Desicritics Category: Politics: India

Indian Railways Turning Into A Death Trap

Being Cynical — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:53:32 EDT

Out of sheer habit I switch on my TV set early morning to get hold of any overnight breaking news that I might have missed, while at the same time going over the morning news paper. Today wasn't any different on that way but for the tragic breaking news on television. Yet another train accident, with more than 50 dead in West Bengal (although the wreckage suggests the toll might be double than this) and hundreds injured and Mamta didi rushing to the spot somewhere from Delhi taking a much needed break from her ever so busy schedule of gun battles with the Left. Honestly I was not expecting this horrific news within 60 days of the Janeswari Express accident, which also unfortunately unfolded early in the morning on the idiot box.

The nature and style of this particular accident reminded me of the infamous Purusottam and Kalandi express collision back in 1993 where Purusottam express rammed into the stationary Kalandi express killing more than 300 odd individuals on that fateful night. Here the Uttarbanga express smartly rammed onto the stationed Vananchal express causing few bogies of Vananchal express fly out and land on the foot over bridge nearby. Unlike the Janeswari express incident though, the hands of Maoists or any sabotage is ruled out here, but still the whole thing is disturbing. It is more disturbing after hearing the whole sequence of events that leads to this collision as narrated in TV.

The scheduled departure of Vananchal express at Sainthia station is around 9 P.M in the evening, and the records suggests that the train did arrive at the station as per the scheduled time. It baffles me, if that is the case then what on earth made the authorities to keep the train stationed at the platform for more than 5 hours and let it go just around 2 P.M, seconds before the collision occurred? As expected, when the concerned authorities are far from giving any concrete answers to this mystery, few eyewitnesses claim the train was stationed as some vegetable vendors were busy unloading vegetables from the luggage van. Goodness me, are we talking about the Indian Railways or some personal property at the mercy of any one's disposal? If this is not good enough a reason to get you annoyed, then why was the Uttarbanga express, which has a scheduled stoppage at the said station travelling at a speed more than 80 kmph while entering the station is another mystery in itself. For sure it would take quite some doing to solve all these mysteries, counting the dead and writing consoling letters along with compensation pay cheques for the railways authorities.

Why are our railways so accident prone? Why do we have the worst railways minister of the world at the helm? Why aren't we learning anything from our past mistakes? Are we really serious in making our railways a bit more safer? There are enormous numbers of such uncomfortable questions for the railways authorities to answer - starting with Mamta didi and down. Our tracks are pathetic. We are still running with the mechanism of Mughal era installed by the Firangies. We do have perhaps the laziest and grossly underpaid set of track maintaining staff. No new technology is used to ensure passenger safety which other countries are using. Our tracks are as easy to sabotage as snatching a lollipop from a kid's hands. Last but not the least our authorities are more confused than a baby in a topless bar when asked to clarify on all these shortcomings. To top it all we have a railways minister who just doesn't want to shoulder her responsibilities and takes the railways as a stop gap arrangement for her and gives some time whenever she is free from her full time CPI bashing.

Have you ever marked the chap flashing that filthy green & red flags at stations whenever a train passes? When the world has moved ahead leaps and bounds in using technology for passenger safety we are still waving those handheld flags as a safety barrier. Where is that much touted anti collision mechanism that the Railway Ministry was boasting about few years ago? They boasted a lot, floated a tender and perhaps have eaten away a lot of public money in the process and conveniently slept over the whole issue. Ironically none questioned the subsequent development on that direction.

I was once fortunate enough to go to a routing cabin present at the starting of any station, where all signals are managed and so as the track alignment. Trust me the technology they use to make sure no wrong happens gave me a rude shock to say the least and made me wonder, if it is really judicious to travel in Indian Railways? In the name of technology what they have is a simple circuit board having the route map drawn on the surface with coloured LEDs all over it depicting the signal tower positions along the track. Would you believe the whole system is run by a single 8085 processor? The modus operandi is funnier even. All they have in the name of communication system is a telephone to get the info from the previous station whenever they let a train pass that station heading towards their station. Once these guys get that info, they get into their business of turning all the signal towers green to let the train pass through and turning them red once the train passes a particular tower so that any train coming from behind would stop looking at the red signal. Isn't it funny? Knowing the capability of 8085, it is very much a possibility that the said processor can give in at any given time and throw the whole system out of gear in a jiffy. More disturbing is the nature of all those switches used for operating the signal towers remotely. Would you believe the whole system operates on a simple 8 bit data transfer mechanism? I am not sure if they have improved in these years or not. Honestly the signal mechanism of the toy train system of Funschool is far superior than that of our railways.

Let me not talk about our tracks quality and physical safety that we deploy, as it is for any one to see and guess. I am sure for this latest accident yet another scapegoat in the form of either a lines man or a guard would be found with Mamta didi honouring us for few days and all would go to hibernation till the next accident occurs. In the meantime mothers would behave as if their sons are going to the front to fight a war or something, every time they travel in the railways and to thrash away any incoming danger, giving them a spoon full of Misiti Dahi before the journey begins (sometimes right on the platform). Conveniently as ever, Mamta didi would go back to her den to over see if all rifles and bullets are in store with required amount for her next round gun battle with the CPIM and we lesser mortals running around life insurance companies before we board the train. Jai Ho, indeed!

Is India Still Socialist?

thedailypheesh — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:36:05 EDT

The Supreme Court recently 'dismissed as withdrawn' a petition by an NGO challenging the insertion of the word 'socialist' in the Preamble of the Constitution of India, terming it a mere academic matter. It seems the court used the term 'academic' in the sense of nobody relevant (read political parties) having raised it at this point of time.

