Politzero

Case of messing MLAs

2005-03-10T20:15:00.000-08:00

Why does one always find it funny if the words MLA & messing come together ? it may be the case of messing with money, messing with people, messing with law, messing with anything imaginable.

Now they began messing with themselves ! You heard me right - but am confused as well.

Why would three UPA MLAs suddenly disappear on they day of swearing in ? were they too afraid to associate themselves with UPA ? cant-be. were they too afraid they'd be 'taken' by NDA ? - looks like. CM Shri.Hon. Shibu Soren has done a la-sherlock holmes by solving the mystery and proclaiming that 'NDA has taken the three missing UPA MLAs' at 'Ani news'. Read Eswar's blog on UPA's alleged 'thriller script'

Not sure what one is supposed to feel, when a CM of a state, is hapless, clueless to protect the even the 'rulers' of the state - what beholds the citizens !

May God continue to bless !

President's rule in Bihar

2005-03-06T07:43:00.000-08:00

For one moment, one's heart yearns for the words to come true in the literal sense. Think of Abdul Kalam ruling Bihar and Lalu/Rabri ruling Bihar.

I don't think there will be any doubt about the loser in that competition.

Anyways, finally one governor as acted normally - hmmm - expecting people to execute their rightful duties itself is asking for too much these days. :-(

I think, am willing to let go of the Jharkand fiasco to have a dissolved bihar assembly that a Bihar fiasco and dissolved Jharkand - in which case Lalu would have been back to ruling Bihar !

BTB, i keep forgetting why Lalu is not a CM - coz the courts asked him to step down...now remind me again - why is Lalu a Central Minister ! ?

Cong invited to form govt in Jharkand

2005-03-02T19:38:00.000-08:00

In what seems to be a totally outrageous decision, the governer of Jharkand has invited congress to form the government and prove majority.

Congress is not the party with majority seats, neither is the congress alliance.... BJP the single largest party and its alliances have claimed 41 seats.

First Goa, now Jharkand - seems like the UPA government has perfected the art of governer puppetry ! but BJP was the trendsetter. The way, BJP danced to the tune of DMK leaders when they were arrested and the unceremonious 'exit' of Fatima Beevi was enough testimony to the way governers are handled when they exhibit difference of opinion.

Long live politics !

Indian Budget 05-06

2005-02-28T19:44:00.000-08:00

First thoughts - it is *utterly* ridiculous to charge people 0.1 percent tax on withdrawal of more than 10,000 on any given day.

Well, what big purchase can one do with less than 10000 ? TV ? Fridge ? Washing Machine ? forget Houses, cars etc

It is awful to even consider the government discouraging people to withdraw money by imposing tax.

Would they atleast guarantee some standard of service. Recently I had the unfortunate experience of spending some time at an Indian bank after 4 years outside the country.

The experience was, to put it mildly, mind-numbing.

First they counters were titled 'Cash Payments', 'Cash Receipts'. So payments mean - you pay the bank or does the bank pay you ? what does receipts mean ?

Why can't it be simply 'withdrawal' 'deposits' ?

One has to fill different colored 'chalans' to deposit in different type of accounts ?. Assuming this preposterous limitation to be operational, would one not expect that to be listed somewhere ?

One has to do all transactions with a 'teller' and finally stand in another line to get your 'passbook' updated !!

Stop this non-sense - for all the rip-off of money - atleast provide the customers some decent service.

To top it all - they work only uptil 1.30 in most nationalised banks..... give us all a break !

The jewel in the crown is - none of these places fail to hang the commandment from Gandhi which goes like 'Customer is always right'....

yeah whatever...

Fall of Lalu

2005-02-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

Well, not complete yet - but still not a single bit sad about the event...lets keep watching closely.....

Democracy in India

2005-02-03T20:17:00.000-08:00

Democracy in India has now become totally bereft of any logic or sense. *Every* possible institution in the country dances to the tune of the Central Government.

Saddest thing of all is the fact that, even President is bound by the cabinet's recommendation on almost any thing.

The unparliamentary (whoever invented the word unparliamentary, would be suffering from the abuse of the word - i think from now on it should be called as parliamentary) sacking of Governers, governments at the behest of the ruling party is nothing but mockery of people.

Granted that the fathers of the constitution could not have thought of such crazy, selfish and money-minded politicians - but hey that begs the question how on earth, in 50 odd years, can people change, to the point being beyond reconciliation ?

Is that not a shameful reflection on the discipline of the *ALL* systems in the country - education, justice, moral and social ? to produce such hapless, incorrigible and miserable people that are the so-called ruling class ? what ails politics ?

Any fact-finding mission can only blame it on the Society. How ? How ? How ? can a country with such great people, kind souls, compassionate hearts and sincere minds turn itself into such a mess ?

Dismissal of Government in Goa

2005-02-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

It is one of *the* most funniest events in the recent political past.

