Chappals In Pubs

Sometimes you read a political news story which at the very first look, doesn’t make you cry (most of them do). First you read it, then you feel like laughing out loud (which you do), but as you think more deeply about it, you feel frustrated and become angry when you realise how the hard-earned money you pay as taxes is wasted on frivolous grounds.

Well, I just read such a news report two days ago. DNA reports,

Chappals have often been the cause of controversies at five-star hotels. Now, the Deputy Chairman of the State Legislative Council Vasant Davkhare wants a committee to study why sandals are not allowed in pubs.

Davkhare on Monday asked the state government to constitute an all-party committee to study the rules and regulations laid by the restaurants, pubs and discos in the city.

Last year, a few Marathi actors were stopped from entering a suburban five-star hotel’s pub because they were wearing Kolhapuri chappals.

Speechless, I read. An all-party committee to study why chappals aren’t allowed in pubs? Heck, even I (a naive Indian) can tell you that. It’s because chappals ain’t the ‘in’ thing. They ain’t hip, they ain’t fashionable.

And no, the story doesn’t end there. You didn’t read the reply of Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil to that demand, did you?

He replied,

The rules are set by the hotel management taking into account the safety of consumers. Chappals are not allowed since they are unsafe for the consumers as well as others on the floor of the pub. The actors were offered the shoes, but they refused them.

Honestly, do we really need to discuss all that in the State Legislative Council? Aren’t there far more pressing and important issues that need to be discussed? Please end this farce, dear politicos!

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The Great Indian Farmer Loan Waiver

I wanted to write on this issue a long time ago. But somehow it didn’t materialise. So, I guess I will do it now. Yep, I am talking about the loan waiver our respected Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced in Budget 2008 presented on February 28, 2008. A full Rs. 60000 crore of farmer loans was waived by the man who, in the 1990s, unleashed the Indian economy, due to which we are an emerging superpower now.

Now you would have expected a budget which makes good economic sense from a man of his caliber. But, burdened no doubt by political considerations, the Finance Minister has made this unabashedly populist announcement. So how many farmers will actually benefit from this? Well, just about 23 percent of them will, because that is the percentage of farmers having access to institutional credit. And the marginal farmers (farmers having less than two hectares of land) will hardly be the ones to benefit here, though they are the ones towards whom this loan waiver is targeted. Most of the marginal farmers take loans from private moneylenders, not banks. So basically these farmers have little or no relief when you look at the fine print of this declaration.

Indeed, the truth of the above statement that I made can be gauged from this report in DNA, which says that on an average, there have been 7 farmer suicides a day since the waiver was announced. All the economists, without exception, have said that this loan waiver isn’t really going to help anyone.

As India Today reports,

The shock though seems to have been reserved for the economists. Without exception, the Rs 60,000-crore loan waiver is seen as the worst kind of fiscal profligacy. What makes it surprising is that it has come from the most pro-reforms duo of P. Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh.

In some sense, they do seem to understand that this being the fifth budget of UPA, it had to be political and, therefore, sops were to be expected. But it isn’t the waiver alone that worries them. The lack of transparency— the budget is packed with expenditure not accounted for in the numbers—and the failure of UPA to address the issue of accountability on public spending.

Heck, are elections a good enough reason to shamelessly waste taxpayers’ money on haphazard social welfare schemes such as this? Really, one would have hoped that the farce ends here. Well, Mr. Rahul Gandhi, the scion of The Royal Family hadn’t played his part yet, had he? On the 13th of March, 2008 the prince made a speech in Parliament in which he said that he wants the loan waiver to be even bigger (by relaxing the two-hectare land holding restriction). Even bigger? These guys are within an inch of throwing open the treasury to the public. Are they mental?

And yes, before you think that no one could possibly give a second thought to such a stupid suggestion, read further. Rahul Gandhi’s dear mommy, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, sent a reminder to the government that his suggestions should be considered. Of course, no one knows how much additional financial burden the exchequer will have to bear to accommodate The Royal Family’s demands. Does anyone even care anymore?

Finally, let’s give a thought to those poor idiots who may have toiled hard day in and day out to repay their loans but now realise that they need not have paid up at all. They really must be at the end of their tether!

[CROSSPOSTED on Mutiny.in]

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Tibetans Fight For Their Freedom

I support the Tibetan freedom struggle. And yes, it’s partly due to my feeling of deep disgust towards anything communist. The communist Chinese Government sits at the top of this hate list. Just look at the way they occupied Tibet. In 1949, the Chinese Army just barged into Tibet and occupied it. In 1959, there was an uprising led by the Dalai Lama which was obviously crushed and the Dalai Lama fled to India, where he still is.

