2013 India

The year of 2013 brought many stories some of which will be part of  history and others will fade away from memories.
On one side it was nature's fury in Uttarakhand and on the other side man made wrath at Mujffarnagar. Despite relief efforts, the government could not do much to assuage bereaved families in gods abode. Though Uttarkhand was nature's wrath but Mujjfarnagar saw ugly side of human conflict. Clashes between Jats and Muslims vanished 60 innocent lives and hundreds rendered homeless.

The rise of new power centers as Narendra Modi for BJP and AAP forming government in Delhi struck milestones in Indian politics. Mr. Advani on one hand was felt left out when Nitish Kumar broke 17 year alliance with BJP paving way for Narendra Modi to be PM Candidates for 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

AAP formed government in Delhi on the plank of providing true democratic power centers, ending 15 year chief ministerial innings of Shiela Dixit. Congress losing ground in legislative assembly elections meant allies like DMK deserting it for future alliance in upcoming elections. Congress also saw a nadir of their fortunes in Hindi heartland when it lost all the Hindi populous state elections.

Last minute passage of Food, land and lokepal bills made congress pitch for 2014 Lok Sabha elections too woo voters with media shy reticent Rahul Gandhi became more media friendly with his advocacy of gay rights and Lok Pal bills.
Various scams and their mishandling was highlighted by CAG and Supreme Court with CBI being awarded "Caged Parrot" alias by Supreme court.

Bihar saw another tragedy in the form of government's carelessness towards children when mid day school food was poisioned.
2013 saw Hydrabad's Dilsukhnangar attack as well as Naxals bloodthirsty attack  on top congress brass in Chattisgarh. The peace sign of Bodhgaya was shattered by bloodshed blasts.

Furious rape and mutilation of Indian females on the one hand hit the debate about degradation of Indian society and its culture, while also sparking anguished protest in every part of country about government inefficiency to provide law and justice.

Sachin Tendulkar bid farewell to Cricket bagging Bharat ratna and member ship to Rajya sabha while new generation of players in Badminton, Tennis and Cricket made the country proud on different occasions.

The mango man of Bollywood, Farookh Sheik bid farewell to Bollywood with other big stalwarts like Manna Dey, Pran Kishan Shikand, Rituparno Ghosh, Jia Khan, Jagdish Raj and Shamshad Begam

India moves on from 2013 to 2014 beyond death and destruction where the future of billion people are ready for a leap in the near future towards hope and prosperity.

Baba and Bawal

The citizens of India snatched full fundamental rights after a long struggle in midst of 19th century. The unique struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi was based on principles of non violence and brotherhood. Even though there was lot of violence perpetrated by the British authorities, the retaliation was by, just keeping oneself hungry. The agitation had the strength of thunderbolt that shook the inner conscience of everyone who saw the hungry protesters.

Similar modus operandi was adopted by Anna Hazare few days ago, when he shook the UPA government to agree on drafting a bill, that can put even prime minister and chief justice in purview of investigations. Lot of bickering, by congress leaders like Digvijaya Singh, tried to color the whole agitation as right wing propaganda but finally government conceded to demands by civil society for drafting of a bill.

Since this idea works even in present times, Ramdev baba too tried to set up mass fasting to bring back, huge money, stashed illegally outside India. A satyagraha, with monstrous tents, was planned on Ramlila ground in New Delhi. The government which is the face of corruption in recent times, wanted to save their face. Three high ranking ministers were sent to airport to receive baba. They held two days of talks with baba and tried to convince him to leave the fasting. Baba went ahead with fasting and motivating crowds to do fast. The silent rubble of losing grounds was felt by the government. A big briage of paramilitary force was sent at 1:00 AM and baba was taken by police amid high drama. The tear shells were fired without a forethought of fire accident inside the tent that could have burned thousands. The women and old citizens, who were staging this protest, were hammered to death, causing skull injuries, broken limbs and bruised bodies. The brutality continued and whole nation witnessed it minute by minute on new channels by over enthusiastic reporters until the ground was cleaned up of people and paraphernalia.  

