I expresses grave concern over the state of governance in our country, which in recent months has touched such a low that even a normally reticent industrialist had to warn the government about turning the nation into a banana republic.
To begin with, there is no evidence that politicians are treated at par with citizens when they commit crimes. This is unacceptable because political leaders being role models should be awarded much more exemplary punishment and sooner, compared to an ordinary citizen for a similar crime. While the head of a corporate entity has been imprisoned, politicians with seemingly greater frauds against their names are roaming the world like dignitaries.
It is also unacceptable that after their crimes are detected – usually by the media and not by our high-cost crime busting agencies – they simply resign, wait for a cooling off period and are back in business.
Over a span of 25 years - between Bofors and Adarsh Society - a wide range of major scams have been unearthed by the media. These have unequivocally nailed the government from top to bottom. Yet, like slippery eels, the politician always gets away, presumably with generous help from the government itself.
The time has come when the civil society tells the Prime Minister “WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK”. You cannot preside over a government that has squandered away tens of thousands of crores of public money, ostensibly into personal coffers, and pretend as though nothing has happened. You cannot hide behind a fast eroding veneer of dubious honesty and not be accountable for spectacular fraud with the people of India. You cannot hide behind some archaic constitutional protection which allows you to be insulated from criminal misgovernance that has kept our wondrous country poor, illiterate and backward.
The time has also come for the civil society to ask the government “WHERE DID YOU GET THE MONEY FROM IN THE FIRST PLACE?” By all accounts, the original budget for the CWG was some 600 crores. Where did the government get 70,000 crores from? And if you had this kind of money, where was it hidden? Why was it not used for poverty alleviation, primary education, women’s health and for modernizing our decrepit infrastructure?
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Honest Criticism
Reflections on India By Sean Paul Kelley
If you are Indian, or of Indian descent, I must preface this post with a clear warning: you are not going to like what I have to say. My criticisms may be very hard to stomach. But consider them as the hard words and loving advice of a good friend. Someone who’s being honest with you and wants nothing from you. These criticisms apply to all of India except Kerala and the places I didn’t visit, except that I have a feeling it applies to all of India, except as I mentioned before, Kerala. Lastly, before anyone accuses me of Western Cultural Imperialism, let me say this: if this is what India and Indians want, then hey, who am I to tell them differently. Take what you like and leave the rest. In the end it doesn’t really matter, as I get the sense that Indians, at least many upper class Indians, don’t seem to care and the lower classes just don’t know any better, what with Indian culture being so intense and pervasive on the sub-continent. But here goes, nonetheless.
India is a mess. It’s that simple, but it’s also quite complicated. I’ll start with what I think are India’s four major problems–the four most preventing India from becoming a developing nation–and then move to some of the ancillary ones. First, pollution. In my opinion the filth, squalor and all around pollution indicates a marked lack of respect for India by Indians. I don’t know how cultural the filth is, but it’s really beyond anything I have ever encountered. At times the smells, trash, refuse and excrement are like a garbage dump. Right next door to the Taj Mahal was a pile of trash that smelled so bad, was so foul as to almost ruin the entire Taj experience. Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai to a lesser degree were so very polluted as to make me physically ill. Sinus infections, ear infection, bowels churning was an all to common experience in India. Dung, be it goat, cow or human fecal matter was common on the streets. In major tourist areas filth was everywhere, littering the sidewalks, the roadways, you name it. Toilets in the middle of the road, men urinating and defecating anywhere, in broad daylight. Whole villages are plastic bag wastelands. Roadsides are choked by it. Air quality that can hardly be called quality. Far too much coal and far to few unleaded vehicles on the road. The measure should be how dangerous the air is for one’s health, not how good it is. People casually throw trash in the streets, on the roads. The only two cities that could be considered sanitary in my journey were Trivandrum–the capital of Kerala–and Calicut. I don’t know why this is. But I can assure you that at some point this pollution will cut into India’s productivity, if it already hasn’t. The pollution will hobble India’s growth path, if that indeed is what the country wants. (Which I personally doubt, as India is far too conservative a country, in the small ‘c’ sense.)
