Whither Parliamentry Ettiqutte in India

We had, till recently, the tweeting Shashi Tharoor, the intellectual. Now we have Jairam Ramesh, self-styled intellectual. The two have one thing in common. They never think twice before they speak. And every time they fell, or continue to fall, in trouble. They both are part of the parliamentary system in Indian governance. (Let us assume that Shashi Tharoor is still, though he has been removed, in the Cabinet)
Shashi Tharoor once tweeted that Indian democracy lacks tolerance to free views and opinion. He forgot, or rather pretended to forget, that like the Great(?) Britain, India also has Parliamentary form of government where there happens to be a Cabinet. This Cabinet, in Constitutional parlance is a Unitary Executive, as against the Plural Executive of Switzerland.
This is not the place to discuss the differences between the two, but in nutshell, the Cabinet is one single UNIT, and acts as such. In effect, the decisions of a Cabinet are supposed to be taken by voice vote, and no minister is supposed to disagree with a Cabinet decision.
Tharoor grossly failed to appreciate this basic concept and it is unfathomable that he did not know this.
Ramesh did a Tharoor in China by casting aspersion on his colleague P. Chidambaram. That also on a foreign affair matter. Even in the US, where the executive committee is not exactly like a cabinet, this type of public differences is not seen in good light.
Long ago, even Arjun Singh had claimed disagreement with a cabinet's decision he was part of. And he was criticised even by his political opponents who could easily benefit by this disagreement.
Indian politicians should take a lesson or two on their form of government. One, particularly those of political ilk, must keep in mind that the democratic right to free expression is not available to members of the armed forces and those of the ruling elite. Ignorance on this front may be detrimental to the nation at large.

Happy Earth Day! How did it all begin, why you must take charge.. « Green Blog : Take Care Take Charge

Happy Earth Day! How did it all begin, why you must take charge.. « Green Blog : Take Care Take Charge

Is really there anything to be happy about this Earth Day, or for that matter any Earth Day? It is one of the many similar moron, formal days that come and go with some seminars being organised and write-ups published in the media.
It is much hyped concern by a handful of activists. Not that the threat is not real. The hype is unrealistic. How many literate persons think in their daily routine that they are damaging the environment? Ask, and they will pour down data. But the bahaviour and habits are unchanged. The threat is unreal to them.
The activists must come to the people not with scientific data and jargon like carbon foot print, green house gases, temperature of earth rising by 0.5 degree, they are blah blah to common man. Just tell them what it implies, how they are already affected, why there is food scarcity, why the prices are soaring. And they will understand, they will behave, they will contribute.

Tackling the Naxal menace

Here, in Chhattisgarh, we are aface to heightened Naxal menace. We recently lost more than 75 security personnel in a Naxal trap. It was shocking but not at all unexpected.
Without any disrespect to the loss of life by soldiers who did not belong to this area (may be a strong reply to those who keep raising the talk of outsiders in Chhattisgarh), one must admit that the tragedy was long slated to happen.
Reports have been saying that the local deployment of CRPF was a reluctant player in the naxal field. Their units avoided venturing in the field deep enough and kept close to their camps. They were never proactive. The local police, on the other hand, is ill-equipped to handle the situation.
What makes a bad scenario worse is the lack of coordination among the forces. This has been a problem in India on all occasions. Whenever there is a multiplicity of forces to tackle a problem, one-up-manship starts. Various forces don't share their intelligence reports, hardly coordinate on expeditions, seldom rely on each other, and nearly invariably fail.
Chhattisgarh presently has CRPF, BSF and the ITBP besides its own police force to fight with the naxals. In this multiplicity, the lack of coordination looms large among them. And, the tragedies like Chitalnad are more probable.
The opinion that comes out then is that the situation should be handed over to the Army. It may be pointed out that the Indian Constitution does not rule out a martial law. So, the Government of India should declare martial law in areas like the borders of Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh-Maharashtra-Orissa, Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh-West Bengal, Bihar-Jharkhand and such areas and should be handed over to the army for action.
People may object that it may be undemocratic, that it may violate human rights etc. Let it be so. The people we wish to eliminate are not humans. They have waged a war on the State of India. We need special powers, and efforts, to fight it and to fight it out.

Remembering Bhagat Singh

It has been a huge huge gap of time since I last posted. There were engagements and some lethargy. Hopefully, it will be regular, again. And, what a date to resume. Today is 23rd of March, the date on which Bhagat Singh with two of his allies Sukhdev and Rajguru was hanged by the British at the tender age of 23 years.