And now, as the Beijing Olympics draw closer, this struggle is intensifying again. The only problem here is that these protests are becoming violent now. At the moment, China can’t afford to let these protests continue in Tibet. And therefore, you can be sure that if these protests get violent, China will crack down…brutally.

So what can the Tibetans do now? Let me (just a naive Indian, mind you) make a suggestion. Violence never works. It only ends in tragedy and unnecessary bloodshed. The Tibetans should follow the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi. They should learn the art of Satyagraha (a philosophy and practice of nonviolent resistance developed by Mahatma Gandhi) and non-cooperation. Just imagine: if the Tibetans refuse to cooperate with the Chinese Government and also refuse to retaliate when the Chinese resort to violent methods to crush these protests, who will get the moral victory? You bet it will be the Tibetans. And then the whole international community will rally behind them.

The Britishers faced a similar dilemma during India’s freedom struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi. They were brought down to their knees and finally were forced to leave India solely due to Satyagraha. If Satyagraha worked then, there is no reason why it won’t work now. And with the international community behind them, I am sure that the Tibetans can win their freedom. Let’s hope for the best.

Meanwhile, if you want to help Tibet’s freedom struggle, you may like to check out this website: International Campaign for Tibet

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Irresponsible: A New Adjective To Describe Rahul Gandhi

I don’t know what he is trying to prove, but his secret night visit to naxal-infested areas in Koraput, Orissa certainly proves that Rahul Gandhi is very much irresponsible. Someone should tell this confused wannabe politician that such stupid gimmicks are not going to help him.

Of course, I don’t care what happens to him. But if something would have happened to him, the state authorities or the local police would have been unjustly blamed for it. It just shows that Mr. Gandhi has still got a long way to go before he can be called a ‘true politician’. And yes, the Chief Minister of Orissa has rightly expressed his disgust at this gimmick.

Previous posts related to Rahul Gandhi:

Rahul Gandhi Is Yet To Discover India!

A Whole New Breed Of Sycophants

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Next Time, Don’t Vote For An Actor-Politician

[Note: This is an extended version of the original post. A lot of information has been added to lend credence to the view that actor-politicians are not good for our country]

Yes. Or you will really regret it.

You may like their on-screen persona and feel very much tempted to vote for them if they contest an election from your constituency, but resist that temptation. Why? Because their performance in Parliament sucks.

Take Govinda’s stint in Parliament for example. Let’s look at his performance, as reported by CNN-IBN,

• Parliament records show that he has attended only 10 per cent of all Parliament sessions in the last four years.
• He had had a relatively good year in 2005, attending 15 sessions out of 85.
• In 2006, his attendance fell to seven out of 77.
• 2007 saw the worst with the actor attending only two sessions out of 66.
• This year, when the Congress leadership was glowing in its apparent dream budget, Govinda decided to give that the miss too. His account is yet to open this year in Parliament.
• Parliament records also show that the actor has spoken only twice in the House – on May 10 and 11, 2005, for a minute each during Zero Hour.

Other actor-politicians don’t fare any better. Let’s take a cursory look at the recent records of a few more actor-politicians.

Dharmendra (Lok Sabha MP from Bikaner):

• Cumulative Attendance (8th, 9th & 10th session): 14/74 i.e. 19%
• Total Questions Asked (Fourteenth Lok Sabha):0
• Debates/Proceedings (Fourteenth Lok Sabha):0

Raj Babbar (Lok Sabha MP from Agra):

• Cumulative Attendance (8th, 9th & 10th session): 33/74 i.e. 44%
• Total Questions Asked (Fourteenth Lok Sabha): 5
• Debates/Proceedings (Fourteenth Lok Sabha): 8

Hema Malini ( Rajya Sabha MP- Nominated by BJP):

• Cumulative Attendance (210th session- I & II, 211th session): 20/48 i.e. 42%
• Total Questions Asked: 2

P. Jaya Prada (Lok Sabha MP from Rampur):

• Cumulative Attendance (8th, 9th & 10th session): 19/74 i.e. 26%
• Total Questions Asked (Fourteenth Lok Sabha):186
• Debates/Proceedings (Fourteenth Lok Sabha): 24

As the statistics show, though her attendance is horribly low, Jaya Prada seems to be quite an active participant whenever she is present in the House. But no, don’t feel too happy about it. Her days as a Member of Parliament are probably numbered.

