The uninformed informer

This morning at 6 AM, I tuned into the All India Radio to listen to Vande Mataram, the Morning song of India that has been greeting Indians for several years now.As the first streaks of sunlight emerged from behind the clouds just as the National song ended and the announcer started listing out the programmes for the day, I proudly planted a Khadi Tricolour atop my Balcony, for the first time ever in my life.I should be swelling with pride and in a jubilant mood, but im actually more sombre. So what prompted me to put up a national flag on my house? A couple of days back I was at the traffic signal at the intersection of MG Road and Brigade Road - at one time one of the symbols of Bangalore for the travelling Indian Public. About some 100 ft in the air the concrete beds for the metro rail flow from left to right in what will soon add Bangalore to a select list of Metrorail running cities in India.Below, on the road, are more B-Class and C-Class cars than two-wheelers, which is a good

I recently came across a discussion board on a website where the subject of discussion was the ceremonial lowering of guard at the International Border in Wagah.The panelists were thrashing the ceremony as a mindless and jingoistic dramatisation of the animosity between the two nations and not in line with the peace overtures that are sought between the two nations.In trying to sound as strategic analysts i was getting convinced that these guys had never been to Wagah at sunset. A couple of kilometres from the IB one can see the hundreds of Punjab registered trucks lined up on both sides of the highways carrying potatoes,onions,foodgrain and fruit waiting to clear their customs formalities and crossover to deliver essential commodities into Pakistan.As you near the gate partly cleared paddy fields  make make-shift car parking and snack stalls for the swarming crowd of tourists who come to witness this 30 minute celebration of nationalism. Entry is free and the best spots are for th

Recently during the Prime Ministers ground-breaking press conference,he had inadvertently remarked that we are a nation of 1 billion dollars, before he realised his "tongue of the slip" and corrected dollars to people. Every once In a way some magazines and newspapers proudly proclaim the top ten billionaires of India or how many Indians in the Billionaire list because these are definitely bits of information that will bring cheer to the millions of Indians who live off the salaries paid by this billionaire club. A lot of news is on TV these days over the new compensation being announced for the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.More than two decades after the horrifying incident, the emotional thread and anger may be missing amongst the rest of Indians to actually prick the government's conscience to set the records straight.It is a   shame for us Indians that we are allowing the value of life to be devalued so easily.Death of other Indians in terrorist acts, railway a

All 30 students of Super 30, Bihar’s free coaching centre for poor students here, cracked the IIT-JEE this year. “All the 30 students have cleared the IIT-JEE,” Anand Kumar, the institute’s founder-director said at a press conference on Wednesday. “It is a matter of great pleasure as we have achieved it again," he said, adding that since the inception of the coaching centre in 2002, a total of 212 students have cleared the IIT-JEE examination, which is considered as one of the toughest examinations in the world. Mr. Kumar said the students hail from very poor families and commit themselves to a year of 16-hour study each day after passing a competitive test to get into the coaching centre. “Now we will try to arrange loans for the education of the poor students who qualified for IITs,” he said. Mr. Kumar, who himself missed a chance to study at the Cambridge due to lack of money, gives full scholarships including room and travel to the students. When contact

Reproduced here below a brilliant article written by P.Sainath in The Hindu on 17 April 2010 Freebies for the IPL — at a time of savage food subsidy cuts for the poor — benefit four men who make the Forbes Billionaire List of 2010 and a few other, mere multi-millionaires. And so the IPL fracas is now heading for its own Champions League. Union Cabinet Ministers, Union Ministers of State, Chief Ministers (and who knows a Governor or two might pop up yet) are being named as people trying to influence the bidding process. Both houses of Parliament are in uproar. The taxmen have launched a “survey.” Many in the media and politics are happy to reduce it all to issues of propriety or personality. For, the BCCI-IPL is one platform where the Congress and the BJP cohabit, normally with ease. Big money is, after all, a secular, bi-partisan space. (Or tri-partisan: let's not deny the central contribution of the NCP to this phenomenon.) It's also interesting that the media, though n

Ajmal Kasab is 30th on the list. And his best well wishers now are the 29 people ahead of him in line, who will give Kasab a long-life. The last man hanged in India was somewhere around 1995. Im sure even the other 29 on the list would not like to be hung by the same noose as Kasab.The judge has already declared that he has no humanitarian ground left to consider any leniency. There is substantial,circumstancial and all other types of evidence available against Ajmal Kasab. Does he even deserve the right to appeal or file a mercy petition? Can we afford to keep him in our prisons and risk making him a commodity for ransom. Keeping him alive will only make him the poster boy of other terror groups. Either execute him mercilessly or send him back to this mother and drive home the message that there is no glory in terror, and that there is no holy war.The victim's families will never achieve any closure, no matter what Kasab's fate is, but let them not get the feeling that so