Now all we can do is merely speculate the relevance of the term socialism in the Preamble. Ignore the fact that India's largest company, largest bank, largest steel producer etc etc are all state-owned; one could hope that the word would be retained to at least give students a faint glimpse of the time when our national priorities seemed a bit different. But, says the NGO which filed the petition, market reforms mean that expecting political parties to swear to uphold socialism is a mere dichotomy.

This implies that a certain vision that animated the use of the word socialism is bankrupt merely because of 20 years of reforms. Would such an approach also imply that there should be no ban on child labour simply because we have failed to eradicate it over 63 years? Obviously not. Thus, the point the petition seeks to make is that socialism no longer occupies any place in the 'national consensus'; that we have reached a stage where socialism is no longer one of those goals which we aspire to, despite our innumerable failures to attain it.

The constitution of a country is not a mere rule book. True, it is a site of contestation. But one would hope the contestation is towards a greater aim, a nobler society. Socialism means a lot of things to a lot of people but no one can deny it seeks greater egalitarianism and a greater role for the collective in deciding the future of their labour. That such an aim, no matter the ways to achieve it, would not be part of a constitution seems a very blinkered way of perceiving the future of a county.

On a related note, there has long been a contention that India has lacked a conservative movement on par with those in the west. Two decades after the economic reforms it would seem that what we call civil society, comprising a variety of(though not all) NGOs have emerged as the torch-bearers of conservative ideology. Products of and truly indebted to the LPG wave, favouring the limited role of the state in economic and administrative affairs and against any radical overhaul of the economic and social foundation, they seem to best embody the limited-government principles of the conservative movement. This petition, while insignificant in its own right, is a small pointer to the solid emergence of this movement.

PS. The crowning irony of course, is that legal eagle Fali. S. Nariman, arguing the case for the NGO, cited Ambedkar's opposition to the introduction of socialism. Yes, ignore the rest of that man's voluminous and often beautifully curt writing about a host of issues including caste and pick up that bit about socialism!

Has Shivaji Finally Lost To His Followers?

Being Cynical — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:56:14 EDT

The legendary iconic figure who single-handedly managed to carve out a Hindu kingdom under the nose of the Mughal empire with his sheer determination and courage must be turning violently in his grave of late looking at his followers and their out of context irrational behaviour. I am sure when Shivaji started with his quest to create an identity for the Hindus and Indians at large (not only Marathis) , perhaps at the most hostile period, he never had these stone pelters, Bhaiya bashers anywhere near for support (not that he wanted them either). The great soul must be turning in his grave - not entirely because seeing how idiotic the very Indians have become for whom he fought all his life but also to see a bunch of good for nothing, destructive, nonsense entities claiming to be his followers. The fighter who didn't lose to anyone, not even to the Aurangzeb is for sure would be feeling sorry and dejected for loosing finally to his so called followers.

The theatrics and tantrums both before the book by James Laine on Shivaji was banned and most recently after our Apex court lifted the ban is good enough for an icon like Shivaji to go on a permanent exile. Does a man like Shivaji needs protection from these jokers? Does his stature so fragile that any Tom, Dick and Harry writing a book would malign that? Most important does a man like Shivaji deserves these problematic, good for nothing jokers as his followers? Answers to all three of them I am sure is a big 'NO'.

These so called goons turned politicians who believe it is only their prerogative to care for Shivaji and worse as if this iconic figure is their personal property should be confirmed in a hurry if they are at all aware of the ideology and philosophy that Shivaji carried all through his life. The funny act of these goons in past days is same as Kobad Gandhi shouting Jai Bhagat Singh while been escorted out of the court room without knowing an ounce what Bhagat Singh always stood for. These nefarious elements who doesn't have a vision much beyond pelting stones at everything for any reason and beating poor daily wage labourers, just because they don't belong to their community or state and then claim themselves to be the front row admirers of the great Shivaji is a shame in itself.

While these idiots leave no stones unturned in their chest beating exercise of showing off the whole world how much they love and adore Shivaji are actually the first ones who ran towards an institute dedicated and founded in memory of the great man and ransacked it to prehistoric era along with damaging valuable and priceless memorabilia of Shivaji. All this for what - only because the book somewhere in a note of thanks has allegedly mentioned this institute's name for sharing some details about Shivaji with him. Honestly I haven't seen this kind of affection where the loving people went on a rampage to destroy the memorabilia of the very person they claim they love.

Not to be too far behind in their effort to woe the Marathi voters the ruling government thought of showing a thumb to the Apex court. If this is not enough they are planning to bring in a law where the offender of these iconic characters would be dealt with iron fist. God save these fools from making the whole nation a bunch of fanatics. Could these great thinkers clarify - who would decide if somebody did actually offended an iconic character or not? More important who should decide who are such figures need to be termed as iconic. Are not the chaps of the likes of Lalu Yadav, Madhu Koda, A. Raja, Telgi, Harsad Mehta, Sharad Pawar, Mayawati are all iconic figures for some section of the society or the other? Hence thanks to this new proposed law any comment or healthy political discussion on these seasoned crooks would automatically make you an offender. Even I could be the sorriest person and would be tried in Indian courts if I say Ekta Kapoor's Saas-Bahu stuffs are more dangerous than nuclear bombs for human race as I am sure there would be millions of housewives who would be gunning for me each with a legal notice in their hands for insulting their icon. Don't even dare to write bad against Dawood Ibrahim as you might just end up with both bullets and legal notices from all corners of Mumbai's underworld section. I can very well see the snubbing the government would get if at all they stick to their promise and go for such a bizarre law.

