By Vaidehi Sachin

ShreeRam Sene demands banning ISKON

2011-12-20T03:14:00.000-08:00

After a successful visit of Manmohan Singh to Russia, in which we renewed our ties, with the all-weather friend, who has supported us, no matter what! Looking at the spurt in success of the Indo-Russian ties, the news had come up with something to put a dampener on the relationship between India and Russia! This warmth between the two countries might not have gone down well with the US masters! So, bang on the day the PM successfully ends his tour of Russia.
Listen to exclusive Interview with KalkiMaharaj founder of sene

http://www.mediafire.com/file/672fmzu581na1n4/Sound%20clip%2074.wav
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This issue is going to create tension between India and its neighbors Pakistan and China! And between India and Russia, and trying to make a paradigm shift in geo-political power play in this region! America desperately wants to pull India, away from these countries, to use India, as a force against these countries! India should and WILL not fall prey to these sick mean-spirited games! India has best of relations with America, as it does with China, Russia and increasingly Pakistan. All these attempts at trying to create tension in this region, by USA, using media and religious extremists, for propaganda to create hatred and possible war! Is not going to make even a small dent in the relationship between India and its neighbors! Peace and prosperity will rein this region, not war and destruction! And no matter, what sick minded games US will try to play, India and China are destined to become the best economies in this century and will be the ASIAN century!
The Rajya Sabha condemned the move in a Russian court to ban the Bhagavad Gita as an extremist text, and the government assured the members that it was taking up the issue with Russia and appropriate action will be taken soon. Actually Russia would have thought of banning ISKON the reason, this so called religious organization made lord Krishna its brand ambassador and transferring Indian money to America. All Americans are installed as saints and given upper positions here. Most of the ISKON saints are perverts and rapists and many of them caught in murder and pedophilic crime. Some even say the CIA agents take cover of Iskon and spread all over the world under the glory of Lord Krishna.
continue reading www.afternoonvoice.com

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Assange's Socila Engineering

2011-12-04T06:54:00.000-08:00

Assange’s announcement over disclosing names looks like as if he is just negotiating his price. The names of Indians holding Swiss bank accounts may be revealed by WikiLeaks sometime next year, its founder Julian Assange announced. Assange, who is under house arrest in the UK, announced this through videoconferencing. During a conference held in Delhi, that whistleblower Rudolf Elmer, who passed CDs containing information to him, is undergoing trial and it would not be proper to make disclosures at this juncture. Assange said governments in some countries are "sucking out" data from emails and internet transactions and passing on this "economic intelligence" to companies like Wal-Mart He made some startling revelations about "hacking" and "hijacking" of data of unsuspecting people. Assange maintained that NTRO, which he termed was India's equivalent of National Security Agency of the US, was engaged in similar kind of surveillance under the cover of keeping track of "Islamic terror”. Forget about NTRO but all those so called threat analysis agencies in India are recruiting cyber terrorists that researchers. IVR Security: Internal Network Attacks via Phone Lines, payloads, hacking data of another company, stealing the info of tenders has become their job. The threat analysis reports they prepare nowhere near the accuracy but many get silently killed and eliminated on the basis of these threat analysis researchers reports. There are many such companies working with foreign collaboration are In India, retired defense personals too are into these practices of stealing data, research and threat analysis. These hackers are unknowing used against their own community members in the name of threat analysis. Hackers forget theirs is a small world. Each can tell tales about others. But dog doesn't eat dog. It’s high time they should realize these gimmicks.
continue reading on www.cattechie.com or www.hackers5.com

We are Expanding

2011-11-21T05:22:00.000-08:00

After a long time, I remembered Harivanshrai Bachchanji's few lines.. “Those that cannot rise up above must perforce go down; in this movable world to remain immovable will get you nothing ..."
In the recent past, there were rumours in the market that our company is closing down. Some even ridiculed our efforts. Today, I’m going to share some special moments that put us in rigorous tasks. Newsmakers is an organisation run by a young team to set a new trend in media. Our attempt is to say no to intellectual slavery and sustain morals. When I began this journey two and half years back against all odds, every one cautioned me not to start a paper because owning a newspaper is not a purgative of common man. One needs to be politician or business man or business group to start it. But the anger, humiliation and hierarchy while growing in this field was not letting me rest in peace or choose another option for my career. Most of the newspapers’ owners are wealthy and they hold publications for their own desires and needs. Press Freedom, liberty to write, investigative journalism, journalism of courage are terms that have been imposed upon us since ages, but in reality the journalists are nothing but the slaves of the banner. The policy of publishing is guided by the affiliations and interests of the managements. A journalist or an Editor is merely a salesman. He can shoot only at the sweet will of the paymaster. The most hypocratic profession is journalism. All these are the reasons why I quit my job and decided to start my own publication to fight with the evil in the fourth estate. I began with a bang and concord. We all were like one big happy family. Hundreds of young journalism students were trained here in these two and half years.
Knowledge teaches you to know about something but wisdom teaches you how to utilise it practically. This journey between the knowing and wisdom takes you miles away. Understanding business and its nitty-gritty are not easy. Sometimes you even need to wait till your hair turns grey. When you start a business at an early age without any background and financial support, there are many hurdles that stand between the tracks keeping its mouth wide open. Controversies knock your doors frequently. Uninvited intruder try to encroach your space and will try to waste your time and their energy.
As new in this business, I didn’t judge some of my decisions and that affected my business. In those days, we had gone through very bad phase in business. In this phase, many staff left the jobs. As a team leader, I had to keep my head on shoulder and move and perform. We get accusations, allegations, pain and tears as a complimentary when bad time starts. That’s the human nature. Then also I tried hard to walk out of this phase. I was insulted, scared. I became exhausted and lost but still kept hope within me.
One day I realized media business is not for common people like us. Finally, I came with a conclusion and decided to close my business, wind up everything and run away from the world for rest in peace. On very next day, I called staff meeting and announced the shutting of my venture. That was very painful moment for me, because NBC was not only my dream but there are many those have dreamt about it. However, they could not respect it. It was equally painful for all. When you work in a team, you grow and team spirit brings success to you. Efforts are collective and goal becomes one. When groups develop in workplace then things just go haywire and nothing remains focused. Most of the good organisations failed to perform due to internal politics and groupism. Even my company was cursed with same syndrome.
On the very day I announced its closer, few left the office same day, few went off gradually. Emptiness started bothering me. However, some dedicated staff said to me, “Don’t worry Ma’am, we are their till the end of the show.” These words motivated me but I had already lost my confidence. These days were difficult to survive. There were many who argued with me over different things. I just learnt one thing from this that do not argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with their experience. Fight does not determine who is right - only who is left.
It was guilt… trauma… and regret over many things. And anger over those who used this organisation for their comforts and ate funds without any shame or hitch. They were like scavengers. Their misbehaviours, bad conduct and undue liberty made everyone suffer. Few slogged and other just enjoyed… extreme differences… big imbalance. This gap was very big and wide, I was trying to fill it but everything started slipping like sand from the hand. For whom I thought were the weaker section of office, they held me tight and said, “Come on. Go ahead… we are still with you, do it… If we can come from scratch till here, then why can’t we travel further... you have to go further.”
I gave up desk and just got in business like a sales executive; I left no stone unturned and paid every staff in time. I had not compromised with anyone's wages or facilities. Half the staff doubled their work. From last five months, day and night, with dust on street to street, in packed local train, gave up big car to travel with smaller one. I had to make loads of adjustments in life. From 200 to 92 staff members… things kept on pinching me. Life too was challenging… From human to zombie, it was dark and much darker... Their expectations, their pale faces and weak eyes… Used to ask me silently ... Ma’am what happened? Will we survive?
No answer from my side... big loss over minor mistakes... days passed… When going gets tough the tough gets going…
Finally, our struggle ended.......... :)
This week, we got big business, advertisements flooded like miracle. We got Government approvals, sanctions and allotments came like surprise.
Today, when we calculated everything, it was unbelievable. We achieved more than what we lost. Apart from finance, I got true and committed workers, who helped me to reach here.
First time in five months, I cried loud like a mad person as if something was bothering me and the pain was reeling from my heart. I forgot that I am in the office. People around me were also crying with me. After sometime, my PA hugged me and said, “WE TRUST YOU” ... Aaah! Such a solace.
It was a very calm but settling moment. All pain gone, just a spark of an another opportunity was in my eyes. Next day I called my staff and announced, “Guys, we have done it again. We are here to grow.” The happiness on their face knew no bounds. It was very emotional moment for all of us.
Anyways, let me share a good news with you, we are coming up with our own news channel which will be on air from May 01, 2012, i.e. on Maharashtra and Labour Day. Our company will never shut. We learned to do business and time has taught us many things. These days, there were lots of rumours but that’s not true…
We are very well here and we gonna be here forever. I thought to share some memories with you, Readers…
Thanks for your blessings, good wishes and love
Stay blessed...

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Anna Supporters New pressure tactics

2011-11-06T05:26:00.000-08:00

People have become easier targets for cyber criminals, spammers and communal haters through the use of social networking sites. Last night I was tweeting over different issues, and my main subject was Parulekar and Anna Hazare. As you all aware that there are few groups, which paste hateful messages about Congress on Twitter while some messages are in favour of Hindu right wing political parties. Nowadays, there is a terror group which calls itself Anna’s support group. They take full liberty to tweet but if somebody else criticizes Anna and his team then they retort by writing hateful messages against that particular user.
Expressing your personal views on any social networking site is not offence. You have full right to do so. Unless and until your messages do not provoke communal hatred, crime, threat to kill or damage anybody or anything, or indulging in any anti social and anti national activities, you are free to express your views. Your personal opinion can be harsh as it is your own view. More over, these are public issues and everyone is welcome to voice out their opinion against it. For me, both Anna and Parulekar are sailing in the same boat and have done things to invite controversy. Neither of them practiced what they preached or tried to save their reputation.
If commenting over Anna is a crime then who gave permission to the so called supporters of Anna to comment nastily about others, whoever spoke negatively about Anna and his team? What right did team Anna have to encroach upon their right to express? Is it Hazare who gave permission to his supporters or are they taking liberty to do so in the name of Anna? If the cyber law applies to one then it applies to them too.
Blogs are meant for those who can think and can express themselves. If political masters depend on ghost writers to prepare speeches, it won’t be true reflection of the speaker's thought. Similarly, Anna Hazare’s Janlokpal agenda however laudable forgets to address many other issues faced by the people and he does not offer any panacea on such issues.
To subject the system to overhaul, new laws must be passed. Using proxies to upload blogs and closing eyes on all public causes and issues has already damaged Hazare's public image. Anna wants to root out corruption but his team have been found indulging in illegal practices and still he is supporting them. Anna went wrong and brought misery upon him by misleading people by trying to tarnish the image of the government.
Anna says Manmohan singh is remote controlled, but the way I see it, Anna is being remote controlled by Kejriwal and Bedi. More over as Parulekar said, he was fighting for Anna. That's not the role of a blogger. There is no harm in Anna wanting to make changes to his team and then changing his mind again after a better review of the situation. But that should not have been revealed by Parulekar unless he was authorised to do so. Anna’s team used Parulekar to express their views, which has caused some unnecessary friction. Hazare called the politicians particularly those belonging to the Congress as liars and cheats. But now it turns out he is the biggest liar. Every day he is changing his statements.
Hazare should decide if “Anna is India and India is Anna”, as his "core" committee had said earlier, do they still stand for what they had said then? Did he or did he not write the letter? That is the question. If yes then the whole movement seems to be a scam of some sort; if not, the blogger should apologise. Hazare had said several times that he is going to be restructuring his core committee soon. According to Parulekar, Hazare’s colleagues prevented him from making changes. Parulekar alleged that “Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Bedi were undemocratic, fascist and disrespectful (sic) of Annaji’s thoughts and thrust their so-called core committee meeting on Annaji and overpowered him. Parulekar fought back for Hazare because the old man is fragile, his blood Pressure was fluctuating and was unwell. Here I can really understand the concern of Parulekar. Hazare would have given him chance to say his side of the story before making any sudden announcement.
I was shocked to learn that Anna had lied so much. First, he refused to know and acknowledge the blogger and when Parulekar published his signed letter, he declared that he had closed his blog. Anna must be honest and accept his mistake. When Mahatma Gandhi committed some mistake, he accepted that and punished himself for the same. That is why people respected to him. If Anna wants respect from the people, he must honest himself. If he behaves this way, people will not respect him.
People of India expect him to root out corruption. If Anna fails, the nation will never forgive him. His whole movement has been politicised. Nowadays they have to give explanation for all their acts. These incidents clearly indicate the lost motive of corruption free India which this movement tried to achieve. They are themselves trapped in corruption, opportunistic behavior, arrogance and lot more. They lost the support of millions of Indians.
Anna must have realised that restructuring/disbanding would provide impetus for his movement and his critics will sway away. He must have lied to avoid this. Tomorrow if Anna and his team are caught for corruption, I would still grace them as it would be a victory against corruption. Allow them to tell lies, bitch about or indulge in petty corruption. But Jan lokpal should come. I am sure the people were not mesmerised by Anna's or Team Anna’s personal traits, but only supported these individuals for taking a lead to end corruption.
This gang of three has misled Annaji and their intention is political, they are not worried about corruption. In fact they let the cat out of the bag when they told Anna is above parliament. I guess Anna is not in control of his actions any more. It’s a shame that the entire Anna team's first reaction to any alleged bad-practice or controversial information revelation has been to object to it. And this only helps to create headlines and sell papers. Anna and his team instead of focusing over major issues indulged in small controversies and randomly accused everyone. Why should Anna be always perfect? He himself says he should not be compared with Gandhi. We must only see his intention of doing the right thing for the people. Even if he is wrong, that doesn't mean our great politicians are correct and unanswerable to corruption that they have caused. We should support a cause and not a person called Anna. This would actually suit the common man like us.
Hazare had earlier told in his interview that he wants to change two of his team members and he subsequently said he had no desire of doing so. Now he says that he changed his mind of changing his team after knowing that someone has spent crores of Rupees to tarnish their image. The fact remains that he cannot get rid of the clutches of the Trio. He is a hostage in their hands. He has no option but to act according to their orders .Before the Jan Lok Pal is passed, let him draft the Constitution for his Core Committee/ Organisation as a donation of Rs.2.94 crores received for the movement is held by another NGO. He should guard others against the misuse of the money and corruption.
My apprehension is that you may change your mind of taking forward the movement of anti- corruption for some reason. Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Bedi are full of ego. One fine morning a youth got irritated and slapped Bhushan and another threw slipper at Kejriwal while Bedi was alleged for fraud. This helpless old man preferred to be silent and went on a maun vrat. Anna hazare first praised Narendra Modi and then took a U turn, saying he was better aware after visiting Gujarat . There is nothing wrong if he changes his mind, but he should be honest to himself. He could have accepted that he did write such a letter on 23 October and that he had changed his mind since then, instead of out rightly snubbing his blogger first and then coming out with unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.
Team Anna lost the credibility of a movement, a nonpolitical movements turned into a political one. Anna Hazare should be very careful while talking to anyone and writing on the blog. Its high time Anna should decide who should be his spokesperson. The movement is treading on thin ice especially while dealing with the common public. Younger civil society members should take greater responsibility as they are the ones who can influence a large section of the population. It’s time to take Bhushan and Bedi on back seat. More over Raju Parulekar does not appear to be very convincing. The way he fumbles while speaking to news channels, it appears as if he is speaking under someone’s influence. Only time would reveal the truth. Obviously when Anna has declared that he has stopped blogging, this guy’s claims will be difficult to prove.
Read tomorrow Cyberlaw and social network………

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Blotted Journalism

2011-11-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

Journalists have been source of information for administration since the time of 2nd World War. India has imported the style of engaging journos for gathering intelligence on politics as well as crimes. Trading of information between the journalist fraternity and Intelligence agencies went on rise and reached a point of equilibrium; so much so that ethics ceased to exist. Some did it for status, some for career while some for money.

The ugliest form of info-sharing journalism was seen during the 2G spectrum scam when we heard Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi operating as touts; amidst the political lobbying that was on for the portfolio of Telecom Minister. It is government’s kind approach towards the journalistic fraternity that neither of them is made an accused.
Shivani Bhatnagar made a posthumous impact upon the journalist fraternity when the hidden details of her relationship with some bureaucrats and politicians were revealed during investigations. Unholy proximity to the subjects of journalism is the root or fundamental evil of all the tragedies that journos have had to face; either by virtue of loss of name or due to some legal consequences.
Mumbai being the commercial capital of India; has some weighty examples of unholy nexus between journalists and their subjects such as officials, politicians and underworld dons. The sensational J. Day murder case has brought to the fore this nexus more clearly than all earlier occasions. Having covered the crime beat for around three decades, Dey had naturally developed affiliations in legitimate as well as illegitimate walks of life. Bootleggers, matka-den operators are regular paymasters of crime reporters residing in respective areas. Visionless and routine crime reporters thrive on their money and retire peacefully. Dey-like ambitious reporters aim high and possess heavy appetite. Their morals become flexible in the initial period of their career and later vanish. Switching of loyalties is not a great affair when it comes to money. It may not be so frequent in underworld as it is in journalism. Whether it is for higher pay-scale in another newspaper or for a “heavier Diwali” by a gangster; a journo can swing like a Pilipino bi-sexual. He/she can switch loyalties so fast that even seasoned politicians shall envy the promptness and swiftness of such a journalist.
Continue reading on www.afternoonvoice.com

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Fading humor in Hackers

2011-11-02T07:03:00.001-07:00

This article of mine is dedicated to all those old time hackers who really had humor and wit in their life. Hacking is an attitude and more than a skill its fun, one need to enjoy it, romance with it and get engrossed in what you do. That’s the reason I really respect that generation of hackers who could take it as way of life and lived with utmost ease. Definitely you must be having query why am I writing this?
Yesterday As usual I was busy experimenting something, and suddenly felt the need for local root exploit for certain old kernel. I messaged r45c4l for the help and in reply he wrote "h00lyshit.c"? I just smiled because the word holey shit is so common and we all use this term on regular basis.
Look at the transformation and sad changes in generation to generation. Now hackers have become more bookish and hazardous. They forgot fun and humor, they rather abuse, discourage and disgrace. They the hackers have developed false ego and pride in them. Oh! This new generation hackers please have life and chill..

www.hackers5.com
www.cattechie.com
fromvaidehi@gmail.com

My homage to Indira….

2011-10-31T08:06:00.000-07:00

I woke up listening to a speech by Indira Gandhi. That was a numb and sad moment for me. I was carefully listening to each and every word. My heart was crying. Tears were rolling down my eyes… I never liked the Congress Party, but could never hate Indira Gandhi. She is my favorite politician and the most powerful woman I have ever seen in Indian history. She defeated Pakistan and created Bangladesh in 1971 going against the entire world, especially USA. She should be lauded for her bravery. Also people may not like it, but her strong actions prevented the creation of Khalistan. She struggled hard to keep India united. Of course, she made a mistake in declaring emergency, but the idea of population control was good and India has faced a lot of population related problems, especially from uncontrolled growth of a certain community. The country must be grateful to her. If she wouldn’t have taken that harsh step at that time, today Punjab wouldn’t have been a part of India. One Gandhi divided the nation and another dedicated her life in uniting the nation. And that Gandhi is none other than Indira herself.
When all TV channels were busy giving different coverage on Indira Gandhi, there were a lot of people who abused her in social networking sites. God knows why and how but there is a lot of hate among the people of this country. Let the courage, boldness and simplicity of this great leader' Indira is India' be reflected in the leaders of this country. Manmohan Singh, who paid homage to Indiraji was asked on social network whether he had ever paid homage to those innocent Sikhs who were butchered during Congress regime. I am sure he must have. When there are internal issues, there has to be deaths of innocents. Forget about Sikhs. Look at Telengana. In the greed of a separate state, how many innocents have lost their lives? Who will pay homage to them? There have been hundreds of deaths in Kashmir valley over the demand of a separate state. Is there anyone who is bothered by such issues? Prime Minister physically cannot come to our doors and pay homage for each death. Please understand his position and be practical. There were many comments on twitter that our Prime Minister is spineless and that’s the reason he is dancing on tunes of Sonia. I would like to correct those people who have doubts over his abilities. He is the only Sikh Prime Minister of this country. India has never had a Sikh Prime Minister before him and I doubt if anyone can be in the future.
Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards on October 31, 1984, the same year when she had launched 'Operation Blue Star' to crush secessionist movement in Punjab and sent troops into the Golden Temple of Amritsar. If Sonia Gandhi and Congress would have retained the same hate for this community as Sikhs are holding against them, then today Manmohan Singh wouldn’t have been the Prime Minister of this country and the Sikh community would not have prospered in India. They are considered to be prosperous citizens and Punjab as one of the developed states in India.
That inflamed sections of public could be permitted to kill few thousands of Sikhs because a leader of such stature had been killed truly reflects the primitive eye for an eye kind of ideal that prevailed amidst the people. That the congress leaders were leading the mobs (including father of present sports minister) was only incidental. Police could not do anything. Home minister was dumb struck for four days and could not take a decision on deploying army available within the city. She was the one who supported the Frankenstein called Bhindranwale to break the Akali Dal’s hold on Punjab’s politics. Few thousands would have been killed in ensuing terrorist outbreak, few thousands more during operation Bluestar but her intentions were honourable. She was the one who realised that without her as PM, the country would go to dogs and imposed emergency when her election was countermanded. After all, she had been labelled synonymous for India.
India is a country where numerous communities reside side by side, enriching the fiber of the country. I often wonder if those who yell out hoarsely over any one particular community's perceived benefits have ever truly thought about our national anthem. People speak of Vivekananda without realising that he promoted the all inclusive greatness of true India.
We the people always believed in attacking the policies great leaders, even when they are no more amongst us. We the people, being part of a democratic country, want to enjoy every right but never care to respect the true character of democracy. We should realise, for our own sake, that we should not make a mockery of this country and its great history. Else one day this country would be send to docks by the people of this country…
Is this what we as Indians really want?
fromvaidehi@gmail.com

No votes for corrupt politicians

2011-10-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

Media can do wonders, if it has editors with moral values, who dare to stay independent and fearless of political consequences for truthful reporting. Corruption corroding the country is indeed depressing. The name Congress has become synonymous with corruption among the general people of the country which is unfortunate. Corruption cannot be removed only by dethroning a specific political party. Name any party, everyone has got buried skeletons of their Karma. Let it be Indira Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Kalmadi, Kripa Shankar Singh, Madhu Koda, Lalu Prasad, Mayawati or Jayalalitha, the list is very long and all are convicted for scandals and scams. Congress and NCP is worst example in this corruption saga. BJP is now shouting against corruption neglecting the fact that Yeddyurappa is in Jail for same reason, these traits would only result in other parties’ success. When they will come to power, they would do the same. The country of Harishchanda and Rama must regain its former glory in the eyes of the world. Yes, it is true that corruption is the key issue in election and the corrupt practices affected the votes received by the Congress.
BJP's corruption in Karnataka or corruption of Bajanlals and Choutalas of Haryana did not hurt them. Congress had lost ground in Bihar long ago and it will take time to retrieve it. Corruption is an issue cutting affecting all parties but Congress, being the party at the centre, is the direct target of other parties and the public alike. If Telengana is created, TRS will sweep the poll in Telengana and Congress will be routed not only in rest of Andhra but in Telengana also. If there are more winners and Congress is the only loser in elections, there will not be a stable Government to take the country forward to achieve the goals of growth, peace and communal harmony.
History bears testimony that Congress had taken action against corrupt partymen may be with a delay somtimes. The corrupt politicians will be unholy as long as they are in Congress, once they are out, they will become holy and BJP will accept them. Take the example Sukh Ram of Himachal Pradesh. Congress cannot doublespeak - with the PM saying one thing and Digvijay Singh saying the opposite - every time. To make matters worse, the cases foisted against Ram Dev and his aide, and all Team Anna Members is quite obviously vindictive measures adopted by the Congress to save itself- which did not go down well with public. Congress is not serious on scams or corruption issues of its party members. The UPA is spoiled mainly because of their corrupt and very wealthy cabinet ministers, ministers, MPs and MLAs at state level . Rahul Gandhi is too junior and inexperienced to hold even a minister's post, considering the corrupt Congress politicians around him! So the media has got to bring out and highlight the corrupt practices presently prevailing at various levels in our country now.
Some introspection of the Congress members is likely to hint at their dismal performance in the six state assembly elections stated for next year. The Congress's total rout in the four bye elections cannot be judged as index of the public opinion against the Congress. All these states lie in different regions. What should be more worrisome for the party is that it is in power in all these states except in Bihar. If the Congress does not take it as a wakeup call, it should be ready to bite the dust in the assembly elections in some states next year and the general elections in 2014.

Congress cannot continue with its role played in the freedom struggle, which is a half-century old story. The second part of last century has been dynamic in geometric progression and aspirations of people have widely changed and shifted. Of course, a new, young, thoughtful and selfless leader is the need of the hour not only for Congress but also for the main stream major political parties. In the two other Assembly by-elections, in Daraunda in Bihar and Banswada in Andhra Pradesh, the stakes were not as high but the losses compounded the Congress's misery. In Daraunda, the Janata Dal(United), capitalising on the popularity of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, won against both the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress. In Banswada, the game was quite different: Telangana overrode all other issues, and Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, who resigned as a Telugu Desam member to contest again as a Telangana Rashtra Samiti candidate, trounced the ruling Congress party candidate by a huge margin. For the loser, there were different lessons to be learnt from the four by-elections. Hisar showed that corruption is a powerful issue, and that the party can no longer make take lightly the movement for a strong anti-corruption institutional mechanism. Khadakwasla taught the Congress and the NCP that opportunistic, short-sighted politics does not pay. Daraunda exposed the Congress's grassroots weaknesses. Banswada served as a reality check on the Telangana issue, demonstrating the spreading popular support for statehood in the region. A party in denial might be tempted to dismiss these results as no more than straws in the wind. The real point is that each one of the straws, coming from different directions, is a bearer of grim tidings.
Let it be Telangana Issue, Hisar elections or any such event or issues like team Hazare and humiliation to them cannot be ignored. Corruption, injustice is resulting in revolution and agitation. All politicians are corrupt to the core. The entire political breed is spoiled.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

They will and they can bring changes

2011-10-12T03:26:00.000-07:00

America always stood by rich people of the country. Rich became richer and poor the poorer. About 500 protestors from labor unions, Occupy LA and other groups who marched passed banks and other financial institutions. What goes out always comes back. America has always played dirty politics everywhere because it was a RICH country. Now with the riches going it should stop looking down the length of its long nose at the poorer brethren and stop the dirty games. Why should the poor and the middle class pay for the mistakes of the American rich. Thousands of protestors they are children, women and citizen of all ages, entire Wall Street was moving in revolution galore. Many were shouting as they were removed by police from a Bank of America branch during an anti-Wall Street demonstration. At least hundreds of protestors were arrested after they entered Wall Street and refused to leave. Protest was decent; peaceful but one cannot guarantee the behavior of each individual. There were many outburst their frustration my passing slogans and screaming with grief. The approach of cops was brutal and non cooperative, I don’t want to blame them because they are paid for their duty. And instructed by authorities for not be kind. The arrests came at the end of a march of Americans should fight against the great divide- filthy riches and the homeless poor. It was really great feeling to see people united and determined to eradicate corruption by demanding justice. Later on Americans came out in the open throwing away their masks of outward fascia of bigness and fight against the disease wellbeing. It is a sign for Republicans, who superfluous the middle and poor America and sided with the filthy riches, to go down in the political drainage very soon.
Rich people are good for a society in that they can provide jobs, help in building up the communications of a country, open schools and colleges, create companies that help the society to grow, etc but that does not mean that rich should only finance politicians who support them and stay in power indirectly and loot the government as well as the middle class and poor people of the country. The biggest mistake these wealthy commit is that they support Royal families, political systems and elections campaigns to seek undue advances out of these so called favors. Being rich and blessed with wealth they hardly remember the social obligations and responsibilities that they have towards country and community. If the country had been run in a patriotic way the previous recession and the present recession would not have affected commoner’s lives. There wouldn’t have been fight against the great divide- filthy riches and the homeless poor. This is not applied to only America, for that matter any country which stops bothering about the fundamental rights of common man then revolution seeps through the passage created between the power and layman. It is a sign for Republicans, who discarded the middle and poor America and sided with the filthy riches, to go down in the political drainage very soon.
The Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York last month with a few people has expanded to protests across the country with marches and camps taking shape from Tampa, Florida to Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles to Philadelphia. Protesters' messages range from anti-corporate sentiments to frustration with the financial system and politicians. Later on this revolution spread like a wild fire over social networking sites. Hackers, patriots, different groups and social think tanks kept on spreading it randomly by inviting the support. Blogging, twitting, face book, messengers everywhere the revolution was hammered. As time passed, thousand joined the protest; few supported it being in back doors, each citizen contributed to the cry of lay man in his or her capacity. Hundreds of activists affiliated with the 'Occupy Wall Street' demonstrations have been living in a park in the Financial District near Wall Street. The activists have been gradually converging on the financial district over the past two weeks to rally against the influence of corporate money in politics among a host of other issues. Over 700 people were arrested last weekend on the Brooklyn Bridge after temporarily blocking traffic. The demonstrators were protesting bank bailouts, foreclosures and high unemployment from their encampment in the financial district of New York City. People from all over the country gather near Wall Street in New York to voice their frustration with the economy and Wall Street. Protestors march during an anti-Wall Street protest in downtown Los Angeles. Occupy LA and other groups who marched passed banks and other financial institutions to protest corporate greed, home foreclosures and joblessness. They all came down because of the state of the economy, society and the system. Hundreds of activists affiliated with the 'Occupy Wall Street' demonstrations have been living in a park in the Financial District near Wall Street. The activists have been gradually converging on the financial district over the past two weeks to rally against the influence of corporate money in politics among a host of other issues. In a series of controversial incidents with the police using pepper spray on a female protester. The best part was some people Donated pizza and few donated water bottles, some donated money and others the help in kind, everyone contributed for the members and supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement. There only question was, why the poor should and the middle class pay for the mistakes of the American rich?
weather this revolution brings any changes or not that time will say but One thing is sure, this time people are not in a mood to accept any shit for administration.
They will and they can bring changes,
Because they believe in democratic rule
For the people and by the people