Sonia and her A-team would have definitely enjoyed  a good 6 hour, second Jalianvala Bagh reality show. The so called mellifluous Shiela Dixit never uttered a single word to console the bereaved and injured. Not a word was heard until Digvijay Singh catapulted the best vocabulary synonyms on Baba and his supporters. Shame came upon the government when everyone from the civil society and political arena started condemning the action. The news channels roared with anxiety to grab as much as TRP as they can, by getting the best panel to discuss the issue. Furthermore, most of the congress spokespersons under-grounded themselves escaping media and shame. Prince Rahul never speaks on such issues and Sonia needs script. Manmohan anyways never speaks, probably he does not even know what his government had done. The only person speaking was Digvijay, who is subsided in his own state and Kapil Sibbal who discovered at midnight that this is RSS backed movement.

Amid all this chaos, Baba was thrown out of the city without an arrest. He was sent back from where he came from, symbolizing victory of congress and its rule. A huge embarrassment was smeared on a yogi who wanted to bring about a change by non violence and fasting. I remember the similar agitations by Myanmar's Buddhist monks and peace full crowds in Egypt. Though the change came at last.

There may be doubts about what Baba wanted to achieve by this fast, but there is definitely enough space for everyone to demand and protest, in democracy. Politics and country is not a career field for one group of profession. A singer, an actor, a socialist, a bank employee or even saint has full right to demand and agitate for the country. Though, Shahrukh khan thinks otherwise. I respect him for all the love scenes that he did but his entry in Cricket and tweets about every issue, does not reflect the same sentiment. But anyways he is Shahrukh, just like Rakhi Sawant, having foot in his mouth to be a news maker.

I know this incident will not mark anything in history except another chapter of using force and brutality. The suppression of freedom of expression and freedom to disagree will cost UPA in a big way. The Congress of Gandhi forgot what Ramdev Baba needs to remember:

"Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary"

Mahatma Gandhi, 'Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13,' May 3, 1919

Stone pelting rage in haven

Gandhi professed "satyagraha" and kashmir is fighting its war with  stones. For the first time in last 10 years Srinagar saw Army march to enforce curfew. It blows all the claims by the state and center that they have made any progress on Kashmir. The whole movement conjured when some stone pelting kids, died in retaliation bullets of CRPF. The movement metamorphosed to a violent turn when a congregation of organized youth started throwing stones at security forces in towns of J&K. This turned CRPF to fire rubber bullets, which inadvertently hit a kid's head leading him to succumb to death.

Separatist saw it a good chance to revive pandemonium in valley that can infuriate mob. The abutment came in the form of money by Dubai based well wishers of Kashmir, to raise an army of stone pelting kids. All this time the government of India was taking a deep nap and the nation was taking a chill pill about Kashmir. In one of the recent reports,  Kashmir youths were shown shouting slogans about Azadi and go back India and reactions were only noted by a section of free and fair Indian media.

There are various faces to this problem and the credit goes to the governments ruling in kashmir and India who made kashmir a multidimensional problem. One section of Kashmir wants independence while other section wants more autonomy near to independence. Indian state neither favors independence of Kashmir nor it wants to treat Kashmir as special state because it will encourge other states in India to break free on similar lines. Also there is a clear distinction between ideologies of people in Jammu and that in Kashmir. Jammu and Leh favors India and believes in Indian state while it is antithetical for junta dwelling in valley. Furthermore, Indian approach of tackling this issue was always quick fix remedy to restore peace using force. This kind of fixing violence by using army and never solving the core issues, are the reasons why the problem aggrandized to a limit of no solution. Another reason for valley never witnessing peace is, Pakistan which continuously foments terror and supply money to keep the heat burning.


To box this problem integrate Kashmir with rest of India. This can be done by creating an ambiance for kashmirees to migrate to peaceful places if they wish to make living. Also, removing a legislation, which prohibits Indians to migrate to Kashmir and buy property to invest can be another way of unifying the state with union.On other fronts, big campuses of learning, like IIT and AIMS,  should be built. Industries as  fashion designing and tourism must be encouraged. Bridging the whole region by buses, trains and flights and create jobs in tourism, sports, agriculture and technology will add to the whole setup.
On security front, create self help groups which bulwark the border town to make sure infiltration is checked. Assign every kashmiree a UID (unified identity like ssn) which makes them Indian citizen. Let army guard Kashmir on borders but let police look at law and order in towns. Separatist should be dealt very strongly as they are not Gandhian but moderate terrorist. Let them either be mainstream politicians or should be tried in courts for instigating violence with intent of killing innocent people. Media should be advised not to sell reports in ways that can infuriate mobs and cause loss of life. Last but not the least whole India should protest killing of any sort by forces in valley.