For a second if we give that poor author a benefit of doubt and admit his findings are facts then whats the big fuss about it? After all Shivaji was also a human being and it is very much natural for humans to commit mistakes and Shivaji can't be an exception just because he is Shivaji. When a certain Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi can go to a brothel in his younger days and we can digest that then what problem is there to admit or accept - Shivaji wasn't that great as being projected in our history books, if at all that is the case. Even if we are too much hypocrite to accept it and want to live in our own perception where others views are considered rubbish, still it seems grossly irrational to come to the streets and start pelting stones at the BEST buses and damaging national property.

If not for anyone, these self styled goons should refrain from damaging national property for the person they claim they have highest regard as he himself would have been utterly sorry, looking at these destruction on his name for sure. For once, let Shivaji be at peace in his grave and build a nation which he has envisioned years back, which certainly is a prospering nation. Not a nation full with stone pelting idiots and vote bank grabbers.

A-vivek of N-Arundhati

Vivek Sharma — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:32:16 EDT

When Narundhati treks through the jungles as a guest of Maoists, her biases
ignore the blisters on her city feet. The mosquitoes that relish blood, heedless
to the age of their victims, serenade to her, in a 'thousand star hotel'.
What Narundhati says is part fact, the part where she describes guns
and explosives in a region termed Pakistan by leaders and policemen --
a Pakistan within India where followers of Mao seek a bloody revolution!

When she quotes a Harvard returned politician or a Naxal leader verbatim, she stays partly
in right, stating their high-headed thoughts about cost of progress and freedom at midnight.
I root for her when she describes the plight of farmers, counterfeited by a green revolution,
or when derides the blind march into globalization or the abject immorality of the corrupt.
When Narundhati asks if a fact is a fact in her fiction, or if our judgment of Maoists is right,
or suggests that India need 'feral poetry', she is enchanted by her wordplay. Her fiction
writer’s instincts laud her, as she pens lines lyrically in a cinematic setting to die for (not in)
and her protagonists are Davids fighting a 'higher caste, fascist' Goliath-state.
In episodes that trek her journey with lilting rhythms, every typed word is paid for, is wanted
by a popular magazine, and she anticipates the applause she will get from the Eastern left,
and the Western right.

She is partly right when she describes how CIA's jihad
of late eighties in Afghanistan finished off Russian communism and spawned
Taliban style communalism in Afghan & Indian territory, bringing Kashmir its tensions
(and some intellectuals their liberal pretensions). She appears partly bright
when she describes the rise of Hindutva as a political force in that nineties disquiet.
Since her writing is tight, she urges connotations to bare themselves and subtleties
of diction in this colonial language, appeased by her 'hysterical rhetoric', look like ecstatic,
climactic arguments, but what interests me always is what escapes her,
or what she omits or leaves out.
Like Kashmiri Pandits, who don't feature in her computation of what went wrong in 1988-
89, though historically speaking, those lands belonged to those hundreds of thousands:
now refugees in their own country, driven out by 'Azadi guns'.
When she forgets is that in this Indian Palestine, the oppressed is the Hindu, whose homeland,
memory of forefathers is being wiped out, and there is no Darwish to sing of this loss!
But her reading of the historic is undone by her histrionics. She ignores
what she dislikes, and in her surreal imagination, Gandhian protest is a vice.

Hinduism, which gives her name, but deserves only her distaste, is the problem she must cite.
Her unintelligent comments about Kashmir or Taj Mumbai siege (as Rushdie called them),
her howl: "justice or civil war" reflect she’s Narundhati: yet her prestige persists in spite of her sleights,
for a country she calls a Nazi-like police state by tolerating her, belies the atrocities she cites:
while she sees only death and shadow lurk on our stage
Isn't she surprised, why she is still unscathed and alive?
Truth is seldom as black or white, but my stanzas seem stunted for I am imitating Narundhati's style.

See I am stumped by her contradictions, though as an Indian, I am deemed capable of reconciling
the opposites. Narundhati, the embedded journalist, describes rapes, arson, murder by police as malice,
yet urges us to sympathize with Maoists who count mutilated corpses as a prize.

Years back, on the shores of Narmada, she cried hoarse with non-violent protesters,
"Narmada bachao, bachao" "Narmada bachao, bachao"
and now in Maoists camps, she despises those methods.
"Lal salaam comrade! Guns uthao, uthao"
She cites Charu's and Mao's affection for gore, and tells us, in her Delhi accent...
O don't be a bore,
look at these tribals dancing, look at their songs and folklore...
who'd think they have killed a score.

When she writes, "I tell them Delhi is a cruel city that neither knows nor cares about them,"
she forgets that the Indian city destroyed the most number of times, never though by pacifists,
is the city of Hindu memories, of Ghalib, Mir and Sufis, of Sikhs and seekers of many faiths,
but our city-girl thinks cities as contraband
and like Mumbai, her 'karmabhoomi' is ostracized from her skies.
Likewise, millions of children born into consumer cultures, are vultures
as per her writing, which insists world markets are ulcers, progress = prosecution,
pro-Hindu idealism = fascism, police = thieves/rapists, leaders = hate-mongers. If her arithmetic of India,
America, World is really that simplistic, and caustic, I wonder, what qualifies her to be a critic?

As a teenager, I volunteered one summer for teaching the slum children in Delhi. As a reward
for my sincerity, I was led into a small, unlit room one afternoon, to talk to a high-ranking Maoist.
"We must rid our nation of these intellectuals, professors, politicians, landowners, high castes,
scientists, and wipe out the rich.
Blood is the only water than can wash the strains of anguish
that distinguish my people," he said. He quoted Marx, Majumdar, French revolution, Russians, Mao.
I looked like an ancient cow quoting Gandhian or Buddhist or Hindu philosophy,
and the forgotten principle of Christian non-resistance: of turning the other cheek.