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Not on Dad’s footsteps

2011-09-28T01:44:00.000-07:00

The kingpins of the city's underworld have fled, been in fear to kill in encounters. But their GenX is stepping out of parents' feared shadows in search of a new identity in Mumbai as bankers, doctors, engineers, pilots and developers. Underworld Dons have created their terror and established dirty underworld Games in the city. "Times have changed; families of these gangsters are well acquainted with the pitfalls of their lives and choose not to follow their parents’ footsteps. The youngsters today want respect in society and a bright future. They don't want to be termed as 'underworld heirs' and they are trying to make their own identity. Don’s children say no to the crime world that their parents have established and prefer to lead normal life. Chhota Rajan’s two daughters, Anita Nikhalje (19) and Mala Nikhalje (17), are on a different track. After studying in Goradia English Medium High School, they are pursuing engineering in two city colleges, Namrata in the second year and Mala in the first year of B.E. His youngest daughter, Pallavi Nikhalje (11), is in class VI.
Anita studied at the top universities abroad, and expects to be called from another couple of places. Anita passed her Class 10 exam with 80% marks from Fatima High School, a reputed Christian convent school in the central Mumbai of Vidya Vihar, in 2005. She is said to be a bright, studious girl who never visited her mother, Sujata Nikhalje, in prison or in court after she was arrested under MCOCA the same year on charges of running her fugitive gangster husband’s syndicate of organised crime in India. The extortion case against Nikhalje was registered that’s related to housing projects in her neighbourhood in Tilak Nagar, Chembur. The Enforcement Directorate accused Nikhalje that she had purchased the properties from the extortion money. Rajan, the son of a mill worker, grew up in this locality, graduating from a cinema-ticket tout to a gangster. The Rajan gang forcibly took over reconstruction projects at Tilak Nagar from other builders and transferred them to Sujata’s construction firm, Khushi Developers. These girls want to remain out of their father’s crime syndicate and they are also scared to acknowledge by their fathers name. There are more than 20 cases including smuggling, extortion, land grabbing, murder are pending. Chhota Rajan has declared as an absconder. In such crises the daughter prefers to disown their father and his criminal legacy. They don’t want their name to be linked by their father which can be blot on the career.
This is not the only case of Chhota Rajan, even other underworld’s gangsters are too disowned by their own family. Some have entered in politics. The only don now living in Mumbai is Gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli. He is currently lodged in Taloja jail for the murder of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jhamsandekar. Earlier, his men had allegedly plotted the killing of Dawood's brother in-law. Known as 'Daddy' to his followers, he floated his political outfit in 1997, Akhil Bhartiya Sena, and won an assembly election in 2004. His nephew Sachin Ahire is a NCP MLA while daughter Geeta Gawli is a BMC corporator from ward number 205 (Chinchpokli, Byculla and Mominpura). Geeta (28) was a student of the English-medium St Agnes High School, Clare Road, Byculla.
Reshma Naik was only 11 years old when her gangster father Amar Naik was killed in a police encounter on July 10, 1996. However, Naik's wife planned both her daughters' education meticulously. Reshma, now 25, completed her commercial pilot's flying training course from an aviation academy in Florida, United States. Her younger sister Aditi (23) is a doctor. The family plans to open a hospital in the city for the poor. The thirst for education also touched their extended family. Archana, daughter of Amar Naik's younger brother and erstwhile don, Ashwin Naik, has done a course in dentistry. Like her cousin Reshma, Archana too studied in an English-medium school, prefers western outfits and a chic straightened-hair look. Archana was in fact an anonymous face till she made a media debut with her father when he met Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray three years ago. At that time, rumours were rife that Naik was joining a political party, but he insisted that he had only gone to seek Thackeray's blessings. Naik was earlier arrested for the alleged murder of his wife Neeta, but was later acquitted by court. Gangsters have been glamorised by cinema, but the children of Mumbai's dreaded dons - men who emerged from anonymity to become feared names - seem to prefer the daily grind. Many of their parents are still on 'wanted' lists, but all the young brigade wants is a good education, as they feel it will lead to a good life. Jailed diesel smuggler Mohammed Ali Shaikh, cooling his heels in a special cell in Arthur Road jail for plotting the murder of a shipping firm owner in September last year, has also focused on his children's education. Daughter Rukhsar (25) did her MBA (finance) from a city college and was offered a job in a well-known bank last year. His son, an arts graduate, looks after his father's shipping Management Company. Sources close to Shaikh say he always wanted his children to study well to give them a new identity.
Then there is Girish, the eldest son of fugitive gangster Guru Satam. Girish, who studied civil engineering, is now a developer. The children of underworld figures want to make a name for themselves minus the crime records of their elders. They are studying and getting good opportunities in MNCs as well. Guru Satam, the Parel-based extortionist was a terror for businessmen in central Mumbai. He fled the country in 1995 and is believed to be in Bangkok. Satam, police say, is virtually bankrupt. His family is still in Mumbai.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

KalkiJi Maharaj alleged Anna Hazare for for ill intentions

2011-09-18T04:26:00.000-07:00

One of the Founder members of The Shri Ram Sena is a right-wing Hindu extremist group founded in the late 1960s by Kalki Ji Maharaj right hand Bal Thackeray, a former leader of the Shiv Sena, the Bajrang Dal and the Vishva Hindu Parishad. Kalki Ji Maharaj is a devotee of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna was born in Vrindavan U.P. Delhi India. He left to live in the Himalayas in Badrinath and kept a very low profile and, after many years, he joined the Hindu Organization Shiv Sena and got very close to Bal Thackeray who appointed him as the leader Shiv Sena for North India. At that time he was provided (Z) security by the Government of India. He alleged Anna Hazare has account in Swiss bank; he wants to ask Why Anna Hazare’s brothers met department of state intelligence CBI and FBI? He thinks Anna Hazare misguiding common ma of this country and now corruption will have new face. He has stated many things while speaking to the editor of Afternoon Voice (vaidehi Sachin). Fallowing audio links of what Kalki has to say about whole corruption Issues..

http://www.mediafire.com/?3v78gqvqt7f38y6
http://www.mediafire.com/?3v78gqvqt7f38y6
http://www.beyondthenews.biz/June_1-15_2010/June_1-15_2010_big_9.html

www.afternoonvoice.com
fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Smart terrorist slams intelligence

2011-09-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Terrorists and high-tech usage is casual now a days, they send you mail from your very own country and you cannot stop them. There is every day uproar upon cyber crime punishment and law but sorry to say if authorities were in my hand then would have done something, these so called officers and cyber crime detectors can't even wash their own.. We fail because always our intelligence lacks to find out the issue and the cause. People easily say that Indian intelligence don't have strategy to find out those terrorist, it’s been hrs and days still Indian intelligence have no clues. Intelligence always lack behind and in response they say "it’s not intelligence failure - terrorists are smart than them." seems like a big joke here and a new coming threat to India. Its annoying people that after this many hrs also the terrorists are not yet caught and they are free. Even after government spending so much of funds on spook and intelligence agencies they are no were to stand or to tackle with terrorists. as per the third mail received from terrorists seems like the biggest threat again to the nation, terrorist openly said that they gonna attack soon and they don't have time.
An email was sent to the website of the Delhi Police hours after terror attack at the Delhi High Court. The email allegedly contains a code that, according to the sender, has details of where the next attack will take place. The numbers read as Ahmedabad, the content of the email described as "simple amateurish code". Government says it’s taking the issue seriously then why they flop always? The email was sent using a proxy server at 4 pm on Wednesday, hours after a briefcase bomb exploded at the courthouse. 13 people have died so far; more than 70 were injured. All those killed and injured have been identified; and the bomber was not among them. Need to know the id from where we got the mail - the recent mail which was posted, more over most of the criminals use proxy do we have any urgent arrangement to track the proxy servers? IP or VPN ? Sources say that the e-mail has been traced to Moscow, which seems to be a shadow route to camouflage the location of the real senders, the mail was sent from kill.india@yahoo.com. Terrorists struck on India and are playing with investigating agencies and our corrupt politicians are helpless giving global gyan, this disappointing the whole nation here!
Three emails are being carefully studied by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) which has been asked to handle the inquiry into the latest terror attack in Delhi. The irony is that so called Indian patriotic hacker hacked NIA website recently and also put the server down for hours by DdOs attacks. Why agencies failed to reach these hackers? Why media made them hero and highlighted it as support to Hazare? These hackers can be caught and they are not invisible, they are your own Indian guys. They can only talk tough on terror but when it comes to handling them, they just give way.
Why the emails are received by particular Tv channels? And then another TV channel? The mails were received from purportedly from terrorist group HuJI or Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. That note said that the Supreme Court would be attacked next if the death sentence for Afzal Guru is not commuted. Mr Guru has been convicted for the 2001 attack at the Indian Parliament. The email was traced to a cybercafé in Kishtwar near Jammu; the sender is believed to be in his teens; a sketch of his is already released.
A second email was sent to a TV channel yesterday; the sender claims to be a member of the Indian Mujahedeen, but sources say the email, written in Hindi, does not follow the pattern of earlier emails sent by the IM claiming responsibility for terror attacks. This email has yet to be traced. The NIA has asked Google for assistance. The National Investigating Agency (NIA) is examining a new email that claims responsibility for yesterday's bomb blast at the Delhi High Court in which 13 people were killed and more than 70 injured. The mail now being studied is sent from chotoominani5@gmail.com and says the Indian Mujahideen (IM) is behind the terror attack. The email, written in Hindi, says the IM - which is parented by the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan - warns of another blast outside a mall. Referring to the attack on the High Court, the mail says the IM planned the blast because it is well-known that the courthouse draws huge crowds on this day every week on account of Public Interest Litigations or PILs.
It is not clear if this email is a hoax, or a genuine message from the IM. Experts point out that in the past, the IM sends emails minutes before or after an attack they masterminded; also, their emails have traditionally been written in English and Urdu, and carried signatures of the alleged IM founders, Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal.Yesterday, soon after the terror attack, NDTV was among two TV channels that received an email from HuJI or the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami taking ownership of the explosion. HuJI is based in Pakistan and has a big footprint in Bangladesh. Yesterday's email was traced to a cybercafe in Kishtwar in Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said investigation into the email claiming responsibility for the Delhi High Court blast, which has been traced to Kishtwar district of the state, is in an "advanced stage. How stupid of him, the other than the fact that various leads have been shared with media already. The email allegedly sent by the Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HuJI), traced to Kishtwar district of Jammu division, in which the militant group claimed responsibility for the Delhi Blast. According to police, the email was sent from a cyber cafe in Kishtwar from the address harkatuljihadi2011@gmail.com.Asked if there was a link between the bomb blast in New Delhi and militancy in Kashmir, Omar said it will be premature to "reject or accept this premise". "Obviously certain leads have been shared. Investigations are ongoing. We will share our findings with the NIA and they will then decide how to take it further. NIA which has failed to save its own things is now dealing with such sensitive investigations; god knows what the fate of this country is?
fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Cowardly act of a terrorist

2011-09-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

Man with a briefcase was seen outside court just before the blast. CCTV Cameras were non functional and even after informing about the same no changes were made and finally the blast took place. This is the case almost each time it happens. Bomb exploded within seconds. Why are we as 'common people' crying? We elected these leaders and they are protecting terrorists in the name of technicalities and law. No wonder! There could be another terror attack or Kandhar type hijack to free Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab... and our superb Home Minister P Chidambaram will accompany these terrorists to their respective homes. Unless a revolution happens similar to Egypt and Libya... these dictators in the name of democracy will loot and enjoy the luxury at the cost of common people’s blood. In an email sent from an unknown location to various media houses, the HuJI claimed that the blast which left 10 people dead was the handiwork of their terror group, and they belong to Bangladesh. It demanded that the death sentence of 2001 parliament attack convict Afzal Guru should be immediately "repealed". In their email they wrote, "We own the responsibility of today's blast at (the) high court (in) Delhi. Our demand is that Afzal Guru's death sentence should be repealed immediately else it would target major high courts and the Supreme Court of India," the email read. Guru has been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court after he was convicted for the Dec 13, 2001 parliament attack. The bomb was apparently placed in a case near the first security checkpoint at the court, where people were queuing for passes. The US department says HuJI is a terrorist organisation with links to al-Qaeda. The group has been accused of carrying out attacks in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Timelines for recent blasts:
13 July 2011: Three bombs in Mumbai kill 26; no group said it carried out the attacks.
7 December 2010: One-year-old girl killed and 34 injured in a bomb in the northern holy city of Varanasi.
13 February 2010: 16 people killed in Pune when an unidentified package explodes at the German Bakery, a restaurant popular with tourists.
13 September 2008: Five bombs in busy shopping areas of Delhi, killing 25 people and injuring over 100; Indian Mujahideen say they planted the bombs.
14 April 2006: At least 14 people injured after two explosions at the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi.
29 October 2005: Three bombs explode almost simultaneously in three Delhi markets, killing 62 people and injuring 210
This is a long war in which all political parties and citizens of India have to stand united so that this scourge of terrorism should be crushed. Intelligence agencies shared information with Delhi police in July about the latest threats, but nothing was done to prevent it. News channels showed ambulances taking away a number of people who appeared to be severely injured. The Chief Justice of India Justice SH Kapadia reviewed the current security for the Supreme Court along with a few other senior judges. Interrupting a hearing on the Vodafone tax case, Justice Kapadia asked famous lawyers Harish Salve, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman about the sort of security that's used at parliament. Singhvi informed him that cars allowed into the parliament complex have special passes with embedded chips. When the car passes a gate, the photograph of the MP inside flashes up on a computer screen. But honorable lawyer forgot to tell this photography has no meaning and no relevance when it comes to security. Afzal’s mercy petition that asks for his sentence to be commuted to life is pending with President Pratibha Patil.
A 20-member team led by the National Investigations Agency (NIA) is examining the email sent by HuJI. This is the kind of cyber experts we have in our country. Reacting to HuJI’s e-mail, NIA chief SK Sinha passed a shameless statement that the mail sent is being looked at since HuJI was involved in the Mumbai blasts too. Forensic experts are now collecting debris for analysis.
Terrorists come and attack at the busiest gate of the high court, and Delhi Police and government have no information. It is regrettable and matter of great pain and agony that a blast has happened in front of the Delhi High Court, for the second time within four months. This is the second explosion in the Delhi High Court in four months. A smaller bomb in a parking lot in May did not cause any injuries. Police sources say that attempt was a dry run by the terrorists behind Wednesday's attack. The incident in May had underscored the need for security cameras. They have yet to be installed at the court's nine different gates. The government will find itself struggling to provide an explanation as to why terror continues to stalk cities with relative ease. The fact that another terrorist attack has taken place in our capital - and so close to Parliament - is very worrying.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Mala Mal Ministers Of India

2011-09-03T05:16:00.000-07:00

Now the time has come the media should compile a list for each party and tell the public Total MPs, Total Assets. Instead of crying over the money which is invested in foreign banks, look at the investments and benami properties they have in India. Seal all so called spiritual leaders, those who help these ministers in money laundering and making black to white investments. Raid raid and raid..
Strict combing over all such possessors of assets should be trapped and punished. Start cleaning carpet from your own country and the move towards other countries. Right now whatever properties declared by the ministers is simple eye wash. it is another drama by our PM &the congress party none of the 120cr Indians are here to believe the sorts of dramas any more all knows who is who &what is what. But all the declaration should have a common valuation method. Yesterday Chandrababu Naidu declared 24 crores of wealth on Historical Cost Basis, but the Prime Minister is declaring 5 crores of wealth on Current Market Price. Therefore the two data are no comparable. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had taken strong exception to a remark last month by a senior member of parliament on his personal integrity, led his council of ministers in declaring their personal assets on the official web site. His wealth is estimated at Rs.5 crore and he owns a Maruti 800 of 1996 vintage. In a three-page declaration, the prime minister's personal wealth, which included land, property, as well as cash and bank balances, has been estimated at Rs.5.1 crore ($1.3 million). Deposits in banks amount to Rs.3.3 crore ($733,000).In contrast, the poorest member of his ministerial council is Defence Minister A.K. Antony whose declared wealth is less than Rs.1 crore ($222,000), while Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath could be the richest with stakes in over 25 companies and several high-end properties.Speaking on the debate on corruption in the Lok Sabha Aug 25, the prime minister had said he was hurt by the remarks made by Bharatiya Janata Party's Murli Manohar Joshi, attacking his personal integrity during his long years in public life.
In the assets declared by Manmohan Singh, the residential house in Chandigarh is valued the most at Rs.90 lakh in terms of present market rate, followed by one at Vasant Kunj in the national capital which is valued at Rs.88.67 lakh. A former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it is evident the prime minister does not believe much in speculative investments, as he neither holds shares, nor does he have much of jewellery. He has declared just 150.8 grams of gold valued at Rs.2.75 lakh. He may travel in a custom-made BMW on official duties, but when it comes to his personal car, it is a Maruti 800 of 1996 vintage, valued at Rs.25,000 -- less than $560.
Minister of Urban Development, Kamal Nath's assets were the highest at Rs 263 crore, whereas Defence Minister, A K Antony's assets amounted to Rs 1.8 lakh, which was the lowest. Home Minister P Chidambaram's assets amounted to Rs 11 crore and the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's assets totaled Rs 1.8 crore. Most corrupt Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's assets amounted to Rs 12 crore whereas External Affairs Minister, S M Krishna's assets amounted to Rs 22.15 crore. The list included details of the prime minister, 32 cabinet ministers, seven ministers of state with independent charge and 37 ministers of state. However, 18 ministers failed to declare their assets even after three reminders. In contrast, the poorest member of his ministerial council is Defence Minister A.K. Antony whose declared wealth is less than Rs.1 crore ($222,000), while Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath could be the richest with stakes in over 25 companies and several high-end properties.
With the deadline for Ministers to send in details of their assets expiring yesterday, the Prime Minister's Office is compiling the responses received and is planning to put these in public domain in a couple of days. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as per an annual exercise, had asked ministers to declare their assets as also those of their spouses and dependents along with any business interest. The ministers have been asked to furnish the details by August 31 in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Ministers. The details will be put on the website in a day or two.
Cong wants to divert the attention from real issues of corruption and black money. These ministers declared their assets during the elections already. They will never disclose the black money. So what is the point in diverting the attention from serious issues?
Let’s look at the Tihar jail Vip’s Kanimozhi (2G) == Backward Caste, Maran (2G) == trible , Raja (2G) == Scheduled Caste, Arun Shourie (2G) == Forward Caste, Pramod Mahajan (2G) == Forward Caste, Vajpayee (2G) == Forward Caste ,Manmohan (2G) == Forward Caste, Jaipal Reddy (CWG) == Forward Caste , Sheila Dixit (CWG) == Forward Caste, Lalit Modi (IPL) == Forward Caste, Sharad Pawar (IPL) == Forward Caste, Chavan (ADARSH) == Forward Caste, Vinod Rai (CAG) == Forward Caste, A K Singh (CBI) == Forward Caste . This type of vilification will provoke BC/SC/ST/Minority communities to invoke the 1932 Round Table Conference Resolution to seek their Autonomy/Homeland via a Bill in Indian Parliament.
Even in small corporate, the Directors are required to declare the names of Companies in which they are Directors and having interest. If any contract has to be entered into with any organisation in which the Director or any one defined as relative under Section 6 of the Companies Act, 1956 is associated, prior approval of the Central Govt. is required. Why not such requirement is put for the politicians/law makers who are considered as public servants? When Mr.Maran was questioned about the investment by Aircel in his brother's company he brushed aside that he has nothing to do with the Company. Govt. should treat everyone equal before law but some discrimination is per se is there while dealing with Law Makers. Once elected the representative feels that he is an immortal and omnipotent.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

I am no Anna

2011-08-26T06:43:00.000-07:00

When it comes to Gandhi, (Mahatma to Madam), everyone criticizes; when it comes to their good deeds, they want be called Gandhian. India, a country of one billion plus, still depend on these dinosaurs to lead us. Why can’t we make up a political party which is totally secular, unlike other parties which divide Indians into Dalits, Muslims and Christians? It does not even acknowledge the presence of the majority Hindus. There is a need for a political party made up of educated young men dedicated to the upliftment of India and its poor and treating every Indian as an equal, and on his merit. After all, you can admit a donkey to Engineering or Medical school but you can’t make him a thoroughbred race horse.

The Parliament was formed since the all the citizens can't assemble at a place and hence their representatives were elected as MPs/MLAs. Now the Technology has become very advance. We can discuss the issue through Media, Internet, Papers or any other means and can Caste Vote through Mobiles, Internet and other format. At a given time, out of 544 MP's, hardly few are available in the Parliament. The MP's make a mockery of the Parliament. Even to reach parliament and seek votes, other parties are bribed. The most corrupt Parliament decides the fate of and progress of this country.

We don't need the Parliament now. We can franchise our votes through the latest technology. It is important to adopt points in Jan LokPal bill; Team Anna did not force the Jan Lok Pal bill in its purest format. We are very well aware of the team formed and them reaching out to all politicians. Dear Sir, you were PM material, but we expect clear intent and desire about such subject, which affects every Indian. We do not need any confusing statements.

Swami Agnivesh, who is on board Team Anna, walked out of the mission due to the differences with other members. Same happened with Hegde. He too cut off himself from team Anna, infact he is the one who drafted this bill. Agnivesh ridiculed Anna’s agitation saying this is some sort of..., seen as a threat to the Parliament, with the condition 'you do it by tomorrow or day after'. This is not becoming of a Gandhian fast or a moment. He said the movement against corruption has been total, peaceful and non-violent and got solidarity from all across the country. So this was the right moment to call it off. But even if it is being called off tomorrow or if it is prolonged and somebody insists on passing the bill, we should respect parliamentary procedures and the Constitution. Too much of dictatorship of Kiran bedi and imposition from kejriwal, somewhere Anna’s mission is going haywire. Now, except the sponsor people on the Ramleela ground, common public as such lost the interest, those who are publicity mongers are reaching Ramleela to see the fasting old man not with any intention to support his mission.

BJP also surprised people by withdrawing support all of sudden; this is the true colour of BJP. Confused party, there is no proper stand on the lokpal issue. On one side party leader Gadkari said BJP is fully supporting the lokpal. On the other hand, Advani is saying passing Anna’s lokpal under the given clauses is difficult in such short span. All the politicians are corrupt, BJP is not exceptional. May be there are few issues in the current Jan Lok Pal. Why political parties not willing to create a strong bill against corruption? Do they want all the parties to support corruption? Without sticking to each of the provisions of Jan Lokpal that is not self-righteous, the main spirit of the bill has to be respected by the government and they have to introduce their own bill so that they are morally bound to get it passed. The twist in the issue is activists are deeply divided over the anti corruption movement led by Anna Hazare. This is the time when Anna and his team should not stand on false prestige. It should gauge the public mood and the aspirations of the youth, students and the ordinary people.

The government should also realise that the proposed Lokpal bill draft falls much short of the people's aspirations. Instead of sitting on technicalities that the bill is the property of the Parliament and so on, the government has already rectified its stand and got the issue in parliament for discussion and they are trying to make it an effective legislation. Parliament should be respected, but the supreme parliament - people - should get higher respect. Anna and his team have realised that Public sentiment is against corruption. Now, nobody can stop this yearning for transparency and accountability. Among individuals and groups, families and communities, the talk narrows down to one point: Corruption and the mounting corruption in the country. Probably this is the reason Anna is inflexible over several appeals by Government.

I don't support Anna's movement at all; neither does he represent me in any way. He has adopted a demanding attitude in his fight against corruption and is affiliated to right-wing Hindu groups. Everyone is been fighting the government pressing for some legislation like the communal violence bill. But that doesn't mean Anna’s team can undermine the existing democratic institutions of India. Framing laws need deep engagements, holistic consultations. Bills aren't Maggie noodles that you cook for two minutes and are ready to eat. What Anna is proposing is an anti-democratic Lokpal. It would take away all the power from existing institutions and suddenly we will have an over-arching and super-power like institution. For that, a necessary condition is the creation of a social consciousness which would decisively disapprove and reject the culture of favouritism and nepotism. Moreover, one must also need to define corruption. Are we only worried about the monetary corruption? Does this lokpal cover all that? Or they are ignoring morally corrupt behavior of the people?

The Jan Lokpal Bill thus raises the conflict of interest, as well as the merger of powers correctly separated by the Constitution, to the level of structural principles.
Even if the office of the Lokpal is constituted as an 11-member panel, will these members be attending personally to the torrent of complaints that will pour onto their desks every day? The Lokpal’s office will require machinery far faster than any so far in existence in India. Who is going to monitor the Lokpal’s super-bureaucracy? Slowly everyone is realising the ground facts. However, greed for power and credit earning aim result in dumping and parting from main issues.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Who says Anna is Gandhi?

2011-08-25T02:47:00.000-07:00

Fully packed publicity stunts with good PR and promotions, this agitation has taken worst shape. Every day unwanted SMSs and calls from marketing agencies stating how great is Anna and his Satyagraha, bothers everyone. Too much of hammering on national television, the charm of this agitation is fading away somewhere down the line.
By wearing a Gandhi topi and white Dhoti one can never become Gandhi, Anna declaring himself as Gandhi is a blot on the ‘Father of the Nation’.

Gandhiji always believed in creating awareness and discussing the issues with taking large number of people in confidence. He never asked people to resort to violent means or gave liberty to anyone for creating ransack in public life. He never believed in show off or false displays. His fight for freedom has grace. Anna Hazare himself was corrupt at times; he used government machineries’ for his personal benefit. He misused trust funds, his relatives are his successors. What now people are painting about him is just an eye wash and exaggeration.

If Hazare would have been really an honest man then the corruption issues in Maharashtra would have evaporated by now. Whenever he raised his voice over sugar factory scams, land gabbing issues, farmer’s issues, instead of being strict he took good will and perks from them. That’s the reason Anna couldn’t deter Maharashtra Government and its ministers.

Did not we protest against the British and saved our country from the clutches of its tyranny? Did it solve our problems and are we happy? The issue of corruption and satyagraha by Anna was important, but his team is taking him for a ride. Instead of depending on Kejriwal, and Kiran Bedi, he should have invited others people such as Aruna Roy and her team taken into confidence and ensured a dialogue instead of resorting to fast for demands that would undermine supremacy of the Parliament. I was really shocked to see G R Khairnar and Desarda, a former member of the Maharashtra planning board and Hazare's associate for two decades, pointing flaws in Anna and his movement. Anna had some drawbacks, which others exploited at times. Anna always has a coterie around him who get influenced. It could become a problem, as there could be people with vested interests in this coterie. In fact, this is the reason many respected personalities who used to work with Hazare distanced themselves from him, now.

Anna’s knowledge of the Constitution and law was limited and he relied on people around him. Even at this time, he is under the control of people like Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Santosh Hegde, Swami Agnivesh and Kiran Bedi. In fact, he should have taken others into confidence in larger public interest instead of monopolising the movement. Khainar termed Hazare's fast unwarranted and unwise. Many have the opinion that Anna has become a pawn in the hands of Bedi and Kejriwal. In addition, communal forces have jumped into the agitation. Government made blunder by arresting Anna, otherwise today he wouldn’t have gained sympathy waves.

Khairnar had also launched a campaign against corruption and criminalisation of politics in the 90s. He distances himself from this movement of Hazare because he found him conflicting personality. In 1995 was his inconsistent approach towards the issue. Hazare told Khairnar not to speak against Sharad Pawar because he is holy cow of Maharashtra and later, he met Bal Thackeray and asked him to eliminate corruption. Riding on the wave, the Sena-BJP combine found it easier to win power in Maharashtra in the 1995 assembly elections. As per Khairnar, Anna’s associates are exploiting his popularity and misleading the whole movement. In the recent past, Y.P. Singh, former IPS officer, claims that he had given Anna Hazare Adarsh papers to seek ouster of Deshmukh and Shinde from cabinet. However, Anna kept quiet.

Anna is a simple man and has hardly travelled outside his village to understand the nitty-gritty of the whole issue. The government's draft may be weak but even Anna's proposals have provisions which run contrary to the Constitution of India. Are we not protesting against the corruption? Will it solve our problem? The fight for independence, fight against right and wrong, and fight against corruption will remain as long as human race exist on this earth. One should publicise the history of mankind from several thousand years.

Team Anna wants a written commitment from the government assuring that a bill with Jan Lokpal elements will be passed this Parliament session. The main issue that seems to have resolved during the talks held between the two sides is that the PM will now be included within the purview of the Lokpal Bill. But if MP’s are included within the purview of the Lokpal Bill then they must include business man, corporate house and NGO’s too. The actual corruption is here.

Determined to break the deadlock over the ballooning agitation led by Hazare, the Congress pulled out all stops to end the row and appealed for suppleness and moderation from all stakeholders on the Lokpal bill. Government called an all-party meeting to break the logjam. But the paths and methodologies used by the government and Hazare's team are different. Still the government is committed to passing a constitutionally valid and the best possible Lokpal legislation with inputs from civil society with the broadest possible consensus. And they are open to talk with everyone concerning this issue. Team Anna wants written assurance on Lokpal and government wants play safe by not committing anything. So far nothing concrete has happened. Let us see how many more meeting takes place to settle this issue. All party meeting at 7, Race Course Road, PM’s residence has not come to any conclusion, today. Let see who wins the final race…

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

It’s too early to conclude over Lokpal

2011-08-24T01:41:00.000-07:00

The letter written by prime minister seems to be mere formality; it’s nowhere close to the demands of Anna and his team. It is very clear that the government is trying to give the message that several clauses in the Anna’s draft is not practical and it won’t be accepted as it is. Moreover, his letter also tried to make a precise point that there are other groups of civil societies too and that the Government will consider their point of view. Prime Minister rubbished the basic demands of team Anna by saying that boils down to semantic debate.
Any ways let us be practical. We all love bribes, whether they are good or bad. But, for some, definitely it is not a good idea. For the people belonging to middle and small income group, it is not something that really makes them happy unless they get their work done by bribing the concerned authorities.
Unless the Indian masses are taken into confidence, the movement cannot succeed. I have no hesitation in stating that the members of Team Anna appear to be more focused at hogging the limelight by their ubiquitous presence before the TV Media. Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi are media crazy. They must share the information with the masses who are agitated all across the country. They cannot hijack the movement spearheaded by Anna Hazare by any means.
One fails to understand how and why the politicians with shady credentials like Sandeep Dikshit, son of Sheila Dikshit, are being associated with the secret parleys between Salman Khursheed, the Law minister and Arvind Kejriwal? Does it need it be recalled that the reputation of the son and mother duo is at stake in the context of CWG and other Scams. How could they be privy to talks between Team Anna and Team Congress? This is most unfortunate that the government is dealing with the agitation in the most casual manner. It is time they realise that if anything happens to Anna, the movement will not remain peaceful and it would indeed be impossible for them to control the situation.
If you are not a politician or a Congress supporter, then you can understand what I want to explain to you. The services of the Police are available to us to handle issues of corruption (like if anybody riding bike without helmets). But can you tell me if any police employee indulges in corruption, then how will you to handle that case? Like that we have all kinds of rules to handle the common people but why we don't have good rules or laws to prevent the Judiciary or the politicians from being corrupt? That is why the public servants do not think twice before accepting bribes from the common citizens. They are almost playing with our democracy and our country. If we are asking to frame a law to handle these corrupt politicians, police and government officials then what is the wrong with that? Politicians are scared because Jan lokpal will expose their corrupt practices. We have to force them to make laws (Jan lokpal) to handle their corruption otherwise they will not make any such law with would go against them.
We need the Jan lokpal bill to pass to punish corrupt politicians and all other public servants. If we are able to pass the Jan Lokpal bill, then these sectors (politics, police and government) will be corruption free, once these sectors will become corruption free, then they will work honestly to make our country corruption fee. All this sounds like an unrealistic story. Let it be Anna’s lokpal or Aruna’s lokpal; just by passing the bill nothing can be achieved; there is no guarantee of clean governance even if these bills are passed.
The initial step has to be taken by the people of India; but by going door to door, we are just making mockery by creating violence. By panicking minister’s family, by using bad words under the cover of Anna, one cannot achieve anything; rather, the revolution would take an ugly turn. Even team Anna has also realised this.
While addressing his supporters, Anna gave them a clear message that they should not take the path of violence; that if they do, the government will crush them. The government is very powerful. Non-violence is a very “powerful weapon,” he said. But the point is that why did he order people to go door to door and who was there to check the credentials of these support groups visiting minister’s places? In a way, this is breach of security and you are asking your supporters to violate the security rules. This is the reason the government has not been able to crush us so far. There was also a group of people who had come drunk to the venue and created ruckus last week. Finally 74 years old Hazare had to appeal to all his supporters not to come drunk. Even otherwise, they should not drink or smoke as it affects their health.
Hazare's associates demanded that the government appoint an official representative for talks on the Lokpal Bill even as the anti-corruption activist's health deteriorated with eight days of fasting and doctors advised him maximum rest. An early solution to the Lokpal logjam is in sight, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh writing to Anna Hazare to call off his fast. This comes amid government and Team Anna getting ready for direct talks, with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee representing the government. The prime minister is also holding a high-level meeting to resolve the issue. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi may also attend it. Moreover when Rahul is holding meetings with everyone over the lokpal bill issue, then why is he not meeting Hazare? Or why has he never visited him? Meanwhile, hectic back-channel negotiations were going on between Team Anna as the fast continued for the eighth day. As Hazare's health took a turn for worse, the government began talks on multiple fronts.
Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who met members of Hazare's core group, opened negotiations with opposition parties. The office of Prime Minister deputed government's top most crisis manager Mukherjee and Law Minister Salman Khurshid to salvage the festering standoff. The government is also falling back on the senior Marathi ministers in the UPA cabinet. Many of them like former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh are considered close to Hazare. The help of Sushil Kumar Shinde and Sharad Pawar has also been sought. Social Activists Swami Agnivesh too spoke to Khurshid.
Till Monday, Anna was quite reluctant that he will speak to only Rahul or Prime Mimister, and today when they realised government’s adamancy and Ann’s health, Kejriwal clarified that Hazare had not insisted that he will talk only with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. He wants to meet someone who is officially sent by the government. In its proposal, it is learnt that the government has proposed that the Lok Sabha Speaker can take decision to send the Jan Lokpal Bill directly to the Standing Committee. The government has also proposed that the prime minister be brought under Lokpal, although an inquiry can be initiated against him only after he remits office. To strengthen the judiciary, the government has proposed that a judicial standard accountability bill will be introduced in Parliament. It also proposes to include civil society members in the draft panel. A separate grievance redressal mechanism has been proposed, which will hear the complaints against government officials and departments.
The government has also proposed that once the Lokpal Bill is passed, all state chief ministers would be asked to appoint Lokayuktas on the basis of Jan Lokpal.
Let see what would be the outcome of the high end drama of meetings and negotiations

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Anna’s movement drifting

2011-08-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

There is an urgent need to bridge the gap. Today I could see a helpless and tired old man in Anna. He was lost and week, people were shouting on stage but he was closing his eyes, his voice, which has become harsh due to fatigue, has started affecting him. Team Anna is just confused and no concrete initiative has been taken by the Government. Finally, Anna has reached to a bargaining stage, he wants someone should come and proceed for negotiations. Anna and his team might have realised by now, how adamant our government is. Everything boomeranged, and now the real drama has started. Anna Hazare's fast has entered its 7th day today and he has lost around 5 kg ever since he first began his fast.

