Str8 Talk

Youth in Politics

2010-03-27T16:02:00.003Z

Q: Why should the young engage with politics?

In my view there are three main reasons why we need youth to engage with Politics
a. Politics is a medium and a platform which makes decisions that have an ever lasting impact on the society at large – the decision making would become skewed if youth are not part of the decision making process
b. Political decision making at times is a thankless job – in my observation all politicians start with being idealists but soon grow out of it – younger generation have infectious attributes such as “idealism, passion, energy, mind to dream without any restrictions and un cluttered “ which would act as check and balance to the rest of the political class
c. Most importantly young India needs a young shoulder to carry the responsibility of steering India in this 21st century – how long can we rely on Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, L K Advani, Sharad Pawar, Mulayam, Lalu, Mayawati, Karunanidhi, H D Devegowda and others….Is it not time to give them some well deserved rest for all the hard work they have put in the last 4 decades.

Q: Why is such an engagement important?

If we accept the importance of politics and its impact then – for a young country like India – why is there a lack of quality in efficient and effective political leadership?

Youth of India form the largest block of population – if this block is not engaged in political process – how can one steer young India in this 21st century?

Need for continuity of efficient and effective political decision making - Founding fathers of India very young when they engaged with the freedom movement and after independence they provided an environment of democracy to flourish and the current set of political leadership were young when they came one board to steer India through the last 3 decades. It is time for a new set of youngsters to gain experience and eventually graduate to the helm of the political process.

Q: If they do wish to engage, what are the various ways in which this engagement can happen?

First and the fundemental step of enagegement is to participate in the political process, by registering to vote and to turn up at elections time to vote (hopefully for the candidate who presents a vision and can carry your views along to the highest decision making process!!)

Secondly - awareness of political decisions and their potential impact on the society at large. This process needs to pro-active rather thean being reactive and or being an arm chair critic!!

Thirdly contribute to the political process, either by entering active politics or by enabling a political checks and balance which can be acheived through NGOs, RTI, Sefl help groups, media etc...

Lastly dream and dream big for the bettermet of the sociecty, dont forget you are part of the society, if you dont help and do your bit, one has no right to expect as well!!

Q: What options are available to get involved?

If one needs to enter active politics then enter one of the established political parties as a volunteer, member and grow up the ladder (this is like any other profession, you need to work hard to get promoted. Can't expect on the back of ones qualification to get a party post which is powerful, it is wrong to expect as well without any contribution. But if you do get the chance then take it, becuase it is important to be part of the decision making process to bring about a change or make the voice heard).

For those who don't want to enter ative politics and yet be part of the political process then join think tanks, NGOs, self help groups, pick up issues help each other to promote address grivienaces and needs that the government has overlooked (i am debiberate in not trying to sound negative). The theme of such involvement should to to enable greater participation of society in political process, and to understand people are the real power behind the political leadership!!

Q: What are the positives & negatives of youth getting interested or engaging in politics?

Defition of Youth for the matter of discussion - anyone in the age group of 18-40yrs and those with an intent and the drive to serve the society and shoulder the responsibility of steering the country in this 21st century.

Positivies - uncluttered mind filled with idealism, passion and willingness to work hard!!

Negatives (though not really a negative) - expect change instantly!!

Questions ... that trouble me when there is a new act of terror perpetuated on India

2010-02-17T15:33:00.002Z

Firstly my condolences to those families who have suffered the loss.

As Shantanu suggests in his blog post
http://satyameva-jayate.org/2010/02/14/thoughts-on-pune/

there are more questions with less answers, unfortunately this is the status of our intelligence machinery. India does not have or atleast it is yet to demonstrate having a strategy to collect intelligence and analyse them routinely and flag up potential alerts. This is precisely why NSA needs to be re-structured and so does our Home Ministry (Read into Chidambaram’s proposal).

I have few questions which keeps rattling me whenever there is a terror attack:

1. How can LeT and other terror organisations recruit locals to do this act? Or Why is that we are seeing increasing local links to terror activities?

2. Withour blaming any organisations in India who are good at whipping the sentiments of the people one way or the other on religious lines – is it not time for Indians to show they have no place in politics? What surprised me was on NDTV i heard one of the senior ministers from Pak indicating that there are elements like Shiv Sena, Bhagaranj Dal and others who dont want peace in the region and equating them to LeT and other terror organisations. I guess political parties need to be more careful when they make comments. I would even question the timing of Digvijay Singh’s trip to Azamgargh (though well defened by Mani Shankar Aiyer on Friday night’s 9pm NDTV news).

3. Indian Muslims, now need to question themselves how increasingly their youths are beign drafted and attracted towards extremist elements. Need to look internally on the factors that turn just a handful of muslim youths to take to terror activities.
Caveat: I am not questioning the Indian muslims integrity, neither am i questioning their patriotism, but purely asking whay is such a trend?

4. Is there a meaningful way with which we can bring international pressure on Pak, given that Pakistan is perceived to be very crucial link to solve Afghan issues?

5. Should India unilaterally and proactively govern its North, North Western borders?

India decides on Congress led UPA

2009-05-16T15:08:00.005+01:00

India decides on Congress led UPA – is it a default, surprise or strategy?

Knowing very well, this post is a tad too early; the largest democracy of the world has thrown up very decisive results for Congress and its allies. These results are particularly sweet for Congress and its first family. They had a lot of personal stakes in these elections. State after state the Congress party had to get accustomed to coming of Rahul Gandhi. Be is going alone in Bihar & UP, Punjab candidates list, being projected as the main campaigner of the Congress.

People of India have voted for stability in these tough economic and security related environment. A point which should not be missed out is results are now moving away from the multi party poll pori to a bi-polar polarity around Congress and BJP.

These results are a surprise even to Congress party; they were confident that they would be a single largest block but never expected such a decisive mandate not just for the party but also for the Congress first family. With all the caveats that the Congress led UPA might and will fall short of simple majority, it is still a massive victory for Congress and its allies.

The writing was there for BJP and more importantly Left parties who wanted to do back seat driving by forming the 3rd front government. The following reasons in my opinion led to Congress victory:

1. BJP’s short sighted attempt to make this election a presidential form of election and by making personal remarks on Dr Singh calling him a “nikhama” and weak Prime Minister
Indian has answered convincingly that Dr.Singh’s contribution to India in the last 20yrs has been leaps and bounds compared to any other political and non political person. The underlying current here that I picked up from NTDV is Congress has got better support from urban India, which was more a BJP constituency. This is again to do with Dr. Singh’s projection as PM. What is also important to understand is, there is a clear line of responsibility between Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Singh that of strengthening the party and running the government.
2. RTI, NREGA have been a massive hit in those states where it has been utilized properly
It is to the credit of the Congress party and its mangers for driving hard the point that these were their policies. In short a better marketing and branding exercise
3. The 3rd front myth has been busted
Be it in Bengal, Kerala, UP, Bihar – people have gone for National parties or national alliances and it’s a matter of coincidence that Congress and its allies have made the most of this. Especially the sweep in Kerala and West Bengal West Bengal can itself be a very interesting case to discuss, may b later though.
4. Rahul Gandhi being the youth icon
Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Omar Abddulla any day would be better in capture the attention of the new voters and the young minds compared to the likes of Advani, Modi, Mayawati, or the Left.
5. Emergence of Rahul Gandhi
He took some strategic decisions rather forced them on Congress. Be is going alone in UP & Bihar, but also was the star campaigner for the Congress. Now I will be accused for being a sycophant, but the fact of the matter is people have seen him trying hard to make the difference and though shy he comes across as natural when he speaks. In UP one can clearly see the hard work of Rahul Gandhi and Congress, their campaign has been around “Bring Congress for development in UP” and largely this has resonated with the people. BJP, BSP and SP have all taken their core voters for a ride and this election has seen the Upper caste Brahmins and Muslims coming back for the first time after 1989.
6. DMK and SP holding roughly to their position this accounts for roughly 50seats
It was expected that AIADMK would sweep elections in TN and SP would be decimated the benefit would either go to BSP or BJP.

Debunking The New Indian Express article on Rahul Gandhi's education controvesy contd..

2009-04-21T12:48:00.002+01:00

Also it is important to understand Cambridge University awards their degree as Master of Philosophy and the award certificate does not contain any subject. The subject that one has done his or her Maasters is detailed in the transcripts. Also it is a fact that Rahul Gandhi studied Economics as a subject part of his Masters degree which was adminstered by the School of Developmental Studies. I dont see any wrong in Rahaul Gandhi claiming to have a Masters in Development Studies and Economics - the economics subject could be his interest/specilisation in the larger context of Development Studies. It is common in countries like UK and US where one gets to choose subjects they want to pursue as part of their interest in conjunction with their Mster degree. Hence i dont see why an issue at all in the first place.

Debunking The New Indian Express article on Rahul Gandhi's education controvesy

2009-04-19T02:37:00.008+01:00

In the last week or so there The New Indian Express has carried out couple of articles carried hitting out on Rahul Gandhi saying his educational qualification given to EC in his nomination affidavit as wrong and also making insinuations against his potential qualities as a political leader and potential future PM of India. The same story has been carried by various blogs (Youthcurry and Offstumped are a couple to name).