I tried to decipher why I was an enemy. "You represent the worst of elitists, Sharma;
studying in a fancy engineering college, Convent educated, Brahmin, or course you’re a fascist".
My distinct unease told me I was condemned by the prejudice of this self-appointed jurist!
I lacked potent phrases to debate with him, so I described how I had toiled hard all my life
under extreme family pressure and my success was fruition of the daily, honest sweat
of my parents who had risen from Himalayan poverty, which doesn't ask your caste
when it affects you, though employers cite it when they reject you.
"Many innocents must die too. The fire of sacrifice, the Goddess
calls for a bloody revolution."

That three hour meeting still baffles me. I am at loss for words,
it hurts. For him, Chinese excesses or Stalin's policies are justified. The morbid horror of it,
rages within me, and as I devour literature from all times -- Tale of two cities, If this is a Man,
Doctor Zhivago, Train to Pakistan or Manto's stories -- I realize every activism and ideal
that strives to reverse biases, by justifying repressive policies and atrocities of present day
in the light of past excesses, rationalizes exactly what it criticizes. War begets war, lust, lust,
hate spawns hate. I agree markets lack compassion and conscience, but collectives can be callous
as well, Dickensian crowds can turn into mobs and guillotine,
and Achebe’s tribals are capable of being innocuous or fascist!
If only we had the right acumen, we would triumph over ourselves and turn human,
but we lay down a landmine, we turn our holy lands into Palestine, we outline
new charters of hate, wiping Jews or Tutsis or Hindus or Red Indians or Muslims
or Cambodians, or Tibetians or Armenians, priests and pilgrims, ultra-rich and urchin,
wiping whole generations off our slate!

I don't know why Narundhati's mother thinks India needs a revolution, or why
Narundhati listens to grasshoppers and they speak her mind, about 'democracy
as a demon-crazy'. I lived in Chekovian villages, in beat-up small towns,
in places where people don't worry about abstract isms and nouns,
rather stick to their daily needs, banal fancies and follies, ageless celebrations and strife.
We are the poor or middle classes, our daily living supplies more solace and sorrow to our lives
than the craving rich can conceptualize.

When I read dream-like sequences of rural, joyful life, I realize,
even Tolstoys can lack the facts, and that ignorance leads to lies.
See the Soviet history, witness its birth, youth and demise!
Yes Naom Chomsky's is a learned man, and Howard Zinn knew his People’s history,
but when N-Arundhati talks their language, she lacks their informed gallantry,
their reverence for their national ideals, their ability to denounce propaganda, backed with facts.
Not every ape is a Hanuman, for it takes a lot of spirit, guts, grime and gyaan.
To be a Zola, rather than a bhola, requires more than a kurta and a jhola!

In Narundhati's analysis of India: there is a civil war-like situation
between Muslims and Hindus, tribals and corporations, Maoists and state machinery,
dam builders and those displace by dams. And of course, Narundhati is the liberal star
smug, satiated, saturated by her own self-defined idioms of calamity and causality.
Her writing shows, how she deifies the episodes of carnage, and her urge is to disgrace
the land on which she stays. In her prose, terrorists get rationalized, and as she breaks
into outbursts, aimed at foreign readers, buyers of her books, admirer of her looks,
who lap up what she writes, especially her calling much maligned Hindus -- fascists,
or thinking of Kashmir as Palestine or her support for bloody revolutions. Half-truths are half-lies,
and my lament is... many trust her, and thrust biased policies on Indians using her near-sights.
Her rhetoric: 'Mumbai people asked for it, people who are neither in government, nor rich,
nor Maoists asked for it, Kashmiri Pandits asked for it, Hindus & Sikhs killed in past centuries
asked for it, the children of twenty-first century asked for it, Americans killed in 9/11 asked for it,
the races and regions continuously misrepresented by colonial mentality Orientalists like her
asked for it, asked for it, asked for it".

Why Suyodhan is called Duryodhan, why my write-up is full of A-Vivek, and why N-Arundhati,
who I support for her activism on many issues, is the locus of my ardent criticism?
While Narundhati has a Booker and I haven't even won a cooker, I still am an argumentative
Indian, as Amartya Sen would call me. Trust me, it takes more than a token speech to appall me.
Tell me, if I can be considered discreet if in my words, there is no middle ground, no layers, no gray.
Too much talk, and too little thought, too much debate, that too without consulting the proletariat!
Too many victims, too little praise, too much rhetoric, without perspective of the current or the historic!
Anger is easy, but solutions are harder, and in India, where bureaucratic cobwebs usher
answers at the pace of a lazy snail and facts are files buried in dust or disgust somewhere:
her urging us to burn down our the storehouse and file-keepers too leads us nowhere.

My voice falters in any discourse. My lament: I am innocent. If I cite Hindu philosophy,
I am labeled fundamentalist; if Islamic, labeled terrorist; if Jewish, Zionist. If I state
my thoughts, my name says I am a Brahmin, also my education was in Catholic school.
I am my father's son, so related to the government. I live in United States, so I represent the empire.
I am a poet means I am fanciful; an engineer, which implies I limp in humanities,
and by the sheer luck of being the son of a honest man, and a scientist, after a lifetime of toil,
I am still struggling to earn a foothold on our soil. But while I cannot even represent
my own self, how and why does a Narundhati triumph as a correspondent?
If Maoists win their mineral-rich forests, Kashmir gains independence, minorities and castes vanish,
will we reach the state of param-sukh: absolute solace and prosperity, will it be end of our anguish?
If democracy isn't right for us, how do we know unlike in Russian heydays, comrades will fight for us?
Why don't you forsake it Vivek? You don't know what you don't know. Half-truth only parasites on us!

