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?

It happens in India; in Britain too?

A news items carried by Daily Express [of Britain] about fixing of a street bulb taking 46 days and 12 visits by workmen amused me. More because it makes news in Britain while it is so routine in India. The story there ended with fixing of the bulb; here in India, we would not be sure.

mesh of electric wires on Delhi's poles

The story runs like this: elderly man in Britain was shocked to find that it took 46 days and a dozen workmen to replace a street lamp bulb. A pensioner Jack Doran, of  Cheltenham town noticed a bulb on the  lamp-post broken.  The electric workers found that the base of the lamp was surrounded by a hedge, so called  parks' department. The new workmen found water leaking into the light. When this was repaired, they discovered it needed a special bulb.They borrowed one from a nearby lamppost and returned for another try. But then, they discovered the fuse had gone. So, after 46 days of complaint, the bulb was finally fixed.

India wins, democracy wins!

India wins second freedom- 
freedom from corruption
freedom from apathy

It is a great day for India, despite the cynicism that one Lokpal bill is not a panacea for the country's ills.
A lot has been said and is being said about why the day is so important, how parliament had to heed people's will, why the Jan Lokpal is faulty, and so on. Media has been blamed for going overboard; the Anna fight is being dubbed as hurtful to minority and dalit interests; legal and political luminaries are afraid that the trend set by Anna has set wrong precedents.
Social media played a big role, whether the traditionalists like it or not. We, the tech-initiated Indians, flooded social media platforms, especially Facebook and Twitter. I too tried to be active in small bursts, and made my little contribution, and I am proud of that.
In this unusual buzz, whatever I say will be a repetition. Today is not the time to analyse corruption or Lokpal seriously. Today is the day to live and watch Anna break his fast. In 40 minutes from now, he breaks his fast after shaking India, the young India, of its slumber.
Hail the new spirit of democracy, hail the new momentum for good governance!

Anna Hazare's protest exposes government's disconnect with people

Anna Hazare's protest has exposed many rotten things in Indian polity, but I will talk here on a different aspect: total disregard for public by our elected representatives in the government.

Indian parliament is full of people who have learnt politics from their fathers and forefathers (look at the progeny of Gandhis, Scindia, Karunanidhi,  et al) and also many who have learnt politics by way of crime and often defending crime (as lawyers). When UPA came to power, more than the people's true reps, these people got top ministerial ranks. If there are people like Pranab (Advani in BJP) there, they have become too rigid, having been in high positions for ages. Naturally, when it came to dealing with a true people's representative that Anna is, they didn't know what to do.

Since 'engaging civil society' looked to be fashionable, they engaged Anna. Immediately, they realised that they had erred (listen to early press conferences of Kapil Sibal). They not only backtracked, they launched a diatribe against all those in Anna's team. They held press conferences day in and day out, made a Group of Ministers on Media, used Press Information Bureau to the hilt - just to alienate masses further away from the government.  The more people saw faces like Kapil Sibal, Chidambaram (and later joined by Khurshid, Narayanan and Ambika Soni), the more they started hating the government. Manish Tiwari and Digvijaya Singh played good role as villains.

The duplicity of the government, its rigidity and its sheer disconnect with people's feelings were apparent from the day Kapil Sibal opened his mouth first time on Anna's fast in April. The disconnect with people - and government's firm refusal to see the mood on the ground - in the following days has been legendary.

What did the mainstream media do during this period? Recall what major newspapers  and TV channels have been showing for the last 5-6 days? Times of India has devoted almost the entire paper on Anna today, why? One, they are supporting fight against corruption. Two (and this is much more important), they are aligning with the huge groundswell in favour of protest against corruption. In one stroke, they have increased their readership by many lakhs, and a few lakh will become  permanent TOI followers! The point is, alert media houses are seeing opportunity to align with masses while the ruling party has been doing all that it can do to alienate people.

Leave aside their other follies for a moment, and tell me where has the political instinct of Congress to feel the emotions of the people gone? Have they become political General Dyers?

PS: I have been writing on corruption and have deliberately taken a break as far as blogging on it (Have been active on Twitter and have visited Chhatrasal Stadium once.) But this 'We-are-the-rulers-and-care-a-hoot-for-public' attitude of elected reps provoked me to write this piece.

Like Rawana’s and Duryodhana’s armies, the head count in Manmohan Singh’s army goes on!

Manmohan Singh's cabinet: Rawana's falling army?