Sri SriRavi Shankar, Ramdev Baba, Sanatan Prabhat, Hindu Militants, Shree Ram Sene, Aasaram Bapu and Narendra Maharaj are the crowd pullers for Anna’s agitation, and media has played rest of the role to make it extravagant. Anna Hazare's supporters holding protests outside residence of ministers and MP’s, are really disturbing the entire sanity of this movement. By going door to door or insulting ministers, Jan Lokpal bill cannot be passed and Anna ordering such thing is matter of shame. They should be reasonable with the government for talks. The protests came following a call by Anna Hazare asking people to protest outside the residences of their elected representatives and other politicians. This is absurd, and the fact is that Hindu Militants, VHP, RSS, Sanatan and Bajrang Dal are deployed for door to door agitation. Who will check the credentials of these people protesting outside the residences of MP’s? This leaves message as if the fight is not between Anna + common man Vs Government, it’s between Hindu groups vs Government. All the protestors are disciples of one or the other spiritual leaders, and there are professional mob pullers in it, only 12 percent of crowd has voluntarily joined due to the over hype by media. Anna has become exhibition item; people are visiting to see him, not to participate in support.
BJP, VHP, SANATAN, Akhadas, HMG, Hindu groups and ABVP student forms the 96 percent of support group. This is not democracy, its mob manipulation, saffron vs secular government. Anna and his team is creating pressure by using mob theory. If this continues Indian administration can never execute smoothly, today they have problem with Congress, what is the guarantee they will not have any problems with any other party?

It seems no one is really interested in solving the issue, tomorrow some other group may emerge to stand up against Anna group. Don’t you think this pressure tactics may ruin the sanity of the nation? Anna team is nothing but the modified face of Hindu militant groups. It’s not common public’s dedication towards Anna or lokpal. The sadness of this movement is that they don't allow the necessity for negotiations. See, I don't personally trust any revolution where only demands and force are allowed.

Looking at all this drama it reminds me of the movie “Main Azaad Hoon.” The movie revolves around the life of a man called Azaaz, who one day wrote a letter to a newspaper journalist claming that he is going to commit suicide by jumping from an under construction building. Sensing the worth of the letter, it was published in the news paper instantly. The next morning the news spread like a wild fire throughout the city. Everyone now sympathises with Azaad and they wanted to know the reason, why Azaad is committing suicide.

Everyone around wanted to take the mileage of this Azaad’s popularity. When the newspaper owner came to know the importance of this man for his newspaper sales, they convinced Azaad to come into the public. This was the election time and every politician is desperately trying to grab attention and the news papers become the most popular medium for propergation. What people really don’t know is that Azaad is the publisher’s man and he is trying to help him become the CM of the state.

There was another movie Munshi Premchand's Godaan. It’s a tale told with uncompromising conviction and commitment. A malnourished farmer, also called Hori Mahato dug rough patches of earth to survive. Hori's plight hasn't changed even after more than six decades. They've portrayed harsh reality of farmer suicide without being melodramatic or condescending. The lot of the Indian farmers economic condition has not improved much since the days of Munshi Premchand's Godaan, set in pre-Independence India. In the recent past there was a film Peepli(Live). Actually, Natha a farmer in the movie reminds me of Hori Mahato. Peepli [Live] provides insightful subtext to the same. But no attempt was made to provide answers. I can understand why the issue would need this intensity of promotion. The entire rigmarole of breaking news, TRPs, villager bytes and grass-root opportunism was believable and hilarious.

I am seeing the future of Janlokpal as something like Main Aazad Hu. God forbid but in this entire drama if anything happens to the 74 years old man, who will be held responsible? Time has come to take a serious call else we have to start new campaign “SAVE ANNA”.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Anna Hazareji has developed a capacity to undertake long fasting

2011-08-21T08:20:00.001-07:00

It appears that only Anna Hazareji has developed a capacity to undertake long fasting. It is a virtue which others should also develop, especially those who pronounce themselves as the sole conscience keepers of the nation. Hitherto, we were thinking that our ladies are only supposed to keep “ vrat” while the men engage in illicit sex.
People are thinking that corruption only involves money. No Sir. Not all. The Ministers and officers prefer sex over money and this is known to all “fixers” in Delhi and they are keeping quite because after a few days, even if the civil society draft is passed in toto, the business will be back as usual. What happened after JP movement? Shanti Bhushan is claiming that he won the case against Indira Gandhi but I can tell you , at that time even a lesser known lawyer would have won. Raj Narain won the election spreading rumor “ Saab ki nasbandi karai dehaiy aur tumhre baccha na hoinhain” . Bhushan was himself a law minister and what did he do? Do you think there was no corruption during Janta Govt; time. Bullshit. Read my piece” Jantar Mantar” written a few days ago and you will get a peep into the orgy. “ Adhyakshaji jo JP ka jhola uthate the”, stayed at Ritz hotel whenever he came to Bombay. There are no prizes to guess as to what he did there. If you want more, come back to me.
Even if you include PM and CJ into the bill and civil society bill is passed verbatim, these guys will again come back later asking for Ganpati ji, Hanumanji and other Gods to be included. They will demand the “ langot” of pawan Putra to be sent to America for forensic “ janch”. “ Ullu-ke- pathon”, tum sab nikamme ho. Muft ki roti khana tumhari adat ban chuki hai. Why there is no good response for joining defence services. Why everybody is preferring IAS and MBA. If you check you will find that most of these IAS aspirants may not be washing their own clothes and cleaning their own rooms. Their mothers, sisters or a “ bai” will be found to be doing these jobs. “ Dowry ki setting already ho chuki hogi”.
It has repeatedly been urged through these columns that no body should be allowed to join IAS unless he/she performs two year “ national Service”. This must be pursued.
“ tees august tak ji bill pass kardo”. “ bill ko gulab jamun na banao bhaiyaji”. Tomorrow you will say, Oh! This bill was passed in a haste and constitutional process was not completed. These same lawyers will go to Supreme Court and earn hefty fees in cash. There can surely be a demand to expedite a bill but not “ is tareekh tak kar do ji”. “ kyon bhaiya is tateekh ke bad tum kahan jane wale ho”.
Jhadoo uthao aur sadak saf karo
School me jao aur bachon ko padhao
Gay bhains palo, unki seva karo aur unka doodh pee kar takatwar bano
Jahaz par aao aur thandi me hatch cleaning karo to “ grain standards”.
“ aagar hatch pass na ho to surveyors ko Jan Lokpal bill dikhao”
Roj subah utho aur daodo , “ Dalia Khao” Khoon banega aur chehre par raunak ayegi.
“ Bevakoofon ke seengh nahin hote”.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Team Anna vs team Aruna

2011-08-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

It’s our duty as media persons to report happenings in government camp and Anna team. You may or may not like it, but all is not well there. I am all for people’s movement for real causes, but not for a communal and hysterical movement like the Ayodhya issue. Anna in his protest must be careful. Is it true that IAC consists of some saffron organisations? Does Anna know this? Janlokpal must clarify. My request to Anna is- please control Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal. If not, they will dream of becoming dictators of India!

Kiran Bedi’s statement Anna is India and India is Anna has hurt the sentiments of people. It’s good that Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan openly rebuked Kiran Bedi's comment "Anna is India & India is Anna". Anna needs good advisors. Mob at Ramleela can't play that role. Both Kiran and Arvind should not become hysterical.

Drafting a law needs time, more than 150 amendments in the standing committee. Even Lokpal standing committee needs time. Right now things are getting exaggerated from all sides. Team Anna needs to be cautious and play their cards well. One mistake can stand against them and the government would find a reason to topple this movement. Besides, they endeavour to combat corruption might become a distant dream.

Aruna Roy's drafted bill really makes some sense; her drafting may not be much different from Team Anna’s bill. But it's worth looking at .Had Team Anna and team Aruna combined their bills, it could become one common solid bill ...we would not have seen the division in civil society over the lokpal bill. No doubt Aruna Roy and Arvind and Nikhil Dey are great activists. Had they all been on the same platform there would have been more pressure on the government logically and we would have seen more civilians on the streets in support. That Aruna Roy is the member of NAC formed by Sonia Gandhi, speaks a lot. No one can question Aruna Roy's integrity but at the same time pitching between the movement through a new lokpal bill draft may be an attempt either to dilute the civil society or hijack the whole mission. No one knows. From now onwards, we might see a battle between Team Anna and Team Aruna.

Let’s see how we can contribute .I am rather amused at the pious rhetoric that CBI should be independent of political control. Indeed I believe, as per the Constitution, they are, like the entire wing of Police, Army and the whole of Civil Service. They are all independent bodies, which are expected to function as per set procedures without fear or favour. They get their policy directives from their political bosses. Anna Hazare's movement should instill confidence in members of all these wings to do their job as it should be done, in time and with transparency, so that the political class does not make use of them. Creating new centers of power such as Lokpal or Lokayukta cannot be an answer to the systemic operational issues in the Government. The better hands together, the more pressure on government. But the judiciary should not lose hope. Emphasising that corruption has destroyed the entire administration, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should free itself from political control. Corruption has destroyed the entire administration. As Kiran Bedi said, administration has become a business. If you go to any government official, it's not service for service's sake but for benefits. Service has turned into an act of self benefit where a person looks at how a particular service can benefit him. Only when service will become service again can the cleanup of administration begin.

Our Constitution envisages that the Executive power rests with the Government, in which the ruling party and the opposition call the shots. Bodies that exercise executive action, such as the Police, Civil Service, Army, CVC, CAG and CBI, all report to them. And that is the way it should be. There cannot be multiple executive power centers and so it is not proper that there are independent bodies or they report to Chief Justice/President etc.
Indeed what is sought to be set right through Jan Lok Pal is really what our Judiciary should be doing and they have failed mainly because Justice delivery system is severely damaged in our country. If you don't set that right I see no hope that the new 'judiciary' formed as per the will of the Lok Pal/ Lok Ayukta will be much better. What is worse, it will create multiple options for both Executive/Judiciary which will be surely exploited by the crooks!

The CBI and CVC must be under the guidance and control of Chief Justice of India. Since Independence, President of India is not allowed to use his/her authority but compelled to remain a rubber stamp. Presently we do not have Sardar Vallabhai Patel or Nethaji Subhas Chandra Bose like patriotic courageous right royal leader to lead us. Our Father of Nation, Shri Gandiji, at the time of Independence, with no other option, compelled the people to accept Jawaharlal Nehru to lead Congress and thus the Parliament, resulting in corruption in politics till date.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Anna helping flourish small scale businesses

2011-08-18T07:38:00.001-07:00

There was news on 15th August which said that the business of Indian National Flag manufacturers was on slack. Flag makers couldn’t earn enough due to the less demand for the national flag. However, Anna Hazare’s agitation has brought harvest to Flag business. Thousands of flags have been sold out, small scale industries like typical “Khadi Topi” and publicity band makers have now got huge business. Shirts with Anna written, caps, candles and stoles too have made huge business. Whether Anna brings black money stashed in Swiss banks or not is a debatable point but, he definitely has given business to small scale industries, travel agencies, catering companies and flower vendor. At present these businesses are at peak and apart from this the banner and poster makers too are generating good amount of business. The good thing is that no matter if this kind of agitation solves the national issues or not but it definitely empowers the small time vendors. Any ways even TV channels earned good amount of TRP and revenue from promotions. Sponsors could wash away some black money by spending for the agitations food, travel and other expenses. This agitation gave empowerment to youth.

There is big investment over recorded videos of Anna provoking people to force arrest if he goes to Jail; unfortunately nothing happened to his video speech. Websites, on line promotions, you tube videos and press releases all are talking about Anna Hazare these days. A self declared Gandhi pretending to fight for corruption is wasting funds over his glossy Satyagraha. Who sponsored him and why? There is no accountability. However, he is the team leader yet he cannot force his personal views. Lokpal or any such bill cannot eradicate corruption unless and until values and ethics are inculcated in to the mind of corrupt society. Corruption cannot be countered with rules only. Anna should help the government in accomplishing its tenure. Public will use its tools to oust it at the hustling. It was outright indecent on the part of Anna Hazare calling Manmohan Singh a liar. Anna, though spearheading a protest against corruption, is being misled by the civil society members. He needs to understand that in our democracy laws are legislated only in the parliament by its members and nobody else. Team Anna, like most adult franchises in the country has the right to bring down the government they disagree with through the ballot papers. So fasting would bring down his weight not the government. Most of them are unrealistic. Government says PM will be brought under the purview of Lokpal once he remits office. What's wrong in that? If they cannot trust the Three Pillars of democracy, how can Team Anna say that the whole nation should fully trust the 11-member Lokpal Panel? Are these people from other planet? If Anna's actions like burning the copy of bill and so on remained unnoticed by Government I will have to say in the future that 'Democracy is dead in this country by Over-using it'. This is the limit. I hope some people understand the reality and try to convince these people what is right and what is wrong. Fight for principles and fight following the Gandhian way of satyagraha. Gandhiji never resorted to intimidation to have his way. He never used fasting to blackmail his rivals to accept his views and ideals. He never abused the British whose rule he fought against. But you call the Prime Minister a ‘liar' because he has accepted the Cabinet decision not to include the Prime Minister within the purview of the Lokpal.

Gandhiji never told the British to Come and arrest him when he went on hunger strike. He never denied the British government its right to action. Isn’t Anna thrashing up mob frenzy and anger just because the government has not accepted six out of his 40 clauses? Does he mean to say that there can be only his thinking and there shall be no substitute? His silence about the mining scam in Karnataka is mysterious. His silence over Aadarsh scam, sugar Factories scam and many more such issues is suspicious. But still he chooses to utter his virtuous rage on the Prime Minister and his government. If Anna says he is not against democracy but against the government, then he should not be hypocrite because government is elected by the people and can be thrown out at the next hustling.

No doubt Manmohan Singh is a team leader of a criminal government defrauding the nation’s future. Under leadership, criminals had a smooth passage and burgeoned beyond imagination, which does not mean Manmohan himself a criminal, till today he is known as non controversial politician. Look at BJP recent Yadurappa case, peep in Telangana Jagan Reddy absconding in alleged scams. Each political party has history of corruption, and none of them are true and pure. The sanctity of Parliament is populated by crooks? They call themselves people's representatives but who is representing the 800 million rural poor whose lives has remained unchanged since independence, in fact they were better off under the British, at least they didn't commit suicides in tens of thousands and weren't bribed by Televisions and money in exchange of votes. What is Anna trying to prove?

Please let the people of India breathe freely and exist.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

An Appeal to Anna Hazare

2011-08-18T01:55:00.000-07:00

This is a humble appeal to Shri Anna Hazare ji. Normally I will go personally and try to speak to him but I am engaged in productive “ karma” to the best of my ability and that is why this prayer.

Dekhie Annaji, Gandhiji chale gaye, Sardar Patel Chale gaye, Govind vallabh pant gaye, Nehruji gaye, Jai Prakashji gaye , Charan singh gaye, Anne Besant gaeen, Sarojini Naidu gaeen , mother Teressa is also gone besides many others , including saints from Maharashtra. Bhagwan aap ko chirayu banaye , lekin aap dekhen, corruption nahin gaya. Why? Because all of us are corrupt to varying degrees.

You kindly use your life to mobiles these same people who are standing with you for the moral development of the citizens. Organize them to repair roads in Mumbai. Organize them for cleaning the roads and proper disposal of the garbage. Organize them for ensuring that we have no more than three children, organize them to force action against Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Yeduarappa, Jagan Mohan, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Lalu yadav , Madhu Koda , Sharad Pawar etc; if it is found that they have acquired wealth disproportionate to their source of income. I will be with you if you take up such agenda. If you go on fast to compel the government to provide one liter of milk to each mother of India, I will give my life to you.

If you sit on fast for providing two chapattis, one cup dal and one cup vegetable to each citizen of India, I will give my life to you. If you sit on fast to limit payment of no more than one crore per year to a cricketer in India, I will give my life to you. If you sit on fast to ensure that each person who comes to occupy the chair of Prime Minister of India and President of India must give up all mundane possessions and state will look after them till death, I will give my life to you. There are more such pious tasks and if you take up such agenda then I will fight with you to be given place for fasting inside the parliament compound.

Annaji aap chale jayenge lekin ye chor , lutere to rah hi jainge na.

Hame vyakti ka vikas karna hai.

Hame Zero expense election ki taraf badhna hai.

Have you ever thought Annaji, how the politicians become honest and don’t collect cash when they are compelled to spend a fortune during elections. You please take your chappal in your hand and turn to your lokpal bill drafters and punish them saying, this man is pointing out the root cause to me, why you people never appraised me on this. Why Raja will not collect money when he has to add to the election kitty of both the congress and DMK. Why don’t you ask Advani, Sushma, Arun , Gadkari, “ Bhaiya tum election ke liye paisa kahan se late ho”?. I remember I read a report stating the honest admission in this regard by Prakash Singh Badal.

Annaji aap sadhu hain, main bhi ek bahut chota si sadhu hoon, hum log fakir hain, marne se nahin darte.

Let us join hands and work for “ samaj sudhar”, “ vyakti ka vikas”

Hum jada corrupt the, hamare bache hum se imandar ho sakenge?

Samay ko apna kam karne dyen .

“ Kal ki subha behtar hogi , aisa hum vishwas rakhen”.

“ Na aap itihas ke antim purush hain aur na main”. “ Aiye hum milke chote chote kadam uthayen aur usme santosh prapt Karen, keval hum hi nahin, aur bhi to hain, hamse behtar”.

“ Aa ab laut chalen ….”. …. sang Raj Kapoor in Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti hai.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

How guaranteed is Anna’s Lokpal Bill?

2011-08-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

Can someone ask those people who are in Delhi with Anna if they know the differences in the Lokpal bill formulated by Government and that demanded by Anna? This is absolutely funny but the sad reality is that 52% of agitators are not aware of this difference and 20% of them are not aware of what Lokpal bill says. Moreover, many of them are not even aware why and what for Anna wants to be on Satyagraha. The villagers are under impression that Anna is fighting for getting the black money stashed abroad back to the country. They think that Anna may pick it up and bring it to India and thus make everyone prosper. Except the educated upper crust, not many people have understood the issue and are just politicking it.
The movement itself is divided in two parts, Anna’s Lokpal and Ramdev’s Corruption. Both chose the same way that is media, hype promotion and hunger strike in glossy way. Ramdev had to run away from the pitch on very humiliation notes, and had to hide in his den after his associate got caught in passport scam. He couldn’t earn the mileage over his agenda of fighting corruption. I still remember that night media ported it as Jallianwala Bagh incidence, but that was a blunder. Saffron saint tried playing with congress but the cunning foxes of ruling government pounced at him on his very own claims. To exaggerate the drama, he wore some woman’s cloths and ran away like Jhansi ki Rani by jumping off the stage. The fact is that when police force entered in Pandal, he was the one to run out of situation saving his own life without bothering about the participants in his movements. If these saints always say they can live and die for nation then why they have to save their soul every time and run. He would have sat back there itself. I am hundred percent sure he wouldn’t have been beaten or killed by any police. Hundreds of media cameras were well surrounded and was protected by his followers. Why this drama? Well after all this Drama what has he really achieved? The corruptions that are burning under his heels are yet to be answered.
The other side, media promoted man Anna Hazare which was never ever expected to drive mileage for his drama. Why he need to do all this, when he was informed about law and order problems. Moreover why they have to do agitation in Delhi? He can very well sit at his home town and protest. Its waste of time and no one is going to achieve anything out of it. Even Anna Hazare was alleged for spending charity money on his lavish birthday. These social workers have made “Satyagraha” as an industry of blackmailing. Revolution is needed, amendments are also must but that should be in constitutional boundaries, one is above that.
Anna should make it compulsory for the government employees and MP’s to go to their office by Rickshaws rather than wasting money by using government cars. As he has pointed out so many scams in Maharashtra, sat for Dharna and hunger strike, what happened? The scams are closed in files after the fruitful negotiation with Anna. Why hasn’t he ever bothered to dig them? Maharashtra Government is full of corruption, how much Anna could succeed in eradicating the same?
This is true that Government did not know the power of the general public; I would like to say that government should work under president and we do not want any prime minister to rule over us. Why we need, when he is not ready to hear general public? I want to even blame general public for electing these ministers. Maximum voters of this country fail to execute their right to vote a proper minister.
If all the judiciary and prime minister come under the ‘Lokpal bill’, then what is the guarantee that there won’t be corruption in internal committee? We would then need an additional watch dog to scan Lokpal committee. Corruption is deep rooted in our routine and it’s difficult to fight it out. People have no time, they have to look after many liabilities without any hassles, they themselves inspire and involve in corruption. If a housewife is in need of cooking gas, instead of waiting for her turn to come she would prefer to bribe and get the services fast. Railway ticket booking to school admissions, government approvals everything needs bribe and consumers are willingly doing it for easy method of acquiring quick services. Can Lokpal committee and Lokpal bill eliminate this deep rooted practice?
The Opposition support to Hazare over the bill, which is now a property of the Parliament, is the ignorance of history and a humungous ignorance of the Constitutional process and law of the country. If Delhi Police, of course in its wisdom, has imposed certain reasonable restrictions, nobody is suggesting that I, you, Delhi Police or civil society is infallible; they are very wrong if anybody is aggrieved by any lack of reasonableness in any restriction. What is the only method known is to go to the only dispute redressed mechanism namely the courts. It was asserted that the Standing Committee of the Parliament which has also heard Hazare over his issues in its current form and it would be an insult to further press on the bill over only one adaptation. To insist that only one version of the bill is good for the country will be a negation of parliamentary process. It will be a rejection of the rule of law. It will be a nullification of the Indian constitution and it will be an insult to all political parties, indeed an insult to the political process itself. Anna needs to understand these minor issues without making it a big issue. Things will be solved amicably not by force, till last night media was stating that government surrendered, they agreed to accept Anna’s suggestions over Lokpal, but when prime minister addressed in Lok sabha, he made it very much clear that Government is not at all under any pressure and they are not going to take any dictation from Hazare. Fairly enough…
Anyways one last question, someone please explain this to me. How is Anna Hazare's version of the Lokpal Bill going to STOP corruption?
fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Anna exaggerated

2011-08-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

Delhi Police had used Section 107 and Section 141 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to detain Hazare. This is the fate of the powerless Indians to die with hunger either in real life or during hunger strike. There are no sensitive politicians and the people left in India to take notice of these things. Lokpal drafting talks have also been hit over the insistence of anti-graft activists, led by Gandhian Anna Hazare, that the prime minister's office should be brought under the ambit of Lokpal and that the panel proceedings should be telecast live, which the government is opposing the draft prepared by Anna team and the other draft prepared by the government ministers should presented before the cabinet and the cabinet will decide which version with correction would be presented to the parliament.
I strongly support Anna Hazare but still feel that its exaggeration, media is over hyping the issue instead of having neutral stand. Probably Anna and his group are aware of public sentiments and at this time they could really extract every benefit. If they are fighting for the interest of the common people then they don’t need media, dialogue drama and specific space. When Ramdev and Hazare both have their own empire and thousands of their followers reach then in their respective places, then why didn’t they preferred sitting at their home towns, Anna at Ralegan sindhi and Ramdev at Patanjali Aashram? They should fight for the real cause that is to make the Indian voters powerful, to empower them in electing the right candidates and to empower them to reject the criminals. From past so many days one could witness the Drama that Anna has plotted. If Anna is trying to be Mahatma Gandhi, then he should be one like him. He is travelling in air-conditioned high tech cars, starched outfit and with celebrity status. Gandhiji with his Dhoti and Pancha used to walk for miles, was connected to common man, however reaching Hazare is just a task for common public. How can you call him Gandhiji? One similarity between them is that Gandhiji divided the nation by separating India Pakistan and Hazare is dividing Indians in the name of ideology. He was openly announcing that if he goes to jail then all should make it a point to get arrested.
The Lokpal Bill movement and debate are now turning out to be a war of words. The Congress has called Anna Hazare an 'unelected dictator' who is raking up issues that are a "threat" to democratic institutions. Can issues concerning bribes and corruption become a threat to democratic institutions? Actually Team Anna can give suggestions, not command or coerce the government through fasts or street-side rabble-rousing agitations. Team Anna cannot set deadlines to parliament on passing the Lokpal Bill. In other words, the Parliament can take another 40 odd years to get a Bill through. All these war of words are carefully calibrated to divert the focus of Anna Hazare and needle him to commit a blunder - just as Baba Ramdev wanted to raise an army of youths. Unfortunately, Anna, the Gandhian, has started responding by calling some MPs liars. This is not what he should do; this is not what Gandhiji would have done. Instead of word for word and barb for barb, Anna should change his tactics. The government has made it clear that it will not allow anyone to go on fast in Delhi. So what? Anna should employ the next tool in Gandhiji's armoury - padayatra. Team Anna should galvanise India, especially in the rural areas where people are reeling under corruption and have no option but to pay bribes. The anti-corruption movement should not be kept as a Delhi phenomenon or a movement of the elite. In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi went on a padayatra -- the famous Salt march to Dandi -- to bring the British government to its knees. Over two decades later, Vinoba Bhave went on a padayatra for the Bhoodan movement.
After Vinoba Bhave, there were not been many padayatras for a national cause. I admit that Young Turk and former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar also went on a padayatra from Kanyakumari to Rajghat covering a distance of nearly 4260 kms from January 6, 1983 to June 25, 1983 to connect with the masses and to understand their problems.
WHY? Satyagraha and Andolan require no luxury and false show off; I would have appreciated if Anna could save all these sponsorships and funds for the welfare of common man. Flight tickets, his teams travel expenses, food, stay, media management, promotions sucks the economy of this country. Discomfort in managing law and order, disturbance, waste of government’s time all this was not expected from a sensible human like Anna Hazare. Revolution is needed but without any publicity stunt.
Can Anna’s Lokpal will stir the corruption. The govt is making hue and cry and the very base of constitution is questioned. I hope it will eventually end with rewriting the constitution to that of US constitution. PM and CM must be elected direct by the people. It will end the dynasty and nepotism. Coalition dharma will never rise and accountability of PM is upheld. He has to be cautious for his movement much against the political orders. Eventually he employs personal private assistant to counter the thousand husbands like touts and gundogs and aligning with ruling party etc. and eventually it become a rocket to loot corrupt money to his pocket. The DNA of corruption and nepotism is carried over to other fellow officers. Anna rose to the occasion because it requires amendment to the constitution system. He is right for demanding judiciary and bureaucrats (Civil Service Cadre) to come under the preview of Lokpal. But he is forgetting that the maximum corruption is uprooted in Civil services and Judiciary, we have volumes of such evidences. Yes we can say IAS and judges never had the mandate from the people but enjoy all ministerial benefits for life. Even after retirement they seek advisory status of industrial magnates only for lobby. I don’t think all IAS officers and Judges are doing selfless service to the nation.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

“Cat Techie” book written by vaidehi sachin aka Cat Techie

2011-08-09T13:07:00.001-07:00

“Cat Techie” book written by vaidehi sachin aka Cat Techie, journalist’s journey in hackers world. Online edition of cat techie available on www.cattechie.com. This is the best book, read and responded with maximum hits. Cattechie is hacker and Journalist.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

“Cat Techie” book written by vaidehi sachin aka Cat Techie

2011-08-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Threats Mumbai coastline

2011-08-08T05:51:00.000-07:00

Mumbai is a beautiful city decorated with garbage, pot holes and crime. See shores of Mumbai are famous for its Pani puris and horse rides but not for boating or water sports. The reason is that, in spite of spending crores of funds, cleanliness is still missing in these areas. You can see knee length pollution, waste and chemicals on Mumbai seashores. Missing ships hitting Mumbai’s port is common story, but so far no preventive measures have been taken by naval authorities. Terrorists involved in one of the biggest terror strikes in Mumbai entered the city through its sea shores. Still it’s Aamchi Mumbai and we love being this way.

In the recent past, two merchant ships collided just five miles off the coast of Mumbai. The unprecedented mid-sea disaster blocked India's busiest trade route causing huge losses to the ports and exporters. Earlier, a teen boy had reportedly drowned at Mumbai's Juhu Beach when he was trying to spot a cargo ship that has been stranded there for weeks. The MV Wisdom - first drifted dangerously close to the Worli Sea Link and then ran aground near Juhu Beach. This ship gave business to vendors, excitement to spectators and death to over enthusiastic kids. After huge efforts made by the Navy and others, the 9000-ton ship was moved from the shore to a safe place.

