BJP must really learn the art of being brazen in face of accusation from the Congress Party. If a finger of criticism is ever pointed towards BJP it immediately withdraws into the shell. On the other hand Congress party reacts quite the opposite. It becomes more shameless in the face of accusations. I guess this is important political difference between the two.
Offcourse it helps the Congress that the media is partisan. Just how much noise would Times of India had made or how incessantly NDTV would have damned the BJP if they had done what Congress did recently is anybody's guess. NDTV is not even discussing these issues is just an obvious indicator of who's mouth-piece it really is.
By the way i was talking of Congress's blatant involvement in CBI's functioning and it's doublespeak on the same subject.
No point in elaborating on this as is evident from the reports that i am just about to paste here.
That Congress is shameless is taken. But just how smoothly they operate in the Indian democratic context is something someone should seriously consider studying. When it suits them they talk of big words like Democracy and Constitution and all that. When it hurts they simply show the middle finger.
Way to go !
http://inwww.rediff.com/newshound/showarticle.htm?rediffid=http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=118520
http://www.samachar.com/showurl.htm?rurl=http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front%5Fpage&file_name=story1%2Etxt&counter_img=1?headline=Storm~over~Govt~letter~to~CBI,~Parliament~adjourned
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Sunday, February 12, 2006
24-Karat crap
Prakash Karat says CPI(M) is making efforts to form a third political front as an alternative to the Congress party and the BJP.
This third [class] front will have parties like FB,SJP,RJD,TDP,DMK et al. Big yawn!
Hasn't this been tried several times already? And look at the names of all those parties. Those TDPs and SJPs and DMKs and I guess all possible alphabets of English language have been exhausted by these political parties. I guess since more and more political parties are coming into play there will be a shortage of acronyms soon and may be we will have parties called XYZ or PQR or something of that sort, soon.
Third Front , ya right! How about making some positive contribution to Indian economy for a change Mr. Karat?
This third [class] front will have parties like FB,SJP,RJD,TDP,DMK et al. Big yawn!
Hasn't this been tried several times already? And look at the names of all those parties. Those TDPs and SJPs and DMKs and I guess all possible alphabets of English language have been exhausted by these political parties. I guess since more and more political parties are coming into play there will be a shortage of acronyms soon and may be we will have parties called XYZ or PQR or something of that sort, soon.
Third Front , ya right! How about making some positive contribution to Indian economy for a change Mr. Karat?
Saturday, February 11, 2006
George Fernandes
I have chosen George Fernandes as my second unsung hero for multiple reasons. It would be clear why i consider him as a hero in the first place, or at all, in the following passage.
We are in a media-driven era where media houses like NDTV and 'The Hindu' decide for us who should be the Heroes and who should be damned as villians. Naturally if we go by NDTV's judgement, George Fernandes will be India's biggest villian after Narendra Modi. And by the same judgement we should consider Sonia Gandhi as India's greatest person since after all NDTV decided that she was the -"Indian" of the year.
But leaving aside for the time being what Prannoy Roy wants us to believe or what Vinod Mehta feels about George Fernandes or for that matter all the (pseudo) social-fashionable-intellectual-liberals combined have an opinion about Fernandes, let's just focus on the individual himself. Let us analyse his journey from a rebel-bomb-throwing-socialist to being the defense minister of India.
Fernandes was born in a poor Christian family in Karnataka. There are stories of how he was a born rebel and how at some point of time he even went against the Church's priest. Stories of how he was responsible for orchestrating India's most devastating Railway strike and how he was detained by the Indira Gandhi government for carrying explosives. How he went underground during the Emergency and how he started a campaign against Coca-Cola.
All these legends about Fernandes that occured when my generation was not even born, tell us something about this person. It tells us about Fernandes's passion and about his convictions. That he is fearless in his acts. Some may call it foolish or non-pragmatic but Fernandes has always been called that. Specially by people sipping juice on their arm-chairs in air-conditioned rooms.
When George Fernandes, a christian by birth, joined hands with the "right-wing","communal" BJP many were surprised. Specially the NDTV kinds who always painted BJP as a pervert/vulgur/fundamentalist outfit. NDTV studios became uncomfortable with the idea of the two joining hands. NDTV ensured that whatever came out from George Fernandes mouth would be twisted out of context and thus Fernandes over the period of time was labelled "controversial". And off course the [Congress sponsored] Tehelka "scandal" ensured the taint forever.
Notwithstanding NDTV's prejudices, Indian Arm Forces had after a long gap got a man of substance who they could count on. Fernandes , during the Kargil war, personally went to the battlefield and met the soldiers, a gesture that won him iconic status in the hearts of jawans. He's arguably the most popular defense minister till date. It's a testimony of his integrity and honesty that Vajpayee continued to restore faith in him even after the Tehelka episode. His integrity was never in doubt amongst the soldiers, and i guess in the end that is what mattered.
Facing relentless onslaught by the media outside the parliament and gross humiliation by Congress and Marxists inside the parliament , George continued doing his work with unaltered passion. He never used short cuts to gain favours with the media. Like Modi he was on media's hotlist all the time. But he woudn't budge. Not an inch. By completing his full term and quite successfully at that he single handedly scored a major moral victory over his adversaries.