Rawana – the king of Lanka – happens to send his trusted aides one by one to fight Lord Ram’s army. When Rawana gets the news that his valiant commanders are killed, he doesn’t repent a bit and sends his son, Meghnad to the battle ground. When the son is killed too, he sends his brother, Ahirawana and so on, till his own end.

Duryodhana – the kaurava king of Mahabharata fame – also loses his commanders one by one, till none is left to fight.

Is the same saga being replayed in UPA-II ? Kalmadi [though not a minister, but powerful Congress leader] gone… Raja gone… Kani [close ally Karunanidhi’s daughter, no less] gone… Ashok Chauhan gone… Maran gone… Iqbal Singh and Lalli [close associates of Manmohan: Puducherry governor and Prasar Bharti CEO] in trouble… PJ Thomas gone… Murli Deora almost going… Hasan Ali, Lavasa, Radia and Devas-Antrix deal behind us…

There are reports that PM’s approvals in coal block auction are suspect too. He has not only been keeping the people of suspect integrity in high places and in his cabinet, he made Raja his minister again after knowing that he was doing mischief I UPA I. He has acted in a few cases, but only after the civil society, opposition or courts forced him to do so. What is Dr Mamnohan Singh waiting for to happen, before he gets counted?

I think, he has many people to look up to, who have stuck to power despite all the muck on their faces: P Chidambaram doggedly holding his fort despite his commissions getting exposed again and again… President Patil is in the top position while carrying a cooperative-scam blot on her sari… Pawar holding key position in his cabinet despite his name cropping up again and again… Praful Patel becoming cabinet minister after making Air India bankrupt to help his friends’ companies…

Supreme Court needs to govern as governance fails

We know for sure that integrity of many of the Supreme Court judges, past and present, has not been above reproach. There is a case already before the Supreme Court on this very issue. However, as an institution, the Supreme Court has been delivering well.

On the other hand, not only the actors that make the governments at the Centre and in states, the institution called government itself is failing. The omission to act against known tax evaders and alleged black money creators is one such huge failure on the part of the central government. The Supreme Court had to act by setting up its own SIT, though its resources will be much less than the combined resources of ED, CBI, etc. The Court had to act in 2G case; only after that the central government’s investigative agencies started investigation worth its name. You name a case where the government was proactive and higher courts did not have to either take action in their hand or threaten the governments to action? Remember the major recent scams relating to Commonwealth Games, land acquisition in NOIDA, Adarsh Housing Society, the CVC appointment…

No sane person would like the Supreme Court to take upon itself the administration of the country, and the Supreme Court itself took the role of investigating into black money trails when it found that the government was not acting at all, despite direct and indirect orders by the Court.

Of the auditing authority CAG, the otherwise reticent PM had the cheeks to say that the institution was exceeding its mandate when he found that CAG was bringing government’s acts of commission and omission in the public domain and embarrassing his government. Do remember that many recent skeletons have been bared by CAG and action was initiated by a reluctant government when people and media raised hue and cry after CAG’s exposures. Auditors are not known to be honest men themselves; yet the institution is delivering.
Take the case of the Election Commission. It used to be a lame duck before Sheshan gave it fangs. After that, Election Commission and only Election Commission has been able to tether the unruly political class. From the days of Indira Gandhi, when DMs were asked to declare elections to suit the ruling party and the weaker sections of the society were not even allowed to vote, the elections have come a long way. The machinery through which elections are held remains the same babudom but the Election Commission delivers as an institution.

On the other hand, there are many controlling authorities and key investigating agencies [DG Hydrocarbons, Medical Council of India, AICTE, DG Civil Aviation, CBI and ED to name a few] that have failed the nation. They are ridden with nepotism and favouritism, corruption, inefficiency and other ills at individual as well as institutional level.

In the context of the Lokpal debate, it would be worthwhile to go for a strong institution to look into complaints of corruption at high places. If strong, public-spirit minded people with high integrity and commitment man the Lokpal institution in its formative years, it would deliver; otherwise, it would be another institution investigating complaints and cases ad infinitum to avoid action against the rich and the mighty.

Coming back to governance. It is shame that the central government, headed by learned and seasoned economists, lawyers, administrators and politicians is failing as an institution. Rajas, Kanis, Kalmadis and [probably] Marans came in with wrong intent and went out, but Sonias, Manmohans, Mukherjees and Rahuls – all seemingly right-intentioned - would also go unsung or cursed if they are unable to raise the standard of governance. One least appropriate, but important, yardstick of governance would be that whenever a case is brought to the government’s notice by a court, the government acts with all sincerity and urgency.