Another tragedy occurred when MV Rak, the vessel that sank off the coast of Mumbai, started leaking oil. Oil spill is threatening the fragile ecology of the Mumbai’s coastline. Already due to heavy monsoon, fishermen are restricted to venture into the sea for fishing purposes. Their business is affected by the oil spill which has also endangered the lives of the species residing in water. The leak has occurred due to the ingress of water in the cargo hull. The ship was carrying tonnes of oil and coal. Since last night, oil has been observed leaking from the sunken vessel Rak Carrier at an approximate rate of 1.5 to 2 tonnes per hour. The oil spill has covered an area of about seven nautical miles around the vessel. Any efforts to redeem the situation will not be fruitful as oil cannot be removed from the sea. Moreover, the city is crippled with the problem of drainage and allowing the oil to flow into an inland water body is not possible.

The coastguard has deployed two ships, including its anti-pollution vessel INS Samudra Prahari, which are neutralising the oil spill by spraying chemicals that binds the oil and prevents it from spreading. However, with 1.5-2 tons of oil leaking every hour, environmentalists are worried about the success of their endeavour. Oil patches have also been seen on Juhu beach - sparking fears about whether the grounded ship MT Pavit was leaking oil. The Pavit was abandoned near Oman about a month ago after serious technical issues with its engines. It then drifted into the Arabian Sea and entered India's exclusive economic zone which extends to 200 nautical miles off the Mumbai coast. Though a drum of oil had fallen off Pavit, authorities say, these patches are likely to have been caused by the Rak carrier spill, carried ashore. It is quite close to the shoreline and there is not much distance separating the oil from the beaches and mangroves. Since this is the breeding season, this is the most vulnerable time of the year as far as people’s health is concerned.

Last August, after MSC Chitra and MV Khalija collided off the Mumbai coast, the oil spill spread not just to the coast of Mumbai, but as far as Raigad and Elephanta, damaging the mangrove belt in and around Mumbai city, contaminating shores, and even threatening fishing activities. When the oil sinks, it enters into the food chain. The algae imbibe the oil and that may affect the entire marine ecology. This time too, fishermen have been advised to stay away from the area where the ship has sunk.

The Panama-flagged vessel sank off the coast of Mumbai on Thursday, with 60,000 metric tonnes of coal, 290 tonnes of fuel oil and 50 tonnes of diesel on board. Salvage operations will be difficult to undertake due to the rough weather and tidal conditions because of the monsoons. This means, Mumbai will have to keep its fingers crossed, hoping the oil leak is kept at bay and the vessel stays intact. As usual, the government has issued a statement and washed their hands that the spillage is negligible and that there is no threat to Mumbai’s coast. According to them, oil leak has been limited to the area near the sunken vessel and there is no need to worry.
fromvaidehi@gmail.com

SONIA UNDERWENT CERVICAL SURGERY

2011-08-05T08:25:00.001-07:00

Today if there is any news that is making headlines all over the media, then it is about Congress president Sonia Gandhi who successfully underwent a surgery and is presently in the intensive care unit of a hospital. A statement issued by Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi says that Gandhi, 64, underwent a surgery on August 4. The surgeon has indicated that the surgery went successfully. However, his statement did not reveal anything about the reason for the surgery and where it took place. Sonia Gandhi is accompanied by her son and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi and also Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra is also with them. I agree that this is a very personal matter pertaining to her health and medical treatment. Her family members request that Sonia’s privacy should be respected and people should not be so inquisitive to know about her whereabouts. Although, to some extent their request is justified; but since Sonia Gandhi is India’s daughter in law, its citizens are worried and would be restless until they don’t know exactly what happened to her. In India, Sonia is one of the VVIPs and hence the fact that that she is hospitalized and the entire nation is still unaware of the problem she is facing comes as a surprise. One thing which is not understood is that why big personalities opts foreign country for surgery and not India? Don’t they trust Indian doctors and hospitals for treatment? Or they are scared of their privacy?
Not only the nature of the surgery, even Sonia's itinerary, including the duration and place of stay (surgery) is being kept under wraps on the advice of the special protection group (SPG) mandated for her security. Before leaving she has deputed a group comprising Rahul, senior party leaders AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and Dwivedi to manage party affairs in her absence. More over if this matter was suppose to be kept under secrecy then they wouldn’t have even disclosed where and why she has gone. No one knows if she has really undergone a surgery or not. Giving only half story and keeping things so secret is making her fans the people of India who love her immensely under inquisitive situations.
Anyways, let me unveil the secret to all of you. She has undergone Cervical Cancer Surgery at Sloan Kettering Cancer Memorial hospital in New York. This is been declared by Dr. Nori Datthatreyudu on some website called “hello ap”. The site also stated that the Indian National Congress Party President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi on Thursday underwent surgery in a United States hospital. The details of the ailment have to be confirmed. Sloan Kettering Hospital is known as one of the best hospitals for treatment of cancer patients in the world. This development will keep Sonia Gandhi out of the country for a month.
The unconfirmed reports say that Dr. Nori Datthathreyudu has performed surgery to Sonia Gandhi. Dr. Nori Datthathreyudu belongs to Andhra Pradesh and studied his MBBS from Kurnool Medical College. Dr. Nori is a world famous medical expert in treating cancer, particularly cervical cancer patients. Sonia Gandhi has been to abroad these days, much frequently than she used to be in the recent past. Sonia Gandhi was also treated at the Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi. She has been even a patient of chronic asthma for so many years. Meanwhile, the health condition of Sonia Gandhi has hit the Congress Party activities across the country.
Political pandits believe that the stage is all set for her son to take over the charge of the Congress Party with his inclusion in the four member group. It is also to be noted that Party’s stalwart; Pranab Mukherjee and Digvijay Singh were not part of the highest decision making group of the Congress Party, at least till Sonia Gandhi returns to India. No one knows what made Sonia take such decision. And on what grounds these four members are decided? The inside sources says this decision was taken quite secretly and news about her surgery was made public because of parliamentary sessions, her absence would have created a news. So to clear the air about her absence the primary news was made public.
In a rare interview year 1985, Sonia told one Indian Magazine that she don’t like being in limelight. It is not something extraordinary. It is just her habit. The daughter of a Turin builder, Gandhi has become the torchbearer for the Gandhi-Nehru family, one of the longest lasting political dynasties in the world, ruling India for much of its independent history since 1947. Widow of one slain prime minister and daughter-in-law of another, she governs India in an unlikely partnership with the economist Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the man she handpicked to lead after reviving her party's flagging fortunes in 2004. Few would have predicted such a destiny for her when she married into India's first family in the late 1960s.
Being an Italian, she never hesitated to adopt Indian ways as her life style. It’s difficult of an average working Indian woman to wrap around Saree 24/7 and make easy moves in public, but Sonia managed it carry well you will find her in typical Indian cotton khadi saree, very well covered and carried. She became icon of her way of wearing saree and silently challenged all so called modern woman. As the wife of Rajiv Gandhi, she shied away from the limelight and focused her energies on being a good Indian housewife, although she did campaign for the Gandhi family, handing out blankets and medicines on the stump in villages. She was thrust into the thick of the country's dog-eat-dog politics after Rajiv's assassination at the hands of Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in 1991, but at first refused to accept entreaties from supporters to take over the reins. Such is her influence that Forbes magazine ranked her the world's 9th most powerful person.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Slutwalk, a knock on male abusers

2011-07-31T06:11:00.000-07:00

The Slutwalk in the capital was to send out a strong message to the abusers and it was equally supported by men. People don't even think it's an issue, especially boys. They believe it's the birth right to stare; they don't know staring for more than 36 seconds is punishable. Face book is an encyclopedia of slang. If you go to HMG wall, you will find series of slangs and outraging statements. No one says no to anyone rather reacts more aggressively with strong abusive words. ‘Fuck you’ seems to be a very small word for the facebook users and that is the reason why we find them using it very often. But, those whoever uses this kind of adjectives for girls, should place their mother and sister or wife in front of them and repeat the slang. Only then they will understand how much pleasure they get using such dirty words. The reason for such bad behaviour is either they have weak minds or suffer from poor upbringing.

I still remember Protima Bedi's nude run on the Juhu beach in Mumbai that spawned a legion of young admirers along with a bunch of raised eyebrows. Many thought this was the best way to get attention in the public space. As we all wear clothes, nudity could attract a lot of attention. Protima Bedi had done streaking in Mumbai, which had created a lot of hue and cry in 1970s. It was her message for perverted sect of the society. Covered woman is tripped off for satisfying ego, abused and tarnished by male chauvinists then she can even bare to be nude. What if every woman sheds the inhabitations and face the odd? When she shed her clothing and streaked across Juhu beach, onlookers merely smiled.

Well, Persis Khambatta shaved her head and passed message don’t frame woman is certain parameters of looking beautiful. She shaved her head and then went on a man hunt? Nina Gupta, unmarried mother dared to conceive a child out of wed locks and passed a message that motherhood does not require any bonds and props; woman alone is capable of taking care of the child. Britney Spears and Madonna's French kiss while performing at the 2005 MTV Awards created quite a furor. But they gave message to love and live, and that man is not the only option. However, radical religious leaders have always attacked over such incidences, but they never made any special efforts to stop violence against women.

Deepa Mehta’s fire again was with a strong message to those men who wants women as show piece in their life. We had a myth that lesbianism did not exist in Hindu families. But "Fire," gave an insight to this issue. Why does the story revolve around a Hindu family? Why has the filmmaker named the main characters Sita and Radha? The reason, even Hindu family’s conservative woman has her own desires and it’s high time if man tries to suppress them, then they have better options. Hindu fundamentalists have always attacked theaters over these issues but things are moving towards betterment.

The Delhi chapter was supposed to be the first of its lot in India, but Bhopal took out its own version on July 17th. But when Delhi finally took the show to the road after months of speculation, the ‘SlutWalk’ was rather impressive. SlutWalk or Besharmi Morcha as the India chapter choose to call it – had intense media coverage and ample police protection. The morning papers announced the tentative route but participants were also told mildly that a ‘walk’ would not be allowed since the police feared for the safety of the participants. The India chapter of SlutWalk that was supposed to kick off in Delhi - finally took to the streets on a sunny morning. Despite the sun and the humidity, an impressive crowd gathered at Jantar Mantar at 10:30 waiting for the action to begin. Students with their teachers, parents, friends, media personnel, performers, volunteers and heavy security amidst a million cameras made it look like the biggest thing on a Sunday morning. No one seemed to mind the discomfort of the crowds or the innumerable camera wires all over the place. The fact that there were so many men participated was quite interesting; they carried posters condemning the sex crimes, the sexism and the indifference. The march kicked off with bright neon posters declaring – "Ladki tere baap ki jagiir nahin"; "Believe it or not, my short skirt has nothing to do with you!"; "Mujhe bus mein safar karna hai, english wala suffer nahin"…and more. "Enough" was the most pertinent slogan on everyone’s mind. The sexual harassment, the derogatory comments, the insults need to stop and Delhi was serious. The huge group of enthusiasts took a quite walk around the block to return to the site where the march started. As the crowds grew, the Delhi Drum Circle took up the rhythm and set things in motion. Amidst cheers and drum beats – the slogans were shouted out loud- "Besharam kaun? Teri aage teri soch!"

The people gathered there were vocal about the fact that they did not support harassment of any sort and that it was time to take matters in their own hands. Social activist and Actor, Nafisa Ali, was the only celebrity present at the march. She pointed out that every day was a struggle for the woman and this had to stop, and thus she supported the movement strongly. The theatre group Asmeeta took the centre stage for their street play and the crowds cheered on. They brought out the troubles women faced everyday – while traveling, on the streets; from sexually derogatory comments to sinister matters of rape, acid and razor attacks. It was not only about what was being said to the women – but also what was being done to them. Age, sex, nationality aside, the huge group of people who got together on the Sunday morning had one clear agenda in mind – stop harassing women. Some posters declared – "Gentlemen don’t get provoked, sexual offenders don’t need provocation." And hopefully the message would make it all clear. Slutwalk has become a revolution across the world.

Even as older Indians and the right-wing Hindu groups condemned the march, more than 100 protesters shouted angry slogans, enacted street plays and carried placards saying “I Have Nothing To Be Ashamed of,” “Stop Staring” and “Walk of No Shame.” In India, protesters were not skimpily clad as many were in walks in other cities.

The SlutWalk was started in Toronto earlier this year after a police officer said "women should avoid dressing like sluts" to avoid being victimized by sexual predators. But many objected to the officer's statement, saying the victims are not to be blamed for their assault, regardless of dress. Sexual assault survivors are never at fault, it is the fault of the rapist, not of the victim. Since the SlutWalk in India, men and women around the world have taken the officer's derogatory statement and used it as a word of empowerment. It's a word that we need to take back. It's a word that we need to reclaim, because it's not something that somebody can tell you to make you feel bad about yourself anymore.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Immigration bites

2011-07-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

Last week’s massacre in Oslo, was a grim reminder about the threat that extremist violence poses to open societies like Norway and India, and the need for all of us to unite in combating all forms of extremism. The Oslo violence has reiterated that terror has no religion, caste or hue. It is unjust to associate terror with Islam, as a proper understanding of Islam reveals that it is a very peaceful and accommodating religion. It is the misinterpretation of the Quran by a few groups that has created the belief. The cure for terror is education — education which broadens your mind to be more tolerant, pluralistic and practical. The expression on Anders Behring Breivik's face (July 26) sent a chill down the spine. That he has pleaded ‘not guilty' to committing acts of terror is yet another horrifying development. His manifesto should be studied in detail by all counter-terrorism agencies. There are specific provisions in the Indian Penal Code to punish hate speeches. But they are seldom used by police, thanks to political pressure. Breivik is not just an individual; he is a threat to pluralism and a misfit in the modern, global village. In recent years, European leaders have started thinking that multiculturalism has failed. One of the reasons for this could be the inability of some to adapt to other cultures when they migrate. This is evident among Indians who migrate to the U.K., the U.S., etc. They like to stick to their culture and habits in spite of shifting to a radically different environment. Similarly, first generation immigrants to the U.S. impose their culture and value systems on their American born sons and daughters. This leads to a conflict of beliefs in the minds of the second generation Indians. There is a constant conflict between what they see and learn at home, and what they see and learn in school and college. As they grow up, they rebel against their parents or end up with an identity crisis. The underlying discontent among people who are forced by external factors to ‘change' by imported structures of economy and polity is fuelling the cause of the right. With governments favoring policies that suit corporate interests, common people feel cheated. This creates an environment of charged emotions waiting to be captured by fundamentalist forces. Every effort should, therefore, be made to enrich policy formulation. Time is ripe for a social movement that questions the attack on our identity through vested policies. Who would have thought that the Land of the Midnight Sun would witness such a brutal massacre at the hands of a religious fanatic? Breivik's crusader badge — badge of the Justiciar Kinght — made in Varanasi, clearly shows his deep hatred for multi-culturalism. Reading through Breivik's manifesto would leave any sane person distraught. Although civil society will easily brush away such characters as fringe elements, we need to realise that mistrust and hatred surface when some sections remain unheard. Opening channels of dialogue among various sections of society and building trust in democratic ideas are the need of the hour. The only sure but uphill method of fighting religious fundamentalism is to make people understand that intimidating other communities will achieve nothing. Anders Behring Breivik was a prolific blogger and visitor to online sites that reaffirmed his worldview.
Breivik's taste in online conversation shows a compulsive interest in websites that see the modern world in terms of a "clash of civilizations," where Christian values are supposedly under siege in the face of an Islamic onslaught. But rarely if ever does he seem to have advocated a violent response to what he saw as the Islamization of Europe, even as he planned a massacre for years. The blogs and websites Breivik enthused about were pro-American and pro-Israel, extremely hostile to Islam and despairing that the European political elite would ever see the error of its liberal multicultural outlook.
Breivik was a prolific contributor to a Norwegian site, Document.no, in 2009 and 2010, purportedly posting such comments as: "Can you name ONE country where multiculturalism is successful where Islam is involved?" and "Today's Protestant church is a joke. Priests in jeans who march for Palestine and churches that look like minimalist shopping centers." Other websites and blogs he followed include Jihad Watch, Brussels Journal, TheReligionofPeace and Atlas Shrugs. Religion of Peace describes Islam as a "rigid political and cultural system with a mandate to conquer and govern the lives of others via necessary force." On his blog Sultan Knish, Daniel Greenfield says that "trying to apply rational standards to Breivik is futile. Like many killers he was of above average intelligence, but below average sanity. Remove the politics, and Breivik fits the profile of most spree killers. He was angry at society.
But Greenfield insists Breivik's attacks did have a cause: "The Oslo killings are another item on the ledger of the high cost of Islam. The explosive rage on both sides is fuelled by a social instability created by aggressive immigration with no thought to its impact on the country as a whole. It was Breivik who spent nine years planning and carrying out the attacks, but it was the political authorities who had created a scenario that made it possible. "One of Breivik's entries on Document.no compliments the far-right English Defence League." The tactics of the EDL is now out to 'entice' an overreaction from Jihad Youth / Extreme-Marxists -something they have succeeded several times already," he writes.
fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Ocean in the eyes of seafarer

2011-07-27T03:29:00.000-07:00

I was listening to the interview of the Sports Minister of West Bengal Government wherein he was emphasizing the need of making games and sports compulsory for students in junior colleges and secondary colleges. He was saying that parental pressure on youngsters is so much that they are not allowed even one hour of play. This is, to quite an extent, true.

If you see many present day cadets, you will find them physically weak and incapable of doing strenuous work for a reasonable period of time. STCW convention was intended to do well but, unwittingly, it has opened flood gates of corruption. Private Marine Colleges in India are taking cadets who’s parents have the capacity to pay substantially either cash or in kind. The regulatory mechanism is totally absent. It has been noticed that many cadets and junior engineers, though intelligent and good in computer proficiency, have weak constitution and get tired very soon if given cleaning and painting job.

It is absolutely necessary to initiate corrective action immediately. If I say, who should initiate corrective action, then I will be pointing finger at some authority and instantly it will not be liked. That is the misfortune of our country. If someone raises voice for eradication of corruption, he is branded as trouble maker and similarly if someone pleads for eradication of corruption in maritime education, he is not considered “Savvy”. Sit quietly, clap, smile, only say hello “ Aap kaise hain jee”, eat cake and samosa and quietly depart. Generally in shipping press meets the scenario is much more pathetic, it’s all paid news. What they want to convey is nothing but the press release. This is niche sector for news barons that are the reason looking at financial gains, shipping publications obliges the Masters. The publications have become mouth peace and display but the charm of actual news is faded. Indian shipping industry lacks unity and they don’t have any such union on top level which can voice over the issue. Addressing issues and getting them executed is not only the drawback but also a weakness of shipping industry.

I have nothing against shipping doctors but STCW has provided enormous opportunity for them to make quick money. For FPFF and AFF courses you need a medical certificate. Invariably you see the doctor coming in, collecting 50 or 100 rupees from each, sign the half pages and depart within ten minutes. Only one lady doctor in a south Mumbai college, I have seen, firmly rejecting candidates having high BP. She will not relent and advice the candidate that your life is more valuable than the course. First get treated and then you can do the course. I hope we have more such doctors. The clinics conducting Ultra sound and ECG having window Air Conditioners must get their A/C units serviced regularly. Shipping companies should enforce this on their own company doctors.

Health and Safety are very much interconnected. The Code of safe working practices is a very elaborate publication. Just yesterday I read certain portions from it. This is the least read book, together with the Training Manuals on board a ship. This is not confined to Indian Ships or with Indian nationality but with all. It is the duty of Masters and Chief Engineers to encourage juniors to read these valuable books. They should ask the boys, which portion did they read lack of interaction and stressful ambience at sea is another issue.

I remember Chief Engineer Mr. O.N.Wazir. During his rounds, he sometimes used to tell his cadets one part of a particular pipe line and then after 4-5 days he used to ask the same pipe line but at a different end. Invariably, the cadets used to trace the line and tell him. This way he made them trace all the pipe lines in the engine room. O.N.Wazir like seniors are blessing for students, he used to literally provide them vocations trainings. Once while sailing one of his cadets vomited on top of the flywheel cover and it was seen by the Wazir. He benevolently educated his junior that” rolling “is in the head and not in the stomach. He advised him to divert attention towards some work. There was a place in E/R under the blower where they were lapping the cylinder head valves. He taught him, take a round of E/R and then sit down and lap the valves and don’t think of “rolling”. Today this brave and educated cadet is part of my shipping magazine.

Irony, most of the present day Masters and Chief Engineers have ceased to be the educators. I am noticing a trend that even if you call an officer to discuss something after five O’clock, he resents. This sort of deterioration has set in. On board, they are not allowed to tell their superior what to do and what not to do beyond a certain extent but the Superintendents ashore should assume this responsibility.

Initially from the parental guidance and then the guidance from Master and Chief Engineer, Children of seafarers suffer in this regard because they miss table family (the father most of the time is on sailing). Whenever they are with their children, they must listen to them by letting them come close because they want to say a lot. In this way, they will turn out to be safer individuals.

I am a big chatter box, these sea fearers when on leave they come to our office for part time writing job. I have noticed this during interacting with them that the cadets want to talk, he has so much in his mind with lots of reservations. They are discouraged because the seniors are sacred of their weakness to be exposed. The faculty in Marine Colleges must join a ship and sail to refresh their knowledge. They should do it on their own. If not, it should be made mandatory. Unfortunately there are many such issues in deep sea but neither media nor authorities ever thought of discussing on them. May be this is reason, recruitments in shipping industry have dearth of higher level.

A Hazard is a source of potential harm or damage or a situation with potential for harm or damage. Risk has two elements, the likely hood that a hazard may occur, and the consequences of a hazardous event. Few of my shippies are back from sailing, last night I was discussing over different sea side issues with them..

From a Cadet to chief engineer, artificers, radio side sailors, apprentices, deck side staff and captions are part of my publication. I was piercing their brains by asking awkward but straight questions. My intention is to bring small revolution in this conservative sector and make difference to every shipping man’s life. Next time when they return, they should return with good memories, and when they resume back they should go with the zeal and confidence, but not as compulsion.

Not last but the least, our dumb shipping minister G K Wasan, should be compelled to seek shipping education, and sailing in deep see should be made part of his official routine. He is the most useless and inefficient shipping Minister so far in the history of shipping industry.
fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Can this be the link behind Mumbai blasts?

2011-07-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

After the serial blasts that rocked the city on Wednesday, Intelligence agencies are investigating the case from each and every angle. CCTV footages are been referred to gain any clue about the attack. Although, the intelligence agencies are trying their best and working on all the possible probabilities, there can be one more possibility which is going unnoticed and talked about.
As far as J Dey’s case is concerned, a couple of weeks ago, he was murdered by unidentified men and also there was an attack on Dawood’s brother by the men belonging to Chhota Rajan’s gang. Later, Chhota Rajan tried to create deterrence by alleging that J Dey was close to Dawood gang. Is there a possibility that J Dey became a target of Chhota Rajan due to his proximity towards his rival gang Dawood Ibrahim?
Whereas in the case of 13/7/2011 Mumbai blasts, if we see then we will notice that the blasts took place only at and nearby places of diamond business market. Also, the blasts that took place are not like the one we have seen ever. One may argue and deny this probability by saying that whoever carried out the blasts must have planned according to their new technique and thus there are no similarities with the blasts that city has witnessed before. However, the point to be noted is that not much time has passed after the announcement made to celebrate 12th August as the first International Diamond Day in the presence of several diamond traders like Mehul Choksi and Bharat shah. And, the place where the blasts happened is the centre for diamond business and which is the area considered to be under the influence of Chhota Rajan. Similar type of blasts has taken place in 1993 which were performed by Dawood and Memon brother. A link can also be attached to it as a expression of grudge since number of Muslims in Gujarat are hurt and feel to be betrayed by Narendra Modi. Thus there is a possibility that the threads has itrs root somewhere in Gujarat. One of the likelihood that can be neglected to some extent is that Fidayeen or Indain Mujahideen are behind the attack because, if we look at the past, every time they did any attack, they had come forward and proudly claimed responsible. So far we have not received any messages from either of the groups. Moreover, we can hardly see any diamond traders or their association raising voices in protest or extend their dialogue with the government authorities. To conclude, by any chance is there a possibility that the threads behind the attack lies in the city itself?

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Ignorance is the root cause of all problems

2011-07-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

The problem with security and intelligence agencies in India is the lack of communication and the greed for credit and power. India is not the only exception or victim of such traits. Politics inside the bureaucracy and the power game is almost same in all the other countries of the world too; but the very basic difference between them and us is the fear of getting caught and getting punished. Deterrence of getting caught and failing in investigation and punishments somewhat controls their greed.
We lack proper laws and proper implementation of the same. Those in the power have every knack and control over twisting the law as per their convenience. Those in power and those who have the power are the two most dangerous factors in administration. For example there are a couple of “information and security research organizations” operating from India but the research they do here are for the foreign countries. We can’t question them or ask for any clarification as they operate from India in the name of “threat analysis/research”. They are not directly working on hardcore intelligence; instead they are working on the development and activities of various hackers groups who operate from these regions. Now the question that arises is how hackers and hacking can be an issue for national security? This issue needs completely different analysis and explanations. Looking at the recent terror attacks and threats to this country lets go little in-depth and understand the issue.
The problems are not limited to specific categories; the majority of issues are on smaller scales and that is the reason why they are less talked about, discussed and thought over. Hence it’s easier for all these terrorist organizations and other intelligence agencies to target India and that too so frequently. Let us take a simple example of the communication issues over the border areas of India. Mostly, the way security personnel/armed forces and terrorists who are deployed in the border areas communicate with each other in more or less the same manner and uses almost same technology and communication devices like walkie-talkie, wireless frequency and satellite phones (mostly used in base camps because of its high price).
The way communication gets trapped is not something extra ordinary; it happens because of a very simple reason that the communication cannot be encrypted over such mediums, and that is why it is easier to intercept them. But the irony is that it is not necessary that communication which is intercepted is true and accurate, the possibility of making this conversation for the purpose of misguiding the security forces in and around those areas is high. And at the same time we can’t even ignore them because if by any chance the incident happens then those soldiers who are deployed in the area will be considered guilty because the communication is passed to the senior officers sitting in the base camps. The percentage of number of security forces deployed in and around the borders is the maximum and the strength of Indian army and armed forces is among the top 6 in the world, so it is not possible to make any excuses for the “man power”, if such incidents happens and we fail to avoid them.
The very common problem that seems to be simple and hence ignored is “social engineering”. Most of the time both the forces deployed over the border keeps on scanning the wireless frequency ranges of each other’s and also the different specific frequency on which the patrolling forces are communicating. Because of the similarity in the language spoken, it is not a hard job for someone who is really good in social engineering to fool and collect information from these various patrolling forces/parties. All you need to do is make a call on the same frequency of the other side party and just ask them in a commanding and confident voice that you are so and so senior speaking from their respective bases and ask them for their progress or current location or some other outputs. Due to the hierarchy in the forces and couple of protocols which we ignore to follow, it makes it very difficult for that soldier to ask many questions regarding the caller’s identification and justify the reason of calling as no one wants to make their boss unhappy and that too if you are in armed force.
Thus, these types of problems are not very big and complicated but what makes it more difficult to be taken care of and encountered is the ignorance and lack of interest by those who are responsible for making the protocols and process by the think tanks. Unfortunately, they are focusing more on the issues that happen less frequently but make big news. The problems occurring because of such ignorance are not talked about much and fail to make big news. The one who has to be held responsible for such ignorance is the irresponsible media in such locations.
Now if we talk about these think tanks and decision and policy makers, then they are busy most of the time giving lectures all over the world. They only talk about big and critical issues which are not present but are expected to happen or occur in future. What our intelligence agencies are doing working under the banner of “research organizations” is extracting the money from the central government under the name of “research” or “strategy development” or “analysis”. Someone told me once about one such research which was like “understanding and studying the mind of “black hat hackers”. In this research the organization took assistance from couple of senior doctors (more preciously – psychiatrists) to complete the entire exercise. During their entire exercise there was not even a single time they talked or discussed things with any hacker or infosec professionals (forget about the black hats). They completed the entire exercise and study within the specific time, even prepared and gave the report to the top bosses. When I came to know about the amount of money spent on this, I was really shocked and was like “OMG”. With so much of money and time in available, had they done the research in a proper manner, then they could have finished their research in a terrific and successful manner. Their success in fact would have been fruitful and useful to those who were assigned to work on it and actually implement it. Being in this domain I can easily make out what they would have done during the entire project and what the entire project report would comprise of. If you ask me to tell this in simple words, then I would call it “shit”.
Inputs r45c4l

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Cisco Sucks

2011-07-12T05:07:00.000-07:00

While surfing I came across a news on ITpro website about Cisco, a worldwide leader in networking that it may eliminate as many as 10,000 jobs to maintain its competitiveness going forward. According to Bloomberg, Cisco is also providing early-retirement packages to about 3,000 workers who took buyouts.

