Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Right way to go


By Jug Suraiya

India’s political spectrum is incomplete: it lacks a credible right- of- centre party which represents private enterprise. A capitalist party. To talk about capitalism in the midst of a a global economic crisis caused by unbridled greed in the fountainhead of the market economy, the US, might sound as inane and insensitive as Marie Antoinette's remark about people eating cake if they couldn't afford bread. With the American government having had come to the aid of stricken financial institutions in a move similar to nationalisation, the US has been renamed the USSR by those who would celebrate the death of capitalism and the rebirth of socialism. Such doomsayers overlook one point: it was capitalism not socialism which enabled the western economy to scale the heights from which it has, temporarily, fallen. Far from being dead, capitalism is merely gaining its second wind to lead the race again. (Even as the US government bails outbankrupt organisations, the founder of 'barefoot capitalism', Grameen banker Muhammad Yunus has started operations in the US to rescue small businesses through microcredit schemes, suggesting that the evils of capitalism are best solved not through state intervention but through more capitalism, appropriately applied.)

In India, with the vote of the aam aadmi the cynosure of all political ayes, no party can afford to talk about economic liberalisation. Economic reforms have remained on the back burner for the greater part of the UPA government's tenure, thanks to Left opposition. But despite the populist rhetoric churned out on his behalf, India's aam aadmi remains an endangered species. In Maharashtra alone, debt-ridden farmers on an average commit suicide at the rate of two every day. State intervention, in the form of much-touted loan waivers and employment guarantee schemes, has been unable to break the lethal, centuries-old stranglehold of the rapacious moneylender, whose usurious rates of interest continue to ruin millions of rural households through successive generations.

Both in order to break the shackles of its age-old poverty and to rise to the challenge of the global economic crisis, perhaps what India really needs today is what it does not have: a liberal capitalist formation, like the Swatantra Party of old. Contrary to popular belief the BJP has not filled this political vacuum. Far from espousing competitive free market dynamics which are the hallmark of true capitalism, the BJP with its base of petty traders represents monopoly interests which are anathema to economic liberalism.

As the success of Grameen banking has shown in Bangladesh and elsewhere (which now hopefully includes the US) the proper deployment of private capital to generate enterprise and wealth is not an exploitative privilege of the rich; it is the enabling prerequisite for the poor. Poverty alleviation measures based on state capital (loan waivers, employment schemes) are like leaky sieves; corruption and inefficiency drain almost everything away, leaving little or nothing for the targeted recipients. Private capital, through microcredit and other non-state financed systems, has to be efficient in order to survive.

It is too late for this election. But perhaps for the next polls which could well be sooner than anyone wants corporate India should think of forming its own secular, economically liberal party to contest at the hustings for its legitimate space in the political sphere. Why should India Inc fund this or that party, be it the Congress or the BJP or any other, which time and again not only fails to deliver on business expectations but also on providing succour to the common man? It's time aam aadmi and corporate India realised that their mutual fortunes are inextricably interlinked: if rural India prospers so does India Inc; if rural India hurts so do the sales figures of India Inc. So next time around might we see a party which stands for the common, capitalist good of corporate India and aam aadmi? Right on.

(Courtesy: Times of India, for comments please write to secondopinion@timesgroup.com)

Saturday, April 25, 2009

EVMs & PVRs

By Manuwant Choudhary

The only way for the whole of India to get electricity even for a day is to replace the electronic voting machines (EVM's) with electric voting machines (EVMs) (no change in the nomenclature).

So if there is no electricity, politicians will not get their votes.

Simple.

And this election PVRs have found a place on TV !

By PVR I do not mean the entertainment multiplexes but Priyanka, Varun and Rahul trio.

If left to television Priyanka would be our Prime Minister. Who cares for democracy and India?

Just eyeballs matter.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Voting In The Dark!


By Manuwant Choudhary

Today is polling day in India where I live and so last night we had more electricity than usual.

But that may still not be for the voters but for poll officials and black commandos who are stationed to conduct the polls.

Yet, I said to myself that if there is electricity this one night I may still go and vote so I did my own poll...and not surprisingly my home remained in the dark for many more hours than the electricty that was supplied.