You could visit our earlier related posts here: judiciary .. governance .. corruption.

Kapil Sibal, Chidu and Bhardwaj: look at your public face, Sonia!

If the UPA claims to be a party that cares for the common man, and it indeed comes out with some very good poor-friendly and citizen-friendly programmes, why does it not have people at the helm those who care for the people? People who are above reproach? People who really represent people? People who are not always soaked in their elitism and arrogance, machinations, pettinesses and a contempt for the real India?

Take Chidu. His public stand on naxalism, Telangana, anti-Christian violence in Orissa, centre-state relations…. You name the topic and we can tell you how he bungled the issues and made it worse to handle. A politician who won his seat with state power, and all his party candidates lost in the recent legislative elections, does he  deserve to be the federal home minister? You might say, he is efficient; then, bring a strategist, an MBA or a proven administrator to hold this post. At least we’ll get rid of terrorism and naxalism, if nothing else.

Take Sibal. He is 'contempt for others' personified. Nobody can have ideas better than him. Nobody can, of course, beat his connections among Delhi’s super rich. He bungles again and again and the government finds him fit to negotiate with the civil society. Remember how he messed up negotiations with Anna before they could barely be salvaged? Now, his utterly opaque and cunning talks with Baba Ramdev and its aftermath has left your party bruised in public eyes like never before. Yes, his second innings with Anna too is proving a disaster.

Bharadwaj. Does he deserve to be a governor? A governor who plays petty politics with his ‘own’ government in the state has no right to be there. He should represents the state and he should also represents the centre, so he has to be a very mature, impartial patron rather than a party to the games state’s politicians are playing.

If you allow such cronies to represent your government, madam, the charge of remote control and being anti-public will stick on you. Only you are there to blame for your fall, if you do not encourage honest politicians with mass base. Your people-friendly policies will bring you no votes either if these brats spoil your case again and again. You have shown maturity and grace before, you must show it now with your acts. Only then the people will like you, vote for you and give you the respect you deserve.

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?

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. 

PJ Thomas case: how IAS and politicians knit arguments to protect themselves

CVC Thomas case shows how IAS and politicians knit arguments to protect themselves. One after the other, they have not only shielded the tainted bureaucrat, they put him on top of the anti-corruption machinery of the country. Isn't it ironical that he supervises the very agency, CBI, that is entrusted with inquiring into his role in 2G spectrum scam?

This time, they have excelled themselves. Arguing before the Supreme Court, the Government first challenged the very authority of the highest court of the country to look into suitability of Thomas for the CVC post. It gave him also the certificate of being 'outstanding civil servant of impeccable integrity'. They didn't have shame also in lying that the selection committee was not aware of Thomas's full bio-data.

Just look at some of the way the Central and Kerala Governments have been making light of the palmolein scam and choosing not to take action against him, and how the Central Government of today has been defending him before the Supreme Court:

• As per the chargesheet filed by the Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau against PJ Thomas, he was secretary for food and civil supplies department during 1991-92 when he ‘entered into a criminal conspiracy’ for importing palmolein directly to Kerala. The government of India, the policy making authority for imports, had no such policy at that time. The imports are supposed to have favoured a business concern and caused a loss of Rs 2.32 crore to the exchequer.
• In December 1999, Kerala government sent a proposal to the Central Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), seeking sanction for Thomas’s prosecution under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
• DoPT consulted the Central Vigilance Commission.
• In May 2001, CVC advised DoPT to seek an 'opinion' from the Department of Legal Affairs.
• The Legal Department took three years and in December 2004 said that it could not give advice as there was no investigation report or evidence on the state government’s request on Thomas.
• In January 2005, the Kerala government wrote to DoPT withdrawing the request for sanction for prosecution. The state said, it ‘had been re-examining the case in the meantime’ and found that ‘there was no base for the allegation’ and ‘no irregularity’. It also said, ‘at best procedural deviations alone could be cited against them (Thomas and fellow-IAS officer Jiji Thomson who is now JS in Agriculture Ministry) and no criminal involvement’.
• In March 2005, Kerala government informed DoPT of its decision to move the Special Vigilance Court for withdrawal of the case against Thomas and Jiji Thomson.
• In July 2005, in reply to a letter from DoPT, Kerala Chief Secretary said, the reason for reversal of stand was that ‘the allegations of the investigating agency were not valid’.
• In October 2006, Kerala government made another request for Thomas’s prosecution. The Centre sought CVC’s views and wrote to CVC: ‘The see-saw on the part of the state government should not lead to the end of the career of these officers as far as the Government of India is concerned.’
• In June 2007, the CVC ‘categorically’ observed that Thomas was only acting on a legitimately taken cabinet decision and no loss was caused to the state.

