It is time the government tries to salvage its mandate.

The UPA led government appears to be fast loosing its public mandate to rule. It desperately needs some miracle to save its sinking ship.

The government is trying to save its face by showing some courage on the economics front. Some good bold decisions that have been pending for the last couple of years were taken by the government. The results of these decisions will take some time to become apparent so fingers are crossed and all we can do is to wait and watch.

I strongly believe there are two things the government can do to save its image...

1. Take Action against the Corrupt

Till date the government has taken a tough stand against all those who have spoken against corruption in the country. The biggest dents to the image of the government is the way it has handled mass movements...

• The midnight lathi-charge against peaceful protesters who were sleeping - Ramdeo's Hunger Strike at Delhi. 
• The arrest of Anna Hazare when he was going to start his Hunger Strike demanding that the Jan Lokpal Bill be enacted.
• The arrest of Arvind Kejriwal when he wanted to meet the Prime Minister demanding the ouster of Salman Khurshid for the alleged submission of forged documents in related to the grant for aid-n-appliances for the physically challenged.

But this will have to change... it is time the government goes tough on the corrupt. Cut the crap about negativity around corruption. There are glaring examples of corruption at high levels that cannot be denied - 2G, CWG, Coalgate.

2. Get some good advisers

The biggest constituent of the UPA, i.e. the Congress party certainly needs some good advisers on its interaction with the people specially on issues related to the masses. Today corruption and inflation are the two most burning issues that the Congress has been unable to tackle very well. The high-handedness of the top leaders of the party is working very much against it.


The type of irrelevant and unrelated statements that this party's so-called leaders makes one wonder whether they even know what they are saying.

Negativity over corruption - PM and his game of words

The phrase "negativity around corruption" by Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh on 11-Oct-2012 at some speech caught my attention.

He has once again demonstrated how nicely he can use words and the English language and deliver good impact to his speeches. It cannot be denied that "negativity over corruption" certainly dampens the international sentiment about this country, but I would like to know how can one be "positive around corruption".

Day-after-day, names of top business houses, high ranking government officials and senior cabinet ministers are being exposed in connection to some multi crore scam or the other.

Tell me how does one present this in a positive way?

I believe that the only way to handle this is catch the guilty and throw them behind the bars and sing loudly in the media about the punishment given to him. This is the only way how we can motivate others to keep away from the path of corruption.

Then how, yes how, can one avoid the "negativity over corruption"

P Chidambaram - Controversy refuses to let this man alone

This year several high profile ministers resigned, many were sent to prison but still, I believe, the title of most controversial politician of this year will go to P. Chidambaram, Home Minister, Government of India.

First his name gets dragged into the multi-multi-crore 2G spectrum allocation scam of India. It is alleged that he was involved in the 2G spectrum allocation scandal. Just when the opposition had started to cool down against him, a letter from finance ministry to the prime minister's office surfaced, that too when both the finance minister and the prime minister were not in the country.

The media had gotten over this incident when it was learnt that Subramanian Swamy has been asked to present his arguement before court as to why P. Chidambaram's role in the spectrum allocation case should be investigated.

Now as the year draws to an end, the news to hit the streets against the home minister is regarding his alleged misuse of office. It seems that minister used his position as home minister to get criminal cases against one his former clients to be withdrawn.


P. Chidambaram the name will go down history as the most controversial politician of 2011.

Censorship of the Internet - Kapil Sibal's innovative idea to humiliate the government this time

Wow! How innovative!! Kapil Sibal has outdone himself. He has come up with a new idea of how to humiliate  his government.

And to think I was thinking that the government may not humiliate itself any more. How foolish of me to even think like this.

Kapil Sibal - a senior member of the Congress Party, a senior Minister in the Union Cabinet - has conceived a very innovative idea. This time he wants to control the content on the internet. He wants to apply censorship to the social networking sites.

You many wonder, what he can achieve with this? Oh! It is simple.

The government has already gained a reputation as a roll-back government. It has time and again gone back on its own announcements. Be it a simple bilateral treaty with Bangladesh or allowance of FDI in the retail sector. This time the government has decided to try its power in harnessing the internet, something that even the economical giants like US have been unable to do.

