karat and the stick-in-the-mud

The CPM General Secretary says doing a nuclear deal with the US will turn India into a US stooge. Yeah, right. The fact is, not doing the deal with the US will turn the honorable and well-intended PM and his party into a stooge of the Left. Besides of course, turning the entire nation into puppets in the hands of an ideology that is well past its time and place in the world today.

I’d rather we be a stooge of the US, than a stooge of the Left.

Why? Isn’t it obvious?

A deal with the US, besides providing a much needed boost to our peaceful nuclear programme, means more opportunities, more business, more jobs, more security, more growth, more world power and presence for India and Indian companies.

A deal with the Left parties, means more protection for lazy labor, more protection for doddering resource-sucking public sector companies, more political blackmail and more anarchy. A deal with the Left also means less new industry, less privatisation, less growth, less efficiencies in the workplace, less professionalism in decision making, and overall lesser ability and standing for India and Indian companies to compete and hold their head high abroad.

Sure, the honorable Mr Karat and Co. have weilded their stick… but I fail to see the carrot.

 

India 60 Years on: No Religion, No Culture

It may sound incredulous, but people in India today exhibit behaviour that reflects a total lack of religion and/or culture.

I’m not talking about the narrow minded definitions and labels of religion and culture, but the spirit and actions behind these two very powerful words and concepts.

Religion gives us something to believe in, a philosophy, a way of life, guiding principles that usually encourage people to do good things, and be good human beings.

Culture on the other hand, makes us respect one another, makes us do things together, it manages our expectations and actions for a larger common good.

And both the above have rituals that help to bond people together, and generally teach people to mingle and live in peaceful co-existence, as if in one big extended family.

My point is, are the above descriptions reflective of life in India today… reflective of the way Indians live their life today..? I don’t think so.

While we may be on paper and in theory a very religious and cultured country, the reality is our people are increasingly becoming godless and cultureless.

How else would you explain the total lack of decency we exhibit in our lives today, towards young, old, men, women, children alike?

• Don’t we shout and abuse and shake fists at others when we feel slighted on the road..?
• Don’t we jump queues wherever possible – at bus stops, at elevators, at the subziwalla’s, in check out counters at malls?
• Don’t we park wherever we want, even if it blocks someone else’s path? Don’t we fight with them if they object?
• Don’t we jump lights, knowing fully well we’re endangering many lives every time we do that?
• Don’t we give and take bribes?
• Don’t we pay money to short circuit all process wherever laid down?
• Don’t cops ask for money when they come for passport verification, and we give them money even though we’re decent honest folk?
• Don’t our mothers, daughters, sisters get raped by people they know? And by strangers out to just have some fun??
• Don’t we kill our daughters before they’re born?
• Don’t we hire underage children as domestic help and keep them in pitiable conditions?
• Don’t we turn away when someone is being beaten on the street, or lying in a pool of blood?
• Don’t people get beaten to pulp for simply standing up against some wrong? Don’t people around pretend it’s not happening and don’t come forward to help?
• Don’t we maim and kill people, and damage property worth millions in the name of some god, or sense of injustice?
• Don’t we block roads and inconvenience people every time we want to pray, do puja, or go on a pilgrimage?
• Don’t we fight and kill over some god or the other?
• Don’t our politicians put progress and larger good aside for personal and political gain?
• Don’t our cops side with whoever has the potential to pay the larger bribe, whether it’s a road accident or a murder charge?

Don’t we do a million things every day, that go totally against any religion, any culture in the world?

Then what religion and culture are we so proud of??

Think about it.
 

 

India Uncut by Amit Varma

After about a month of reading free trial issues of the Mint which was conveniently slipped in with my Economic Times by my newspaper vendor, I began my own subscription of Mint – a business paper from Hindustan Times and The Wall Street Journal.

I find Mint very refreshing in its format and design, I love the content and the perspectives, and most of all, I love some of the regular columns by various writers – my favorite being Thinking It Throughby Amit Varma.

Amit Varma who has his own website and blog called India Uncut, does a fascinating job of raising issues that are so Indian, so real, and so bizarre to think that they’re actually happening in India.