Think of this - a 'vote of confidence' motion is marred by controversy. Speaker ejects independent MLA just before the voting. No one wants to investigate why certain MLAs suddenly withdrew support. Speaker declares that the Government has the confidence of representatives. Governer dismisses the government before even the 'official report' from the speaker is received and installs a new opposition backed government at midnight to complete grand show.

Why is it that, one gets a feeling,

all the money spent on elections goes down the drain ?
could it not be better spent on infrastructure & upliftment ?
no one person can clean this political mess ?
no single politician has the word 'honesty' or 'service' in his vocabulary

Gone are the days, when democracy was 'For the people, By the people, Of the People' now it is 'For Money, By Money, of money'....it is just another business

Unfortunately so - !

TN Government Employees Strike

2005-01-25T20:08:00.000-08:00

(From my old article)
Government Employees' Strike

The TamilNadu government has been coming up with repeated
statements implying its financial crunch. The way finances have been
managed in the state has often left a lot to be desired. Like free
electricity to the farmers and the likes.

True, the cutting down on benefits may be primarily driven
by the lending agencies like the Worldbank. But people often forget to
see other restrictions that instutions like worldbank impose. For e.g.
recently they have been pushing the Indian government and state
governments very hard to cut down on free electricity and huge subsidies
in other sectors.

It is time-tested fact, that when economy is not exactly
pumping money into the coffers, the administrative agencies tend to
cut down on the benefits to employees. This is nothing new.

Government employees have been languishing at their canteens
most often than at their seats, and taking more breaks than the time
they actually are productive. This has its roots in many other
decisions like injudicious recruitment not based on merit, minimal
enforcement of job disciplines & rules and the major factor
*JOB SECURITY*.

How often have we heard people say it is like a "Government Job".
referring to minimal work hours, incredible job stability, regular
bonuses, umpteen paid vacations and so on. Ofcourse, one has to agree
that the downside about a government job is that, one is paid less
than private sector.But that is the nature of the beast. That, most
of the employees make do the difference, with bribes is totally
another issue.

What came as a rude shock to the state employees, was the fact that
their jobs are no more secure than any other jobs. Well, I for one
fully empathise with their feelings. If you were promised a secure
job and down the lane, when you are told that you will be let-go, it
is grossly unfair.

But, the entire discussion does not take into account, the gross
violation of terms and conditions of any employment agreement. Whatever
may have been disagreement, the employees can not go on with an
indefinite strike. May be a token-strike like what political parties
do and should have seeked recourse to Justice by court of law.

What we seem to hear from the employees is that, they will go on an
indefinite strike, still expect to be paid, still expected to remain
employed by the government.

Taking law into their hands by blackmailing the government into
submission should never be allowed to succeed. Once a precendent is set,
it will almost be, next to impossible in controlling such state-wide
break-down of the entire government system.

There-in lies my total support to the government. How fair is it to
expect an organisation ( be it government or private) to keep paying and
keep people employed for an indefinite period, be whatever may be the
disagreement with employees. How will the government run. Who will run
the government?. The cheif minister ?. The Cheif Secretary ?.

After all, one is hired to work and not to go on indefinite
strikes. Can you even imagine, a strike of similar magnitude happening
in a private sectors or in other countries?.

What baffles me, is the way the media & courts have been
projecting the entire thing. It is as if these striking employees were
all righteous employees who were working more than 40 hours a week every
week in their career and worked for the improvement of organisation, and
were suddenly dismissed for no fault of theirs ! It is as if the
government wants to dismiss all existing employees ( 13 lakhs & more) and
recruit 13 lakh new employees ?. Is it even remotely possible that such
thing could happen?

That exactly is what the employees seem to have taken advantage
of ! Even after repeated warnings by government, the employees chose to
on an indefinite strike and hence the government was well within its rights
to dismiss people who do NOT WORK.

The other dimension about the strike, is the role of the unions.
Unions typically are based on political patronage and rarely do they talk
or fight for any righteous cause.The unions force even people who are
not willing to participate in the strike. Not participating is never
an option. That is the nemesis of the entire system; political patronage.

Some months back, the employees of the transport department went
on indefinite strike. The entire transportation system paralysed. Then
not a single soul bothered to support them. So did the doctors. They went
on indefinite strike and after some pungent observations from the
high court bench, they withdrew the strike.

The state of the employees' mind seems to be heading in a very
bad and misguided direction due to dirty politics.Hope they realise the
trick that the opposition parties have up the sleeve and return to work.

One thing is for sure though, Government jobs are not going to be
same again.

State & Church

2005-01-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer : Just my opinion ; this is not history, atleast not yet !

Rewind:
Ever since humans set foot on the face of the earth, faith and religion has been an integral part of one's life.

Once politics became a profession, workers felt the need to make decisions on their own and be independent of religious forces. The simplest thing they came up with was 'Secularism'- which simply meant everyone had the freedom to practise their own faith - and an indirect way of telling religious forces to 'back-off'. Politicians now had the freedom to do what they want :-) they could 'divide and rule' or even simply just 'divide' and NOT rule :-))

Current:
Indian politics can also be called 'politics of religion', where, as in most democracies, many people don't exercise their duty of voting towards the betterment of the democratic process in the country.

