Food Security In India: Sonia VS Modi

To Sonia Gandhi and her NAC (read “Chamchas”), the food security bill is not about hungry Indians. It is about those hungry Indians thinking that the government is doing something and then they will be hoodwinked into voting for her son as the next PM. She is the de facto PM and is thus running the most corrupt government in our history. In India which is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, the most corrupt moniker means something. She wants to spend Rs 5,45,000 crore to feed the poor. These people cannot hold games without stealing it completely blind. How can we expect them to spend this kind of money honestly? All that is going to do is to make netas, babus and lalas rich. Why do I sound so negative? If Sonia Gandhi were sincere about feeding people of India she would have stopped the wastage of food. She has been running the country for so long and has not done anything to ensure that the food that rots out in the open gets fed to the hungry. Her government talks about building cold storages to help Walmart and other large retailers and yet they cannot build granaries to stop our grains surpluses to rot. All they have to do is build four rodent-proof walls with a waterproof roof. How difficult is that? We can build fancy living quarters for foreign athletes but we cannot build a simple building to store food! How can I believe any plan that comes out of this charade of a government?

Does that mean is a lost cause? No. I will cite two examples which will show you that simple, well meaning, honest and efficient techniques can solve most of our problems. One example is that of Bhai Narendra Modi and the other is of an entrepreneur Sarath Babu. Now if all our netas become like Bhai Narendra and all our Lalas become like Sarath Babu then we can solve the neta – Lala aspect of the equation. All we have to do is bypass the babus (IAS/PCS et. al.) and the problem would be solved.

Sarath Babu who comes from a very humble background (humble is an overstatement) who got his first degree from BITS PIlani and second from IIM-A. No shortage of such guys, right? Wrong. He did not forget his background and set off to do something which is remarkable. Here is his story:

Sarath launched Foodking in 2006, supplying snacks to banks, software firms and other corporates, with just 2,000 rupees (£24; $38) to fund the first month.But with his impressive academic pedigree, he was soon able to secure a bank loan of 100,000 rupees (£1,205; $1,890), and employed eight to 10 workers. The expansion continued, and he now has seven outlets and an annual turnover of $1.3m.
He wants to have 100 outlets by the end of this year - and 5,000 across the state eventually. Foodking aims to offer good food at affordable prices - as well as to create jobs for the poor And he hopes to inspire 1,000 entrepreneurs across the state, who too would go on to create employment opportunities for others.
Sarath's approach is clearly shaped by his humble beginnings. He is determined to provide affordable, good quality food. Foodking's meals cost 20-45 rupees (25p-54p; $0.37-0.84) each - which would more usually buy only fast food. To keep prices low, premises are simple. And while Sarath is happy to pitch in and help the workers out, he's tough on waste, challenging staff over unused chopped vegetables and taps left running.

Is this a solution to our problems? No but it is an example in efficient management which is enabling sale of affordable meals and providing employment while making profits. To use an allegory, instead of feeding fish to the hungry, he is teaching them how to fish. Of course this still is not the real solution. The real solution has been shown by Bhai Narendra Modi. The praise for him in this regards comes from the Planning Commission which is run by none other than the acting PM Manmohan Singh’s right hand man Montek Singh Ahluwalia. As per Business Standard, a Planning Commission working group set up to suggest booster shots for agriculture during the 12th plan – which starts next April – said that Gujarat and Chhattisgarh were the states to emulate. Coincidently, both states are run by the BJP. I wonder how long will it take for Digvijay Singh to brand Montek as an RSS agent!!

Gujrat’s industrial accomplishments are known the world over. However, Gujarat’s oft ignored success comes from agriculture where the state has outperformed all other states including the fertile bread baskets of India i.e. UP and Punjab. An arid state, Gujarat’s started to succeed in this field after 2002 so the Modi haters cannot deny him the credit. With small initiatives, he has managed to make his state into an agricultural success. Here are examples of some of those steps:

First, he focused on sustained water conservation and management programmes. Gujarat is one of the biggest users of drip irrigation in India today, and built many check dams, small ponds and minor irrigation sources. In 2008, Gujarat had 113,738 check dams and 240,199 little ponds dotting the state.
Second, the state launched a massive and well-coordinated extension effort – telling farmers what to grow, when to grow, how to grow and how to maximise output.
Third, Modi completely overhauled rural power supply. Even though supplies are subsidised, farmers get assured power. This contrasts with other states that offer free power, but irregularly and unpredictably.
Four, says Shankar Acharya, agriculture’s allied sectors – like livestock development – were given a boost. This ensured steady and sustainable growth in rural incomes – a prerequisite for comprehensive food security.
Five, Modi also promoted non-food crops and horticulture, Bt cotton, castor, and isabgol. Contrast this with the endless debates we now have about the dangers – or otherwise — GM seeds.
Six, Gujarat made huge investments in infrastructure – especially rural roads, electricity and ports.

These examples clearly demonstrate that we do not need to throw money at the problem. We need to work at the problem like Modi and Babu. For Sonia, spending taxpayer money to win her son the PM’ship is an easy way out to a very large problem. If we adopt her method, we will have more mega scams and the problem would remain. If we adopt the Modi / Babu solution, we can chip away at the problem and solve it eventually.

The Sarath Babu story can be read at:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16248442

The Gujarat story can be read at:http://www.firstpost.com/economy/modis-gujarat-shows-the-way-to-better-food-security-160797.html

Our blog posts on the topic can be read at:
http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2011/04/modis-silent-green-revolution.html
http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2011/02/penny-wise-and-pound-foolish-upa-govt.html
http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2011/07/hungry-india.html
http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2010/07/water-water-everywhere-not-drop-to.html

The Evil In Our Midst.

Right about the time I read Udayan Namboodri’s article on comparing corruption in India versus the evil in the world, my twelve-year-old son was writing a paper on Vlad the Impaler. He told me that Vlad was one of the most evil men ever. I told him that he was just one of the many. I gave him some examples. What I could not tell him are the examples of evil in our day to day lives. He is still too young for that.

Here is what Namboodri wrote in his article: The term “banality of evil” was coined originally by Hannah Arendt, a famous political scientist who went to Jerusalem to cover the trial of Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann initially took the stand wearing a deadpan expression, which made most people imagine how hopelessly dark and bureaucratic was the core of the Nazi mass-murder machine.

Evil in real life does not go around growling “kitne aadmi thay” like Amjad Khan’s Gabbar or “Mogambo khush hua” like Amrish Puri. Evil in real life is the harmless looking old woman who forces her daughter in law to abort her female fetus or worse, kill the baby girl. You will go past this person on a daily basis and not know it. Evil in real life is the middle class family, which exploits a child servant on a daily basis and robbing the kid of the most precious of Bholenath’s gifts – innocence.

If you look at various examples of cruelty in the history of mankind, you will realize that most evil goes unpunished. Hitler was punished. Jews in the media and elsewhere have used all their power to ensure that not a day goes by when people are reminded on the Holocaust. I understand and support them wholeheartedly. But I will cite some examples which in sheer cruelty match up with Hitler’s evil while others aspire to do so.

1. Pakistanis killed a very large number (upto Six lakh by some estmates) of Bangladeshis at a kill rate that even the Nazis could not maintain. Did anyone get punished? Tikka Khan lived comfortable till well into his eighties. Other army butchers got promoted and became prominent members of Pakistani society.

2. Jalianwalabagh massacre. Even more impressive kill rate. Thanks to Amar Shaheed Udham Singh one of the perpetrators got punished. But what about the others? What about the Indian soldiers who fired upon their brothers and sisters?

3. Entire Mughal period is replete with examples of cruelty inflicted upon Hindus but our history books have been sanitized and now the Muslims have become the victims only to be protected by our pseudo-secular champions. Cruelty covered up by a cruel joke.

