Jan Lokpal & Team Anna are still very much relevant !

We in Karnataka have seen the effectiveness of Lokayuakta

- BSY, as we refer to Karnataka x-CM, cannot be compared with Bal Thakre & Narendra Modi. He is a different individual.
-- He has build BJP in Karnataka over last several years & is worth a CM. People respect him for that.
-- Both BJP & RSS, at one time, had no choice but to use Reddy brothers for their power & money they have.
-- Indirectly, Sushma Swaraj’s power struggle at center also played a role.
-- Finally, BSY made a few bad decisions by allowing his sons a free hand & got involved into relatively small issue compared to some BIG goonda we have in Karnataka politics like the Deve Gowda family.
-- But he had to resign !!!


- Lokayuata police conduct raids on many babus & unearth a lot of black money.
-- These babus do not get punished due to their political bosses is a diff thing.
-- But these raids were also not possible 4 – 5 yes back. The system evolves over a period of time & there is no silver bullet.


- Santosh Hedge has a HUGE respect in Karnataka.
-- And he is also a part of the Anna Team & was also member who drafter “Jan Lokpal”.
-- His credentials are simply unquestionable.


- Then there are 2 BIG time lawyers in Team Anna, Bhushan father & son. They are definitely not joke.


- Nobody from Team Anna ever claimed that “Jan Lokpal” is THE solution for corruption in India, this is one of the tools.


- We need more ppl like Kiran Bedi & Kajriwal, who are the “executers” for this movement.
-- Anna is the face, Santosh Hegde & Bhushans are the brains & these 2 are “executers”.
-- Same like Project Managers (PjMs) in any organisation. PjMs are not the best technical minds, but they know how to get work done.


I’m convinced that movements like this are needed to take future India in the correct direction & I strongly support these & will continue to support. Not because of Anna, but because of the CAUSE.


- Otherwise, the central govt, irrespective of any party, would have not brought even this version of Lokpal to parliement.
-- It got done only because of the efforts of Team Anna over last 1 year.
-- Still long way to go & Dear Anna, we are with you.

Imam Bukhari did you take money from Congress ???

I had anticipated this but was surprised that this view was not expressed for last 2 - 3 days. Actually I felt happy that Muslims have started identifying with the anti-curruption movement without bothering about these "small" issues. But I guess the happyness was short-lived :-(. Or Congress succeeded is BUYING Imam saheb.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Bukhari-calls-stir-anti-Islam-tells-Muslims-to-stay-away/articleshow/9690525.cms

This is just WRONG. This is Mr. Bukhari's interpretation of Islamic text. How can any religion, for that matter anybody "condone" or not-allow worship of the "mother" ?

I would love to believe that all my Muslim friends say -- "enough Mr. Bukhari", we do not want to follow "your" interpretation of Islam because it is subjective based on who gave you money...

STOP "meal vouchers" like Ticket Restaurent, Sodexo, etc

Consider the cycle:

• Employer has to buy these Meal Voucher from companies like Sodexo, by paying a commission.
• Employee has to use it for food purchase. Many employees bring food from home. So these Meal Vouchers are being used to buy things from Malls / Shops.
• By law these Meal Vouchers should be used only to buy food items but many Malls / Shops accept for buying soap, perfume, brooms, etc. I mean for almost everything.
• Now the shop guy has to collect these Meal Vouchers & return it to the company like Sodexo to get his money back. Sodexo charges him commission.

Now think again ? Who benifited the above transaction ? Employer ? Employee ? Shop / Mall owner ?

• No, only companies like Sodexo. They got comission for circulating the Meal Vouchers from end-to-end.

I was in Ranikhet, Uttarakhand last week. No IT company there. But I was shocked to see a few shops with the sticker that they accept Meal Voucher !

LIC has started a policy. Every employee who come to office before 10:30 AM gets a Meal Voucher of Rs. 150/- for that day. If an employee comes late, he / she looses the mean Voucher for that day.

• Athey crazy ? There are some 3000+ branches of LIC all-over-india.
• Is this a plan for companies like Sodexo to spread their business to all small towns ?

Mind it ! This has become a BIG BIG economy in all metro cities like: Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, etc.

