Onam
Friday, September 9, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Jan Lok Pal vs Government Draft of Bill
Recently Kiran Bedi tweeted a PDF which highlights the difference between Jan Lok Pal and the Government Draft of the Bill. There will be discussion in parliament regarding this tommorrow.
I am reproducing the link below of the PDF :
http://forum.lyricsmint.com/downloads/Difference-between-Jan%20Lokpal-and-Govt-Lokpal-lyricsmint-forum.pdf
With regards to this also saw a interview given by Kapil Sibal the Union HRD minister to Karan Thapar in Devil's Advocate on CNN-IBN. Kapil Sibal mentioned two key points of note regarding the government's reservations on Anna's bill. He said if the bill were expanded to all officers beyond class A officers and also to MP's and also to state level, it will be a huge beauracracy and needs to be considered if we need to freely give powers to such a behemoth. There is a significant difference in budget allocated by the two bills. Team Anna says not more than 0.25% of revenue. Governemt says it will be decided by Minister of Finance. I would give this point to Team Anna but it needs to be thoroughly discussed in parliament. I feel financial independence of Lok Pal is a must. Also Kapil's point on investing a huge behemoth with these powers needs to be discussed.
An important point to note is that the government has agreed to Lok Pal having an independent investigation agency all to itself ; whether this will be the CBI's corruption board or a totally new one needs to be discussed. Altogether this protest seems to have yielded positive results as the government i open to discussion.
I am reproducing the link below of the PDF :
http://forum.lyricsmint.com/downloads/Difference-between-Jan%20Lokpal-and-Govt-Lokpal-lyricsmint-forum.pdf
With regards to this also saw a interview given by Kapil Sibal the Union HRD minister to Karan Thapar in Devil's Advocate on CNN-IBN. Kapil Sibal mentioned two key points of note regarding the government's reservations on Anna's bill. He said if the bill were expanded to all officers beyond class A officers and also to MP's and also to state level, it will be a huge beauracracy and needs to be considered if we need to freely give powers to such a behemoth. There is a significant difference in budget allocated by the two bills. Team Anna says not more than 0.25% of revenue. Governemt says it will be decided by Minister of Finance. I would give this point to Team Anna but it needs to be thoroughly discussed in parliament. I feel financial independence of Lok Pal is a must. Also Kapil's point on investing a huge behemoth with these powers needs to be discussed.
An important point to note is that the government has agreed to Lok Pal having an independent investigation agency all to itself ; whether this will be the CBI's corruption board or a totally new one needs to be discussed. Altogether this protest seems to have yielded positive results as the government i open to discussion.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Anna Hazare
I am reproducing a couple of links below which struck me as very intresting vis-a-vis Anna's protest going on now.
Some people say the changes which Anna is suggesting won't bring about a difference and that a Lok Pal body won't succeed in eliminating corruption.They say there should be a change in attitude in the Indian public and they should stop encouraging corruption.
The CNN New Delhi correspondent brought out a valid point in that Anna's supporters were largely from the urban middle class which is the community which is largely affected by corruption. I diagree ; the middle class in any nation is the class which normally drives the public opinion, but the outcome of this protest affects every class.
Also there were some valid points brought about by Prasoon Joshi, Shabana Azmi and Suhel Seth in the CNN-IBN debate chaired by Barkha Dutt. Suhel Seth said the protest shows the strength of the Indian democracy and augurs well even though it may not amount to much in the end.
Prasoon Joshi rightly siad that Anna if not for anything else has succeded in awakening the Indian youth and in mainstreaming the debate against corruption. Shabana Axmi pointed out that if the movement does not lead to anything eventful then it will be a let down on the youth who participated in this campaign. Prasoon had mentioned earlier that the youth is largely uncorrupted than the rest, and I will agree with him.
Away from these talking points is the comparison the Indian media is making between Tehreek Square and Jantar Mantar. I beg to differ . There is no similarity. Egypt is not a democracy and they fought for a democracy by overthrowing Mubarak. We are working within the ambit of a democracy against corruption. Our situation is better.
I am reproducing Home Minister Chidambaram's admirable speech in Parliament:
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/chidambaram-justifies-the-imposition-of-sec-144/208138
The Barkha Dutt "Buck Stops Here" discussion here:
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/annas-campaign-india-interrupted/208274
CNN Coverage:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/08/18/india.hazare.corruption.strike/index.html
Some people say the changes which Anna is suggesting won't bring about a difference and that a Lok Pal body won't succeed in eliminating corruption.They say there should be a change in attitude in the Indian public and they should stop encouraging corruption.
The CNN New Delhi correspondent brought out a valid point in that Anna's supporters were largely from the urban middle class which is the community which is largely affected by corruption. I diagree ; the middle class in any nation is the class which normally drives the public opinion, but the outcome of this protest affects every class.