4. All the people killed during the partition of the country because a slew of selfish decisions made by leaders who are now worshipped.

5. Corruption. Yes. Think about it. This is one evil which does not kill directly but it does so slowly in a way like acid dissolves metal. You know exactly what I am talking about.

6. Social practices like dowry, female feticide, killing of female babies and honor killings are all rampant practices in India which still confound any self respecting Hindu. As we have written on this blog many many times that while all kinds of female deities are worshipped in India, Indian girls are treated with an inexplicable disdain.

These are a few examples of absolute evil in just our sub-continent. Some of it happened in the past while others go on in front of our eyes. As Edmund Burke said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” But what can we do you ask? Of course in some cases we need to pick up a weapon or have a time machine – luxuries we cannot afford. But the victims of social evil, which happens right in front of our eyes, could use a helping hand. It is our dharma. It is our Karma. If we don’t do anything about it then we have no right to call ourselves Hindus.

A MUST READ is at : http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/267181/20111214/india-40-million-missing-girls-problem-gendercide.htm
The Namboodri article can be read at: http://dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/50688-the-banality-of-evil.html

Our blogs on related subjects are as follows:
http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2011/06/worship-durga-ma-kill-girls.html
http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2011/01/domestic-violence-and-future-of-indian.html
http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2010/09/dowry-and-divorce-banes-of-indian.html

Pseudo-seculars Strike Again

Just when I thought that our country is the only one loaded with a hoard of pseudo seculars – the self-proclaimed champions of humanity, religion and freedom of speech, I got a temporary solace to find out that America is soon catching up with us.

Recently, Subramanian Swamy was dismissed from Harvard after decades of teaching association. His fault - he dared to say the fact as a fact, he dared to say the unsaid, and he dared to shoot the pseudos right in the middle of their forehead.

Yes, all this happened when Dr. Swami wrote an article advocating denial of voting rights to non-Hindus with the goal of stemming terrorist attacks in India. And as expected the pseudos almost choked to death. Now they are trying to get some fresh air by dismissing him as ‘communal’, ‘anti-Islamic’ and a ‘Hindu fanatic’.

Many are stung by Dr. Swami’s article – from Congress to Congress bought media to Arabs and to the hypocrite Americans. They needed to do something urgently because if they don’t then Dr. Swami with his forty years of credibility could almost turn the tide against their well-established norms of freedom of speech - freedom of speech that is only made for people like Arundhati Roy to Geelani to Bukhari.

So therefore they kicked him out. When these high profile institutes, with a bunch of ‘highly politicized faculty’ get the colors of Islamic-mania and preach the theory of ‘political correctness’ – correctness that suits their political interests only – it is a very dangerous sign. Of course, when it receives millions in aid from people like Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia, it does not leave much scope for them either.

In words of Prof. Phyllis Chesler – “This situation affects us all. The West must understand that silencing men like Professor Swamy is in a sense an act of Jihad. We are aiding the Islamic fundamentalists in their quest for domination in India and South Central Asia.”
The article can be read at:http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/10998

BJP Will Lose In UP Elections

UP is the big prize for whoever wants to win in 2014 (BJP or Congress) or want to stay out of jail (Mayawati). As we have repeatedly written on this blog that no stunt will be cheap enough to win this prize. We are already seeing the evidence. Inevitably, there are reports out there which predict on which party has an advantage. There are polls doing the same. What is consistent in all those is that the big winner is going to be SP followed by BSP, Congress and BJP. My sentiments on SP, BSP and Congress are well known to the readers of this blog. For the newer readers-please read some of our older posts and you will see. What really bothers me is the BJP’s fourth finish especially because BJP owes both of their tenures at the center to the UP voters.

What is curious is how the BJP rewarded the UP voters. The BJP rewarded them with Kalyan Singh, RP Gupta and Rajnath Singh. Kalyan Singh was a capable grassroots worker with good deal of control over Lodh community votes (good ol’ caste politics) but nothing more. RP Gupta was a septuagenarian with charm, ability and enthusiasm of a wet sock. Rajnath Singh projected himself as the keeper of the Thakur votes of UP and has since exploited that into the post of CM of UP and BJP President. Despite of failing miserably at both positions, he is still around and playing the spoiler.

But that was then. Now all of the UP mess is on Gadkari. He is doing a poor job of projecting leaders in UP. He has consistently antagonized the BJP superstar i.e. Bhai Narendra Modi and nominated his bête noire as the in charge of UP elections- a man who is alien to UP politics. Gadkari could have used Modi’s help in campaign as has been desired by UP’s local leaders but he has chosen not to. He brought in Uma Bharati which was a very good move but it was too late. But as Mr. NV Subramanian writes in his article that:

But Uma Bharati can be a huge political mover. She doomed the Congress in Madhya Pradesh. Her problem is that the campaign is being pulled in other directions by other UP BJP heavyweights, including Rajnath Singh and Kalraj Mishra. Objectively speaking, neither Rajnath Singh nor Kalraj Mishra is a match for Uma Bharati, who is hungry to prove her worth to the BJP. If Mayawati has a worth contender, it is Uma Bharati. But the BJP in UP is a case of "Too many cooks...."

Ultimately it is going to be egos of people like Rajnath Singh and Kalraj Mishra which is going to sink the BJP. The responsibility of keeping such people falls on the shoulder of Gadkari who seems to be playing the Advani camp versus the Vajpayee camp games. Gadkari should have projected a young dynamic leader from the beginning and sought the help of star campaigners to win the state. Instead he is running the show like UP is just another state that the BJP has no shot of winning. If the BJP cannot defeat someone like Mayawati then they should just pack it in for the 2014 elections as well. After all, other than the CM’s of the BJP ruled states, none of their leaders inspire any confidence.

Missed opportunity
At one level, you would think both the BJP and Congress are reconciled to defeats in Uttar Pradesh, and are content to compete for the third and fourth spots. If that is so, it is sad. The backwardness of the so-called cow belt but particularly UP partly drags India down. If either of the two national parties had a spell of power in UP, it would do the state and the country good. And only Uttar Pradesh has the singular capacity to end the interminable cycle of weak and visionless coalition rule at the Centre.

The article can be read at:http://newsinsight.net/archivedebates/nat2.asp?recno=2233

Nitish Kumar: Votes vs Islamic Terrorism

State of Bihar seems to be cursed. After shedding the yokels of Lalloo rule they elect themselves a capable leader who has done nothing but good things. Of course an argument can be made that seeing where Bihar was before Nitish Kumar, anything he does is going to be positive. But by and large he has done good things. Having said that, we all saw what seemed to be signs of pseudo-secular hypocrisy in the man. While he was and is emulating Bhai Narendra Modi, he did not want to be seen sharing a campaign platform with him. I guess he deems Muslim votes to be too important. Which is why his state has now come to this pass. Bihar now has become the latest terror central thanks to activities of Indian Mujahideen.

The theory about disaffected Muslims will not work. There are more of them in Gujarat or at least that is what every liberal in India would have you believe. Of course proximity to Nepal and Bangladesh is a factor. Nepal’s Muslim politicians are nothing more than faces of ISI. The old practice of tacitly supporting illegal immigration from Bangladesh is now coming to haunt us in a much bigger way. It has gone from being a socio-economic problem to one of security. Thanks you CPI / other Communists / Congress / Lalloo / assorted pseudo secular traitors!!

What is stopping Nitish Kumar from getting the state law enforcement (since he probably cannot get any help from the central government) to go after these terrorists? Is it political correctness in the name of votes? From Nitish Kumar’s snub of Narendra Modi it would seem to be the case. What seems to be eluding Nitish Kumar is that the BJP did better than his own party in the last state elections (BJP had a much higher percent of wins – seats won versus contested). This indicates that either his coalition is getting the Muslim votes despite of the BJP or those votes are not a factor at all.