• Neighborhood "kirana" shops have started charging 6% comission if you have to use the Meal Voucher.
• Or you have to go to the neareast Big Bazaar by spending Rs. 50/- for Auto to use the Meal Voucher.
• Now Big Bazaar knows that you will be using Meal Voucher & has increased the price of the items to adjust for the comission that Big Bazaar has to pay to Sodexo.
• You & me, we end up paying extra so that Sodexo makes money.

But the entire issue has a simple solution:

Income Tax India rule shoudl be amended saying Rs. 50/- per meal is tax exempted & thus every employee should get additional tax exemption of Rs. 3000/- per month or Rs. 36000/- per year.

• Is this very difficult to calculate while we calculate our yearly tax ?
• Same way, the employer also gets its 5% tax exemption in the yearly calculations.

THINK ! How much of paper will this country save ? How much of "waste" of money will we save ?

SUPPORT this & help me to spread the same. Pass this to ALL your friends.

Next -- an on-line petition to Finance Minister asking him to review this policy. If this does not work a PIL in Supreme Court of India.

Lets FIGHT & STOP this "waste" !!!

Rahul Gandhi, you should have not done this !

It is good if WiKiLeaks & RaidaGate happens once in 4 - 5 years. Gives a chance to normal citizens to have an overview about how our elected representatives work & how they take us for ride.

- Rahul Gandhi's comments about "Hindu Terror" are definately something he should have avoided 100%.
- During UPA 1 the impression was building up that Congress is doing good & can deliver in future as well + Ragul as an individual as some "substance".
- But UPA 2 looks like a downward. Rahul also not thinking on his own. His remarks show that he (& his friends) have no confidence in handeling their own internal situation.

Leave apart the religious sentiments, today it is proven beyong doubt that Al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) & all their brother & sister organisations are the epicenter or terror or axis-of-evil. These organisations are involved in 100s & 1000s of killings world over. And Rahul Gandhi is more worred about a few incidents where a few Hindus has been chargesheeted, not convicted yet ? Not that they should not be punished guilty, they should be definately as per the law-of-the-land. But calling it more dangerous then LeT indicates you do not trust your own people. + telling thsi to a USA guy is mroe rediculus. Shows who is more important for you, us or they ? And Rahul is our next PM-in-waiting ?

NO NEVER.

Kashmir (J & K & Ladakh) -- the "Interlocuters" -- Ms. Roy -- and of course me !

As a common man & as an Indian, this is what I feel about the latest "Interlocuter" & "azadi" episode:

Interlocuter ? I wondered what it means & this is what Wikipedia says "is a person who informally explains the views of the Govt and also can relay messages back to the Govt"

Dileep Padgaonkar (well known journalist) is a learned & mature person. The 1st thing he says is, Pakistan's involvement is necessary. I agree 100% because that is the ground reality, Pakistan is paying huge money to keep the fire buring in Kashmir. This is what Mr. Ram Jethmalani says (Times of India, 31-Oct-10). But to acknolodge this as the 1st item, is it Govt of India's view ? Is it like a "good point to start" ? Why do we always shoot ourselves in the foot & give an edge to others to make advantage out of it ?

Radha Kumar (academician), came up with a possible interpretion of Indian constitution that "azadi" is ok & can be added to it now. Is this not very easy ? Did the whole nation miss it fo last 62 yrs ince 1948, when Pakistan started the war (direct & indirect) ? Why don't we just do it (like break it) & get rid of the problem ? Like serving a hand or a leg if it catches gangrene (Wikipedia) ? Is this what Indian solders are defending for last 5 - 6 decades & such huge money spent ?
-- No Kashmir (J & K & Laddhak) is an injury but definately not infection or dead tissues.
-- It was, it is & it will remain integral part of India.
-- And yes, it is easy to talk about plebiscite (or referendum), when you have driven a sizable population of "Kashmiri Pandits" out of their motherland & I'm sure equal no of Muslims have also migrated to other parts of India to save themselves from constant trouble. Does a referendum makes sence ?

M M Ansari (Information Commissioner), who is he & where is he ? Is he in this pannel just because he is a well known & learned Muslim ?