I am surprised and shocked by the nature of the article appeared in The New Indian Express, may be it has served its purpose of hyping issues and a gimmick to attain instant celebrity status.

Fundamentally there are many loopholes in the article and the assertions made by the bloggers and the journalist from The New Indian Express. When I contacted one of the blogger, she had clearly not done her homework, she replied to me saying "in her judgment she felt it was factually correct and hence carried the article" in pursuit of truth.

Some of the glaring omissions in the article and the post are as follows:

1. Firstly how did this journalist get hold of the marks sheet of Rahul Gandhi. Under the UK data protection act it can’t be accessed by 3rd party unless there is a formal consent from the candidate in question. This immediately puts a suspicion on the credibility of the cited document.

2. Level and grade of education is not a criterion for serving the people, but what is more important is the intent to serve the people, and I don’t see any wrong in Rahul Gandhi's approach to it. There is no correlation between quality of education and type of leadership. Also there is no academic research which can throw any light regards to such an assertion.

3. India is much more than the cozy confines of our offices where we sit out and belt out such articles. Different regions of India have different issues. Rahul Gandhi is rightly traveling across the country to understand these problems. Like many big names in Indian politics he is treading in their path to understand the issues first hand. Again I don’t see any fault in his approach of traveling across India to understand the problems - this is single most important agenda for any politician to come face to face with ground realities.

4. Political leadership is all about making decisions - education is helpful, but clearly how much one scores in a subject is not a yardstick for ones performance as a political leadership. If all top rank holders in India in various fields would have been half as successful in understanding the complex problems of India and doing something for it then i am sure we could have seen a more mature political leadership. I am afraid there is no proof or can be no correlation between the education qualification and intent to serve. Hence the argument on Rahul scoring less marks in a subject and hence your assertion he cant be good politician is absurd.

5. Casting doubts and slagging a famous surname of India politics, and in doing so you are misleading the youth of the current generation who lap up even things which are untrue. Hence I would suggest exercising some caution. Being a journalist one is vested with enormous power to shape the thought process of countless readers of the newspaper - hence with great power there should also be a sense of responsibility. Which I am afraid I have not seen in the article. At the least you could have put a disclaimer at the end of your article.

6. Why is that all these articles appear only during election time - I do suspect a malicious intent!!!
Either he is in a hurry to make name and draw attention by making insinuations on Rahul Gandhi or plainly want to increase his newspaper circulation - either way not ethical.

I have been over the last few days trying to address this issue on various blogs who have lapped up your article as true. The amount of damage that the article has caused Rahul Gandhi is enormous. The least the journalist in question and the new paper group could do is make an unconditional apology to Rahul Gandhi.

I have now spoken to the communications office of Cambridge University and they have confirmed to me that Rahul Gandhi did indeed pass in the year 1994 -1995 as claimed in his affidavit to Election Commission.

The real issue here which I want to draw attention to is about ethical reporting be it in the mainstream print and digital medium or the blogspace. I am all for accountability in politics and the need to ask some Str8 and hard questions to our politicians, but the issue I have is in the pretext of asking Str8 questions, one should not make insinuations and character assassination. Person in question is immaterial.

Internet as a medium is very powerful in this age and day of technology and increasingly the urban population have taken to off stream media like blogs as a source of information based on which they shape and frame their opinions. Hence give this great power, it is at least reasonable to exercise some caution and responsibility before we write or in this case make insinuations.

Frustration renews vigiour to reach ones goals

2009-01-31T16:57:00.003Z

Is Indian polity accountable, i am sure most would agree with me its not. But has not stopped me and neither will it stop others like me to make a contribution for the better of our polity. Blaming lack of accountability on politicians and their chamchas may be a easy, but are we helping the cause that we are fighting for - i guess no.

Few weeks back i wrote a lengthy email but yet a relevant one as for as Congress party is concerned in Karnataka. Rather than going through why i am taking so much pains to talk about congress, lets assumei am one of its ardent supporters. My email detailed about the state of affairs in karnataka congress party and given that the loksabha elections are around the corner - my observations and understanding the people and their mood in rural and urban karnataka, i felt were important to be relayed to Congress party president.

I started off by sending an email to Madam Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot and others...but in vain, no one even bothered to acknowledge my email let alone look into it and see if it made sense. My beleif that i can make the voice heard made me call up the congress leadership but would it matter anything to them, exactly you gussed it they thought i was a fool or a naive to think my email can make a difference. But the eternal optimist in me kept trying until i found Sachin Pilot's secrecatry and Madam Gandhi's home office manager.

Sachin Pilot's secretary initially lived upto the expectation of being a young modern MPs assistant by asking me to email him and did all the talk of arranging a telecon with Mr.Pilot - and even after two weeks when i called him, he gave a balant lie that Mr.Pilot was out of town and hence he could not put up my email to him, when the very same day Mr.Pilot spoke to a NDTV journalist at the Congress office in Delhi.

Sonia Gandhi's home office manager was very courteous and explained his difficulty and his remit not to interfere on political matters and asked me to contact Ahmed Patel.

After two weeks of calling Mr.Patel's home - as he works mostly from there, i got through to one of his assistants Mr.Pandya, who asked me to call either on monday or after 10pm on saturday 31st Jan 2009. Would i call, you guess it i still did, the dreamer and optimist in me made me do it.

When i called at 10pm and asked for Mr. Patel, his assistants picked the phone and after hearing my name they just put it on hold for 30mins when i could hear them laughing and joking about a guy living in UK and wanting to talk to shaeb who is the Right hand man of Soniaji- their words were "He should be a fool and making all types of sidy remarks". The pride in me put the phone down and here i am ranting about it.

Would all this hurt me or affect my dreams or optimism, certainly not. They have indeed given me the requsite motivation levels to make my point more effectively and to do this, i guess becoming a politican is important, as what use of if they dont listen to their people even if it for their good.

The convinction in me to become a politician has not only got a relevant motivation, but its also a challenge to prove to these politicians and their babus that if one forgets the people they will have to forget leading them.

Its strange how we have let politicians rule us, rather than electing the right politicians who can represent us. We need politicians with vision and compassion. Either there can be two types of leaders one who will lead from the front and other who will take everyone along with him/her.
Rather than blaming the politicians for all the ills, lets blame ourselfs and corect our past mistakes by making the right choices.

Well, i felt good ranting here, in this vast unknown world wide web, where on one cares about the other and yet they are with you if you sing the right tunes.

Seeyou all, let me call Mr.Ahmed Patel's home office again.

Open letter to Congress Leadership

2009-01-25T18:00:00.003Z

Dear Mrs Gandhi,

Sub: State of affairs in Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee

I take this opportunity to introduce myself as Ashwin Kumaraswamy - citzen of India, currently living and working in UK as an Investment Manager.

Knowing very well and fully aware, that my emails might not reach you in person for various reasons, the eternal optimist in me has prompted to write this email to you to discuss few political and developmental issues.

I need not go overboard in trying to prove my loyalty to the party or Nehru- Gandhi family - the very reason i am writing this email and have written letters on various ocassions to Madam Gandhi from 2002 is an indication that i have the best interests of India and Congress party.My hope that this would reach you is based on an acknowledgement i receieved from your office that it would bring this email to your notice. But I still hope this email would reach you in person.

Let me now get to the issue which i want to raise and i am very concerned abaout.
Comming straight to the issue that has concerned me and that which can be averted to save Congress party in Karnataka.
1. RV Deshpande and DK Shivakumar have been made incharge of the congress party in Karnataka state - a decision which could potentially boomerang unless havaing proper checks and balances - this is not a mere statement. This comes from my experience of travelling across karnataka (urban and rural to understand the people and their issues).
2. Though the party has leaders like Kharge, Siddramaiah, Krishna, Moily, Oscar Fernandes and others - but apart from Siddaramiah and to an extent Krishna the others have absolutelu no acceptance across Karnataka (DK Shivakaumar is an exception, but i would put him togther with Krishna).
3. Party needs a image make over if it has to do well in the coming Loksaba elections, given the money power used by BJP along with the caste card played by Yeddyurappa - Congress party needs to rediscover itself.

It would be foolishness to think caste does not play a role in politics and so is money, but this can be countered by having leaders who can cut across caste lines and also who can speak to people in their own different ways by capturing their imagination.For this to happen the party needs to identify core group of people who can take that responsibility (this does involve managing expectations, but that needs to be done). As of today, i dont see any leader barring Siddaramiah (egostic and would hold the party to ransosm like he did in the recently concluded by elections), Krishna/DK Shivakumar (DK needs to have a image makeover in terms of management style as he is perceived to be very rough and people would immediately associate him to be leader of a local rough men), who could help the party. But this leaves the regions of Shimoga, Mangalore, Karwar (we have now sidelined Ms.Alva for airing what is the fact that Congress leaders do seel tickets, not that she held sway over the region. Also i am sorry to say the issue she raised has lots of merit atleast Karnataka is concerned - l dont want to take names and neither do i have the proof to back my claims, but does one need a proof to prove glaring fact? There are a lot of power brokers without genuine mass base in the party who command far more respect from the party leadership thana they deserve, to add to this neither are they real mass leaders) and North Karnataka. Looking at the caste combination here and crowd pulling capabilities there is no one in Congress who could do this work - hence the reason Congress lost the assembly elections and will be the reason for Congress to do badly in the upcomming loksabha election if not rectified.