He would be well advised to wake up and smell the cordite before it is too late. Illegal Bangladeshis are not only a drain on the state but also a source of terror. He needs to tackle that head on. He also needs to come down on the Bihari Muslims who are supporting the IM. Security of the state and the country trump possible hurt sentiments. He needs to emulate Bhai Narendra Modi in more ways than one.

Bihar, Indian Mujahideen's new playground

Vicky Nanjappa

The recent arrest of Indian Mujahideen operatives in Bihar has confirmed the suspicions of the Indian intelligence agencies that the dreaded terror outfit was trying to set up a base in the state.

With nearly 20 million illegal immigrants in India -- most of whom are in Bihar and West Bengal -- the task ahead appears to be extremely tough. There are only a handful of ideological terrorists in these modules while the rest of them have been recruited for money. This would mean that they carry out the operation and then slip out, thus leaving no trail.

Agnipareeksha For UP Voters!

We all knew Mayawati was making money but did not have the details. Now we know it was through her brother. In fact he is nothing more than a money launderer. He opened up dummy companies and converted the black money into white by showing it as profit. I guess he was in such a hurry and had so much to convert that he made some mistakes. They are as follows as described by BJP’s Kirit Somaiya

Somaiya identified one of these companies as "DKN Infrastructure Pvt Ltd that was shown to have earned a profit of Rs 37 crores when the total business transacted was of the order of Rs 34 crores."

Another company was identified as Adept Realcom Pvt Ltd., showing profit of Rs. 15 cores. There was no description of the type of business it had transacted over the two years of its existence.

The case of the third company -- Naveen Infradevelopers and engineers pvt ltd -- was even more intriguing . While the total transaction of the three-year old company did not exceed Rs 30,000, it received an usecured loan of Rs 67 crores and also gave away advances to the tune of Rs 62 crores.

Surprisingly, the fourth company named by Somaiya had transacted business worth only about Rs 8,000.

What are the government agencies doing? Are the employees of the tax department asleep at the wheels? Or do I smell collusion?

To deal with these accusations, Mayawati and her team have taken a page out of Karunanidhi book and have described them as "reflection of anti-dalit mindset of the BJP."

This should be an affront to every self-respecting dalit. The Dalit–Muslim-Brahmin group elected these people who have not looked after anyone's interest except their own. Entire state has been paying for their sins and seems like the dark days will continue.

As we have written on this blog that UP is a big prize and political parties are going to do their worst to win it. Too much and money and too much power comes with a win. That is why it is up to the voters of UP to make a choice. Continue to trust the state and future of their families in the hands of people like Mayawati, Anand Kumar, Vichitra Lata and Yadav Singh or vote for a change. All they need to do and see their neighbors to the east. After dumping Lalloo Yadav and electing Nitish Kumar, the Biharis are on a road to recovery. UP can do the same. There are no capable leaders in Congress (we would have seen them by now) or SP or BSP. Even the BJP has propped up one bad choice after another. The BJP owes it to the people of UP (who elected them to the center) to find another Narendra Modi and project him or her as their CM.

BJP accuses Mayawati's brother of money-laundering.
Among those who were alleged to have been hand-in-glove with him was Noida's powerful chief engineer Yadav Singh. Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Somaiya sought to point out how Anand Kumar had floated as many as 26 companies over the recent past "solely for parking his ill gotten wealth that was discreetly converted as profit of those very companies."

FDI In Retail: A Scam Nipped In The Bud

Mr. B Raman who is a retired government employee is very well connected all over the world and is quite an authority on security and political matters. He has also successfully managed to be neutral when it comes to politics. In short he is a man to be taken seriously. When he goes out on the limb criticizing the abject lack of leadership in India, I guess things must really be bad. Of course political animals like us always knew and said it. Mr. Raman was just holding it back till he could no more. In his latest article which seems to lament the loss of decorum and gravitas in the Loksabha he makes two points. One is that he does not think that Sonia and Manmohan can provide any kind of leadership. I guess debacle after debacle forced him to change his mind. The latest being the FDI in retail and the way the Congress tried to ram it down the nation’s gullet. They were badly stung by Mamta Bannerjee and essentially have been reduced to a lame duck government now.

In an article, NV Subramanian calls out Manmohan on a very poor demonstration of leadership and says that the FDI was a diversionary tactic. This is where the Raman article is interesting which claims the following:

Some retired senior officials with whom I had discussed this in Delhi last week attributed the haste displayed by the Congress to its urgent need for funds for the UP elections next year. They alleged that some corporate houses, which would be the main beneficiaries of the FDI decision, were expected to be the main contributors to the coffers of the Congress for the UP elections. According to them, the determination of other political parties to prevent the Congress from financially benefiting from the decision before the UP elections accounted for their obduracy in preventing the normal functioning of the two Houses.

There is no reason the doubt the veracity of Mr. Raman’s information. This means that the FDI in retail was just another huge scam in the making. It is not only criminal but also cruel that the Congress is treating the Indian taxpayer’s money and Indian Infrastructure as an ATM. The Indian voters are being punished for their mistake of electing the Congress. However the punishment has far far exceeded the crime. It is cruel and unusual.

The Raman article can be read here.

The NVS article can be read here.

Shame On The Voters Of Bellary

The voters of Bellary have chosen to elect a person who essentially is a henchman of the Reddy Brothers who have been raping the Bellary mines. As we have repeatedly written on this blog that we think that the Reddy brothers spread their tentacles by paying bribes to all political parties. The BJP eventually did the right thing and punished the guilty. YSR and his family are also in hot waters. Now we find out that our sitting Foreign Minister and tow other Congress CMs are also embroiled in this scam. But they are politicians and being a thief comes with the turf.

However by electing the Reddy brothers' henchman, the voters of Bellary have done such a great disservice to the nation. Obviously the Reddy brothers have either bullied and seduced the voters of Bellary. The Circumstances indicate that the latter must be true. This must have been an extremely watched election (especially with BJP CM in Bangluru). I don't have any knowledge of how the Bellary voters fell for the Reddy brothers but they did. They are sending the wrong message to politicians and saying that we, the voters are equally corruptible. I and sick and disgusted with these voters. Shame on them!!

BJP suffers jolt as Sreeramulu wins Bellary bypoll
BJP finished a poor third with its candidate P Gadilingappa losing the deposit managing only 17,366 votes behind Congress' B Ramprasad who garnered 27,737 votes in the triangular fight, seen as litmus test for the Reddy brothers, facing the CBI heat in illegal mining cases. 40-year-old Sreeramulu had resigned his Assembly seat in August in the wake of the Lokayukta report on illegal mining that indicting him, saying his pride has been hurt. He quit the BJP days before the November 30 byelection, result of which was announced on Sunday.
Read the article at:http://www.newsbullet.in/component/content/article/34-more/22427-bjp-suffers-jolt-as-sreeramulu-wins-bellary-bypoll

S M Krishna, two ex-chief ministers face probe in mining scam
BANGALORE: The Special Court on Saturday ordered a probe into a private complaint against external affairs minister S M Krishna over alleged illegal mining. The court also directed the police to register a case and probe two other former Karnataka chief ministers - N Dharam Singh and H D Kumaraswamy - overillegal mining controversy. With this, Congress, which was free from allegations in connection with illegal mining, has joined BJP and JD(S) bandwagon in the row.
Read the article at:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/S-M-Krishna-two-ex-chief-ministers-face-probe-in-mining-scam/articleshow/10972572.cms

Dynastic Rule and Sycophancy

Concentration of power is an evil in any democracy. That power feeds off on sycophancy. When the power is dynastic in nature, sycophancy is raised to the level of worship. We in India have been under dynastic rule for most of our free lives. It has done nothing but hurt us. Even a part time student of history knows that.