Today Mr. Fernandes is keeping the fight against the monarchy [read Gandhi family] on. The flame is burning and he is not stopping at 76. Even at this age his passion and energy can give younger politicians a run for their money.
Fernandes was instrumental in dislodging Lalu from Bihar. And if not for anything the people of India owe him big for this effort of his.
The media created "coffin scandal" and the Tehelka damaged his reputation beyond redemption. But people of conviction and strong will power do not give up. They keep on going. And GF continued.
I always believe in a simple thumb rule. If Communists hate something than it must be good for the country. They hate privatisation. They hate economic reforms. They hate America. They hate Indian army. They hate Infosys/Wipro/TCS. They hate IT boom and they hate that Indian government is giving tax benefits to middle class.
And yes. They hate George Fernandes.
Sadly like Narsimha Rao, George Fernandes won't have many positive tributes written about him, since most of the media commentators follow [blindly] the unwritten diktats of NDTV et al. But that is what makes these two people so special. Just because Indian media houses painted a sad picture of these two men, I personally would do my own two cents of "rebellion", if you will. And yes, flow against the conventional wisdom.
George Fernandes is not the most conventional hero one can present to any audience. But ask an Army men what he meant and you'd be surprised. And that was what his job was. He was responsible towards the army men. And that job, he performed like no one.Like a true Hero.
References - 1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1223625.stm
2] http://siafdu.tripod.com/fernandes.html
We are in a media-driven era where media houses like NDTV and 'The Hindu' decide for us who should be the Heroes and who should be damned as villians. Naturally if we go by NDTV's judgement, George Fernandes will be India's biggest villian after Narendra Modi. And by the same judgement we should consider Sonia Gandhi as India's greatest person since after all NDTV decided that she was the -"Indian" of the year.
But leaving aside for the time being what Prannoy Roy wants us to believe or what Vinod Mehta feels about George Fernandes or for that matter all the (pseudo) social-fashionable-intellectual-liberals combined have an opinion about Fernandes, let's just focus on the individual himself. Let us analyse his journey from a rebel-bomb-throwing-socialist to being the defense minister of India.
Fernandes was born in a poor Christian family in Karnataka. There are stories of how he was a born rebel and how at some point of time he even went against the Church's priest. Stories of how he was responsible for orchestrating India's most devastating Railway strike and how he was detained by the Indira Gandhi government for carrying explosives. How he went underground during the Emergency and how he started a campaign against Coca-Cola.
All these legends about Fernandes that occured when my generation was not even born, tell us something about this person. It tells us about Fernandes's passion and about his convictions. That he is fearless in his acts. Some may call it foolish or non-pragmatic but Fernandes has always been called that. Specially by people sipping juice on their arm-chairs in air-conditioned rooms.
When George Fernandes, a christian by birth, joined hands with the "right-wing","communal" BJP many were surprised. Specially the NDTV kinds who always painted BJP as a pervert/vulgur/fundamentalist outfit. NDTV studios became uncomfortable with the idea of the two joining hands. NDTV ensured that whatever came out from George Fernandes mouth would be twisted out of context and thus Fernandes over the period of time was labelled "controversial". And off course the [Congress sponsored] Tehelka "scandal" ensured the taint forever.
Notwithstanding NDTV's prejudices, Indian Arm Forces had after a long gap got a man of substance who they could count on. Fernandes , during the Kargil war, personally went to the battlefield and met the soldiers, a gesture that won him iconic status in the hearts of jawans. He's arguably the most popular defense minister till date. It's a testimony of his integrity and honesty that Vajpayee continued to restore faith in him even after the Tehelka episode. His integrity was never in doubt amongst the soldiers, and i guess in the end that is what mattered.
Facing relentless onslaught by the media outside the parliament and gross humiliation by Congress and Marxists inside the parliament , George continued doing his work with unaltered passion. He never used short cuts to gain favours with the media. Like Modi he was on media's hotlist all the time. But he woudn't budge. Not an inch. By completing his full term and quite successfully at that he single handedly scored a major moral victory over his adversaries.
Today Mr. Fernandes is keeping the fight against the monarchy [read Gandhi family] on. The flame is burning and he is not stopping at 76. Even at this age his passion and energy can give younger politicians a run for their money.
Fernandes was instrumental in dislodging Lalu from Bihar. And if not for anything the people of India owe him big for this effort of his.
The media created "coffin scandal" and the Tehelka damaged his reputation beyond redemption. But people of conviction and strong will power do not give up. They keep on going. And GF continued.
I always believe in a simple thumb rule. If Communists hate something than it must be good for the country. They hate privatisation. They hate economic reforms. They hate America. They hate Indian army. They hate Infosys/Wipro/TCS. They hate IT boom and they hate that Indian government is giving tax benefits to middle class.
And yes. They hate George Fernandes.
Sadly like Narsimha Rao, George Fernandes won't have many positive tributes written about him, since most of the media commentators follow [blindly] the unwritten diktats of NDTV et al. But that is what makes these two people so special. Just because Indian media houses painted a sad picture of these two men, I personally would do my own two cents of "rebellion", if you will. And yes, flow against the conventional wisdom.