He is doing this so that the young crowd that frequents these sites are alienate against the government. He wants to ensure that the government looses the very little support it has left behind it, after the way Ramdev Baba's and Anna Hazare's agitations were handled.

The government has left no stone unturned in the last six to seven months in destroying its own credibility. It has gone to lengths to prove that it does respect the people's wishes. It does not want corruption to stop. It does not want the return of the black money from the Swiss Banks. In fact, it is even ready to prosecute those who dare to raise these issues.

Wake up, O members of the Indian Government. You may not be worried about how the international community thinks of you, but we still respect our country and would like to save its image.

Roll Back Government has Rolled Back Again

The Government of India, which has earned a reputation for itself in rolling back its own decisions has done it once again.

This time the government has rolled back its decision to allow FDI investment in the retail sector. Although the government is saying that it has put the decision on hold "until a consensus is evolved" among its allies. So it is as good as a roll-back. The government is not going to implement another one of its announcements.

With the roll back of the FDI issue, the path has now been cleared to focus back to the topic of the Jan-Lokpal Bill.

Anna Hazare has already announced a symbolic one-day protest for 11-Dec-2011, and said he is ready for another hunger strike by the end of the month if the Jan-Lokpal Bill is not passed, in accordance the PMs letter to him and the sense-of-the-parliament conveyed to him during the previous Parliament Session.

It will be interesting to see what the government does this time to humiliate itself.

No Working in Parliament during Monsoon Session

The Indian democracy is facing tough times.

The Government:
The nation is governed  by a stubborn government, that is adamant on its own political views, and does not give a damn to what public opinion is. The government has gone back on most of its decisions in the recent times.

The Opposition: 
An equally stubborn opposition, that in the current situation appears to have public support.

The Result:
There has not been a single day of working in the current monsoon session of the parliament.


The government is stuck on an issue that does not have any or very little public support. It has decided to allow FDI in the retail sector. This decision is not liked by the common public. The only ones in support of the decision are the corporate houses who have foreign collaborations and want to cash-in on the FDI.

People say why do we need foreigners to sell goods in India.

In fact, they say, the government should entertain FDI in manufacturing. We have very stiff requirements in the defense sector for which we have to spend a lot of foreign exchange in importing. Should the government not focus on getting it manufactured locally with the help of the private sector within the country?

Politics in Uttar Pradesh

Two politicians - Mayawati and Rahul Gandhi - are in direct confrontation in the forth-coming state elections in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

Mayawati, a home bred politician who has risen from the ranks and established herself in the Uttar Pradesh. She has proven her worth in the way she has garnered support for herself in UP's male dominated politics.

Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand is politician due to his family he was born into. He has hardly been on the streets on his own, and most probably knows about the common man from what he has learnt from his political teachers and followers. He still has to prove that he is worth the amount of trust his party puts into him.

Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janta Party are other two big parties vying for a stake in the UP State Assembly have still to get into their top gear. They are currently only making noises and may be testing the battleground.

Up to now, Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party has been considered the second largest player in the UP Poll fray.


UP's poll, which is mostly likely to be scheduled for early 2012, is turning out to be the battleground for these stalwarts.

It has given all political observers a full time occupation. They are busy trying to understand and interpret the moves and counter-moves of these two.


We, too, shall also keep an eye on these.

Kejriwal attacked in Lucknow

A shoe was hurled at Anna Hazare's most trusted lieutenant Arvind Kejriwal in Lucknow. Apparently pressure on the Congress party is showing. It can't be proven for sure that the incident was Congress sponsored or not, but it has every indication of being one.

After all, the Congress Party has faced a humbling defeat at all the 4 bye-elections - 1 parliamentary and 3 assembly. It has demonstrated that Anna's appeal asking voters not to vote for those who are not supporting the Jan-Lokpal Bill is getting the same public support that his campaign at Ramlila Maidan that received.

Well the pressure is showing......
 

Anna's campaign in Hisar works

Anna Hazare and his team's pressure campaign against the ruling Congress-led government at the center in India is on full swing.

The counting results which came on 17-Oct-2011 made it clear that the Congress party was been battered badly at all the 4 bye-polls...