Congressmen brought back Sonia and Rahul just when it seemed they had broken the shackles of the dynastic rule to reunite the party. A tragedy of the highest order as it led to the most corrupt regimes in our history of which the two have no idea other than what the group of chamchas tells them. To them India is Gandhi family and Gandhi family is India.

Now all these minions owe their position to their proximity to the power center. The closer you are to the Gandhi family the more powerful you are. You get plum posts or ministries based on how you sing the paeans in their honor. People like Ahmad Patel or Ambika Soni or Oscar Fernandez are essentially ruling India by proxy because they are really really close to Madam.

All Indians despite of their party affiliations respect Sardar Patel. Man was a true patriot, visionary and the Iron Man India needed then and has since missed. This is what was said about his anniversary:

As coincidences go, Patel's birth anniversary falls the same day Indira Gandhi was assassinated. This year, the BJP noticed the indifference towards him, and asked why the government had issued just one ad in his honour, while dozens were issued to mark Indira Gandhi's death anniversary.

Congress workers from various states were taking out ads after ads (not from their pockets obviously) in honor of Indira Gandhi. The following was said about that in another article:

Moral of the story: You may be India’s greatest freedom-fighter, visionary or statesman, and you may be fondly remembered by the people across the land. But, if you do not belong to the Nehru-Gandhi Family, India’s Congress-run Government will not remember you. For how long will we allow the public exchequer to be milked for the political promotion of a single family and the icons of a single party?

If the chamchagiri was limited to taking out ads in the newspapers, we would still be OK. What is really bothersome is the sheer number of projects, monuments, landmarks and public property (bridges, airports etc.) have been named after Members of the Gandhi family. People from Congress have no locus standi when they criticize Mayawati on her penchant for parks and statues to honor herself. The intrepid Mr. A Suryaprakash has compiled these in a document and submitted to the CEC. The list is mind-boggling but you must go through it. What you will realize is that unless we vote the dynasty out, meritocracy would always yield to sycophancy and that is not the way India can progress.

The following is the list of Government Schemes and Projects; Universities and Educational Institutions; Ports and Airports; National Parks and Sanctuaries; Sports Tournaments, Trophies and Stadia; Hospitals and Medical Institutions; National Scientific and Research Institutions; University Chairs, Scholarships and Fellowships; Festivals; Roads and Buildings named after three member of the Nehru Gandhi family viz. Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, which has been submitted to the Election Commission by A.Surya Prakash as an Annexure to his complaint. This list includes most of the projects, schemes and institutions funded by the Union Government and the Governments in the States.

The Suryapraksh artcile can be read at: http://asuryaprakash.com/annexure1.html

The other articles of interest are as follows:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/50575-airbrushed-from-history.html
http://in.news.yahoo.com/blogs/boxpopuli/indira-gandhi-legacy-sycophancy-133835644.html
http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2010/08/chinese-democracy.html

Pakistan: Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum?

There is a scene in Deewar. Vijay (Big B) laments that he and his younger brother came from under the same bridge and yet he had achieved so much while his brother was languishing in a lowly paid police job. Of course that was a movie with the younger brother walking away with the line “Mere paas Ma hai” because he was on the right side of things.

India and Pakistan could have a similar conversation. Of course the “bigger” brother would be on the right side of things here. Pakistan does not get to walk away with a clever line. While India has become an example in Democracy and progress, Pakistan has become a basket case. How did they come to such a pass?

Since Muslims were not really expecting a separate country, they were not prepared for a post independent Pakistan. It took them over ten years to come up with a constitution. This gave rise to a bureaucracy and Army with unlimited power. Moreover there were no land reforms so the Punjabi landowners became the almighty slave owners. I am not kidding about that. I have read that these people had their private jails where the bonded laborers were locked up in the nighttime (I read that in early 1990’s. It may have changed by now). These three power centers refused to abide by the new constitution. The army continued with its merry ways of making money and daydreaming of having a meal in New Delhi while hoisting the Pakistani flag over the Red Fort. The Bureaucracy played along and started a system where the future generations of Pakistanis were nothing more than India hating automatons. In fact, looking back at the ethnic fault lines in Pakistan (Punjabis, Bengalis, Pathans, Kashmiris stuck in Pakistan, Balochis, Sindhis and the unfortunate Mohajirs) it is amazing how long has that country stayed together (only losing half of it) despite of the fact that it’s raison d'être is hatred for Hindus and India. Matters only became worse after Zia Ul Haq became the terrorist in charge. Armed with nukes Pakistani Amry, ISI and their veritable arm i.e. the terrorists including the Taliban, they went on to take on all their enemies i.e. India. Of course they were ably helped by the Chinese, Saudi Arabians and in some parts the USA (who themselves were so blinded in their hatred for the Russians that they helped create the man who changed the world forever – Osama Bin Laden).

While this was going on, the Pakistanis still were doing better than Indians in various parameters like per capita income, Hunger and poverty. Yes. It may be surprising to the young Indians but that is the truth.

However, in the early 1990s, two things happened. Pakistan continued on its slippery slope while India saw the light through the eyes of PV Narsimha Rao who abandoned the Nehruvian policies in Economics. Even Manmohan Singh could not screw things up for us. We broke the shackles of the Gandhi family and broke free towards what should have been (that we find ourselves again in the same trouble is a testimony to our misfortune and naiveté). So today, India stands as a shining example (with miles and miles to go before we rest) in the world. On the other hands, Pakistan has become the proverbial “ga-lay ki haddi” for the world.

Unless Pakistan abandons its hatred for India and Hindus, there is no stopping it from descending into hell. Only Pakistanis can stop that.

Competition is good. Walmart Is Not.

Competition is good. It always leads to improvement all around. But is has to be a fair one. Unfair competition leads to destruction of the norm. Examples are all around us. However, the world is not a fair place. That and human nature together has led to protectionism. Even the most prosperous countries and largest economies indulge in just that. The US is known to give their farmers massive subsidies. The Chinese manipulate their currency to gain the upper hand. We would expect our government to do the same to protect our traditional ways of doing business instead of creating unfair competition. What Prof. Vaidyanathan said last year (we wrote a blog on this topic last year) was that the GoI needs to protect our dhoti-clad entrepreneur instead of subjecting them to a competition, which they are not equipped to deal with. The local shopkeeper can compete with the others in the market but is not equipped to deal with some outfit like the Walmart. That is what the point of discussion is.

If leeches were to evolve into sophisticated predators, that being would aptly describe the Walmart. What I have read is that it began as a store, which only sold stuff, made in America as a response to the Japanese domination of the production sector. But then they evolved into a company which did what the Japanese were doing except they raised that practice to an art. Today everything sold in Walmart is made in China. The Walmart executives use their financial muscles to bully all involved to keep the prices ridiculously low. By this they have driven everyone around out of business. The Corporation, the buyers and the Chinese owners are the winners. However, the American manufacturers and American small business owners have been destroyed. The Americans have managed to survive by other means being a powerful and (still) an upwardly mobile economy. Innovation supported by (still the best) an infrastructure. India and Indians do not have the same advantages.

If we bring in Walmart, we will be flooded with Chinese made stuff at prices which would destroy our small businessmen and manufacturers. As Prof. Vaidyanathan says:

More than 125 lakh kirana stores provide a source of livelihood to 16 crore people. Retail trade has grown faster than the economy: it registered a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4% between 2004-05 and 2008-09 when the Indian economy grew at 8.66%. The retail trade comprises all kinds of people and formats — from street vendors to departmental stores of various types, shapes and characteristics.

This segement of our economy deserves all the protection we can get. They keep jobs and money in India. Walmart will send the jobs to China and money to America. Manmohan and Montek Singh need to pull their heads out of American made sand and smell the “chai”.
Our blog and Prof. Vaidya's article can be read here.

Why Would A Peaceful Indian Slap Sharad Pawar?