I am sure this is very well known to you - given the situation, my suggestion is get back some of the leaders to Congress fold and give prominence to some party faithfuls. One such person is Bangarappa (each time he has left congress, he has damaged it in karnataka, he might not have done good to himself, but he has damaged party prospects) - he could cover the regions of Mangalore, Karwar, Udupi, Davengere. But the North Karnataka region where lingayats dominate and muslims have a sizeable population there is no leader. Hence here we should project a new face in the party or get some new face to help build the bridge. Self styled and leaders whom you have given prominence like Kharge, Dharm Singh - have literally no mass appeal and also across Karnataka people dont accept these two leaders for various reasons (i can give many a reasons - but let us assume they dont have the acceptance, else they would have helped congress come to power in that region).

My suggestions and thoughts on leaders Congress should get into its fold to have even a remotely descent showing in the upcomming loksabha elections would be:

1. S Bangarappa - may have lost the recent assembly elections in Karnataka, but the man is a maverick, he has the audacity to tell the people that they were wrong in electing or not electing him. Also he has a band of dedicated followers who will work with him, cutting across party lines. He can rejuvnate the party in the Karwar, Shimoga, Mangalore, Udupi, Davengere and Koppal belt. He does not have any expectations now, he understands he is on the last leg of his political career, he just wants to cap it off with a high by defeating BJP and taking a sweet revenge on Yeddyurappa and his former proteges.
2. Party needs a Muslim leader of significance - the only one i see with any stature is Jaffer Sherrif, but i guess he is a sort of spent force in the state. But this can be revived by giving him some responsibility.
3. As for the lingayat community - there is no leader in the party to command the respect the same way Yeddyurappa, hence we need to break this down into a group of people who the responsibility can be entrusted for every district. Likes of H K Patil, M P Prakash would work provided they are given due importance in decision making. Along with HK Patil, MP Prakash - Kharge and Dharm Singh could serve the party in their pocket boroughs of Gulbarga. This still leaves Bijapur, Bagalkot, Belgaum still up for grabs so is Hubli.
4. A T Ramaswamy - he could help the party in the urban areas, as during the JDS-BJP tenure, he did a wonderful job in unearthing the land mafia in bangalore - an ex-congress man was pushed to join JDS when he was not given ticket to contest 2004 elections. Probabaly the only honest politician in karnataka in letter and spirits. Who could do wonders in Hassan Dist and urban areas. He has never been behind any posts nor is he power hungry, he would work for Congress in terms of fresh face as well as one the people can connect to because of his simplicity. He is not corrupt and would not let corrupt practices go un-checked. There is a healthy competition to get him on board by BJP and JDS is trying hard to retain him. He is the only person who can give back to Gowda and yet get patted by him for being upfront and correct in his judgement, a very rare breed of politician.
5. Bring new and fresh faces, who are articulate, and yet connect to the people and give them tickets to contest.
Thus congress can slavage to a descent prospect in the coming Loksabha elections.

Else Congress would find it very difficult to win in Bangalore South, Bangalore North, Bellary, Davengere, Shimoga, Udupi-Chikamangalur, Mangalore, Hubli, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Hassan, Raichur, Koppal, Mysore, Mangalore, Tumkur, Chitradurga, for sure and the rest is up for grabs with good competition.
Today there are no seats in Karnataka, where one can say it is a safe Congress seat. Bellary was squandered to BJP by the corrupt congress politicians.

Please consider my genuine and humble suggestion and have a look at the KPCC and make the necessary changes that would help the party.

I would not expect anything from writing this post, but again the optimisim in me, has made me do this, not expecting any results as Lord Krishna say "Do your duties and leave the fruits of the hardwork to the almighty god". I have made an effort to bring my concerns to the notice of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patel and Sachin Pilot - but you all know how things work in India, there is handly any accountability even on receiving my emails, and faxes.

I sometimes wonder, if i am stupid in writing this post knowing very well it does not and will not serve any purpose, but the satisifaction in me that i did my best will keep my spirits up and hopefully it would lead me to join Indian polity sooner than later. Afterall failures is the stepping stone for success.

Thanks & Kind Regards
Ashwin

Congress party decline in Karnataka

2009-01-25T17:14:00.002Z

If one looks at the political history of Karnataka, it has been synonymous with how Congress party has travelled its after independence political history. Congress was the party people associated with and were proud to serve in even though crores of its followers did not enjoy the benefits of political power, because they felt the movement was more important than the momentarliy political power which was in the clutches of few power brokers.

Today, like how Congress cant form government on its own at the centre, in karnataka it cant dream of comming to power for the next 15yrs or so. This is not a mere statement, but based on my observations and travelling in urban and rural Karnataka on my every holiday. There are few glaring examples which can easily tell the story. Bellary a congress bastion today a fortress of BJP, oops the Reddy brothers of the mining fame, Mangalore - whose people are known for their business and political acumen has not seen a Congress MP for 15 odd yrs, Bangalore South, which is the most educated constituency in Karnataka has not seen a Congress MP since mid 1990s. Are these the only examples, i would say No, the upcomming loksabha elections would be a reality check to congress party in karnataka because - it is at its weakest position for the last 60yrs.

Comming to my observations on whay Congress has lost its pre-eminence position in karnataka polity:
1. Lack of genuine mass leaders - today congress party in karnataka is in the clutches of power brokers, sychopants and inefficcient leaders whose only claim to pecking order is their proximity to 10 Janapath.
Leaders like Moily, Poojary, Deshpande, Kharge, Dharm Singh, Ugrappa, Munniyappa - none are mass leaders, it would be difficult for them to wiwn elections on their own without the Congress symbol, may be barring kharge because of the caste factor.
2. Power brokers running the show in Congress - Ministers like Munniyappa are hardly known for their work in their own constituencies and whay more can one expects from such MPs as ministers. Someone like Moily for all the hardwork he puts in, he is ineffective, because he spends more time on scuppering others chances to fame just to remain in limelight.
3. Neither populist nor efficient - those leaders like Moily, Kharge, Dharm Singh, Deshpande, Krishna who have occupied every possible political power in the state, have shown lack of skills in understanding the needs and requirements of the people. Krishna during his tenure claimed to fame the software industry success was due to his policies, but he has forgotten that it was Verendra patil, Bangarappa regimes which laid the baisc foundation.
4. Egoistic leadership - politicians like Siddramaiah, Krishna, DK Shivakumar, though have an appeal and to an extent mass base, want everything the party can give in one go, but how much have they delivered to the party success?? highly questionable. The antics of Siddaramaiah during the recently concluded by elections was a slap on the face for congress leadership. Unlike Bangarappa none of these leaders have the audacity or the conviction to be daring and go to the people for their every actions. Each time Bangarappa (no doubt was egoistic, this is because of self pride in his capabilities and his pride against those sychophats in Congress like Moily, Poojary and others) went outside Congress he harmed it more than Congress could recover. Did anyone even ponder why Bangarappa did this to congress thrice?? The answer is No, because inefficient state leaders in Congress were just happy to get rid of populist and mass leader and his exit eventually made competition comparitively less to grab the attention of central leadership.
5. No place for dedicated and honest politicians in Congress peking order - HK Patil, MP Prakash are few to mention, but the most glaring omission was when Congress could not hold on to gems like A T ramaswamy, who later joined JD(S) and did a very laudable job of helping bangaloreans against the land mafia as chairman of bangalore land encorachment enquiry committee.
6. Congress becoming irrelevant in Karnataka in many constituencies - sandwiched between the Vokaliga strong JD(S) and Lingayat, Brahmin dominant BJP.
Today, no community would support Congress barring the OBCs to an extent, hence Congress is trying hard to placate Siddaramiah (Kuruba factor), but the question is, how many constituencies can Kuruba factor work and it would be foolish to think, Kurubas would vote for congress in every constituency because of Siddaramiah.
Whereas JD(S) is strong in districts like Hassan, Mysore, Mandya, Tumkur - predominantly the south karnataka belt or popularly known as the Mysore belt. and BJP is strong is Bangalore, Mangalore, Chikamangalur, Bellary, Bidar, Belgaum, Davengere, Karwar, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Hubli, Kodagu, Haveri, Gadag.
That leaves the rest of karnataka where congres and the others will fight for victory. Today there is no consitituency in karnataka which can be said as a congress bastion based on current political scenario.

If its not enough Congress has been have a lot of infighting off late between different groups of leadership of whom many dont have a mass following. If one looks at the Siddaramiah fiasco, and the delay in taking Bangarappa to Congress fold just to placate the large egos of spineless leaders in congress who cant deliver anything to party success likes Moily, Poojary, Deshpande, Munniyappa and others. The answer is written very clearly if the Congres does not get its act together, it has the face the political wilderness in comming days.

I am afraid if the Congress leadership doesnot see this, it would be the last of Congress we would hear for atleast the next decade or so in karnataka. Is it an opportunity or new and young leadership to mushroom, might be - but having observed Congress very closely in its highs and lows - i doubt it will learn the lesson. They lost UP, Bihar, Gujrat earlier and now we can potrentially add Karnataka to the list.