(Inspired by: “Walking with Comrades by Arundhati Roy”)

NOTE
1. (A-vivek: Absence or lack of the ability to determine what is right and wrong, fact and fiction, fair and unfair, sacrosanct and rubbish, ephemeral and eternal. Arundhati was Vasistha’s wife, and name of a vine; but it also means ‘kundalini‘ or supernatural facility, and N-Arundhati therefore is a negation of the Arundhati; i.e. lack of faculty to look at the factual and at the intellectual, and since Arundhati is associated with fidelity, N-Arundhati also has lack of fidelity as a meaning).
2. Arundhati Roy gave a lecture tour after the article in Outlook, and my poem was written after hearing a lecture at MIT, where it was clear that her content and concern were, for most part, motivated by grabbing attention.
3. The poem like this one is considered politically motivated by most poetry journals. Most newspapers cannot publish it for my own political affiliations are unknown, and I come with no recommendations.

Which Bandh Was it - Bharat, India Or Hindustan?

Being Cynical — Tue, 6 Jul 2010 08:31:12 EDT

I am not sure of the facts, but I don't think there would be any other country on this planet which has more than one name, leave alone three. Now this multi-naming convention of a country brings about a problem or two when somebody tries to attach the country with something. Just like yesterday's 'Bharat Bandh'. Why not an 'India Bandh' or 'Hindustan Bandh'? For that matter why not all three at once?

Before going into the details of the last bandh, it would be good if we could do some analysis on our triplet naming convention. On a micro level, I feel all three names represent a set of different populace of our country respectively.

Bharat :- Representing the set of poor chaps which many financial bodies (including our armchair advisory body - The Planning Commision) believe are not earning more than Rs 20/- per day and agony of these chaps in fact prompted all opposition parties to orchestrate this massive nation wide band. Roughly you can say this particular name represents the mamooli type fellows.

India :- Represents the chaps of the middle class or to say - a notch below the upper middle class. In short, guys like me, who blog around all nonsense and folks like you having enough time at hand to read this nonsense. These are the same entities who believe malls and multiplexes are the second best thing happening to mankind after the invention of Balaji Telefilms. We get annoyed and vouch against Gandhi Jayanti as sheer nonsense - not because one day's national productivity is going for a toss but because it is a dry day. This represents a considerable chunk of the nation.

Hindustan :- While Muslims (they have a different set of demands) don't seem to appreciate this jargon, the other side group do adore it more than their life. This name represents Folks from the camps of BJP, RSS, VHP and many similar like minded geniuses. As per them it was Hindustan from the time those two terrestrial elements collided somewhere in the sky to give birth to our universe. The king 'Bharat' of the Mahabharat fame can take a back seat and shouldn't shout or claim his name is the name of our country.

When there is so much diversity in the name of our country itself, it is bound to bring in some confusion when there is a Bandh called for it. So this bandh was for whom? The Bharat-vasies, the Indians or the Hindustanies? I am not sure of the other two species but it definitely hit the Indians the wrong way in terms of some unwanted discomfort. I had to drive down some 10 odd kilometers to my office without knowing what might be the official take on this whole strike. No sooner I was comfortable at my desk I got a mail from our HR head of complying with what L.K. Advani wants on that particular day and we were advised to take our ass out of the office premises sooner than later. Not to mention I had to drive back the same distance to my home and had a boring day all through without any cricket, Wimbledon or FIFA world cup match. That's certainly is disturbing. Isn't it?

Keeping aside the name of the Bandh or the minor suffering I had to go through, I do have my own set of perceptions for this particular event. Even if I am a sufferer, I still support this bandh, as truly being pointed out by few leaders that the bandh is all about the issues affecting all sections of the society, more so the Bharat Vasies (Aam- Aadmi). To gain something substantial, the history is a good proof that innocents had to bear some brunt. If this bandh is a matter of inconvenience to all those daily wage labourers as pointed by leaders of the ruling party then I don't think it is at all any convenient for the same labourer when he had to cough out Rs 90/- for per K.g Tur daal on daily basis. Don't believe then ask the chap in discussion which he feels is more inconvenient - the bandh or this daily extra coughing.

What we would achieve by this bandh, or if the food prices are going to get down the ladder after this, is a different discussion which might need few economists of Lord. Meghnad Desai's caliber to discuss. But for we lesser educated Indians it is all about having an off day with a possibility of having to turn up in the office over the weekend. I am not blaming the netas for this bandh call either. It is their fundamental right and I am also not questioning on their full time profession of worrying for the Aam-Aadmi. But to throw a bandh on all sorry faces by virtue of force as shown in few video clips is certainly not going to help much. The whole idea behind this bandh is well appreciated across all quarters and there are many who voluntarily joined the protest. Much more than anything it is a wake up call for few arrogant brats in our Finance as well as Agriculture ministry.

I am at the bottom of this post but still couldn't manage to find out why it is only a 'Bharat Bandh'. Perhaps I need a 'India Bandh' or 'Hindustan Bandh' next time around to figure out the difference.

Rhetoric?

Kaushik Chatterji — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:49:24 EDT

More than 77% of our country's population lives on less than 20 Rs per day. This is not any random statistic I just came up with - it is the official figure provided by the NCEUS. The top 1% - the rich - control a ridiculous amount of wealth. The figure's probably not as obscene as the USA, but it's more worrisome given our population. Then again, 1% of 110 crore - 1.1 crore - can hardly be termed as insignificant. Even the top 0.01% - the bracket that is ordinarily called "super rich" - constitutes 1.1 lakh people, but it is only when we have a look at those levels that we get even a vague idea of concentration of wealth and the associated disparities.

