UTI’s entry to the Advertisement Awards

(in Homicidal category of course!)

Ironically, this actually represents how the Fund Houses consider the small customers who put in their life savings in these funds.

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The Dragon’s growing…

A couple of articles came up in Times of India in Monday’s edition which show the increasing chinese influence in India both politically and economically, and praise lord for the strong leadership in the center (!) I wonder what’s coming in future.

LAC shrinks as China nibbles patiently

"The area along line of actual control (LAC) with China has shrunk over a period of time and India has lost substantial chunk of land in the last two decades, says an official report."

 

"…it was another attempt by the Chinese to claim the territory as disputed in the same fashion as they had taken Nag Tsang area opposite to Phuktse airfield in 1984, Nakung in 1991 and Lungma-Serding in 1992."

 

"Last year, Chinese troops had entered nearly 1.5 km into the Indian territory on July 31 near Mount Gya recognised as international border by India and China…"

India has traditionally been very accomodating with the Chinese, with the Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai rhetoric, which the Chinese fail to comprehend (probably because of the differences in the dialects of the two countries), and fails to see or learn from the mistakes done in the past. Blame it on the strength of the central ledership or the lack of pride the political influence the Chinese have on the world and India isn’t going to end in the near past.

 

Cheap Chinese imports killing Indian industry

"…Larsen & Toubro has said that China is systematically killing Indian manufacturing sector…"

 

"There are taxes on goods manufactured locally, but none on imported products (from China). This is an unfair situation for Indian goods."

 

"…80% of our dependence for power plant equipment is on one country, and that too China…"

I bet, anyone has missed noticing the usual “Made in China” tags in their daily shopping! From furniture to coasters to cutleries. Mobile phones to computer parts to pirated software. And from petty keepsakes sold at traffic signals to heavy industrial machineries. A surprisingly huge number of items sold in Indian market is actually Chinese. They are doing in almost all consumer/industrial goods what India did to US and Europe in Software Development, and worse part is they’re catching up in Software too, pretty fast.

 

For starters, I since the last year have stopped buying products with a “Made in China” tag.

 

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Why do people Honk?

People honk because they have to wait at a Red traffic signal. Honk because the signal is Green.

Honk because the guy in front isn’t moving fast. Because the guy behind is trying to overtake. Because someone overtakes from left. Because someone overtakes from right. Honk just because someone is going faster.

Honk because people keep walking in the middle of the road and not use Zebra Crossing. Honk because people walk on Zebra Crossing which government made in the middle of the road.

Honk because someone else honked. Honk because it’s so quite so be the first!

Honk because they’re angry. Honk because they’re happy. Just because they want to express all of their emotions.

Honk because they’re in a hurry. Honk because they’re lazy.

Honk because they want to show off. Honk because they do not like someone else showing off.

Honk because they see something interesting. Honk because they missed seeing it.

Well people honk because on the road they don’t have a sane head but just a car with a Horn.

 

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A toilet worth 1000 bucks! (was ‘100 Crores!’, Stupid Me!)

An article came in The Times of India, today’s (June 3, 2009) edition, regarding the flagship programmes of the Government of India. One of the programmes is the TSC: Total Sanitation Campaign (section in the pic on left), which has the charter of creating hygienic toilets in rural areas to prevent open defecation and thus reduce the spread of various diseases. During the last 10 years (1999-2009) this programme has successfully created 5.3 crore toilets across numerous villages through out the country.

The total cost of this programme till date has been a whooping Rs. 5100 Crores!
So doing the math right, each toilet created through this programme is worth 100 crores! (Well almost, just a tiny bit less than that).

Yeah! I want one of those. Or maybe honourable Government of India, lets exchange, keep your toilet, just give me a small villa in Hyderabad, I can be content with a mere 2 crore property!

Turns out i need to go back to school! 5100 crores divided by 5.3 crore is around 1000 bucks! not 100 crore.
Stupid me! Stupid me! So very stupid me!!!

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Amitabh does a Knight’s Act

Amitabh Bachchan lives to his stature and does a Knight’s act. Last week he was offered a doctorate degree from The Queensland University of Technology, and he politely refused to receive it, stating it morally inappropriate, given the bitter racial treatment being given to Indian students down under^[1].

 

Notably during the past few days Indian students in Australia are being targeted with extreme violence, which has left many injured^[2].

 

This is what Amitabh wrote^[1]:

Dear Sir,

 

I write to you with a heavy heart on a matter that has now reached extremely sensitive proportions.