However, the inside story is something different. As per news, Inter Country President Naresh Wadhva is said to be on leave from past three weeks which comes as a surprise as how can a country president be on leave at a crucial stage when the financial year of 2011 is ending on July 29. Isn’t it strange that at such crucial stage the country president of Cisco is enjoying holidays? By the way, the sources have informed that he has quit. Cisco has officially announced 17% lay off in India.
Including Anil Basin, Senior Vice President Sales and several other top and middle management level employees of Cisco are quitting due to sudden changes at ‘APCA' (Asia specific ). The changes have brought lots of insecurity and dissatisfaction amongst employees. On the other side, the arch rival of Cisco is taking advantage of this scenario and hiring best of the employees of Cisco team. To say, the over all scenario of Cisco in India is not so well. It seems that there is no security of job in Cisco India. Naresh Wadhwa worked for thirteen years in this company and he is the one who established entire India operations; but today he is been asked to quit just because he couldn’t manage to nod his head to managements unreasonable approach. Top management need shoe lickers in company and there are many who believe in their caliber refused to do so.
Newly appointed Edzard Overbeek, APCA head replaced Naresh Wadhva with his own source Janesh Murjani. Edzard had joined Cisco just two years back. Unfortunately, he and Naresh Wadhva had differences in opinion and hence couldn’t go well with each other. Obviously, Naresh is here from 13 years and he is well versed with market and business set up in India. Employees are waiting for Janesh to take charge, and there are probable chances that Anil Basin BSFI head, Jagdish Mahapatra- IT/ ITCS head and Shrikant Shintole – Real estate business head, Sandeep Raina- Government/ public sector head looking for their way out and may evict from Cisco. As part of its broader plan to cut costs and increase profits, the networking company may slash about 7,000 jobs by August this year. Earlier it was reported that Cisco might cut 5,000 jobs meaning a nearly 7 per cent work force reduction for Cisco, which has about 73,400 employees worldwide.
Cisco currently expects annual revenue to grow by 12 per cent to 17 per cent. Its share price fell by about 2 per cent at $15.43, in a market that was broadly lower due to concerns about the U.S. budget talks and the euro-zone debt crisis. With a view to meet its goal of slashing costs by $1 billion and lower its long-term revenue growth target to about 10 per cent from a forecast of 12 per cent to 17 per cent, Cisco may plan to trim its workforce. By laying of so much staff, cutting down other expenses and optimizing discount level may bring some financial stability to company, but if you look at the shares (IPO) flown in the market are just 10 % and 90 % shares are with are with John Chamber, if the revenue is not thrown in the market how one can expect the growth? If such International company terminates top old management level employees, what is the guarantee the new comers will pour in their heart towards growth in such critical situations? The elegant old staffs are panic; there are too many projects and not enough resources to execute. In order to be successful, management will need to take a serious look at the project load and make some tough decisions. However, it must be noted that Cisco's revenue has increased 11 per cent over the past five calendar years. While viewing this as a positive move, analysts believe the company needs to reset its long-term financial targets. Cisco had earlier shed some 8,000 jobs in 2001 followed by some major job cuts in 2002.
Cisco never hesitates about firing employees. Although labour in India is comparatively cheap than other nations, but the company’s strategy has been failing miserably. Even at this historic time for the company, almost no coherent message is being conveyed to the employees on how the company can recover from this downward twist. Cisco in definitely weak at management level and unsaid, unseen internal politics has always attacked the integrity of Company. Whenever this company came in crises the only solution they could come up with is lay off, may be this is the biggest reason that company is not growing the way it should be because it lacks job security. The state of upper-management at Cisco is absolutely appalling.
More over the CBI probe is another pain to Cisco. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has expanded its inquiry net to probe the role of original equipment manufacturers and network implementation partners involved in the Commonwealth Games communication deal, allegedly a highly inflated contract. CWG's communication, video and data transfer bribe/scam appears to be in range of Rs 350-400 crore. MTNL and Bharti Airtel were the only two bidders of this deal. CWG chief Suresh Kalmadi awarded the contract to MTNL, thinking no one would question him for giving work to a government body. MTNL manipulated the specifications and quoted a whopping sum of Rs 570.12 crore for it while Bharti Airtel wanted a nominal fee of Rs 10 crore but negotiated for branding advantage during the sporting event. Eventually, MTNL subcontracted the work to HCL Info-systems for Rs 380.04 crore. Later on HCL gave contract to Cisco for Rs. 180 crore. CBI’s question is that why and where Rs. 550 crore was invested for the job worth only Rs. 50 crore. Cisco’s top two legal department people are in New Delhi, dealing with this issue. The details all these transactions were published so many trade magazines and newspapers.
The unreasonable deals and mismanagement in admin may give big jolt to this biggest IT Company. At this moment Cisco is discussed on very appalling and sad notes amongst IT industry.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Larger the banner, greater the hypocrisy

2011-07-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

Until today, the news headlines say Rupert Murdoch should fire Rebekah Brooks from News of the World for failing to respect the law formulated for reporters. True, very true! Even so, is it possible? In India sting operation is in fashion, today Tehelka is popular just because of its sting operation. Tarun Tejpal is the owner and Editor in Chief of the publication that’s the reason no one could question him or blame him for anything. However, if he would have been an employee or paid as editor of the publication then he would be out of the market. Few years ago, some news channel did sting operation on Shakti kapoor and we as viewers enjoyed it rather objecting upon such trends.
Aaj Tak did sting operation on Pramod Muthalik and Aasaram Bapu and many such people, by violating all ethics and rules of journalism, but no one goes against them. News channel needs TRP and viewership, which is only possible through controversy and scandals. If the editor bans such practices, then he would be accused for his inefficiency. However, if he does the sting operation at all and someone takes objections on it then the banner and owner both put the blame on the editor and washes their hands off.
I understand the pain of Rebekah Brooks, actually it’s not her fault it’s the fault of her thankless job and position, she was holding in the newspaper. I am sure; every newspaper and news channel definitely possesses taped conversations of thousands of celebrities, politicians, sports stars and common people. For the simple reason, if the desk question reporter about the conversation proof then they have to produce the records by default. Moreover, many times a source denies his statements, so one need to keep the proof. Rebekah Brooks is not the acceptation. I can understand why she had to fall on her own sword which she has sharpened for the interest of newspaper and its readers.
There is one story to dictate here for you. My editorial team was irritated over discussions and was cracking their brains for a topic to make the lead story on. I too was in thoughts as what to pen down for the front page story. The deadline was coming to an end. Then, I remembered Kumar Ketkar's speech in a Rotary Club function at Dombivli where he had recalled a situation from the time when he was the Editor of Maharashtra Times. Kumar was revealing the other side of Journalism which said Bad news is a Good news; a compulsory virtue of journalism all over the world. And just then, Poonam Chambers collapsed. It was a huge sigh of relief as finally there was something worth a lead. War journalists, crime journalists and others; they all strive for off-routine pictures and reports. Every journo aims for a Watergate; a life-turning event/scam. The class of journalists is reflected in the investigative journalism in any bear. There is equal scope for an investigative talent in all the beats of journalism. Press Freedom, liberty to write, investigative journalism, journalism of courage are terms that have been imposed upon us since ages.
The most Hippocratic profession is journalism. One may recall Arun Shourie's rise and fall in Indian Express group. A layman remembers Mr. Shourie as a courageous journalist who exposed the cement scam of then Maharashtra CM Barrister A.R. Antulay. He then had to quit 'Express' as a prize for his courage. The reality is entirely different. But this scam and consequences after that was the end of Shourie as an Editor. The policy of publishing is guided by the affiliations and interests of the managements. A journalist or an Editor is merely a salesman. He can shoot only at the sweet will of the paymaster. Media; news media is a business venture as clear as a profit-making organization which has to pay salaries in time. Mid-day publications, take, for example, in reputed for paying-fat salaries and that too in time. It does not cover news much. It is the still most prosperous newspaper. Jyotirmoy Dey went out of routine and paid for his bravery by getting shot by the hands of underworld goons.
Still it is journalism of courage, as professed by it. It is a harsh reality that journalism as a profession is a paid job. What so chaotic about paid-journalism is when journalists at any level are doing a paid job? I feel we must end the hypocrisy in the fourth-estate and come out with real ourselves telling the world that we are not Superman, but we are sales executives working on salaries and hidden perk.
The Times of India consistently maintains its reputation as a balanced newspaper and does not run after exposures and scams/scandals. Very rarely it does operate as an exposing medium against corruption, but then it never hits below the belt. The RK’s cartoons have placed Times group in an exclusive place in the world of print media. The Times editorial are a stuff for aspirants of competitive examinations as also for administrators, political executives and corporate. Girilal Jain occupied the office of the Times group as an Editor for a pretty long time and added academic depth to the editorial column. Kumar Ketkar, initially wrote for Economic Times before taking over the charge as an Editor of Maharashtra Times, the Marathi language edition of the Times group. Kumar happens to be the first journalist to have switched over from Economic news to political news coverage. Kumar
Ketkar's editorials left a mark on the readers' minds. Very unfortunately, he made an unsung exit immediately after winning Padma Shri in year 2000-01. Ritu Sarin, of Indian Express earned a place in the category of celebrated journalists when she exposed the Tata tapes involving Field Marshal Sam Manickshaw with Mr. Ratan Tata, a business-tycoon. Ms. Sarin's exposures have a class of her own and she too, like her counterparts in Times does not hit below the belt, nor does she profess scams-exposure as a career. Neither Mr. Girilal Jain nor Ms Sarin has won a Padma for their contribution to media.
Sucheta Dalal, a phenomenon that came to be from the Big Bull exposure of the Stock Market kite-flying scam, left the Times Group to join its arch-rival Indian Express. It was a very unprecedented move, and she continued there for long before launching her own publications. Ms. Dalal won Padma Shri quite late in life, almost a decade after the exposure. Friend or foe, it has to be a subject and not a person, is the way she professed journalism. Her article appealing mercy for Harshad Mehta, not from the criminal prosecution but from the hectic investigation and judicial journey was on humanitarian grounds. She had written that Harshad Mehta might die in prison if subjected to a suffocating system. And that is what happened years later as Mehta died of cardiac arrest in Thane jail.
A name that flew a lot like a stormy wave amidst the Bofors controversy was of Ms. Chitra Subramaniam of 'The Hindu' newspaper, a south-India based English daily. Ms. Subrmaniam with her editor Mr. N. Ram earned an international repute for cornering the then Congress government over the kick-back allegations in a purchase deal of Howitzer Long-range guns, known as Bofors.
The Swedish company had allegedly paid kick-backs to an official broker of Indian origin Mr. Win Chhada for executing the contract. Then Congress MP and matinee-idol Amitabh Bachchan made a history as he put his papers as an MP. It happened for the first time in the history of 'Independent India' that a Member of Parliament resigned over a controversy. The electronic media brought a type of journalism without much depth. The weight and depth of print-media journalism are totally absent in this form of news media.
In the times of “Sabse Tez” viewers are taken for granted. We see Arnab Goswami on TIMES NOW screaming “Enough is Enough". Who are you trying to fool?” Then we have a beard-sporting chap on a multi-national banner threatening us all the time like a gangster. His tone, ups and downs in his voice have no consonance at all with the topic or the incident he is narrating. What we hear all the time is “Better watch my programme or you had it”. The space titled Breaking News is compulsorily flashing round the clock. It is now understood by the viewers that like an ad or a banner occupying the cable movie channel all the time.
Editorial Ownership and foreign ownership are two concepts in media that make a lot of difference for such banners that are under such management. As for foreign ownership there was a hue and cry from the locals some years ago and government was forced slap some restrictions. I do not recollect the details or modalities of these norms, but then the class that foreign media possess and function with, we lack; especially in electronic media.
The application of mind and appetite for news and news and news; in-depth news, is tremendous in foreign journalists. I remember recently having read of a boy in a very poor African territory who produced electricity with windmill that he made of scrap items collected from his village. His village had never seen electricity before.
The CNN correspondent reached him, took him to international conference and exposed his talents to the world, I do not recollect any such news item in the related to Indian media for years together. There is no dearth of brave journalists, who if given an opportunity shall strive for excellence. Problem is that the managements in the age of competition cannot afford to concentrate on journalism as such. It is a harsh reality that journalism as a profession is a paid job. The introduction of electronic channels has faded off the charm of breaking-news and scam-exposures.
There is compulsorily the tag of Breaking News 24/7 on every channel. What is flashed under that tag is a scrap by compulsion. I also remember a very leading channel breaking news when Amitabh Bachchan on his way from hospital to home; decided to take a left turn for his mother's house. The news channel reader was excited so much that his belly fell off breaking the news.
Less written, less agony, here I stop out of irritation….
Because it reminds me of my days at Afternoon Despatch and Courier and staffs’ dirty politics, this is probably the fate of every editor in our country…

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Who will Punish government ?

2011-07-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

Who can fight the government? Citing the current situation, we can surely say that the MP’s and MLA’s were cheating the President by acting to be good. Lal Bahadur Shastri, who gave the slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan realizing the importance of farmers and agricultural developments of this country had been side lined by present politicians. During the time when our country was under threat, we the people cut our stomach and pinched our pockets and donated our hard money to government in the name of various taxes. It was the farmers who helped the nation by giving their lands for utilization and generate revenue. But today, the government instead of thanking them has made themselves busy prowling them. Looking at the situation in UP, one can easily witness how the Government is robbing their lands. The condition is such that the farmers today have become beggars in our country and depend on some small scale jobs.
Once upon a time, when government was in crises, these farmers gave donations by mortgaging land, wife’s jewelry. After fifty years of ownerships on the land these farmers have become bonded labours in their own farms as the Government has taken it from them. The biggest challenge the farmers today are facing is land acquisition. The farmers kept their families happy on this land and lived with dignity. Moreover, they never had problems in their life because of their land which was pride for them. However, the Government has now cut their neck mercilessly by taking away their pride. Who will control the government?
Sevakram Jhade in one breath said the entire tragedy and cried out loud; his tears and scream pierced my heart. His son, daughter, grandson all are in pain, but is there any cure to it? Ages have passed; Sevakram Jhade has now become a grandfather waiting for his own land. Today, at the age of 72 years, he is still kept deprived of his own land as the government by passing tender has sold that land to some other buyers. Poor farmer is now standing alone on bare ground having no options to recover it back. In fact, in Nagpur under the provision of Mihan SEZ, nearly two million farmer’s 6397 hectares of land is seized from the inhabitants. Compensated only to the half million acres of government land. Thousands of farmers are starving and struggling for basic right to earn their living.
Firstly, the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADC) published advertisements in well known news papers of Mumbai and Maharashtra that 8 out of 99 acres are being leased. And, those advertisements carried printed map of the ground which was of the Mihan - SEZ project which is quite inside of actually announced land. And the land for which tenders were published and the given map had no relevance at all, in fact, that land has been under the ownership of Sevakram Jhade and his family since last hundred years.
If the government tries to pull the ground under farmer’s feet and challenge their ownership, then one can imagine how dangerous these leaders can be for farmers. 80% of land mafia’s in Maharashtra are none other than politicians and their sources.
In 2003, Khapri village sarpanch, Keshav Sontakke told villagers about the land been taken for air port project. Also, on that same land the international cargo hub was planned. Air Force also too asked for the land. So ultimately they all had to give that land to Government. After few months, BJP MLA Chandrasekhar Bawankule visited villagers and assured them about hefty compensations in return. He assured villagers not to worry as his party will work on negotiations if the land goes under Airport development project. Thereafter in 2004, BJP MP Nitin Gadkari visited them and he also assured them about getting the compensation. During 2004 elections, MP Vilas Muttemwar of Congress too assured to get them good compensation. He even convinced them that the land is taken in the national interest. Since then thousands of people were stuck on the ground for the project in Khapri village and finally the government took their land.
Khapri village's 426 hectares of land was taken for the project. Of which 11 acres of land belonged to Jhade brothers. Government gave rupees one lakh forty thousand per acre as compensation to Sevakram. Altogether he received only Rupees fourteen lakh and thirty five thousand. In the meantime, Devrajji Jhade, the brother of Sevakram passed away. His son in law too died in shock knowing that their land had been taken by government making his daughter a widow. Because of this land issue whole family got shattered and lives were challenged. Sevakram’s three sons had no employment or source of earning. Elder son's wife took a job in Sindhubai in the Mihan project. One of his son started grocery shop and the third one also got work in Mihan project. Three sons and a widow daughter, 12 grandsons that made a big family had to survive on whatever earning they got from their work. Since two years, their situation had come to a point that they had to sell out their twenty buffalos and nine cows to keep their kitchen fire burning. Owner of huge land or the landlord Sevakram possess a small house, three bicycles and a gas cylinder, which is worth Rs. 14 lakh 35 thousand. Like this, there are 80 thousand survivors living life same as Sevakram. Like Sevakram, the life of many families has been shattered with hunger, unemployment and poverty. Their lands sized, promises unfulfilled have made their survival tough. One fades everyday hoping to get their land back.
But, here the question that remains unanswered is who will ask the Government?

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Shielding dignity of women

2011-07-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

There was breaking news on all the newspapers and on channels that Maharashtra is considering making offences pertaining to sexual harassment or outraging the modesty of women non-bailable. As far as outraging modesty is considered then 70 % woman face humiliation everyday either by her boss, neighbour or colleague. Every woman, whether she accepts it or not get humiliated several times and her modesty is outraged by many direct and indirect elements of society. Whom will we punish and how will be define term outraging modesty? There are many female journalists randomly abused on internet and there are many bloggers abusing Sonia Gandhi, and the other side of sect to Uma Bharati and Sushma Swaraj for examples. Every day on an average thousands of girls get abused, insulted and outraged but these incidences goes unreported; the reason is that there are no specific terms defined in Law to define outraging modesty.
Even if a girl gets brutally raped then she has to go through different procedures to prove it and go through formalities such as narrating exact locations of rape, identifying the face of rapist, sequence of rape, time of report. While going through all these procedures, she is been mentally raped again and again. If the rapist is punished then why not all those social animals and media who made her rape a mockery and hammered it by raping her psychologically? There are laws but there is no accurate definition to all these side effects.
If you see in flesh trading, numbers of women pimps are actually more than that of men, however only few such cases come into light. There are many communities in our country in which men use their woman as sex slaves, only for their sexual pleasure and producing children, a glorified servant. These domestic rapes and violence is not reported because the woman is at the mercy of man. She is imbibed with these false rules in the name of tradition or social rules by birth. Men are given every right to dictate. If you visit family court in any metropolitan city, then you will find that divorce cases piled up and most of them for the reason cruelty towards woman and outraging modesty. The cases are under trial for years, during the trial too woman has to depend on the alimony decided by court from man to woman. Then comes social stigma for that we treat divorce, second marriage and live-in relationship a taboo. Also, the condition of concubines and mistresses in contract marriages are much more miserable. If you take the case of famous singer Udit Narayan, his first wife gave him miserable time but the sufferer was his second wife. Actually, Udit Narayan was the one who cheated both the women for his career and comfort. Hema Malini and Dharmendra had to adopt their own daughters, because their marriage was not legal.
Plight of a Muslim woman is much miserable because Muslims anywhere in the world are allowed to have more than one wife. In addition to this pleasure, his wife is not allowed to keep more than one man at time. Tribal women had to satisfy men out of wedlock’s to prove herself a perfect wife on bed, and capable of giving birth to children and its happening even today. If one visits tribal areas, the he can see how women are treated even today.
In the recent past a woman politician from Kuwait has sparked anger and disbelief by calling for legalization of sex slaves, saying it would protect men from adultery, and suggesting that female prisoners from war-torn countries should be purchased for the same, as it would be a “better life” for them, and they would not die of starvation. What a barbaric talk. No surprise the quarters it is coming from. For them women is a second grade human. Even if a woman is raped she is to be blamed for it. If a woman is raped by her father in law then as per their law, they should get married to thus ultimately her husband becomes her son. It is very surprising to know that people are still living in the medieval period, the time when such thinking actually originated. Salwa al Mutairi, a woman politician from Kuwait who made the above statements should be asked if she would have liked to be a sex slave of Iraqi's when Kuwait was a slave country of Iraq and she was a prisoner of war.
Anyways, let me come back to the new law. Maharashtra Government has proposed to be done through an amendment to section 354 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with assault or use of criminal force on women with the intent to outrage their modesty -- to make these crimes as non-bailable offences in the state. The matter was discussed extensively which deliberated upon measures to reduce crimes against women. Though no time-frame has been set for the entire process, the government is determined to push through the proposal as early as possible, the official said. In India, we do not have a sexual harassment law. We have provisions in the Indian Penal code such as outraging the modesty of a woman or insulting the modesty of women. These provisions are, by and large, used in cases where you have a situation which is almost akin to rape. The first time, it came up in the Supreme Court.
Child marriage is one of biggest challenge in India. Small girls are subjected to go through the physical abuse done to them by their so called husbands who can be clearly called as rapists of minors. Negligence of authorities is the major factor due to which child marriage still exist in our country. We have substantive laws that exist, even about outraging of the modesty, retrograde as the language is. If you want to give it a wider interpretation, you can; it is entirely upto the judiciary to interpret that way. We have the same problem with the definition of rape as penetration by penis. We do not expand the concept of rape beyond specific body parts. Let’s see how these new law changes the fate of woman in coming time.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Rahul’s ramp walks for Aam Aadmi

2011-07-08T04:21:00.000-07:00

White pyjama and kurta, simple chappal and human approach that is Rahul Gandhi, as he conducted a padyatra in Aligarh district against forcible land acquisition and simply mesmerized the common man. Whatever people may say, but the manner in which Gandhi family especially Rahul and Priyanka connects with the aam aadmi is worth appreciating. The duo hypnotise people with their down to earth attitude. Through his unique manner of interaction, Rahul wins the hearts of common man. That’s how this family is gaining love affection and confidence of common public of this country which comprise a large chunk of the nation’s population. Rahul’s visit to Tappal and Zirakpur villages where five persons had died after the police fired on farmers, adds a personal touch to the tragedy. He camped at Shahrol, and trudged around 25 km on foot covering five villages starting from Bhatta-Parsaul. Late in the evening, Rahul halted at the Rampur Bangar village in Gautam Budh Nagar district and dined at the house of former village head Kalicharan Sharma.
He stayed in farmers’ house, ate Dal Roti and drank bore well water. The manner in which he stayed in their house with lots of authority and belongingness was amazing, it was quite natural and at ease. I am sure opposition party will definitely make a noise about it and they will take this gesture of his as publicity stunt. Long back fat soul Nitin Gadkari emulated all these stunts, but he landed up eating full thali mejwani at some BJP workers house and got in controversy. He couldn’t conceal his artificial gesture in front of the camera.
I have never seen any BJP politicians getting so close to common man, they always lived a celebrity lifestyle and adopted a touch me not approach. The Babri Masjid issue always remained the party’s trump card to pursue their political agenda. However, the saffron party failed to deliver its promises and lost the confidence of the common man. BJP never stood for the cause of the aam aadmi, the party only encashed the Hindutva agenda but failed to focus on governance. Perhaps if this continues, BJP has no future in the long run.
Rahul Gandhi woke up at around 5 am, asked for newspapers and read it for half-an-hour. This shows that the Gandhi scion was on his mission yet connected to the happenings around. Rahul emerged from the house clad in his trademark starched white kurta-pyjama, sneakers and resumed his padyatra at around 6.30 am again. His first stop was Sabota Jaffrabad. He reached the village around 7.30 am and interacted with the farmers there. Rahul then marched on to Alawalpur and reached the village by 9.15 am. Here, he conducted two public meetings - one at the home of villager Ramvir Sharma and another at the village temple.
Whilst conditioning the minds of villagers he was very loud and clear by saying “I have never seen a farmer who is against development. But your land is being grabbed in the name of development”
Villagers were just fascinated and they couldn’t shift a sight even for moment. While many villagers had to resort to perching on walls and roofs just to catch a glimpse of Rahul if not hear him. Rahul surprised many villagers by visiting their house as uninvited guest and gave them the feel of one amongst them. Villagers were not only impressed by his move but I am sure now they will pour their heart out for Congress. This was the best policy adopted by the Congress scion to gain a strong foothold in UP. When I was watching national TV and the reactions of villagers, panchayat and farmers, one could easily witness how pleased all of them were. Fron Nehru to Rahul, the Gandhi family always gave special space to the common man. That’s the reason today if you ask old voters about the candidate, they may be unaware but they are embossed with one thing that Congress means Aam Aadmi and the party’s symbol is hand. And they vote for hand. None of the political party ever gained so much love, attention and faith from common public. They always approached the common man with a celebrity status. Many think tanks had difference of opinion about Rahul Yatra. According to them it was just a Photo-ops galore, but will it lead to votes? Rahul climbing, marching along a canal and several farmers were escorting him. Seated on a charpai, a school child nestled in his lap. A farmer offered Rahul an unraveled turban to wipe off the sweat. The Rahul Gandhi Road show is being carefully chronicled -rarely does the media have this much access to the Congress General Secretary.
Whatever critics may say about Rahul Gandhi his tour was appreciated by villagers. Rahul can and he will definitely bring change in Uttar Pradesh and the state will vote for Congress next year? It’s clear and visible that this padyatra would help create a wave in favor of the Congress in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Rahul is the first big leader to arrive in their village. People would vote for him if he contests elections but the same cannot be said for the candidates from his party. People may call this padyatra a stunt but the fact is that at least he tried this stunt then why can’t you?

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Cleanliness challenges in Mumbai

2011-07-08T04:15:00.000-07:00

Continuous rains in Mumbai have exposed the weak face of administration. Heavy rains continued to lash the city for the third consecutive day, causing water logging in several parts of the metropolis. It becomes difficult for senior citizens and small children to cross a waterlogged street when it rains in Mumbai. The metropolis is really worse during monsoons. Such incidents occur every year but there is no pre plan crises management system available in the city. BMC spends crores of rupees on reformation and cleaning issues but the situation is still beyond repair.
The sewage water mixes with rain water, floods all streets including the gutters, and enters houses creating a big havoc around the city. To add, pedestrians have to take a holy dip in the sewage unfilled potholes that's all around the city. Our roads give us a roller coaster ride every day. While the Municipality have to take major responsibility for the condition of Mumbai roads and basic infrastructure, the citizens should also be responsible to keep the city clean. It's just not Mumbai; the entire country should be educated with civic senses. The big question is how? Any ways no doubt those government authorities are at fault but the same time, we go around blaming the municipal workers and authorities for not cleaning up and doing their job.
I think we need to stop making the city so filthy with all our trash. So the next time we toss our coffee cup out of the window, or throw the banana peel on the street, or dispose the garbage from our home out on the road, let's take a second to think all the problems we face when all that trash clogs the gutters and stops the rain water from being drained out. Sometimes even we lack civic sense and now we have got so used to blaming each other for our problems, no one wants to take responsibility to initiate that change in attitude. This city belongs to all of us who live here and all of us are equally responsible for its drawbacks and its advantages. It is our home and we all need to treat it with respect. Just like we keep our own homes clean, let's do the same for our city. Keep Mumbai clean - let's change the way things are!
Sewage facilities in Mumbai are very poor and there is lack of proper maintenance in such city where life starts only at Night and never ends. This is the only city which never sleeps. Same problem had occurred during December, 26 2006 which left behind bad experience for everyone. Actually people should make authorities answerable for the inconvenience. We all pay tax and think our responsibilities got over. What has the Municipalities done over the past eight months since the last rain? Did you ever bother to ask them in advance? Where is all the money going, should officials be fined for mis management? On the other hand, Mumbaikars are littering on the streets, spitting pan on every street corner, having no sense of pride for their homeland. Fines must be imposed on people for littering. When people start paying fines, they start learning about how to use garbage bins. Such initiatives will enable to empower more people. BMC failed in all its plans due to lack of proper execution. How mean is it for all in Mumbai to blame gravity for them being stuck to the ground. While it is the responsibility of the municipality to clear out the garbage, it is the people who indiscriminately throw rubbish all around, encroach on canals and other means of water drainage. The clogging of the drainage system is not a one day phenomenon. And why blame corruption when we 'the common people' are the Corporators! Wake up Mumbaikars, if you want to stay in a clean and well laid-out city, we need to take care of the infrastructure. I weep for my beloved Mumbai every monsoon. The corrupt, inefficient, incapable, indolent, insensitive and uncaring BMC have turned Mumbai it into the city with the highest real estate prices and the lowest civic sense in this country. No need to compare the metropolis with Bangkok. Visit other cities in India and observe their level of cleanliness and basic maintenance... they are light years ahead of Mumbai. BMC spends so much money on mayor and BMC commissioner and ministers foreign tours in the name of training programmes including ministers visit. However, after these officials return from their trip, they tend to forget what they have learned. They just go there as a holiday visit and come back with overloaded goody bags.
If this trend persists, the poor is going to pay for sufferings and rich will enjoy at the cost of common man. It's you who can stand with the whip in hand and ask for justice and make them do their job.
There is no sense of pride or ownership of this city by those who run it. The people who plan roads and traffic have never driven their own cars. The people who plan the water supply system have no concept of how water is stolen/diverted in illegal settlements. The people who approve plans for fancy bridges like the SeaLink have never driven at more than 50 kmph on a modern highway. The people who make development control rules have never walked on the streets or used public transport. The people who approve building plans are incapable of planning their own toilet.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Love, Lust and Murder

2011-07-07T01:28:00.000-07:00

Maria Susairaj, Nanavati, Priyadarshini, Naina Sahni all these murder cases have one common similarity and that is love sex and murder. Most of them are not even celebrities but victims were quite soft target due to their love affairs and love stories. The only victim who became infamous in the most unfortunate manner is none other than Maria Susairaj. Sluiced cases in lover stories are common but murder has become fashion in present scenario. If you watch national news, many channels have special slot for crime stories, like Sansani, ACP Arjun, crime report, crime diary etc. If you watch all these programmers, 7 stories out of 10 are love story and murders. Nowadays with the facility of tele-vision we can see these kinds of stories from every corner of our country. But earlier, eveningers used to publish full reports of these wedges of crime; I was a fan of Suresh Baliga and Mid-day newspaper. Rape and death of call center girls gave lots of challenges to security issues of BPO industry.
A cab driver named Shiva Kumar had conned Pratibha Murthy, a call center employee in Bangalore into travelling in his cab around 1.50 am on December 3, 2005. He took her to a deserted place, where he raped and slit her throat. Her body was found three days later. Kumar had called Murthy on the mobile and misled her into believing that the regular driver, Jagdish, was on leave and he had been given the task of dropping her at the office. Pratibha's death forced the BPO industry to drastically revamp the security it provides for women employees. Now, security guards are sent in cabs with women working in the night shifts.
Shiva Kumar's wife was seven months into her pregnancy when Pratibha was murdered. Shiva Kumar was sentenced to life in prison In October2010. Pushkin Chandra, a 38-year-old son of a retired IAS officer and his friend Kuldeep were killed on the intervening night of August 13-14, 2004, at Chandra's residence at Anand Lok area in South Delhi. A Delhi court awarded rigorous life imprisonment to the two accused in March 2010. Pushkin was stabbed to death by two men who claimed that he used to blackmail them after photographing them naked.
Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra was a 1959 court case where Nanavati, a Naval Commander, was tried for the murder of Prem Ahuja, his wife's lover. With Nanavati frequently away on assignments, the lonely Sylvia fell in love with Prem Bhagwandas Ahuja, a friend of Nanavati. On April 27, 1959, Nanavati returned home from one of his assignments and finding Sylvia aloof and distant, he questioned her. Sylvia, who now doubted Ahuja's intention to marry her, confessed about the affair to her husband. Nanavati went to the Naval base, collected his pistol on a false pretext from the stores along with six cartridges, completed his official duties and proceeded to Ahuja's office. On not finding him there went straight to his flat. At Ahuja's residence, Nanavati confronted him and asked him whether he intended to marry Sylvia and accept their children. After Ahuja replied in the negative, three shots were fired and Ahuja dropped dead. Nanavati headed straight to confess to the Provost Marshal of the Western Naval Command and on his advice, turned himself in to the Deputy Commissioner of Police. The jury in the Greater Bombay Sessions court pronounced Nanavati as not guilty. In the Bombay High Court, the defence put forth their version of the incident, for which there were no witnesses other than the two men. The High Court agreed with the prosecution's argument that the murder was premeditated and sentenced Nanavati to life imprisonment for culpable homicide amounting to murder. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction. Nanavati spent three years in prison. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, then governor of Maharashtra, pardoned Nanavati. After his release, Nanavati, along with his family went to Canada. Nanavati died in 2003.
Nitish Katara was murdered in February 2002 by Vikas Yadav, the son of influential politician DP Yadav. Vikas was opposed to Nitish's alleged relationship with his sister Bharti Yadav, who was studying with Nitish at the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad. Nitish had received death threats several times.
A 23-year-old law student Priyadarshini Mattoo, was raped and strangled with an electric wire by Santosh Singh, her senior at college, at her home in Vasant Kunj in Delhi in January 1996. Santosh later battered Priyadarshini's face with his motorcycle helmet. In 1995, a year before she died; Priyadarshini had complained that Santosh Singh was stalking her. The Supreme Court gave life imprisonment to Santosh Singh in October 2010. Madhumita was murdered at the behest of Madhumani, Amarmani Tripathi's wife who was opposed to her affair with her husband. The case was being taken care of by the CB - CID. They are currently lodged in Gorakhpur jail, where they are reportedly said to be leading a carefree life. Shivani Bhatnagar, a journalist working for the Indian Express newspaper, was murdered on January 23, 1999. She was at home alone with her infant son, when the murder took place. Sharma surrendered to the police in 2002, after being in hiding for a long time. He confessed to the police that he was acquainted with Shivani since the days that he had been posted as OSD to the then Prime Minister I K Gujral and she had been covering the PMO as a correspondent with the Indian Express. Sharma and his wife, Madhu, have alleged that Bhatnagar's murder was orchestrated by the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.
The case of Maria Susairaj with Neeraj Grover, a young TV producer is the recent one. Maria was at that time engaged to naval officer Emile Jerome Mathew. On the night of May 6, Jerome called Maria and heard a man's voice in the background. He flew from the Kochi naval base to Mumbai early morning on May 7 and arrived at Maria's flat between 7 and 7.30am. In 2011, Maria was found guilty of destruction of evidence and sentenced to three years in prison. The time she has already spent in prison was adjusted against this sentence. She is now free. Jerome was sentenced to 10 years in prison for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Love lust and murder have great series of stories. But the noticeable angle in the story is possessiveness and mind games.
After court verdict very few cases went in campaign again judiciary, and few cases were revised till they get so called justice.
fromvaidehi@gmail.com