George Fernandes is not the most conventional hero one can present to any audience. But ask an Army men what he meant and you'd be surprised. And that was what his job was. He was responsible towards the army men. And that job, he performed like no one.Like a true Hero.
References - 1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1223625.stm
2] http://siafdu.tripod.com/fernandes.html
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
What's hot and what's not
This is February 2006. And Ipod Nano is hot but Bush policy on Iraq is Not. BrokeBack Mountain has 8 Oscar nominations and Steelers just won their first Super Bowl in more than a decade. The Communists are making life hell in India and Mulayam and Amar can't handle Raj Babbar's tantrums. Desperate Housewives is the new Sex and the City and Ekta Kapoor still holds sway over the Indian cable skies.
Techies cannot have enough of BlackBerry.
Cartoons and protests are making headlines. New York Times has just refused to join issues with it's European friends.
Indian cricket team is more or less resigned to it's defeat in it's tour of Pakistan. India's 5th series defeat at it's arch rival's hands.
Mani Shankar Iyer has been kicked off from Ministry and BJP has made a back-door entry in Karantaka power house. Communists continue to pursue privatisation in their home state of West Bengal while opposing the same for India.
just mindless musings for nothing.!
Techies cannot have enough of BlackBerry.
Cartoons and protests are making headlines. New York Times has just refused to join issues with it's European friends.
Indian cricket team is more or less resigned to it's defeat in it's tour of Pakistan. India's 5th series defeat at it's arch rival's hands.
Mani Shankar Iyer has been kicked off from Ministry and BJP has made a back-door entry in Karantaka power house. Communists continue to pursue privatisation in their home state of West Bengal while opposing the same for India.
just mindless musings for nothing.!
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Left with nothing
It was dual shock for the Leftists this week. The Airport employees called off their strike after "assurances" from the PM and India voted against Iran in Security Council. What does left have to say now ? It will be interesting to note. But my guess is they will eat their humble pie. They will make some token noises but nothing much. They cannot afford to loose this government. This is their golden period where they can make noises and yet remain unaccountable. They are are a masters of nuisance.
Swapan Das Gupta - brilliant as he is - smacks the left wonderfully well in this article in Pioneer
Embarrassing Leftovers
Swapan Dasgupta
Judged purely by inches of column space in newspapers and minutes of footage on television, the past seven days has been truly momentous for the Left. From the kerfuffle over Iran's nuclear programme to the stinking lavatories in India's airports, the Left has intruded into the public consciousness more effectively than at any time since the Chinese invasion in 1962. And what interventions!
It began with the Karats and Yechuris threatening socialist retribution if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh succumbed to US pressure and voted at the IAEA to refer Iran to the Security Council. In the backdrop of the outrage over US Ambassador David Mulford's indiscretion, the Government was understandably nervous and anxious not to be seen as an American supplicant. It didn't matter that India's national security would be horribly jeopardised by Iran conferring an Islamic depth to Pakistan's rogue nuclear programme. It was the stability and coherence of the UPA Government that was deemed paramount. By that incredibly short-sighted logic, there was just no way India could be seen siding with the US and the European Union.
Then the miracle happened. A meeting of the five-member nuclear club (P-5) in London decided the twaddle of the bit players was becoming insufferable and it was best to deal with the Iranian crisis through the UN Security Council. That way international diplomacy could devote its energies attending to the problem rather than having to lend an ear to either a dithering India or a completely insane Venezuela.
For the Prime Minister, the news from London came as a breather for his non-eventful press conference last Wednesday. However, it left the Reds stupefied. How could the Communists be seen to be opposing an arrangement that had been sanctioned by China? Emerging from what was billed as a make-or-break meeting with the Prime Minister, Sitaram Yechuri could only blabber incoherently about Russia still insisting on a dialogue with Iran. Gone was the fire and missing were the threats. It could well have been a throwback to August 1939 when Stalin unexpectedly negotiated a non-aggression pact with Hitler. Then, the relentless war against fascism abruptly became the "imperialist" war.
The Communists have repeatedly disclaimed their extra-territorial loyalties. Yet, if anyone took their pronouncements of patriotism seriously, they have to merely look at the way the Red guns in India were silenced on the Iran issue to judge for themselves. If it was in India's national interests to keep the Iran issue in the bureaucratic muddle of the IAEA, things should not have altered because China changed tack. Whose national interests were the Comrades upholding?
The battle in the airports was a convenient diversion, with Comrades simulating the war on barricades. Privatisation not now, never, became the chant of the public sector aristocracy, led by the Communist unions. As a dress rehearsal of a genteel insurrection, the harassment of passengers was quite effective. Coming as it did at the height of the tourist season, the Left managed to give Incredible India a new, unexpected meaning.
The timing was also perfect because it provided a smokescreen over a brazen act of crony capitalism. Since highlighting the manipulative bidding process ran the risk of being seen to be opposed to the much-needed modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports, the non-Left parties preferred silence.