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : ISI & the buried truths about Mumbai

Here I am back with my rantings against the IPL. So, the IPL III is over (on the field,but certainly not off the field). While CSK walked away with the trophy, the opposition ensured that Thashi Sharoor walked away from politics and the BCCI told Malit Lodi to take a walk. And since all of us are definitely consuming the selectively fed news to us I will not elaborate why the business part of the IPL seems nothing more than a can of worms. What also amused me in the finals is a dance performance by a scantily clad actress.Mumbai was the venue of the finals and it is the capital of the state that not so long ago took a stand against bar-dancers and banned them all, since it allegedly promoted other activities too. So a couple of thoughts came to my mind. If the paying public are entitled to performances by socially-accepted actors to mindless lyrics and costume designing, and the actor being paid a hefty fee for it, and we find nothing wrong with it then what moral right do we have

In most of the states, the SSLC and HSC exams are on the verge of conclusion. For the students, a much hyped psychological barrier has been completed. This is also the time when we read news of students commiting suicides due to poor performances and news such as " the flying invigilation squad of the PU education department successfully caught 4 students cheating in exams .The students have been debarred for one year,said the chief of the vigilance squad". What a joke. I would like to spare a moment for these students who have been outdone by the alacrity of the successful education department's vigilance squad. There are times when students are alleged to have copied because something was found written on their desk or a scrambled piece of paper was found near their legs etc etc. Some invigilators bask in the reputation that they are known to have a terrific eye to catch students trying to cheat, so watch out if he is coming. It is like telling children stories of Cri

Foodgrains,Arms,Ammunitions,Aircraft,Computers,Mobile Phones,Bullet proof cars for our VVIPS,Clothing for soldiers,Foreign Coaches etc etc are some of the things which our country has always imported from abroad. Apparently these things have to do with economics in some cases and a national inability to produce world-class products in some cases. Now education will be imported into India because the government believes that only foreign universities which set up shop in India can provide the students of this country with an option for pursuing quality higher education within the country. The government feels that it is indeed a shameful situation that our students are unable to get quality higher education in the country. This measure will be a reward to the students for having endured mediocrity in primary education,secondary education and if you managed to make it beyond that an outdated college degree which you would have received wearing an "archaic" gown and hat. How

I am now beginning to understand why the Indo-US Nuclear deal signed more than a year ago was touted as being "Historic". It is very much in line with India's Colonially oppressed history. Much like the British East-India company,the Portugese,The Dutch and The French agencies which came to do business in the country it aims to give the 'locals' as little as possible while protecting their own national interests or companies whose balance sheets contribute to the coffers of their country. The motive behind the bill is to legally and financially bind the operator and the government to provide relief to the affected population in case of a nuclear accident.Sounds convincing? Yes it does until you discover that the operator will be a government run entity called NPCIL with 26% foreign stakeholding and the rest with the government and moreover the cap on liability of the  foreign company is 500 crores which needs to be claimed by the operator in case of a nuclear di

Indian politicians, one thought, had the expertise to convert any non-issue into an issue of national importance.But a recent development in France got me thinking on what is an issue and what is a non-issue and i realised that this conforms to the alignment of one's thinking.Before we get to that, first the issue in France. There is strong opposition against the decision by a chain of fast food restaurants to drop it's bacon burger and pork dishes from its menu and serve only halal meat in 8 of it's outlets located in muslim-centric areas.The bacon-burger loving population of  those areas are up in arms against the restaurant chain citing a discrimination against their habits and an inconvenience caused to them since they need to travel an extra-distance to find a bacon burger.This discrimination cry has stirred up a debate even among political circles in France.Simply looking at it ,it's a great opportunity for a competitor to lap up the business.But the perspective

Naveen Jindal fought a long battle for the right to fly the national flag freely with respect and dignity as a fundamental right of every citizen and the Supreme Court of India upheld that right for every citizen.It is certainly a decision cheered by every proud Indian who would love to show his affection to his nation with the small symbolism of flying a flag atop his building. This year on Republic Day however, the Indian Flag was not hoisted at Lal Chowk in Srinagar.Reports suggested that this was done not to antagonise separatists.The same day papers also carried reports of the national flag being burnt down and calls for a bandh issued by separatists in Srinagar.If indeed the flag was not hoisted ( and there is no reason as to why it should not have been hoisted ) in order to  appease the madheads in Kashmir, it is a ridiculous state of affairs.It shows the strength of Indian sovereignty in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is almost 60 years since Article 370 was imposed in