NAC must work in tandem with the govt

2011-07-07T01:25:00.000-07:00

The debate over the Lokpal Bill between civil society and the government has brought into spotlight the role of civil society in Indian democracy and the influence of the NAC on public policy. National Advisory Council (NAC) led by the Sonia Gandhi cleared the drafts of two significant Bills -- the Food Security Bill and the Communal Violence Bill -- despite the Centre's reservations on key clauses in both.
Over the past year, the NAC has drafted three Bills: on Food Security, Land Acquisition and the Prevention of Communal Violence. The government does not see eye to eye with the Council on any of these and in the case of Food Security still hasn't been able to finalise a Bill because of its differences with the NAC over critical issues such as methods to be adopted to ensure food security, the amount of food grain required and financial impact. Instead, in the case of the Food Security Bill as well as the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, it has thumbed its nose at the NAC by indicating that it will go ahead with its own version. There was foremost difference about who should be the beneficiaries of this Bill? NAC suggested the legal entitlement to subsidised food grains be provided to both 'priority households' and 'general households'.
C. Rangarajan, recommended that in view of supply side constraints, the legal entitlement should only be provided to 'priority households. But the PM-appointed C Rangarajan Committee wants only priority category households covered due to supply constraints. Differences also exist between the government's version and the NAC's draft on issues such as methods to be adopted to ensure food security, the amount of food grain required and the financial impact. The National Food Security Bill found detailed mention in President Pratibha Patil's address to Parliament at the start of the 15th Lok Sabha. Once cleared by Parliament, it is expected to ensure food security for all, with every family below the poverty line in rural as well as urban areas being entitled, by law, to 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 per kg. The 13-point NAC proposal recommended that instead of the current two laws on land acquisition, a single law be drawn up. It also suggested that in the new legislation, compensation for land should be six times the value of the registered sale deed, and that acquisitions should be made only for 'public purposes'.
The ministry's version says compensation for land should be based on the average of the highest prices of the last three years. Also, it gives the state government the power to determine the need for acquisitions. In the UPA-I, when the government had the support of the Left parties, the NAC was able to get the nod of Parliament on two crucial Bills -- the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Right to Information Act. Both were landmark Bills and widely believed to be important factors in the Congress electoral victory in 2009. It prevented the department of personnel and training (DoPT), the ministry that implements the RTI law, from introducing changes in the Right to Information Act, though after much deliberation. Other than the RTI, the recommendations of the NAC to link the wages paid to workers under the NREGA to the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 have also been rejected by the PM.
Even a letter from Sonia Gandhi to the PM asking him to make the change to ensure better salaries for workers didn't do the trick. Instead, the PM in his reply to Sonia Gandhi explained that instead of linking the wages of NREGA workers to the Minimum Wages Act, the government would link them to the Consumer Price Index. Harsh Mander, a member of the NAC, described it as a 50 percent success. In September 2010, NAC members Jean Dreze and Aruna Roy wrote to then Rural Development Minister CP Joshi, raising objections about the decision of the ministry to link the unique identity (UID) or Aadhaar numbers to be given out by the UIDAI, to job cards, without consulting the council. The government ignored the advice and went ahead with the project. NAC members have objected to the decision of the rural development ministry to link the UID to job cards. NAC says compensation for land should be six times the registered sale deed value; secondly, acquisition should be done for 'public purposes'. The draft Bill that the rural development ministry has sent to the PM wants compensation to be the average of last three years' highest price.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

Unnatural sex, natural hungama

2011-07-07T01:22:00.000-07:00

Being unnatural is naturally offensive. Or so believes the law, especially when it comes to sexual conduct. This is explicitly expressed in the section of the Indian Penal Code listed under the heading, 'Unnatural Offences'. So, whatever is described hereafter is a part of the unnatural behavior of men and women that the code covers. The section states: 'Whoever has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment of either description for a term, which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine.'
It was Lord Macaulay, the man notorious for making Indians Brown Sahibs through English education, who had drafted the Indian Penal Code. He had inserted the relevant section in keeping with the morality prevalent in the then England. If this plea of legal luminaries is accepted, it will mean that before 1871, when the IPC became law governing crime and punishment, Indians did not consider homosexuality a criminal offence!
By and large, Marathas, Rajputs, Jats, Mughals and Pathans ruled parts of India before they accepted the over-lordship of the British-operated East India Company. Crime was not overlooked by the then Indian rulers. One wonders as to why they would have condoned homosexuality when it was vehemently forbidden in both the major religions professed then, that is, Hindu Dharma and Islam. Christianity came to India thereafter, and it too frowned upon this major infringement of sexual mores.
Therefore, to say that the British rulers had criminalised homosexuality and is stretching matters a bit too far. If this plea of legal luminaries is accepted, it will mean that before 1871, when the IPC became law governing crime and punishment, Indians didn't particularly object to gay sex or condemn it as a criminal offence. This line of thought is preposterous! And it should not be allowed to go unchallenged.
That homosexuality it is no more a criminal offence in the United Kingdom, would be a travesty of truth. In India, today most of the influential religious groups have spoken against homosexuality and called it a sin, let alone a crime. Being gay in India is treated as a curse, but famous celebrities of our country - those who fall under this category - have proven everyone wrong.
Twenty percent of fashion designers, hair-stylists and make-up artistes, choreographers and in all, a surprisingly 31percent of glamour media, is stuffed with individuals who can boast of deviant sexual appetites, and most of them have been phenomenally successful in their fields. Does that make them criminals? Furthermore, the striking fact is that …. most of them are bisexuals! So, does that imply a double dose of punishment?
The Delhi High Court passed a judgment to the popularly known Naz Foundation petition decriminalising homosexuality in India. It declared that so far as Section 377 criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private, is violative of Articles 21, 14 and 15 of the Constitution.
The judgment uses the public health rhetoric, arguing that because HIV/AIDS is reaching the proportions of a pandemic in India, therefore it is logical to decriminalise homosexuality. This will allow MSMs (men having sex with men) to come out of their closet without the threat of being harassed or arrested and test HIV. This is important because many MSMs have heterosexual relationships also and thus there is the danger of a public health disorder.
India's health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad shocked everyone by saying that homosexuality is an unnatural "disease" from the West. Azad's comments drew widespread criticism from activists who said that such statements are a major set back to the country's campaign for gay rights and its fight against HIV.
Democratic and enlightened societies do give total freedom for gays and transsexuals to live in equality, as long as they do not force their attentions on unwilling people of the same sex. Even the prudish and rigid Churches have given a democratic tilt towards gay priests. That is how societies evolve on continuously liberating themselves from rigid beliefs and archaic notions of natural sexual behaviour. Any sexual behaviour is considered 'natural' as long as the partners have total freedom of choice and not forced or threatened into it. This is not an import from the West as alluded by Azad Some people are born left-handed, some are born as albinos. Do we consider them as unnatural and undesirable? If the majority of population considers a small minority as unnatural and undesirable then we are not fit to be called human beings. Sorry, correction. Even animals do not shun their albinos. So we are below even animals. A day after sparking off a controversy with his remark that men having sex with men (MSM) was a "disease" and "unnatural", Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad sought to clarify that the remarks were taken out of context and had referred to the high rate of prevalence of HIV/AIDS among this section of populace.
Anjali Gopalan, who heads the NAZ Foundation, a rights group that works with HIV positive people and promotes equal rights for homosexuals, said Azad's comments were deeply troubling coming from the health minister of a country fighting a tough battle against HIV infections.
India is home to 2.5 million HIV affected patients making it largest number of people affected with this disease in Asia. Since last few years, people's mindset towards homosexuality has changed particularly in urban areas. Also some high-profile Bollywood celebrities too have come forward in support of this cause.
Ghulam Nabi Azad is not a stranger to controversies. In the past too he had made irresponsible statements inviting the ire of activists. Activists in the country favouring homosexuality have fought a long battle against the stigma and discrimination associated with homosexuality.
inputs from PTI

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PressConferrence Of Maria Susairaj

2011-07-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

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Does B-Town give jobs to criminals?

2011-07-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

Right after she was released from jail she got into a white car, escorted by many police personals and cozy arm around of her brother. There was heavy police cover deployed outside the Byculla Jail. Beautiful designer dress floral brown kurta and black pants, the 30 year-old was escorted to a waiting car by a posse of policemen as there was a huge media presence outside the Byculla Jail. Smile on her face and little bulky figure..Maria walked out like a celebrity. As if she just winded up her film shoot and light and cameras were put off. It was really a red carpet exit for her, these three years and one brutal murder case gave her lots of popularity and fame.
Maria Susairaj, is all set to walk into the ‘Bigg Boss’ house in the new season. The channel was eying her release. Apart from ‘Bigg Boss,’ filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has also put forward his desire to work with Maria..There are hundreds of such opportunities waiting for her. In past too, dacoit Seema Parihar and Bunty chor, who have been charged with serious offenses against them, have participated in the reality show and gained huge popularity and recognition. Also, actress Monica Bedi, who spent a few years in Portugal and an Indian jail, for her association with Don Abu Salem, Rahul Mahajan caught in drugs, Raja Chaudhary often walk into jail made quite a few headlines when she featured in 'Bigg Boss'.
This time actually we can see more such members in Big Boss because entire year there are so many high profile inmates in Tihar jail hit the headlines. DMK MP Kanimozhi, the daughter of DMK supremo Karunanidhi, Former telecom minister A. former encounter specialist Udayveer Rathi who has been convicted in a fake encounter and murder case. Ketan Desai, another former inmate and former chief of the Medical Council of India, Former inmate Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who was facing murder charges, Suresh Kalmadi arrested in CWG fraud. May be in session 6 we can see Jerome in big boss house.
Monica couldn’t spend much time in the show, whatever three weeks time she got was enough for her to clean her image. MONICA DID not seem perturbed to know that Mumbai Police was in the process to assess all her unedited footage of the show to derive clues, if any, about Abu Salem. She even didn’t deny her relationship with Salem but clearly denied the rumors of her getting married to him in the past. She succeeded doing good social engineering and today people have really forgotten her sins and she has become one of the page three celebrities.
“lady luck” always favoured Rahul Mahajan, he tried his level best to convey people how innocent and dump he could be, then after he signed comedy show as judge, he appeared in many shows and finally Swamvar gave him bit hitch and also a companion to carry forward the controversies. Monica Bedi, who was extradited along with gangster Abu Salem from Portugal in 2005 , got house, wealth name fame and a boyfriend too. Both these lives are settled. In one of the initial episodes of the show, Monica had clearly pointed out her intentions of becoming a part of the show, which was to be monitored every second by the eyes of 32 cameras installed throughout the house. Controversial personas are invited to big Boss to change their image. However, with the mutual consent the eviction period of these people is pre decided.
dacoit Seema Parihar was presented as very sober simple and next door woman, every child of this country started knowing this lady, big boss not started at the time of Phulan devi else you could have seen her too in the show. Id sadhvi Pragya sing gets released during this season she can be one of the most interesting in mate in big boss house. All these bad creatures goes in big Boss house and get reformed and succeed in convincing people how mush innocent a criminal can be and they project themselves as Mahatma, by crying, by doing drama, by behaving tame and innocent all this is just a TRP gimmick and image building platform.
Some very low profiled actor like Dara singh,s son, congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, Rakhi savants Mother and Ismail Darbar who were almost forgotten by people, were revised here. Some like Poonam Dhillon and Dipak Parashar, came and went making no much difference to viewers and themselves. Not only Indians but even Pakistan has benefited from Bigg Boss.
I hope we could arrange such show and could invite, kapil sibbal, Digvijay singh, Randev Baba and Anna Hajare like inmates and see the show every day. By keeping these people out of the world and isolated from media and public believe me we can expect lots of peace and calmness in ambience.
You the readers and common man of this country should really try becoming Bigg Boss, by cleaning the image of corrupt politicians, and making authorities answerable for their deeds.

Indian Cyber Army of India

2011-07-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

Indian Cyber Army has committed what you would call ‘cyber-attacks’ in protest against several military contractors, companies, lawmakers, and governments, and has continuously sought to fight against threats to our freedoms on the Internet. And since you consider state control of the Internet to be in the best interest of the various nations of your military alliance, you therefore consider us a potential threat to international security.
So we would like to make it clear that we, in reality, pose no threat to the people of your nations. Indian Cyber Army is not a reckless swarm attacking the websites of governments and companies out of hatred or spite. We fight for freedom. For ourselves, and the people of the world, we seek to preserve the liberty granted to the millions of people who have found it on the Internet. We care not whether the actions we have taken in this struggle have complied with laws of the India or any other country. What your lot fails to understand is that we live in cyberspace. The only laws that apply are the laws set forth by our individual consciences. We break your nations’ laws when we recognize those laws to stand between the people and their freedom. Indian Cyber Army is not simply „a group of super hackers”. Indian Cyber Army is the embodiment of freedom on the web.
Indian Cyber Army will live on.

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Grover murder case: Maria walks free

2011-07-01T05:37:00.000-07:00

Its a disgrace that the courts are having such a lenient attitude to a ghastly murder, after having the clear evidence that the body has been cut to pieces by both the accused & burnt. I am sure that there is a bungle up in presenting the evidence by the Prosecution of which the Defence has taken advantage & as we all know that the LAW IS BLIND IN INDIA, it has now become DEAF too, because they can't hear the uproar the ruling is creating, otherwise how can they let both the accused go free for a murder so gross!.
Jerome and Maria to pay Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 as compensation to Grover's family; Neeraj Grover's family cries foul, terms the verdict 'an acquittal'
Ex-naval officer Jerome Mathew was sentenced to 10 years in jail for the 2008 murder of TV executive Neeraj Grover for allegedly having an affair with his girlfriend Maria Monica Susairaj. The actress got a three-year term for destroying evidence, but would walk free for time done as an undertrial.

Mathew and Susairaj were sentenced by a Mumbai court Friday and ordered to pay Rs.100,000 and Rs.50,000 respectively, to the victim's family as compensation, said advocate Sharif Sheikh, the counsel for the Kannada actress."Susairaj has already served more than three years as an undertrial. If she manages to pay up the compensation amount today, then she will be set free by evening," Sheikh told reporters shortly after the verdict.

On Thursday, Sessions Judge M.W. Chandwani held Mathew guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and guilty of destroying evidence. Susairaj was also found guilty of destroying evidence.Mathew and Susairaj remained calm and composed as the verdict was pronounced, their lawyers said. "Susairaj had maintained total silence throughout the trial... today, she just said 'Thank you' to me," Sheikh said.

They deserved death penalty: Grover's father

Amarnath Grover, father of slain television executive Neeraj Grover, Friday said the sentence pronounced by a Mumbai court for an ex-navy officer and Kannada actress in his son's murder was "not sufficient" and they "deserved the death penalty".

"We are extremely unhappy with the sentence. We have been shattered. It could not get worse than this," Grover told reporters here.

"It's surprising and shocking that the two people who committed the same crime have been punished differently. They deserved the death penalty for the brutal murder of my son," he added.
Asked whether he would move a higher court challenging the sentence, Grover replied: "Owing to health and financial reasons, we would not be in a position to do it independently. However, I will appeal to the state that the case should be reviewed."
A Mumbai court Friday awarded Kannada actress Maria Susairaj a sentence of three years, while her boyfriend Emile Jerome - a former naval officer - was given 10 years imprisonment in the Grover murder case.
In 2008, Neeraj Grover was killed in a flat in Malad West, 25 km from Mumbai. His body was then hacked into pieces and disposed of near Manor in Thane district.

WHAT HAPPENED THAT FATEFUL DAY

Grover, a producer working with a private television company, was killed by Mathew early morning of May 7, 2008, after he found him naked in Mariah's apartment in Dheeraj Solitaire building here.
According to prosecution, an angry Mathew abused and assaulted Grover and stabbed him with a kitchen knife. Mathew kept kicking and stabbing Grover even as Susairaj watched in horror but did not shout for help.

The next morning, Susairaj went to a mall and bought a huge suitcase, air-fresheners, plastic bags and bedsheets. Mathew and Susairaj chopped Grover's body into pieces and stuffed it into the bag, along with the blood-stained bedsheets and curtains in her home.
Later, Susairaj and Mathew drove off to Manor, in adjoining Thane district, and burnt the body pieces and other articles. Though the prosecution fought for charges of murder, the court ruled that the case could be made out only under Section 304, guilty of homicide not amounting to murder, against Mathew.
Mathew's lawyer Abdul Wahab Khan argued before the court that his client was a young naval officer and wanted to go back and serve the nation. Moreover, he said the crime was not intentional and was done on the spur of the moment after seeing a stranger spending the night with his prospective wife.

Susairaj's lawyer, pleading for leniency, said that she was young and unmarried, and needed to settle in life. He said Susairaj was not a habitual offender and was a victim of circumstances.

Both Sheikh and Khan said that finally it was Susairaj's confession before the court which proved significant in the verdict. Prosecution counsel R.V. Kini said the state would appeal against the judgement in the Bombay High Court.

Sheikh also said he would appeal against the verdict to "remove the stigma" on Susairaj, and Khan indicated he may consider appeal after getting a copy of the judgement next week.

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Mumbai court has found small-time Kannada actress Maria Susairaj not guilty of murder

2011-06-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

Three years after TV executive Neeraj Grover was brutally murdered, a Mumbai court has found small-time Kannada actress Maria Susairaj not guilty of murder, but of destroying evidence. It has held her boyfriend Emile Jerome Mathew, a Navy Lieutenant, guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and of destroying evidence. This carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.

In May 2008, engaged couple Naval Officer Emile Jerome Mathew and small-time Kannada actress Maria Susairaj were arrested for the brutal murder of Grover, a senior TV producer. Grover was the brain behind quiz show Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?, hosted by Shah Rukh Khan.

The prosecution had alleged that Jerome killed Grover on discovering him at Maria's home early morning on May 7, 2008. Grover was murdered in Maria's apartment in suburban Mumbai and his body was allegedly chopped into several pieces, put into two bags by Mathew and Maria, who then drove to Manor in neighbouring Thane district, where they burnt the body to dispose it.

While dictating today's order, the judge said that circumstantial evidence showed Jerome had killed Neeraj Grover, but the intention was not clear from the prosecution's case.The judge noted that Jerome had gone against his parents' wishes to get engaged to Maria, that he knew the victim through her and said that he might have got suspicious and so came to Mumbai on May 7, 2008. The judge noted that the incident seemed to have happened at the spur of the moment and that "obviously any fiancé who finds another man with his fiancée will get upset and lose control... accused was provoked by circumstances and lost control.

In important points that went in Maria's favour, the judge said that the prosecution had not proved the time of Neeraj's death and that it was apparent that he was alive when Jerome came to Maria's house. Also that there was no reason for Maria to kill Neeraj - that she had no motive. He ruled out a conspiracy between Jerome and Maria.

Neeraj's father, Amarnath Grover, an elderly man who has fought for justice for three years, is devastated and has termed the verdict "very disappointing". Before the verdict he had said: "He was very sharp, dynamic and creative. He was in Mumbai for the last one year. Maria came in touch with him at the time of Mahabharat auditions. On the night of 6th May, she had called him over to her place and since then we have no clue about him. She has conspired against him. She should be given death sentence," says his father.

Maria's lawyer said the crime that his client had been found guilty of carries a maximum punishment of three years in prison. Maria, he said had been a "victim of circumstances", had already been in jail that long and so should be released immediately. "She will come out tomorrow," he said, describing the verdict as a "victory of truth." The lawyer said Maria had played no role in the murder and had actually tried to stop Mathew killing Neeraj.

The hearing began in April 2009 and has been based on circumstantial and scientific evidence. Through the trial Maria and Matthew blamed each other.

Who was Neeraj Grover?

He was the boy next door. A Kanpur lad with Mumbai dreams. Neeraj Grover, 25 years old, had got a degree in mass communication from the Amity University in Noida and then headed to Mumbai. He worked with TV companies Cinevista and Balaji Telefilms and had just joined Synergy Adlabs as a senior creative executive. He is credited with developing the big-bang TV quiz show Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain? which was hosted by Shah Rukh Khan.

In Mumbai, Neeraj Grover met a small-time Kannada film actress Maria Susairaj, who wanted a shot at TV stardom. Reports say they met through a cameraman and soon started meeting regularly. On May 7, 2008, Neeraj Grover disappeared. His elderly parents, who said they spoke to their son twice a day and had done so the last time on the evening of May 6, sought the police's help to find him. A few days later, Maria too reported Neeraj Grover missing. The police investigated and found burnt human remains and a gold chain and locket. Neeraj Grover's parents identified it as his and the police pieced together a gruesome tale of murder. The prosecution in the case has contended that Neeraj had visited Maria on the night of May 6, 2008, to help her move into a new apartment.

While the TV executive was at the actress' flat, her boyfriend Emile Jerome Mathew, a Navy Lieutenant, reportedly called her. He heard a male voice and asked Maria to ensure Neeraj did not stay over. But Neeraj Grover did stay the night, say the police, and the next morning, very early, Maria answered the door to find Mathew, who had flown down from the Kochi Naval base.Mathew allegedly found Neeraj Grover in Maria's bedroom and, police say, used kitchen knife to stab him. Maria and Mathew are accused of planning to dispose the body - with Maria allegedly stepping out to a mall to buy airbags and room freshners and a big knife. Police claim that they used this knife to cut Grover's body into pieces which they then allegedly carried out to a remote part of town and burnt.

Maria and Mathew, always prime suspects, were arrested and have been in jail for the last three years. Neeraj Grovers friends and parents have described him as a simple, fun loving person, whose biggest moment had been to get a job in Mumbai. His parents, aged and infirm, have been fighting hard for justice. Alongside, they recently had to contend with the news that Bollywood filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma was making a film based on the gruesome murder of their son. The Grovers requested Verma not to make the film, but RGV has denied that his film Not A Love Story, is based on Neeraj Grover's story.

-----------------------------

Here are the judge's observations while dictating the verdict:

•It's crystal clear from circumstances that the incident happened in Flat 201 at Dheeraj Solitaire building (where Maria was staying). Neeraj Grover was with Maria in flat 201

•Jerome visited flat 201 at 7.30 am on the morning of 7th May 2008

•Prosecution has not proved the time of Neeraj's death (which means that the prosecution has not proved Neeraj died before Jerome's arrival in the flat)

•There was no reason for accused Maria to kill Grover

•Jerome made a call on Maria's phone

•Evidence shows he was nervous and upset after that

•Despite of knowledge that disciplinary action could be taken against him, Jerome suddenly flew to Mumbai without taking leave

•There was no conspiracy between Maria and Jerome. Maria had no motive

•Maria went to Hypercity mall and purchased articles. She also borrowed a Santro car from her friend

•Neeraj Grover's blood was found in the Santro car (that Jerome and Maria drove to Manor to dispose his body)

•Maria could have run away when she went to borrow a friend's car. She went to the extent of going ahead with the plan

•As she had rented a flat, it was not possible for her to run away from there

•Maria, Jerome were both responsible for disposing Neeraj's body

•Grover was alive when Jerome came to Maria's

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Jyotirmoy Dey, MiD DAY journalist

2011-06-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

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Did Mid DAY journalist J Dey, final goodbye

2011-06-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

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sorry state of media and mediocre in India

2011-06-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

PM speaking to editors has become big news in India - It is like miracle. Why he doesn’t he want to speak to the People who elected his party. More over this is again a free publicity stunt. We should not forget the fact that our beloved PM speaks more to Sonia Gandhi and NOT to the people of India - Is it because Sonia Gandhi made him as the PM and NOT People of India .PM is not a elected member of Lok Sabha and he lost election in 1999 so maybe he doesn’t like to talk to People of India. Why talk only Editors, why not to people directly - Why not a public discussion on a live telecast - Why not have a discussion with politicians, corporate, social works in a public media - Why not talk on issue basis rather than talking once for all issues?
This is not the 1950’s. India today has more educated citizens. The only way to proceed is by listening to people’s voice and acting for the good of our country. He should have the guts to fire people like Digvijay . He should have the guts to tell Sonia to mind the party work and not interfere in Governance. He should have the guts to come in public and put his strong views before them. He should have the guts to implement complete transparency in all forms of governance. It’s time to act for our country.
Citizen of this country want open debate not interaction with editors. They want answer for their questions. Why did it take so long to start investigation on 2Gscam and CWG scam? Why PM declared A. Raja innocent even after all the proofs in public domain? Why there is no action on CWG scam? It was not only Kalamadi but Delhi govt. is also major player in the scam? Why so much of delay in CBI inquiry? They want answer for these questions. And on top of that why PM shouldn’t resign as he breached public trust and its clearly evident that he did not take any action and delayed the CBI inquiry for 2 years, this much time is enough to weaken the case and wipe out most of the evidences. Why PM is not guilty?
Please we don’t want a staged drama with selected editors. Come in public or parliament and answer the question from opposition. If you people are representing India then opposition is doing the same. Did PM explained why he kept silence when 2G loot was going on; why he allowed Raja to disobey his orders; why Raja did not concede to GOM meet on 2G? Why PM did not order CBI enquiry at that time itself? Why PM gave clean chit to Raja even after 2G was exposed by opposition? Why Congress is preventing PAC report by Joshi? Did PM answered why he did not take action on Suresh Kalmadi when CWG scam broke out by Manishankar Iyer? Why PM kept silent and allowed Suresh to attend Olympic on behalf of country? Why PM is still keeping Vilasrao Deshmukh as minister when he is involved in Adarsh scam? Why files go missing in Adarsh? CWG and what is the response of PM? Why economist PM is unable to check price rise on essential commodities? Why economist PM is allowing petrol price to be rise when international market price is slowing down? Why economist PM is not exercising his knowledge on crucial matters of bringing back black money and declaring it as national asset? Is there anything PM is hiding?
The government has been too soft on the self professed civil society members and certain sections of the media which have been playing to the tunes of the so called civil team. As I think, the main agenda of today's meeting of P.M. with media was to increase the govt. advertisements in all newspapers & channels, UPA is also increasing the govt aid to all media and newspapers. UPA govt. is ready to give more money(donations) to all newspapers and media so that they can make more profits even after petrol product prices increases. government may also ready to give other more benefits like tax relaxation to media, free air/train tickets to reporters and editors with trips of ministers with this all offers to print/show all the small work done by Gandhi family, govt. and congress C.M. e)hide all the mistake done by all above.
It seems that the five editors were under the spell of PM and therefore did not question him on his stand on corruption, black-money, etc. Under his leadership, Praful Patel as aviation minister had caused irreparable damage to Air-India and Indian airline by draining away its resources besides giving away their profitable routes to private airlines. They are in red affecting the livelihood of 55000 employees. PM should take responsibility for this mishap and should order probe into the financial dealings of Praful. There were so many such crucial issues supposed to be discussed by these editors, but they just did their routine job by gaving interviews to news channels about incredible stand of Manmohan Singh and tried painting his good portrait, the purpose if the meeting is solved.
The sorry state of media and mediocre can be seen.

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ManMohan Singh to Break Silence?

2011-06-29T05:46:00.000-07:00

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told in special meet arranged for the Editors of news media, those international economic and political conditions that were "out of his control" had led to high inflation in the country. He added that inflation should drop to six percent by March 2012. When asked him that as an economist, he was expected to perform well on the economic front - but in his tenure, inflation has gone up so high. In reply the prime minister told the editors that there "are three factors which are out of his control - the international commodity prices, the Middle East crisis, and the oil prices". Manmohan Singh told the group that the government was trying to bring back inflation under control. This is his second meet with editors in the recent past, both the time he gave some deadlines for improvising the conditions in India, let’s see how much he is serious this time.
India's food inflation had soared to a nearly 10-week high of 9.13 percent for the week ended June 11. The government also increased the price of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene last week. Increase in fuel prices in every two months is not understandable! Is the Government playing into the hands of the Petroleum companies? Accountability is more towards the big companies rather than to the general public? Government collects various forms of taxes and duties, sometime same income is taxed again and again - but there is no clear picture where this tax money is being utilised. Industrial workers are getting overfished. There is exodus from villages to cities and slum population is increasing day by day. Where is the tax money being utilised? Why development is only around cities and selected sectors? Is the Government in a position to come open and give us district-wise details of collection of various taxes/ and duties and details of their utilisation for the respective district. Let us know who is benefitting from the revenues and who is being deprived? In this modern India, poor man's child cannot dream of equitable education or healthcare. Government is so stingy about spending in education and health sector. Both the sectors are grazing grounds of private lobbyists! When will the cry of the poor be heard? Are we to wait until 2014 General election to get an answer? Meanwhile, Politicians are following the saying “Making hay while the Sun is shining".
My projection of oil price per barrel in the coming three years is bullish to the tune of 220 USD per barrel. Now it is near 100 USD per barrel. If we start crying this, there will be time only for this. Let us make more income for our family and compensate the excessive expenses. By the grace of God, I think, everybody in India has an opportunity to survive now. If prices increased, wages also increased and everybody has a job. Nobody is idle. Earlier, inMumbai, if a biriyani and bottle was given, youth were available for rallies and 'inquilabs'. Now, you cannot get a youth for such purpose and if somebody available, charges will be very costly. The globe has changed in such a way that we Indians together with Chinese, who contribute to the main population of the world are responsible for the price hikes in oil and food materials. But, remember, this is because of our betterment of life for the mass. Let us try to be disciplined like what "Liberty8Last" suggested and avoid wastage and excess usage.
I think increasing LPG price and petrol price is more than an emotional issue. Government of India is worse than mafia it is looting the public mercilessly like bandits. If the government publishes a white paper on the petroleum products costs and expenditure the truth will come out automatically. The government' and oil companies claim of subsidy is only imaginary and by fraud mathematics. Mukesh Ambani says that oil products are selling at a higher rate in the international market but selling at a lesser price in India. This comparison is not based on the cost of production in India but basing on the international market rates. Such fraud arguments are the basis for the price hike. Secondly some psu oil companies claim that the production loss and waste expenditure is subsidy. The inefficiency of the psu employees, staff and management is shown as subsidy. The excise duties, sales taxes are very high and unreasonable and almost 50 % increase is due to these taxes and duties only. That is why the government will never publish the correct details of costs+ expenditure+ duties and taxes+ losses due to inefficiency of the management in each product.
While concluding I would like to suggest the best way of making-up the losses due to subsidies is to simply remove them! There is NO other way. Then, the next problem is to make sure how the under-privileged can be supported. We need a combination of good governance and responsible citizens to make this happen. Those who are sufficiently provided for should take the responsibility. If, for example, Govt decides to continue subsidies for diesel for essential commodities transport - then there will be a section of thieves who will use such vehicles just to TANK-UP and sell the diesel to the other users - Black marketing will thrive. WHO will blame such people?? Unfortunately, only the democratically elected Govt is blamed. This is same whether it is Cong or BJP or whatever. With greater burden comes greater responsibility. So this time without politicizing the issue, bring out solution like a responsible citizen. What do you say?