Karnataka political scenario - dangerous precedent

2007-10-28T01:51:00.000Z

Worst ever politics being played out by the current set of MLAs in Karnataka.

In 2004, mighty Congress which then had 165 members in the assembly was brought down to 65 on the back of

1. So called Vajpayee wave - read feel good factor

2. Shrewed political calculations of BJP leadership - taking several backward class leaders into its fold, prominently being S. Bangarappa to bloster their electroal prospects and also to get soem of their leaders elected as they had to bite the dust in 1999

3. Genuine need for change - due to corrupt practices of soem congress leaders

4. Anti incumbency.

The scenario after elections in 2004 was:

BJP - 79 MLAs, Congress - 65, JD(S) - 59, JD(U) - 6 and rest were independents.

Clearly for the first time in karnataka politics a fractured mandate. With No party having sufficient numbers by a long way to form any govt.

In the name of Secularism - just to clarify - in the name of anti BJP/RSS way of looking at Hindu walk of life, Congress and JD(S) formed the govt. BJP talked about opportunistic politics of JD(S) and Congress, but what it forgot was the people of karnataka did not respect BJP as well as they were wary of BJPs concept of Hindu walk of life.

Siddaramiah fiasco: creates a flutter in JD(S), and its supereme leader replaces him with MP Prakash as Dy CM. As a result Siddu walks out of JD(S) with 8 other MLAs.In the process, nearing the close of 20montsh of Cong - JD(S) govt...BJP's Yediurappa and JD(S) now leader in the assemble Kumarasway - play the first politics for the sake of power rather than to serve people and jettision the Cong - JD(S) govt.In this process JD(S) looses another Janata parivar stalwart Sindhia.

JD(S) - BJP Govt. - Creation of politics for the sake of power rather than philosophy

By mid 2006 we had the first govt for the sake of power, rather than govt for the sake of philosophy which was created in 2004.Lets reflect the stregnth of assemble in this due course.BJP - 75 in reality though technically it has 79, as 4 members haev left BJP to join other parties.JD(S) - has 49 members in reality, as 8 members are with Siddu and Siddu himself got elected on congress ticket. and scindia is now on his own.The unofficial understanding between Yediurappa and Kumaraswamy NOT any understanding between BJP and JD(S) a govt was formed which was to haev Kumaraswamy as CM for the first 20months and latter 20months headed by Yediurappa.

During this time we had the case where in a member of BJP in the legislative council levelling corruption charges to the tune of 450million on Kumaraswamy.

The saga began on the first week of 20months with allegations of of corruption, playing dirty electoral politics where in mover than 100million was spent by parties to defeat Siddu.Also increase in law and order issue in Mangalore, chikkamangalour and other places in the state.

After 10th month into the new govt, BJP started taking about Raj Dharma and transfer of power from JD(S) to BJP. Not it is transfer of CM position, as they were enjoying political power.It took such feverish pitch that politics was played out through media.

Eventually at the endof 20months, Devegowda, Kumaraswamy et all realised philosophy of life and snapped the govt and transfer of CM position to yediurappa not BJP, as the understanding was between two individuals not between political parties, as there are petition pending in front of speaker about the disqualification of 41 members of JD(S) based on the complain made by Devegowda to the speaker, stating that JD(S)-BJP govt was unholy and he did not recognise it. Eventually JD(S)-BJP govt which came to power based on the understanding between Yediurappa and Kumaraswamy fell out.

Start of Gov. rule in Karnataka -

Gov took the right decision by not dissolving the house on the basis of the supereme court order w.r.t SR Bommai case.Hence the Assembly was suspended.

BJP and importantly yediurappa miffed for not having the CM position launced the Dharm yatra in karnatak touring dists to tell people about the cheating qualities of JD(S) and its leadership. But what they convinently forgot was they themselves had not been blessed in the first place by the people. They came to power based on no common minimum programme or ideology but on the plank of politics for the sake of power and not to serve the people.

Also played out was caste politics by BJP and yediurappa, where in it played out that lingayat community was undermined. The Govt is for the people and the CM is for everyone in the state not just for a single community or caste of society, this fundemental basics of politics was forgotten by BJP.

JD(S) retorted by blaming BJP as communal and its politics as extereme hindiism and only temple politics and not to serve the people. Also what lost out in the din was soem cabinet decisions where BJP ministers did not support but latter went onto claim that they were responsible for it like waiver of farmers loan - is there any audit of who benifitted from this, clearly No as this was just on paper rather than in reality.

In this time JD(S) MLAs, were reluctant to face elections, should say not all JD(S) MLA were reluctant, but majority were and some ministers were depressed they lost their positions as they had paid a heaft price to become ministers.All these MLAs now were hell bent on having a govt.

Resort politics kicked in where in MLAs wanted to form govt either with BJP or Congress whereas the leadership wanted elections. It was authorised to Kumaraswamy, Prakash and Meerajudin patel to look into the nitty grittes of making a govt.

MLAs from JD(S) now clamoured to Prakash to take up cudgels on behalf of them against the Gowda familys control on JD(S).

MP Prakash saga - to revolt or not to against Gowda family - a politician not just for power, but known for serving people, principled politician, ideologist and also a representaitive of karantaka cluture was asked to look at govt formations.

Comming from the socialistic backgrtound he found it easy to talk to Congress than BJP, as JD(S) head honcho and others went snapping with BJP had vented their anger on BJP and accused them of following only temple politics rather than developmental politics.

When Prakash tried to form govt with congress and he held discussion with various small and big leaders of congress against the wishes of devegowda - but kept kumaraswamy updated.When the gowada family got to know that some of the leaders in congress were trying to break JD(S) party acted swifty by instructing his son to re-align with BJP.Why was this, when they had accused the other day of corrupt BJP prolitics.This needs to be dealt seperately.

Devegowda family which is against the likes of Siddu, Shivakumar, Jalappa, Deshpande for the reasons they had the audacity to take on Devegowda aand their family headon rather then toeing their line in politics - In short this was purely to keep the political grip of a family over a party to a minor extent but to keep political revelance of their family in tact. All this was played out just to show one upmanship rather than for serving the people which should haev been the real cause.

BJP and JD(S) now kissing and making up - is no short of opportunitism for beign in power to further their own intertests rather than that of the people of the state.In BJPs case it was to assuage the huge ego of Yediurappa who wanted to becoem CM on the back of his caste and the others in BJP wanted to taste political power for the first time since entering politics.

On JD(S) side it was purely should i say on the part of Devegowda adn family it was purely to say that they wanted political power to haev their family relevance in politcs of the state and nothign else.

Conclusion -

If this is the state of current pol;itics of karnataka, it is pertinent to the people of karnatka to teach these political parties a lessoon, by throwing them out of power adn usher a new politcal class who are interested to serve the people else be more decesive in choosing the right politician or a politcal party to represent them against the curret lot Congress - symbolises feudal and corrupt politics in state, BJP -symbolises caste based, temple politics and politics by hook or crrok in state and lastly JD(S) - worst form of politics karnatak has seen, symbolising coruption, family politics, and more so politics for the sake of one faimly relevance.

Its time for a new phase of politics to being, the options are there it just need to be taken seriously in the form of

1. Mahima Patel who wants to usher in a new politics in the state, based on ideologies and based on serving the people with a cause adn intent.

2. Bangarappa's SP - socialistic form of governance, inspite of beign labelled a pouwer hungry and corrup politician by those against him. His political track record has shown that he was in political power for 4.5 years in his 40odd year political service, he still gets elected because of the love and affection people has given him. He has represented Congress, BJP and left both adn got re-elected on SP ticket, but each tiem heleft parties he never lost out on serving the people, his aim was to serve the people..but such ppl have more enemies than friends...hopefully liek people of shimoga people of karantaka support him, as unliek the current cropof politicians in legislative assembly from Congress, JD(S) and BJP he has always played politics from straight bat unlike politics for th esake of power. If he had compromised in congress just before 2004, he could have been a union cabinet minister, but he did not compromise, he walked out based on his ideology, the same followed whn he walked out of BJP. Atleast we can expect his politics from straight bat as compared to Congress, BJP and JD(S).

3. Elect more MLAs like A.T Ramaswamy, Jayaparakash Hegde - who symbolise crystal clear ideology and intent to serve the people and who haev never been behind political power other than serving people.

Now is the time to usher in the new phase in karnataka politics, it is for the people to decide Now!!!

New world order

2006-10-21T16:40:00.000+01:00

New world order – as a result of civilisation clashes

World politics entered a new phase after 9/11 world trade centre bombings. Two visions have taken the centre stage in this new phase. Each of these visions catches aspects of the emerging reality.

Any new world order historically has been preceded by chaos and conflicts. The fundamental source of conflict in this new phase our world has entered will be on two primary fronts one being ideological (religion) and other being economic. The dominant of these factors would be cultural which is akin to ideological. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations of whose examples we are seeing it be in Middle East, Kashmir, Iraq, some call this jihad and other call this terrorism. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.