Also there were some valid points brought about by Prasoon Joshi, Shabana Azmi and Suhel Seth in the CNN-IBN debate chaired by Barkha Dutt. Suhel Seth said the protest shows the strength of the Indian democracy and augurs well even though it may not amount to much in the end.
Prasoon Joshi rightly siad that Anna if not for anything else has succeded in awakening the Indian youth and in mainstreaming the debate against corruption. Shabana Axmi pointed out that if the movement does not lead to anything eventful then it will be a let down on the youth who participated in this campaign. Prasoon had mentioned earlier that the youth is largely uncorrupted than the rest, and I will agree with him.
Away from these talking points is the comparison the Indian media is making between Tehreek Square and Jantar Mantar. I beg to differ . There is no similarity. Egypt is not a democracy and they fought for a democracy by overthrowing Mubarak. We are working within the ambit of a democracy against corruption. Our situation is better.
I am reproducing Home Minister Chidambaram's admirable speech in Parliament:
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/chidambaram-justifies-the-imposition-of-sec-144/208138
The Barkha Dutt "Buck Stops Here" discussion here:
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/annas-campaign-india-interrupted/208274
CNN Coverage:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/08/18/india.hazare.corruption.strike/index.html
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
A.O Hume and the Indian National Congress
A.O Hume was one of the founders of today's INC. He was one of the Britishmen who founded the party along with a few of his own countrymen and other Indians.
This is an extract I am taking from wikipedia :
On the 1st of March 1883 he wrote a letter to the graduates of the University of Calcutta(then under British India):
"If only fifty men, good and true, can be found to join as founders, the thing can be established and the further development will be comparatively easy. ...And if even the leaders of thought are all either such poor creatures, or so selfishly wedded to personal concerns that they dare not strike a blow for their country's sake, then justly and rightly are they kept down and trampled on, for they deserve nothing better. Every nation secures precisely as good a Government as it merits. If you the picked men, the most highly educated of the nation, cannot, scorning personal ease and selfish objects, make a resolute struggle to secure greater freedom for yourselves and your country, a more impartial administration, a larger share in the management of your own affairs, then we, your friends, are wrong and our adversaries right, then are Lord Ripon's noble aspirations for your good fruitless and visionary, then, at present at any rate all hopes of progress are at an end and India truly neither desires nor deserves any better Government than she enjoys. Only, if this -be so, let us hear no more factious, peevish complaints that you are kept in leading strings and treated like children, for you will have proved yourself such. Men know how to act. Let there be no more complaining of Englishmen being preferred to you in all important offices, for if you lack that public spirit, that highest form of altruistic devotion that leads men to subordinate private ease to the public weal - that patriotism that has made Englishmen what they are - then rightly are these preferred to you, rightly and inevitably have they become your rulers. And rulers and task-masters they must continue, let the yoke gall your shoulders never so sorely, until you realise and stand prepared to act upon the eternal truth that self-sacrifice and unselfishness are the only unfailing guides to freedom and happiness."
Hume had made this statement understanding full well the potential that existed in the Indian people and also understanding the greatness of their civilization. He being a true liberal and having indulged in the Sciences and having a fondness for it could not stomach what had become of the Indian people. He knew full well that the best way to colonize a people is make them feel civilizationally subservient and the British regime had largely acomplished this task through their able point man in India at that time Thomas Babington Macaulay.He was the person who introduced the English educational system in India..
Allan Octavian Hume along with Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, Mahadev Govind Ranade[7] and William Wedderburn founded the INC in 1884 with the initial objective to find greater representation for educated Indians in the British India colonial government.
I would like to reproduce a famous poem of his which captures the feelings of the time. Each line is beautiful and indicates what he observed at the time in India. Quoting from wikipedia:
Old Man's Hope is a poem by Allan Octavian Hume, the founder of the Indian National Congress, in which he sought to channel the zeitgeist of unrest prevalent in India in the 1880s towards a self-rule movement.
The text of the poem is as follows-
Sons of Ind, why sit ye idle,
Wait ye for some Deva's aid?
Buckle to, be up and doing!
Nations by themselves are made!
Yours the land, lives, all, at stake, tho'
Not by you the cards are played;
Are ye dumb? Speak up and claim them!
By themselves are nations made!
What avail your wealth, your learning,
Empty titles, sordid trade?
True self-rule were worth them all!
Nations by themselves are made!
Whispered murmurs darkly creeping,
Hidden worms beneath the glade,
Not by such shall wrong be righted!
Nations by themselves are made!
Are ye Serfs or are ye Freemen,
Ye that grovel in the shade?