His take on our Anthem and Flag, The Halo Effect, and today’s piece on the Hindutva Rashtra are brilliant in their understanding of issues, and the humor with which he puts his perspective across.

Why am I pointing you to him and his work? Because I love what he has to share. And because it makes me think about my country and its idiosyncrasies. And makes me want to address them. Which I hope it does to people that run and/or influence this country.

 

No place for Left Parties in right-minded economies.

Admittedly, Communism has its role in our country. But only in history. Not the future.

I will try and explain why I think this. And I will do so, minus polical rhetoric, emotional baggage, or long winded philosophical theories.

I will instead use just commonsense derived of the stated objectives of communism and communist parties themselves. With a little bit of basic economics.
Here goes:

Communism was born out of the need to give the common man, and the underprivileged a platform to fight for equality and create a uniform code that helped them get jobs, earn a living, and not get trampled upon by capitalism and the might of the moneyed.

Communism aims to take away power from the privileged few, and share it with larger populance.

Now this is a very powerful idea, and we have seen it work in different parts of the world, particularly in the erstwhile Soviet Union, and traditional China.

It was also a great idea and force in India, when the country was closed to the world, dealing with abject poverty, and we comparatively had no industry or jobs to talk about that could feed and clothe our masses. And that was about 20 years ago.

Times are different today. Our economy is thriving. Standards of living have improved. And most importantly, the aspirations of the people have risen much above the days of the “angry young man Amitabh Bachchan” and his coolie or lal badshah days.

Capitalism and free trade (and policies) have shown that while some people get rich fast, they create new industry and work that provides jobs for more and more people. Raising more and more poeple’s standard of living slowly, but surely.

Which is the opposite with communism. Which aims to keep everyone down at an equal lowest common denominator level, rather than even let one or two people “become rich” (remember the crabs in a well story?)

So the key to my argument – I do believe people in our country no longer share the crab mentality of narrow-minded and short-sighted communism. They don’t want to remain crowded doing nothing inside a wet dark well. They’d rather (and hope) at least one of them manages to climb out of the well, and then helps them also climb out into the sunshine.

And the basic human desire of life above the crowd, will cause the death of communism as we know it.

 –

My related thoughts on SEZs?

I believe the issues created around SEZs particularly in West Bengal are last ditch attempts by the some out-of-power Left parties, and no-cause-left politicians like Mamta Banerjee, to remain in the minds and lives of people. And to give themselves some reason to exist.

Communists and retrograde thinkers aim to keep underutilised lands with unemployed poor people, rather than give it to “rich companies” who can create employment and bring slow but sure progress to the region.

To my mind, questioning the integrity and purpose of a group like the Tatas is insane. And to ignore the long term positive impact of having a TATA company in your state is stupid.

What’s worse, is here is a communist, elbeit progressive one like Buddhadeb Bhattacharya who’s trying to finally get the state moving economically, is being pulled down by his own kind! (again pls refer to the crab story)

But the truth also is, while the rant and riot of the Left parties will temporarily sway the needy of livelihood illiterates, and and greedy for attention literates, eventually they will get found out.

Because while some states like West Bengal will fight “industrial progress” in the name of protecting its people and their lands, people in other states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana will derive maximum benefit from the progress and land up with new jobs and leave the others far behind.

Isn’t that right?

 

Is our religion and culture weak and vulnerable?

Every day, we hear news about some group or the other led by people who claim to be the protectors of our cultures and religions, accusing someone or some group of people of ‘hurting our religious sentiments’ or ‘insulting our culture or country’.

Then these so called moral police, in the pretext of protecting our “culture and religion” usually go about vandalizing public and private property, courting arrest, and generally display obnoxious, fascist behavior.

An artist depicted a goddess in the nude? So strip the gallery, vandalize some offices, and burn some private cars for good measure. And if possible, appear abusively on some news channel.

An actor speaks about the need for safe sex among the youth?So burn her effigies, boycott her movies, file a PIL in court, and of course, do the mandatory vandalising of public and private property.

Question 1: Are our centuries old religions and cultures so fragile and weak?