[Thomas was Telecom Secretary when 2G scam took place, and the CBI [the agency is under CVC!] is still inquiring into the scam and has issued a chargesheet against him.]

• On September 3, 2010, selection committee for Central Vigilance Commissioner [consisting of PM, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Home Minister] held its meeting. Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj objected to Thomas being made CVC. The other two members ignored her advice and cleared the name of Thomas. The meeting notings say: After due consideration, the majority of the Committee recommended the name of Shri P J Thomas IAS (KL/73) for appointment as the Central Vigilance Commissioner in the Central Vigilance Commission, with Smt Sushma Swaraj recording her disagreement.
• On September 7, 2010, Thomas was sworn in as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner and thus held the highest vigilance post in the country.
• In October 2010, Public Interest Litigations by an NGO named Centre for Public Interest Litigation and the former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lingdoh challenged Thomas’s appointment as CVC.
• On 17 January 2011, Government filed affidavit before the Supreme Court, stating that Thomas was an 'outstanding civil servant of impeccable integrity' and 'fully eligible to be the CVC as per the CVC Act'…. 'The question of suitability is squarely the domain of the appointing authority and suitability of a candidate (for CVC) cannot be raised in judicial proceedings. Further questions of integrity of an individual are a matter of suitability and not eligibility'.
• On 27 January 2011, Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati told the Supreme Court that the selection committee did not know much about Thomas. They had access only to his bio-data, which did not mention details such as the fact a corruption case was lodged against him. Nor did they know that the state government had sanctioned Thomas’ prosecution.
• Sushma Swaraj counters it and says: It is not at all true. I personally brought this fact to the notice of the Prime Minister and home minister in the meeting itself but they persisted with this appointment… I had even asked the government to put off the decision by just a day to look at the issue in its entirety… They, however, decided to go ahead with the appointment.

India News Today, a small voice so far, has been raising the issue of appointment of Thomas as CVC. Our first post was this: The new chief vigilance commissioner

Reshuffle was sham; news was on the sidelines

After the reshuffle of his cabinet, the Prime Minister talked to the press. What he said gives the true message rather than the act of oath taking and portfolio rejig.

a. It is only a minor reshuffle, a more ‘expansive’ exercise will be done after the budget session of parliament.
               I have hardly shuffled the pack. I don’t care for what you expected of me. I and Sonia know the best about how to run the government and the country.

b. I am not an astrologer to say when the prices of essential commodities will be under check.
              Like Pawar and Thomas [whom I have given independent charge of Food ministry], I too cannot take responsibility for price rise. Prices will rise when there is more demand and when international commodity prices rise; the government can do little to check it. I am an economist and so I know much better than you all together. Don’t you see we are taking all the actions we can take, and I am helpless if no improvement takes place. 

c. There is no ‘instant’ solution to the staking of money illegally by Indians abroad.
              Supreme Court’s saying that this is outright theft and suggesting that the government should do something is just lofty advice that the SC is habitual of making. We are bound by treaties etc and can hardly put pressure on other governments and banks to disclose black money held by Indians.

d. We are committed to end the stalemate in parliament. We are prepared to discuss everything on the floor of the house.
             There will be no JPC on 2G scam, whatever you opposition parties do. We will not change our stand and you can do a damn because we have the majority. In any case, if you don’t allow bills to be passed, how does it affect my or Soniaji’s health?

Now, if the media and public at large expected something earth-shaking from the cabinet reshuffle, they have rightly been proved wrong. When did you find Manmohan taking impactful decisions? It was media, helped by government’s own spin doctors, who’d foolishly thought Manmohan will (i)bring new faces to inculcate dynamism and freshness, (ii) remove corrupt ones to give a strong message against corruption, (iii) bring in experts to handle ministries tackling inflation, infrastructure, investment, reforms etc, and (iv) promote and demote ministers based on their performance. If you find the same wine in the same bottle, don’t fret. Be prepared to suffer them.

G14: when prominent citizens give a wake up call

It was heartening to note that 14 prominent citizens has written an Open Letter To Our Leaders to express alarm at the governance deficit in government, business and institutions.

India News Today had carried an essay yesterday on a similar theme, titled India a failing society?

