Rabble Rousing Random Ramblings

A recipe for disaster and more corruption

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:13:00 +0000

If the extra-constitutional authority called the National Advisory Council has its way, you will only be allowed to serve one dish at any social gathering you organize.

Apparently, this is to control the food wastage in India, since India's hunger situation is rated as "alarming" on the 2010 Global Hunger Index.

The food wastage is a definite issue, but it's stupid to assume that millions of Indians go hungry only because other folks splurge on food during social gatherings like birthdays, weddings, religious rituals, etc. The assumption totally ignores the reality that the food storage & delivery system is so pathetic that food grains rot in godowns, or in transit.

The NAC discussion comes at a great time. Last week, Amit Varma wrote "Corruption is inevitable in India because the government has too much power".

Any mechanism to restrict food intake at social gatherings would just be one more avenue for the government to get unnecessarily involved in our personal lives and increase the scope for bribery to get around the rules.

Do the members of the NAC even realize that a social gathering creates opportunities for so many individuals & groups? Grocery, vegetables, meat and fruit vendors get good business. Cooks are in demand. People are needed to keep the cooking & eating environment clean, and to serve the food. Logistics & transport companies get involved. The food also invariably finds its way to needy & under-privileged people.

If ever this becomes a law, I will break the law.

Beware of governments inviting you for talks

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:45:00 +0000

It may seem like the Indian government has gone out of its way to accommodate the demands of Anna Hazare & co. related to the Jan Lokpal bill.

Did the government really have a choice? It had previously kowtowed to demands for Telangana, reservations for Gujjars, Jats. So we'd have actually been surprised if the government had reacted to Anna Hazare's fast with a show of brutality.

Yet, neither Telangana, nor reservations for Gujjars or Jats, are anywhere near reality as of now. Anna Hazare & co. have probably become yet another entry in the list of groups that have been hoodwinked into a never-ending dialogue.

Did Anna Hazare & co. actually have any choice other than going on a protest? It's tempting to argue that they should work within the system, and seek to enforce change by being part of the political system (i.e. get elected to assemblies / parliament). Those who get elected are invariably tainted, either directly or indirectly, whether it is through tempting voters through hard cash or through completely meaningless manifestos.

But when the system needs a cleansing, it can only be done from outside.

Not with my money - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:57:00 +0000

A couple of years ago, I protested against the campaign to use public funds to get back MK Gandhi's belongings that were about to be auctioned off.

I really love watching cricket, and anyone who knows me can confirm that. I was elated about the World Cup win, and especially the manner in which it was achieved. When Ravi Shastri bellowed into the microphone that the BCCI was announcing cash awards for the players, support staff and the selectors, I felt happy that those who had contributed to the win were being rewarded by their "employer", or whoever they were contracted to. If the Sahara Group had announced a huge cash prize, they would have had to explain to their shareholders anyway.

I have a real problem though when state governments (so far, the union government is silent) bend over backwards to announce cash awards, grants of housing plots, etc. That is my money.

If the government is so keen on being seen as promoter of sport, why shouldn't there be a "National Sporting Achievements Fund" like the "Prime Minister's Relief Fund"? All individuals and groups who are interested in felicitating individuals and teams who excel in various sports can send in their contributions via cheque. As and when there is an individual or team achievement that merits an award, a portion of the fund is used as a reward.

Why can't the money be pooled in and used to construct good quality playgrounds where the a 10 year old, who has just been majorly inspired by the win, can go and play?

As governments get into the realm of competitive largesse, you have to roll on the floor laughing when the Karnataka government, in a moment of extreme philanthrophy, announces residential plots for all the players. This, when not a single member of the squad is from Karnataka, and the only remote connection that the players have with Karnataka cricket is that Zaheer & Virat will be turning out for Royal Challengers, Bangalore in the 2011 edition of the IPL.

Boycott the Delhi Commonwealth Games

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:16:00 +0000

Every news item I read about the Commonwealth Games, scheduled to be held in New Delhi between 3 and 14 October this year, increases my conviction that the event is just a forum for one man, Suresh Kalmadi, to project his power, charisma and organizational ability.

Other than that, there does not seem to be any reason for the existence of the event. On the face of it, that should alone be sufficient reason for everyone to boycott the Commonwealth Games.

But that's not all. The man has made quite a few demands in the last week or so.

He wanted the BCCI to re-schedule the India v Australia test series since it would clash with his pet event.
When that request was rejected, he was brought down to earth, and asked if the BCCI could help him out with a sponsorship worth Rs. 100 crores.
He wants more money from the government (and hence tax-payers, by implication), over Rs. 700 crores to be precise because of various creative budgeting screwups by the organizing committee
He wants New Delhi to undergo a total revamp before the games, and the tax-payer foots the bill.

Purely based on his requests, it seems very obvious that he is totally unconvinced about the commercial viability of his product.

That's why he resorts to these gimmicks. If he was really convinced that the stadia would be ready, the crowds would come to watch at the venues, the quality of the events at the games as well as the telecasts would be of a very high standard, he wouldn't be asking for all this.

This reminds me of the (still existing in some forms) restricted release of non-Kannada movies in Karnataka that started in 2004.

Breaking news: Supreme Court to deliver Bhopal gas disaster judgment in 2084

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 17:58:00 +0000

Yesterday, a local court in Bhopal convicted the 7 accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy case, sent them to jail for 2 years and later gave them bail.

In response to a question at a press briefing on whether there was a formal extradition request for Warren Anderson (the then CEO of Union Carbide), the USA's Department of State said

Well, as you say, Goyal, this tragedy happened 26 years ago, and it was a terrible tragedy, one of the worst industrial accidents in human history, and we certainly hope that the verdict brings some closure to the families of the victims of this tragedy.