Civilization is a cultural entity, is thus the highest cultural grouping of people. Civilization identity will be increasingly important in the future, and the world will be shaped in large measure by the interactions among seven or eight major civilizations. These include Western, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American and possibly African civilization. The most important conflicts of the future will occur along the cultural fault lines separating these civilizations from one another and in particular we are in the beginning of a greater conflict between the Western and Islamic world.
Why is the conflict? Primarily differences among civilizations are not only real; they are basic. Civilizations are differentiated from each other by history, language, culture, tradition and, most important, religion. The people of different civilizations have different views on the relationship with God. These differences are the product of centuries of suspicion and audacity which stems from the misinterpretations of the word of god and will not disappear soon. They are far more fundamental and deep rooted than when compared to differences among political ideologies and political regimes.
In much of the world religion has moved in to fill this gap, often in the form of movements that are labelled fundamentalist." Such movements are found in Western Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as in Islam. In most countries and most religions the people active in fundamentalist movements are young, college-educated, middle- class technicians, professionals and business persons.
West is at a peak of power. At the same time, perhaps as a result, a return to the roots phenomenon is occurring among non-Western civilizations. Increasingly one hears references to trends toward a turning inward and "Asianization" in Japan, the end of the Nehru legacy and the "Hinduization" of India, the failure of Western ideas of socialism and nationalism and hence "re-Islamization" of the Middle East, and now a debate over Westernization versus Russianization in the former USSR. A West at the peak of its power confronts non-Wests that increasingly have the desire, the will and the resources to shape the world in non-Western ways.
Conflict along the fault line between Western and Islamic civilizations has been going on for 1,300 years. After World War II, the West, in turn, began to retreat; the colonial empires disappeared; first Arab nationalism and then Islamic fundamentalism manifested themselves; the West became heavily dependent on the Persian Gulf countries for its energy; the oil-rich Muslim countries became money-rich and, when they wished to, weapons-rich. Several wars occurred between Arabs and Israel (created by the West). British and French forces invaded Egypt in 1956; American forces went into Lebanon in 1958; subsequently American forces returned to Lebanon, attacked Libya, and engaged in various military encounters with Iran; Arab and Islamic terrorists, supported by at least three Middle Eastern governments, employed the weapon of the weak and bombed Western planes and installations and seized Western hostages. This warfare between Arabs and the West culminated in 1990, when the United States sent a massive army to the Persian Gulf to defend some Arab countries against aggression by another. This centuries-old military interaction between the West and Islam is unlikely to decline. It could become more virulent. The Gulf War left some Arabs feeling proud that Saddam Hussein had attacked Israel and stood up to the West. It also left many feeling humiliated and resentful of the West's military presence in the Persian Gulf, the West's overwhelming military dominance, and their apparent inability to shape their own destiny. Many Arab countries, in addition to the oil exporters, are reaching levels of economic and social development where autocratic forms of government become inappropriate and efforts to introduce democracy become stronger. Some openings in Arab political systems have already occurred. The principal beneficiaries of these openings have been Islamist movements. In the Arab world, in short, Western democracy strengthens anti-Western political forces. This may be a passing phenomenon, but it surely complicates relations between Islamic countries and the West.
The conflict of civilizations is deeply rooted elsewhere in Asia, though not on religious lines for now, but clearly showing sings of religious unrest. The historic clash between Muslims and Hindus in the subcontinent manifests itself now not only in the rivalry between Pakistan and India but also in intensifying religious strife within India between increasingly ultra right wing Hindu groups and India's substantial Muslim minority. The destruction of Babri Mazjid in Dec 92 brought to the fore the issue of whether India will remain a secular democratic state or become a Hindu one, and ever since then there is an ongoing struggle between secularists on one side and fundamental groups on the other side.

It is in the sweep of the Islamic nations from Maghreb to Pakistan that the struggle for a new world order will begin.

Nuclear Club - Is this false security

2006-10-16T18:10:00.000+01:00

Nuclear World - The debate continues on two fronts Security and Energy

Contemporary British – Indian politics: and a lesson for us

2006-10-13T14:08:00.000+01:00

In the span of 45days British politics has seen a yearly gala of political conventions. Starting from leadership race of fringe right wing conservatives (euro sceptics) in the form of UKIP, moving onto the liberal movement (Liberal Democrats) of British politics synonyms to third front of Indian politics, to the ruling Labour party where we saw the incumbent Prime Minister giving his farewell speech and would be PMs making a pitch for leadership race and finally Tory party convention which saw their leader firmly seated to bring back Tories to power.

Now, you may ask what is so special about these political party conventions, as the same happens in India and that too in plenty and great pomp and glory both in terms of people attending the conventions and also in terms of grandeur.
The answer is there is a fundamental differences on two accounts one being the conventions are attended by those die hard party loyalists and members right from the block level upwards and the other is of even greater importance for us to take note of is these party conventions primarily discuss not just the leadership issue, but also in thread bare on different issues and policies that needs to be addressed and has impact on the country at large.

Let’s take an analogy to extrapolate on the differences between Indian and British polity.
Ruling party: Labour party in govt in UK = UPA in India
Main Opposition: Tory party in main opposition = NDA
Third front: Lib Democrats = SP+ other parties and can include Left front as well

Ruling party:
With the spectacular farewell speech probably Tony Blair made party want to have more of him, but the political die had been cast, he was explicitly made to say when he would be bowing out of office by deft political mechanisations. But this was just one piece of the convention, where the majority of time was spent on explaining govt policies, just to list education reforms, foreign policy, home and security (all ministers addressed the conventions as per their ministerial duties).
On the contrary in India, ruling party skirts controversies day in and day out an need to be bailed out by PM or the party president . Policy decisions are made without any logic and sometimes even the cabinet gets to know at it in the nth minute. No say of party cadres in terms of decision making. Though Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh have duties cut out, there still seems to be lack of co-ordination between party and govt, and there are a huge ignorance levels and communication gap between party cadres and party leaders and that to govt ministers on all major issues.
The lesson we should learn here is party conventions are not meant for pomp and glorification of party leadership by sycophants, rather it should be meant to put it across to the party workers govt policies as these are the foot soldiers who shall garner votes for the party leadership (charisma works once or twice, but ground level workers are needed for party to make a impact).

Main Opposition:
Probably here I can draw more similarities and you can conclude if there are worth being applauded, but there are precise lessons our main opposition needs to take note and act upon.
Similarities being, “Less or No policy talk”, quick to jump on hypes and sensational news to give out sound bytes (to keep oneself in news rather than any thing significant), new leadership, skirt issues of significance by playing to public mood. Party heavy weights are consigned to backroom role.
Difference being: democracy is not held to ransom inside parliament, no walk outs or abstinence, discuss issues thread bare according to the parliamentary norms. Have strong performers in the parliament in terms of shadowing the govt, which is missing in Indian political system

Third front: have their fair share of problems, probably in India, the 3rs front is more politically potent not with new ideas but based on opportunistic alliances and by making use of all possible trick to get to power.

If India in the century wants to make its present felt in the world order there needs to be improvements not just in the economy and infrastructure, but also political leadership of the country needs to take a step back and make the necessary reforms.
Here the famed Indian middle class can play a pivotal role to shape up the India polity, to make it more transparent, accountable and visionary.

To reiterate, India needs a political environment where policies are made my politicians with them representing the pulse of the Indian public and keeping Indian interests at large. Making use of parliament to make and debate policies thread bare and not to indulge in petty media sound bytes. Only with mature and dynamic political leadership can we build a brighter India.

Thus “Need of the hour = Mature Political leadership + change in attitude of public towards polity”

India's Future

2006-09-24T01:37:00.000+01:00

India has been looked up along with China as the next power house in the international order along with being the growing economies in the world from the beginning of this century. Where there is no doubt on China, with its mass market, manufacturing power house and being the permanent member of UNSC it is firmly placed at the top end of the international order.

Though, India being a largest democracy in the world and when in the past was offered a place at the top end of international order refused to accept it. This was due to then prevalent conditions and issues in independent India like poverty, economic balance, skilled labour and self sustainability. In hindsight it seems we missed our chance, but to state the matter of fact our founding fathers wanted India to be self content and increase our capabilities before we take our place in the world order.

Lots of water has flow down the river ever since we India refused to accept a place in the world order. Events like green revolution, setting up of strong public sectors and to the latest opening up of economy thus starting the process of privatisation (after public sectors help strengthen our internal capabilities), ICT revolution and going nuclear along with the under pinning fabric of being the largest democracy in the world has now given us an opportunity to rightly take up or make our place in the world order.

Now that we have been presented with an opportunity, do we want to shy away from this, clearly NO, but how are we placed to make the most of this opportunity?

For some time I have been thinking, are we prepared to make the most of the opportunity or can I authoritatively say we can take up our place, though I have dreamt of this for a long time there are certain things which are still lingering, and until needs to be answered which in my view would be very critical in the coming years in achieving our ambition and rightful place in the world order. The parameters which are critical and needs to be answered are wealth generation, uniform wealth distribution, education and leadership.
Lets analyse factors that underpin these parameter and this might give us a better understanding on how and where does the future of India lies.

Economy: though country’s economy is growing at a steady pace of roughly 8% and this is again largely due to our finance ministers obsession with GDP. I can’t see any improvements in the standard of living improving among the length and breadth of the country: price rising impacting the common man, people dying of harsh environmental conditions, increasing urban-rural division, economic reforms at cross roads or rather at very slow pace, all these are not a very encouraging factor, but still we can placate ourselves with the FDI increasing and sections of society improving their standard of living if not the length and breadth of country.