Ultimately, it was all-round public outrage that forced the Left to eat humble pie and relegate a political strike against privatisation to a pedestrian issue of seeking assurances against retrenchment. Those Airports Authority of India employees who struck work with such enthusiasm must have by now gauged that were used as cannon fodder in a game of extortion. After the strike collapses, we would probably have seen the last of trade union belligerence at the airports for a long time. Has anyone heard a squeak from Gurgaon after the Left cried hoarse over the police beating of Honda workers last July?
The conclusions are inescapable. Left politics in India doesn't stem from conviction; it flows out of collateral considerations.
Swapan Das Gupta - brilliant as he is - smacks the left wonderfully well in this article in Pioneer
Embarrassing Leftovers
Swapan Dasgupta
Judged purely by inches of column space in newspapers and minutes of footage on television, the past seven days has been truly momentous for the Left. From the kerfuffle over Iran's nuclear programme to the stinking lavatories in India's airports, the Left has intruded into the public consciousness more effectively than at any time since the Chinese invasion in 1962. And what interventions!
It began with the Karats and Yechuris threatening socialist retribution if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh succumbed to US pressure and voted at the IAEA to refer Iran to the Security Council. In the backdrop of the outrage over US Ambassador David Mulford's indiscretion, the Government was understandably nervous and anxious not to be seen as an American supplicant. It didn't matter that India's national security would be horribly jeopardised by Iran conferring an Islamic depth to Pakistan's rogue nuclear programme. It was the stability and coherence of the UPA Government that was deemed paramount. By that incredibly short-sighted logic, there was just no way India could be seen siding with the US and the European Union.
Then the miracle happened. A meeting of the five-member nuclear club (P-5) in London decided the twaddle of the bit players was becoming insufferable and it was best to deal with the Iranian crisis through the UN Security Council. That way international diplomacy could devote its energies attending to the problem rather than having to lend an ear to either a dithering India or a completely insane Venezuela.
For the Prime Minister, the news from London came as a breather for his non-eventful press conference last Wednesday. However, it left the Reds stupefied. How could the Communists be seen to be opposing an arrangement that had been sanctioned by China? Emerging from what was billed as a make-or-break meeting with the Prime Minister, Sitaram Yechuri could only blabber incoherently about Russia still insisting on a dialogue with Iran. Gone was the fire and missing were the threats. It could well have been a throwback to August 1939 when Stalin unexpectedly negotiated a non-aggression pact with Hitler. Then, the relentless war against fascism abruptly became the "imperialist" war.
The Communists have repeatedly disclaimed their extra-territorial loyalties. Yet, if anyone took their pronouncements of patriotism seriously, they have to merely look at the way the Red guns in India were silenced on the Iran issue to judge for themselves. If it was in India's national interests to keep the Iran issue in the bureaucratic muddle of the IAEA, things should not have altered because China changed tack. Whose national interests were the Comrades upholding?
The battle in the airports was a convenient diversion, with Comrades simulating the war on barricades. Privatisation not now, never, became the chant of the public sector aristocracy, led by the Communist unions. As a dress rehearsal of a genteel insurrection, the harassment of passengers was quite effective. Coming as it did at the height of the tourist season, the Left managed to give Incredible India a new, unexpected meaning.
The timing was also perfect because it provided a smokescreen over a brazen act of crony capitalism. Since highlighting the manipulative bidding process ran the risk of being seen to be opposed to the much-needed modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports, the non-Left parties preferred silence.
Ultimately, it was all-round public outrage that forced the Left to eat humble pie and relegate a political strike against privatisation to a pedestrian issue of seeking assurances against retrenchment. Those Airports Authority of India employees who struck work with such enthusiasm must have by now gauged that were used as cannon fodder in a game of extortion. After the strike collapses, we would probably have seen the last of trade union belligerence at the airports for a long time. Has anyone heard a squeak from Gurgaon after the Left cried hoarse over the police beating of Honda workers last July?
The conclusions are inescapable. Left politics in India doesn't stem from conviction; it flows out of collateral considerations.
UPA vs NDA
Growth Rate
NDA - 8%
UPA - 7%
Infrastructure Development
NDA -Massive
UPA -Miniscule
Read this report card of UPA and judge for yourself. The best part of this report is it states the facts as they are and lets the readers judge for themselves. The report card does not anaylse anyhting. And yes, do not try to get this report card from Times of India or The Hindu. They are Sonia's fans. They won't let this government to be exposed.
http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/feb/02mspec.htm
The Government of India's report card
George Iype | February 02, 2006
The United Progressive Alliance government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came to power in May 2004 with a plethora of promises.
It promised to protect the interests of the common man, reduce poverty, generate employment, prevent farmer suicides, end labour exploitation, boost the economy and accelerate the pace of reforms.
Has it delivered? You judge.
Promise 1: Take the economy to at least 7 per cent growth per year.
Reality: In the period between July and September 2003, India's gross domestic product growth rate was 8.4 per cent. It dipped after that. A few months after the UPA came to power, the GDP rate plunged to 6.9 per cent. Now, it stands at 7 per cent.
India Inc confident of 10% GDP growth
'Eight per cent (economic growth) is perhaps the ceiling for the current year, given the current level of investment as a proportion of gross domestic product,' Finance Minister P Chidambaram told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, recently.
'But if we can ramp up the investment to GDP ratio to say 30 or 32 per cent, then 10 per cent (GDP growth) is possible,' he added.