RUTHLESS POLITICO

the rhymes of skulduggery
float on my head
to treat or to meet
the locals inwardly dead

The Kris cross of summer
some billions in mind
the barren water
the lawless mind
cries of foul
insufficient food
changes are true
and death imminent

Still I grow,
Still I rule,
all in my mind for
votes of few,

impending festival,
to choose me or not,
for me to have power
or someone else after all.

we all are same
we are true
for we are here
just to rule

Marathi Sarcasm and IPL

Marathi manoos are inherently sarcastic or rather very scolding friendly. Watch you feeling while reading them. Here is the glimpse of the sign boards which are translated to English. Translations are done in one of the blogger and may be vague.
Enjoy.......................

*ह्या पाट्या आहेत त्या’मैदानावरच्या’ …..

Signboards at the stadium

१. सामन्याची वेळ तुमच्या तिकिटावर छापलेली आहे, उगाच कधीही येऊन गर्दी करु नये.

The match timings are printed in bold letters on your ticket. Do not crowd this place by showing up whenever you please.

२. सामन्याच्या वेळेच्या आधी ३० मिनिटे मैदानात प्रवेश दिला जाईल, तुम्ही गडबड केल्याने सामना लवकर सुरु होणार नाही.

Entry begins 30 minutes before the match and not before that. Your haste will not ‘prepone’ the match.

३. खुर्चीचा वापर फक्त बसण्यासाठीच करावा… एका खुर्चीवर एकच !

Chairs are strictly meant for sitting ONLY. And only one person on each chair please.

४. मैदानात पिण्यासाठी (साध्या) पाण्याची व्यवस्था केली आहे, थंड तसेच फिल्टर्ड पाणी आपण दिलेल्या तिकिटाच्या पैशात मिळणार नाही, उगाचच आयोजकांकडे हट्ट धरु नये.

Only tap water will be provided inside. The price of chilled or filtered water is not included in your ticket. Do not bring such silly complaints to the organizers.

५. मैदानावरचे कॅमेरे हे सामन्याच्या हालचाली टिपण्यासाठी आहेत, उगाच हिडीस चाळे करुन त्यांचे लक्ष वेधण्याचा प्रयत्न करु नये.

The cameras in the stadium are only to record and telecast the match. Do not try to distract the cameraman with your silly gestures.

६. आपण पुण्यासारख्या एका सुसंस्कृत शहरात एका सार्वजनिक ठिकाणी सामना पहात आहोत ह्याचे भान ठेऊन चियरलिडर्सना खाणाखुणा करु नये किंवा त्यांच्याकडे डोळे फाडुन बघुन लाज आणु नये. अश्लील चाळे कराल तर नुसतीच पोलीस कारवाई नाही तर धिंड काढण्यात येईल.

Please remember that you are watching the match in a city that is the epitome of culture. Do not bring disgrace to Pune by making lewd gestures or ogling at the cheerleaders. Such acts will be met with not just police action, but also with public humiliation.

७. फुंके ( सिगारेट, बिड्या, चिलीम ), थुंके ( तंबाखु, गुटका, मावा, पान ) आणि शिंके ( तपकीर आणि स्वाईन फ्ल्युग्रस्त ) ह्यांना मैदानात मज्जाव.

Smokers (cigarettes, bidis), Spitters (tobacco, gutkha, paan) and Sneezers (snuff inhalers and swine flu carriers) prohibited.

८. मैदानात दारु विक्री केली जात नाही, मैदानात दारु पिऊ दिली जात नाही, मैदानात बाहेरुन दारु पिऊन आल्यास प्रवेश मिळणार नाही.

Sale of alcohol is forbidden, bringing alcohol is forbidden and entry when drunk is forbidden.