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

PM is forced to be weak

2011-06-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

Man Mohan Singh is not a weak Prime Minister. He is forced to be one. We should remember that he has been thrust upon us. Previously, he had no background of Politics before former Prime Minister P V Narshima Rao made him finance minister in his government. Sonia Gandhi was to become Prime Minister, but she had denied the post because of opposition by her colleagues as she is from foreign origin. There were many eligible people who could become PM but Man Mohan Singh was the only person whom United States wanted to become PM as US had its own interest in that. We can can clearly see that after he became Finance Minister in Rao's government , a lot of changes were made in import export policy, foreign direct investment policy, foreign companies were allowed to work in insurance and banking and other sectors. Taxation policies and debt realisation policies were changed. The interests of common people were not taken care of; instead the relief went to the thresholds of middle class people and the electronic gadgets found place in the middle class and lower middle class houses. Mobile and computer items are the example of these. The foreign companies got their place in the rural India also.
Man Mohan Singh has two bosses; one Sonia Gandhi with her congress Psychos like Digvijay Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, etc. and other one is US. He cannot take his own decision. He is forced to take decisions after consulting these bosses. Due to this, we cannot find any instantaneous decision from his side, but he speaks after sometime and often he does not speak even after a lot of pressure. He believes in wait and watch policy. He might have lost all the charm of Prime Ministership due to his age and satisfaction. No one can dream of the highest post than this. He got this post without rubbing his shoulders with the poor people of India. He never faced lathis from police personnel. He has not gone through the tear gas. Now, Man Mohan Singh could be an inspiration for a common man to dream for becoming a Prime Minister of India. Election tickets can be bought for crores of rupees. Man Mohan Singh had not even done this. He became PM from back door entry. He speaks only that thing which he is guided to speak. This reminds us the story of legendary week Kings whose courtiers were much stronger than them. Now, history has repeated itself. We should not be surprised by this. Currently, there is new tread in politics that whoever opposes corruption they are linked with RSS. Even, RSS members are Indians. Not necessary all of them are fundamentalist or anti-secular. Can anybody say that the Muslims, who were sitting with Ramdev on stage are RSS cadres? Can Congress dare to say that?
Could Man Mohan Singh condemn the episode of lathi charge and tear gas shelling on Ramdev's satyagrahis as ill-fated and unavoidable? The fact is that he became the Prime Minister of India was unfortunate. Perhaps, Sonia would have become better Prime Minister, but that was avoidable because America might have foreseen its loss in that. Sonia might have bent to European nations because of her origin. Now, we have got a proxy government, which is directed by US. America has destroyed Pakistan. Some Indians may feel some for good over this, but the worst part is that it might be the turn of India and our generation may witnesses the US Army running on the streets of India like British.
Nationalism and patriotism have been vanished, and global richness has attracted every Indian. US believes in changing the culture of a particular country. They can go to any extent in order to save their own interest. When Barrack Obama says he wants to see Americans to work in India, we can feel an indication. Man Mohan Singh has become the steering of America's dream.
There are some questions in my mind which I want to ask the nation. First, who helped Quattrochi to run away with Tax payer's money from India? Still he is free and no justice has happened yet. There is no point in describing, he was the best in past--these are all excuses. We were just dancing on the tune of IMF, etc.

from Vaidehi's desk

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Mumbaikar and series of saga

2011-06-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

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Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Journalism

2011-06-21T02:48:00.000-07:00

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bad campaigns against noble movement

2011-06-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

Indian politics is generously strewn with corruption every where and in all walks of lives. I also agree that we as citizens of India are doing nothing to stop it. Neither do our democratically and the so called constitutionally elected representatives have any slightest desire to change that and lead the country in the right path to prosperity. We also know that we lack the right, honest and selfless leadership. Anna seems to provide that leadership and he seems to espouse right selfless cause for the betterment of the nation and the lives of the citizens. Tell me a reason why we should not follow him. Did any one question Gandhi when he fought for freedom? If you cannot provide such a leadership when we really need it, please do not get into such bad campaigns against such a noble movement. If you persist doing that, then you will be considered unpatriotic and traitorous colluding with the dishonest political class of India.The 1990s saw marketing whiz kids at the largest English daily in the world steal a term then in vogue among sexually discriminated minorities: PLUs — or People Like Us. Media content would henceforth be for People Like Us. This served advertisers' needs and also helped shut out unwanted content. As the daily advised its reporters: dying farmers don't buy newspapers. South Mumbaikars do. So the suicide deaths of a couple of fashion models in that city grabbed more space in days than those of over 40,000 farmers in Maharashtra did in a decade.February 2011 saw one of the largest rallies staged in Delhi in years. Lakhs of workers from nine central trade unions — including the Congress party's INTUC — hit the streets to protest against rising food prices and unemployment. This was many times bigger than the very modest numbers at Anna Hazare's fast and larger than Ramdev's rollicking ‘yoga camp.' These were workers and unions not linked to the state. Not market-driven. Not corporate-funded. And expressing clearly the interests and values of their members. In fact, fitting some classic definitions of ‘civil society.' The rally was covered by the BBC, Reuters and AFP but was mostly invisible in mainstream Indian media except when attacked for creating traffic jams.Perhaps the whizz kids were on to something larger than even they knew. At least one dictionary has since added this entry under People Like Us: “A subtle reference to people of the same socio-economic class.” Only, there was nothing subtle here. The Indian elite play the PLU game like few others do. Entry into the club is by birth or invitation only. And getting certification from the classes that matter takes some work. Your own background can be surmounted however, even turned to advantage, if there are enough strong PLUs around you. Anna Hazare had this. Baba Ramdev did not have it. Both claimed to speak for ‘civil society.' A media applying that word with reverence to those around Anna Hazare, denied it with scorn to those they saw as Ramdev's rabble. Sections of the media embarrassed by Ramdev point, in contrast, to the ‘many fine people' around Hazare. Most of them part of the Delhi elite with indeed impeccable records of service. Yet, how did their approach differ in principle from Ramdev's? Both were self-selected groups claiming primacy over the elected government. Both asserted they knew what was best for the nation. (Rather than an electorate they scorned as sold on a bottle of liquor or a hundred-rupee note). Both had no qualms about breaking down the walls between the institutions of state. Never mind the Constitution, they sought a body whose members they would largely appoint. A super organ above the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Take the government notification on the drafting body for the Lokpal bill. It uses the words: “The five nominees of Anna Hazare [including himself] are as under…” When have such vital national appointments been made by and in the name of one individual, however noble?

The same media now trashing Ramdev came out snarling in his defence when he clashed with Brinda Karat in 2006. That was over the exploitation of 113 workers thrown out of the pharmacy controlled by Ramdev's Trust and facing false cases. The media brushed that aside and slammed Ms Karat. In the PLU food chain, workers are a low form of pond life.Ramdev had carved out a base in sections of the elite. He also counts some media owners amongst his followers. Though not, perhaps the more anglicised anchors of television. He even has a following in Bollywood. He had attained the celebrity status so vital to gain any media attention at all. And had done so by using television itself for his ‘brand' of yoga. But he overplayed his hand when the desired ‘A-level' certification from the south Delhi elite was still pending. Otherwise, his claim to represent ‘civil society' is no weaker than that of the group around Mr. Hazare. The ‘my-civil-society-is-more-civil-than-yours' squabble has begun. And both groups have failed to pin down a corrupt, bungling government that made such a pig's breakfast of the Ramlila event. 'There is a problem when groups not constituted legally cross the line of demands, advice and rights-based, democratic agitation. When they seek to run the government and legislation — no matter how well-intentioned they are. '...A point that people should be aware of! Corruption eradication task must start from the grass-roots. The so-called civil society, itself is corrupt in one way or the other as their movements are funded from the same corrupt groups or vested interested groups. They say such funding does not come under corruption. Why? I know Anna Hazare when he visited Andhra Pradesh on the watershed mission. At that time he was looking like a begger on the street, though he was supported by Western NGOs. But now he is looking like a Mukesh Ambani -- lives in Air Conditioned offices, travel by air, imported cars, etc. Every corrupt person in India wants to rise like Anna Hazare and Ramdev. In fact media is giving hype to so called civil society representatives and they wanted to be super power. See recently the Supreme Court's observation of Medha Patkar's NBA. Every body wants become famous. Civil society provide such path. Creating another corrupt power center. This is worse than the government corruption. Beware of such people! Let us start routing out corruption at gross roots. In fact my proposal of increasing the land value to the open market value and reducing registration fee under real state has brought down the black money changing hands in Andhra Pradesh (in 2005 government implemented this proposal of mne). People must come out with such proposals rather than doing a law, which will be ineffective as the people to implement that law invariably corrupt in Indian democracy

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National Authority,a new hell for Hindus

2011-06-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

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The brutal The brutal murder of senior journalist Jyotirmoy Dey

2011-06-16T03:48:00.000-07:00

India has become the most unsecured place for any profession and even more dangerous for journalists who expose the unholy nexus between police and criminals. In the recent past V.B. Unnithan, a journalist of a leading regional daily of Kerala, was nearly murdered for writing against some police officials Implementing new rules will be the only statement given by politicians when any complicated situation arrives. Govt. had said that these types of crimes will be treated as non bailable offence, how far that is useful? When a journalist gets a life threat just take action immediately otherwise no reporter will be daring to explore the truth.

The brutal murder of senior journalist Jyotirmoy Dey is yet another proof of the increasing dominance of the underworld in Mumbai. That there is a growing nexus between the underworld and the official establishment is well known. A strong political will combined with some decisive action to create a healthy environment is the need of the hour. A speedy investigation may bring some seriousness to the issue but the larger question of transparency and accountability will remain. Dey's murder has reopened the question of security of the common man. Law-enforcement agencies spend a huge amount of taxpayers' money in renovation. But they hardly deliver. The attack on the journalist in broad daylight was shocking. Journalists are the voice of the voiceless. Increasing attacks on the media, the kidnap and killing of journalists, threatening their families are all signs of intolerance and deliberate attempts to silence the media. It is impossible to commit such blatant crimes without the knowledge of those in high places. One wonders whether we really enjoy freedom of speech. Journalism has become risk because the fundamentalists, mafia and criminals, authorities, police don't like the truth.

Hypothetically, if I accept a bribe I spend bulk of my time finding ways to spend the ill gotten money, covering its track, and then sometimes regretting that my integrity got compromised. Thus, there is little time to stay upright on the job. Corruption simply eats in to our vitals, and need to be taken by its horns and ruthlessly eradicated. Journalists are more vulnerable to gangsters than the common man but I'm not sure if 'special' laws and provisions would actually work. Criminals will not stop acting because of a change in laws. They act on the confidence that they will get away with it no matter what the law. The real reason is the deep rooted law and order problem every state in this country faces. Politicians, criminals and business- the lines between these 3 sections of society have blurred. Until this nexus is broken, law and order issues will never be solved. Until then, journalists and whistle blowers must remain vigilant. Media is an indispensable pillar of democracy. Efforts at maiming this organ are deplorable. State has to go beyond promising and do something. Nevertheless, the sad story of our great democracy is that despite knowing who the culprits are, nailing them is a mammoth task, thanks to the strong patronage that they enjoy. It is more shocking to be reminded by the media that so far 27 journalists have been killed in the recent past and that in none of the cases the killers had been punished. This will show the level of efficacy of the governments and the police machinery. It may be adventurous and easier for the central government police at New Delhi. Government on the mat and ask for political accountability for the unsolved murder cases of 27 journalists so far. It is hoped that the newspaper editors will take this up more energetically as the question of morale of the young media men and women is vitally involved. Media should also publish the details of these 27 cases of journalists who have been killed and their killers have not been punished yet.

For proper functioning of the democracy, it is essential that media plays are role without fear and with independence. An ordinary citizen of this country who is regular reader and listener to the leading newspaper and news channels, Theses kind of story of murder of leading journalist leaves a question "Will the media continue working without bias and fear after this gruesome incident?" I guess not with fear of life clouding their judgment. If we want our democracy to be strong and media to be its pillar of support we should have a movement similar to the anti-corruption movement. So I strongly urge all the media person to launch a movement in order to get all the perpetrators of crime brought to the dock and ensure that special rules and regulations are made for protection of journalists and esp. crime reporters. We should not forgot the thing that, the place where he murdered was not any ordinary area but the Powai . It's the corporate area, where you will find corporate offices of many international companies. If my country's journalist is not safe in such high profile area, then it's really difficult to imagine about the safety of journalist, who is taking coverage of naxal affected area.

Here in this country, if the journalist fears for writing something, then our constitutional laws and democracy everything would just remain as a subject which every school child should learn in order to clear his exams. Such is the present situation in our country, truly pathetic. The thing is that the people not only fear mafia, they even fear to talk something against the politicians. These things continue and our freedom of speech ceases to live as long as we have uneducated politicians. Yet again a whistle blower is targeted for uncovering the truth. Lack of will of system to bring the culprit to book, is reinforcing them to commit such misdeeds again and again. Ineffectiveness in enforcement of law has created a form of anarchy. An investigation by an independent body and speedy trial of the culprit can only diminish the motives of mafia and break the mafia police politician nexus.
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‘National Authority’, a new power centre for harassment

2011-06-16T03:27:00.000-07:00

If communal violence Bill becomes law, it will become constitutionally accepted that only Hindus cause riots; and that Muslims, Christians and other minorities can never be held responsible for riots. The way to a nightmare is almost always cemented with splendid mottos. It robs Hindus right to self-defiance in a group clash. For example, had the godhra-passengers defended themselves then CVB would be slapped on their wrist with generous help from media, NGO and Doggy lies. CVB curbs freedom of speech of Hindus only. Anti-Hindus would be free to abuse freedom of speech and launch verbal violence against everything sacred to Hinduism; however, if a Hindu verbally defends then he/she faces non-bailable warrant under CVB. Pseudo-Secularist strategy is clear. Anybody who opposes CVB must be branded as Hindu Fascists who is trying to inflame communal polarization. Once the CVB passes, CVB can be slapped on the wrist of such opponents. Democratic country like India it has been proven time and again, it’s quite unfortunate and scary that we shall be headed yet again towards hellish times if a new policy that is being currently debated manages to become law, thanks to the super secular denizens of India whose intensity and range of noble intentions usually matches the mayhem that the same noble intentions often trigger. CVB is the next logical step towards 100% anti-Hindu apartheid policy. The time has come for ever Hindu that Hindustan will become hell for them to live with basic rights and dignity. The well settled think tanks, economists, sociologists, activists who are convinced that it is their right to advice the UPA regime on all sorts of policy issues. The National Advisory Council (NAC) which is headed by Sonia Gandhi. And she never was in favor of mass Hindu’s of this country. In the cover of secularism they support Muslims and criminals in this country. Virtually all the members of NAC have impeccable records and reputations when it comes to their commitment towards the aam aadmi of India. The NREGA and the Right to Education Act should go to the NAC. It is also wonderful to see members of the NAC bravely fight it out aligned with a callous, insensitive and cruel government when it comes to implementing the Right to Food Act. I am sorry but they won’t be accepting these kinds of challenges, they are sucking Aam Aadmi, just by fooling them. More often than not the poor and the downtrodden of India who get only lip service from the government. And now, this group of people has set out to protect and defend the rights of another set of victims in each above mentioned case intentions have sought to protect and defend the rights of victims

Nobody will dispute the fact that communal riots have been a blot on the Indian democracy. Similarly, nobody will dispute the fact that those have usually been the minorities who have borne the brunt of communal violence, even though provocation often comes from both sides of the divide. The 2002 riots of Gujarat and the 2008 riots of Orissa are often cited as classic examples of how communal violence makes hapless victims out of minorities. In Gujarat, it was Muslims; and in Orissa, it was Christians. So to continue with their noble mission to protect and defend victims, members of the NAC have given the green signal to the Communal Violence Bill – officially labeled as the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill – that seeks to protect minorities from murder, mayhem and worse during communal riots.

If this Draft Bill becomes law, it will become Constitutionally accepted that only Hindus cause riots; and that Muslims, Christians and other minorities can never be held responsible for riots because the definition of the term ‘group’, which is the backbone of this Draft Bill, is made totally in such a manner that the majority, that is the Hindus, will be at the receiving end of the stick. Thus, if this Draft Bill becomes law, the Indian Constitution will accept that only Hindus incite and provoke religious hatred and denigrate other religions; and that Muslims and Christians can never do that. If this Bill becomes law, only Hindus will be tried, convicted and sentenced for communal violence and incitement of communal hatred because the Constitution will refuse to accept that Muslims and Christians are capable of violence and hatred. If this Bill becomes law, any anonymous complainant can file a police case against a Hindu for inciting communal hatred – and the police will have to register it as a non-bailable offence. The accused – who would be arrested – would not even have the right to know who the complainant is. And the accused Hindu will virtually be presumed to be guilty unless he or she can prove his her innocence. That was as far as Hindus are concerned. But it is not just about them. Every other clause in the Bill seems flawed. The definition of ‘Hate Propaganda’ is designed to give the government draconian powers and curb freedom of speech. The bill seems to be made on the basis of a dictatorial approach which assumes the accused guilty until proven innocent, and this is totally unconstitutional. Then, of course, it talks about the formation of a ‘National Authority’, a new power centre for harassment. And frankly, how does one define minorities? There are many districts and towns in India where Muslims or Christians outnumber Hindus. Who will then be blamed for communal violence and riots? If one were to suppose there are riots in two towns in Uttar Pradesh – one with a Muslim majority and one with a Hindu majority... What will the police do in both these cases? Arrest only Hindus because the Indian law will state so? Indira Gandhi had a series of advisors who came from a non-political background. They were committed Indians. And yet, it is they who are responsible for the monstrous license-permit raj in India that is primarily responsible for the endless corruption. Rajiv Gandhi too had many bright advisors who had no interest in electoral politics. And look at what they did first with the Shah Bano case, then the Ayodhya case and finally the Bofors issue. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are in danger of committing the same mistake. We have seen this argument used in the wake of the assassination of Indira Gandhi, where the BJP sought a Hindu consideration against the extremist Akali Sikh mobilisations. It is in keeping with the same strategy that the BJP has been talking of a Hindu consolidation in the recently concluded elections to state assemblies, and particularly in Assam and Kerala The draft bill proceeds on a presumption that communal trouble is created only by members of the majority community and never by a member of the minority would community and this create disharmony in the inter-community relations in India?

the pre-coded caste/ class lists

2010-08-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

The Mandal Commission guessed the percentages of both the Hindu and non-Hindu OBCs on the basis of assumptions. For example, one notices wide variation in identifying the “castes” and their shares to qualify as OBCs both in the state and Central lists. For example, in the case of Muslims, while almost all Muslims in Kerala are listed as OBCs, almost none (a very small proportion) in West Bengal are listed as such in the Mandal Commission document. About 40 per cent of Muslims are counted as the OBCs in Uttar Pradesh and such OBCs in Karnataka are about 5-7 per cent. The OBC listings for Muslims for all the respective states are just “guesstimates”. Such lists will do more harm to the cause of Muslims, especially because a large proportion of Muslims will be counted as those belonging to the “high castes/class” and therefore will be excluded from any scheme of affirmative action.
By the Mandal Commission estimates, only about 25 per cent of all Hindus are considered as high caste or socio-economically better off; whereas, about 50 per cent of Muslims are classified as high caste or socio-economically better off. This is because none from among the Muslims are classified under the SC/ST category and all such Muslims with the SC/ ST identity are actually listed as high caste/class, which is unacceptable. This is a serious anomaly in estimates of OBCs by the Mandal Commission in case of the Muslim community.

In view of these facts it is essential that correct estimates with respect to “SC/ST-type Muslims”, “OBC Muslims” and “all other Muslims” are undertaken with care and sensitivity. Even if the SC/ST-type of Muslims are not so listed due to certain procedural hurdles even when legally and constitutionally appropriate, such Muslims must be listed as OBCs in which case up to 80 per cent of all Muslims will be so classified. Note that practically all Muslims in India are converts, and hardly any original Muslims who migrated from erstwhile Indian territory now reside in India. Further, it is historically documented that most of those converted to Islam belong to low castes such as the Dalits and the tribes. The Sachar Committee on the status of Muslims in India has also clearly revealed the distressing socio-economic and educational conditions of Muslims in India.It will be almost impossible to prepare a list of Muslim caste/ class for classifying them as Muslim OBCs. Therefore, I suggest that the “list of exclusion” can be prepared so as to determine the social forwardness or backwardness of a large section of Muslims in India. Such a list of exclusion can be prepared for each state separately after consultations with state-level Muslim intellectuals and religious bodies. Thus, once a list of exclusion is prepared, all other Muslims who do not match the list of exclusion can be identified as “Muslim OBCs”.Given the UPA government’s resolve to ensure inclusive development in India, it is necessary that a serious anomaly with respect to identification of the Muslims OBCs is removed before the conduct of the 2011 census, lest the discrimination so far faced by Muslims continue for ever after.The group of ministers led by Pranab Mukherjee has approved the collection of caste information in Census 2011. Although Muslims are considered a caste-less community, it is diverse and practically all sections are experiencing deep levels of deprivation in various social, educational and economic facets. Here I’d like to discuss alternatives for collecting caste data and also highlight implications for the Muslim community within the context of the inclusive development agenda of the UPA government.We should consider an open-ended question method. Given the large number of castes and caste-like identities in India, whatever the “caste names” the informants’ report can be filled in and codified later. A pre-coded list of castes that enumerators normally carry to ascertain the SC/ST identity would continue; for all others it can be open-ended caste reporting. Such a method would reveal the actual numbers, but from these numbers it is not possible to declare a particular caste as backward or forward. The information along social, economic and educational indicators which will be collected in Census 2011 may not be adequate to compute the backwardness or forwardness of castes. The Muslim community would participate in this process of data collection of the open-ended caste identities along with all other community groups in India. But it appears that such an open-method will not be used in the 2011 census operation although the demand of caste collection of data is of this nature.

We should match the reported caste with the pre-coded caste/ class lists. As mentioned above, SCs and STs are so identified using a pre-coded list which is matched while taking the census. Thus, only two coded categories are extracted from the census which are used to estimate the SCs and STs for any geographic or administrative area. Now since the demand for the caste census has been made mostly by the castes which can be grouped as the OBCs (other backward classes), it is but expected that a similar procedure is used to collect the share of OBCs in Census 2011.Unlike in case of the SCs/ STs, for whom the respective lists have been compiled and updated for the last six censuses in independent India, the case for OBCs is to be undertaken for the first time in 2011. The most likely benchmark will be a list of OBCs from the Mandal Commission. It is puzzling to note that as per the Mandal Commission the “OBC list” is considered a “class” category with little sociological, cultural or economic basis to designate it as such. Besides, the OBC list was prepared almost 30 years ago and that too in the absence of any dependable data. The communities were identified using some sketchy data from the 1931 census, and in many cases even by the Mandal Commission’s own view are “best guesses”. I am of the opinion that using the OBC list during Census 2011 to identify the size and share of the OBCs will be highly problematic, and it will make devising inclusive policies difficult both at the national and state levels.

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cyber terror

2010-08-22T22:28:00.001-07:00

The cyber experts have warned that the attacks may be targeted at official portals, supporting systems, power systems or any similar cyber establishment. The massiveness of the possible attack cannot be predicted, it is expected that the attempt would be to compromise or hacking at least 1,000 to 2,000 identities. There are individual hackers and specific hacker groups which are into these kind of activities. Such an attack may be carried out with the sole aim of sabotaging government and system. A hacking expert pointed out that the attacks may be targeted at the Commonwealth Games ahead or during it. When the attacks are being carried out in relation with the Commonwealth Games it will get maximum attention in the cyber world. Also, the damage would be more. Hackers and certain hacker groups wait for similar events to ensure that the mass spamming is fully effective. The number of attacks from Chinese hackers to the country had taken a dip in the beginning of the year. However it is again going up. Delhi, Punjab,bngla desh and Mumbai is den of hackers.
India stands nowhere in terms of counter offensive against the attacker's networks, the online crime is on rise. Hackers are next gen online terrors. The government should employ hackers to do network penetration testing regularly to check whether networks and applications are vulnerable to the latest exploits or not. The hackers deface websites or download sensitive information (credit cards, databases) from vulnerable websites and put their own page in place of index page of victim. Though Indian hackers say cyber laws in the country are good, they also believe that awareness and preparedness of the Indian government to face and fight cyber crime and cyber terrorism is quite low. The problem is that police officials who are supposed to enforce the cyber laws have not been trained properly. Look at engineering colleges across the country. There are no courses on computer security. This is the primary reason for lack of experts in the country. Recently I interviewed Mumbai cyber crime expert Vijay Mukhi unfortunately he was not aware of Indian hackers; he believes hackers are only from Pakistan. We need to make our cyber systems as secure and as non-porous as possible. At the same time we need to focus on Indian hackers too. There are many online websites now a day teaches how to hack face book account password. 40 percent of Indian youth, qualified IT professionals got in these traits. Unemployed and adventurous youth are evolved into such activities and due to over enthusiasm they landed doing wrong by sabotaging our own countries online security system.
The hacking group in question is likely to choose web servers based on a particular server operating system, as seen in over 95% of all their previous exploits dating back to 2006. ‘Mass defacers' usually target blocks of Internet addresses to find vulnerable systems and then proceed to exploit the vulnerabilities, in this case with defacements. Such attackers are purely opportunistic, and tend to target operating systems or web servers that they are technically well-versed with or use attack tools to assist them in their exploits.Whilst this hacker group defaced four websites in the UAE around the same time, it is interesting to note that there have been over 30 publicly known defacements of websites in the UAE since the start of the year. Such attacks against organisations anywhere in the world - regardless of whether they are painted under the veil of hacktivism, extortion or political activism - are, at the end of the day, just cyber crimes perpetrated by cyber criminals. Globally, organisations can do little to control or mitigate an attacker's motivations; in depth security assessments, testing and sound security practices, and an increased 24x7 security vigilance are the essential prerequisites to thwarting these and other similar attacks in future.Although there is a lot of speculation on various forums, etc about this incident; people should not read more into this incident other than it was simply an opportunistic attack. It in no way indicates state sponsored cyber attacks of any kind, and more interestingly the vast majority of this hacker group's previous website defacements targeted countries as far and wide as Brazil, Norway, China, the US and other countries all with defacement messages stating their affection for Iran and Azerbaijan.The global need for improved, more stringent web application security design, and effective patch management are vital to the continued uninterrupted delivery of services by Internet-facing organisations in the era of Web 2.0 and the ever evolving risks that organisations will continue to face. India has to step up on its cyber offensive to match Chinese and Pakistani hackers breaching the Indian cyber networks, the man who made his name as India's youngest and first certified ethical hacker. The Indian intelligence and military agencies regularly use Indian hackers to carry out counter offensives. However, the quantum of such work being carried out here is a lot less than it is in countries such as China and Pakistan. A few Canadian and American cyber-security researchers had claimed that China-based online espionage gangs have accessed classified documents from several Indian defense and security establishments. In today’s world of ubiquitous computing, cyber attacks are becoming morevirulent, costly, and larger in scope than ever before. Unlike previousincarnations of hacking, current attacks on computer systems are professionallycoordinated, multifaceted, and motivated by the prospect of profits on a massivescale. By describing a number of hacking trends, Kurt identifies areas of weakness in mobile and embedded systems and advises designers on how tominimize these security risks.With millions of new electronics devices connecting to the Internet every day, hackers areincreasingly focusing on a new type of target: mobile and embedded systems. Such systemsinclude point-of-sale terminals,Wireles s routers, smart phones, networked office machines suchas printers, and the utility infrastructure.Cutting-edge hackers are acutely aware that many of the security procedures and applications inuse today are designed for PC workstations and thus unable to thwart attacks on mobile andembedded systems. For example, smart phones remain notoriously insecure, yet they are gainingpopularity as platforms for exchanging confidential data and conducting financial transactions.Billions of dollars are at risk as people complete more and more of their everyday banking andshopping on mobile and wireless devices. Even pacemakers have joined the networked worldand are now vulnerable to hacking.Perhaps most ominous of the new hacking trends is the upsurge in cyber attacks against the utility infrastructure. If hackers continue to attack the smart grid, which connects sensors and control systems with sophisticated computers and networks, they could bring commerce to a standstill, endanger lives, and put national security at risk. Since the early 1990s, hackers have developed a rapidly mutating and increasingly cleverrepertoire of attack strategies. They have embedded rogue programs in legitimate applications,installed keystroke recorders on unwitting users’ computers, spoofed websites to phish for personal data, hijacked database information through SQL injection attacks, and enlisted massive armies of zombie computers (botnets) to spew out phishing e-mails and spam. Today, all classes of cyber crooks, from small-time con artists out to make a quick buck to international crime syndicates, are logging into the global marketplace to buy and sell malware kits, stolen credit card numbers, how-to-hack manuals, and criminalized software development services. This shadow economy was worth more than $750 million in 2007 (according to Symantec), while online fraud cost businesses and individuals more than $10 billion last year alone. Now, with the advent of what some technologists call the “Internet of things,” we are encountering a new wave of hacking, one that encompasses not only wired computers and networks, but also intelligent devices including smart phones, routers and switches, printers, smart grid components, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, and even medical devices (see Figure 1). This new type of infiltration is poised to bypass the amateur street-cred phase and move directly to well-honed, massively coordinated, sophisticated attacks. It is becoming clear that hacking’s latest surge will almost certainly include terrorist cyber strikes against the smart grid, which is a danger that can no longer be dismissed as a spy movie scenario. The following discussion will provide an overview of recent hacking trends and explain what measures can be taken to protect embedded devices from these attacks. Trend #1: Hackers are targeting “soft” infrastructure Because security for personal computers is improving, hackers are increasingly looking for
“softer” targets. In their sights are the millions of industrial control and coordination devices thatcan be programmed like computers. These SCADA devices have finally become numerous andnetworked enough to make it profitable for hackers to attack. By targeting a city’s infrastructure,hackers can gain political notoriety, intimidate the public, and extort large amounts of moneyfrom businesses or governments. At a conference in January 2008, a senior CIA analyst shockedhis audience by revealing that cyber extortionists in another country had “caused a power outage
affecting multiple cities.”[1]SCADA devices are key players in the smart grid, the network of sensors and computerizedsystems that makes up the utility infrastructure in the United States. These devices monitor andcontrol power generators, refineries, water treatment facilities, oil pipelines, and electrical powersystems. They also comprise an essential component of the nation’s industrial, technology, andcommunications infrastructure, controlling building security, manufacturing plants, airporttraffic, andM ilitary vessels. The more SCADA devices that come online, the more the nation’shealth, economy, and security become vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Installed SCADA devices are sometimes decades old and operate with legacy computer hardware. They tend to be configured with off-the-shelf networking software and have weak internal security protections. Although industrial facilities are guarded by a hard shell on the outside with locks, gates, and security personnel, they contain a soft center – their computerized control systems – an easily penetrable core exposed to the outside world through the Internet. One of the problems with assessing the prevalence of SCADA attacks is that they are rarely
reported in any detail for fear of encouraging further attacks and compromising national security.Companies and governments understandably do not want any information about SCADAbreaches to fall into the wrong hands, so they fail to share information freely.Furthermore, attacks against SCADA devices are being carried out by enemy nations as part of a greater cyber warfare strategy to sabotage the U.S. economy and infrastructure. In the United Kingdom, government agencies report that attacks against infrastructure targets have increased dramatically. In June 2008, the United Kingdom’s National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre issued a public advisory about a series of targeted attacks against the U.K. central government and commercial organizations “for the purpose of gathering and transmitting otherwise privileged information.”
Trend #2: Long-predicted threats to mobile phones are being carried out Researchers are predicting that 2009 will be a significant year for mobile attacks. With the rise of unlimited data plans, open networks, and readily downloadable applications, hackers, spammers, and phishers are beginning to recognize the profit potential of mobile phones. Adding to the allure of mobile hacking for cybercriminals are the fraud opportunities presented by the burgeoning mobile financial services market. The number of active users of mobile banking and related financial services worldwide is expected to rise from 20 million in 2008 to 913 million in 2014.
The latest mobile phones are the most vulnerable to attack. Smart phones such as Apple’s iPhoneand Google’s Android come with browsers run by JavaScript engines, exposing them to traditional browser attacks including cross-site scripting, clickjacking, phishing, and other malicious techniques. These phones are also susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks, in which a hacker comes between the phone and a Web server and offers malware in the guise of a legitimate update to one of the user’s trusted applications. Other vectors for smart phone attacks include e-mail, attachments, Web pages, multimedia messaging service, Facebook, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Twitter.