Promise 2: To introduce a National Employment Guarantee Act to provide at least 100 days of employment -- to begin with, and on asset-creating public works programmes -- every year at minimum wages for at least one person in every rural, urban poor and lower middle-class household.
Reality: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was notified on September 7 last year. The Act guarantees 100 days of employment in a financial year to every rural household. The Act is being formally launched on Thursday.
Hundred and forty five districts have been selected for the first phase: 23 in Bihar, 22 in Uttar Pradesh, 20 in Jharkhand, 19 in Orissa, 18 in Madhya Pradesh, 13 in Andhra Pradesh, 12 in Maharashtra, 11 in Chhattisgarh, and seven in Assam. Within four years, the Act will cover the entire country.
Column: Can rural job quota scheme succeed?
But does that mean every villager will soon be employed for at least 100 days a year?
"Not yet," says a rural development ministry official.
"The law is in place. We need to create a system to ensure that public works programmes are created to provide jobs to the needy," the official adds.
Also, Opposition parties argue that the millions of poor, educated, unemployed people living in the urban areas have been kept out of the purview of the Act.
Promise 3: To reduce trade deficit and increase exports.
Reality: On the contrary, imports are increasing and exports decreasing.
In the first five months of the current financial year -- April to August last year -- the trade deficit reached the figure of Rs 783 billion. The imports went up to Rs 2,389.5 billion, as opposed to Rs 1746 billion during the corresponding months in the last fiscal year.
Promise 4: To repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Reality: The UPA government abolished POTA in September 2004. It was the Manmohan Singh government's first major policy decision.
The government argues existing laws are sufficient to check terrorism. Cracking down on terrorists' funding tops the government's agenda.
Promise 5: To pursue an independent foreign policy to promote multi-polarity in world relations and oppose all attempts at unilateralism. Particular attention will be paid to regional water resources, power and ecological conservation projects. Dialogue with Pakistan will be pursued systematically and on a sustained basis.
Reality: Has embarked on the 'soft border' initiative with Pakistan. Has accelerated the pace of developing friendship with China. Has accorded priority to building closer ties with its neighbours in South Asia and to strengthening the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
Column: Beyond the bus service
Last and far from the least, it has further cemented the foundation for better relations with the United States with the nuclear agreement. The deal, however, is on a sticky wicket now.
Promise 6: To introduce a model comprehensive law to deal with communal violence.
Reality: Has gone ahead with the proposed legislation -- Communal Violence (Suppression) Bill, 2005 -- to check communal violence.
The Bill is currently under the consideration of the Prime Minister's Office and the National Advisory Council chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Opposition leaders say it is a draconian and potentially dangerous piece of legislation as it gives extraordinary powers to the Central and state governments to deal with communal disturbances.
Promise 7: To accelerate the pace of economic reforms.
Reality: Under pressure from its Communist allies, the Manmohan Singh regime has virtually gone slow on the plans to sell stakes in public sector units to strategic investors.
Analysts say this is one of the major dangers that can derail the government's promise of economic reforms. Bowing to pressure from the Left, the government has abandoned plans to sell stake in 13 firms, including HPCL, Engineers India Ltd., Shipping Corporation of India and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers.
Column: Why reforms are slow in India
The UPA government has gone ahead with the privatisation of airports plan, but met with stiff resistance from Leftist unions and airport employees, who are now on strike.
And with the Leftists opposing a host of reforms in foreign investment and the banking industry, the reforms progress has been rather slow.
Promise 8: Develop and expand physical infrastructure like roads, highways, ports, power, railways, water supply, sewage treatment and sanitation.
Reality: The government has not announced or undertaken any new major infrastructure project. It is continuing with the projects that the previous Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had envisioned, like the ambitious river linking project and the Golden Quadrilateral.
The government says it is planning to expand the network of hospitals and educational institutions all over the country, undertake extensive irrigations projects and other developmental projects.
Promise 9: To ensure more public investment in agricultural research, rural infrastructure and irrigation. The rural cooperative credit system will be nursed back to health.
Reality: The rural cooperative credit system continues to bleed in most states. There has not been any dramatic increase in investment in rural infrastructure.
According to the Farmers Relief Forum, a Hyderabad-based farmers initiative, on an average 10 Indian farmers commit suicide everyday.
Why Andhra Pradesh is jihad's new hotspot
In Andhra Pradesh alone, nearly 2,500 farmers have committed suicide in the last 20 months.
Promise 10: To accelerate fiscal reforms and eliminate the revenue deficit of the government by 2009. To introduce the value-added tax, strengthen the Stock Exchange Board of India for the orderly functioning of capital markets and encourage foreign institutional investment.
Reality: The fiscal reforms are on, but the pace is doubtful. The government has introduced and implemented the value-added tax. The new fringe benefit tax has irked India Inc. SEBI seems to have been strengthened, and FIIs are continuing to pump in money into the capital markets in the country, taking the stock markets to historic highs.