९. मैदानात विकत मिळणार्‍या खाद्यपदार्थांची आवरणे, पिशव्या तसेच पाणी किंवा शितपेयाच्या बाटल्या मैदानात फेकु नयेत, बाटलीवरुन खेळाडु घसरुन पडुन जखमी होऊ शकतो ह्याची किमान जाण ठेवावी.

Do not throw any kind of waste (paper, plastic, cans) into the playing field. Be aware that players can slip and injure themselves.

१०. सामन्याच्या वेळी खेळाडुंना पाठिंबा देताना हळु आवाजात आरडाओरड करावी. हा क्रिकेटचा सामना आहे, तमाशाचा फड नव्हे !

During a match, keep your voice low when cheering for your team. This is a cricket stadium, not a fish market or a tamasha.

११. अनोळखी वस्तुंना स्पर्श करु नये … व्यक्तींसह !

Do not touch unknown objects… or people!

१२. मैदानातील मोठ्ठे पंखे फक्त दुपारी आणि गर्दी असलेल्या ठिकाणीच लावण्यात येतील. पंख्याखाली बसण्यासाठी मोठ्ठ्या आवाजात भांडण करुन आयोजकांना त्रास देऊ नये.

The stadium fans will be turned on in the afternoon, and in crowded stands only. Do not argue loudly with the organizers just because you want to sit under the nearest fan.

१३. स्त्रियांचे स्वच्छतागॄह, खेळाडूंचे पॅव्हेलियन, चियरलिडर्स पोडियम, व्हीआयपी गॅलरी, पत्रकार कक्ष इत्यादी ठिकाणी उगाच जास्त घुटमळु नये.

Do not loiter needlessly near the ladies restrooms, players’ pavilion, cheerleaders’ podium, VIP gallery, press box, etc.

14. सामन्यातील कसल्याही घटनेचा ( सामना हरणे, षटकार मारणे, धावबाद होणे, झेल टाकुन देणे वगैरे ) राग खुर्च्यांवर काढु नये.

Do not vent your anger at any incident (losing the match, run-out, sixer, dropped catch, etc.) on the stadium chairs.

15. सामना पहायला आलेल्या प्रेक्षकांचे खेडाळु, चियरलिडर्स, व्हीआयपी यांच्याबरोबर अथवा खेळपट्टी, पत्रकारकक्ष, समालोचन खोली, पॅव्हेलियन, व्हीआयपे बॉक्स इथे ‘फोटु काढुन मिळणार नाहीत’ किंवा त्याला परवानगी दिली जाणार नाही.

The audience is forbidden from snapping photos with players, cheerleaders, VIPs or at the pitch, press box, pavilion, VIP box, etc. Permission for the same will not be granted.

16. सामन्याच्या वेळेदरम्यान तुटलेल्या चपला, कापलेले खिसे, मोडलेला चष्मा, हरवलेली पर्स, गायब झालेला मोबाईल ह्यांची जबाबदारी आयोजकांकडे राहणार नाही. समोरच पोलीस स्टेशन आहे, तिकडे जाऊन तक्रार करावी.

Management cannot be held responsible for your stolen purses, lost mobiles or broken spectacles. There is a police station nearby. Take your complaints there.

17. हे पुणं आहे, शिमला नव्हे, उन्हाळ्यात गरम होणारच, पण म्हणुन मैदानात सामना पहायला शर्ट काढुन बसु नव्हे. अशा निर्लज्ज प्रेक्षकांना बाहेर काढले जाईल.

This is Pune, not Shimla. It is obvious that summers will be very hot. This does not mean you can take off your shirt. Such indecent spectators will be thrown out of the stadium.

18. पाऊस पडल्यास पैसे परत मिळणार नाहीत, कॄपया हवामानखात्याशी सल्लामसलत करुन मगच तिकिट काढावे.

The ticket price will not be refunded in case of rain. Please check with the meteorological department before you buy your tickets.

19. परदेशी खेळाडुंच्या अंगचटीला जाऊ नये तसेच त्यांना स्थानिक भाषेत गलिच्छ आणि अश्लील शिव्या देऊन वेडावुन दाखवु नयेत. ते आपले अतिथी आहेत, आपण घरात पाहुण्यांशी असे वागतो का ?