So why should I vote?

Am I a slave of democracy?

I did vote once in my life for V.P. Singh and what a mess, so until and unless liberals are able to give an alternaive I will not vote.

There are no lesser evils, just evil.

Advani should never be Prime Minister and nor should Dr. Manmohan Singh. Both the BJP and the Congress have been responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

So when Laloo says that publicly the Congress Party threatens him with not giving him a place in the next government because he has not shown respect to the Congress.

The question is not of laloo's showing respect, the question is whether the Congress Party has any respect.

Should we respect a party under whose rule thousands of farmers commit suicide?

Should we respect a party under whose rule farmers lands are taken away by force or by law?

Should we respect a part who first encourage a homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka and then side with the Sri Lankan government, wherein actual fact the Tamils in Sri Lanka belong to Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka is theirs, not some ten kms stretch?

I stand for all those who lost everything when teh Kosi waters flooded their homes.

I stand shoulder to shoulder with Bombay attacked by Pakistani terrorists.

I stand with all those who feel their freedoms have been violated.

So I will not vote.

I will not vote in a democracy where there is no campaigning, no posters..no nothing..where votes are simply purchased.

And voters vote like bonded labourers.

I am not allowed to contest, so I will not vote.

Down with Socialism.

There is no black mark on my index finger, nor on my conscience.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

7 Things I Hate About You!


(with apologies to Miley Cyrus)

By Manuwant Choudhary

Your caste,

Your religion,

Your Gods,

Your equality,

Your growth rates (India at 7 per cent, your candidates at 300 per cent).

Your criminals,

And their wives....

Saturday, April 18, 2009

WHY ARE INDIANS SO EASY TO IDENTIFY?


By email

We are like this only so true, so very true......

>> 1. Everything you eat is savored in garlic, onion and
tomatoes.
> >
> > 2.. You try and reuse gift wrappers, gift boxes, and of
> > course aluminum foil.
> >
> > 3. You are always standing next to the two largest size
> > suitcases at the Airport.
> >
> > 4. You arrive one or two hours late to a party - and think
> > it's normal.
> >
> > 5. You peel the stamps off letters that the Postal Service
> > missed to stamp.
> >
> > 6.. You recycle Wedding Gifts, Birthday Gifts and
> > Anniversary Gifts.
> >
> > 7.. You name your children in rhythms (example, Sita &
> > Gita, Ram & Shyam, Kamini & Shamini..)
> >
> > 8. All your children have pet names, which sound
> > nowhere,
> > close to their real names.
> >
> > 9. You take Indian snacks anywhere it says 'No Food
> > Allowed.'
> >
> > 10. You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving
> > someone's house.
> >
> > 11. You load up the family car with as many people as
> > possible..
> >
> > 12. HIGH PRIORITY ***** You use plastic to cover anything
> > new in your house
> > whether it's the remote control, VCR, carpet or new
> > couch. *****
> >
> > 13. Your parents tell you not to care what your friends
> > think, but they won't let you do certain things because
> > of what the other 'Uncles and Aunties' will think.
> >
> > 14. You buy and display crockery, which is never used, as
> > it is for special occasions, which never happen.
> >
> > 15. You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.
> >
> > 16.. You use grocery bags to hold garbage.
> >
> > 17. You keep leftover food in your fridge in as many
> > numbers of bowls as possible.
> >
> > 18. Your kitchen shelf is full of jars, varieties of bowls
> > and plastic utensils (got free with purchase of other
> > stuff)
> >
> > 19. You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel
> > (and travel means any car ride longer than 15 minutes).
> >
> > 20. You own a rice cooker or a pressure cooker.
> >
> > 21. You fight over who pays the dinner bill.
> >
> > 22. You live with your parents and you are 40 years old.
> > (And they prefer it that way).
> >
> > 23. You don't use measuring cups when cooking.
> >
> > 24. You never learnt how to stand in a queue.
> >
> > 25. You can only travel if there are 5 persons at least to
> > see you off or receive you whether you are traveling by bus,
> > train or plane.
> >
> > 26. If she is NOT your daughter, you always take interest
> > in knowing whose daughter has run with whose son and feel
> > proud to spread it at the velocity of more than the speed of
> > light.
> >
> > 27. You only make long distance calls after 11p.m.
> >
> > 28. If you don't live at home, when your parents call,
> > they ask if
> > you've eaten, even if it's midnight .
> >
> > 29. You call an older person you never met before Uncle or
> > Aunty.
> >
> > 30. When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few
> > minutes, you discover you're talking to a distant
> > cousin.
> >
> > 31. Your parents don't realize phone connections to
> > foreign
> > countries have improved in the last two decades, and still
> > scream at the top of their lungs when making foreign calls.
> >
> > 32. You have bed sheets on your sofas so as to keep them
> > from getting dirty.
> >
> > 33. Its embarrassing if you're wedding has less than
> > 600 people.
> >
> > 34. All your Tupperware is stained with food color.
> >
> > 35. You have drinking glasses made of steel.
> >
> > 36. You have mastered the art of bargaining in shopping.
> >
> > 37. You have really enjoyed reading this mail - forward it
> > to as many Indians as possible.
> >
> > I STILL LOVE TO BE AN INDIAN