You get older. It is expected that you will evaluate your life. What you are trying to do is to look for the things you would not have done but did anyway. It is called atonement. We all want to go into our next life with as little baggage as possible. If you are not a Hindu then you want to meet the maker with similar liability. That is how a normal human being behaves. Of course if you are a sociopath who is completely lacking the empathy gene, the kind of person who looks at misery and death with an amused curiosity, the kind of person who cannot tell “paap” from “punya” or right from wrong then retrospection is not your cup of tea.

Based on this one would expect our politicians, especially the ones who are getting up in age to look at the man in the mirror once in a while. I don’t think these guys do that. If they did then their morality will change, seismically in some cases. However, no one has changed. Every single one of them is the same person they were. The only conclusion we have is that all of them are amoral sociopaths. Not very comforting, is it?

There is some recourse left for the aam aadmi. Voting them out is one. But that would bring the next set of bastards in. Then what? Even though I do not condone violence, one cannot overlook the extreme importance of symbolic acts of violence, the kind that humiliates rather than hurt. Hurling a slipper or lashing out with a slap. Indian society and others used to do that. When a person was caught doing something immoral they were made to sit on a donkey with shoes around their neck. In the west, they used to tar and feather. Since our politicians are sociopaths who enjoy and love their facade of respectability, shame would be a powerful punishment. It would send an unmistakable message that not all is right even if you scream so.

In that light, one can see why Indians who are by and large the most peaceful people on the planet would take the extreme step of lashing out on fellow human beings. The protest against politicians used to be limited to negative “naarey-baazi” or sloganeering. However, in the last two UPA regimes, things have gone form extremely bad to putrid. Even the most peaceful and laid back India is getting angry and feels pushed into the corner. One such Indian lashed out and slapped Sharad Pawar who epitomizes institutionalized corruption. Of course in this case, my sympathy and I am sure yours as well lie with our Sikh brother who took this extreme step. I hope that we all would come out in support of our brother if he were to be tortured or punished in any other unlawful way.

Meanwhile I hope this is a lesson for all of the Indian politicians. I hope they realize that in today’s India, drug dealers and petty criminals have much higher credibility than them. If they do not get their act together, the aam aadmi reserves the right to come after them with pitch forks and other farm equipment like the medieval times. They are the ones responsible for these times.

An article on the subject can be read here.

Samudra Manthan In The Pacific

A few things have happened in the Pacific which seem unremarkable and expected. Their significance is revealed upon close inspection. I will list them for you.

1.China has become increasingly belligerent with its neighbors in the Pacific. They want all of the resource rich Spratley Islands to themselves.

2.They also want to control the sea lanes around those islands including the ones in Malacca straits. An Indian navy ship was bullied by the Chinese navy in that area.

3.They have abandoned Deng Xiaoping’s peaceful rise mantra. After his death, the leadership ceded a lot of power to the PLA who are now flexing their muscles, trying to take revenge on all who have slighted them recently or historically. Chinese rise is now anything but peaceful.

4.Japan has gotten over India’s nuclear tests and are now ready to deal with us even on defense matters.

5.India is an important defense partner with Vietnam, the country which gave the Chinese a bloody nose in 1979. Our “Look East” policy has paid good dividends.

6.Suddenly the Australians have decided to overcome their revulsion for us and sell us Uranium.

7.In a summit in Bali and in Australia, President Obama repeatedly asserted that the US was and is a Pacific power. He repeated it many times.

8.US has decided to open a US Marine base in Northern Australia.

Let me try to weave all these seemingly disparate events into what is about to become the new alliance (albeit a loose one). In 2000, President Bush and his VP proposed to revive SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organization) which included countries like Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A sort of the Asian NATO. It dissolved in 1977. The primary purpose of the revival was to counter any threats from China. After all, the events mentioned in points 1 to 3 are now exactly new. They just have become more obvious now. This time, India was to have played a major role. Unfortunately for us and the world, 9/11 happened and the Bush administration’s attention got diverted. The proposal died. Since then the Chinese behavior has gone from bad to worse. All their neighbors are worried to scared. The Chinese have spared no opportunity is confronting the US in the Pacific. It is as if the PLA WANTS a showdown with the US to establish what they perceive as their place in the hierarchy of nations. They are itching for a fight.

None of this is lost on the US who are still the biggest military power in the world. They realize that all of the Chinese neighbors are worried especially India. They are right. We are surrounded by Pakistan who is a Chinese attack dog, Bangladesh who is one election away from becoming another Pakistan, Burma who is already in Chinese pocket and the Sri Lankans who feel slighted by Tamilnadu politicians have accommodated the Chinese navy in the Hambantota seaport. We could use some help here.

Now why do you think that the Australians have had a change of heart about Uranium? I think that there must have been some pressure from the US. Why would the US want to help India? I think that Indian involvement in any new security arrangement is inevitable. After all, after China, we are the strongest nation in Asia. Without us, the dragnet around China will be incomplete. Does this mean we are preparing for a fourth world war? No. What we are preparing for is another cold war where we make the Chinese realize the wisdom of the Deng Xiaoping. The Chinese have way too much invested in the rest of the world to provoke a situation conducive to the fourth big one.

So what should we do? We should look back at the days of NAM and our international isolation. We should push the boundaries of our “Look East” policy. Since there will not be any formal SEATO like organization, the risk is next to nothing. As it is we are making defense pacts with Vietnam and Japan and that has not gone down the Chinese throats well. Might as well make more pacts of that kind. There is a quite “Samudra Manthan” going on in the pacific. I hope that Government of India would shun any noise from the leftists and join in.

Who Cares For The Pakistani Hindus?

Manmohan says Gilani is a man of peace. Pakistanis are saying they want to do business with us and want to resolve all the issues. Liberals and jholawalas are happy. Yup. All the problems have been solved. Manmohan’s charm offensive is finally paying dividends.

Now where have we seen all this before? It seems life a formulaic Hindi movie where brother unite at the end. Alas those are movies and some of them were even funny. This is real life. Those who can see are shaking their heads in disgust. If you scroll down, you will see that we wrote on this blog about this very topic. We are falling for the wily Pakistanis again for the umpteenth time. Pakistanis need to have peace on the eastern from to deal with the Americans. When the US leaves Afghanistan, the pakis will go back to their original selves. I would be willing to bet some money on that. Why? I will try to explain. Please forgive my meandering but I have to make my case.

Recently, some prominent Hindus in Pakistan were gunned down. In Sindh area, Hindu girls have been kidnapped, forcibly converted and married off to Muslims. Hindus in Lahore area have adopted Muslim names to survive. The 12% Hindus in Pakistan at the time of partition is now down to 2%. They were either killed or converted. Hindus who come to India do not want to go back. Why is that? If the pakis claim to be who they are then why would the Hindus need to live like this? After all, even in the scary badlands of Gujarat that is ruled by the devil himself (i.e. Bhai Narendra) Muslims are not only living well but also prospering. They do not call themselves Hindu names or are afraid that their women would be forcibly converted.

As much as the pakis would like to harp upon the secular credentials of Jinnah, the fact is that he was an opportunistic, “al taqqiya” practicing bastard. People who followed him are worse. In fact the downward spiral achieved Dante’s Inferno like status during Zia ul Haq days. Now of course it is pure hell. Forget the Hindus, the terrorists are not even sparing the few remaining moderate Muslims. How did this happen? As we wrote on this blog last year and as was written by Amir Mir to no ones surprise that the Pakistani textbooks are teaching hatred. This kind of systematic brainwashing has now polluted at least the last two or three generations of pakis. The paki polity and the army are filled with these terrorist automatons. How can we even think of achieving peace with this kind of ideology permeating through various layers of paki society?

Does that mean we should abandon attempts to at least achieve a functional peace. We should not. We should communicate with them. Speak softly but carry a huge stick. Go in with eyes ears and brains open and closed hearts. Emotions should never enter the picture. Leave the “mere dushman mere bhai” sentiments to the idiots from Bollywood.

