 2G scam had generated heat enough that it had become an embarrassment for the ruling coalition, Joshi smelled an opportunity to show his power as PAC chief. In fact, BJP had to come to terms with him when he declared that PAC would look into 2G irrespective of the JPC.

Joshi’s report, as leaked to the press, is a document that embarrasses Congress, especially the PM. If during depositions and examination of papers in JPC, certain omissions and commissions came to light, it is the duty of the PAC to bring them in the report. There is the issue of using moderate or harsh wordings and making inferences out of weak evidence. Being what he is, Joshi could not have given a report that exonerates PM, and – as reported in the press – there is surefooted evidence against PM’s inaction and wrong action by people close to the PMO. A more flexible chairman would perhaps tried to reach consensus and allowed differing opinions, including his, as annexures to the report.

But what Congress is resorting to is also what Congress is supposed to do. [For that matter, which other party that is there in India today would not do that?] So, it gathered the scam tainted and CBI hounded parties – Mayawati’s BSP, Mulayam’s SP and DMK – to cobble up majority within PAC and reject the PAC report.

Congress does not have conviction to clean up its governance systems and courage to accept criticism. Joshi does not have courtesy and humility to reach sort of consensus in drafting the PAC report. All parties swear by parliamentary democracy, and PAC has very senior parliamentarians as members. If they cannot rise over their party stands even in parliamentary committees, it only shows the immaturity of our democratic institutions even after sixty years of their working.

PS: JPC will not only have severe divisions: BJP will try to avenge its defeat in PAC, Congress will be more vociferous, and Chako is no angel.

Anna being pitched against Ambedkar: cunning plot!

As we have alreday stated on this India News Today post, there would be different views on the way Lokpal Bill has to be drafted and many more views on how corruption can be tackled. Anna's close colleagues also do not seem unanimous on all counts. A number of newspapers have been critical of the draft of Jan Lokpal Bill as proposed by the activists. Different shades of opinion are what make a democracy vibrant.

Do you think, the spirit and tools adopted by Anna are against the constitution? The government nominees in the drafting committee would let Anna or his people - legal luminaries included - do something that is against the constitution?

However, to hold a rally against the proposed Lokpal Bill in the name of constitution is not resistance but a ploy to derail the process of weeding out corruption in public life. Who other than those with vested interst in corruption would do this? Such elements seem to have found a helping hand from anti-Anna Maharashtrian lobbies. They feel, by invoking Ambedkar they would also confuse and thus sway dalits too to their side.

It is said that patriotism is the last refuse of scoundrels. The proposed rally seems to be last refuse of the scoundrels in the garb of protectors of the constitution.

Why we hail Times of India stand on caste reservation

The Times of India carries a brilliant editorial today, titled, Reservation as a welfare tool is past its sell-by-date. On Jat agitation, the editorial argues in favour of a genuine affirmative action and a stop to reservation politics.

Many pro-reservationists, who are either convinced that only caste-based reservation can emancipate the socially backward castes or who have a vested interest in continuance of the reservation system will – as usual – call the Times of India arguments a pro-upper caste [मनुवादी] and ivory-tower approach to the issue. 

India News Today feels that many progressive thinkers, including those from the reserved categories, are against perpetuation of caste, and are in favour of an all-inclusive model of social and economic development. But they do not have individual or collective strength to prevail over the pro-caste forces in the present environment of competitive vote-bank politics, poor statesmanship and lack of courage for reforms.

India News Today has earlier too discussed caste in these posts. Do click here to see them.

Why does Manmohan Singh gets so pissed off with judicial activism?

Why does this guy look green these days?

We saw a high level of judicial activism a decade back when the administration was falling apart. This time again, as more and more scams have come to surface. The first time this Prime Minister was voted to power, there was a greater sense of administration and the top judiciary took some break. 


It is ironical that the same Prime Minister is sitting over a mound of huge scams, inaction and overt or covert connivance with wrong-doers. Many of his cabinet colleagues have either been charged with frauds, or are known to have amassed enormous wealth but there is no visible proof of their wrong-doings or are known to have been taking decisions influenced by personal considerations or have crime record or are even mafia kingpins. The persons in high places of authority, such as the CVC, Prasar Bharati CEO, some PSU chairmen, even the President - are known to have dubious past. Worse, the Prime Minister feigns ignorance of all the rot going on under his nose, in the departments directly supervised by him, in the committees chaired by him...