But we, who are firmly rooted in and around the middle of that 22% bracket, continue not to give a damn about that 77%. Instead, we scramble to lap up whatever little crumbs are thrown our way by that 1%. Some of us vote (many of us don't even do that), plan (but don't evade) our taxes and work hard (and while we are at it, step over tons of people who are in a similar position as us if not worse off). We work hard just so that our overlords feel pleased and in a moment of weakness decide to marginally increment the amount of crumbs to be thrown our way. Our overlords - a bunch of people who are amassing wealth by multiples of thousands of crores and openly competing against each other in terms of their personal collections of private yachts and jets, and have the clout to get away with genocide over and over again, let alone something as petty as murder. Our overlords - the owners of big businesses, the industrialists, the corporates, the capitalists; the parliamentarians and other so-called democratic politicians, as well as the highest circles of bureaucracy; the media, redundant as it is to mention it separately since it is nothing but just another really big business.

Rhetoric? Yes. Each and every aforementioned word, nay, character even. Close your eyes and close this tab/window. Immediately. Do not, I repeat, do not snap out of the dream. Pay 200 bucks to see a film that cost 60 crores to make and market in a plush multiplex. Be fooled by clever advertising, give in to temptation and spend your hard-earned money on things that do not matter. Better still, adopt a pseudo-liberal stance, optimize your social media presence and make yourself heard - on blogs, forums, Twitter, Facebook, online, offline, newspaper readers' opinion columns, news channel talk shows, etc. etc. Shun religion, caste, region, language, community, gender and all those other entities that cause biases and divides. All but one, that is. Money, 'coz if it weren't for the economically privileged, how would these biases persist and how would we be made privy to their existence?

Once upon a time, it might have been the White Man's Burden, but as things stand now, especially in our country, tearing down the walls that stand between people is the Rich Man's Burden. All we - we who are not yet rich but who aren't exactly struggling to make ends meet - need to do is support them, and maintain just this one partition - the one that is root cause of each and every other one of them.

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy - All The Political Discussions

Ashish — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 10:54:45 EDT

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy has been one of the worst incidents in the history of India, right up there with the unpunished anti-Sikh riots of 1984, and the Gujarat anti-Muslim riots of 2002. The gas attack, in the dead night of early December 1984, had a personal connection for me. My dad had been in Bhopal for a official visit, just leaving a day before; a close call for us, but not for the thousands who perished from the effects of the gas in the first few days after the tragedy.

This is a tragedy that has affected many hundreds of thousands as well, those who did not immediately suffer a fatality in the aftermath of the tragedy, but who were affected due to the effects of the gas, and suffered a series of health problems that have lasted till this day, and who will continue to suffer the effects for long periods after. And yet, they can be called a forgotten generation.
After all, were it not for the recent court case that awarded a measly 2 year punishment to many office bearers of the company at the time of the gas attack, who would have said a word about a tragedy that struck 26 years back ? In fact, just the fact that it took 26 years for the judicial process to grind to a decision about criminal culpabilities is itself a grotesque tragedy.

One benefit of the recent controversy has been a discussion about what are the rightful next steps to take for resolving the tragedy. For long, the factory (still present, with whatever contaminant still keeps on seeping into the soil) remains on the ground, and there had been no discussion on how to clean up the place (and one of the major steps in any industrial disaster is the clean up process of an industrial disaster); the recent discussion has been about how to setup a process to clean up the disaster area (even though there are disputes about whether it will be the central Government or the state Government that will be responsible for the cleanup process).

There is also a realization that the compensation given earlier was inadequate, but the current debate overall the proposed new compensation policy is also riven by dispute, and there is a worry that there will be enough red-tape in the entire process that a number of people affected by the tragedy will continue to not get the required compensation.

The biggest controversy in all this is the fate of Warren Anderson. From all the discussion so far, it would seem that the chain of steps was that Warren Anderson wanted to see the actual site of the tragedy, but was astute enough that the heated atmosphere could entrap him, and so sought safe passage. He was granted this safe passage, and when was arrested by the local administration in Bhopal, that promise was invoked.

Given that he traveled by a state Government plane to Delhi, then met the President before leaving the country, would seem that both the State Government (headed by Arjun Singh) and the Central Government (headed by Rajiv Gandhi) were to blame. The Congress has left Arjun Singh to his own statements (and he has clammed up, wanting the entire controversy to die down), but will do everything to ensure that the memory of the late Rajiv Gandhi does not get entangled in this.
However, one needs to see whether all this discussion of the Group of Ministers comes out with something that will actually benefit the people involved. There are a huge number of people who have been affected at various levels by this tragedy, some who suffer huge losses and medical problems, and some who suffer ailments that are persistent or come up at regular intervals.

Oh Bhopal!

Abhinandan Mishra — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:44:00 EDT

Oh Bhopal...

Mockery of justice was again seen in my country when the judicial pronouncement for the Bhopal gas tragedy was announced.

Digest this - after over 25 years, eight people were convicted for the world's worst industrial disaster and sentenced to two years in prison. One of them died during the course of the trial. The other seven were granted bail. About 20,000 people were killed in the Bhopal gas tragedy of December 2-3, 1984.

The iconic picture of a child, whose face is only visible became the pictorial signature of that unfortunate night and was clicked by photojournalist Pablo Bartholomew. He too was heartbroken when he heard about the "too little too late" judgement.

Thousands and thousands like him, people from every sphere of life, activists, common men, students, and farmers too are going through a mixture of varied emotions. Anger, pity, apathy, helplessness, but deep inside they have accepted the fact that what has been done is done and nothing can be achieved more.