But just as we were talking about earlier, last week, we had a strategic dialogue with India. Our countries are closely connected. Our economies are increasingly closely connected. So I certainly would hope that this particular case does not inhibit – or the continuing expansion of economic, cultural, and political ties between our two countries. And I have – we fully expect that this will not be the case.

In other words, we don't give a damn about what you want.

This then presented a wonderful opportunity for the Indian media to go berserk, pointing out 'double standards' by the USA government when it came to the British Petroleum oil spill and the Bhopal gas tragedy.

So, while British Petroleum will be forced to pay up billions of dollars in penalties for the damage caused to the environment & businesses, victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy would get something like Rs. 50,000 each in addition to the pleasure of living with the after-effects of the gas poisoning.

Yet, they're missing a major point.

The US is stalling or denying requests for Warren Anderson's extradition because it wants to protect it's citizen from criminal proceedings in a different jurisdiction.

In contrast, India's governments settled for a compensation of USD 470 million, around 14% of the original claim of USD 3.3 billion. Warren Anderson was let off on bail, and there's no chance he's going to enjoy a holiday at Agra (except in disguise perhaps). It is unknown how many palms (belonging to politicians, investigators, policemen & bureaucrats) were greased.

India's legal system watered down the charges from culpable homicide to criminal negligence. It seems like 'Tort law' is a foreign concept for the Indian judicial system.

It took over a quarter-of-a-century to deliver a verdict, in a local court at that! There's no doubt that both parties will appeal.

I expect that the appeal will reach the Supreme Court by 2050, and a final judgment will be delivered close to midnight on 2 December 2084, commemorating the centenary of the disaster.

When our governments and courts can't protect our citizens, why should we complain if other governments stand up for their citizens, regardless of whether the accused is at fault or not?

National outrage over Queen Elizabeth skipping New Delhi Commonwealth Games

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:14:00 +0000

Why is the media working itself up into a lather over Queen Elizabeth not turning up for the Commonwealth Games?

We shouldn't even be having such an event in the first place. All evidence points to white elephants left for future generations to pay for. We're probably still paying for 1982.

Heck, we don't even need a grouping called the Commonwealth! If you take a look at the list of member countries, by and large, it is a seriously inconsequential list!

Why Mohammad Ajmal Amir should be sentenced to 'saza-e-maut'

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Wed, 05 May 2010 10:58:00 +0000

Mohd. Ajmal Amir (aka Kasab) was found guilty of waging war against India and his sentence will be delivered tomorrow.

The prosecution has argued for the death penalty while the defence has claimed that he was a pawn in the larger scheme of things.

I have no specific views for or against the death penalty, but in this specific instance, India is much better off if he is sentenced to death (section 302 of the IPC) and the sentence carried out in a timely manner.

Imagine if he got life imprisonment and he escaped to Pakistan. Even worse, if there was another terror attack / hostage crisis and the demand was that 'Kasab' should be released in exchange for the hostages.

I don't have too much evidence in terms of previous hostage crises in India, but the 2 instances that come to mind, Rubaiya Sayeed and IC 814, don't inspire any sort of confidence.

In passing, if only the Mumbai suburban railway strike had happened on 26 November 2008!

How the IITs solve India's tertiary education problem

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:22:00 +0000

In early 1993, before I wrote the IIT-JEE exam, I knew that there were around 2000 seats (including IT BHU) up for grabs, with at least 1 lakh students writing the entrance exam. i.e. ~ 2% of the students become eligible for a seat. I didn't make it to the next round only because I had made it very clear in my answer sheet that nothing short of Comp. Sci at IIT Kanpur would be acceptable to me.

I was quite aghast to note that the ratio is still almost the same, with 4.7 lakh students 'fighting' for 10000 seats.

Remember that in 1993, these 2000 seats were spread across 5 IITs (Kharagpur, Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur and Delhi) and IT BHU. To the best of my knowledge, no-one wanted to touch IT-BHU even with a bargepole. They'd take Civil engg. in any of the IITs compared to Comp. Sci or EEE at BHU.

Now, with 10000 seats across 15 IITs (+ IT BHU which still isn't an IIT!), the situation is more likely to be similar. 8 of the 15 IITs were established less than 2 years ago. Isn't there a high chance that a lot of the [top ranking] students who get through the JEE wouldn't really care to even bother about trying for courses at Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Patna, Gandhinagar, Ropar, Jodhpur, Indore and Mandi?

It seems that IITs are primarily around political symbolism. Promising (and occasionally enabling) the creation of an Indian Institute of Technology in the town, city, district or state is one of the best ways to capture votes, especially from the young hopefuls.

In that sense, the political establishments of Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Kerala need to hang their heads in shame for not having a single IIT in their midst. The North East gets the standard token representation in the form of IIT Guwahati.

If only having an IIT in every state solved India's tertiary education problem ...

Mouna Ragam and metamorphosis

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:11:00 +0000

"K TV" telecast 'Mouna Ragam' last week. I love watching it every time it shows up on TV, but unlike some of my other favourites, I don't actually watch it to discover something new all the time. I always do that with say 'Michael Madana Kama Rajan' because I'm absolutely sure that despite having watched it more than 50 times, I will still find something new to laugh about.

I watch 'Mouna Ragam' because I can track a sort of metamorphosis in me.

I may have first seen it when I was 11 or 12 years old, around 6-8 months after it was released in 1986. Despite liking movies, our parents weren't the sort of people who would make it a point to catch all the new movies that showed up in the theatres.

So it is quite possible that we saw it on video tape or when Doordarshan showed it on TV around a year later. Contrast this to today's TV channels that scream out "திரைக்கு வந்து சில மாதங்களே ஆன புத்தம் புதிய திரை படம்" warning viewers that they would be telecasting a movie that 100% of the Tamil movie watching public was blissfully unaware of.