What can be more ironical than that this very Prime Minister tells the judiciary to not interfere in administration. As recently as last month he said while addressing an international conference: “While the power of judicial review must be used to enforce accountability, it must never be used to erode the legitimate role assigned to the other branches of the government." Remember, how steadfastly the government had been defending CVC Thomas and its lawyers even making observations against the powers of the Supreme Court? When the Supreme Court chided the government over massive foodgrain rotting in FCI granaries six months back, Manmohan Singh had asked the court to be within its limits while defending his food minister.  “The Supreme Court should not get into the realm of policy formulation,” Singh had said.


It is high time, Supreme Court judges stop respecting the post of the Prime Minister and show Manmohan Singh his place. If he cannot keep his house in order, he has no right to be in the saddle. BJP leader Advani said it rightly yesterday that Manmohan and Sonia should thank their stars that there is no VP Singh today. 

Baba Ramdev - the bloody Indian

Baba Ramdev

All the news channels aired the news for hours in full blast when Aruncahal MP, Ninong Ering, called Baba Ramdev 'bloody Indian' and called him names for speaking against corrupt politicians.

It made hot news, and juicy too, for news channels. They had one set of visuals that they could play ad nauseum, a defensive response from Congress [to which Ering  belongs] spokesman and angry reaction from BJP guys. For some channels, it was a godsend as there was no big crime or scandal that day except the abduction of one of Orissa’s Collectors by Maoists [and the latter had already been milked for many hours]. Channels added how Ninong Ering’s calling Baba  'bloody Indian' showed his anti-India feelings and some channels even put more and more juicy words in his mouth to prove that.

I think, we should not read too much into Ninong Ering’s comment against Baba as far as 'bloody Indian' goes. For the people in the north-eastern parts of India, an angry outburst against an outsider would often invite such racial remarks, as much as from a south Indian against Punjabis of the north or from a north Indian against Madrasis of the south. Such expletives are not uncommon in other countries and do not mean too much.

What, to my mind, is more exceptionable is the overall conduct of the Congress Member of Parliament and his anger when Baba called upon the audience to rise against corruption in politics. Baba is going from place to place awakening people against corruption in public life, in addition to popularizing yoga among masses. This is not suiting many including corrupt politicians, jhola-doctors, militants...

You can argue against a yogi coming to politics, and there is no guarantee that if he becomes a political power centre tomorrow, the power will not go into his head and he would still be the messiah that he is supposed to be. His strong dislike to things foreign also does not look too practical. He has also not been able to take with him people from all religions though over time many leaders from other communities are supporting him.

Yet, what Baba Ramdev is doing right now - giving messages of good conduct - needs public support. We know that without strong public protests, no government is going to clean itself because of vested interests, inertia and inherent weaknesses of governance systems. And, without a preacher with mass appeal, it is very difficult to rid society of age-old social evils and bad hygienic practices such as female foeticide, dowry, communalism, intolerance, personal uncleanliness, witchcraft and so on. So, if we want India to rise as a society, we need to support Baba and condemn the outrageous conduct of powerful people with vested interest in corruption – and the MP is one of them. 

The specturm saga goes where it belongs: the skies

After two days of hot media and political debate whether the spectrum deal of ISRO/ Antrix with Devas is bigger than the 2G scam, Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Secretary, Department of Space, held a press conference 'to clear the air', as the PIB officer told the reporters.

In the press conference [live at PIB site], the Secretary sought to claim that nothing wrong has been done, though he agreed that the fact of S band spectrum being offered to one company, that too without competitive bidding, was not explicitly told to the cabinet. He also said, the process of termination of the agreement with Devas is on, and it is taking time as the terms of cancellation are very 'complex'. To recall the case, it is said that ISRO/ Antrix gave away highly prized spectrum to Devas in the form of long lease, and it has caused about Rs 200,000 crore loss to the government. Fingers were also raised at the PM as he heads the Space Department.