In the interim, what do we do about the remaining Hindus in Pakistan? Or for that matter Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and elsewhere? For that I propose the Israel model. India is the only country for Hindus, political secularism aside. We can migrate to the west but at the end of the day, it is the only place for us. For the Hindus of the world, we should open our borders. If they can establish their ancestral roots in India, then they should be welcomed with open arms. India should be the lighthouse for the Hindus who are lost at sea. This goes double for our hapless brothers and sisters from Pakistan. GoI should not only let them live here but also help them make a life here.

The following articles are of interest:

http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2010/09/pakistani-history-textbooks.html

http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-how-pakistani-textbooks-pollute-innocent-minds/20111116.htm

http://zeenews.india.com/news/south-asia/three-hindus-killed-in-pakistan_740551.html

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/86879/unwilling-return.html

Let Modi Campaign in UP

In any organization, there are those who rise because of hard work and capability. Then there are those who rise on charm, oratory and proximity to the right people. The latter may do very well but will never ever earn the respect of the middle to lower level leaders and grassroots workers. That is because the respect has to be earned. It does not come with the post. That is why you would find the latter kind are disciples of Machiavelli who famously said: It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. The Gandhi family is that way. The BJP also have their share of these false prophets. You have people like Arun Jaitley in top positions despite of never having won any election personally. Whenever he has been in charge of a BJP campaign in a state election, the results have been less than pretty. Then we have Nitin Gadkari who seems to be the BJP’s poor answer Digvijay Singh (there is no one like Digvijay Singh) who seems to be busy shooting of his mouth instead of making good decisions in a quite and effective manner.

As far as the former kind are concerned, I have been telling my friend Swami Thambi that at the end of the day no matter what the perceived baggage, Bhai Narendra Modi is the tallest leader the BJP has. He has earned the respect of the middle and lower tier leaders along with the workers. He has done that by being a performer and a winner. During the elections in Bihar, the party workers wanted him to campaign. Of course Nitish Kumar who still has pretensions of being a secular leader snubbed him. Now in UP which is the most crucial reaction facing the BJP, the local leaders and workers want Modi to campaign. However, Gadkari is not only keeping him out but have made a Modi baiter in charge of UP elections even though the man has little to do with UP. Gadkari is justifying this with the elusive Muslim votes in mind. As per a report this is what a BJP MLA from eastern UP said:

"Are the Muslims dying to vote the BJP? Modi has a tremendous ability to motivate our cadres, our hard-core backers and even some of the floating voters. He's an asset."

Though dripping with sarcasm, the statement rings true. Muslims in Gujarat may vote for Modi because then benefit from him directly. However, Muslims in the rest of the country are a brainwashed lot thanks to the efforts of the pseudo secular politicians, media and their own leaders. THEY WILL NEVER EVER VOTE FOR THE BJP. That is why the BJP should try to mobilize their Hindu base and ensure a maximization of Hindu votes in their favor. Who better to mobilize that base than Modi? That should be more than enough to capture UP or any other state. Gadkari should worry more about the party’s success and less about his own fat ego. I hope that he does not end up cutting his nose to spite his face.

BJP fails to finalize candidates' list for UP

“A sulking Katiyar is not the only problem. A debate has begun on whether Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi would be enlisted in the campaign. Gadkari — who virtually snapped communication with Modi after the Gujarat chief minister did not attend the BJP's last national executive—reportedly told confidants that he would be a "liability" in a state with close to 20 per cent Muslim population.”

Rahul, Mayawati Aur UP Ka Tamasha

Mayawati has to win UP elections next year. The post of CM gives her power to manipulate the UP polity to her advantage in 2014. She needs her 35 plus MPs for her political survival and staying out of jail. I am sure she does not want to suffer like Jagan Reddy. The UPA already has her tied neatly to the Taj Corridor scam. Of course the way she has run UP, scams are not going to be hard to unearth to implicate her. That is why she is going to do whatever it takes to win next year. No trick is too cheap. No low is too low to achieve. She is a master manipulator of caste politics. Just like Lalloo Yadav was in his heydays. She has wrestled the Dalit-Muslim-Brahmin votebank from the Congress. While she was busy building parks in her honor, some of her flock went astray. She has now started to work on bringing them home. Her latest cheap trick is to promise reservation for the upper caste poor. Wow! The slice of the pie for qualified people continues to get smaller and smaller. How the hell is one going to qualify for being upper caste poor? What is upper caste? Of course the logistics are unimportant because all this is an election ploy, never to be implemented. She just has to make it believable enough for the ignorant voter to fall for it. Similar tricks and social engineering has already begun in her camp.

On the Congress side, Rahul Gandhi has failed miserably whichever state election he has managed. So miserable has been his performance that even Digviajy Singh has denied being his mentor. Inside reports have indicated that the senior Congressmen find him “un-coachable”. For him to have any fair claim over the throne, he has to have Congress do well in UP next year. The cost of failure would be an abject loss of credibility amongst the non-family-loyal Congress personnel, the number of whom seems to be growing. Of course, he hopes that the victory in UP will lead to a Congress comeback in 2014. They need the lion’s share of the 80 plus MPs from UP. They have already bungled up their chances in Andhra. Haryana is no longer a sure bet. NCP is flexing their muscle in Maharashtra. Skeletons after skeletons keep stumbling out of the Congress closet in Rajasthan. You see, UP is extremely important for Rahul’s survival as a viable Congress leader. Just like Mayawati, the Congress are also not going to stop from using all and every means to win UP next year.

The BJP need to win in UP because the loss of Hindi heartland has essentially relegated them to the opposition benches forever. To win they have sought the help of Uma Bharati who was brought back from a “van-vaas”. She is suppose to attract the Lodh community votes. Apparently those votes are like the Lingayat community votes in Karnataka. Of course, the BJP who are known to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory are still haunted by the specter of Advani who is refusing to go away. I am sure they will find some way of losing in UP again.

Of course sensing the advantageous position they are in, the UP Muslims have started to clamor for reservation for Muslim Dalits. Isn’t a term like Muslim dalit a contradiction in terms? Are not all Muslims same? By branding some of their flock as dalit, are they not going against tenets of their Prophet? Of course, even the hypocrisy of Indian Muslim leadership fails to explain it all.

We on this blog have always felt that the large number of MP’s from UP make it a prize big enough for political parties to find more corrupt and sleazier ways to win it. As we can see it, the tamasha in UP has already begun. We need to take care lest we shake our heads in disgust so much that we get whiplashes.

Of course we can always pray to Bholenath that the UP voters have their Bihar moment next year. After all, our Bihari brothers and sisters threw out lalloo. I am sure the UP voters can do the same for the future of their children. Their's is already ruined.

Modi In China. Manmohan In Maldives.

The US denied Narendra Modi entry into the country. The State Department got bullied by the liberals. China received Modi. They don’t care about liberals. They care about business. They received Modi as they would a leader of stature. Of course with the Chinese involved, I always get suspicious. But the is not the point here. The points in my view are as follows.

1. The mainstream media ignored Modi’s visit even though it bothered the hell out of the leftists. After all how can their grand daddy be nice to a vile man such as Modi!! Anything that bothers the leftists must be OK. This is what was said in a blog on Rediff: In fact, actor Shabana Azmi, known for close Leftist links, is said to have called up a senior Left leader to find out whether they were doing something about it. She was, of course, told that Modi’s visit was something between two governments and Indian Communists should make no noise. The Left’s unstated irritation is that, despite being targeted by them for the 2002 riots, Modi managed to impress his hosts

2. The visit bothered the liberal rag, Times of India which was expecting him to abandon his Hindu nationalistic ideology in favor of Chinese business. Much to their surprise / chagrin Modi spoke clearly about the Chinese army’s presence in PoK and Pakistani perfidy amongst other seemingly contentious issues. This is a remarkable departure from the usual timid Indian response to the Chinese. Now there is a leader with guts and gumption.