Education: nearing 60yrs of independence we still have un-educated people, and literacy rate is roughly at 65%, which is not a very encouraging sign. Let’s not get confused literacy rate to access of quality education which is languishing at 34%. Along with this we have trouble at the domestic front on reservation, which can be convincingly argued that there needs reservation, but is the current reservation policy really addressing the need is another question which can be debated.

Employment: nearly 50% in India are still dependent on agricultural income, though in the last decade we have seen a raise in service industry being the largest job creator, still these jobs are being taken up by those 34% which have access to quality education. That means the larger part of India still depends on agriculture and other forms of employment which has proved not to sustaining.

Industry: there has been a windfall raise in ICT industry in India which has helped create job and pushed Indian economy to the brighter side of nearly 8%GDP. With this there is also automotive industry which is making its presence felt, but all this will not offer and create many jobs that could help wealth distribution, best these industries can sustain job creation and help in the standard of living of some sections of the society who have access to quality education, unlike Chinese economy which is driven by manufacturing which creates and employs more people than our economy which is largely driven by service industry.

Political leadership: this is an area which needs immediate attention, for long India was associated with aging leader with young and bright vision and dreams; this served us well for some time in establishing India as the largest democracy and made India stand on its on steam. Looking at the current political scenario where personal gains or caste/vote bank politics/communal politics being the norm of the day the situation in the country really alarms. We don’t mind ageing leadership but…what is glaringly missing is the vision and leadership to take India forward to achieve our place in the international order. Current India parliament has a hand few of people who have the right credentials and or at least vision to lead India to the future; this is the most worrying factor.

Just glancing at the above factors it makes me think and re-question myself asking “can we can make the most of the opportunity that is there to be taken”. There can’t be any miracles overnight to catapult India an its dreams to reality, but the only way forward is to address these issues and move forward, this again brings me back to my question India’s Future – to realise every Indian dream, though there is potential there needs to be a plan and implementation strategy to achieve the dreams.

Let’s not ask what the country has done for us, but rather ask us what we can do for the country – India’s future, answer lies with us.

Reservation - Overview & Possible Solution

2006-08-03T18:31:00.000+01:00

The recent announcement of increase in 27% reservation to Other backward classes (OBCs) by the Government of India has raised the debate of "To be or not to be" the query that occurred to the mind of a character in William Shakespare's play.

Last few weeks have seen a lot of anti quota protests engulf the mind and spirit of Indian’s living in the country and those living outside. There have been certain violence which should have not taken place, call it police brutality overreaction or agitators going over board to go against the law and order; but to me it is typically a case of Newton’s third law “For every action there is a equal and opposite reaction”…this prompts us to think that there is something fundamentally wrong and this puts the blame on the government and its judgment. Saying thus, I agree there are merits and de-merits on both perceptions on the issue.

The case as of now:

Anti Quota Protests:
1. Roll back reservation
If given reservation there would be shortage of seats for those who are meritorious and there is no opportunity to showcase their talents even if they have the requisite skills; in short Right to Equality
2. Reservation would dilute Quality
If reservations are to be introduced as proposed then there would be below average students getting access to higher education and there they would fumble and even if pass would be with great difficulty.

Pro Quota Protests:
1. Need Reservation
As this would help to bridge the social balance, and as reservations would help have access to education in government institutes as private institutes are based on capitation and more so how is it fair if students who have access to education and facilities either by paying extra ( private tuitions) get better access or by the shear wealth in terms of capitations they get to have access, where as the socially backward have no such facilities firstly as most of them are from the rural or small towns where education infrastructure set up by government is in dire states.
2. Excellence can be showcased only if opportunity is give.
Reservation would not dilute quality, as if we wanted to compete with those students who have access to education and infrastructure from the day one then there needs to be the same access to infrastructure…as there is not through reservations seats can be availed in the prestigious institutes…But once there, like every one, one has to strive hard and get through else then there is no point is making so much of efforts to gain reservation, more so education is no one’s sole property.

Let us analyse both points of view:
The core to this issue is the growing market need for highly educated and qualified individuals, as this is the need of the hour and also a market need implies this would help an individual in terms of achievement and prosperity.

Are there merits and de-merits in both the cases? Again the opinion is individual. As for me there is an element of truth in both the cases.
I agree there would be shortage of seats if reservations are introduced, which in my opinion would really not help those either the pro quota or anti quota students.

As for anti quota students they would need to compete for smaller number of seats even if they have the caliber they might not get an opportunity to showcase the same.
Equality, Merit and Quality have been used by the Anti-Quota protestors, is there a real sense of Equality and quality?
Whenever there is a comparison this has to be with relative terms, how can it be Equality when one gets to have access to education from the day one and special coaching to boost the current knowledge level, these coaching has not come without a cost and this cost could be tuitions are getting buying access to education through capitation fees from private educators, the majority percentage of those who claim reservation don’t get access to such facilities for most they simply cant and for few even if they can there are no opportunities, saying this there are those minority percentage of students who claim reservation get access to education either by capitation or by private educators and such people are the grouse of the matter and normally these minority have created an impression based on which the anti-quota protestors have modelled their opinions against reservation for socially balance. So the point is Equality, Merit and Quality are relative and one can’t generalise them.

For pro quota students, how many would get to have benefits from this, as only those few who can have access to quality education and infrastructure amongst them would tend to make the most as the rest even on claiming quota and seat, would it be possible to compete in the same class and league as those of your classmates once you join these institutes, answer is very difficult as since there is no much of quality education access this implies and can be assumed there would be some short comings in the basic understanding or shortcomings in know-how, so this makes it difficult to compete.

Now the question is how many of this population percentage does OBCs constitute?

Around 36 per cent of the country's population is defined as belonging to the Other Backward Classes according to the National Sample Survey's 1999-2000 round, and not 52 per cent as defined by the Mandal Commission, a number that most politicians still use while asking for reservation.
If you exclude Muslim OBCs, the proportion falls to 32 per cent according to the NSS, 1999-2000. Indeed, Yogendra Yadav, professor at the Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Studies, who is in favour of reservation for OBCs, agrees that there is no empirical basis to the Mandal figure: "It is a mythical construct based on reducing the number of SC/ST, Muslims and others and then arriving at a number."
One of the reasons for the much higher Mandal number is that it defined OBCs in socio-economic terms, and so included, for instance, "castes/classes considered as socially backward by others". If, to cite another of the 11 criteria used, the percentage of married women below 17 years is a fourth above the state's average in rural areas (and 10 per cent in urban areas), the community is considered to be OBC.
Similarly, if castes/classes where the proportion of working women is 25 per cent higher than the state's average, the castes/classes are considered OBC - today's double-income families, if living in areas where women do not work, would then be considered OBCs using the Mandal definition.
In the NSS case, respondents were asked to indicate their caste, and this was then tallied with the list of castes that each state defines as OBC.
The NSS data is also corroborated by the National Family Health Statistics, a survey conducted in 1998 by the DHS, which has conducted 200 such surveys in 75 countries.
The NFHS data show that the proportion of non-Muslim OBCs is 29.8 per cent, a figure quite close to the NSS' 32.1 per cent. For SC/ST, while the NSS shows this is 28.3 per cent of the population, the NFHS estimates this at 27.9 per cent. The 2001 Census estimated the SC/ST population at 24.4 per cent, though the Census did not canvass any information on OBCs.
The share of the Muslims (including OBC Muslims) in all three data sets is quite similar, ranging from 11 to 13 per cent.
So far, the Supreme Court ceiling of 50 per cent on all reservations has been justified by arguing this covers only the non-creamy layer OBCs, since 22.5 per cent of all reservations are for SC/ST, leaving 27.5 per cent for the OBCs - that is, only around half the OBCs would be entitled to reservations.
If, you use the NSS/NFHS figures, a 50 per cent reservation ceiling will cover three fourths of all OBCs, and if Muslim OBCs are to be kept out of reservations, then 86 per cent of the remaining will get covered by reservations.

Now after assessing the facts as published by the Govt. of India, the question is does the new proposal piggy riding on the back on the recent constitution amendment which talks about provision could be made to extend reservation so that social balance can be achieved (I would not argue on the issue of social balance, I assume there is a social imbalance and take it for granted there needs to be a balance such that everyone can be brought into the main streams of the Indian Society).

Now the question to answer is who needs to be given reservation and can this be a blanket reservation as proposed by Govt., answer is No, as reservation as a tool has contributed over the years to make an impact and bring certain sections of the community to mainstream and these have settled in the urban centres as compared to the earlier perception of OBCs/SC/STs being in the rural centres. If the government does not agree that there has been an increase in the number of people from the socially backward community to have over the years improved and joined the mainstream then, common sense says there is something wrong with Reservation as a tool, but all of u sin unison agree reservation over the years has contributed towards betterment of the socially backward classes.