Yesterday, the PMO issued a clarification saying: 'This office has seen reports alleging loss of Government revenue in a contract entered into by ANTRIX and Devas Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. due to lease of space segment capacity which would use S Band Spectrum. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s office and the Department of Space have already issued statements stating the factual position on the matter. It is further clarified that no decision has been taken by the Government to allocate space segment using S-Band Spectrum to ANTRIX or Devas. Hence, the question of revenue loss does not arise and any such reports are without basis in fact.' 

We'll come to know more bits of the reality in a few days, and possibly the full picture months later. For now, despite BJP and Times Now raise the pitch, things are not too clear to conclusively call it a scam. But the thing called spectrum is becoming too hot to handle for this government.

loo's talk: it is lobbying, stupid!

Lobbies have been around, much before Radia and Tata spoke of costly coats to cover them up.

Worldwide, lobbies do a lot of business and get a lot of business for rich nations and powerful rulers of poor nations . There are a dozen main areas where lobbying blooms, including trade in arms, aircraft and costly equipment. So, except for an accidental World War, rich nations seldom get involved in direct wars. Real proxy wars too are rare and have been fought on poor soils. So, it is lobbies that do the war part for them.
Arms, and they cost millions and billions, cannot be sold and bought without active push and pull by lobbies. In countries with poor democratic stability, like Pakistan and many African ones, despots, dictators and other people with state power are said to have been influenced by lobbies to buy arms on behalf of their clients, taken huge bribes and stacked the money in Swiss banks. But the arms lobbies have not been less influential in India and many other stable and democratic nations, though the extent of influence and money exchange might be smaller.

Remember the middle decades of this century? Two generations grew up on milk powder from cans that had photos of plump babies. Mothers who could barely afford powder milk and those who had cows and buffaloes at home – and all with their mammary glands secreting enough human milk for a human kid – chose to feed unwilling newborns with a mixture of powdered milk prepared unhygienically. It is not only corporate interest or slick advertising, lobbies buy out governments so that they do not crack down on actions that they know will harm their society. One good packet shuts all mouths.

2G was a game of straight favouritism and taking of policy decisions as dictated by lobbyists and their clients.
The POSCO, Vedanta, Lavasa projects and their tussle with the Environment Ministry are nothing but a play of environment and corporate lobbies on one hand and between warring corporate on the other.

Environmentalism often takes the shade of bogey rather than lobby, but is as influential as corporate lobbies.
GM foods getting or not getting sanction or an Indian invented medicine not getting approval for mass production are also examples of clash of interests. You need lobbying power to influence people who take key decisions, and you need professional lobbyists. No wonder, most of lobbyists are crooks with a euphemism attached to their job.

We in journalism knew much before you listened to Radia tapes that senior journalist getting fat salaries hardly do journalism; they do lobbying in gala parties or through their columns or TV presentations. At times the entire publication or channel does lobbying, though very subtly. A few journalists have opened shops with ‘image management’ or such other jargons that mean nothing but lobbying.

PS
In mature democracies, lobbies play a very important role in getting particular legislations approved or to influence government to take particular administrative actions and their role is taken as a legitimate activity in democracy. Then there are advocacy groups that take up social causes or causes on behalf of people or groups without influence in policy making. But beyond that, lobbying is a dirty word, doesn’t it? And I am talking here of the dirty lobbying only.

flag at Lal Chowk: brinkmanship BJP style

BJP's anger is understandable, so is its frustration. But it is doing itself little good by the tokenism called flag hoisting at Lal Chowk on the Republic Day. It is good that terrorists have so far ignored the provocation, and the government is being firm.

What BJP wants to score with this act is to show itself in the bold nationalist frame - and it feels it will give the party some lost ground. The party perhaps feels that stopping it or allowing it to succeed, both will make BJP a champion of Indianism and show Congress as a weak party afraid to take on terrorism for fear of losing Muslim votes [since terrorists in this part of the country belong to Muslim religion and the UPA has been dilly-dallying hanging Afzal Guru, the terrorist sentenced to death in Parliament bombing case].