Heck, the attendance of these actor-politicians can even put college students (like me) to shame who pride themselves on bunking as many classes as possible. The incompetence of these MPs becomes all the more obvious when you look at the research done by PRS Legislative Research. When they analysed the attendance of members in the Parliament in the period from June 2004 to December 2006 on the basis of profession, they reached the following conclusions,

• Lawyers and educationists have the best attendance record in Lok Sabha.

• Retired bureaucrats and servicemen have above-average attendance (about 75%) in both Houses.

• Lowest attendance is recorded by MPs who are engaged in industry/business or media and entertainment, many of whom have an active career.

So you get the point, don’t you? We are wasting our time electing these actor-politicians who are least worried about their constituencies. I think we are better off voting for those politicians who regularly disrupt Parliament with their protests over frivolous issues. I mean, at least they participate in the Parliament sessions, don’t they? Heh. It’s just a case of choosing the lesser evil.

[CROSSPOSTED on Mutiny.in]

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Rahul Gandhi Is Yet To Discover India!

Of course, everyone knows this. As a part of his Discover India tour, Rahul Gandhi is currently in Orissa, purportedly to discover India. So, we can safely conclude that, all this time he did not know about the true India. But from a long time now, he is being projected as the future Prime Minister of India, right?

So, basically the Congress was telling us that if it wins in the next general elections, it would give us a PM who knew nothing about India. Eeeks! Now I certainly won’t vote for the Congress. I don’t care how much Mr. Rahul Gandhi raves on about how he wants to give the youth a chance in politics, I won’t vote for the Congress. It is a disgusting party filled with sycophants, which is still surviving only because someone with ‘Gandhi’ as a surname works for it.

Only a few days ago, I had written a post on this party of sycophants: A Whole New Breed Of Sycophants

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Shiv Sena Preaching Non-Violence? Incredible!

But that’s exactly what is happening. Read this extract from a report in The Indian Express,

Shiv Sena on Tuesday asked politicians to show ‘restraint’ in reacting to incidents in Mumbai warning that the move to whip up anti outsider feelings had danger of snowballing into a major issue.

“I will counsel political leaders from all sides to be restrained in their reactions”, Senior Sena member and Former Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi said in Rajya Sabha.

I pinched myself hard…not once, but twice to make sure that I was not dreaming. The party whose very existence hinges on it’s violent nature, is talking about peace, restraint, blah…blah…blah. These retards were the very guys who stoked violence against the migrants in the 1960s. Hypocrites!

So, I would suggest one thing to all the political parties in India: first decide what you stand for and then stick to it, no matter what the consequences. At least this will lend them some credibility. I must appreciate the Communists here, no matter how rusted their ideologies are, they stand by them, to the utter disgust of everyone else (the nuclear deal, for example). Heh.

A Whole New Breed Of Sycophants

Yep, Sonia Gandhi seems to be inspiring a whole new breed of sycophants. We already know that the Congressmen, without exception, are sycophants of the Highest Order. They now have competition from PPP co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari a.k.a. Mr. 10 per cent, husband of the slain former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto. For the uninitiated, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which emerged as the largest group in the February 18 general election, is set to form a coalition government with parties like PML-N and ANP. This is what he recently told Karan Thapar for ‘Devil’s Advocate‘ programme when asked whether he intended to play a role like Congress President Sonia Gandhi in India,

She’s too great for me to be Sonia.

Honestly, I am going to choke if this guy says anything more about her. Sonia Gandhi…great? What has she ever done to become great? Someone’s got to remind Mr. Zardari that merely having ‘Gandhi’ as a surname doesn’t make anyone great. I have always felt ashamed that an Italian has been the real person ruling India for the past few years. Don’t we have suitable Indian leaders for that job anymore? Leave that point of her being an Italian aside, does she even have the political acumen to lead a huge, chaotic country like India? I don’t think so.

Let’s analyse whether Sonia Gandhi is a ‘Great Leader’ by taking into account the performance of the UPA Government, because ultimately Sonia Gandhi is behind every major decision taken by the government. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is just a puppet (let’s be honest, that’s the truth!).

• The UPA Government’s flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, was launched with much fanfare in August 2005. This is also Sonia Gandhi’s pet project. As chairperson of the National Advisory Committee and the UPA chairperson, she played an important role in making this scheme into a law. A recent audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed that this scheme is riddled with corruption and irregularities.
• One more example is the UPA’s showpiece Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission — meant to provide safe drinking water to villages across the country. Again, a recent audit by the CAG has revealed many examples of corruption, fraud and waste during the implementation of this scheme. The problem with the above mentioned schemes is that they are implemented using the same bureaucratic machinery that has become corrupt and lazy over all these years. Now surely a ‘Great Leader’ should have sorted out those issues. The Congress came to power on the ‘aam aadmi’ plank, but it’s record of implementation of schemes designed for him has been disappointing.
• Talking about foreign policy, the UPA government really botched up the Indo-US nuclear deal. It would have been a great victory for this government (and ultimately for Sonia) if this deal could have been operationalised. But no, the UPA has not been able to convince even it’s allies that the deal is good for India (As for me, I don’t believe that the deal is good for India). This has been a major embarrassment for the government because they have invested a lot of political capital on this deal.