Do not needlessly rush to make bodily contact with the foreign players, or pass lewd remarks at them in the local language. They are our guests. Do we behave like this with guests in our own home?

20. राजकीय नेते, सरकारी अधिकारी, स्थानिक दादा ह्यांचा वशिला लाऊन फुकट पास मागु नये. परवडत नसल्यास झाडावर चढुन सामना पहावा.

Do not ask for ‘free passes’ just because you know a politician, government official or a local goon. If you can’t afford tickets, climb on nearby trees and enjoy the match.

21. खेळाडूंना गाढव, माकड असल्या कुठल्याही प्राण्यांच्या उपमा देऊन चिडवू नये. असे करताना आपणच त्या प्राण्यासारखे दिसतो.

Do not insult players by addressing them as a donkey, monkey or any other animal. You will look like one if you do.

22. स्वच्छतागृह स्वच्छ ठेवावे. स्वच्छतागृहातून घाण येते याची तक्रार खपवून घेतली जाणार नाही.

Keep the restrooms clean. Do not complain about foul odour from restrooms.

23. समोर नाचत असलेल्या चीयर लीडर्स जरी “मस्तानी” असल्या तरी आपण “बाजीराव” नाही. म्हणून कृपया सामना खाली बसून बघावा.

The cheerleaders are as attractive as Mastani, but you are not Bajirao. Therefore, please be seated during the match.

24. वरील सुचना ह्या चेष्टेचा विषय नव्हे ह्याची नोंद घ्यावी, ह्याची चेष्टा करणार्‍या प्रेक्षकांना संपुर्ण सामना संपोस्तोवर अंधार्‍या खोलीत बळजबरीने बसवुन ठेवले जाईल.

Please note that the above rules are not to be taken lightly. If you are caught poking fun at them, you will be kept in solitary confinement in a dark cell till the end of the tournament.
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***ह्या पाट्या आहेत त्या’आयपीएल-पुणे संघाच्या कार्यालयातल्या” ….

Signboards outside the IPL Pune team office :


१. फक्त दिवसाचे सामने खेळले जातील, त्यातही दुपारी १-३ असा विश्रांतीचा वेळ राखुन ठेवावा लागेल.

All matches will be played only during the day. Also, keep in mind that 1 p.m.-3 p.m. is our afternoon nap time and this will not be compromised at any cost.

२. रात्रीच्या सामन्याचा चार्ज वेगळा पडेल, कुठल्याही परिस्थीत रात्री ८ वाजता सामना संपवण्याची जबाबदारी आयोजकांची राहिल, सवड मिळाल्यास उरलेला सामना दुसर्‍या दिवशी खेळता येईल.

Matches played during the night will be charged extra. It will be the organizers’ responsibility to end the match by 8 p.m. The rest of the match may be played out the next day, at the sole discretion of the team management.

३. सोमवारी सुट्टी घेतली जाईल.

Monday will be a holiday.

4. सर्व लोकांना जाहीर निवेदन देण्यात येते की “आयपीएल-पुणे संघ ( पुण्याचा अभिमान, महाराष्ट्राची शान ) ” ही आमचा पुर्णपणे स्वतंत्र संघ असुन “मुंबई इंडियन्स, महाराष्ट्र” ह्या संघाशी आमचा कसलाही संबंध नाही. त्या संघाशी केलेल्या व्यवहाराची जबाबदारी केवळ तो मराठी आहे ह्या कारणाने घेतली जाणार नाही. तसेच त्या संघाच्याविषयी आमच्याकडे कसलीच चौकशी करु नये.

We hereby declare that ‘IPL Pune team’ has no affiliation to ‘Mumbai Indians’. Any transactions done with Mumbai Indians will not be honoured by us just because they are Marathi too. Likewise, do not inquire about Mumbai Indians here.

5. हा क्रिकेटचा संघ आहे. उगाच गाण्याच्या स्पर्धा, नाचकामाचे कार्यक्रम, पाणपोईचे उद्घाटन, नव्या दुकानाची चित्रफीत कापणे ह्या आणि अशाच इतर कामांसाठी खेळाडुंची चौकशी अथवा मागणी करु नये.