Government Millennium development report has laid out few goals which are now been worked upon to achieve of which tow which has significance to the issue are:
(i) To achieve the Goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, India must reduce by 2015 the proportion of people below poverty line from nearly 37.5 percent in 1990 to about 18.75 percent. As on 1999-2000, the poverty headcount ratio is 26.1 percent with poverty gap ratio of 5.2 percent, share of poorest quintile in national consumption is 10.1 percent for rural sector and 7.9 percent for urban sector and prevalence of underweight children is of the order of 47 percent.
(ii) To achieve universal primary education under Goal-2, India should increase the primary school enrolment rate to 100 percent and wipe out the drop-outs by 2015 against 41.96 percent in 1991-92. The drop-out rate for primary education during 2002-03 is 34.89 percent. The gross enrolment ratio in primary education has tended to remain near 100 percent for boys and recorded an increase of nearly 20 percentage points in the ten years period from 1992-93 to 2002-03 for girls (93 percent). The literacy rate (7 years and above) has also increased from 52.2 percent in 1992-93 to 65.4 percent in 2000-01.

From the above information one can infer that the issue of problem or concern is rural sector, rather than the urban sector. Urban sector to its added advantage has the highest quality of education available and infrastructure in place which would help students cutting across religion/castes have access to education infrastructure, on the contrary the real needy ones are those languishing in the rural sector where in which casteism is at its pinnacle and here is where social balance needs to be achieved in one hand and also in other hand there needs to be a target to eradicate poverty (sections which fall under poverty lines are from all catse/creeds/religion). With the sort of information which is now available to analyse we can see that the area of concern and reservation as a tool is needed for those in the rural sectors as compared to the proposed blanket reservation.

Thinking of solution, is the proposed raise in 27%reservation, thus taking the total reservation to 49% a solution, answer is NO.
Government needs to understand and answer these question to define a solution to the problem which is dividing India more than what the Indian Right Wing has done over the years.
1. When those students who have no access to education and infrastructure and cant even buy themselves extra education for them, would reservation make much sense, as even though they get a seat, how effective can they be….this is very much questionable?
2. Are you not curtailing the caliber and potential of the meritorious (we can take it for say they are genuine) to showcase their talents.

Proposed Solution:
1. Roll back of the proposed reservation policy and bring in a status quo and try to answer on how to fill the gaps and in-equalities that are identified through the above mentioned statistics and information presented, in summary the need of the hour is to bridge a gap between urban-rural divide interms of addressing the socio-economic imbalance.
2. Look at how the benefits of reservation can reach the real needy; especially those in the rural sector who don’t even get to have decent education, cutting across caste lines. Reservation over years has helped those few who have made use of it or the so called creamy layer in the urban sector as opposed to the rural sector.
3. It is high time, Govt. education needs to be reformed and revived in the rural and urban India so there can be a fair playing ground is set in the coming 10-15yrs…

How to go about doing this:
1. Maximise education infrastructure and create an environment to where there is a fair playing ground. This is possible by strengthening the education sector till12th standard such that everyone gets equal opportunity and equal quality of education. This can be brought about by government strengthening the sector and make education at the affordable price for everyone if not even free by increasing the government infrastructure or through planned public-private sector participation (care to be taken not to over do and play in the hands of the capitation mafia). In all the developed countries, most of the students come from public schools which are government controlled where the best of the education facility and infrastructure is available. In short there needs to be more funds allocated to create quality education access facilities. Based on the progress achieved in this phase we can easily phase out reservation as a tool, as there would be creation of fair playing ground. This does take a heavy toll on the budgetary allocation, but this needs to be done to achieve the desired results of trying to get the poverty line reduced and bring social balance. Until this takes place the present system can continue with a small amendments, those who have access to quality education from the urban centers should not be entitled to claim the benefits of reservation, as this would amount to misuse of the spirit in which reservation as a tool was proposed by the founding father of Indian constitution.
2. Financial Assistance in terms of scholarships as against fees, living expenses, books and bank loans with low interest rates where in repayment would start only after taking up their employment. This to be made available to those economically backward in both urban and rural centers along with the socially backward from the rural centers. Use effective public-private participation to fill in the needed overload on the government expenditure. Taxation schemes can be made use to the most effective way here by making tax-rebates for those who contribute towards such schemes of financial assistance towards a cause of upliftment of the society.
3. The time line for such a new system to be effectively to take shape would nearly take around 10yrs and until then, inevitably, the current reservation policy though flawed can continue, as without a viable option being created one cant suggest a change.
4. The other option to look to bring about a short term relief until the above is achieved is to maximize the number of seats currently available in the undergraduate and post graduate structure, this would invariably bring about expenditure to the exchequer, but here again this investment that the government brings in a longer term investment and can be en cashed at the later stage. Thus ensuring talented and meritorious are not made a scape goat in this issue of achieving social balance.

Discrepancies: Reservation Proposal

2006-05-21T17:27:00.000+01:00

Discrepancies: Reservation Proposal

Last couple of weeks have seen a lot of anti quota protests engulf all over India, and there have been certain violence which should have not taken place, call it police brutality overreaction or agitators going over board to go against the law and order rules….but i assume for every action there is a equal and opposite reaction…so there should be something wrong and the judgement is very individual in nature.

Last week also saw pro quota protests in Delhi, Bihar and other places again there was violence and some of he journalists were injured, ask why…..the answer was the protectors of conscience and the real watch dog of democracy were biased in their media coverage….how often we have seen media trying to make or create opinions and judgements…are they acting in true spirits of journalism or are they trying to pursue what they believe in the name of journalism, this can be debatable at length.

Let’s analyse by stating the cases: in terms of their demands
Anti Quota Protests:
1. Roll back reservation
If given reservation there would be shortage of seats for those who are meritorious and there is no opportunity to showcase their talents even if they have the requisite skills; in short Right to Equality
2. Reservation would dilute Quality
If reservations are to be introduced as proposed then there would be below average students getting access to higher education and there they would fumble and even if pass would be with great difficulty.
Pro Quota Protests:
1. Need Reservation
As this would help to bridge the social balance, and as reservations would help have access to education in government institutes as private institutes are based on capitation and more so how is it fair if students who have access to education and facilities either by paying extra ( private tuitions) get better access or by the shear wealth in terms of capitations they get to have access, where as the socially backward have no such facilities firstly as most of them are from the rural or small towns where education infrastructure set up by government is in dire states.
2. Excellence can be showcased only if opportunity is give.
Reservation would not dilute quality, as if we wanted to compete with those students who have access to education and infrastructure from the day one then there needs to be the same access to infrastructure…as there is not through reservations seats can be availed in the prestigious institutes…But once there, like every one, one has to strive hard and get through else then there is no point is making so much of efforts to gain reservation, more so education is no one’s sole property.

Are there merits and de-merits in both the cases? Again the opinion is individual. As for me there is an element of truth in both the cases.
 I agree there would be shortage of seats if reservations are introduced, which in my opinion would really not help those either the pro quota or anti quota students.
As for anti quota students they would need to compete for smaller number of seats even if they have the calibre they might not get an opportunity to showcase the same. For pro quota students, how many would get to have benefits from this, as only those few who can have access to quality education and infrastructure amongst you would tend to make the most as the rest even if you claim the quota and seat, would it be possible to compete in the same class and league as those of your classmates once you join these institutes, answer is very difficult as since there is no much of quality education you have access this implies and can be assumed there would be some short comings in the basic understanding or shortcomings in know-how, so this makes it difficult to compete and will be playing in the hands of the so called professors who have made up their mind from pre-historic age that only those with merit can cope and other can cope, rightly or wrongly this is a fact.
 Equality, Merit and Quality have been used by the Anti-Quota protestors, is there a real sense of Equality and quality?
Whenever there is a comparison this has to be with relative terms, how can it be Equality when one gets to have access to education from the day one and special coaching to boost the current knowledge level, these coaching has not come without a cost and this cost could be tuitions are getting buying access to education through capitation fees from private educators, the majority percentage of those who claim reservation don’t get access to such facilities for most they simply cant and for few even if they can there are no opportunities, saying this there are those minority percentage of students who claim reservation get access to education either by capitation or by private educators and such people are the grouse of the matter and normally these minority have created an impression based on which the anti-quota protestors have modelled their opinions against reservation for socially balance. So the point is Equality, Merit and Quality are relative and one can’t generalise them.

Thinking of solution, is the proposed raise in 27%reservation, thus taking the total reservation to 49% a solution, answer is NO.
Government needs to understand and answer these question to define a solution to the problem which is dividing India more than what the Indian Right Wing has done over the years.
1. When those students who have no access to education and infrastructure and cant even buy themselves extra education for them, would reservation make much sense, as even though they get a seat, how effective can they be….this is very much questionable?
2. Are you not curtailing the calibre and potential of the meritorious (we can take it for say they are genuine) to showcase their talents

Starters to think for a possible solution:
1. Get the reservations back to status quo.
2. Look at how the benefits of reservation can reach the real needy; especially those in the rural sector who don’t even get to have decent education, cutting across caste lines.
3. Reservation over years has helped those few who have made use of it or the so called creamy layer in the urban sector as opposed to the rural sector.
4. Map those who are worthy and needy of reservation i.e rural students who are socially-economically backward and then define reservation. Do this on the basis of 2001 census as opposed to the 1931 census based on which Mandal Commission was modelled.
5. It is high time, Govt. education needs to be reformed and revived in the rural and urban India so there can be a fair playing ground is set in the coming 10-15yrs…
As there are so many discrepancies in the proposal, put on your thinking caps and define a solution and help save the future of India and its talent potential.