Politicians are as shrewd as they can get. They could get most people to vote, but would still not be sure whether their party would garner a specific percentage of the vote.

They decided to appeal to the psychology of peole, who when glorified as victims would tend to support the sympathizers. India has minority population of various religions to the extent of 15-20%. Hence all the minority promises, secular talk and majority ridicule. This way, they have consistently managed to get the rough 10-15% of DEFINITE voters !. Amazing business strategy.

However, they could have stopped at that. They went to the next step of accusing and blaming majorities for every single occurence in the country - which is bordering on insanity. They speak of intolerance, planned violence, killing of minorities.

Agreed that there may be pockets/groups of people in any religion that nurtures a hatred for other religions a.k.a. fanatics, but calling it a 'majority' thingie does not convey the true picture.

Look at any country except India - people are proud to say that they belong to the religion that they practise...

USA - Both president Bush & runner-up Kerry trumpetted that they had faith in God, and proud to be devout catholics. Government inauguration ceremonies were marked by President attending the church, having a priest at the gathering etc. Bush did not go to Buddhist temple or Mosque - he went to a place of 'his own belief', which is how it should be! Individuals decide what governs their faith or the absence of it. No one can act setting aside their beliefs and faith, for everyone believes in something - be it even the presence or absence of God :-)

Think of the hue&cry that would be raised when say ex-PM A.B.Vajpayee would have said, am proud to be a Hindu and going to a temple to mark his election!. That would be the end of the world for the so-called Secular Politicos of the country. It would simply trigger self-proclaimed secular media to blast him en-masse.

*WHY*, may i ask that when a majority person in India being proud of his belief is called a communal, hate-mongering fanatic ; When the same remark from a majoritarian in other countries is called God-fearing and principled

When the same remark comes from a minority person would it be called communal as well ?

Pray remove my blindness to such double-standards ?

http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2004d.html

Habitual Sleep Offender

2005-01-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

Supreme court dismissed an employee who used to 'habitually sleep' during office hours. Looks like every single court had its own version of the dismissal, some holding that it was 'wrong' and finall SC gave the verdict - he is out !.

Wow, one wonders was he sleeping in office hours or working while sleeping :-) it also brings into focus the famous political party's (hint : this blog's name is inspired from the party) struggle for labor class... where have thy been ?

http://www.hindu.com/2005/01/20/stories/2005012008121100.htm

Sun TV telecasts Acharya Interrogation clips

2005-01-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

Sun TV today telecast clips from Acharya's interrogation. Sri Jayendrar was seen expressing his discontent over his junior Sri Vijayendrar.

Many politicians/experts on multiple occasions have simply shut their voices up (on any controversies) and would say 'the matter is sub-judice and hence no comments'.

Not sure, how Sun TV is 'supra-judice' ? - they have been found so in several occasions on the past like the (in)famous arrest of Dr.KK & company.

wonder: is Sun TV supra judice or are they 'Justice' themselves - only time will tell

http://www.hindu.com/2005/01/13/stories/2005011308190100.htm

Journalism and Freedom

2005-01-10T20:05:00.000-08:00

CBS ousts 4 over Bush Guard story
Story : CNN

Well, that was a nice coverup. As much as an excellent cleanup that was, there would not have been even a single attempt to do something similar in India. Back home, it would be called 'Freedom of the press' or even more correctly/relevantly dubbed as 'Attempt of the non-secular/communal forces to cripple the journalists their freedom to report information' :-)

These days the magazine with the title 'The Hindu' is acting so funnily that - the very same magazine that stood as the hallmark of fair&free reporting is now exactly what it is not !

One beings to wonder why 'The Hindu' has a religious title while calling others communal ;-)

- DumeelReuters, Copyright 3000

Dummy

2004-05-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

Date		Post Title
3/10/2005	Edit	Case of messing MLAs	Arvind	View	Delete

3/6/2005	Edit	President's rule in Bihar	Arvind	View	Delete

3/2/2005	Edit	Cong invited to form govt in Jharkand	Arvind	View	Delete

2/28/2005	Edit	Indian Budget 05-06	Arvind	View	Delete

2/28/2005	Edit	Fall of Lalu	Arvind	View	Delete

2/3/2005	Edit	Democracy in India	Arvind	View	Delete

2/2/2005	Edit	Dismissal of Government in Goa	Arvind	View	Delete

1/25/2005	Edit	TN Government Employees Strike	Arvind	View	Delete

1/24/2005	Edit	State & Church	Arvind	View	Delete

1/23/2005	Edit	Habitual Sleep Offender	Arvind	View	Delete

1/23/2005	Edit	Laloo ko gussa kyon aata hai ?	Arvind	Draft	Delete

1/13/2005	Edit	Sun TV telecasts Acharya Interrogation clips	Arvind	View	Delete

1/10/2005	Edit	Journalism and Freedom	Arvind	View	Delete