That is the message that the Shiv Sena,Mr.Ashok Chavan and Mr.Sharad Pawar seem to be giving the world.Put forth into action by Mr.Shah Rukh Khan's faux pas, it's amazing how the issue of a movie release has even sidelined the nationwide protests over price-rise and other trivial matters of national importance such as the number of people on the streets continuing to freeze to death in the winter, our drastic drop in farm produce and the growing impudence of our neighbouring nations. In his interview Mr.Shah Rukh Khan has stated that you don't choose players to prove a point, but for their utility in your team.In fact this is the first thing he should have said instead of saying that Pakistani players should have been picked and not treated the way they were.In justifying his own team's selection policies was he implying that the other teams should have picked someone.I'm sure the other teams also chose the player they wanted.But in airing all his views he has cre

The IPL was a response to the threat of the ICL which was started by the sidelined Subhash Chandra of Zee TV, who upset at being denied television rights to his channel almost emulated Kerry Packer’s contribution to cricket. Lalit Modi managed to put in place the IPL quickly because the BCCI is to the ICC what Congress is to the UPA government and the best cricketers in the world were made available to the IPL by their respective boards because of the huge amounts of money flowing in. Today the third auction Tamasha was unfolded where people were bidding for other people and splurging crores of Rupees to have someone on their team.All the team bosses spoke of why they bought someone and Mr.Lalit Modi gave his views on the future of the IPL and how to popularize the game across the globe. Roger Federer is the king of tennis today. The prize money he has won will feed the next 10 Federer generations. When the earthquake happened in Haiti he was far away on the other side of the world an

This is a picture of the 1936 Indian Hockey team that beat the Nazi Germany team 8-1 in the finals to clinch the Olympic Gold, a feat which the achieved an unprecedented 8 times.A feat which once every four years enabled every Indian Pre-Independence and post-independence to feel on top of the world.The wizardy and mastery over hockey was legendary and many stories about the Indian prowess floated in rival teams.The arrival of astro-turf and later on KPS Gill seems to have taken off all sheen and adoration that the Indian Public had for Indian hockey. In fact no other sport has promoted patriotism as much as Hockey has.An India-Pakistan hockey match was the closest the Indian Public could get for  a feel of war between the two nations.Our heads would hang in shame and it was almost a nation in mourning if we ended on the wrong side of the result.Some would argue that cricket has the same effect, but i will say that people were fans of certain Paki cricketers but i don't know of

Not often does a man with a good command over the English Language find himself the favourite whipping boy of the media.It is common unsaid knowledge as to which news channel supports which political party in India , but the height of their loyalties is now gauged at they way in which none of them have actually lauded Mr.Tharoor as the voice of a Congress emerging out of the clutches of the "Gandhi" Brand.I think i can safely say that none of the news editors possess the depth of reading that Mr.Tharoor does nor do they profess the quality of Mr.Tharoor's English speaking and writing ability. To me it is evident that over the many years of Congress rule in India or many of it's states one of it's strategies for survival is to slowly but surely push eminent leaders of India associated with the freedom movement or other turning points in our Independent history into a fading oblivion while promoting it's own Brand Ambassadors by naming every project,flyover or

I was itching to play some 'gully' cricket.The kind of cricket with a tennis ball where you are very conscious about your shot selection, playing test match type shots straight off the coaching manual to ensure your shot doesn't raise above the standard compound wall to hit the windows at silly point and forward short leg or the car's windshield at mid-off. I had just seen my neighbour, all of 13 years of age and studying in the eighth standard get back from school.I gave him the customary ten minutes it took me when i was in school to fling my uniform away,put on the most nondescriptive clothes available,gulp down the boost/bournvita and run out to join the pack for sporting action.I called out to him and asked him if he'd like to play for a while.But i was left flabbergasted by his answer. He had to go for selection to get into IIT coaching,commencing from the next academic session at a premier coaching centre in Bangalore.For a few minutes I wasn't able to

India has almost 2000 fast track courts to mete out justice to those who seek it.However the distinction of the fastest court in India must go to the Indian Media. In between showing breaking news of who is in or out of "Big Boss", celebrity break-ups and who is the best Khan of all ,nothing hogs the TRP for them as much as a "Trial by Media". We must thank the media for tilting the balance of justice in favour of those aggrieved by relentlessly hounding the perpetrators of injustice and handing down the verdict by it's crony jury of eminent right thinking Indian citizens like Mahesh Bhatt et al. DGP Rathore is probably guilty on all counts , and all his actions to cover his tracks will probably be uncovered in a few more days when the can of worms is opened.What goes around, comes around so he will get what he deserves for the part he has paid in the death of Ruchika and the tribulations endured by her family.It is indeed a matter of grave concern that the inve