Reservation Rhetoric: Does this help anyone?

2006-05-13T17:50:00.000+01:00

A flawed proposal and a flawed opposition
Arjun Singh has done it again, this time he has opened up a can of worms which has far reaching ramifications than that of the political corridors in Delhi, is this an indication that he is eyeing higher offices now that he knows he can never get any higher than his HRD ministry in the electoral politics; is this a first step towards taking a pot shot at the highest constitutional position of India; well only time shall answer.

Arjun Singh’s proposal to revise the existing reservation or quota system and a proposed increase in 27% reservation for ST/SC/OBC students in central educational institutions has triggered a storm of protests both pro and against it. This as actually reignited the merit-vs-caste debate in the education sector, reviving the furore Mandal Commission (Mandal commission worked on wrong understandings and adopted 1931 census rather than adopting the new 1991 census) raised in 1991.
Though there seems to be a unity in the political spectrum on the new proposal there are some uneasiness as expressed subtly by Kapil Sibal, the Science and Technology Minster. Opinions are clearly divided between those who feel that the reservations are nothing but a political gimmick, unfair on the creamy middle class of India and those who say the move will genuinely help uplift the status of the backward classes.

Does Reservation / Quota system help anyone: YES and NO.
Ø Fundamentally reservation as envisaged by our founding fathers of constitution in letter and spirit would help to bring about a change and fair playing field for those socially backward communities (read as caste, but I don’t like the usage of the word), but for this to happen we need to have the right sort of implementation and monitoring structure else we would not have been talking about reservation and quota even after 59yrs of Indian independence, though which was originally envisaged to create a free, fair and equal opportunities for every Indian.In the last 59yrs there have been incidences and situations which have hindered to bring about such a social balance, so it is high time we set things into perspective as India aspires to be the world leader in the coming years. In short the answer is a Big Yes for reservations/quota system.
Ø Arjun Singh’s proposed new rule would mean nearly 50% of seats being set aside for the socially backward communities and the rest filled by the meritorious students. It is important to reflect upon who are these socially backward communities and what is their progression over years, as reservation have been doled out for the last 59yrs and how much has this changed the social backwardness. We can still find there are many social ills that needs to be targeted and eradicated, there needs to be an answer why the reservation introduced for all these years has not made any changes into the lives of these socially backward communities who still languish in rural India, is the new proposed reservation going to help those who really need, I am afraid No, this is the reason why there is so much opposition to the proposed reservations.

But more fundamentally, it is time to think why in spite of 59yrs of reservations/quota systems we are still falling short by miles to bridge this social differences and gap in Indian society? Reservations have been doled out over years but on ground there are very few who have made use of reservations and gone onto be role models and flag bearers for their communities. Is this not the time to reflect and think why is their a disparity even after reservations have been doled out for many years? In these contexts it is worth to examine what difference could Arjun Singh’s new proposal make to bridge this gap, the answer is nothing this is just a political gimmick to progress ones of career rather than giving a new direction and making a concrete attempt to bridge this social divide.

No amount of arguments can refute the fact that the socially backward communities have faced decades of exclusion and the only way to help them catch up is to provide them economic and educational opportunities. The question, though, is whether blanket reservation in higher institutions of learning are the answer, No as this has been proved over and over again in the last 59yrs.

So is this not time to get back to basics and define the Indian spectrum and map out the ground reality on the socio-economic-cultural backwardness and try to come up with solutions that would provide equal opportunity to quality education from the fundamental level and for this to happen there needs to be a revamp in the educational infrastructure at the elementary level rather than using a top down approach.

It is very heartening to know 48 of the IAS students passed this year though have access to reservation tags have competed with the so called meritorious students and emerged from the shadows and become role models, why this is because they could get access to quality education (their parents were the first generation beneficiaries of reservation in jobs and education). These are the real role models of our society, congratulations on your achievements.

On the contrary those opposing reservation our meritorious students have adopted a flawed rather a negative approach towards opposition, by not targeting the negatives of the proposal and targeting the concept of blanket reservation.

Thus let us give more thoughts to right to access quality education to one and all (rural-urban, social-economic-culturally backward communities) and if this demands a new set of reservations let us embrace to develop a new a bright India and thus how to bridge the socio-economic-cultural backwardness rather than giving blanket reservations.

Hope and Dreams are two underlying factors for the development of youth and though them the future of India, its time we see optimism rather than sycophancy and Vision rather than political gimmick from our political establishment.

Note: The views expressed here is author's personal view and if not intended to hurnt an individual or group of individuals.

Master Stroke

2006-03-26T22:34:00.000+01:00

India, world’s largest democracy, when looked closely one can find it chaotic in a orderly fashion but yet representative.

The last week, Indians have seen yet another of those political stunts or dramas. One cannot understand how both the ruling party and opposition is getting away by completely turning a blind eye on important and pressing matters of governance, but plotting and counter plotting the other to score cheap political brownie points.

Last week saw Sonia Gandhi making yet another sacrifice, I think its become common to the Congress party and to Sonia Gandhi has she has to live up to her illustrious family member. Was it a sacrifice, well I would say it was a political master stroke which has taken the steam of the opposition parties and keeping any eye on the impending elections, might favour Congress and its allies.
Some years back the very same BJP and its allies talked about Sonia’s immaturity in politics, but two years later and into her second sacrifice, I think there is a serious question to be raised against the opposition deftly headed by L.K. Advani.

Whatever one may call sacrifice, political master stroke or inevitability, but one thing is for sure, there is a mystery that surrounds Sonia Gandhi, and she is trying to bring new morals to public life, which is a noble thing, and like every other politician she is using to build up the profile of her party, but she has to beware that not to over do this.
By being obsessed on Sonia Gandhi, what has BJP, JD(U) and Samajawadi party gained, answer is absolutely nothing, each time she has been attacked she has grown in stature and thus playing to her hands and helping create an aura and hype around her for her to en-cash.

Countries around the world have opposition parties which act and counteract against the wrong doings of the ruling government and try to bring a sense of sanity to the way a government is functioned. But our opposition seems to have excelled in pre-empting the government moves, all this smartness has not exactly helped the people in general and BJP in particular, but on the contrary this has had negative effect on the public, as they feel BJP being a weak opposition, which is not going to help BJP in the future if it not corrects its strategy.
If they were concerned so much about the constitution and the public, why is there very few and countable private members bill being introduced, which would become laws by themselves (American and the UK model). Can any one answer this?
Well my prediction is there is a clear lack in the political vision in the current set of politicians on both side, more so on the BJP.

PS: Hats off to you Madam Gandhi, you have started a new trend in public life, but just be cautious of the sycophants you are surrounded with, as there is a genuinely lack of mass leaders in Congress and it would be all onto yourself to take the burden of getting votes to your party, thus take cautions when making any political move.

History in Making

2006-03-03T23:56:00.000Z

1st week of March 2006, will be remembered for a long time to come by Indian public and the world; reason being there was history in making by world's largest and oldest democracies.

Manmohan Singh seems to be the lucky mascot for India, if 1991 gave him an opportunity to globalise Indian economy, 2006 is his moment and because of his adminstration a new chapter in Indian histroy is being written; thus globalising Indian strategy and positioning India, in the new world order.

India, as on today theoritically broken the shakles of nuclear isolation, i re-emphaise theoritically as the Indo-US nuclea deal, still has to get US Congress approval, as the adge goes the Devil lies in small print, as and when there is clearance from the US Congress, team Manmohan Singh and rest of India can celebrate in bright sunshine.

Kudos to Mr.Prime Minister and his team, and if the recent news articles are correct in quoting "Bush having a small pep talk with M.K.Naryanan, saying he wants the deal", this shows the new found camaraderie between the two nations.

I take this opportunity to thank team Manmohan Singh, and more importantly group of retired scientists from the Atomic Energy Commission in India who started a lengthy debate via print media and to Anil Kakodkar who always had a veto on the Nuclear Deal between the two countries. It is Anil Kakodkar and the gamut of nuclear physists and scientists working on our Nuclear programme, who have shaped and and startegised of India having nuclear cabililities and the wise political establsihment, sometimes highly volatile, but have magaed to curb themselves to help India not to loose this historic opportunity.

When history was in the making, on the sidelines there was another history being created, which puts our head down in shame.
"Athithi Devo Bahavaha": According to our culture and we Indians believe in treating our guests on par with the almight God whom we have faith in. But the type of demonstrations that have taken place against George Bush, has never happened in the cultural history of India. In democratic India everyone has their right of opinion and freedom of speech, but the demonstrations and the kind of speeches made by our political fraternity have defamed our clultural heritage and highlighted the double standard we practice. History has taken note of it and more importantly the world has token note of this. Is this not against our cultural heritage and our high grounds of morality; the so called secularists Left Parties, Samajawadi party, JD(S), V.P.Singh and the Islamic groups owe an explation to the people and more so they should clarify if they truly believe in Indian ethos and culture.

Well, though our clutural brancuptcy and double standards in our ethos was well demonstrated, we can end in a happy note that an historic opportunity has opened up and it is to the Indian establishment on how it will make maximum use of it to create India, for the comming century.