As far as I can remember, the first aspects of 'Mouna Ragam' that blew me away were the frivolous and fun-filled nature of the Karthik-Revathi romance scenes. For evidence, see these clips.

Over the next few years, whenever I saw the movie, I went 'wow!' at Karthik's wooing style and Revathi's cuteness. "If ever there was a way to fall in love and express it, this was it."

I suspect a lot of the [then] young boys and girls who saw it also felt the same way.

Sooner rather than later, the focus gradually shifted from 'falling in love' to the music.

'Mandram vandha thendralukku' and 'Pani vizhum iravu' blew me away, especially the usage of the violin, guitar, flute, trumpet & drums in 'Mandram vandha' and 'Pani vizhum iravu'.

Finally, I settled on the background score, and am tempted to call it the most awesome one ever.

Does MF Husain accepting Qatari citizenship mean India is intolerant?

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:54:00 +0000

Last week, MF Husain revealed that he had been offered Qatari citizenship.

Since then, there has been an avalanche of discussions on news channels, editorials / comment pieces / reader comments in newspapers and on blogs & other social networking sites about whether this meant that those who were responsible for him living in exile for the last 3-4 years have won.

In my opinion, MF Hussain accepting Qatar's offer of citizenship actually proves that when it comes to tolerance, there're few others better than us Indians.

We never objected to him using 'Husain' as his last name. It breaks all spell-checkers. The internationally accepted norms only include Hussain, Hossain and Hussein. In fact, come to think of it, it's quite likely that the spelling has been the main reason for various 'nationalist' groups protesting whenever someone mentions 'MF' and 'Husain' in the same sentence, even when he is actually being abused! A parallel example would be Suzuki opposing RSSLN Bhaskarudu's appointment as the MD of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. in 1997. It was very obvious even then that Suzuki Motor Corporation was primarily concerned over figuring out what his name really was. Even now, nearly 13 years later, no-one seems to know!
India's constitution does not prevent someone from accepting the citizenship of another country. Yes, it does mean that they would cease to be a citizen, but we do provide the option of being called an 'Overseas citizen of India'. If that isn't tolerance, what is?
If MF Husain really thinks that Qatar is likely to be more liberal and tolerant, then good for him! India would have always had the option of sending in the Navy and RAW to kidnap him. But we're far too tolerant to do that!

Is India intolerant? Let's hear a resounding No to that!

Parochialism pays

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:48:00 +0000

The state government does nothing when political party 'leaders' make statements claiming that 'Marathi Manoos' should get priority in jobs, education, toilet queues, buses, etc. in Mumbai. Previous governments did nothing when those leaders successfully managed to get a book on Shivaji banned.

I've never really been a Shahrukh Khan fan except for admiring the way he came into the film industry without any sort of film dynasty background, played anti-hero characters and then moved on and started playing hero roles.

On this occasion though, he has got it spot on. We can always debate on whether Pakistani players were ill-treated at the IPL auction. Yet, his expressing an opinion on the (non)selection of Pakistani players resulted in his patriotism being questioned and threats that movie theatres in Mumbai wouldn't be allowed screen his new movie 'My Name Is Khan'.

What stops the Maharashtra government from jailing Bal Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, Sanjay Raut, and indeed anyone else who threatened violence (or threw up their hands claiming that they couldn't control mobs who protested). Treat them as common criminals or rowdies. They should be thrown in jail without any of the drama around them volunteering arrest, being placed under house arrest, taken into preventive custody or coming out on bail.

How likely is that to happen when it is fairly well established that parochialism pays, and a general culture of intolerance pays really rich dividends?!

Here are 3 examples, over the last 25 years or so:

Congress (I) came to power at the centre despite organizing and implementing the anti-Sikh riots in 1984
The Shiv Sena came to power in Maharashtra a couple of years after organizing and carrying out riots in the aftermath of the demolition of Babri Masjid and the bomb blasts in Bombay
The BJP came to power in Gujarat within a year of the riots of 2002

Selective force-feeding

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:01:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, the UPA government, and the Congress (I) in particular, capitulated to Chandrashekar Rao's fast-unto-death threat and agreed to carve out a Telangana state.

A few questions come to mind:

Would KCR's fast-unto-death qualify as a suicide attempt? Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code says "Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall he punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year [or with fine, or with both]"
If KCR was on a fast-unto-death, what prevented the doctors, the police, or the political administration from force-feeding him?
If Medha Patkar can be forcefully prevented from her fast, why couldn't the government have done the same thing to KCR?
If Irom Sharmila can be force-fed, why couldn't food be shoved down KCR's throat?
In the event that a separate Telengana is created, is this the quid-pro-quo game being played - Congress (I) will get KCR Telangana, and make him CM. Remember that there was absolutely no other way by which KCR could have even hoped to become an Andhra Pradesh CM. In return, KCR would join the UPA government

Yet, even as the government buckled in and chose not to force-feed KCR, Aruna Shanbaug continues to be force-fed and cannot die with dignity. Read more about her.

Does a Telangana state make sense?

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:51:00 +0000

Telengana Rashtra Samiti chief Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao is currently on a 'fast unto death' over the demand to grant statehood to Telengana. The 'fight' for a separate Telangana state is around 40 years old now.

KC Rao's stand over Telangana is not new either, and 3 years ago, he staged a resignation drama.

In general, I am in favour of smaller states, but with a few conditions.

The new area must have a culture that is distinguishable from the region that it is 'seceding' from.
The carved out area must have a population sufficient enough to warrant a legislature with at least 100-120 seats.
The ratio between the population and the number of direct representatives (MLAs) must not be less than 2 lakhs. i.e. 1 MLA for every 2 lakh people in the 'new state'.
No blackmail and no violence under the garb of "people's sentiments" etc.