In your own hands rest the issues!
By themselves are nations made!
Sons of Ind, be up and doing,
Let your course by none be stayed;
Lo! the Dawn is in the East;
By themselves are nations made!
This is an extract I am taking from wikipedia :
On the 1st of March 1883 he wrote a letter to the graduates of the University of Calcutta(then under British India):
"If only fifty men, good and true, can be found to join as founders, the thing can be established and the further development will be comparatively easy. ...And if even the leaders of thought are all either such poor creatures, or so selfishly wedded to personal concerns that they dare not strike a blow for their country's sake, then justly and rightly are they kept down and trampled on, for they deserve nothing better. Every nation secures precisely as good a Government as it merits. If you the picked men, the most highly educated of the nation, cannot, scorning personal ease and selfish objects, make a resolute struggle to secure greater freedom for yourselves and your country, a more impartial administration, a larger share in the management of your own affairs, then we, your friends, are wrong and our adversaries right, then are Lord Ripon's noble aspirations for your good fruitless and visionary, then, at present at any rate all hopes of progress are at an end and India truly neither desires nor deserves any better Government than she enjoys. Only, if this -be so, let us hear no more factious, peevish complaints that you are kept in leading strings and treated like children, for you will have proved yourself such. Men know how to act. Let there be no more complaining of Englishmen being preferred to you in all important offices, for if you lack that public spirit, that highest form of altruistic devotion that leads men to subordinate private ease to the public weal - that patriotism that has made Englishmen what they are - then rightly are these preferred to you, rightly and inevitably have they become your rulers. And rulers and task-masters they must continue, let the yoke gall your shoulders never so sorely, until you realise and stand prepared to act upon the eternal truth that self-sacrifice and unselfishness are the only unfailing guides to freedom and happiness."
Hume had made this statement understanding full well the potential that existed in the Indian people and also understanding the greatness of their civilization. He being a true liberal and having indulged in the Sciences and having a fondness for it could not stomach what had become of the Indian people. He knew full well that the best way to colonize a people is make them feel civilizationally subservient and the British regime had largely acomplished this task through their able point man in India at that time Thomas Babington Macaulay.He was the person who introduced the English educational system in India..
Allan Octavian Hume along with Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, Mahadev Govind Ranade[7] and William Wedderburn founded the INC in 1884 with the initial objective to find greater representation for educated Indians in the British India colonial government.
I would like to reproduce a famous poem of his which captures the feelings of the time. Each line is beautiful and indicates what he observed at the time in India. Quoting from wikipedia:
Old Man's Hope is a poem by Allan Octavian Hume, the founder of the Indian National Congress, in which he sought to channel the zeitgeist of unrest prevalent in India in the 1880s towards a self-rule movement.
The text of the poem is as follows-
Sons of Ind, why sit ye idle,
Wait ye for some Deva's aid?
Buckle to, be up and doing!
Nations by themselves are made!
Yours the land, lives, all, at stake, tho'
Not by you the cards are played;
Are ye dumb? Speak up and claim them!
By themselves are nations made!
What avail your wealth, your learning,
Empty titles, sordid trade?
True self-rule were worth them all!
Nations by themselves are made!
Whispered murmurs darkly creeping,
Hidden worms beneath the glade,
Not by such shall wrong be righted!
Nations by themselves are made!
Are ye Serfs or are ye Freemen,
Ye that grovel in the shade?
In your own hands rest the issues!
By themselves are nations made!
Sons of Ind, be up and doing,
Let your course by none be stayed;
Lo! the Dawn is in the East;
By themselves are nations made!
Manmohan and Anna
This post is with reference to a post by a friend of mine in facebook with regard to the current fight against corruption which is being highligted in the media in India.
The fight for the Jan Lok Pal bill. He mentioned "" . I agree with him that there is a very thin line between what Anna Hazare is doing and what Manmohan Singh is doing. I admire both the men. What the supporters of the government are saying which is Manmohanji's train of thought is that if any changes are to be made to the bill it has to be discussed in parliament and amendments can be made.Basically they say Annaji cannot hold parliament hostage to agree to all his demands; although he is doing so within the ambit of the Indian Constitution and democracy which means peaceful protest.
Let me put my point across ; what we are seeing is a maturing of Indian democracy where a very capable Indian PM saddled with the vagaries of a coalition government is forced to atleast give a listening ear to a people's representative who is leading a people's movement with mass following and is quite well organized.
We can wait and watch with excitement what this play of democratic forces is going to bring about but I personally consider myself fortunate to have lived in this time and era.