NDA - 8%
UPA - 7%
Infrastructure Development
NDA -Massive
UPA -Miniscule
Read this report card of UPA and judge for yourself. The best part of this report is it states the facts as they are and lets the readers judge for themselves. The report card does not anaylse anyhting. And yes, do not try to get this report card from Times of India or The Hindu. They are Sonia's fans. They won't let this government to be exposed.
http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/feb/02mspec.htm
The Government of India's report card
George Iype | February 02, 2006
The United Progressive Alliance government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came to power in May 2004 with a plethora of promises.
It promised to protect the interests of the common man, reduce poverty, generate employment, prevent farmer suicides, end labour exploitation, boost the economy and accelerate the pace of reforms.
Has it delivered? You judge.
Promise 1: Take the economy to at least 7 per cent growth per year.
Reality: In the period between July and September 2003, India's gross domestic product growth rate was 8.4 per cent. It dipped after that. A few months after the UPA came to power, the GDP rate plunged to 6.9 per cent. Now, it stands at 7 per cent.
India Inc confident of 10% GDP growth
'Eight per cent (economic growth) is perhaps the ceiling for the current year, given the current level of investment as a proportion of gross domestic product,' Finance Minister P Chidambaram told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, recently.
'But if we can ramp up the investment to GDP ratio to say 30 or 32 per cent, then 10 per cent (GDP growth) is possible,' he added.
Promise 2: To introduce a National Employment Guarantee Act to provide at least 100 days of employment -- to begin with, and on asset-creating public works programmes -- every year at minimum wages for at least one person in every rural, urban poor and lower middle-class household.
Reality: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was notified on September 7 last year. The Act guarantees 100 days of employment in a financial year to every rural household. The Act is being formally launched on Thursday.
Hundred and forty five districts have been selected for the first phase: 23 in Bihar, 22 in Uttar Pradesh, 20 in Jharkhand, 19 in Orissa, 18 in Madhya Pradesh, 13 in Andhra Pradesh, 12 in Maharashtra, 11 in Chhattisgarh, and seven in Assam. Within four years, the Act will cover the entire country.
Column: Can rural job quota scheme succeed?
But does that mean every villager will soon be employed for at least 100 days a year?
"Not yet," says a rural development ministry official.
"The law is in place. We need to create a system to ensure that public works programmes are created to provide jobs to the needy," the official adds.
Also, Opposition parties argue that the millions of poor, educated, unemployed people living in the urban areas have been kept out of the purview of the Act.
Promise 3: To reduce trade deficit and increase exports.
Reality: On the contrary, imports are increasing and exports decreasing.
In the first five months of the current financial year -- April to August last year -- the trade deficit reached the figure of Rs 783 billion. The imports went up to Rs 2,389.5 billion, as opposed to Rs 1746 billion during the corresponding months in the last fiscal year.
Promise 4: To repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Reality: The UPA government abolished POTA in September 2004. It was the Manmohan Singh government's first major policy decision.
The government argues existing laws are sufficient to check terrorism. Cracking down on terrorists' funding tops the government's agenda.
Promise 5: To pursue an independent foreign policy to promote multi-polarity in world relations and oppose all attempts at unilateralism. Particular attention will be paid to regional water resources, power and ecological conservation projects. Dialogue with Pakistan will be pursued systematically and on a sustained basis.
Reality: Has embarked on the 'soft border' initiative with Pakistan. Has accelerated the pace of developing friendship with China. Has accorded priority to building closer ties with its neighbours in South Asia and to strengthening the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
Column: Beyond the bus service
Last and far from the least, it has further cemented the foundation for better relations with the United States with the nuclear agreement. The deal, however, is on a sticky wicket now.
Promise 6: To introduce a model comprehensive law to deal with communal violence.
Reality: Has gone ahead with the proposed legislation -- Communal Violence (Suppression) Bill, 2005 -- to check communal violence.
The Bill is currently under the consideration of the Prime Minister's Office and the National Advisory Council chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Opposition leaders say it is a draconian and potentially dangerous piece of legislation as it gives extraordinary powers to the Central and state governments to deal with communal disturbances.
Promise 7: To accelerate the pace of economic reforms.
Reality: Under pressure from its Communist allies, the Manmohan Singh regime has virtually gone slow on the plans to sell stakes in public sector units to strategic investors.
Analysts say this is one of the major dangers that can derail the government's promise of economic reforms. Bowing to pressure from the Left, the government has abandoned plans to sell stake in 13 firms, including HPCL, Engineers India Ltd., Shipping Corporation of India and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers.
Column: Why reforms are slow in India
The UPA government has gone ahead with the privatisation of airports plan, but met with stiff resistance from Leftist unions and airport employees, who are now on strike.
And with the Leftists opposing a host of reforms in foreign investment and the banking industry, the reforms progress has been rather slow.
Promise 8: Develop and expand physical infrastructure like roads, highways, ports, power, railways, water supply, sewage treatment and sanitation.
Reality: The government has not announced or undertaken any new major infrastructure project. It is continuing with the projects that the previous Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had envisioned, like the ambitious river linking project and the Golden Quadrilateral.
The government says it is planning to expand the network of hospitals and educational institutions all over the country, undertake extensive irrigations projects and other developmental projects.
Promise 9: To ensure more public investment in agricultural research, rural infrastructure and irrigation. The rural cooperative credit system will be nursed back to health.