Those who died cannot be brought back. They simply won't come back. This resignation to the situation doesn't develop overnight, it comes with age and it comes when such incidents happen again and again and still things remain the same. Same politicians ranting, accusing each other, same ways of protest, changing facebook profile picture, showing compassion through status message, forwarding sms. Even the media doesn't do much. Same channel, same talk show, same gestures, high pitch voices.

This helplessness and the feeling alike is not against the Bhopal gas tragedy. It has a much more deep rooted origin. It is against the whole system.

This has developed through time. When Godhra happened, when violence in Maharastra took place, when hundreds died in a train accident and the railway minister said that it was all related to a political conspiracy to malign her, when a man who should have been hanged long back is kept alive all in the name of minority appeasement, such unique yet identical incidents give birth to this feeling of apathy and helplessness.

Meanwhile political games have already begun.

Congress leaders are in a huddle so as to whom to make a scapegoat. Was it the CM, the PM or a mixture of both that made a way for Anderson to flee India. Not too far, BJP is in another huddle, devising out ways in Patna, where its national executive meet is going on and in Bhopal on how to push the Congress further into a corner.

Then there is a former Supreme court judge who says that he did not commit any mistake by agreeing to head a multimillion dollar trust set up by Union Carbide after the tragic gas leak.

The same judge in 1996 converted the CBI charge under the stringent provisions of 304-II that provided for maximum of 10-year imprisonment to Section with two-year maximum imprisonment and reduced the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder to causing death by negligence.

Clearly the law didn't take its natural course. But then it would have been naive for anyone to even expect that it will, such was the nature of this high case. Much more than anyone could make out was and is at stake.

In the end what matters is, those who have survived they should be looked after. Those who died, they are not alive, they don't need any attention but the survivors do. Those who will be born with deformities and weak immune system they will need money and resources to live a life that will be far away from normal. Yet since they have life they will have to survive, with or without government help.

Forget Anderson, forget who drove him to the airport, ignore who called whom to arrange for his departure. But let's not forget those who need life and support. Help them and you will be helping those who died on that night for no purpose. Many of them were sleeping and most of them never woke up again.

Bhopal lost something on the night of December 3, 1984 and nothing but time will heal those wounds that have been felt by generations and will be experienced by many more to come.

The BJP's Revivalism

Abhishek — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:33:50 EDT

Wikipedia describes a "banana republic" as "a country that is politically unstable, dependent on limited agriculture, and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt elite". While the original definition may not hold true in present context, it is sufficient to convey the literal sense of the term for India. We are hurtling towards a generalised chaos, an anarchy and till the time a radical solution to this is hammered out, we as the one of the world's most populous nations would be sitting ducks for getting annexed to "foreign powers".

As it is, the ruling elite is morally bankrupt. We have an "appointed prime minister", a shadow cabinet and all powerful ruling elite that is not answerable to the public that elected them in the first place. The sham quote of democracy,"of the people, for the people and by the people" has been done to death by raping the innards of spirit of democracy. The historical blunders and wrongs have never been set right, a whole new generation of Macaulayites has been spawned and divorced from the rich cultural heritage and the corruption kick back black economy is now a large percentage of the country's GDP. The systematic loot is in full frontal view of the public and a pliable media is for the askance.

In the gloom and doom, we need a able leader. An extra-ordinary political party that shakes up the country's slumber, and asks the inevitable questions. A party that leads us from darkness to light and imbibes the true sense of leadership and purpose. The Bharatiya Janata Party is one party which has the potential, the gumption and the foresight to lead the country from the front.

The pill may be very bitter to swallow. The educated elite are unwilling to accept the writing on the wall. They quote the oft repeated "desecration" of the "minorities". The black year of Gujarat riots. All the while conveniently associating the theory of "automatic combustion" of Railway bogies. They forget that the poor unarmed Hindus were attacked by a violent mob WITHOUT any provocation. A "backlash" was too hard to handle. But of course. The bleeding heart secularists and the champions of human rights had to commit perjury and falsification of available evidence to swing the media in it's favour. The likes of NDTV (with a motivated leftist agenda) crowed about the "loss of innocent human lives" without any iota of evidence.

Yet, the human mind is frail. We as a new whole generation are not given to a sensible political discourse. We resort to the likes of Slimes (or toiLET) paper as if it is the last word on "journalism". The dimwit moronish commentators suck up to the ruling elite because they draw their sustenance and possible glory from that. Still, no debate. No informed political commentary.

Admittedly, BJP has been in an disarray. More specifically after the last general elections, BJP has not been able to come to terms with the fact that incumbency factor may not be important at all, given the changed times and perception of people. It is belatedly realised that the route to power is by addressing the common man. To be able to connect to the masses. To be able to forcefully rely on the power of spoken word. To be able to strike out the hollow roots of the ruling dispensation. To ask uncomfortable questions. To question the complicity with the lobbyists of various hues and the deep rot of the corporate business and financial interests in the ruling structure. To be able to muster enough lung power to take to the streets.

It is heartening to know that the BJP is belatedly realising the same. In the recent rally in Patna, BJP's Narendra Modi roared. Although it was a veiled attack on Congress and it's policies, it was clear that Modi is cut out for leading the country from 2014, assuming that the Congress runs it's full term or nothing untoward happens like a state of emergency. BJP is girding up it's loins for all the hard work, because it is the people power that would force the media to take cognisance of the developing situation and hopefully incite a debate.