More after the jump.. The second issue, infrastructure, can be divided into four subcategories: roads, rails and ports and the electrical grid. The electrical grid is a joke. Load shedding is all too common, everywhere in India. Wide swaths of the country spend much of the day without the electricity they actually pay for. With out regular electricity, productivity, again, falls. The ports are a joke. Antiquated, out of date, hardly even appropriate for the mechanized world of container ports, more in line with the days of longshoremen and the like. Roads are an equal disaster. I only saw one elevated highway that would be considered decent in Thailand, much less Western Europe or America. And I covered fully two thirds of the country during my visit. There are so few dual carriage way roads as to be laughable. There are no traffic laws to speak of, and if there are, they are rarely obeyed, much less enforced. A drive that should take an hour takes three. A drive that should take three takes nine. The buses are at least thirty years old, if not older. Everyone in India, or who travels in India raves about the railway system. Rubbish. It’s awful. Now, when I was there in 2003 and then late 2004 it was decent. But in the last five years the traffic on the rails has grown so quickly that once again, it is threatening productivity. Waiting in line just to ask a question now takes thirty minutes. Routes are routinely sold out three and four days in advance now, leaving travelers stranded with little option except to take the decrepit and dangerous buses. At least fifty million people use the trains a day in India. 50 million people! Not surprising that wait lists of 500 or more people are common now. The rails are affordable and comprehensive but they are overcrowded and what with budget airlines popping up in India like Sadhus in an ashram the middle and lowers classes are left to deal with the over utilized rails and quality suffers. No one seems to give a shit. Seriously, I just never have the impression that the Indian government really cares. Too interested in buying weapons from Russia, Israel and the US I guess.
The last major problem in India is an old problem and can be divided into two parts that’ve been two sides of the same coin since government was invented: bureaucracy and corruption. It take triplicates to register into a hotel. To get a SIM card for one’s phone is like wading into a jungle of red-tape and photocopies one is not likely to emerge from in a good mood, much less satisfied with customer service. Getting train tickets is a terrible ordeal, first you have to find the train number, which takes 30 minutes, then you have to fill in the form, which is far from easy, then you have to wait in line to try and make a reservation, which takes 30 minutes at least and if you made a single mistake on the form back you go to the end of the queue, or what passes for a queue in India. The government is notoriously uninterested in the problems of the commoners, too busy fleecing the rich, or trying to get rich themselves in some way shape or form. Take the trash for example, civil rubbish collection authorities are too busy taking kickbacks from the wealthy to keep their areas clean that they don’t have the time, manpower, money or interest in doing their job. Rural hospitals are perennially understaffed as doctors pocket the fees the government pays them, never show up at the rural hospitals and practice in the cities instead. I could go on for quite some time about my perception of India and its problems, but in all seriousness, I don’t think anyone in India really cares. And that, to me, is the biggest problem. India is too conservative a society to want to change in any way.
Mumbai, India’s financial capital is about as filthy, polluted and poor as the worst city imaginable in Vietnam, or Indonesia–and being more polluted than Medan, in Sumatra is no easy task. The biggest rats I have ever seen were in Medan! One would expect a certain amount of, yes, I am going to use this word, backwardness, in a country that hasn’t produced so many Nobel Laureates, nuclear physicists, imminent economists and entrepreneurs. But India has all these things and what have they brought back to India with them? Nothing. The rich still have their servants, the lower castes are still there to do the dirty work and so the country remains in stasis. It’s a shame. Indians and India have many wonderful things to offer the world, but I’m far from sanguine that India will amount to much in my lifetime. Now, have at it, call me a cultural imperialist, a spoiled child of the West and all that. But remember, I’ve been there. I’ve done it. And I’ve seen 50 other countries on this planet and none, not even Ethiopia, have as long and gargantuan a laundry list of problems as India does. And the bottom line is, I don’t think India really cares. Too complacent and too conservative. Sean Paul Kelley is a travel writer, former radio host, and before that an asset manager for a Wall Street investment bank that is still (barely) alive. He recently left a fantastic job in Singapore working for Solar Winds, a software company based out of Austin to travel around the world for a year (or two). He founded The Agonist,
<http://www.agonist. org/> in 2002, which is still considered the top international affairs, culture and news destination for progressives. He is also the Global Correspondent for The Young Turks, <http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2008/11/10/25449/781/Diary/An-Introduction-Of-Sorts> on satellite radio and Air America.