• Hisar Parliamentary Seat
• Banswada Assembly in Andhra Pradesh
• Daraunda Assembly in Bihar
• Khadakwasla in Maharashtra

When Anna's team was asked why they did not wait until the Winter Session of the Parliament before moving against the ruling party, they had only one thing to say. According to them, and many people seem to agree with them, the Congress party has not act against corruption until it was put under pressure, and they hasten to add this action by Team Anna is to keep up the pressure on the ruling coalition.

One can only hope that the Congress Party sees the light of the day and does something concrete to get the Jan-Lokpal Bill moving.

Meanwhile Team Anna has shifted its pressure campaign to Lucknow.

Anna Hazare sets eyes on the Congress

The country's leading political party, Indian National Congress (INC) or Congress Party, as it is popularly known is in the sights of Anna Hazare's as he announces the launch of next round of the protest.

Anna Hazare, today, addressed a press conference at his native village - Ralegan Siddhi, near Pune. He informed the nation that he is looking forward to the passing of the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Winter Session of Parliament - as had been assured by the rulers of the country. He said that he would campaign against the Congress Party in the forthcoming state elections in country, if the party does not work take pro-active steps or dilly-dallys in passing the bill.

Anna Hazare has been crusading for the eradication of corruption in the country.

Right to Information (RTI) today's most powerful weapon against corruption is also the result of Anna Hazare's efforts. RTI gives the Indians information about the corrupt deeds of the babus and netas of India, and now the nation needs a powerful mechanism to investigate and prosecute the corrupt. Jan-Lokpal is Anna Hazare's answer to this.

The way the masses had thronged in support his support when he fasted at Ramlila Maidan, this warning by the anti-corruption crusader must not be taken lightly by the Congress party. One can only hope, the Congress party does not decide to tackle the issue like it has against the anti-corruption and anti-black-money workers in the recent past.

Poverty Line - Another Flip-Flop from the Government

The poverty-line affidavit submitted by the planning commission in the Supreme Court of India has become another flip-flip opportunity for the Congress led UPA Government at the center in India.

It may be recollected that the Planning Commission had submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court in September 2011 in which it had mentioned that an urban Indian needed Rs 32 per day while his rural counterpart required Rs 26 to make both ends meet. The Planning Commission had faced a lot of criticism for the poverty lines defined in the affidavit.

Now, the flip-flop specialist Government of India is once again readying itself to go back on this stand. Today after a series of meetings with representatives of the government including the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Planning Commission Chairman Montek Singh held a press conference together with Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Rural Development, in which they have stated that a new formula will be evolved to determine the poverty level -

i.e., The government is clearly once again in a mood to do a flip-flop in its stand within 2 weeks for having taken one. To support his flip-flop the government is spending crores to carry out what it is calling a Socio-Economic and Caste-Economic census. 

CBI hints at Anil Ambani's role in 2G

Anil Ambani  - son of late Dhirubhai Ambani - is now under the CBI scanner for his role in the alleged mega-2G scam.

It may be noted that three senior executives of his Reliance Communications are already members of the Tihar Jail's VIP Club.

It has been reported that the cops have informed the Supreme Court of India that these 3 Reliance Communication Executives want to change their original stand in the case according to which they had maintained that they were responsible for the decisions made in connection with the 2G issue.

Reliance Communications is India's second largest telecom service provider and a company of Anil Ambani's ADAG. The prices of the shares of the ADAG companies crashed on the stock markets today when the news of Anil Ambani being investigating hit the streets.

However, some political observers say that information of investigating Anil Ambani has been disclosed at this juncture to take heat of the home minister P. Chidambaram. The home minister has been under pressure for quite some time, especially after the note from Finance Ministry to Prime Minister Office went public.

Scams of India

The current Government of India led by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will probably go down in history as the government with the maximum number of corruption charges - both in terms of quantity and magnitude. Most of the scams exposed in the last few months have occurred while the government is still in power.

Ironically, some of the most severe allegations of corruption were against the Congress or Congress-led governments. These include...

• Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had imposed emergency when Jai Prakash Narayan led an anti-corruption campaign against her government.
• Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi faced rough weather when his senior colleagues led by V. P. Singh alleged corruption in the Bofors Commission scandal. 
• Soon after completing his tenure, Prime Minister P. V. Narsimha Rao's was tried in court for bribing the members of parliament from the Shibu Soren's JMM Party.
• Amar Singh, Member of Parliament, is currently in custody for his role in trying to bribe some members of parliament to abstain from voting or voting in favour of the Congress during the last Vote of Confidence in the parliament. Incidentally mediator and the whistle blowers in the case have been sent to judicial custody while the beneficiaries of this graft are still left untouched.

And now the current government has, shamelessly, surpassed all previous scandals, its ministers and senior MPs have landed in jail for their involvement in the mega-scams that have taken place in the last 3-4 years. The size of the scams put all the previous scams to shame...

• Commonwealth Games scandal - Thousands of Crores - Accused politicians include... Suresh Kalmadi MP and chairman of the Organizing Committee, Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi.
• 2G Scam - Lakhs of Crores - Accused politicians include... A. Raja, MP and now ex-Minister of Telecommunications, Kanimozhi MP, P. Chidambaram - then Finance Minister, now Home Minister.

Earlier governments too have had criminal investigations against them, but none were of this magnitude and most were after the government had left office.

To top it all, the government has vigorously contested against those have raised voices against corruption and black money.

Rajbala - victim of police action dies in hospital

Rajbala - a 51 year old woman - who was injured in the police action on the Ramdev Baba and his supports at Ramlila Ground on night of 4 June 2011, died in GB Pant Hospital today morning (20-Sept-2011).

Baba Ramdev was on an indefinite hunger strike in protest demanding action from the government against black money. On the fateful night the police had used brute force shortly after midnight to break hunger strike at Delhi's Ramlila Ground. They had swooped down and started hitting the sleeping supporters including women and children.

It is alleged that Rajbala was injured in the lathicharge that had severely damaged her spinal cord. She had been battling for her life in the city's G. B. Pant Hospital since then. She had undergone surgery and was on ventilator since then. She had become quadriplegic. She passed away today morning in the hospital.

The police had faced severe criticism for the brutality it had displayed on that eventful night. They have no argument to justify why they had to take action late in the night when the protestors - who were in a peaceful agitation - were sleeping. Even the Supreme Court had taken suo-motto cognizance and sought an explanation from Delhi Police on this matter.

Truck driver beaten to death by the police! Corruption at its worst.

Another case of police brutality has come forward - the death of a truck driver on the national highway in Uttar Pradesh.

Corruption at its worst - RTO Officials today (26-Sept-2011) beat a truck driver to death in Uttar Pradesh. His fault was that he refused to pay a bribe of Rs.5000.

The incident happened on National Highway 2 in Chandauli. An ARTO who was supposedly on a routine checking, intercepted a truck. After checking the licence and other documents, the ARTO demanded a bribe of Rs.5000/-, which the truck driver refused to pay. As a consequence of his refusal the ARTO and his associates badly beat up the driver leading to his death.

This is the state of affairs in our country and the Congress-led UPA Government is not willing to act against the corrupt. It does not want to pass the strict jan-lokpal bill that Anna Hazare is demanding.

Forest and Environment - Who Cares!! At least not the government

This is what a new study released by the Centre for Science and Environment, an NGO, has to say...

For some time now, industry, government and regulatory agencies have been persistently talking about how environmental regulations have throttled the country’s growth. They have raged on about how the system of forest and environment clearances has forced India’s credit ratings to its nadir. And they have bitterly complained about how environmentalists were holding the country and its people to ransom.

All of which is unadulterated hogwash, says a new assessment by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The Director General of CSE Sunita Narain says “Environmental regulations are seen as impeding growth, but where is the impediment? We are finding that despite all the browbeating, almost every project is getting cleared with frightening consistency, making a complete mockery of our regulatory systems.”

If the report is to be believed that the Government of India has approved more damage to the environment and specially forest land in the last two year than has been done since independence

Take the case of coal mining. All coal mining areas are heavily polluted, and most coal mining companies have very poor environment management record: many of these places fall under the category of critically polluted areas (CPA). Monitoring by pollution control authorities shows about one-third of operating coal mines are violating all environmental norms. Despite this, coal mining projects in CPAs are being given the go-ahead quite regularly.