Reality: The rural cooperative credit system continues to bleed in most states. There has not been any dramatic increase in investment in rural infrastructure.
According to the Farmers Relief Forum, a Hyderabad-based farmers initiative, on an average 10 Indian farmers commit suicide everyday.
Why Andhra Pradesh is jihad's new hotspot
In Andhra Pradesh alone, nearly 2,500 farmers have committed suicide in the last 20 months.
Promise 10: To accelerate fiscal reforms and eliminate the revenue deficit of the government by 2009. To introduce the value-added tax, strengthen the Stock Exchange Board of India for the orderly functioning of capital markets and encourage foreign institutional investment.
Reality: The fiscal reforms are on, but the pace is doubtful. The government has introduced and implemented the value-added tax. The new fringe benefit tax has irked India Inc. SEBI seems to have been strengthened, and FIIs are continuing to pump in money into the capital markets in the country, taking the stock markets to historic highs.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Indians Loose
My prediction unfortunately came true. India lost the final test and the Test series to Pakistan.
I guess Tendulkar will retire after the World Cup. I think he should. Ganguli will stick around for sometime till he is finally bundled off once the UPA government goes.
In the end the pressure of facing Rawalpindi Express did the trick. We are no match to his histrionics. I am sure Indians do not mind the pace as much as they mind his on-field stunts. The meek Indians just cave-in to his mind games.
Greg Chappel must be feeling uncomfortable in his pants. He knows so well how the Aussies tackle the Pakistanis. The Aussies just go on an all round offensive and make Akhtar fret and fume till he is finally taken off the attack. I clearly recall how Adam Gilchrist once hammered Shoibh Akhtar out of the attack so badly that Akhtar actually feared balling him.
But then you cannot accept the Indians to be aggressive, can you ? We need to keep Gandhi's name shinning. We are the good boys of the class. And good boys always come last !
I guess Tendulkar will retire after the World Cup. I think he should. Ganguli will stick around for sometime till he is finally bundled off once the UPA government goes.
In the end the pressure of facing Rawalpindi Express did the trick. We are no match to his histrionics. I am sure Indians do not mind the pace as much as they mind his on-field stunts. The meek Indians just cave-in to his mind games.
Greg Chappel must be feeling uncomfortable in his pants. He knows so well how the Aussies tackle the Pakistanis. The Aussies just go on an all round offensive and make Akhtar fret and fume till he is finally taken off the attack. I clearly recall how Adam Gilchrist once hammered Shoibh Akhtar out of the attack so badly that Akhtar actually feared balling him.
But then you cannot accept the Indians to be aggressive, can you ? We need to keep Gandhi's name shinning. We are the good boys of the class. And good boys always come last !
The Jee Huzoor PM
Read this editorial below along with The Unsung Hero to get a fuller view
A servile PM
http://www.samachar.com/features/010206-editorial.html
Back in the 70s when Mrs Gandhi was putting artificial clamps on economic growth in the name of `garibi hatao’ and implementing her own peculiar brand of socialism, it had become second nature for her followers to dub anyone talking economic sense as an agent of capitalists. Dhirubhai Ambani had yet to make his first million.
Invariably, it were the Tatas and the Birlas who were caricatured on the stump by Congressmen and Commies as if they were carnivores feasting on the cheap labour of toiling Indians. Of course, the crazy imagery was meant only to fool the great unwashed masses into keeping the corrupt rulers in power indefinitely.
Therefore it was poetic justice when in the early 90s under the intense pressure of the IMF-World Bank combine the same party was obliged to abandon its socialistic straitjacket and embrace the cause of economic liberalisation, nay, pragmatism.
Manmohan Singh as an economic bureaucrat had rather enthusiastically tightened the screws on corporate India in the name of socialism, impeding its growth potential. He had been a senior economic bureaucrat in successive governments in New Delhi. And done everything to raise the socialistic content in state policy at the behest of his political masters.
Now in his new avatar as Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao Government he was made to dismantle a good part of the very license-quota regime he had himself helped put in place. While keen observers noticed the sharp U-turn he had taken in first enforcing strict production and distribution controls and then removing them in the post-90s phase, he himself seemed blissfully unaware of the inherent irony in his professional career.
Only weeks before he became the Finance Minister of India, and in that capacity felt obliged to embrace the path of reforms and liberalisation, he had argued forcefully in favour of socialism at a South: South seminar.
Amazingly, he did not protest when they sought to make him out as if he was the real father of reforms. He wasn’t. He was merely following the dictates of his latest masters who this time were in Washington and not in New Delhi. Economic bankruptcy had stared India in the face in the early 90s. The Fund-Bank agreed to rescue provided India opened up its economy.
In other words, Singh can be relied upon to do the bidding of his masters, whoever they might be. Therefore it was not surprising at all that be it Goa or Jharkhand, Bihar or Quattrocchi, the gentleman Prime Minister did not bat an eyelid, dutifully doing the bidding of those who had catapulted him into the prime ministerial `gaddi’.