If you are Indian, or of Indian descent, I must preface this post with a clear warning: you are not going to like what I have to say. My criticisms may be very hard to stomach. But consider them as the hard words and loving advice of a good friend. Someone who’s being honest with you and wants nothing from you. These criticisms apply to all of India except Kerala and the places I didn’t visit, except that I have a feeling it applies to all of India, except as I mentioned before, Kerala. Lastly, before anyone accuses me of Western Cultural Imperialism, let me say this: if this is what India and Indians want, then hey, who am I to tell them differently. Take what you like and leave the rest. In the end it doesn’t really matter, as I get the sense that Indians, at least many upper class Indians, don’t seem to care and the lower classes just don’t know any better, what with Indian culture being so intense and pervasive on the sub-continent. But here goes, nonetheless.
India is a mess. It’s that simple, but it’s also quite complicated. I’ll start with what I think are India’s four major problems–the four most preventing India from becoming a developing nation–and then move to some of the ancillary ones. First, pollution. In my opinion the filth, squalor and all around pollution indicates a marked lack of respect for India by Indians. I don’t know how cultural the filth is, but it’s really beyond anything I have ever encountered. At times the smells, trash, refuse and excrement are like a garbage dump. Right next door to the Taj Mahal was a pile of trash that smelled so bad, was so foul as to almost ruin the entire Taj experience. Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai to a lesser degree were so very polluted as to make me physically ill. Sinus infections, ear infection, bowels churning was an all to common experience in India. Dung, be it goat, cow or human fecal matter was common on the streets. In major tourist areas filth was everywhere, littering the sidewalks, the roadways, you name it. Toilets in the middle of the road, men urinating and defecating anywhere, in broad daylight. Whole villages are plastic bag wastelands. Roadsides are choked by it. Air quality that can hardly be called quality. Far too much coal and far to few unleaded vehicles on the road. The measure should be how dangerous the air is for one’s health, not how good it is. People casually throw trash in the streets, on the roads. The only two cities that could be considered sanitary in my journey were Trivandrum–the capital of Kerala–and Calicut. I don’t know why this is. But I can assure you that at some point this pollution will cut into India’s productivity, if it already hasn’t. The pollution will hobble India’s growth path, if that indeed is what the country wants. (Which I personally doubt, as India is far too conservative a country, in the small ‘c’ sense.)
More after the jump.. The second issue, infrastructure, can be divided into four subcategories: roads, rails and ports and the electrical grid. The electrical grid is a joke. Load shedding is all too common, everywhere in India. Wide swaths of the country spend much of the day without the electricity they actually pay for. With out regular electricity, productivity, again, falls. The ports are a joke. Antiquated, out of date, hardly even appropriate for the mechanized world of container ports, more in line with the days of longshoremen and the like. Roads are an equal disaster. I only saw one elevated highway that would be considered decent in Thailand, much less Western Europe or America. And I covered fully two thirds of the country during my visit. There are so few dual carriage way roads as to be laughable. There are no traffic laws to speak of, and if there are, they are rarely obeyed, much less enforced. A drive that should take an hour takes three. A drive that should take three takes nine. The buses are at least thirty years old, if not older. Everyone in India, or who travels in India raves about the railway system. Rubbish. It’s awful. Now, when I was there in 2003 and then late 2004 it was decent. But in the last five years the traffic on the rails has grown so quickly that once again, it is threatening productivity. Waiting in line just to ask a question now takes thirty minutes. Routes are routinely sold out three and four days in advance now, leaving travelers stranded with little option except to take the decrepit and dangerous buses. At least fifty million people use the trains a day in India. 50 million people! Not surprising that wait lists of 500 or more people are common now. The rails are affordable and comprehensive but they are overcrowded and what with budget airlines popping up in India like Sadhus in an ashram the middle and lowers classes are left to deal with the over utilized rails and quality suffers. No one seems to give a shit. Seriously, I just never have the impression that the Indian government really cares. Too interested in buying weapons from Russia, Israel and the US I guess.