Please note that this is a cricket team. Do not needlessly make inquiries or demands for our players to make appearances at singing competitions, water-fountain inaugurations, ribbon-cutting ceremonies or other similar activities.

6. क्रिकेट हा एक खेळ आहे ह्याचे भान ठेवावे, आम्ही मॅचफिक्सींग करत नसल्याने जिंकण्याची कसलीच गॅरेंटी देता येणार नाही.

Please note that cricket is a sport. Since we do not fix matches, there is no guarantee that we will win.

7. देणग्या मागणारे, गौरवनिधी सामने आयोजीत करणारे, सर्व्हे करणारे, फुकटात जाहीरातीसाठी कार्यक्रमाला हजरी लावण्याची विनंती करण्याची शिष्ठमंडळे आदी तत्सम व्यक्ती किंवा संस्था ह्यांना सक्त प्रवेश बंदी आहे, ह्यात कोणत्याही कारणास्तव बदल होणार नाही.

Donation seekers, benefit-match organizers, survey-takers or representatives of any organization seeking ‘free passes’ for publicity and similar persons or entities are strictly prohibited. No concessions shall be made on this policy for any reason.

8. आमचे प्रतिस्पर्धी संघ कमी किमतीत खेळत असल्याच्या बढाया आमच्यासमोर मानु नये. आमचे इथे क्वालिटीला प्राधान्य असल्याने कमी किमतीत सामना खेळवण्याचा विचार केला जाणार नाही.

We are aware that competing IPL teams play for a lower price — you do not have to inform us. Such teams know what their performance is worth. Quality is of utmost importance to us, so we will not consider lowering our price.

9. आपण आमच्या खेळाबद्दल समाधानी असताल तर इतरांना सांगा, नसाल तर योग्य आणि सभ्य शब्दात आम्हाला सांगा, योग्य दखल घेतली जाईल.

If you are satisfied with the team’s performance, kindly let us know. If not, write to us in civil language. We shall look into it.

10. आमचेकडे शाळकरी संघांना ट्रेनिंग दिले जात नाही

We do not train school teams.

11. आमच्याशी ठरलेल्या करारानुसार सामना झाल्यावर आमच्याकडुन सदिच्छा म्हणुन खेळाडुंचे टी-शर्ट्स, ट्रॅक सुट्स, टोप्या, बॅटी, चेंडु अथवा तत्सम कुठलेही किमती सामान भेट मिळणार नाही. उगाच हावरटपणा करु नये.

Under the terms and conditions agreed upon, you will not receive any t-shirts, track pants, caps, bats, balls, etc. as memorabilia after the tournament. Do not display your obscene greed here. Tantrums won’t work.

Maoism or Survival ?

With the massacre of 76 CRPF jawans in Dantewada there had been a slew of condolences and criticisms of maoist operations in the country. Home minister called it a barbaric action and media all hand in hand is working with government to demonize the fight for basic rights of people living in tribal areas. I m not a maoist nor I believe in maoism. But I feel that india is a neo-democratic country and still striving to become real democracy. Having said that lets look at what all are real factors which adds to the creation of red corridor.

When I talk about the massacre of 76 jawans who went for area domination exercise, I begin to think why do we need area domination. Dantewada is in India. According to government of Chhatisgarh there was highest voting percentage, which means people believe in leaders and their work. Then why do we need domination. The domination word looks like a dictator ship to me. In last 60 years of independence, this domination was never felt necessary. Why? Why the govenrment of Chattisgard(then MP) and central government never felt need to provide living structure to these small red corridors. And what has happened suddenly that made it a national security issue at the extent that we have to think about using air force against our own people.

Here is my take on this. All Maoist are tribals and there is no doubt but all tribals are not Maoist. When government says there exist 6000 Maoist in Dantewada, it refers to practically everyone in the village and neighboring area as Maoist. That means everyone in that area is waging a war. But for what? The answer lies in history. Tribals work and live in forests. They have a culture and living. They have small farm lands which is their primary source of food. Also we know that tribal region are the richest source of minerals. After privatization, the companies like Posco have started to grab these lands and deforest. The people are forcefully made to give away their lands and hence their lively hood. What are they suppose to do.? They become Maoist because they want to fight against this injustice levied by their own government. Now lets see the massacre in wake of this scenario. Huge number of armed CRPF men are pushed into these jungles. Tribals are afraid of this kind of exercise as if someone is attacking their house.I condemn the deaths of those CRPF soldiers but then what are these poor people suppose to do. We have seen cases where CRPF jawans have looted and raped women in manipur, assam and kashmir. In wake of this, what will anyone do?