I mean any of the above, are they experts on Kashmir ? Are they experts about Indian Constitution ? Have they studied Kashmir ? Or they are just eminent persons who are messagners appointed by Govt of India ?
-- Then do they talk "for" Govt of India ? In that case does Govt of India think "azadi" is ok after 62 yrs of struggle & death of many many soldiers & many more civilians from the vally ?
-- If the interlocuters do not talk "for" Govt of India, it means this is their personal openion, & in that case above questions about their experties should be answered.

Arundhati Roy (Wikipedia), should be a learned & mature leady. I assume so as she got a Booker Prize in 1997 for her book. So one known prize (for book) & she is qualified to take up any issue:
- Fight for Naxals
- Violation of Forest Laws
- Srilanka Govt's crackdown on LTTE
- Gujarath
- Linking 26/11 (Mumbai attack) to Kashmir
- Afzal the Indian Parliement attack fame
- Pokhran tests & big dams
- Sardar Sarover project
- And now Kashmir
--- I strongly feel should should be our Prime Minister. She knows anything & everything and probably has solution for all the above (& more) issues that we face as a Nation today. Such a waste of talent & time that she is spending in writing books.
--- I sincerely feel this is either beyond human, that she is a jem or she likes the publicity in the time of so many 24x7 news channels. I'm inclined to later & good if we just start taking Ms. Roy at her "face value".

Kashmir (Jammu & Ladakh), and finally the main subject, what went wrong ? Upto a few (2 - 3) yrs back it seemed like Kashmir is coming back to normalcy after state elections a few times. Why did we let this normalcy slip & gave any advantage to the "seperatists" ? Is Abdullah Family blackmailing Govt of India ? They are getting support even if they can not handle internal state administration peroperly. Is Mr Omar Abdullah competent enough or he is there as he is friend of Rahul Gandhi ?
-- Does everybody in Kashmir need "azadi" ? The Jammu & Ladakh population ? The Kashmiri pandits including ?
-- And what will Kashmir do after becoming "azad" ? Get into Pakistan ? As it Pakistan is living on USA thrown dollers, it is called aid, will the Kashmiris get a better life in Pakistan ? I'm sure the Kashmiri aam janata knows this better.

Sohrabuddin - Common Wealth Games - Kashmir a nice political use-case !

Warning: a longer post

1> Sohrabuddin-CBI-Amit Shah
2> Increase in petrol prices & inflation
3> Commonwealth Games
4> Tension in Kashmir vally

All the above are related events & everybody in Delhi, both ruling & opposition, are making use of it for their personal gains. Lets take it 1-by-1:

Sohrabuddin was not a saint, not a normal (or common) man either, rather a criminal, extortanist & at times anti-Indian. CBI has many similar cases in its pocket where it is keeping quiet rather being asked to. But this 1 is nicely being used to put BJP on back-foot on the price-rise agenda.

On its part BJP & rest of the opposition knows that the recent price hike in Petrol is justified & long pending & the UPA-2 has no choice. But they are in opposition & they have to .

UPA-2 is also sounding arrogant after being voted 2nd time with bigger margin then UPA-1. Central ministers shouting at each other: Mr. Iyer at CWG, Digvijai at Chidambaram & so on. Both Iyer & Digvijai definately have backing of their bosses. So how many boss are there in Delhi ?

There is BIG time "void" in delhi of a "leadership" to take India to the next level. None of the parties, ruling or opposition has an answer to this.
-- Dr. Manmohan Singh is a respectable economist & that is it. He is not a mass leader. It is not his mistake, this is what he is.
-- Madam is the head of UPA & again just the head, with very limited access (or interest) to the aam-admi.
-- Rahul loosk promising, but needs time, we should not make 1 more Rajeev out of him. But we need him & his team of 2nd generation.
-- BJP, Advani looked desperate to be a PM. 2nd level is fighting among themselves & arrogance is seen here. Sushma S, Anant K, Arun J, etc .. none have pan-India appeal & they will not allow anybody to take lead.
-- Atalji has done his job & should not be brought into all this at all now.
-- UP, Bihar, TN, etc .. the smaller UPA partners are just regional & not intereasted to spread out of their state at all. Rather they are not expected to do so. They better try & run their states effectively 1st.
-- Communists & Mamata .. are becominjg more & more narrow-minded for Kolkotta. They eat-drink-sleep Kolkotta. It cannot get worst than this. They have reached a point that they take it granted to "kill" each other :-(
-- RSS, last in the list, is also experimenting with its caders. They spend last 60+ yrs doing ground work & succeeded the Ram Temple movement. But luck was not with them & thay missed ruling India with "absolute" majority.