We feel, more and more people should express their views, so that the governments are forced to act against the corrupt and put the system in place. If the quality of governance does not improve, whatever progress we are making of late will be lost, and it will be lost too soon. The people of India had given the UPA a stable mandate to lead the country for the next five years, but instead of reforms and higher levels of governance that were expected of it, UPA has decayed to unimaginably low levels.

Significantly, the group also says that growth is not reaching the poor and marginalized, and insists that it should be inclusive.

But will Manmohan get up from his Kumbhakarnic stupor?

India a failing society?

You know that India is a happening story: see the growth charts, the malls, the new roads, multi-story complexes, NREGS type mega welfare schemes, high FII investments and share indices at great heights, and so on.
With China, it becomes Chindia - the duo that are driving the economy of the world. With Brazil etc, it becomes BRIC - a new powerhouse. With South Africa et al, it becomes BASIC - a pan-global interest group.
Top world leaders descended on Delhi one by one in the last three months. It is now a UNSC member and is being supported by many world powers for a permanent seat in the Security Council.
Obama tells his contrymen, they must follow Indians otherwise Indianswill overtake them. In any case, on purchase parity basis, Indian economy has overtaken many earlier economic powers and is third biggest economy, only after the US and China. It showed its strength during the recent global recession and bank falures.

That's India. So why this doom-saying heading. It must belong to Pakistan, not India.
Yes, but no. India is growing, India is rising, and India already is a developed nation (to quote Obama), BUT Indian society has decayed so much that many things may never be redeemed.

Take for instance the family. It is not my case that Indian family was a 'paragon of virtues'. It was beset with many ills and bred many hidden misdeeds. But it was a great support to all in the family, especially the old, in absence of good provisions for health, child-care, old-age and rehabilitation, and without an overall social security infrastructure. The facilities have not improved but the family support has gone. Villages and cities are full of widows, the aged and the chronically ill who nobody cares for.

Take the values. I admit that despite numerous scriptures, reformers, great leaders and preachers, Indian society has not learnt to conduct itself in a human and humane way. But the baggage ofpast values and traditions itself checks prople from going astray. The respect for the elderly and teachers, letting the elders take major family decisions, helping the needy, voluntary participation on social and religious occasions, not raising hand on women etc were ingrained into Indian child's psyche and he / she did not question the norms unless they became too inconvenient. It is good that many of the earlier conservative notions have become diluted especially in urban areas, but what we see today is a mix of very conservative [remember recent khap dictats and honour killings, or the way people came out when an illegal religious structure was broken down in Delhi?] and ultra-modern. People keep their conscience by convenience. And the results are showing in the form of crimes, deviations, depression, broken families, lifestyle diseases and so on.

Take probity in public life. It is [again] not my case that Indian society was more honest earlier than today. In fact, corruption in various forms has been part of all societies allwhere. But the current level of corruption, its acceptance by the society and involvement of opinion leaders and top government functionaries are not a small matter. When corruption reaches such levels, societies and nations fall apart. Look at Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and many African nations: corruption in differnt forms is also responsible for the sorry state of affairs in these countries.

The sad part of the story is, neither the Union or State governments or various institutions are trying to reform the system. The educational institutions - from play school to top management instituties - have become commercial entities. Among those who can afford good education, the premium is not on character building and overall personal growth but getting into IITs etc.
Governments are mired in corruption. Those who can make huge money for the party in power or its boss get top berths in Ministries and are made chairmen of various corporations and other public bodies. Favours are distributed freely, decisions are bought and sold, lobbyinsts are allowed to influence public policy... 'Cuts' in public contracts [even in NREGS] are a standard now. Fake bills, fake enrolments, fake works - these are commonplace. Everybody knows how the traffic police takes 'weekly' from trucks and private buses at the crossings and it is common knowledge that the money so collected goes to top levels in the police. You put a layer of inspectors over engineers and policemen - and the next day they start sharing the booty collected by the corrupt. Another layer above them and you add another layer of corruption.

That's where one feels, the society is in a state of decay: institutions are churning out garbage; those who should lead are leading donwwards; instead of showing resistance, the society aceepts and extols deviance.

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

onion price hike: what's so great about it?

Onion prices have zoomed to Rs 80 a kilo in many retail markets in some cities. So what? Milk prices have again been raised, the second time within a year. Sugar and dal prices have come down from their peaks but the prices raised by halwais, tea-stalls, restaurants etc have not been reduced. India consumes  120 million tonnes of milk, 30 million tonnes of sugar and jaggery, and 15 million tonnes of pulses a year but only 10 million tonne onions.