I m happy that they are not embracing this violence wrested by state. Media calls them terrorist. Now when did u ever discerned a tribal doing bomb blast in Delhi, Mumbai or any city. They loot guns from police officers of the area to protect themselves. They are hungry, malnourished, uneducated poor farmers. No governments had ever reached them, no schools were ever built in their areas, no hospitals were made and now people wants to snatch away lands that is only source of their living. Why do we deny their right to live? Now home minister is talking about attacking them using Drones. The reason is Posco's threat to withdraw or Mittals' running away from India as they can not mine or tata not getting cultivable land to set up Nano plants. Furthermore the right to speech is being tarnished by media who calls everyone as Maoist. People's union on civil liberties is baptized as maoist, Arundhati roy and Dr Binayak Sen are labeled maoist and many more. Can we not even agree to disagree on a government policy. People are trammeled for speaking, writing and talking. This is the worst phase where media runs by business man and politicians.

The larger question then is, who is democracy working for. Its working for middle class and upper class. But majority in India is neither middle nor upper class, its these poor villagers who work day and night to secure one time food. If they are attacked with drones to fight for their survival then its not democracy, its genocide.

Rotten grains and hunger

Amazing to see metric tons of wheat rotting up in punjab go-downs while 60% children in madhya pradesh are under malnutrition and hunger according to state government's survey. The dichotomy of the situation is, at one hand we boast of GDPs and highest growth, on the other see majority as sufferers from extreme poverty. Where leaders of the union are garlanded with millions, while millions are unhealthy and crippled with exigencies of life. What a apathy of the state these poor has to face, when they can not get help from their own leaders whom they elect. For some people in media summons to Narendra Modi is more important than increase in LPG to Rs 40. These raises concerns. Are our watchdogs really working as they should! Are we just surviving democracy or are we matured enough to decide what is more important?

We have to recognize that the higher the variance between rich and poor, the higher security will be needed. Further, huge sums of money that is being spent on forces will increase many folds. This is foolishness to sell jeans and t-shirts in Rs. 2000 when people in various parts still live on Rs.20 a day. What model are we into. Are we socialist, communist, consumerist, saving based.
I still remember a poem which will then become a fantasy- "where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, into that haven of freedom, my father! let the country awake". The music in these lines get shrill as time passes. People are forgetting the real meaning of freedom and life. Every one of us have to devout some time working for these men and women who are suffering. The least we can do is to raise voice as intellectuals and middle class for rotten grains and hunger paradoxically.

new-clear liability on US

If you have not missed the brawl in parliament about the Manmohan's nuclear liability bill then you have not missed anything. Government decided to table this bill to facilitate nuclear business liability laws. In a very sporadic gesture, before even the debate could take place, it was withdrawn. When the reasons were asked, government expressed its discretion to not give a reason. Well I thought parliament is place where you seek answers and plans for the benefit of countrymen. But in hush and rush media was given brief introduction and in my own words the bills concludes that in case of any accident with nuclear plant, the private organization will be liable to pay a cap of max "xyz" amount. Now weather the destruction is of a city , state or more the company pays the amount and is done with it. Intellectuals were of the opinion that there should be a committee to analyze the destruction and levy fines.
The haste to place the bill in house was due to certain US corporations insistence after union carbide case in Bhopal where huge amount was levied by Indian courts. They argue that they had to pay a huge sum to get rid of the case. Well well... we had been doing nuclear trade with Russia from ages. They never insisted.
Anyhow, I m not opposed to any kind of liability bill but who pays rest of the liability and the government says "We". So the common man tax payer money pays the price of a fault committed by a private firm. Amazing how does such things are even tabled by the law making crooks. The sources say that this was exact clause wanted by GE corp and one other US firm.