The reasoning behind #1 is understandable. #2 and #3 perhaps need some more explanation and context. The smaller the legislature, the greater the impact of a handful of MLAs switching sides. For evidence, see the charade that happens in Goa, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, etc. every year or so where CMs are upstaged or get to the post with no real political backing, MLAs switch recklessly bringing down governments, etc.

One of the main arguments quoted by those in favour of creating a new state is the fact that 'fruits of development' haven't even reached their areas. The rest of the state enjoys the benefits while they are poor, unemployed, landless and humiliated. With huge states, and a pathetic governance & administration system, it is but natural that some people and areas benefit at the cost of others. But if the newly created state was too small, then it loses out on the benefits that economy of scale provides. Overall cultivable land, land available for industries, resources such as electricity & water etc. may not be sufficient & efficient enough given the smaller scale. In addition, higher administrative overheads (government staff, for example) could drag down efficiency even further.

Overall, most state capitals in India are located almost near the borders. See this political map. Srinagar, Jammu, Shimla, Dehradun, Gangtok, Itanagar, Dispur, Kohima, Agartala, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Mumbai, Panaji, Bangalore, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. Sometimes it is a function of the central parts of the state being uninhabitable. Sometimes it is due to historical and legacy reasons. But the fact does remain that the centre of administration in most states is far away (geographically and metaphorically) from the bulk of the people.

I compared the populations and number of MLAs for a few Indian states (high population, medium-sized population and low population) and the results indicate that a population per MLA ratio of around 2 lakhs to 3 lakhs is an acceptable number. States with values below 2 lakhs tend to be really tiny, and have less than 100 MLAs thereby increasing the risk of unstable governments. All the data is sourced from Wikipedia articles.

State	Population (000s)	MLAs	Ratio (000s)
Uttar Pradesh	190891	403	473
Maharashtra	96752	277	336
Bihar	82998	243	341
West Bengal	80221	295	272
Andhra Pradesh	76210	294	259
Tamil Nadu	66396	234	284
Orissa	36706	147	250
Kerala	31948	141	226
Jharkhand	26900	81	332
Assam	26655	126	212
Punjab	24289	117	206
Haryana	21082	90	234
Chhattisgarh	20800	90	231
Uttarakhand	8500	70	121
Meghalaya	2306	60	38
Goa	1400	40	35
Arunachal Pradesh	1091	60	18
Mizoram	888	40	22
Sikkim	540	32	17

Notice that the north-east states (except Assam) prominently have very small ratios, and ridiculously small legislative assemblies. Yet, given they are all culturally so different from each other, it would not make any sense to consider them as one big unit.

Now lets consider the Telangana demand. It is claimed that the population of a new Telangana state would be around 30 million (3 crores). So it would come into the 'mid-sized state' category, similar to Kerala, Orissa, etc. In itself, that means it won't be a tiny dot on the map. But there's also a need to have a functioning legislature and a stable government. Will that be possible, especially given how K Chandrashekar Rao, even when in power, launches agitations at the drop of a hat, especially if it seems like his popularity is waning?

If Telangana (land of the Telugus) was created as an outcome of a fast, it would perhaps be an ironical (or apt, perhaps?) situation for Andhra Pradesh and an apt tribute to Potti Sreeramulu, whose death (in Dec 1952) after a fast resulted in AP being created out of the Madras Presidency in 1953.

What next? Syed Ali Geelani going on a fast demanding Kashmir as a separate state? What about Vidarbha? Who will volunteer for that fast? Random farmers or P Sainath?

Thumbi vaa to Gumm summ gumm

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:10:00 +0000

This is a sort of update to my longish post on my Facebook account early February in relation to 'Thumbi vaa', 'Sangathil paadadha kavidhai', etc.

A new Hindi movie, Paa, scheduled to release sometime next month, has Amitabh Bachchan, born with a progeria condition, playing Abhishek Bacchan and Vidya Balan's son. The movie is directed by Balki, who made the extremely enjoyable 'Cheeni Kum' a couple of years ago. The music, as was the case with 'Cheeni Kum', is by Ilayaraja, a perennial favourite of mine.

As with Cheeni Kum, mottai has liberally used / borrowed from tunes he had previously created 'down South'. "Mudi mudi", especially the starting bit, sounds very familiar to a humming I've heard him do at a concert shown on TV. The song, if I remember right, starts off with something like 'Paada cholladhum paatu dhaan'. 'Halke se bole' is 'Puttham pudhu kaalai' from Alaigal Oivathillai.

The interesting part about this album is how he has re-introduced, in Hindi, 'Monday tho' (Aur Ek Prem Kahani - 1996) as 'Gumm summ gumm'.

The tune, by itself, has a fair amount of history. The tune first showed up as 'Thumbi vaa' in Olangal (a Malayalam movie *ing Amol Palekar & Poornima Jayaram, which was remade by Shekhar Kapoor as Masoom). The music was by Ilayaraja.

Olangal got dubbed into Tamil (not sure what that movie was called). So there was a Tamil version of "Thumbi vaa". Later that year, the same tune was used for Aakasam enaatido in 'Nireekshana', a Telugu movie *ing Archana.

Nireekshana was dubbed into Tamil at some point of time, and we got "Neer veezhchi thee mootudhe" (I haven't found a video online). "Auto Raja" (*ing Gabtun) was made sometime in 1983. Auto Raja's music was scored by the Shankar-Ganesh pairing. But the director got Ilayaraja to create 'Sangathil paadadha kavidhai', a song that you watch at your own risk.

A couple of years later, Balu Mahendra remade his first ever movie (Kokila, a Kannada movie *ing Kamal Hassan) as "Aur Ek Prem Kahani" (*ing Ramesh Arvind, Heera & Revathi). That movie had the 'Monday tho' song in it!

Maybe 10 years later, the same tune would have travelled across half-a-dozen more Indian languages, and we'd see a Malayalam version of the original!

Update on 25 June: I located what I believed to be the original of "Mudi Mudi" - Paada pirandhadhu paatu dhaan.