The last major problem in India is an old problem and can be divided into two parts that’ve been two sides of the same coin since government was invented: bureaucracy and corruption. It take triplicates to register into a hotel. To get a SIM card for one’s phone is like wading into a jungle of red-tape and photocopies one is not likely to emerge from in a good mood, much less satisfied with customer service. Getting train tickets is a terrible ordeal, first you have to find the train number, which takes 30 minutes, then you have to fill in the form, which is far from easy, then you have to wait in line to try and make a reservation, which takes 30 minutes at least and if you made a single mistake on the form back you go to the end of the queue, or what passes for a queue in India. The government is notoriously uninterested in the problems of the commoners, too busy fleecing the rich, or trying to get rich themselves in some way shape or form. Take the trash for example, civil rubbish collection authorities are too busy taking kickbacks from the wealthy to keep their areas clean that they don’t have the time, manpower, money or interest in doing their job. Rural hospitals are perennially understaffed as doctors pocket the fees the government pays them, never show up at the rural hospitals and practice in the cities instead. I could go on for quite some time about my perception of India and its problems, but in all seriousness, I don’t think anyone in India really cares. And that, to me, is the biggest problem. India is too conservative a society to want to change in any way.
Mumbai, India’s financial capital is about as filthy, polluted and poor as the worst city imaginable in Vietnam, or Indonesia–and being more polluted than Medan, in Sumatra is no easy task. The biggest rats I have ever seen were in Medan! One would expect a certain amount of, yes, I am going to use this word, backwardness, in a country that hasn’t produced so many Nobel Laureates, nuclear physicists, imminent economists and entrepreneurs. But India has all these things and what have they brought back to India with them? Nothing. The rich still have their servants, the lower castes are still there to do the dirty work and so the country remains in stasis. It’s a shame. Indians and India have many wonderful things to offer the world, but I’m far from sanguine that India will amount to much in my lifetime. Now, have at it, call me a cultural imperialist, a spoiled child of the West and all that. But remember, I’ve been there. I’ve done it. And I’ve seen 50 other countries on this planet and none, not even Ethiopia, have as long and gargantuan a laundry list of problems as India does. And the bottom line is, I don’t think India really cares. Too complacent and too conservative. Sean Paul Kelley is a travel writer, former radio host, and before that an asset manager for a Wall Street investment bank that is still (barely) alive. He recently left a fantastic job in Singapore working for Solar Winds, a software company based out of Austin to travel around the world for a year (or two). He founded The Agonist,
<http://www.agonist. org/> in 2002, which is still considered the top international affairs, culture and news destination for progressives. He is also the Global Correspondent for The Young Turks, <http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2008/11/10/25449/781/Diary/An-Introduction-Of-Sorts> on satellite radio and Air America.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
SACHIN GOD TENDULKAR
this is what some of the great cricketers said abt SACHIN
(greatest ofc being sachin tendulkar)
Mathew Hayden:
I have seen GOD , he bats at no.4 for india in Tests.
Ravi Shashtri:
He is someone sent from up there to play cricket and go back.
Mark Taylor:
We did not lose to a team called india...we lost to a man called Sachin.
Brain Lara:
Sachin is a genius , i am a mere mortal!
Barry Richards:
Sachin is crickets GOD
Martin Crowe:
The shot played on this ball is only possible for the GOD of cricket.
Ian Botham:
If someoom the highest peak of the world.
Shane Warne:
I would go to bed having nightmares of sachin dancing down the ground and hitting me for sixes.
Mathew Hayden:
His life seems to be a stillness in a frantic world... [When he goes out to bat], it is beyond chaos - it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one man. The people see him as a God...
Viv Richards:
He is 99.5% Perfect.. I'll pay to watch him play.
Dennis Lillie:
If I had to bowl to Sachin I would bowl with a halmet on. He hits the ball so hard.