Bhagat Singh is considered the revolutionary by the people in general as well as the intellectuals and scholars. Was he? Was he only a revolutionary of India's struggle for freedom? Probably not. Probably definitely not.

Bhagat Singh was a visionary. He was only 23 when he was hanged. Still he was not immature. Neither mentally, nor ideologically. He definitely was a freedom fighter. But, for him freedom of the nation was only a means rather than a goal. Most of the political leaders of the time, including even Gandhiji, of the Indian National Congress did not visualise India after independence. Jawahar Lal Nehru was one leader who, only later, came to terms in this regard.

Bhagat Singh was miles ahead of his contemporaries in his thoughts and vision. He did fight for India's freedom. But has he been labelled a revolutionary only because he was associated with Hindustan Repulican Army which he renamed Hindustan Socialist Repulican Army? He never wielde gun to kill any British (this does not mean the likes of Chandrashekhar Azad were killers) and even if he exploded bombs it had a design.

Bhagat Singh was more of a philosopher than a freedom fighter, a revolutionary. I bow before his greatness and remember him in great spirit on this day.

The Transexuals, and Transexuality

It has been a real long long absence from the blog. Much has happened in between one should have commented on. One such major issue is the so-called legalisation of the transsexual relationship in India. In fact s. 377 of the Indian Penal Code classifies homosexual relation as unnatural and therefore a crime, a cognisable offence. When some organisations and individuals fighting for gay rights went to the court, the Supreme Court decided that any physical relation between two adults of the same sex by consent shall not be treated as an offence because it is a natural insinct. In other words, homosexuality has not been legalised but only de-criminalised.

As it happens in India, much hue and cry has been made on this verdict. The Court felt that homosexuality was not quite unnatural, and this was the basis of construing it as a crime in the law books. What the Court failed to take cognisance of, and what even many of the verdict's critics fail to raise appropriately, was that law, and also justice, should not only follow what is natural and what is not. We are living in a civilised society. What is raw natural, should not rule our system. Sexual desire is very natural, and naturally one needs a partner to quell it. Just a partner -- may it be of opposite sex or of same sex. No other consideration -- age, relation etc matters.

Going by the logic SC used in deciding the case, will an extra marital relation, or even an incest by consent shall be decriminalised? And what about prostitution? It is already a relation between two adults, by consent, of opposite sex at that. Should it also be a non-crime?

Law does not have always to be based on our natural instincts. A civilised society is civilised just only because it puts restrains on many of our natural instincts. So, the Court should endeavour to make our society civilised rather than natural. It has many hazards.

It is Mothers' Day Today

It is Mothers' Day. I have missed my blogging for quite a long time. Part ue to ongoing University Exams and part due to illnesses at home that came one by one.

The Great Indian Election Drama

We are through so many days in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The first phase, that will cover my state Chhattisgarh, is sceduled on 16th this month. And the drama is on. No one knows who is saying what, to whom and why. One wonders if anyone takes our corrupted politicians seriously. Just a few minutes ago, I was watching Aaj Tak for Bol India Bol programme. At Ranchi most of the people did themselves for the political instability that the they at Jharkhand are facing.

However, classic, and probably most prickly sarcastic, was a real common man's comment when asked what he would do if becomes PM, "सब लोग लूटीये न रहा है? हम भी वही करेंगे, लूटेंगे।" (Every one is looting the people's funds. I will also do the same.) Wonder if any politician really felt the pinch, oe are they the new species of Pachyderms?

No one knows what Varun Gandhi exactly said. Media is also reporting only the he said something. But he is an issue all over. Election Commission itself created a ridiculous history in all dmocracies by advising his party not to make Varun a cadidate! What of Shahabuddins and Surajbhans and Paoppu Yadavs, Honourable Commission Sirs?

There are no issues for the politicians that would really affect the common man. It is all about blame game. One of the weakest ever Home Minister claims to become the strongest PM? A P.M. no one ever heard of speakin on political issues, and those who heard on other issues could not make out what he said, is made out to be the best PM! Tadpoles are trying to be Lions.

There would be more political drama after the elections with strangest of people becoming most vulgar bed fellows, instatntly kicking off there newly found amours.

Let there be peace. Politicians! Do you ever listen to the ground?