Friday, April 17, 2009

A Hindu Slipper For Advani


By Manuwant Choudhary

If Mr.L.K. Advani deserves a slipper to be thrown at him then it must be only a Hindu slipper and so it was when his disgruntled supporter threw a wodden slipper (a kharaun) at him at a public meeting!

This in full traditions of Hindutva, something Mr. Advani has championed across India in his `chariot'.

But a slipper is a slipper, Advani - our would-be-PM, has still not made it to the shoe list...like Bush, Chinese Premier, Chidamabaram...

BJPs campaign should be `Throw Me a Shoe' (Not Italian Please).

The humiliation should not be missed as the kharaun - the hindu slipper - priests use while they bathe and pray, are actually made by Muslims.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Why Is Pakistan Not Providing Legal Aid To Qasab?

By Manuwant Choudhary

The Bombay terror accused Ajmal Amir Qasab is languishing in a Bombay prison since November 26 2008 and after 4 months a lawyer Anjali Waghmare agreed to defend him in court but just on the day the trial was to beging the judge removed the lawyer.

Anjali Waghmare in an interview on NDTV said that she was only assisting the process of justice and respects the courts decision because that will also assist justice.

But also on the same program India's noted constitutional lawyer Fali Nariman tells Prannoy Roy, "India's constitution clearly states that an accused person (not citizen) has a right to choose his own lawyer. In this case Qasab can even choose a lawyer from London or why even from Pakistan. The Indian government and courts would have to give full protection to the lawyer to defend Qasab."

Pakistan's role in all this looks dubious, At first they disown Qasab and say he is not a Pakistani national and now they do not even offer legal aid to him.

Whenever Pakistan says something its about wanting more `proof' from India.

Qasab must be tried and tried fairly.

Only then can we truly say `Satyamev Jayate'. (Let Truth Prevail)

Why Kashmir Votes More Than Bombay!


By Manuwant Choudhary

A friend put this question to me that a survey in Bombay newspapers suggest that more people in Kashmir exercise their right to vote than in Bombay.

But why?

Isn't Kashmir demanding secession so why do they vote?

And more importantly why doesn't Bombay vote?

Well, one way to explain this is that people in worse-off states vote more...like in Bihar, UP..whereas in South Bombay where things work more efficienly people prefer to carry on with their businesses and life rather than standng in long queues to vote.

But post 11/26 this may also change as many more people have got themselves registered.

Moral of the story: Bombay is worse off now than it used to be.

So don't vote.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Why I Would Vote For Shobha De!


By Manuwant Choudhary

Shobha De is not running and I am not walking to vote.

But if she did I would run to vote.

Why?

Because she is sufficiently angry with our politicians for not being able to protect India.

That qualifies her as a citizen of India and a patriot.

The debate now is the Congress Party saying communalsm is a bigger threat than terrorism, the BJP believes communalism is nationalism is patriotism and is no threat - only Muslim terrorism is.