Steve Waugh:
After being defeated in the Coca-Cola Cup finals in Sharjah) "It was one of the greatest innings I have ever seen. There is no shame being beaten by such a great player, Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don''
Sir Don Bradman:
I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...hi compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel! in reference to Sachin Tendulkar.
Michael Kasprowicz:
Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours."
Wasim Akram:
Today, he showed the world why he is considered the best batsman around. Some of the shots he played were simply amazing. Earlier, opposing teams used to feel that Sachin's dismissal meant they could win the game. Today, I feel that the Indian players, too, feel this way.
Wasim Akram, after game at Hobart, CUB series, 1999
Brett Lee:
You might pitch a ball on the off stump and think you have bowled a good ball and he walks across and hits it for two behind midwicket. His bat looks so heavy but he just waves it around like it's a toothpick. Brett Lee, on Sachin Tendulkar's batting, 1999
BBC Sports:
Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.
Wasim Akram:
"I dont know what to bowl at him. i bowled an inswinger n he drove me thr covers of d front foot. then i bld an outswinger n he again punched thr covers of d backfoot(for tamil fans-dai avan eppadi pottalum adikaranda). he is d toughest batsmen i 've bowled to. he shold live long n score lots of runs, but not against pakistan(smiling) "--LEGENDARY WASIM AKRAM on our own SACHIN on 24th april 2004 on espn Sachin's 30th B day program.(i think) on his knock in 2003 worldcup.
Adam Hollioke:
"In an over I can bowl six different balls. But then Sachin looks at me with a sort of gentle arrogance down the pitch as if to say 'Can you bowl me another one?'"
Wasim
"Cricketers like Sachin come once in a lifetime and I am privileged he played in my time,"
"Tuzhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?" Wasim Akram to Abdul Razzaq when the latter dropped Sachin's catch.
Navjot Sidhu:
"His mind is like a computer. He stores data on bowlers and knows where they are going to pitch the ball."
Mark Taylor:
"We did not lose to a team called India...we lost to a man called Sachin" - Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1997)
(greatest ofc being sachin tendulkar)
Mathew Hayden:
I have seen GOD , he bats at no.4 for india in Tests.
Ravi Shashtri:
He is someone sent from up there to play cricket and go back.
Mark Taylor:
We did not lose to a team called india...we lost to a man called Sachin.
Brain Lara:
Sachin is a genius , i am a mere mortal!
Barry Richards:
Sachin is crickets GOD
Martin Crowe:
The shot played on this ball is only possible for the GOD of cricket.
Ian Botham:
If someoom the highest peak of the world.
Shane Warne:
I would go to bed having nightmares of sachin dancing down the ground and hitting me for sixes.
Mathew Hayden:
His life seems to be a stillness in a frantic world... [When he goes out to bat], it is beyond chaos - it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one man. The people see him as a God...
Viv Richards:
He is 99.5% Perfect.. I'll pay to watch him play.
Dennis Lillie:
If I had to bowl to Sachin I would bowl with a halmet on. He hits the ball so hard.
Steve Waugh:
After being defeated in the Coca-Cola Cup finals in Sharjah) "It was one of the greatest innings I have ever seen. There is no shame being beaten by such a great player, Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don''
Sir Don Bradman:
I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...hi compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel! in reference to Sachin Tendulkar.
Michael Kasprowicz:
Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours."
Wasim Akram:
Today, he showed the world why he is considered the best batsman around. Some of the shots he played were simply amazing. Earlier, opposing teams used to feel that Sachin's dismissal meant they could win the game. Today, I feel that the Indian players, too, feel this way.
Wasim Akram, after game at Hobart, CUB series, 1999
Brett Lee:
You might pitch a ball on the off stump and think you have bowled a good ball and he walks across and hits it for two behind midwicket. His bat looks so heavy but he just waves it around like it's a toothpick. Brett Lee, on Sachin Tendulkar's batting, 1999
BBC Sports:
Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.