Are the religion and cultures which are part of the fabric of millions of people, so vulnerable that they get destroyed by these stray incidents?

Are we as a society so weak and stupid, that we will change our beliefs because of some painting or one off utterance?

Wake up you so called Moral Police! You, yourself are undermining the stature and power of the religions and culture you claim to protect by raising insignificant things as serious threats!

Question 2: What’s more vulgar here? What’s more insulting to our culture? What demeans our society more?

Is some misunderstood or misrepresented act of an individual or small group of people restricted to a small section of society worse than a vicious, planned act of social violence and abuse, by a mob that disrupts life for a larger part of society?

Hello! You’ve got to be insane to side with the mobs and so called moral police. I’m certainly not on their side.

My belief? If they cannot ‘protect our culture and country’ in the true spirit of the culture and country, which is peacefully and with decency – then they should be arrested and flogged in public. That would be justice…? Or would it?

– 

Listen to other voices on the same subject of “immoral moral policing: ‘Who could be next” at BLOGBHARTI

 

Politicus Interruptus – How politics erodes progress in India

Dayanidhi Maran, Communications Minister, Government of India and member of the coalition  partner DMK resigned from his post having being recalled by his party leaders for so called ‘anti-party activities’.

This is a pity, but not unexpected.

It’s a pity, because the guy was doing a decent job, keeping India on the fast track of telecommunications progress. Search the net, scan the news papers or speak with leaders of Indian industry and they will tell you the same story.

It’s not unexpected, because self-centered, egotistical politics often takes precedence over ‘doing the right thing’ in our country.

In this case what was Maran’s crime against his party? A newspaper owned by his family published the findings of a poll conducted among people about which of the party Boss’ sons should take over when the time comes… and the louts, er sorry, supporters of the son who came second in the poll agitated and vandalized the offices of the newspaper. And then, the party itself got into the act and recalled Maran from Delhi.

Obviously freedom of thought and expression is not a part of this party’s culture.

So we shall just have to wait and see what happens to our Telecommunications Ministry. Will the positive steps taken by him, including drafting a fabulous telecom policy, encouraging competition and growth among telecom companies, and basic stuff like providing free broadband for every Indian citizen will continue, or will they get disconnected thanks to the inappropriate callings of his party?

I guess the UPA government led by Dr. Manmohan Singh will find a good replacement for Maran. Hopefully someone in the same genre as people like Maran, Kamal Nath, Jairam Ramesh, Praful Patel and Dr. Singh himself.

 

PILs and ‘Social Action’: Aiding and Abetting the ’so called crime’

Richard Gere’s alleged offense of kissing Shilpa Shetty in public, would have remained confined to a few TV news channels and the people present at the event (and didn’t find it offensive)… if it hadn’t been for the PIL filed by one Jaipur lawyer. Now the whole world knows about it.

A relatively insignificant percentage of Indians knew that someone called MF Hussain even existed and an even smaller percentage of people would have seen his so called ‘offensive paintings’… until half a dozen PILs were filed, and mindless mobs damaged property and took to the streets in protest.

The fact is: many of these so called offenses against our culture and religion would have remained insignificant and unheard of, if it wasn’t for the protests against them.

This brings me to the point that those who make an issue out what they call offences, actually end up promoting and propogating ‘the offences’!

While the concept of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is very sound, and its existence in the Indian legal system is desired, one would wish it was used more judiciously.

With our courts inundated with work, and important criminal cases being pushed for years, there’s no doubt (and general agreement in the country) that many PILs serve no purpose at all, except to give the people behind them fleeting fame, and add to the burdon on our legal system.

The Cause of the Malaise: At an individual level its most probably 15 Minutes of Fame, perhaps getting to meet the celebrity in court (or out of it), and perhaps getting paid to shut up. At the social and cultural level it’s clearly about useless and empty minds being given something to do, and developing delusionary self importance.