3. Bengal used to be the most prosperous and industry driven state. That was before the commies took over. Now it is a shell of its former self. Going from 224,132 man-days lost because of strikes in 2001 and lockouts in 53 establishments in the same year, Gujarat by 2010 had a mere 41,128 man-days lost and 18 strikes and lockouts.
Of course this stat does not include the strikes backed by the commies in the rest of the country. Who can forget the all India Bandh called by the commies during the UPA-1 when they were in power. I don’t even know how many man-hours were lost.

4. The list of proposals from China for Gujarat is very impressive. It is such that one can start talking about Sino-Gujarat ties rather than Sino-India ties. Now the delusional leftists would give the credit to the hard working Gujaratis but the fact remains that the Gujaratis have always been hardworking. They have never had a leader of Modi’s caliber. Now they are shining. It is really refreshing that Bhai Narendra Modi is not depending upon the central government for foreign businesses. He is bringing in investments despite of them. In fact what he is doing for his state should be a model for what should be done for India.

5. However, if you compare his visit with Manmohan Singh’s visit to the Malidives. You will really wonder why we have Singh as a PM and not Modi. Singh committed one blunder after another. Not to be outdone by his boss, SM Krishna who was only too happy to shake Hina Rabbani Khar’s hand showed clearly that Indian Foreign Ministry has fallen for the Pakistani ploys of getting India off their backs while they deal with the US pressures and drone attacks.

The importance of Narendra Modi's visit to China
The success of Gujarat has today put it in a place where it can negotiate and navigate international relations of direct economic consequence to it without being held back by the timidity in New Delhi, says Shashi Shekhar.

Narendra Modi in Beijing, tells China 'Pakistan is making use of you'
Modi also questioned the wisdom of a Chinese transformer maker, TBEA, displaying a wrong map of India at a function in New Delhi, which resulted in a sharp exchange of words between a journalist and Chinese ambassador in India, Zhang Yan. Gujarat government is worried about the controversy because it has signed a Rs 2500-crore contract with the Chinese company.

Here is the article about the leftist response to Modi's visit.

Andhra Pradesh: Congress’ Cash Cow

When it comes to bribing politicians, it is a prudent policy to bribe both sides. So to think that the Reddy brothers were sharing their loot with the BJP brass in Karnataka is completely wrong. Some of the money had to have gone to the other side. It turns out that a lot of money was given to YSR Reddy. His son is getting investigated for very large amount of money which was given to the family by Reddy brothers.

If you look at the richest MPs in India, most of them come from Andhra and all of them belong to Congress. Most of them are in real estate. It smells, don’t you think? Don’t you think these guys do contribute to the Congress coffers? After all, the Congress spent over 400 crores in the 2009 general elections. That amount of money cannot be anyone’s hard earned cash. For the Congress, Andhra has been a state which gives them the most MPs and money. A true cash cow indeed!

Wikipedia cables showed that the corruption in Andhra during YSR’s days was higher than the rest of the country. That, folks, should tell you something. YSR, Jagan and Vijayamma, with Hindu sounding names, tilak on the forehead, saffron string (known by various names in different states) on their wrists while displaying obscenely large cross on their obscenely expensive home have been taking the Andhra aam aadmi for a ride all these years. They would still be enjoying their loot if they had toed the Gandhi family line. After all they were a source of money and are Christians. Who would wish them ill in Congress. Yet, some boneheaded moves later, Jagan is finding himself on the defensive. Right thing is happening for the wrong reason. I hope the Andhra voters are watching this closely and will reject these criminal demagogues.

In case of his arrest, Jagan has Plan B ready!
Jagan has told his party workers that in case he is arrested, they should ensure that a large number of Congress MLAs defect to his party. His mother Vijayamma will lead the party in his absence. Vijayamma has a personal connection with many Congress MLAs dating back to the days when her husband, the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy , was leading the party. Vijayamma's presence at the helm of affairs may prompt as many as 20 YSR loyalists to leave the Congress and join Jagan's party. These candidates were handpicked by YSR and he had campaigned extensively for them before the polls. Vijayamma had been present at her husband's side during these campaigns and she shares a special bond with them.
The article can be read at:http://www.rediff.com/news/report/in-case-of-his-arrest-jagan-has-plan-b-ready!/20111104.htm

Graft during YSR rule in AP was above norm in India: US cableShare
A leaked diplomatic cable dispatched by the US consul general in Chennai in 2007 had nailed the then Congress government in Andhra Pradesh, headed by Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, for "widespread corruption that was beyond the pale" even for India. In the name of social programmes targeted at common man, the YSR government had engaged in corruption 'beyond the norm for India,' Wikileaks said, quoting the cable. The YSR government's 'flagship programmes' – construction of irrigation projects and houses for weaker sections – were beset with corruption even as Rajasekhara Reddy used the populist spending programmes to great political effect, the cable said.
"Typically, five to seven per cent is lost to corruption, but in Reddy's irrigation programme that figure is more like 15 to 20 per cent," he said. While the housing programme will cost $4 to 6 billion, the irrigation programme costs more than $11 billion over five years on 26 major irrigation projects, the US cable said.
The article can be read at : http://www.indianexpress.com/news/graft-during-ysr-rule-in-ap-was-above-norm-in-india-us-cable/846643/0

What If Narendra Modi Says “Sky Is Blue”?

Normally we do not refer to other blogs but one of them caught my eye which flummoxed me. The author seems to suggest that Mamta Banerjee needs to learn from Jayalalitha. The article has been written in the wake of a large number of infant moralities in Poschim Bongo hospitals. The author says the following:

One wonders whether Mamata can learn a tip or two from Jayalalithaa — at least when it come to governance. When children die in Bengal hospitals, Mamata can’t think of anything but blame the Marxists! But look at Jayalalithaa. Her politics of putting down her political rivals, the DMK, also includes creating better hospital care in Tamil Nadu!
Jayalalithaa on November2 announced that the modern Anna centenary library in Chennai, a multi-crore project of the earlier DMK government, will be converted into a super speciality paediatric hospital. The library would shift to a new integrated intellectual park to be housed in an alternative site in the city.

The is giving way too much credit to Jayalalitha. After all who has forgotten her own financial transgressions. She is not an honest person. Of course compared to the DMK crew, she is a light weight, thus lesser of the two evils and hence elected. When it comes to Mamta B, we have repeatedly written on this blog that she is great in an opposition position but not in the ruling seat. She is a rabble rouser who thrives on blaming others. All of her administrative moves have not shown any initiative, imagination or decisiveness. She is good at blackmailing the UPA into giving her state money and state run projects for job creation. She can blame the Commies now but soon she will have to own up to the status quo in the state.

Coming back to Jayalalitha and her so called good governance, she is no statesperson or even a leader. She is as corrupt as any of the politicians and as vain as Mayawati. But she does know what works and what will get her re-elected. She is taking pages out of Nitish Kumar’s books. But to her credit, she is unabashedly emulating Bhai Narendra Modi. She does not shy away from associating herself with him as opposed to the pseudo secular crowd who would treat the plague better than they would Modi. Mamta Banerjee should learn from Modi just like Jayalalitha. The blogger who wrote the article in question seems to have overlooked that.

So what if Narendra Modi said that the sky was blue? Will the pseudo secular crowd dispute that? The point is, our religion and culture encourages adopting wisdom no matter what the source. Modi is doing a lot of good things for his state. Don’t t bring the man down. Study his methods. Adopt his methods. Adopt his policies. Emulate his work ethics. Put your own state on a path to success. People of India deserve that. What they do not deserve is dealing with petty egos of corrupt politicians.