So, why does the onion price rise make such big news?

You will say, "Onion price hikes in the past have led to government falls." Forget that, no government is going to fall due to this onion price hike. It won't impact even the coming state polls.

"OK," you might say, "Onion is put in all Indian vegetables and curries. It is a must in most non-veg preparations..." I beg to differ here too. That is not the reason onion is big news.

In my humble opinion, the answer lies with TV channels. Onion is bought whenever people go to the market to buy veggies and it alarms them if they find prices suddenly up. In the eyes of TV channels, this makes superb news-material. A channel last evening paraded a housewife who dutifully said, she won't be able to fire her heath. Another channel predicted that onion would rise to Rs 150 a kilo in a couple of days. In yet another channel, an illiterate anchor joined a similarly qualified reporter standing in a veg market to show with authority how the government failed to guess and then take corrective actions.

A colleague of mine in the electronic media was candid in admitting that onion was a big issue because there was not much juice left in Radia-Raja-Tata affairs to sustain viewer interest. "Think," he said, "if there were a bomb blast somewhere or a major air accident today, would we be chasing onions?" I got my answer.

PS
On a more serious note, the government failed miserably [like almost always] in taking timely action. Farmers' associations of Maharashtra and trade circles have been predicting this type of situation [though perhaps nobody knew that would be so sudden] for three weeks now. On top of it, where was the need for Pawar to make a statement yesterday that prices would come down, if they really do so, not before three weeks or so?

loo's talk: overscamming NDA, sonia style

Sonia as seen by India News

Sonia says, the UPA dealt with corruption better than NDA. She is right. Her party has overscammed NDA by 10:1 both in terms of numbers and in terms of moneys involved. But still, I feel she has not lost everything, if and only if she mends her thinking and her ways.

Dear lady, would it not be better to be clean about it? Your ministers and babus whom you have fixed in key positions milk the country to the bone. If you have nothing to hide and if your Prime Minister is a man of clean image, why don't you bare yourself to public scrutiny of all kinds? What is so big deal about not letting a JPC? Not having a JPC even if the opposition does not allow you to run parliament? To what level will you go down?

Madam, if you have really nothing to hide, be bold and say, you have examined all things and reconsidered your stand... and that you not only agree for a JPC but a speedy probe... and you will take the opposition along, the way one needs to take them along on diplomatic issues, because corruption is the number one enemy of the nation.

But, madam, you don't seem to have such courage of conviction. You believe in political intrigues et al. That's what we, the politically neutral people of India, have started believing. Starting with a high moral ground that you took in refusing Prime Ministership in the first place, either you have degenerated or your that stand itself was a political move as opposition says so often. You must prove yourself above petty politics and filth once again. Would you do that?

If you refuse to lend ears to any sensible counsel, you are on the way to doom, take it from me. The next elections will throw you in the same dustbin in  which the successive elections have thrown Lalu. None from the Gandhi clan would ever be able to resurrect. Look at King Prachanda in Nepal. Learn from our own and others' history and make amends. It is up to you to jump in the well or climb the peak. All the best, either way!!

Quote-unquote

“Let me reiterate in clearest terms: Our government has nothing to hide or fear. Our concerns are that we should not undermine the established institutions such as the Public Accounts Committee and the CBI. Nor should we do anything that will denigrate the institution of the Prime Minister. We can not sacrifice institutions at the altar of political expediency,” Sonia Gandhi at Congress Parliamentary Party meeting, Dec 14, 2010

talk of police police reforms? they're not ready to even file an FIR

Five years back, the Supreme Court had directed State governments to implement police reforms. Not only have the States taken shelter behind lame excuses, the Centre too has not done enough to encourage States in reforming the police system. The Court had to issue fresh directions, but – going by the past experience – States would again buy time. Mind it, the reforms that the Court is talking about is just one bit, not broader reforms.

The total lack of will to reform police, even abhorrence to it, is understandable. States fear that in the name of reforms, the police will get more autonomy from government. Thus, the authority of the political rulers of the states to use police for their not-so-clean jobs will get eroded. A professional police force would resist illegal and extra-legal actions on behalf of the rulers that a corrupt and highly pliable police force is prone to. Besides, the rulers would not be able to threaten law-abiding policemen with transfers, or demand ‘weekly’ collections.