Since even his worst critics concede that financially he stood to gain nothing from monkeying around with the constitutional law and norms in pushing the partisan interests of the Congress leadership in all the above cases, it is clear that he has a strong `jee-huzoor’ trait in his mental make-up which makes him obey blindly his masters of the day. Thus everything Sonia Gandhi wants him to do, he does without a murmur of protest.
After all, as Finance Secretary under Charan Singh he had slapped high duties on soaps and toothpaste and such like items of daily use only because the late BLD leader wanted him to attack what he had perceived to be the urban constituency of the BJP. Singh willingly enforced the late PM’s diktat because questioning his superiors is not part of his character.
The latest reshuffle of the Cabinet further underlines a complete lack of vertebrae in the prime ministerial body. He was well aware that Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj had caused him much embarrassment, but he could not, would not, move them out of their current ministries for fear of annoying their real boss in 10 Janpath.
As Home Minister, the blame for Jharkhand, Goa, Bihar, et al must be laid at the doorstep of that colourless and clueless Patil. As for Bhardwaj, it is public knowledge that he went to great lengths to ensure that Rs 21 crores of the Bofors loot was finally delivered to that Italian fugitive from the Indian law.
Dropping Bhardwaj from the Cabinet was never on the agenda of the helpless PM. But the spineless PM could not even replace the crude Bhardwaj as Law Minister with an able and well-regarded Kapil Sibal. L. K. Advani has a point when he insists that Manmohan Singh is the weakest PM the country has had.
This can only tarnish the image of the country and hold it back from attaining its full economic, social and political potential.
A servile PM
http://www.samachar.com/features/010206-editorial.html
Back in the 70s when Mrs Gandhi was putting artificial clamps on economic growth in the name of `garibi hatao’ and implementing her own peculiar brand of socialism, it had become second nature for her followers to dub anyone talking economic sense as an agent of capitalists. Dhirubhai Ambani had yet to make his first million.
Invariably, it were the Tatas and the Birlas who were caricatured on the stump by Congressmen and Commies as if they were carnivores feasting on the cheap labour of toiling Indians. Of course, the crazy imagery was meant only to fool the great unwashed masses into keeping the corrupt rulers in power indefinitely.
Therefore it was poetic justice when in the early 90s under the intense pressure of the IMF-World Bank combine the same party was obliged to abandon its socialistic straitjacket and embrace the cause of economic liberalisation, nay, pragmatism.
Manmohan Singh as an economic bureaucrat had rather enthusiastically tightened the screws on corporate India in the name of socialism, impeding its growth potential. He had been a senior economic bureaucrat in successive governments in New Delhi. And done everything to raise the socialistic content in state policy at the behest of his political masters.
Now in his new avatar as Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao Government he was made to dismantle a good part of the very license-quota regime he had himself helped put in place. While keen observers noticed the sharp U-turn he had taken in first enforcing strict production and distribution controls and then removing them in the post-90s phase, he himself seemed blissfully unaware of the inherent irony in his professional career.
Only weeks before he became the Finance Minister of India, and in that capacity felt obliged to embrace the path of reforms and liberalisation, he had argued forcefully in favour of socialism at a South: South seminar.
Amazingly, he did not protest when they sought to make him out as if he was the real father of reforms. He wasn’t. He was merely following the dictates of his latest masters who this time were in Washington and not in New Delhi. Economic bankruptcy had stared India in the face in the early 90s. The Fund-Bank agreed to rescue provided India opened up its economy.
In other words, Singh can be relied upon to do the bidding of his masters, whoever they might be. Therefore it was not surprising at all that be it Goa or Jharkhand, Bihar or Quattrocchi, the gentleman Prime Minister did not bat an eyelid, dutifully doing the bidding of those who had catapulted him into the prime ministerial `gaddi’.
Since even his worst critics concede that financially he stood to gain nothing from monkeying around with the constitutional law and norms in pushing the partisan interests of the Congress leadership in all the above cases, it is clear that he has a strong `jee-huzoor’ trait in his mental make-up which makes him obey blindly his masters of the day. Thus everything Sonia Gandhi wants him to do, he does without a murmur of protest.
After all, as Finance Secretary under Charan Singh he had slapped high duties on soaps and toothpaste and such like items of daily use only because the late BLD leader wanted him to attack what he had perceived to be the urban constituency of the BJP. Singh willingly enforced the late PM’s diktat because questioning his superiors is not part of his character.
The latest reshuffle of the Cabinet further underlines a complete lack of vertebrae in the prime ministerial body. He was well aware that Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj had caused him much embarrassment, but he could not, would not, move them out of their current ministries for fear of annoying their real boss in 10 Janpath.
As Home Minister, the blame for Jharkhand, Goa, Bihar, et al must be laid at the doorstep of that colourless and clueless Patil. As for Bhardwaj, it is public knowledge that he went to great lengths to ensure that Rs 21 crores of the Bofors loot was finally delivered to that Italian fugitive from the Indian law.
Dropping Bhardwaj from the Cabinet was never on the agenda of the helpless PM. But the spineless PM could not even replace the crude Bhardwaj as Law Minister with an able and well-regarded Kapil Sibal. L. K. Advani has a point when he insists that Manmohan Singh is the weakest PM the country has had.
This can only tarnish the image of the country and hold it back from attaining its full economic, social and political potential.
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