How the collective wisdom of our leaders gets exhibited

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:47:00 +0000

In the past 2-3 weeks alone, there've been 3 instances where the wisdom of our political leaders has been exhibited in all its glory.

DMK demands that Sri Lankan Tamil refugees be made permanent residents of India.
Spend nearly Rs. 10 crores to sterilize 70% of all stray dogs in Delhi ahead of the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Karnataka government decides that the best way to send out an environment-conscious message is to force auto-rickshaw owners to paint their autos green!

Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq must be elated that his tradition continues.

An austerity suggestion for the Indian government

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:46:00 +0000

There's a well-publicized 'austerity' drive initiated by the government of India, and it involves having ministers travel economy class by air and third a/c by train.

Now, there are no well-publicized target figures on how much the government aims to save through these acts. It's perhaps too naive to believe that ministers will continue to chant about austerity once the economy is on a recovery path. It's odd that a government which engages elite security personnel, at the tax-payer's cost, to protect two-bit politicians, talks about cost-cutting measures.

In any case, cost-cutting, like charity, does begin at home. There is a much easier way to cut costs. Governments, and this one is no exception, have a very useful employment programme to accomodate 'senior' politicians and those from parties that have enough seats to impact the functioning of the government (including through toppling it). It's called the National Politician Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Take a look at the list of ministries - those headed by Cabinet Ministers and those headed by Ministers of State with independent charge.

Here are some ministries that really shouldn't even exist.

Ministry of Culture (currently held by the PM) - Why do we need the government to handle 'culture'? Is there something that can be defined as Indian culture? Besides, even if we do need that ministry, why isn't it part of the Ministry of Tourism? That's what it's typically been part of!
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting - Why should the government be in the 'business' of Information & Broadcasting?
Either "Ministry of Urban Development" or "Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation" - Is the minister in charge of Urban Development not supposed to bother about alleviating poverty in urban India, or is (s)he expected to aggravate poverty in those regions?
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports - Why is the government involved with affairs of the youth? Why does a 73-year old head a ministry dedicated to the youth? Did someone mistake MS Gill for KPS Gill, hoping that by moving him out of the IHF, India's hockey would improve?
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment - Are the rest of the ministries not supposed to bother about social justice and empowering those who fall under the umbrella of social justice?
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation - By its own admission, the ministry facilitates, collects, promotes & co-ordinates data gathering & dissemination across multiple ministries. Why do we need a separate ministry for this? Why do we need a ministry for programme implementation? Are the other ministries expected to just come up with grandiose plans and not implement them?
Ministry of Minority Affairs - What minority does this ministry take care of? Linguistic minorities? Religious minorities? Sexual minorities? Women, considering an adverse sex ratio? Social minorities? Educational minorities? Would Biharis in Mumbai constitute a minority (perhaps not, according to Raj Thackeray!) that needs to be taken care of? What about Sikhs - they'd be a minority in India, but a majority in Punjab? What about men in Kerala (1058 females for every 1000 males as per the 2001 census)? Why isn't it the Home Ministry's job to take care of minorities (across whatever parameters)?

Imagine if these ministries were eliminated. There's a fair amount of money to be saved on security, buildings, staff, perks, salaries, allowances, corruption, etc.

Delhi-∞

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:07:00 +0000

A few days ago, I read a news report in 'The Hindu' about serious differences between India's defence forces and various other agencies, including the Urban Development Ministry, over construction of a dedicated war memorial for Indian soldiers.

Keep in mind that India Gate was built to commemorate martyrs of the British Indian Army. So really there's no memorial to honour soldiers who died fighting for independent India. The difference of opinion essentially centres around where the monument should be located.

The first thing that struck me after reading the report was why everyone was assuming that the monument needed to be in Delhi in the first place! It's not as though a majority of the martyrs were born in Delhi. Why couldn't the memorial be constructed in any other place in India? What's the need to be so Delhi-centric.

It's certainly not something new. With a few exceptions (the only two that come to mind are the Calcutta Metro and the frequency with which Delhi hosts international cricket), most events are Delhi-centric. Television in India started off in Delhi. The only 2 Asian Games in India (the inaugural one in 1951 & the 1982 one) have been held in Delhi. Ceremonies & parades during Independence day & Republic day are always held only in Delhi. In the last decade, India has played 11 Davis Cup ties at home, and 6 of these have been in Delhi when there are [probably] much better venues at other places, including Chennai & Bangalore.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games is in Delhi, and I shudder to think of infrastructure lying waste like it was after 1982. The first Formula One Grand Prix race in India will be in Delhi in 2011. India's venue proposed for the 2020 Olympics is Delhi.

Why can't we spread the love? Why should the Supreme Court only be in Delhi? Why should the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha sessions only be held in Delhi?

That said, sometimes it is useful. Imagine if, as an extension of this extreme Delhi-focus, the netas and the babus insisted on INS Arihant being rolled out from Delhi on the grounds that the submarine could go take a dip in the Yamuna!

China's national newspaper took a while, didn't it?

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:31:00 +0000

A week ago, fierce riots erupted in Urumqi (or Urumchi or however you want to pronounce it), forcing Hu Jintao to return home from the G8 summit in Italy. Perhaps the President wasn't too sure if the various administrative, governance, police & riot control mechanisms would work. Or maybe he just wanted to send a strong message across ...

In any case, I kept monitoring "The Hindu"'s editorial section for any mention of the rioting, including the events that led to the rioting involving Uighurs and Han Chinese, the Chinese government's response, etc. But of course, there was no word. Maybe the text of the editorial had been sent to the Chinese government for approval and they were too busy dealing with the problem on hand - just as it happened in March 2008 when there was rioting in Tibet.

Then again, I really didn't expect a mouthpiece to do much better than publish [perhaps verbatim] what the Chinese Embassy's Press Officer had to say.