India News Today notes one good direction from the Delhi High Court to Delhi Police. The Court has directed that all FIRs be made available online. This will lead to transparency at least to the extent that people, NGOs, victims, government, and the courts would know the details of FIRs. This however needs to be supported with a complementary administrative action: police must be made to file FIRs in the first place. Police are reluctant to file FIRs even when the occurrence of a heinous crime is evident, to keep their records clean, to extort money from the accused with the threat to lodge FIR, and to avoid follow up action after the FIR. Will the government dare to take that step?

Quote-unquote

"The copies of the FIR, unless reasons recorded regarding the nature of the offence that the same is sensitive in nature, should be uploaded on the Delhi Police website within 24 hours of lodging of the FIR so that the accused or any person connected with the same can download the FIR and file appropriate application before the court as per law for redressal of his grievances," Delhi High Court, on 7th December, 2010

nitish's 'right to service' sounds good

Nitish Kumar seems to be on the right track: fighting corruption is one of his top priorities, he has shown by initiating the process to bring a bill on Right to Service. It is reported that the proposed right would provide that officials responsible for the delivery system of public utility services will have to do their job within a specified time frame. In case of their failure to do so, they can be penalise as in the case of RTI Act.


In his first meeting with the top bureaucrats of the state, the Chief Minister told them that besides zero tolerance against crime and criminals he would like to intensify his crusade against corruption and red tape. Nitish said that the people were fed up with red tape and rampant corruption in government offices, and it was high time the state government took stringent measures to check it. People had to run from one office to another, wait for months and sometimes years to get their work done. Even for petty jobs like new electricity connection or a caste certificate they are asked to pay bribes and run around, he said. The words sound good, and the time only will tell whether he can stick to his intent and whether he succeeds in this. All the best wishes from India News Today.

Madhya Pradesh, earlier this year, enacted the Public Service Guarantee Act 2010 guaranteeing the delivery of time-bound services to the citizens, failing which the government officials concerned are liable to be penalised.

post mortem ahoy!

Indian governments, federal and provincial both, excel in the profession of killing and doing a good post mortem.

They let the health of administration and law deteriorate till it almost goes to coma. All through [as is alleged about private medical centres], they pretend to treat the patient and revive it, to keep fleecing the public. Then somebody, maybe the media or the judiciary or a good samaritan among the NGOs, finds out that the patient has died. Sometimes the patient falls on the ground when he loses his life, and the world comes to know of the death. Then starts the excellent post mortem  and the patient is forgotten, till the death of the next patient is discovered by the public.

Take the case of 2G scam. The government first let Raja take charge of the portfolio when another DMK guy left. Why? Because they smelled good money in the Communications Ministry. Then Raja did all the loot, the fact known to people in his ministry, followed by PMO and Cabinet Secretariat. Nobody did anything, why? Because it suited everybody. Then murmur started, then 3G came, then CAG exposed Raja's misdeeds. Top people in the government and the ruling parties, instead of taking any action, started defending Raja and criticising CAG and anyone else who raised finger at Raja. More pressure from the Supreme Court also did not matter, till dropping Raja became a political virtue for the UPA. What is happening right now? Raja goes unhurt except for losing his throne. Where goes the money taken by him and his cronies? In months and months that have passed, do you think Raja and party would have not destroyed most of the evidence against them, and put the money where it cannot be touched? Even the opposition demand for JPC is being denied, letting Parliament not function. PM is now saying, parliamentary standoff is bad for the country and its image, but would not agree for the JPC! The JPC would also not be able to do anything but embarrassing the government a bit. Whatever happens, the toll is taken. The post mortem is going on and the huge loot will be forgotten like all earlier ones.

Take just one more case, that of fall of a building in Delhi, which killed about 70 people. There was blame game between the Municipal Corportation of Delhi [run by BJP] and the Delhi government [ruled by Congress]. One guy, the owner of the house, was held. This unlucky guy will face charges in the court and will be jailed. The MCD / administration / police officials who allowed him to build floor after floor without taking permission and without taking precaution and those who kept on taking monthly bribe from him just to keep their own mouths shut will all go scot free. Some samples were taken for analysis that will only prove that sub-standard material and engineering were employed, what else? Some compensation was paid to survivors or the dead ones' families; people were evacuated from adjacent houses and it takes some steam out. MCD have excelled in post mortem: they have declared over a thousand flats in that colony illegal! What about the whole city, that has similarly been built illegally? What about the people who are, were and will be responsible for ensuring that no illegal constructions take place? Rest assured, if there is a massive earthquake in Delhi, a major part of the mega city will turn into rubble. Why |Delhi, entire India is built that way.