Wasim Akram:
"I dont know what to bowl at him. i bowled an inswinger n he drove me thr covers of d front foot. then i bld an outswinger n he again punched thr covers of d backfoot(for tamil fans-dai avan eppadi pottalum adikaranda). he is d toughest batsmen i 've bowled to. he shold live long n score lots of runs, but not against pakistan(smiling) "--LEGENDARY WASIM AKRAM on our own SACHIN on 24th april 2004 on espn Sachin's 30th B day program.(i think) on his knock in 2003 worldcup.
Adam Hollioke:
"In an over I can bowl six different balls. But then Sachin looks at me with a sort of gentle arrogance down the pitch as if to say 'Can you bowl me another one?'"
Wasim
"Cricketers like Sachin come once in a lifetime and I am privileged he played in my time,"
"Tuzhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?" Wasim Akram to Abdul Razzaq when the latter dropped Sachin's catch.
Navjot Sidhu:
"His mind is like a computer. He stores data on bowlers and knows where they are going to pitch the ball."
Mark Taylor:
"We did not lose to a team called India...we lost to a man called Sachin" - Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1997)
Saturday, January 23, 2010
For a Change i Support Shiv Sena
I am a bihari living in Maharashtra working in Pune , You can understand how much wrath and frustration i must be having toward political parties like Shiv sena and Raj thackrey who try to threaten us on a daily basis and are dim-witted extremist group,but i am an Indian first and for a change i support the views of Shiv Sena of not allowing Australian cricketers to play.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, a couple of days ago, wrote in his party’s mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ that he and his party co-workers will not allow the Australians to enter Maharashtra in order make one point clear and straight: attack on Indians in Australia is not acceptable; a point that people sitting in North Block clearly seem to have missed.
I have always hated hardcore fascist parties like Shivsena for many reasons,but i later realized that we need elements like them for counter-attacks on many diplomatic fronts even Pakistan etc.It is the only party which has taken such a good decision on national interest ,why the hell other national parties so silent on this very important issue of our dignity and survival.
Shiv Sena seems to be right in threating Australian players as if they are hurt it certainly will have effect on Australian government and it will take harsh action against people who are committing racsist crime against peaceful Indian students and workers. When they will have fear of retalliation then only Mr Kevin Rudd will understand the problem and take it seriously.
True to the core…. Citing an incident again mentioned by Thackeray, when a great actor like Amitabh Bachchan could deny the award offered to him by the Queensland University, so as to protest the racist attacks, then why cannot the Indian cricket team follow suit? I know politics should not be mixed with the sport but everything is fair when a war on our dignity is going on.When players sing thier respective national anthem by keeping their hand on their heart ,if that is not politics than what is it??
It is not that I have some personal grudge against the Aussies, nor I am an extreme nationalist. On the contrary, the Australian cricket team is one team I admire the most.
Then, hundreds of our fellow citizens were killed by psycho terrorists inside our country, and now, many of our fellow Indians are being killed by some Aussie psychos in their country. So why should the outcome be any different? Why shouldn’t the Australian government know that whatever is happening in their country with our people is just not tolerable.
I think Australian players will also be hit economically end their cricket board will certainly pressurize their government to take some action to stop these race attacks.
A colleague of mine quoted Mahatma Gandhi while checking this piece, ‘An eye for an eye will make the world blind!’
I would have agreed to this thought before. But now, I feel, that if we continue to follow that idea, we would be far from solving this issue. I am not ‘Bapu’ who believes in non-violence and tolerance. I am more of a ‘Bhagat Singh’ follower, where ‘action speaks louder than words’!
I think we are too weak in international community and thats why we are taken for granted in every other field. The Indian government has still not been able to take any concrete measures to deal with its counterpart Down Under. And so, I am happy that at least one political party in our nation, the Shiv Sena, had the guts to come up with a statement too direct and straightforward; make your country safe for our men or you won’t be welcome here either!
Shiv Sena inspite of all its negativity is bang on target in this case and i solute there a stand and support them from my heart (Only on this point mind it)
Monday, December 14, 2009
Copenhagen Fiasco
The clock is ticking to Friday, when heads of state will descend, all to sign a global
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The fact is that the spin-masters are at work, feverishly building momentum for the blame-game to culminate — finger-pointing to countries, which are blocking the deal, destroying the one chance the world has to save the planet. India is already moving to the top of that list.