Never before in recent history, has a leader been so popular who by sheer towering personality been able to deliver a public address extempore or connect with the populace coming on their own will to hear him out. BJP needs to chalk out a strong strategy to make forays in South, project Modi as the probable Prime Ministerial candidate and Nitin Gadkari in a managerial role. The "golden era" of L.K. Advani may well be over who like fumbling idiots messed up the whole show during 2004. The individual can never become bigger than the party; Modi realises this. And he was empathic in relaying a strong message to people that vote bank politics and minority pampering should be booted out in favour of a strong developmental based politics. Let me hasten to add. The revivalism of Hindutva where it regains public consciousness and becomes the focal point of the next 2014 elections. BJP as the representative of the Hindus needs to ensure the construction of Ram Mandir as a symbol of self assertion and sentiments for a vast majority of the people of this country. The must get back to their promises and fulfil them.

Coming back to the original theme of Banana republic. While this may be a remote possibility given the fact that Bhopal's skeletons have come tumbling out and Nuclear Liability Bill heavily loaded against it's own citizens, the millions stashed on secret Swiss accounts etc., we need a mass reawakening. A common point to rally around and bind as a nation; not on the basis of caste, creed or even religion but on the basis of Hinduism. On the basis of a rich glorious heritage that has been murdered by British in 300+ years of misrule. Of unshackling the slavery of mindset but rather become stake holders in the great and proud nation. Garv se Kaho hum Hindustani Hain.

Security Is A Comedy In India

Being Cynical — Wed, 2 Jun 2010 11:35:19 EDT

The death of 140 odd passengers of a Mumbai bound train early Friday made us revisit the question all over again. How safe are we and how efficient and foolproof our security apparatus are? Answers to both is that we are pathetic on these two fronts and don't show any encouraging signs that we would improve anytime soon.

Everyone seem to have shown some improvement including the notorious terrorists, except our Sarkar. When the nefarious elements wield mayhem with Kalashnikov and high end hand grenades, our security forces (I am not talking about Indian army) who are supposed to take on these cowards heads on are equipped with the British Era 303 rifles, which incidentally many tout are the same set of guns for which Mangal Pandey started the Sipahi Mutiny back in 1857 and even our police force is skeptical as to whether these guns would fire in the first place since the last operational testing of those were done way back during the time of World War-I.

Worse, many a times even these 303 rifles are all together absent and our security forces are left with the blessings of the almighty and of course our own indigenous invented weapon of ass destruction : The Lathi. Don't get me wrong. If used properly these weapons of ass destruction can be as deadly as anything, at least few home ministry sleuths believe so. So what is our poor police Havildar equipped only with this dreaded weapon of ass destruction supposed to do when he sees a terrorist roaming around with an automatic assault weapon?

(a) Throw the lathi right there and run for his life.
(b) Faint with some awkward sadma as shown in Hindi movies.
(c) Wet his pants and stand in a corner like a statue and do nothing since there isn't much that he can do.
(d) Run towards the terrorist and whack his posterior as hard as possible with the lathi :- The weapon of ass destruction

All the above options look bizarre but are true. Leaving aside few government offices and our airports all other places do give you a sorry picture of security. Shopping malls seems to be bit better as they put up a show of security checks, but ground reality is that they are no better either. The deserted look (in terms of security) of all our major railway stations speaks volume about our nonchalant attitude towards security. The metal detector which is supposed to detect unwanted items getting in, most of the times doesn't work. If at all it works no one seems bothers to go through them. The Paan chewing Havildar sitting at the corner with that weapon of ass destruction in his hand, who is supposed to make sure that all pass through the detector, doesn't do anything about it. As it is he is pretty confident he won't be able to do much in the event of a real terrorist attack, so why bother?

When we are surrounded by two phase attack both from outside (LET, JeM etc) and inside (Maoists), the first thing we should do is send those 303 rifles to the place they belong - yes the museums and we should also get rid of our fondness for the deadly weapon called Lathi. Does anyone remember (we Indians suffer from short term memory loss) the immature video capture of Kasab at Girigam Choupati or for that matter the CCTV footage of the railway constable firing from that 303 rifle at the two terrorists? Both these clips make us look like laughing stock. Our police forces at one place kicking and punching a terrorists with lathi in their hands and at the other place the 303 holder doesn't know how to fire a rifle, as he hasn't done even once before and worse when one of them did manage to pull the trigger, the rifle never went off during the first few attempts and we clowns still believe we can fight these maniacs with these set of weapons and skill set.

Who should be the one to streamline our security apparatus? Where is the strategy? Post 26/11, when all thought the change was in the air for the better, surprisingly the same set of seasoned crooks were back at the government and funny, it is we who brought them to power again. By electing the same buffoons it seems the foolish voters actually liked the idea of our non-availability of any strategy to counteract the terrorism and probably consider it a waste of time to come up with effective strategy on matters of national security. It seems the only strategy that is intact and at full swing is the strategy to keep the vote bank intact. If few lives are lost in the process, what's the big deal? That's the reason why our Home minister doesn't think twice before announcing to the world that the captured joker in connection with Pune blast is just another suspect. That's the reason why Mamtadi threw the tantrum when she said the DG of Bengal is a useless fellow for associating Maoists with the recent train tragedy. Surrounded by black cat commandos these so called leaders don't realize the value of security as it is the tax payers who are taking care of that by the generous contribution of their hard earned money on the security aspect of these grossly incompetent, lazy, good for nothing individuals.

First step could be to take away these commandos from their security system and drag them out in the open to face the summer heat all alone. Then I feel entities like Mamtadi would refrain themselves from uttering nonsense like - law and order is a state matter. If that is so, could anyone please ask this lady - what she is doing out there? Can't the railways be better without one such useless individual? Little point in discussing (read negotiating) with a rogue nation. It is about time these composite dialogue stuff should be thrown out of the window and if possible make few politicians follow the trajectory right after. India then would be a cleaner and safer place to live after. Amen!