And what BJP is most likely to gain is a self goal if it does not listen to sanity now. Till now, BJP yatra has been peaceful and it has achieved its purpose in a limited sense. BJP must now take a high moral ground and call off hoisting of tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar.It should listen to its ally, Nitish and saner voices within the party, if there are any. It must recognise that politically too, stretching the issue will only hurt its own interest because -

• Its core constituency of nationalist Indian is thinning in spread as well as in intensity of ferver. The upwardly mobile, neo-urban and moderate among the 'patriots' may not like it if the issue goes out of hand;
• The focus of BJP's fight on corruption and price-rise will get severely dilutes as it will lose space to Kashmir, it will alienate other opposition parties presently with BJP in fighting corruption, it will take away the energy and focus within BJP from more pressing issues;
• Kashmir, at least at present, is not a bigger issue than price-rise and corruption -- the twin issues on which the ruling UPA is on back foot. Raising Kashmir will only allow the UPA to breathe comfortably without giving BJP any political dividend;
• It will also alienate its allies like Nitish, and make other regional parties avoid it during the coming assembly and later general elections.

If BJP is really serious about India, India News Today would advise it to focus on price-rise and corruption, and also put its own house in order in Karnataka. Be bold there, not in Kashmir, where peace is getting a faltering chance again.

You can see all BJP related posts here.

Kapil Sibal’s defence of Raja: how low will Congress sink?

What Kapil Sibal said yesterday in Raja’s defence is utterly specious and devoid of credibility. What he said might be technically arguable, because a lawyer of his stature is not likely to be wrong there, but the type of politics and governance the Congress is displaying is despicable for more reasons than one.

One, when it is a fact that Raja gave only one hour or so for submitting bids that required filling longish documents and submitting drafts, what does it show other than blatant favouritism by twisting procedures? Is it not an impropriety to predate a press release so that only your men know of the bidding? Does any amount of argument that Raja had not been asked against first-come-first-served by PMO or that NDA ministers also followed the same procedure make the loot pardonable? Does any amount of corruption that people in NDA government might have indulged in [that is what Kapil Sibal, Manish Tiwari, Jayanti Natrajan and other Congress spokespersons harp on on television] make Raja’s decisions right? 

What Sibal is saying is that Raja murdered an innocent because NDA beat up an innocent too, and that’s why Raja did no wrong.

Two, why are we hankering on presumptive vs substantive loss to the exchequer and the correctness of CAG calculations? Do these matters of detail take away the sting out of the massive crime and breach of public trust that have been committed? 

Is the Congress trying to say that Raja murdered the innocent with only four stabs but the opposition and CAG are saying that he stabbed the guy ten times, so Raja did no wrong?

Three. The more the Congress tries to argue in favour of Raja’s actions, the more it makes light of the impropriety most of the political masters in India indulge in. In a Minister or public authority’s role you are not a lawyer or a businessman; in fact you should not even act as a party-politician when you are taking a public decision. You are there to make right policies, implement them rightly and take actions only with people’s good in mind. You should be ready to sacrifice personal gains for the general public good. You should, by your conduct, lead the bureaucracy under you and those who follow you otherwise. Do any of you politicians remember the oath you took at the time of taking charge as a Minister? 

Four. For the sake of parliamentary functioning, Congress is supposed to take the leadership role. By joining issues instead of extending its hand, it will further alienate the opposition. Will it gain by doing so? Will the country gain? Will the democracy gain? The sole responsibility for letting parliament run smoothly rests with the ruling party, like the running of a household traditionally rests with the father. If the houses do not run smoothly, dear Manmohan, Sonia, Sibal and your likes, you are to blame, not the opposition.

A party that tries to search for facts and issues to browbeat the opposition, instead of introspecting, saying sorry, taking corrective action and compensating with better governance is a morally sick party. Prudence too says, such a party will not prosper politically in the long run.

India News Today maintains its earlier stand on 2G scam, because happenings of late are only proving it right. Do see our earlier posts:
Parliament logjam
Overscamming NDA: Sonia style
High time you resign, Sardarji
Sonia, Rahul, Manmohan, your words sound hollow
Shame on you, Raja... more shame on you, Manmohan