Now coming back to the relation among the above events, the UPA-2 is busy fighting Modi as if that is the only thing left for a "majority" central govt. How could they not sense, of feel, or judge what is in store ? I'm not sure if PM or UPA chief are capable of this & has the required foresight :-(. Is UPA running a company with Madam as CEO & PM as COO ? Then this is the worst times we are going through. Running a capitalist company & running a nation is definately not the same. We can not comittes to run nation. We need leaders who can sence the pulse of our own people & of our neighbors. We need visionaries.

We need to & should handle the Kashmir issue ASAP. We need to get-into-Kashmir & into Kashmiri "janata's" mind & harts. Kashmir is INDIA & will remain an integral part of INDIA. All INDIANs are proud for this & will always support this cause. Both CRPF & BSF has jawans & officers from all over the country serving in Kashmir & sacrificing their lives for the cause of protecting this land & its citizens from the Pakistan induced & sponsored terrorists.

It is un-imaginable to think of what will happen to Kashmir if it becomes part of Pakistan. The Kashmiri janata should take a realistic view of what is the conditions of "Mujahirs" in today's Pakistan. The so called seperatist leaders, should think of the situation like a managemnt case-study of what will be the future of Kashmir in Pakistan. As of now Pakistan is heavily struggling to keep its folks together & Kashmir is the "ultimate" issue to keep the aam Pakistani janata diverted from the military-mis-managed Pakistan.

1> Central govt should pull its socks & stand behind the Kashmir state govt & the CM.
2> Same for CWG, we need to punish the guilty & make them pay for their mis-deeds, but we need to make the games a success in the 1st place. We have to continue with Kalmadi & make sure this the CWD is a success.

Everybody else, including the opposition "has to" support these efforts. Of-course the amm admi wishes the above 2 things to be "success" & is wishing a "good luck" for the administrators to handle this early & effectively.

Shashi Tharoor minus IPL ??

Tharoor sans twitter, OSD & IPL -- a successful MoS (Rediff)

I guess all of us will agree that Tharoor is a good "new age" leader. Even Twitter that he used is a new age communication mechanism.

See what TED has to say about him & his talk in favour of "soft power" & its influence. Actually 1 of my Finnish friend passed this TED link to me :-). Listen to him carefully, choice of words & emphasis of important points & delivery of the speect, simply great !

My reaction during DEC 2009 was:
-- He is good. He is “new kind” of politician in India who has seen the world & has lots of experience.
-- But probably more out-ward focusing person & he has to learn to see in-ward to the nuances this country has at grass-root level.
-- But we need him & many more like him who bring out-ward looking perspective to the Govt. Otherwise our “default” politicians always go to a line “they do what their voters need” & do not bother about rest of the world.

Now fast-forward to IPL 2010:

-- I guess it was ok that he used his influence to move the new IPL team to Kerala. The episode showed that he is ready to jump to extra-curricular activities. I mean other then being a white-color minister.

-- But it also shows that he was not abel to handle (or I would say "hide") the other connections, to be specific his friend.

Again this looks to be a new age politics, bold & clear!!!

We know for sure that there are 100s of MLAs & MPs in INDIA who have "connections" & they use influence to get thinsg done in their favour, even kill innocent for their gain. But then they do it the traditionla way that we Indians are used to, by hiding things.

I guess Tharoor need to learn this. The mass in India is ok (or I would say "used-to) if the leaders are doing "ghapla" only that it should be under wraps.

We of-course need leaders like Shashi Tharoor to be around. I would say, Rahul Gandhi, Jindal, Sachin Pilot, Nitin Gadkari, Mohan Bhagwat, etc. We need "new age" leaders in all the camps, ruling & opposition. With new ideas & new ways of working.