Interestingly enough, there is a Pakistani angle to this as well. The Xinjiang province (of which Urumqi is the capital) borders Afghanistan & Pakistan. Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other Pakistan-based terror organizations have provided training to Uyghur organizations which have been opposing the Chinese government's policies in Xinjiang, including the mass influx of Han Chinese in the area. Further, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported that in 2001, thousands of Uighurs were trained and recruited by the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in order to fight in Kashmir.

China has, for a while now, been stepping up pressure on Pakistan to do something about the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement and Eastern Turkestan Liberation Organization and had in fact sent Pakistan a list of terrorists from those organizations that it wanted to be investigated & prosecuted.

Perhaps some Pakistani government officer, who saw the words 'list', 'investigate', 'prosecute' & 'terrorism', thought that this was in fact India's list of 20, and immediately forwarded it to the department head with the note 'Most urgent' where it sat collecting dust until Asif Ali Zardari got a polite call from Hu Jintao last week.

Can North Korea withdraw from the United Nations?

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:14:00 +0000

Over the weekend, North Korea launched missile tests with the aim of sending out a message to the USA, Japan and South Korea. The United Nations Security Council promptly condemned the tests but there hasn't yet been any threat of sanctions, etc.

In 2003, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and in 2006, announced that it had conducted a nuclear test.

It is quite well known that China comes to North Korea's aid everytime Pyongyang shoots itself in the foot. There probably are economic sanctions imposed against North Korea under UN rules. So if North Korea withdraws from the United Nations, would the sanctions apply any longer? If North Korea had been receiving aid under some UN programme, that aid would be cancelled. But again, surely China would help out in some way or the other.

But the larger question is "Does a country have the right to withdraw from the UN treaty?" According to the entry on Wikipedia, there is no such provision.

But really what stops any country from doing so? Articles 3 and 4 of Chapter II of the UN charter only reference the original member states and how membership of the UN is open to "all other peace-loving states" which accept the obligations etc. etc. So if North Korea declared that it was not a peace-loving state, is that reason enough to withdraw from the UN?

Too early to cheer for 'queer'?

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:15:00 +0000

Yesterday, in a judgment that undoubtedly was significant, the Delhi High Court de-criminalized consensual sexual acts of adults in private

We declare that Section 377 IPC, insofar it criminalises
consensual sexual acts of adults in private, is violative of Articles 21, 14 and 15 of the Constitution.
The provisions of Section 377 IPC will continue to govern non-consensual penile non-vaginal sex and penile non-vaginal sex involving minors.

There are two implications from this ruling:

Homosexual acts between consenting adults are no longer criminal acts and the parties involved cannot be booked under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
Non-vaginal sex (oral, anal, masturbation, etc.) is also not criminal as long as it is between consenting adults.

However, these are early days. For starters, the judgment was passed by the Delhi High Court, whose jurisdiction is probably restricted to Delhi, or at most the NCR area. However, since this is a situation where the constitutional validity of a specific section in the Indian Penal Code was struck down, the implications should be applicable to all parts of India provided that no other court in India has a contrary view. However, there's nothing that currently stops other High Courts from a contrary view, assuming that petitions against Sec 377 are in existence in other courts.

The decision could still be appealed in the Supreme Court. The government could in all likelihood not appeal against the decision. However, when morons and mobs belonging to various 'religious' and 'cultural' groups/political parties decide to take matters into their own hands as part of protesting in the name of "Indian culture and values", and if the judiciary asks the government what it's going to do to stop the violence, the government could easily point out that this was all because of the court's decision taken without factoring in the implications.

Further, all that the judgment does is to de-criminalize private homosexual activity between consenting adults. Does that necessarily make it legal? For e.g., "Not guilty" doesn't mean "innocent".

The last word on this is probably a few years away. Was it Lao-Tzu or Confucious who said "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"?

Why call it queer?

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:29:00 +0000

Over the past 3-4 days, there've been multiple reports in Bangalore's newspapers about the Karnataka Queer Habba where individuals & organizations associated with homosexuality, sexual minorities, rights of sex-workers and sexual minorities will conduct various activities, including cricket matches, pride marches, discussions, film & theatre shows, etc.

I totally support everyone's right to indulge in consensual (informed consent, to use the legal term) sexual behaviour, regardless of whether it is homosexual, heterosexual or bisexual, assuming that both parties are also aware of the risks associated.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) related to 'Unnatural offences' makes no sense. It says

377. Unnatural offences
Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man,
woman or animal, shall be punished with 152[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.

Explanation- Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary
to the offence described in this section.

Interestingly it doesn't refer to carnal intercourse with plants. Why doesn't the law cover those? Is sex with plants not against the order of nature?

Being a homosexual, heterosexual, transsexual, etc. is an individual preference. To me, it's like choosing to be a vegetarian or non-vegetarian or choosing to be associated with a specific religion, sect or sub-sect. No-one, and really no-one, has a right to question your choice, especially on moral or social grounds.

It's not about whether homosexuality in humans is deviant behaviour or not. Using the known existence of homosexuality in animals to argue that homosexuality in humans is nothing to be surprised about is a dangerous line. After all, we find cannibalism and filicidal behaviour in animals as well. I'm not aware of too many people who'd support humans exhibiting such behaviour.

However, what I do find odd is the word 'queer' being used by the very people associated with the LGBT movement. 'Queer' has negative connotations and the synonyms associated would be "funny, odd, peculiar, unusual, strange".

Surely, if the LGBT movement really wants to ensure that those associated with it are treated normally, the one thing they could think about doing is to not call themselves 'queer' any more!

Farce and symbolism

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:13:00 +0000

Meira Kumar's election/nomination as speaker of the Lok Sabha has so much farce and symbolism around it.