Shobha understands our politicians are a greater threat than both communalism and terrorism.

A friend said, "Ah no, Shobha gets out of her milk baths at 2 p.m."

I replied, "At least Shobha does not milk the nation." (Or eat fodder)

Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Men of Politics!



By Manuwant Choudhary

Voting for Lok Sabha elections in India have yet to begin but two candidates have already won.

The electronic voting machine and the numbers they ultimately churn out do not matter.

Yes, these are the real Men of Indian politics.

Meera Sanyal, a banker of 25 years, contests the South Bombay parliamentary seat as an independent. She says the terror attack on Bombay forced her to throw her job and take the plunge.

And Mallika Sarabhai, a classical bharatnatyam dancer and activist, takes on the Iron Man PM-in-waiting L.K. Advani in Gandhinagar.

She says she represents not just Gandhinagar but all those farmers whose land the government wants to take away for SEZs.

Iron Man L.K. Advani is of course supported by Platinum Man Narendra Modi and this dancer takes on communalism right at the top.

At her website she asks Mr. Advani 5 questions everyday. Sample this, "In the last five years how many questions have you raised in parliament on Gandhinagar?"

And there is a third hero I would have voted for but she is not contesting - Shobha De (post 11/26).

She writes in her column, " Meera going into the slums of Bombay to convince voters maybe like throwing pearls before swines."

These are the Men of Indian Politics, not the wolly liberals who support them.

Friday, April 10, 2009

When My Prime Minister Speaks!

By Manuwant Choudhary

When My Prime Minister Speaks it is only to say he is a doer and not a speaker like L.K. Advani.

That India's prestige rests on a nuclear deal with the United States!

That he would have resigned had the `deal' not gone through.

That the Congress Party is concerned about Sikh sentiments (read votes).

That Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan's ticket cancellatin is a better late than never issue.

That since the BJP failed in dealing with terrorism so can we.

That Advani showed no leadership when Babri Masjid was demolished and remained present at the site.

Well, when my Prime Minister speaks he is at best evasive, at worst a Kangresi (an abusive term in north India) and its no wonder that Laloo gave them just two seats.

I do not even want to write about India's Iron Man but tomorrow I write about the Men Of Indian Politics.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

No Apologies Please, Sikhs and India Wants Justice

By Manuwant Choudhary

Jagdish Tytler is now not contesting after the national furore against the CBI giving a clean chit to him in the 1984 Sikh massacres but his apologies are not enough, India wants justice.

In 25 years the guilty have not been brought to justice and that says a lot about our `socialist' democracy.

And there is no word from India's Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh under whom the CBI is officially.

There is no doubt that the PM is loyal only to Sonia Gandhi and not to India or India's constitution.

But this should not elate the BJP and the opposition parties either who have had their term in office and who also did nothing.

As for the media Jarnail Singh's shoe was flung not just at the Congress Party but also against the media who have failed to take up the Sikh cause in a fitting manner - the very next day the headline was a LTTE threat to Sonia Gandhi.

And to top all this Prem Shankar Jha admits that he as editor of Hindustan Times helped Jagdish Tytler get off the terrorists hit list.

Tytler had alegedly gone to a police station to get his goons released following which Akali terrorists had put him on their hit list.

Is this the job of editors? Or are these people simply `dalals'.

Dalals of the system.

I do not sugest Tytler be shot by terrorists but our democracy should be strong enough to send him to the gallows if he is guilty and not grant him tickets to parliament when there is much against him.

The Nanavati Commission found merit in the charges against him but the CBI which is the police gives him a clean chit. Is the police inquiry more important than a judicial probe?

Also I wonder why no reporter has attempted to interview the CBI director on this issue.

And so justice fails.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Shoe Journalism & Abusive Ministers


By Manuwant Choudhary

News is that a Delhi journalist Jarnail Singh threw a shoe at India's Home Minister P.Chidambaram protesting the clean chit given to Jagdish Tytler by the CBI in the 1994 Sikh massacre case.

After the shoe thrown at US President George Bush, journalists and protestors find the shoe a more effective way of being heard or noticed.