One would have thought that all the education that our PM has had, he would be above the usual Congress / regional party / liberal churlishness. But an article by the intrepid Kanchan Gupta suggests otherwise. It seems that Modi was the head of the Working Group on Consumer Affairs with the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as other members. As Mr. Gupta says:

The committee was set up in April 2010 to suggest ways and means of holding the price line for essential commodities. By early this year, the report was finalised and it has been gathering dust in some corner of the Prime Minister’s Office for the past six months. It’s not a voluminous report crammed with senseless data and meaningless jargon. That’s not Mr Modi’s style. It’s a slim report which lists 20 recommendations with 64 detailed actionable points for their expeditious implementation.

If you read Mr. Gupta’s article, you will realize that the suggestions are eminently possible to adopt and implement. However, because it comes from Modi, it has been cast aside. Probably thrown in trash. Food prices have gone up so much that one cannot even make jokes about it. Forget the much talked Indian prosperity trickling down to the aam aadmi. Let them at least get one proper meal a day. How about a little heart and compassion? People making Rs 32 are not even being considered poor. Being a poor in India is worse than being a criminal because life has become a punishment.

Mr. PM, if implementing Mr. Modi’s suggestions can alleviate some of that pain, please – in the name of all things good, adopt them. Alleviating hunger would make for a better legacy than chasing the mirage of a friendship with the Pakistanis.

The blog about Mamta B and Jayalalitha can be read at:http://blogs.rediff.com/dillichaat/2011/11/02/why-cant-mamata-learn-from-jayalalithaa/

KanchanGupta’s op-ed can be read at:http://www.dailypioneer.com/component/content/article/400-coffee-break/16472-namo-proposes-pm-disposes.html

Indian F1 Circuit and Bhagwan Buddh

Leave it to the BBC and foreigners to lament Indian poverty and pose this question: How will the Grand Prix change India? We leave it to them because it is too painful for us to search for an honest answer. I will step forward with my two paisas and say that it will change nothing for the aam aadmi. The cost of this abomination is $400 million dollars. It was made on land which was taken from landowners who were compensated well. However, the poor landless farmers who used to work on that land are now out of a job. The last race is over. Indian glitterati have had their fun. Bharat Ratnas like Sachin Tendulkar (who recently moved into a modest 70 crore house) was there as well. Metallica, Lady Gaga and Shahrukh Khan had a ball. But now what?

The car circuit was made under Behenji Mayawati’s care. She named it after Bhagwan Buddh. Yes. The same guy who was of the opinion that:

“Greed is one of the Three Poisons that lead to evil (akusala) and that bind us to suffering (dukkha). It also is one of the Five Hindrances to enlightenment.”

Is it not ironic that such a testament to greed and ego was named after a man whose teachings are an exact opposite. But what can we expect from a woman who has a private road to office, has seven cooks, two tasters, shoes flown in on private planes and an obscene amount of wealth. We have a park costing hundreds of crores opened in the name of dalit pride and a car racing circuit in the name of divine man of peace and extreme enlightenment. One could choke on this kind of irony.

While something of this sort is expected from our politicians, what does it say about the people who paid Rs 2500 to watch cars burn fossil fuel at an extremely high rate. If the foreigners can see the dichotomy of having an F1 circuit and poverty outside why can we not see it? Have we become numb to it? Have we accepted it as part of our lives and national landscape? Because if we have then the solution to this problem will elude us and it will continue to grow until it engulfs us all.

How will the Grand Prix change India?
By Andrew North BBC South Asia Correspondent, Delhi
Proof, says Vijay Mallya, the billionaire co-owner of India's F1 team, of the growing disposable income of India's "aspirational middle class".The private Indian company, Jaypee International, has been trumpeting its success in getting the new Buddh International Circuit, as it is known, outside Delhi, ready on time. Jaypee chairman Jaiprakash Gaur predicts the Grand Prix will banish "the shameful memories" of the chaos and corruption that marred last year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi. "The world's perception of India is going to change after the Grand Prix," he promises. Critics fear it is just another sign of India's wealthy elite getting ever further ahead of the rest. "This is polo for the new generation," says Ashis Nandy, an academic and social commentator, describing the millions being spent on the Grand Prix race as an "utter waste" and "totally insensitive" - with the majority of Indians living on less than a dollar a day."Why does the international media keep focusing on the poor part of India," complains Formula 1 team owner Vijay Mallya.

We Are Falling For Old Pakistani Tricks

An Indian chopper strays into Pakistan and they return it along with the senior officials in it without much problems. Pakistan opens up a temple in Peshawar. Pakistan allows their Hindus to celebrate Diwali. Hints were dropped about Pakistan granting India the “most favored nation” treatment (as if our economy depends upon the paki trade!). News like this is catnip to the liberal pseudo secular crowd in India. They along with the south block have already started to chill the champagne. Have these idiots ever thought of why all this is happening? Why are these people who would rather see us roasted alive in a closed train compartment, started to have a change of heart? I will tell you why?

This is because the US is putting extraordinary pressure on Pakistan from the western borders with incessant drone attacks, forces build up and diplomatic. Pakistanis are incapable of dealing with pressure from two sides that is why they have decided to keep the Indians at bay by being nice to them. The wily pakis know that the Indian pseudo secular lobby always falls for their pseudo overtures like Pavlovian dogs. The pakis are going to say all the right things and ensure that we are not attacked by their terrorists while they are dealing with the Americans. Of course after that pressure has been dealt with (US forces out of Afghanistan), they will resume bleeding us. We are falling for such obvious tricks for the umpteenth time. Shame on us!!
In fact now is the time to bring some more pressure on the pakis and then negotiate (if at all). But that is a move which requires guts and foresight, somethings our leaders lack sorely. That compounded with votebank politics and an inexplicable love for the pakis, leads us to make disastrous foreign policy decisions. When it comes to pakis, we hope that the problems will go away on their own, somehow the paki army and terrorists will abandon hate for India and we will then descend on a Bollywood movie set and sing “Kumbaya” or “Chammak Challo”. Yes all our foreign policy towards pakis is based on hope and nothing else. At least with China we have a Look East policy even though for the most part we take the cowards way out by sweeping the Chinese transgressions under our collective “khatiyas”.

In an e-conversation with an obviously angry friend of the blog Vidur Sarthi I got the following from him. I am sure that you will agree with him.

There is something in MEA that makes the whole establishment subtly and sometimes overtly anti US as the heritage of NAM and Nehruvian influence of socialist utopia. the real evil lies with the congress party that has of late sees in the Muslim vote bank the key issue of survival. in addition , i have NEVER figured out what is India's foreign policy - we are not friends even with our tiny SAARC neighbours with the Chinese controlling them.... ! sometimes I wonder if it is in our Hindu genes - we never go beyond the four V's - vichar , vimarshan , vishlayshan and vimochan !! our entire pak policy is reactive - with Pakistan always setting the agenda including the latest report of condi rice in which it was the pakis who set the agenda by putting the scare and the rumor of India attacking ! just imagine the entire NATO and the US buying into the Paki fear of encirclement by India and Afghanistan !
Frankly speaking I cannot believe that the Paks have again got away following Mullen outburst ! as my pak friend says , you Hindus are nice guys , you always let us get away even though you catch us pants down just as in Kargil and in 1971 -- we then feared that India would capture certain portion in the west and would vacate if we gave up claims on POK !!
And the BJP is another myopic party that does not know how to capitalize for fear of being called a radical party and losing out on the Muslim votes not realizing that they get nothing anyway! By pretending and presenting as modestly moderate , they lose even those votes that would go to them if they showed some strongly calibrated aggression - but there is no spine - how can there be if it is still letting the 80 plus year man to do their Ratha Yatra !

Clearly and overhaul of our policies is needed. That will not happen on the watch of such Paki-philes as Manmohan Singh.

An excellent article on the subject by Mr. G Parthasarthy can be read at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/pioneer-news/edit/15995-pakistan-plays-a-double-game.html