For starters, what exactly transpired in the 9 days between the time she was included in the ministry as the Water Resources minister and her resignation being accepted by the president? Surely, it wasn't as though her latent talent for being a presiding officer of the Lok Sabha (to conduct business, moderate debates, announce voting results, pull up MPs who're misbehaving, etc.) suddenly exhibited itself in those 9 days.

Or did Manmohan Singh realize that she'd make a pathetic minister? If so, why didn't that realization dawn during the 5 years that she was a Cabinet Minister for "Social Justice & Empowerment" and insisted that it was the duty of corporates to agree to and implement the UPA's agenda for social justice?

Maybe, just maybe, Manmohan found out that he had to accomodate an ally in the ministry. So he moved Meira Kumar to the role of speaker.

So now India has a woman president, a Sikh PM (twice), a Muslim Vice President, a Dalit woman as the Lok Sabha speaker and a woman as the deputy leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha.

For starters, I guess this automatically means that there will no longer be any atrocities on Dalits, women and, in particular, Dalit women in India. Now that isn't a bad thing, is it?

"Please sir, I want some more"

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:37:00 +0000

After an unexpectedly resounding win in the 2009 general election, the UPA and its post-poll allies are now in the business of government formation.

Having secured 206 seats, the Congress (I) reckons that it can't be pushed around as it was in 2004. So it is a little more aggressive when it comes to doling out ministries.

Its older allies, who've so far been used to having their way for the last 5 years, now find that the Congress (I) suddenly is talking to them in a different tone, minus the deference of the last five years.

It seems to have turned down a demand for 7 ministries by the DMK, causing the DMK to announce that it would not join the government but only provide outside support.

There can be at most 81 ministers. This is because the NDA government, in 2003, passed an amendment (the 91st amendment), which restricts the total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister, to not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the lower House (Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly).

The ministry size, including PM Manmohan Singh, must at most be 81, since 15% of 543 is 81.45 and the Supreme Court, a month ago, ruled that the Punjab government cabinet was in accordance with the limit based on the fact that the number being rounded off depending on whether the fraction was < 0.5 or >= 0.5.

The UPA has the support of 274 members [Congress (I) - 206, Trinamool Congress - 19, DMK - 18, NCP - 9, JKNC - 3, JMM - 2, IUML - 2, KC (Mani) - 1, AIMIM - 1 and VCK - 1) with 51 MPs from other parties [SP - 23, BSP - 21, RJD - 4 & LJP - 3] providing outside support.

Working out the proportion of seats each of the pre-poll and post-poll partners in the UPA has (out of 274), we get (numbers rounded-off to 1 decimal place) 75.2% for the Congress (I), 6.9% for the Trinamool, 6.6% for the DMK, 3.3% for the NCP, 1.8% for the RLD, 1.1% for the National Conference, 0.7% for the JMM & IUML, 0.4% for the KC (Mani), AIMIM & VCK and 2.6% for independents. This translates to (when multiplied by 81 and rounded down) 61 ministers from the Congress (I), 6 from the TMC, 5 from the DMK, 3 from the NCP, 2 from independents and 1 each for the NC, JMM, RLD & AIMIM.

The DMK really isn't justified asking for 7 slots in the ministry (3 of them just happen to be Karunanidhi's relatives - children Kanimozhi & Azhagiri and grand-nephew Dayanidhi Maran) when it only has 18 seats. It needed to have got something like 23-25 seats to demand 7 ministries, mainly because the Congress (I) is calling the shots now.

The government is safe in the Rajya Sabha too, since it has the support of 115 MPs. There are 245 seats, but 2 are vacant currently and a further 12 seats will be vacated due to Rajya Sabha MPs getting elected to the Lok Sabha.

I don't really see a need for the Congress (I) to keep entertaining Karunanidhi. He's going to be more pissed off than ever now, since his dear friend is probably dead and the organization he actively supports despite it being banned & declared a terrorist organization by multiple governments in the last 18 years, to which he was party to [except the Narasimha Rao (1991) and Vajpayee governments (1996 & 1998)]. He can go and tie up with the Third Front. The Samajwadi Party can always be co-opted in, especially given they're so eager to support the government so that Mayawati's UP government can be dismissed.

For what its worth, the outgoing Cabinet seems to have a strength of 75 (from the Cabinet Secretariat site) or 77 (from the Wikipedia entry).

The 2009 Indian election

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Over the next few hours, the results of the election for the 15th Lok Sabha will start coming in. As it is, parties have started negotiations with each other on who will cross-over and at what price.

Then there's the charade of parties potentially abstaining during the vote of confidence so that the majority mark needed reduces, as was considered likely last year in July. That is downright unfair and wrong. The government should have a majority in the house that has been elected. It has to get the support of 272 members of the Lok Sabha.

Unless the BJP and its allies has something like 220-230 seats, I'd find it extremely unlikely that it will form the government. The third and fourth fronts will eventually gravitate to the Congress (I). But, current allies could be cast aside in the pursuit of seats.

The Congress (I) would be more than willing to let go of the Trinamool Congress if they're able to convince the Left parties (and other significant constituents of the 3rd front) into supporting them. The Congress (I) would also be happy to let go of the DMK if the AIADMK gets more seats. In any case, even the DMK is probably thinking along the lines of moving into the 3rd front if the Congress (I) and existing allies say get below 200 seats. The Congress (I) shouldn't find it too hard to wean away Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal from the third front. Of course, the BJD could still go back to the BJP, but given they walked out just before the elections, it is unlikely. The Congress (I) should get the support of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

The BJP would probably be willing to talk to the Samajwadi Party because I'm sure the SP is a "more reliable" (to use a relative term) partner in comparison to the Bahujan Samaj Party. Besides, Mayawati would undoubtedly demand the deputy PM post. In any case, Kalyan Singh has already been co-opted into the SP. I don't think the Janata Dal (United) [isn't that an oxymoron?] will stick with the NDA. In the Bihar Assembly, the JD (U) has 86 seats, the BJP has 54, the RJD has 53 and the Congress (I) has 9. If the JD (U) goes with the Congress (I), the BJP will withdraw support and the JD (U) will have to find around 50-odd seats from somewhere. Given that Lalu isn't going to prop up a Nitish Kumar government, it'd be a very stupid self-goal. The Telugu Desam Party is more likely to ally with the BJP since it was part of the NDA government and is opposed to the Congress (I) in the state for which assembly elections were just held. Of course, nothing stops parties from being bitter rivals in the assembly and allies in Parliament. Cases in point: Communists & Congress (I) in Bengal & Kerala and the PMK & DMK in Tamil Nadu.