 

I have been reading and watching through the media the most unfortunate and violent attacks on Indian students in Australia; some of them lying in a most critical condition in hospital. I have observed with utter dismay the anguish that these incidents have caused to the families of those who have become unfortunate victims.

 

The Queensland University of Technology has very graciously offered only last week, to confer an Honorary Doctorate to me for my contribution to the world of entertainment.

 

Under the prevailing circumstances I find it inappropriate at this juncture, to accept this decoration. My conscience is profoundly unsettled at the moment and there seems to be a moral disjuncture between the suffering of these students and my own approbation.

 

I have the highest respect  for your illustrious Institution and wish to express my deepest regard for the recognition it bestows me with. I do not wish to offend in any manner this kind gesture by the Queensland University of Technology, but I do hope that you will understand my present feelings.

 

 

With warm regards,

 

Amitabh Bachchan

[1]: http://bigb.bigadda.com/?p=2673

[2]: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=887d8db3-7bc2-48bf-a9c4-da189be9faae

      http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=f991093b-785b-49b8-86be-c4ea963f5ecf

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Mr. P Chidambram lost the election and won it again!

So did Menka Gandhi, both after a recount!

If nothing, this is the most disgusting aspect of Indian Democracy. In a bizarre turnout of events during counting, both Mr. P Chidambram (PC) and Mrs. Menka Gandhi (MG) had lost the elections but later were declared winners after they called for a recount of votes.

There is a chance, a very little chance, that there was a fair play in both the cases, but such gross blunders on part of Election Committee (EC) is very difficult to digest given the state in which India’s politics stands today! The introduction of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) whose sole purpose was to make it easy in the counting the votes, makes it even more hard to believe that this kind of error can really happen.

I didn’t vote in this election, that said, I guess I do not deserve the right to comment on what happened during this elections. But I really pity those who did. (Man, first hats off to all of them for getting themselves eligible to vote) Those who contested the elections, were all, well almost, lousy candidates to vote for. Which way would you go when you have आगे कुवाँ और पीछे खाई (a well in front and a gorge behind)? And then, even when people did vote, its not their votes that decides who wins, the EC does. We the people, are just numbers. Numbers that are used to display the strength of Indian Democracy internationally! The Triumph of People! What a Joke! We always lose, either we vote or not. Whether one candidate wins or other. It doesn’t matter, we don’t matter. And that’s what’s disgusting!

I was not very fond of Mrs. Menka Gandhi anyways, but Mr. P Chidambram, you’ve lost any respect I had for you, even if at the end you’ve managed to somehow win your constituency!

PC: lost by 3000, then won by 3500 votes
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Chidambaram-wins-from-Sivaganga/articleshow/4540169.cms

MG: lost by 22000, then won by 6400 votes
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/maneka-gandhi-wins-from-aonla-up/92734-37.html

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What the Congress gave our country…

The Congress manifesto^[1] for the 2009 general elections mentions what the party’s great achievements have been during the last century. The two paragraphs that summarize are quoted below verbatim:

The Indian National Congress is the party that, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, led our people into freedom from colonial rule. It is the party whose leadership, by the admission of Dr. Ambedkar himself, made our Constitution possible.

The Indian National Congress is the party that, under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, established the foundations of the modern Indian nation-state with its abiding commitment to parliamentary democracy, secularism, economic development, and science and technology.

I believe the above paragraphs are gross understatement of what actually the Congress party has accomplished.

• Indian National Congress brought us the independence and also led to the Partition through Jinnah (a former member of INC).
• INC made our constitution possible and later also included the concept of Reservations (SC/ST/OBC/and ironically even Rajputs) which causes riots and deaths till date^[2].
• Under leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, we got the Sino-Indian War and lost miserably, because of his adamancy on the weird foreign policy “Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai”.
• Under leadership of Indira Gandhi, we got the autocratic Emergency and the devastating Operation Blue Star. Allegedly Blue Star was an operation to curb the extremism that was seeded by the INC itself!
• Under INC we had the 1984 anti-sikh riots which was a concerted effort to wipe out an entire community. Over thousands were killed in riots spearheaded by members of INC in various parts of Delhi^[3].
• Under INC during the last term, there have been at least 25 major terrorist incidents^[4], 12 in the past 1 year alone, with a literally non/dys-functional Home Minister who did nothing but wear a different suit everyday and utter gibberish at each incident. Notably non of the cases have made any progress in the courts, with Ajmal Kasab (sole survivor and prime accused in Mumbai attacks last november) getting a royal treatment under custody.