Channeling Energies for Real Crimes: My submission to these ‘activists’ is try and find real issues… tangible issues and crimes against society and our nation, that are not subjective, but clearly offensive. Try and help the countless rape victims who come under police and social pressure to withdraw cases. Try and fight for millions of minors employed illegally in shops, factories and hazardous places. Try and file a case against the traffic police for focussing on collecting bribes, rather than regulating traffic. Try, because the list of real crimes and “offences” in our country is endless.

What say you? Or will you find some way to file a case against me..?

 

Vande Mataram – The call for freedom, then and now!

Vande Mataram (Hail to the motherland) was witten in 1876 by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee as an alternate to God Save the Queen, which the British rulers forced people in India to sing under their rule.

Vande Mataram went on to became the national cry for freedom – as a rallying slogan on its own, song of patriotism in its entirety.

It was used as the unofficial Indian national anthem until the simpler, more secular Jana Gana Mana (written in 1911 by Rabindranath Tagore) was chosen as the official National Anthem in 1950.

Vande Mataram continues to be a rallying cry in India, having gained a new boost of life and popularity, thanks to its rendition by A. R. Rahman and music video (above, via arrahmanfans) directed by Bharatbala.

Enjoy!

 

150 Years Later: Celebrating India’s First War of Independence

150 years ago, on the 10th of May in 1857, Indian Sepoys (soldiers) of the 20th Native Infantry in Meerut, an army cantonment near Delhi mutinied against their officers and the oppressive rule of the British in India – setting off what history would recall as the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, or India’s First War of Independence.

While the issues against their foreign rulers had been building up since some time, the catalyst of this mutiny was the sentencing and subsequent humiliation of 85 Sepoys of the 3rd Light Infantry the day before, on the 9th of May. Their crime? Refusing to use certain weapons that were rumoured to be greased with the fat of cows and pigs, something extremely offensive to Hindu and Muslim Sepoys alike.

The mutiny spread like wildfire and caused great damage to the British Empire, which had to rush troops all the way from England to quell the unrest. It resulted in many deaths on both sides, as well as the birth of many national heroes like Rani (Queen) Lakshmi Bai, and the Mughal King Bahadur Shah Zafar who was killed along with his minor sons, who were buried alive by the British.

Admittedly the Mutiny was eventually put down, but it signalled the end of the tyrannical and arbitrary rule of of The East India Company, and the arrival of a more ‘understanding’ rule of the British Monarchy which then went on to focuss on the progress (albeit selfish) of ‘their’ India.

90 years later, on the 15th of August in 1947, India finally gained its Independence from the British Empire, thanks to the efforts of people like Mahatma Gandhi , Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Lokmanya Tilak and many more dedicated and passionate freedom fighters of India.

Free India chose the path of democracy, wrote its own constitution, and offically became a “Republic” on 26th January 1950. Today, we are the world’s largest democracy. A secular nation speeding down the fast track of progress.

That’s the good news. The bad news is, we’re a nation still struggling with issues and oppressions of a different kind.

We’re a people ruled by apathy and laziness. We’re oppressed by corruption in all walks of life. Political parties put selfish myopic gain, above common good. And the average man on the street doesn’t give a damn about the once next to, or in front of him.

Common courtesy is absent in our daily lives. Respect for women and children is something restricted to legal documents filed in hidden corners of our society… the list is endless.

It’s not to say that no one wants to do anything to improve this situation. There are enough people who feel the pain, and understand the consequences of continuing to live like this. But there aren’t enough voices being raised, not enough people standing up to fix the situation. But again, while these voices are a minority, my belief is there is dormant majority of people who will rise like the Sepoys of 1857, against the corruption and apathy that exists today.

They will rise not against ‘weapons grease’ but the ‘grease in the palms’ of corrupt officials. They will mutiny against the insensitivity of politicians as well as common people around them.

Their weapons will be the Law of the Land, and the Conscience of the People. No blood will be shed, but the enemies of the people will certainly lose sleep.

Those who hold the nation back and clog up the lines of progress, will be flushed down the toilets like they so deserve to be.

My belief is, this new mutiny is real and imminent. And I would like to give voice to this movement. Add my two bits of conscience and voice to the effort.

That, is my way of celebrating 150 years of the First War of Independence.

Jai Hind!