I can't devote more space to this. The post is already too long for a blog. But let me remind you of some major recent scams that we seem to have forgotten: fodder, Harshad Mehta, Telgi, Satyam, hawala, IPL, scorpene, cash-for-votes, paid news, MCI, Kargil medals, army land scam...

bihar elections and a reality check

Bihar elections in 2010 have proved some 'myths' and disproved some 'facts'. The most, it is making people give extreme judgements on caste, development, Nitish's charm, etc etc.

India News Today gives below some ground realities that need to be kept in mind while judging Bihar elections.

•  In Bihar, caste remains a strong reality. Caste here means [unlike in metros and big towns where youth from the 'higher castes' seem to have a genuine grudge against 'reservationists' taking away their jobs without fair competition] deprivation and humiliation versus economic dominance and muscle power.

• Nitish was not a caste-less politician. He rather cultivated some castes too well. His casteism has been different from Lalu-Paswan casteism in that (i) he has tried to reach the economic benefits to the castes he's sought to favour more than others; (ii) in doing so, he has not discriminated against other castes; and (iii) his social justice has gone to the needy and downtrodden, not to his kin and his own community.

•  Bihar still remains a poorly-developed state. In Nitish's rule, roads, electricity, children's enrolment in school, primary health etc have got a boost, but the benefits have reached sparsely and have not reached many parts of the state. Nitish has not been able to implement many recommendations for social and economic development, but his overall score is commendable.

• Bihar politics will also remain criminal infested, whichever party comes to power. JD(U), with the biggest seat share has also the largest number of criminals getting into the Legislative Assembly. 

• In the current elections, the NDA has got just 39% of the votes polled. The constituent parties, JD(U) and BJP,  have got only about 3 percent vote swing in its favour. Yet, this is significant. NDA has not only retained its support base, it has brought in fence-sitters. This, despite the usual anti-incumbency factor that would go againt the ruling formation if it did not perfom well. There was no anti-Lalu wave but Nitish's genuine-sounding contrast of his own rule with that of Lalu-Rabri rule seems to have made people think. 

• Nitish's win is as much a vote in favour of his image and his work, as it is his keen political acumen supported by a sensible poss strategy. There was opposition from within his party as he did not favour the partymen too much during his rule; his alliance with BJP was a double-edged sword.

• Poll alliances do matter: had BJP- JD(U) combine split, BJP would sure have lost some seats and so would JD(U). Not to talk of sentiment, even by simple arithmetic it would have harmed the constituent parties. For example, BJP would have to fight elections in more seats than it fought [102] and wold not have won there but would have taken away some of JD(U) seats. On the other hand, in the 91 constituencies that it has won, it would have had to suffer fight with JD(U) instead of getting voter and party support. 

• It is only a matter of speculation whether Lalu-Congress-LJP combine would have given a bigger challenge to Nitish-BJP. However, it is logical that people would have thought of it as an alternative to Nitish. Some undecided lot might have jumped towards them and given them a few more seats. Besides, as argued above, the non-NDA votes would not have got divided so badly. 

• The fracturing of votes partly due to Congress and RJD not going together has resulted in smaller parties getting a whopping 27 percent vote share.

• Direct benefit of a scheme to those for whom this is life-changer seems to pay instant dividend: It is widely believed that the NREGS helped UPA win for the second term. In the case of Bihar, teacher recruitment, providing dress to the policemn and salaries to teachers, school enrolments, giving cycles to girl students, cash benefits for cleanliness etc given by Nitish government must have influenced poor voters a great deal. Similarly, a good law and order situation must have influenced middle class and women. Such influences seem to cut across party and community lines.

• When people get fed-up with violence and poor governance, they would brave difficulties and threats to teach the wrong-doers a lesson. They defied Maoist threats and thronged to poliing booths in large numbers, and they didn't forgive Lalu-Rabri and their musclemen kin. Earlier, they seemd to have wilted under threat from musclemen, but this time they gave the muscles two hoots. As much as clean governance, people seem to vote for clean image of the leader [in Western context, it would mean more in the sense of sexual relationships] when other things are equal. Since the voting population in India is mostly a victim of routine corruption, the slur of dishonesty sticks life-long on politicians.

• Timing of campaigns also matters. Congress suffered for many reasons. One of them could be too early and small-time entry of Rahul Gandhi on the scene. His impact might have been washed away by Nitish's subsequent showing.