If INC claims for the achievement of independence, it should have been non existent by now. Principally INC was formed only to achieve India’s independence and was not expected to play a political role post independence, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel were both of this opinion^[5], but INC, esp. Nehru, supposedly wanted to rule the country and so it did!

[1] http://aicc.org.in/new/home-layout-manifesto.php
[2] http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-33754820080524
[3] http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2003/who-are-guilty.htm
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_major_terrorist_incidents_in_India
[5] Jesudasan, Ignatius. A Gandhian theology of liberation. Gujarat Sahitya Prakash: Ananda India, 1987, pp 225

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The Deewar of Indian Politics

Sonia Gandhi (at Bhongir): Hamare pas Manmohan hai.. tumhare paas kya hai? (We’ve got Manmohan.. What have you got?)
L K Advani (probably at Gandhinagar): !@$%?

Manmohan Singh (somewhere thanking his stars): Bhagwaan tera lakh lakh shukra hai! Mere paas to Maa hai.. Jai Ho!! (Thank you God a million times! I’ve got The Mother!!)

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Jarnail Singh loses his shoe

But he surely does steal the show.

It was a rerun of the Iraq drama right here at the Indian Capital when Jarnail Singh, a journalist by profession, hurled a shoe at the Home Minister, Mr. P Chidambram, displaying his angst and unrest over the issue of Mr. Jagdish Tytler being given a clean chit in the 1984 Sikh Riot case.

Though this is an unfortunate event to happen, this clearly shows how angry and hurt Sikhs feel towards no outcome of the case running since last 25 years! and that too after 10 committees commissioned by the government to look into the matter. This nature of Indian Judicial system in itself is so unfortunate and puts a whole billion people to shame.

Update:

Jarnail Singh’s shoe was a Reebok size 8

Akali Dal has announced a Rs. 2 Lakhs reward and Lok Sabha election ticket from Amritsar

Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee has offered a job, in case he loses the current one, and legal aid if he is booked for the offense.

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Congress == The Nehru (Gandhi) Family

I was reading the March 30 issue of the Outlook and came across an opinion column by Nayantara Sahgal Nehru’s Turning In His Graves which condemns the inflammatory remarks of Varun Gandhi in UP. Although I myself am in wholehearted support of this condemnation, this article unfortunately paints Congress and Nehru family as one. Though this fact is a widely believed one, to come from someone who belongs to the family nullifies the claims Congressmen make, of having their own identity and not just being part of an archaic political party. Truth is Congress is in name and spirit all but Nehru family which is evident by the control that the family musters over the party.

Congress has a line of very senior political leaders and is trying to pull in young blood but it seriously needs to break from the family bondage and get its own identity and thoughts. There’s more to this billion strong nation besides the ideologies of a single family. We’re democracy and the Congressmen need to understand that!

Excerpts from article:

…while Varun is no doubt a fourth-generation descendant of the family, let us not forget that both he and his mother, Maneka, made an open break with the family. Varun may have only been a toddler when Maneka severed her ties with the family, but he struck out just as irrevocably when he joined the BJP some five years ago. His break with the family and its ideals was just as decisive as his mother’s. He owes his allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) now, and his connection to the Nehru-Gandhi family is now completely irrelevant…

…difference between Varun and his cousins, Rahul and Priyanka, is that while they were nurtured on the family’s secular ideals…   …The Congress, whatever its sins, is dedicated to secularism and the unity of India…   …other language is secularism and peace and equal respect for all religions. That is the language I speak, and that is the language of the Congress…

My response:

Pardon my poor understanding of Indian History and Polity, but the way this article talks it feels (which is always denied by Congress and claimed by everyone else) that there is very little differentiating Congress from the Nehru (now Gandhi) Family.

I believe democracy is above lineage and one single family would never muster the competencies for the collective good of a billion strong nation. Congress should and must try and break out of the family ideals and present some thought leadership to take our nation ahead. I don’t say secularism and Unity of India are not important, but there are more important tasks at our hand, viz. national security, employment, inflation, etc. which should be the center of every political party’s focus.

Disclaimer: In no spirit do I support the inflammatory remarks of Mr. Varun Gandhi, nor do I have any political affiliations yet.

To reiterate my disclaimer I do not have any political affiliations and criticizing Congress doesn’t mean I support other political parties.

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