The fight for the Jan Lok Pal bill. He mentioned "" . I agree with him that there is a very thin line between what Anna Hazare is doing and what Manmohan Singh is doing. I admire both the men. What the supporters of the government are saying which is Manmohanji's train of thought is that if any changes are to be made to the bill it has to be discussed in parliament and amendments can be made.Basically they say Annaji cannot hold parliament hostage to agree to all his demands; although he is doing so within the ambit of the Indian Constitution and democracy which means peaceful protest.
Let me put my point across ; what we are seeing is a maturing of Indian democracy where a very capable Indian PM saddled with the vagaries of a coalition government is forced to atleast give a listening ear to a people's representative who is leading a people's movement with mass following and is quite well organized.
We can wait and watch with excitement what this play of democratic forces is going to bring about but I personally consider myself fortunate to have lived in this time and era.
Shehla Masood - RIP
Read about the death of Shehla Masood an RTI and widlife preservation activist who was killed in front of her house in Bhopal.
She was a supporter of Anna Hazare's campaing against corruption and it is reported that she had fasted in Bhopal in support of him.
This is a great loss for the nation and her contribution to India should'nt be forgotten.
Below is her twitter feed
http://twitter.com/#!/shehlamasood
Link to The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2361776.ece?homepage=true
She was an asset to the nation and feel sorry for the country.
May our country give birth to more such daugthers.
Jai Hind.
RIP
She was a supporter of Anna Hazare's campaing against corruption and it is reported that she had fasted in Bhopal in support of him.
This is a great loss for the nation and her contribution to India should'nt be forgotten.
Below is her twitter feed
http://twitter.com/#!/shehlamasood
Link to The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2361776.ece?homepage=true
She was an asset to the nation and feel sorry for the country.
May our country give birth to more such daugthers.
Jai Hind.
RIP
Why Dhoni is a national hero
Since the World Cup started I have been observing the matches from the Internet, keeping a keen watch through various websites and feeds in the social networking sites.
Dhoni was born in Ranchi in Jharkand which was Bihar till a couple of years back.
The only connection I have remotely with this place is that I have visited Gaya which is still in Bihar , on a whirlwind tour of northern India with my family in the 80s. Gaya is not far from Ranchi.
I have been observing the "rise and rise" of Mahendra Singh Dhoni ever since he joined the team.What strikes me more than anything about him is his understanding of the game and people involved. His own performance speaks for itself. In the currently concluded World Cup he has shown that he is a thinking captain observing each player from behind the wickets or from the dressing room , changing his tactics every time.
A matter to note here is he has played every option available to him and rushed to the center(as in the Saturday final) himself when the need arose. He is also great risk taker and you can trust him to back you up if he sees something in you. This was evident in his playing Sreesanth who happens to be from my home state; inspite of the fact that Sree had no match experience.He also played Ashwin thus ensuring a medal for him too.
The best part of Dhoni is he is inflappable and allways cool. One of the best moments of this world Cup I would say is the last ball six which he hit, which was more like the captain of the ship taking it to the harbor himself after a stormy ride.His smile and slow walk back to grab a stump speaks of the person he is. Unemotional, Sincere, Honest and intelligent...
Dhoni was born in Ranchi in Jharkand which was Bihar till a couple of years back.
The only connection I have remotely with this place is that I have visited Gaya which is still in Bihar , on a whirlwind tour of northern India with my family in the 80s. Gaya is not far from Ranchi.
I have been observing the "rise and rise" of Mahendra Singh Dhoni ever since he joined the team.What strikes me more than anything about him is his understanding of the game and people involved. His own performance speaks for itself. In the currently concluded World Cup he has shown that he is a thinking captain observing each player from behind the wickets or from the dressing room , changing his tactics every time.
A matter to note here is he has played every option available to him and rushed to the center(as in the Saturday final) himself when the need arose. He is also great risk taker and you can trust him to back you up if he sees something in you. This was evident in his playing Sreesanth who happens to be from my home state; inspite of the fact that Sree had no match experience.He also played Ashwin thus ensuring a medal for him too.
The best part of Dhoni is he is inflappable and allways cool. One of the best moments of this world Cup I would say is the last ball six which he hit, which was more like the captain of the ship taking it to the harbor himself after a stormy ride.His smile and slow walk back to grab a stump speaks of the person he is. Unemotional, Sincere, Honest and intelligent...
Sharing Thoughts
I am back to blogging after a long time. One reason for the brief hiatus among many others was there was a whole lot going on around me which kept me away from the keyboard for altruistic purposes.
I am back, hopefully with a bang as I intend to use the internet for sharing my thoughts and if possible some activism.
Let me borrow from Dickens to explain everything : "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way "
See you later guys..
I am back, hopefully with a bang as I intend to use the internet for sharing my thoughts and if possible some activism.
Let me borrow from Dickens to explain everything : "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way "
See you later guys..
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