A shoe was thrown at Oxford on the Chinese PM by a pro-Tibet activist.

Indian news channels like NDTV India even carried a story on the merits of throwing shoes.

But a photographer from Samastipur Girendra Bharti does not agree, "If journalists throw shoes then what is left? Journalists can be more effective if they can ask valid questions."

"Also the journalist threw the shoe at the wrong man - our Home Minister. The CBI is under the Prime Minister....Sardar ka juta sardar ke sar tab hota asar."

But Jagdish Tytler being given a clean chit is no small matter. The Prime Minister of India should personally explain his conduct.

This Prime Minister seems to have abused his powers.

Thousands of Sikhs were killed and Tytler was among the main accused.

I wonder whether there is any model code of conduct this elections. A Varun Gandhi talks violence, followed by a Laloo Prasad who says if he were Home Minister he would crush Varun's chest under a road roller.

Now an arrest warrant has been issued against Laloo Prasad.

But I am not concerned about Laloo and Varun so much, my concern is the violence they spread in society through their actions.

Girendra is a freelance photographer, covering Bihar & Jharkhand, for the Times of India and the Telegraph but he tells me two days ago a violent mob attacked him and broke his Rs.2 lakh digital camera when he took a photograph of a patient who had died.

Newspapers pay him peanuts for his efforts and Girendra is himself from a modest background but for him being a photographer in a district is his only dream. Now its shattered.

He cannot cover these elections.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

India's Highways - A National Shame !


Pix by Manuwant Choudhary

9 kms on this stretch of National Highway 28 connecting New Delhi to Assam could take an hour to cover and thats when you are lucky...otherwise you may spend the entire night on the highway!

Yes, this road is important for India's economy connecting the Barauni Oil Refinery to Nepal and the rest of the eastern states, yet in these parts there is no sign of any governance.

Forget what Obama's praise of Manmohan Singh, judge him by the potholes you see on your roads.

And yes Nitish Kumar's `Bikaas' yatra stopped here and he took a chopper instead.

Once a few years ago I had asked a Bihar road minister, accused in the bitumen scam, why a 10 minute journey takes four hours he replied, "Agar main aapka sadak bana doon to phir sadak yatra aur vayu yaan mein kya antar rah jayega." (If I build your roads then what difference will there be between drivng and flying."

Of course, Laloo Yadav referred us as `sadak waala patrakaar..wo humara bheer nahin dekhtaa hai...sadak dekhtaa hai..(They are road journalists..they do not see the crowds in my meetings..they see the roads."

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Jai No!


JAI NO TO SLUMDOG CONGRESS

By Manuwant Choudhary

Millions from rural India migrate to Bombay to live and work and die in slums.

Jai No.

People in rural India live in complete darkness because in fifty years state-run electricity companies have failed.

Jai No.

Roads are like moon-craters fit for a Chandrayan to land.

Jai No.

Jagdeesh Tytler Is A Free Man and Free to Enter Parliament.

Jai No.

Sikhs whose kins were killed can cry.

Jai No.

Liberals are banned from contesting elections in the worlds largest democracy.

Jai No.

But we must vote, they say.

Jai No.

Bofors is a ghost, VP Is gone too.

Jai No.

One Nehru has gone communal and this Gandhi is bloody.

Jai No.

India has been attacked by terrorists.

Jai No.

Our parliament, our red fort, Kashmir, Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, why even a Samjhauta Express train have been attacked.

Jai No.

Gujarat is our own response to terror - Narendra Modi.

Jai No.

And Red Terror strikes continously across India.

Jai No.

Farmers in Nandigram, farmers in Singur, farmers everyhere have their lands taken away by force.

Jai No.

In Maharsahtra farmers just take poison and die in their thousands.

Jai No.

Government banks get our tax money to save farmers.

Jai No.

Banks being saved.

Jai No.

They say its the end of capitalism.

Jai No.

Sadhu Yadav Is Now In The Congress.

Jai No.

Kosi drowns half of Bihar..the other half can be attacked all over India.

Jai No.

India Must Vote.

Jai No.

Choice is between two old men.

Jai No.

And the Third Front has 30 PMs!

Jai No.