Mayawati's BSP is still a big question mark. The SP and BSP can't be on the same side [a bit like the Congress (I) & BJP nation-wide and the DMK & AIADMK in TN]. Mayawati's Prime Ministerial ambitions would make anyone wary of doing business with her.

Ramadoss' PMK will be on the winning side. That's for sure.

Anti-BJPism seems to be the flavour of the day. That concept provides a forum for the unlikely alliances such as those including the Congress (I), SP, Left parties, DMK, National Conference, RJD, LJP, etc.

Until around the mid-1990s, the main theme in Indian politics was anti-Congressism. This was mainly because of the long timeframe for which the party had monopolized power at the centre and its penchant for dismissing state governments for blatantly opportunistic reasons. The Bofors controversy brought together so many parties in 1989 to form the National Front government headed by VP Singh (whose death was pretty much anonymous given that he died a few hours after the terror attacks on Mumbai started). In fact, the BJP supported the government from outside! All this when the Congress (I) had got 195-odd seats and was the single largest party. Anti-Congressism was so strong. I guess the vehement opposition to the Congress (I) lasted for around 4-5 years.

By then, the BJP was completely in its Hindutva mode, having destroyed the Babri Masjid (but of course, they'd like you to believe that they merely touched it and the structure was so flimsy it just collapsed). After that, the 1993 bomb blasts and riots happened. From that point onwards, the BJP became a party that very few others were ready to do business with. It took the BJP around 5-6 years to get some credibility and that was mainly because of the political instability between 1996 & 1999 as well as the projection of Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the BJP's head.

But just like anti-Congressism has died out, will anti-BJPism also die out soon?

Having followed multiple elections over the past couple of decades now, I believe the following electoral reforms are needed:

A candidate cannot contest for more than 1 seat - Currently, I don't think there's a limit. As a result, if the candidate is elected from multiple seats, he retains one seat, resigns from the others and there's a by-election at the tax-payer's expense
A candidate who is a current member of the Legislative Assembly cannot contest Lok Sabha seat, and vice versa - This is again to prevent the expenses associated with an unnecessary by-election to the seat that is being given up after a successful election to the other house
A candidate who has lost in the previous 2 Lok Sabha/Assembly elections cannot contest - It is so painfully obvious that the voters, regardless of constituency, have rejected the candidate
A candidate who has lost in the previous Lok Sabha election cannot be nominated to Rajya Sabha - This is to prevent backdoor entry into Parliament, and into the ministry for someone who was rejected by voters, as has happened in the last Lok Sabha election with Shivraj Patil and Arjun Singh
A legislator who has resigned their Assembly/Lok Sabha seat cannot contest in any election for any house (assembly or Lok Sabha) until the tenure of the house ends - While the by-election is required, the candidate who has resigned needs to pay a political price
Only Lok Sabha members should be allowed to become prime ministers - The Prime Minister represents the nation. The Lok Sabha election is a more direct election compared to the Rajya Sabha election. A Prime Minister from the Rajya Sabha doesn't necessarily reflect the country's voters.
Close relatives (blood or through marriage - including spouse, children, siblings, spouse's siblings/parents, siblings's children, grand-children, etc.) of a candidate cannot contest an election to Parliament (Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha) or the state legislatures (Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council) for a period of 5 years after the candidate has contested an election for any of the legislative bodies. So, since (for e.g.) Lalu Prasad Yadav contested the 2009 LS elections, his close relatives (as defined above) cannot contest any elections (to Parliament or state legislatures) until 2014. They are free to contest elections to municipal bodies, Zilla Parishads, panchayats, etc.
Election promises and manifestos should be filed as affidavits - This is to ensure adherence to the promises, force parties to under-promise and reduce the impact of ridiculous promises on the voters
The multiple inaccuracies in voter rolls and photo ID cards need to be corrected - Why is it so tough for whoever is entering the records to type out exactly what's there in the application form? Why does "Jagadish" on the application form become "Jagadeesh" in the voter roll? I'm not sure about the percentages, but I dare say that that the something like 5-10% of those who turn up to vote aren't allowed to do so because their names aren't found in the rolls or because the names don't match or because the photo ID says they're male when they're obviously not

And then there were none

noreply@blogger.com (Jagadish) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:18:00 +0000

Four months ago, almost to the date, I had two grand-fathers.

Today, all of a sudden, I'm left with none. It's not like it's a big deal, considering there're a lot of folks who're abandoned by parent(s) or whose grandparents weren't alive when they were born or ... you get the drift.

But it is a little unnerving to think of it.

The toughest part in reconciling with death is when you think of the good times.

I'd attribute most of my interest in reading and drawing to my maternal grandfather who passed away around a couple of hours ago. In fact, I'd probably attribute most of what I learnt during my childhood to him, especially when it came to inculcating a spirit of inquisitiveness and keenness to explore further. If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't be as interested in etymology, astronomy, evolution or paleontology (among others).

To think of it, I saw him just 2 days ago. He wasn't exactly hale and hearty. We all knew the end was near.

But that's the deal with death - it always is sudden. Taxes are most often not!