These are just a few arguments to support my view that this blatant sycophancy exhibited by the Congressmen and some people like Mr. Zardari towards Sonia Gandhi is really unfounded. She is at best a very ordinary leader who just happens to be a ‘Gandhi’. Nothing else. Can she be compared to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee? No way. He is a true statesman. He very ably led a coalition government for a full term with little or no hiccups. He provided a stable government at the Centre. On the other hand, this tottering UPA government can be brought down by some Communists who merely support this government from outside.

And yes, taking my point further, I shudder when Rahul Gandhi is projected as the next Prime Minister of India. Is he a political leader at all? What political merit has he shown till now? Nil. His recent statements are a testimony to his political immaturity.

Sample the following statement which he made during campaiging for the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Had the Gandhi family been there in politics (at that time), Babri Masjid demolition would not have taken place.

Extremely immature. Going by that line of thinking, we can safely conclude that had the Gandhi family not been in politics in the 1970s, the Emergency would not have happened. If you ask me, the only reason he is trying to become a politician is because his mommy pushes him to do it. Most of the time, he is either learning how to paraglide or is organizing cricket tournaments.

It seems that the Congress party does not have any other leader who has fought his (or her) way up from the grassroots level, who has proved his (or her) mettle at the national level in politics. And if that is the case, they don’t deserve to be in power, they don’t deserve to get re-elected for another term at the Centre. We certainly can’t afford to have a reluctant politician (or a foreigner) becoming our Prime Minister.

Crossposted on Mutiny.in

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Does Anyone Even Remember Liberhan?

For those who don’t, here’s the dope: The Liberhan Commission was set up in 1993 to probe the circumstances leading to the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6th December 1992. This one-man panel was expected to submit it’s report within three months.

So, what happened later? Well, the Commission today got it’s 44th extension. Imagine, 44th! This whole sham has been going on for 15 years and it has incurred an expenditure of more than Rs 7 crore so far. The term of the Commission will now end on April 3, 2008.

Ironical, isn’t it? Even the secular government currently in power can’t get the job done. A few years down the line, you will be reading that this Commission has got it’s 100th extension. All I want to say is, don’t be surprised when that happens.

Information Source: The Times of India

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No One Is Serious…About The Budget

And why should anyone be serious about it? It’s so boring, isn’t it? All those figures and statistics that are read out in every Budget session induce us into a stupor. We need instant entertainment. And our MPs oblige us. After all, they are our representatives, aren’t they? And they don’t disappoint…

TNN reports,

The longest session of India’s Parliament is traditionally the Budget session, which underlines the importance of the business of getting the legislature to scrutinise the Budget.

In reality, however, Lok Sabha in recent years has spent less and less time discussing the Budget — in fact, it spends much more time interrupting the session.

The result is that year after year an overwhelming majority of the government’s expenditure plans — the demands for grants of the various ministries and governments — have been passed by Lok Sabha with no discussion on them in the House.

The report further says that 95 per cent of the demands for grants are passed without a discussion in the Parliament. And when the demands for grants now total in the region of Rs 18,00,000 crore a year, you get the general idea of the situation, don’t you? But who cares, we get instant entertainment, don’t we? Those shouting matches, those near-scuffles in Parliament when the whole world is seeing, that is what we want. Economics be damned!

As I have already said, the MPs are the representatives of the people. So, the way they are behaving probably showcases the shallowness of the people too. We don’t think anymore. As I am constantly rambling on my blog, we know only one way of protest nowadays: riots, violent bandhs, etc. Gandhiji is forgotten and Satyagraha is passe. It’s not a big surprise then, that this mindset manifests itself in our Parliament, is it?

Update:

The Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee seems to agree with me! Today, he was forced to adjourn the house till noon after opposition MPs gathered near his podium shouting slogans.

As reported by Times of India, this is what he said about the Members of Parliament,

You are all working overtime to finish democracy in this country. It is a matter of great sorrow.

With great sorrow and sadness… I am forced to adjourn the house. Let the country decide what is to be done.

And I can’t agree more with him.

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