This when the industrialized world has refused to put anything meaningful on the table — no reduction at home, no money or technology transfer agreements. Instead, the two draft agreements for negotiations only harden their position. They demand, first, that developing countries (India) take on emission reduction targets, without any financial assistance. That is not a problem.
Our minister has already ‘offered’ that India will cut its carbon intensity by 20-25% by 2020. We have accepted the white man’s burden as our own.
But what the minister did not perhaps know is that he has now stepped on a slippery slope. The next demand is already ratcheting up. Industrialized countries have now demanded in no uncertain terms that all actions done domestically must be internationally monitored, reported and verified. The reason is simple as by doing this, domestic targets become legally binding global commitments. The language is getting nasty as well. ‘‘We cannot trust these nations,’’ is what US envoys said. Others repeat.
The call is growing that India wants its right to pollute. In all this, the worst fears of the Indian establishment are bound to come true: we will get isolated and blamed for the failure of the global agreement. We will be hated in the rich man’s world.
This situation is of our own making. The fact is that when the minister declared the domestic target in Parliament, he changed the goalpost. He accepted that India must switch sides to join the league of polluters, instead of being able to demand its right to development. He accepted that there is no distinction between the countries which have been historically responsible for creating the problem, and the rest, who need funds and technology to make the low-carbon leapfrog so that the world can avoid emissions. He, therefore, also implicitly rejected the notion of an agreement based on equal-burden sharing.
The carbon sums are clear, any which way: From 1890 to 2007, rich countries contributed some 60% of the carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere; India some 3%. US, with just 5% of the world’s population, alone is responsible for some 30% of the carbon dioxide in the global atmosphere.
But forget the past. If you factor in the targets of the rich world (and US), which Copenhagen is poised to endorse, industrialized countries will still occupy some 50% of the global carbon budget till 2020. US, assuming for a moment that their Senate endorses the 3% reduction over its 1990 levels, will still use up a fifth of the world’s carbon budget between 1890 and 2020.
Worse, India with its self-imposed domestic target will get some 4% of the global carbon budget between 1890 and 2020 for its people who add up to 17% of the world’s population. This agreement, therefore, will freeze inequity in the world. This when it is known that these negotiations are about the right to development. No country, as yet, has delinked the growth of its economy from emissions of carbon dioxide.
So, we can now cry wolf. But this is an outcome of the ‘pragmatic global diplomacy’ that many in the government believe is the need of the day. They openly reject the idea that global agreements can and should be based on principles of equity or justice. They say this is old-fashioned and idealistic, not fit for the real world. Their world is about global deals that give and take. The question we in India must ask is what did we get: other than the official stamp of a third-class citizen of the world?
The circle has closed. Gandhi took on the British Empire when he was thrown out of the first-class compartment. He refused to be a third-class citizen. In Copenhagen we may just decide that we must wear that shame forever.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Dr. Abdul Kalam's Letter to Every Indian
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?
We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.
Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.
Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.
Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours..
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are.. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai .. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.
YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand ..
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?
Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.
What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too…. I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..
'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'
Lets do what India needs from us.
Thank you,
Dr.. Abdul KalamWednesday, November 25, 2009
Recent Changes
Once........
1. We used to maintain a dedicated address book for our emails, and used to forward interesting pieces religiously.
2. We used to BUZZ each others on Yahoo messengers just for fun.
3. We used to forward SMSes to each other
4. We used to religiously follow the profiles of people on Orkut, especially their relationship statuses.
5. We used to switch off the TV when Aaila Sachin used to get out.
Life changes, river flows, time changes, priorities shift, new winds blow.
May be for the best...
1. We used to maintain a dedicated address book for our emails, and used to forward interesting pieces religiously.
2. We used to BUZZ each others on Yahoo messengers just for fun.
3. We used to forward SMSes to each other
4. We used to religiously follow the profiles of people on Orkut, especially their relationship statuses.
5. We used to switch off the TV when Aaila Sachin used to get out.
Life changes, river flows, time changes, priorities shift, new winds blow.
May be for the best...
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