As the iPhone and other smart phones continue to gain market share at a rapid rate, hackers willincreasingly focus their efforts on mobile devices. However, it is doubtful that this new wave ofinfiltration will go through an extended phase of nuisance hacking, as was the case with PCs,instead skipping straight to for-profit hacking. According to researchers, the latest of the 420smart phone viruses identified since 2004 have reached a state of sophistication that tookpersonal computer viruses about two decades to achieve.[3]Several features of smart phones make them particularly tempting targets. For one, mobile userstend to be less guarded than computer users about clicking on links, enabling SMS phishers(“SMishers”) to gain information or send malware via a link in a legitimate-looking textmessage. In addition, mobile phones are a treasure trove of personal information such as phonenumbers and addresses, which criminals can extract and sell in the ID fraud marketplace. And, tomake things even easier for cybercrooks, location- enabled smart phones let spammers“personalize” malware, prompting users to click on information about a disaster that supposedlyoccurred in their area, for example.[4]The most worrisome trend in mobile hacking is the spectre of the mobile botnet, that infamous army of zombified computers programmed to follow a hacker’s bidding. In the words of one expert, “No one should be surprised if we see the first major migration of botnets from
traditional computing devices to mobile platforms. Some smart phones already have more
memory and higher processing power than laptops from just a few years ago. A constantly
moving and adapting mobile botnet presents a compelling business proposition for hackers and
an interesting real-world case study in chaos theory.”[5]

Trend #3: The rush to network medical devices is outpacing security Another concerning attack trend is the growing offensive against medical devices. Several types of medical devices such as pacemakers, Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators (ICDs), bedside monitors, MRI machines, and portable drug-delivery pumps have a CPU and an IP address that enable them to transmit and receive information, as well as expose them to attacks. Medical devices, which far outnumber hospital PC workstations, are usually the softest targets in a hospital network, lacking firewalls, malware protection, strong encryption, or even recent security patches or Operating System (OS) updates. Medical devices are increasingly leveraging IP and common OS platforms that enable them to utilize large software libraries and communicate more easily. But in the rush to establish common platforms and network these devices, security concerns have been poorly addressed. Many of the methods hackers have used to attack consumer electronics and other sectors are now being targeted at medical devices, with potentially fatal consequences. Attacks directed at medical devices include:
• Sniffing (also called snooping) or eavesdropping. • Theft of sensitive information. • Data destruction. • Zombification. A zombie is a device attached to the Internet that has been compromised by a hacker, virus, or Trojan horse and can be used remotely without the owner’s knowledge to perform malicious tasks.
• Bricking. This usually involves damage to software or firmware that would require a complete system wipe and reinstallation to regain use of the device. In the case of medical devices, this could entail sending the product back to the manufacturer. In a paper published last year by the Medical Device Security Center about pacemakers and ICDs, researchers described how they were able to hack into an ICD and intercept private data transmissions.[6] They revealed that ICDs could be hacked to alter patient data or reset how shocks are administered.
Besides these vulnerabilities, the medical industry might face additional cyber security threats asthings heat up on the health care compliance front. The Obama administration is pushing foronline electronic medical records, which could increase the risk of data breaches and provide motivation for hackers to gain access for profit despite regulations that expand the security and privacy provisions stipulated by the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act.
Trend #4: Easily hacked RFID technology is opening doors to identity theft One of the most common attacks on wireless networks is “war driving,” in which hackers drive around a neighborhood, hunting for unsecured wireless nodes. In the latest twist on war driving, a security expert armed with a cheap RFID scanner and low-profile antenna managed to clone half a dozen electronic passports in an hour while cruising around Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The researcher who conducted this experiment asserts that the attempt at “war cloning” wassuccessful because the type of RFID in the Homeland Security version of a passport emits a real radio signal, which could conceivably be tracked from a couple of miles away. Although no
criminal hacks of passports or e-licenses have been detected to date, this insecure technology
poses a strong risk for identity theft and invasion of privacy.In another type of RFID attack, anyone with $8 worth of equipment bought on eBay can sniff the credit card number, cardholder name, and other personal information off an RFID-equipped credit card without physically coming into contact with the card. the problem with these contactless credit cards is that the data is decrypted at the point of sale by a machine rather than at the card company’s secure data center.
Trend #5: Everyday devices are providing a gateway to home and office networks In today’s hypernetworked corporate environment, more and more office machines are equipped with an IP address, which means that even a seemingly harmless and mundane peripheral such as a shared printer can pose a dangerous security risk. Hackers are exploiting long-forgotten or ignored printers, fax machines, and scanners to bypass firewalls and penetrate a network. If an amateur hacker can gain access to an unsecured printer using Google and a Web browser, imagine what a professional hacker could do with access to a fax machine and an outside phone line. No matter how ordinary it is, every device in a network needs robust security. Getting a home network up and running is complicated. Most are set up by homeowners that have little to no computer experience. While they may think they have enabled the Wi-Fi security features correctly, the complexity of many home networks guarantees that the systems are not adequately secure, leaving the door open for outsiders to access their information.
Boosting device security Although these trends paint a bleak picture, all is not lost in the fight to secure mobile and embedded devices. Industry efforts are under way to establish security recommendations. The National Institute of Standards and Technologies, the National Security Agency, and the Trusted Computing Group are a few of the organizations that are working to keep embedded electronics safe.
Many companies offer products that developers can use to ensure that their products are protected. For example, Mocana’s Device Security Framework secures all aspects of device dataaccess and communications for any connected device. Figure 2 shows a block diagram of the software architecture.The best defense The latest attack trends threaten our privacy, data, money, national security, and even our lives. When the possibility of hackers controlling patients’ pacemakers is a topic of serious research, it’s apparent that we’re in a new world, one that holds the great promise of connectivity and ubiquitous computing, but also the potential for misconduct and disruption on a grand scale. To defend against the new wave of attacks, we need a strategy that is equal to the adversary– multilayered, complex, well-organized, and focused on the mobile and embedded devices that make up the Internet of things. The alternative to protecting these devices – mobile botnets, compromised water systems, out-of-sync pacemakers, and stolen identities – presents an unacceptably high risk.
The Commonwealth Games, which is already marred by controversies, may also bring in a bunch of massive cyber attacks to India. The cyber experts have pointed to an alarming possibility of having massive cyber hacking attacks on different official establishments ahead of the Commonwealth Games by the end of August or the beginning of September. The predictions are being made based on the ongoing pattern of attacks on the official and other establishments in the country by Chinese hackers. Recently, there were some targeted attacks on the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) by the hackers. “A massive level cyber attack needs compiling computer powers - software agents - for a long time. Based on the attacks so far, it can be said that currently the preparation of botnets are on the high side. Based on the trend, it is expected that there can be massive attacks by the end of August or the beginning of September. fromvaidehi@gmail.com

anti-BJPism plus anti-Congressism

2010-08-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

During the first general election of 1952, a candidate of the Rama Rajya Parishad who was standing against Pandit Nehru asked him asked him why he did not support a ban on cow slaughter. “Don’t you love cows?” he asked. Nehru replied with his British sense of humour, “I love horses too.” That was his way of putting the distance between loving an animal and deifying it. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), despite the charisma of its leader Mayawati, does not unite all the Dalits.Now each group has its own party and wants a piece of the cake. The old vertical hierarchical caste society is becoming horizontal, though it is still as divided as it was before. There are occasional small unifying movements as with the Yadavs and Paswan in Bihar/UP. But they are local, not national. Nor does the BSP, despite the charisma of its leader, unite all Dalits.The Third Front is an acceptance of this cellular character of Indian society. Class is not reliable as a unifying factor as the Left should know by now. So a double negative factor -- anti-BJPism plus anti-Congressism -- is the unifying platform. Yet this has to compete against each separate negative. Anti-BJPism is called secularism and can combine many fragments as it did under the UPA. Anti-Congressism is not as strong as it used to be in the Seventies. So the NDA is fragile. The Congress is going it alone in elections and contesting as many seats as it can. It is trying to become truly national again. This is the Rahul Gandhi gamble.The Congress has sensed this asymmetry. So it is going it alone and contesting as many seats as it can. It is trying to become truly national again. So, rather than accept three or four seats from Lalu Prasad whose star is sinking in any case, it will contest almost 30 seats out of 40 in Bihar and similarly in UP as well. Even randomly it may do better than what its 'allies' will grant. So all the bets are off in India's favourite sport. The Congress is casting aside old allies like the RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan who have been marginalised in Bihar by Nitish Kumar. It will abandon DMK at the first chance since AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa will do better. The NCP is on probation because it may lose to the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra with whom it has been flirting lately. The UPA is dead; a new UPA will arise from its ashes. This is the Rahul Gandhi gamble.There is a metaphor in Tamil that if a family splits into two, beggars will have two houses to get dole thus profitable. In the center, rather than the national parties regional parties enjoyed power for long. Even the OBCs may object to the upper caste bias of the epic and modern women may not want a husband who treats them so badly as the hero of Ramayana treated his wife.Rama Rajya is again in the news with the BJP claiming that this is the one ideal of good governance that all Indians have always cherished. So it will be Rama Rajya, Rama Setu and Rama Mandir for the BJP? It shows how out of touch with India the party has become. The Dalits cannot have much love for Rama Rajya after what happened to Sambuka in the Ramayana. Even the OBCs may object to the upper caste bias of the epic and modern women may not want a husband who treats them so badly as the hero of Ramayana treated his wife. Also has the BJP learned nothing from the Rama Setu debate with DMK chief M Karunanidhi? The Ramayana is a different text in North India from what it is in the South. The anti-Brahman movement in the South was virulently against the North Indian version of Hinduism. The BJP has a long way to go before it realises that Hindu society lives on division and sub-division.The BJP has a long way to go before it realises that Hindu society lives on division and sub-division. It has survived for centuries without a single political authority precisely because of its ability to prevent any single group to get so large as to dominate. Hinduism is not a unifying creed. Now after sixty years of sovereignty, we are once again seeing the same fragmenting tendencies rule the party structure. Like some ancient dynasty, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty ruled over all of India for 42 years till 1989 with only an occasional usurper. Since 1989, the dynasty has never been in full power. It has to adjust to the demands of many regional subahdars and local nawabs. Luckily for India, democracy thrives without single party dominance. Indeed, one way to admire what India has achieved is its ability to stay united without a strong central authority. Any exclusive powerful authority would have to exclude many or at least treat the core elite better than the periphery. That was what Congress did for its first 42 years. It looked after the upper crust and fed crumbs to the Dalits and the OBCs. When they revolted, the Congress edifice fell apart.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

yeh guruon ka mela hai

2010-06-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

One afternoon a few weeks before the 1998 election, then Congress President Sitaram Kesri was scrutinising the list of ticket aspirants when an aide pointed to a name, saying he was a senior leader's "chela" (follower). Pat came the reply from Kesri, "Yahan Congress mein chela-wela koi nahin hota; yeh guruon ka mela hai (There are no followers in Congress; it is a congregation of teachers)."Well over a decade later, Rahul Gandhi, who completes 1000 days in charge of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and the NSUI this Saturday, seems to be learning this the hard way as the party old guard undercuts his vision. Yes, this period has witnessed his emergence as a leader in his own right. In November 2008, then BJP President Rajnath Singh had called him a "bachcha"; he must rue that now. But these 1,000 days will also have been a lesson in realpolitik.He had set out with the frank admission that he was the "symptom" of the ills of Indian politics — dynasty, patronage and money; but he would remove these ills and bring those who had neither money nor family background into political mainstream. Yet the IYC's internal elections he kickstarted have not been able to shake off the old guard, who managed to smuggle their own children or relatives or protégés into the new system. So far, the election process has been completed in Punjab, Gujarat, Puducherry, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana. Look at the profile of leaders who have emerged: Haryana Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadav's son Chiranjeev Rao was, last Wednesday, elected state Youth Congress head. M. Yuvaraj, said to be a protégé of Union Minister G.K. Vasan, was elected Tamil Nadu Youth Congress President last April, mere weeks after Rahul cautioned Vasan against interfering. The first elected President of the Punjab Youth Congress, Ravneet Singh Bittu, is the grandson of a former chief minister, Beant Singh; Bittu was said to have the blessings of another former CM, Amarinder Singh.Gujarat Youth Congress President Indravijay Singh, a former NSUI chief who is known to be close to former Union Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, is an education baron. Puducherry Youth Congress President Shankar was reportedly a compromise candidate, picked up by CM V. Vaithilingam, after there was no consensus on Union Minister V. Narayanasamy's candidate. Tripura Youth Congress chief Sushanta Chowdhury is said to be a confidant of former CM and recently ousted PCC chief Samir Ranjan Barman. Last heard, the Kerala Youth Congress was abuzz about the candidates of Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala.Rahul may have commissioned the services of an NGO run by ex-election commissioners to ensure free and fair polls, but Youth Congress leaders complain the process is being afflicted by money and patronage: the nominal membership fees, Rs 15 for general category candidates and Rs 5 for SCs/STs/women make Youth Congress elections vulnerable to manipulation.Suppose an agricultural workers' son aspires to become a leader without any backing, as promised by Rahul. He may pay Rs 15 for his membership, but he may not have the resources to pay for the membership of his friends and supporters. That puts an end to his leadership dreams. He can be a Youth Congress member, but not a leader.Not that Rahul is unaware of the problem. He had sent several teams of MPs and ex-MPs to Tamil Nadu to inquire into allegations of fake membership. They found massive irregularities, but the scale was too high to be rectified completely. A mere reprimand to Vasan was never going to be enough. There have also been complaints about delegates put up in hotels and offered all kinds of hospitality by patrons of those contesting the elections. If there are, say, 1800 voters to elect a state Youth Congress President, only those with resources could reach out to each of them.

Asked why delegates voted for Chiranjeev Rao in Haryana, a senior IYC member said, "they vote for those who can get their work done. A minister's son or somebody well-connected can call up a police station in-charge or any administrative officials and get things done. A nonentity cannot do it and so can't secure the votes."Youth Congress leaders believe this will sort itself out after two or three elections. But the newly elected office-bearers show as much complacency as their old-system predecessors. They have not come out with any programmatic action plan, except old, hackneyed ones like yuva yatras here and there.Much of the interest of the old guard in Youth Congress elections is because presidents of various IYC units could be strong contenders for party tickets in a future in which Rahul decides to assume a greater role for himself. Veteran leaders, contemplating the emergence of a parallel set of leaders to challenge them on their fief, have the jitters. Whatever they may do to scuttle it now, believe Rahul's lieutenants, the process will get crystallised and institutionalised sooner or later.

fromvaidehi@gmail.com

living honourably, injuring nobody

2010-06-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

A popular Latin maxim lists the three precepts of the law to be — living honourably, injuring nobody, and rendering every man his due. It is the third precept that demands the presence of a lawyer, as spokesperson for the man who awaits his due. The lawyer is an unavoidable part of the process, and his duties are meant to bring fairness and transparency to it. An old quote says, "When a lawyer defends his client, he is simply fulfilling his duty, in obedience to the behests of an institution which rendered it just, as well as expedient, that he should be substituted for his client, whatever might be the thought of their morality. That was a question for the legislature, not for him."
Viewed from this prism, a lawyer cannot be faulted for defending a person, however heinous his crime. It is ironical to see double standards from enlightened sections of society who take up cudgels on behalf of a Kasab under the banner "terrorists have rights" and then deride legal representation to a Dow Chemicals because they have killed "poor Bhopal victims", or mock a fair trial for an S.P.S. Rathore. Let us stop playing judge, and let the law and the lawyer, take their own course. Still, such a course can be one marred with blemishes and improprieties. This is where "conflict of interest" kicks in.The opinion given by Abhishek Manu Singhvi, in the Supreme Court to Dow Chemicals in 2006, has raised questions about the dos and don'ts of the legal profession. The uproar is centred on the idea that Singhvi, also Congress spokesperson, should never have become professionally involved with Dow Chemicals, perceived as the villain of the piece ever since it acquired the erstwhile global behemoth, Union Carbide Corporation in 2001. Phrases such as "conflict of interest" have been floating loosely since news of the maligned legal opinion came out in the open. This controversy follows others of a similar character, from Ram Jethmalani's defence of Manu Sharma to fair trial rights for Ajmal Kasab..
The allegation against Singhvi is foundationally flawed as it attempts to draw linkages, unjustifiably, between his professional conduct and his political views. The conflict of interest rule is meant to safeguard the interests of the client, not that of society at large. Indeed, this is a multi-faceted principle with many ambiguities surrounding it, but Singhvi's conduct does not even fall within the ambiguous and hazy zone of this rule. Broadly, this rule prevents a lawyer from taking a brief on behalf of a party who is opposed to an existing client of his. The rationale is to prevent the lawyer from playing both actor and spectator in the same arena. The catch lies here — the arena has to be the same one. A lawyer may be an open advocate against the death sentence with membership in organisations devoted to this cause and yet, argue for death to the accused in his capacity as public prosecutor. This position does not shift because the lawyer in question is Singhvi and the client is Dow Chemicals.

The conflict of interest rule finds expression in the Bar Council of India Rules, 1975, Part VI, which enlists the duties of senior and other advocates. Importantly, mention is made of the rule of disclosure, which commands the lawyer to place all facts to the client as may influence the client's decision to engage him. This is important as it affirms the rationale for the "conflict of interest" rule, being protection of the client's interest. This is noted by the Supreme Court in its 1983 verdict in Chandra Shekhar Soni v. Bar Council of Rajasthan, reported in AIR 1983 SC 1012, where the Court observes: "It is not in accordance with professional etiquette for an advocate while retained by one party to accept the brief of the other. It is unprofessional to represent conflicting interests except by express consent given by all concerned after a full disclosure of the facts." It is incorrect to apply a rule meant for this restricted purpose to equate the political and the professional spheres.
It is trite to say legality is one thing and propriety quite another. Singhvi's act may be legal but is it proper? It is, because all that has been done is rendering an opinion on an issue of law, the issue being whether the acquirer will be held liable for the conduct of the acquired in the factual matrix of the Bhopal disaster and subsequent settlement. Merely stating there is no such liability under the existing legal regime doesn't affect the Congress party's professed commitment to render justice to the Bhopal victims. Ultimately, it is for the judiciary to take a view on this and Singhvi's opinion only guides the client, a guidance that may ultimately be proved wrong. If questions of morality are brought in where legal opinions are drafted, most would be incorrect in law!

tug of war

2010-05-24T03:32:00.000-07:00

India and the BSST countries when it comes to the above eight measures of the constitutional, legal and governance environment. Brazil and South Africa are complex federal countries much like India, with provinces and diverse ethnic groups. Barring South Africa, which has a GDP of $276 billion, the other three are in the right ballpark when compared with India on nominal GDP, with Korea at $929 billion, Turkey at $735 billion and Brazil at $1.58 trillion.
This reasoning suggests that when faced with a diverse array of issues, Indian policy reform should take an interest in how things are done in the BSST countries. There is much to be learnt by undertaking comparative legal and policy analysis against these four countries. All four countries are ahead of India in terms of per capita GDP. South Korea's is ten times that of India, and the other three's are three to four times that of India. South Korea and Turkey are members of the OECD, which exerts a beneficial influence on improving laws and governance. Hence, on many issues, the policy choices of these countries are likely to be superior to what India is doing. In other words, there is a lot to learn.In terms of legal traditions, none of these countries have the British-style common law with which India started out after independence. In this dimension, these peer comparisons are not useful; India needs to move more towards a UK/US-style common law framework — given the extensive evidence of the superiority of common law as a foundation for liberal democracy and vibrant economic growth. But here also, Russia and China are not better peers because neither of them has a common law system, and their rule of law is much inferior to that seen in the BSST countries.For a policy analyst, studying the BSST countries is difficult given the language barrier: most people in India do not know Portuguese, Afrikaans, Korean or Turkish. But this is not particularly different from the constraints faced in studying Russia or China; most people in India do not know Russian or Chinese. In practice, examining the BSST countries would be done by looking at cross-country databases and at research materials available in English.Comparisons among BRIC countries have become a norm. However, when thinking about policy analysis, this is not the best set of countries for India to compare with. The legal framework and governance characteristics of Brazil, South Korea, South Africa and Turkey (what we will call the BSST countries), are much closer to those seen in India, and hence we should be using these four countries much more in policy comparisons.

One element of good policymaking is learning from peers. On most questions, it is interesting and useful to ask: How do our peers deal with this? Whether we are looking at problems like Chinese telecom companies, or visa rules, or monetary policy, or tariffs or fiscal deficits, it is meaningful to compare India against a peer group. These comparisons can sometimes throw up interesting ideas which can be adopted in India. At other times, the specific solutions adopted in India would often be uniquely Indian, but an understanding of what worked in peer countries and why, can improve the analysis.

For such peer comparisons, we need to identify a set of peer countries. These peer countries should satisfy two requirements. First, they should be large and complex countries. Second, their constitutional, legal and governance frameworks should be similar to that present in India today.

Goldman Sachs made the phrase "BRIC", for Brazil, Russia, India and China, famous. This could suggest that Indian policy analysis could usefully engage in comparisons and contrasts against Brazil, Russia and China. But when careful analysis of policy questions is undertaken, there are acute disparities between India on one hand and Russia and China on the other. Whether we analyse infrastructure regulation or financial regulation, policies about privatisation, about public-private partnerships, or the institutional environment in which growth takes place, the policy climate in Russia or China is completely different from that seen in India.

In a democratic society, accountability of government agencies, placing the interests of the population above those of the executing agency, and the implementation of a process of transparent rules and laws are of supreme importance. As a consequence, policies that may be acceptable in Russia and China, where the rule of law is not prevalent, are often not acceptable in India. The mechanism through which a highway is built, a public sector enterprise is sold to a private company, or land is acquired for public use in China and Russia is very different from what would work in India — and we in India would not want to go down their route, given our interest in fostering accountability, checks and balances, and protection of the rights of the individual.

If BRIC is not a meaningful club for the purpose of comparative law and policy analysis, then an alternative club needs to be created. We start from the G-20 member countries, so as to focus on large and complex countries. We then turn to a series of indicators which measure the legal and governance environment, including: (i) voice and accountability, (ii) political stability, (iii) government effectiveness, (iv) regulatory quality, (v) rule of law, (vi) control of corruption, (vii) economic freedom, and (viii) political freedom.On these parameters, China and Russia prove to be highly dissimilar to India, with inferior governance quality. Countries like the UK and the US have very high scores on these issues and are thus also unlike India. Policy proposals that work well in the US and the UK are often not useful in India, given the more fragile governance environment in India.
The four G-20 countries which have values which are the closest to India are: Brazil, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey. There is a striking commonality between

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tragedy

2010-05-24T03:30:00.001-07:00

Air travel is, by far, the safest way to travel. Even after a tragedy such as what hit Air India Express' flight IX-812 — perhaps especially after such a tragedy — that point needs to be made. This disaster has been the first major air crash in India for a decade. In that time, we have had several times as many major rail disasters (on January 2 this year, three separate train accidents took place in Uttar Pradesh alone), and innumerable deaths in road incidents across India. Statistics back this up: worldwide, far, far fewer people die per kilometre travelled by air than in any other sort of transport. And its getting even safer; according to the International Air Transport Association, 2009 was the second-safest year for air travel ever, and was as much as a third safer in terms of the likelihood of a fatality than 2000, a brief decade earlier. (The safest year so far has been 2006.)

Psychologists have looked into the greater psychological impact of air crashes at considerable length. One oft-quoted explanation is that a common human reaction is to "rank" disasters by "roughly squaring the death toll per event." So a car crash in which one person dies is seen as one fatality; 100 such are still seen as 100 deaths. Yet if ten people die in one event, then that has the psychological impact of 100 accidents in which one person dies; and if 100 people die in one event, it has 10,000 times the impact of a single car accident. So, while we react with grief and shock, it would be a severe problem if we let that overwhelm our good sense, as we look into the causes of the crash — something about which there is still so much to be discovered.

Yet one thing needs to be questioned. Why is it that, regardless of where and how, so many people die of accidents in India? Consider road safety. We drive slower than most comparable countries. Yet we have the worst safety record in the world, with more deaths from traffic accidents than anywhere else — one every four-and-a-half minutes. Rail accidents have become routine. Even our workplaces are more dangerous than comparable countries. Why? Is it because of a chronic unwillingness to follow basic procedures? To speed, to drive drunk, to not wear helmets, on roads? To nonchalantly operate outdated signalling equipment in our railways? To cut corners in inspecting our planes? These are the questions that we, as a society, should consider.fromvaidehi@gmail.com

help India's economy

2010-05-24T03:23:00.000-07:00

long and bitter rivalry has been a disappointingly divisive element in India's public life, poisoning politics and policymaking. Game-changing mergers have been delayed. Crucial infrastructure projects have been held up. This is not something that India could continue to afford over the long term; there is wisdom in accepting that an agreement must be arrived at. In the end, just as the break-up of Reliance enforced a level of financial transparency on the group's companies, this agreement will help the Ambanis, help their shareholders, and help India's economy. And that's good for all of us. Let's move on.According to statements released on Sunday evening, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited and Anil Ambani's ADAG have followed through on the instructions that they were handed by the Supreme Court recently, and have reworked their relationship. It is very good news that the long period of disagreement between the two groups of companies might be coming to an end. The brothers have essentially agreed that the various micro-level agreements that they had signed with each other, and which had continued to be the cause of much bad blood and continual legal disputes, would stand invalidated, and that henceforth there would be clean, healthy, open competition between their groups. The hope here is, of course, that this marks a genuine attempt on the part of the two Ambanis to bury the hatchet.
That is not only long overdue but very welcome. The two halves of Dhirubhai Ambani's Reliance group are such a significant part of the Indian economy that their squabble had real, and profoundly negative, effects. Remember, these are companies that, put together, produce probably between six and seven per cent of India's GDP; they contribute more than twice that in terms of indirect tax revenue to the government; and they dominate sectors — communications, petrochemicals — that are crucial to India's growth. Not only did their shareholders have a right to expect that they concentrate on their profit margins, but all those with a stake in India's economy will be glad if they reorient their focus away from each other and towards creating value for themselves and for India

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It is time to include non-doctors who can speak for patients'

2010-05-24T03:13:00.000-07:00

Recently an opportunity has emerged to reach out to millions of Indians who live at an insurmountable distance from a health facility, by using mobile phones and remote-controlled diagnostics. We need to introduce a medical specialisation based on such technological solutions. That alone can bridge the disparities that confront more than half the districts. MCI will parry all such ideas unless the law provides for compliance.Until now concern for profitable health care has driven medical education. Contemporary thinking and a few harsh decisions can inject equal concern for quality patient care into the Council's ethos.The promulgation of the ordinance sending all office bearers of the MCI home has not come a day too soon. But some urgent concerns need to be addressed even as a bill is readied for Parliament's monsoon session.
Public confidence has been temporarily bolstered by positioning seven medical professionals of calibre and proven integrity to run MCI's affairs. The new governing body meets today; but precisely because its chairman represents the acme of liver and biliary science, another member is a top-ranking cardiologist, and a third the full-time dean of a private medical college (in Sikkim), there is a lurking fear that both patient care and critical decision-making may falter as these medical giants scramble to grasp additional responsibilities.The foremost priority for the seven-member governing body is tackling the council's contending priorities, some statutory, some time-bound — approving new colleges in the pipeline, recommending additional seats and new courses, inspecting the infrastructure of medical colleges, approving modifications to the curriculum, to name just a few. They are dependent on their secretariat, which has long owed allegiance to MCI's departed office-bearers, raising doubts about where the loyalties of the former may lie. Whether this seven-member combination can perform the monumental Flexnor type clean-up that purged the medical system of the US and Canada in 1910 is yet to be seen.
Having said that, admittedly the governing body's role is small compared to the impending challenges that lie ahead. The elimination of the old office-bearers is now history. But the MCI Act remains alive; and only its remodeling will decide the track medical education now follows. Health is a state subject under the Constitution and medical education is on the concurrent list. The bulk of the MCI's members are elected from the medical faculties of state universities and from among practitioners. Another 40 representatives are nominated both by the states and the Centre, several of whom are products of "intense manipulation" says Dr Chaperwal, a former vice-president of the MCI who recently, reportedly, spoke of the Medical Council's "loot" in a complaint to the prime minister. "The stakes are too high to prevent a repetition of the past," he says. "We need an independent regulator because even in the future, elections and nominations can be stage-managed." In the UK, the General Medical Council (GMC) is answerable to the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence which oversees and can even overturn the GMC's decisions. The proposed National Council for Human Resources and Health can hopefully play that role.
The second important aspect which needs to be addressed by the bill is whether lay people should be inducted on the Council. The Lancet, recently discussing "Trouble at the Medical Council of India" referred to the regulatory systems in the West where medical councils include non-doctors. The MCI has none; the UK Council has half its members from the lay public. "It is time to include non-doctors who can speak for patients' concerns without creating a forum for activism and doctor-bashing" says Dr S. Dagaonker, member of the senate of Maharashtra's University of Health Sciences.
The third important addition the bill needs to introduce: make the protection and maintenance of public health and safety the aim of the legislation, by emphasising the observance of proper standards in the practice, not just the teaching of medicine. The Medical Council Act 1956, unlike GMC, does not make this a direct responsibility. The new bill should specifically provide for this, around which cases of medical malpractice and negligence should be built. The law should also bind the council to declare professional standards it sets out for doctors, and the principles that underpin fitness to stay on the medical register. These are mandatory in other countries. It's time the law enjoined MCI to follow suit.
Fourthly there is the issue of medical curriculum. The erstwhile Medical Council followed a caste system in which public health concerns normally elicited scorn from the overwhelming majority of specialists that saturated the Council's bodies. Giving primacy to the containment of preventable communicable diseases is a fundamental tenet of the country's health policy and, in the next MCI, should not be permitted to be dismissed

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