It is the same story in the case of coal-based thermal power projects. Of the top 10 districts where environmental clearance has been granted to these projects, six were declared as already critically polluted.

The report also speculates that, there could be a new scam to take over the land and the water of the people.

Fingers pointed at P. Chidambaram's role in 2G scam

Another embarrassing moment for the Congress led UPA government at the center in India.

This time a note has come forward. This note prepared by the Department of Economic Affairs, an office under Pranab Mukherjee, current Finance Minister of India, was sent to PMO on 25 March 2011. It has raised questions on the actions and inaction of P. Chidambaram, the then Finance Minister of India in connection with the 2G scam.

The note - an 11-page document - describes that the Finance Ministry had demanded that the 2G spectrum be auctioned. According to a report in the Times of India, the note says that P. Chidambaram had overruled the recommendations of the ministry - the Ministry of Finance - that demanded that 2G spectrum be auctioned.

"DoT could have invoked this clause (5.1 of the UAS license) for cancelling licences in case MoF had stuck to the stand of auctioning the 4.4 MHz spectrum," the note says.

The note, directly casts a shadow of suspicion on the role played by the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum allocation which is said to have caused a loss of Rs. 50000 crore to Rs. 1.76 lakh crore to the Indian exchequer.

The timing of this note becoming public could not have been worse for the ruling UPA coalition, whose credibility has been severely compromised in the past few months. The note was given by PMO to an RTI activitist in response to an RTI request.

Onion Export - Another Rollback by UPA Government

Something is really not working right for the Congress-led UPA government at the center in India.

Since its almost successful panga (पंगा) with Baba Ramdeo during his hunger protest against black money in middle of the night at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, almost every decision of the government seems to be backfiring, further denting its already low credibility.

The latest in the series is, today's (20-Sept-2011) announcement of a roll-back by the Government on its decision that it had taken on 9-Sept-2011 to ban the export of onion.

This time the government has bowed down to the protest by the farmers against the ban.

Common-on GOI - get your act together, and do something right for a change.

Narendra Modi v/s Shanker Singh Baghel

Narendra Modi and Shanker Singh Baghel have both begun their 3 day fast - actually 72 hours by Modi and 75 hours by Baghel.

Narendra Modi's fast is called - Sadbhavan Fast. He has several clear cut points on his political and personal agenda that he is highlighting on the occasion...

• The relief (that he claims) that he has got from the Supreme Court - experts say that it is not exactly a clean chit, but then that is a different issue.
•  The thumbs-up that his style of governance has received in the US Congressional Research Service's report.
• The informal announcement of his candidature as Prime Ministership of India in the 2014 polls.

On the personal front, the fast could be his way to thank God for the period of successful governance in Gujarat.

 

But, what is Shanker Singh Baghel's agenda? He, it seems, has sat on a fast just to oppose Narendra Modi. There is no other apparent purpose of Baghel's three-day fast - besides ensuring the Narendra Modi is not able to hog all the media attention.

Yes! that it. His only and seemingly successful agenda is to divert some of the media attention that would have otherwise Narendra Modi got. Now the media is forced to give some time to Baghel, from what would have been undivided and uniterrupted focus on Narendra Modi's activities during the 72 hour fast.

US Congressional Report jumpstarts race for next PM candidate

Even as L. K. Advani is preparing to start his Rath Yatra against corruption from Gujarat - a yatra seen by many as the start of his campaign for 2014 polls, a report tabled by the US Congressional Research Service has preempted the race to find the next prime ministerial candidate in India.

It is well-known that L. K. Advani has ambitions to become the country's Prime Minister, but today, 16 Sept 2011, he has also endorsed the US Congressional Research Service Report that Narendra Modi could well be BJP's PM candidate for the 2014 polls.

The report by the US Congressional Research Service has projected (though not explicitly) that the next parliamentary elections in India, which are scheduled for 2014, could be a Narendra Modi v/s Rahul Gandhi battle.

The report has acknowledged Narendra Modi's governance in Gujarat stating that it is the best example of effective governance in India. The same report has also described Nitish Kumar's governance also as a positive example. It also describes that since 2009 Mayawati's focus has shifted towards investment in infrastructure projects.