Band karo yeh bandh

People stranded at railway stations. An ambulance caught in traffic. Public property worth crores damaged. All these sad scenes on TV. What’s more, economic damage of 1000’s of crores. Ironically, scores of daily wage earners may go hungry today. The very people whom these shrewd politicians claim to want to protect. But in reality all they wanted to do was to show their might. That they can still hold the public to ransom. No, the bandh was not to protest price hike. If that was the case it should have happened atleast a few months ago when prices of items of daily consumption started galloping at double digits. But they were ‘sleeping’ at that time. The fuel price hike seems like some blast which has woken them up from the slumber.

It was so disgusting watching Arun Jaitley, AB Vardhan, Manohar Joshi, Gopinath Munde and others on TV. They all had only one thing to say – that the govt. has failed to control prices. Like a tape being repeated over and over again. None of them has anything to offer by way of solutions. Does any of our honourable lawmakers have any inkling of why prices are rising? Has food production been less? Have input prices gone up? Are middlemen hoarding the food and jacking up prices? No. And they can’t be bothered by such trivialities when they have the onerous task of playing cheap politics on hand. Neither have our journalists bothered to analyse facts. They are too busy covering ‘Breaking News’. Which leaves the common man feeling confused, betrayed and disgusted.

Surely, something needs to be done to control price rise. But a bandh is the worst possible way the opposition could have thought of to protest the govt. inaction. The solution was even worse than the problem. I hope someone files a case in the SC against this bandh and makes these parties pay for the gross injustice they meted out to India today.

Who are you?

Welcome to Census 2010. After decades of trying to deny us Indians an opportunity to know each other better, the Congress has finally agreed to a caste-based census (rather it was browbeaten by all, including its own MPs). We will now go back to the pre-independence era where each caste, sub-caste and sub-sub-caste knew its numbers and its place in society. Ahh. The glory days when Indian kingdoms were rich and prosperous before the Mughals and British came and ruined it all.

This will benefit us in many ways:

Reservations – Today we have caste-based reservations without knowing the actual proportion of those castes in the population. Won’t it be a more scientific way to first know the numbers and then divide up the pie between all aspirants based on their numbers? Then, if you don’t get say a medical seat, you know whom to blame. Yep, it will be one of your own caste. Doesn’t it feel good knowing whom to blame for the problems in your life?

Politics – This data will help the Yadavs, the Kumris, etc forge alliances. Maths wizards will have a field day advising politicians on caste equations. Isn’t 2+3 easier to answer than A+B? From regional parties we can now progress to caste parties (some already exist) and then caste alliances. Politics will be a whole new ball game. Did someone cry no ball?

Marriage – When a guy/gal tells his/her parents that he/she wants to marry someone outside the caste the parents will have a ready reply – Nothing doing. There are 10^x people in our caste. Can’t you find a decent gal/guy within that?

We know a lot of educated intellectuals will disagree with this whole business but you know what – you are a tiny-miny community who can do nothing except tweet/blog your protest. So go on. Do it to your heart’s content. And be ready to tell the Govt. where in this multi-layered society you stand.

Rootless

This post was prompted by my meeting with the Amil (head) of the Bohri mosque in Santacruz last week. My mom was all set to go on a pilgrimage but Amilsaab refused to give her the ‘safai chitti’ or clearance to be part of the Bohri tour unless I put in an appearance at the mosque. When I met him he chided me for not following the dictates of the religion and of our spiritual head to which I replied that the permission is for my mom who follows the religion. If I was the one who wanted to go then you can expect these things of me. He then tried to convince me that one should follow the customs, traditions, religion, etc of the community one is born into. His arguments didn’t cut ice with me but it did set me thinking whether relating to your roots is necessary. Should I identify myself as a Bohri Muslim? Can’t I just be a human being? Is a religious and community identity important?

Throughout my school and college days I have been around people from other communities. Yes, I did have Bohri friends like Hozaifa and Hussein during my school days and I cherish the time I spent with them. Recently Hussain messaged me on facebook saying that he still remembers how much fun it was running from room to room in my house with my pet roosters at our heels and I kinda agreed with him. Those days were fun. My carom playmates Suleiman and Sameer were Bohris too. But that’s the past. Today, my friends circle doesn’t have anyone from my community (if you leave out family). Unlike many others I don’t seek out people from my community. I don’t even bother to ask someone where he/she hails from because that simply doesn’t matter to me. This could be because I never quite got initiated into community activities. I never went to a madrassa or participated in Bohri community activities. I never felt the need to be part of a particular community. Is that wrong?

I would rather celebrate Hindu festivals like Holi and Diwali than Eid simply because I find the former more fun!!!

Even though my mother tongue is Gujarati, the language I am most comfortable with is Hinglish followed by English, Gujarati and Hindi. And I don’t understand a word of Arabic, the language of Islam – the religion I’m born into.

As for food, though I thoroughly enjoy Bohri delicacies like khichra, dal-gosht, biryani , kari I can go without them for months and yet not complain as long as I get to eat dal-chawal, dosas or paneer delicacies.

I find that I don’t look at patriotism like others do. Sure I love my country and am grateful that my ancestors didn’t immigrate to Pakistan at the time of partition. But when others go about passionately bashing Pakistan, or even China or US for that matter, I’m not enthu about simply painting them bad. I say you should rather see the circumstances that brought about the situation and try to understand the other party’s point of view also. I just can’t stir that passion, or rather blind faith, in me to believe that our guys are always right and it’s solely the fault of the other party. I end up being accused of being unpatriotic or insensitive or unaware of reality.

In sum, I just don’t feel the need to have a religious, community or country identity. I am ‘rootless’ so as to say. Is something wrong with me?

The party whip – Bane of Indian politics

On Saturday I attended the ‘Meet Your Candidates’ session organised by AGNI. Only Priya Dutt (Cong) and Mahesh Jethmalani (BJP) turned up. Jethmalani sure outshined Priya Dutt in answering questions and giving his perspective on issues. He had the advantage of being a lawyer, a good orator and being the newcomer without any baggage of past unfulfilled promises. Also, his party is not in power either in the State or Center. So he could go on laying the blame for everything on the Congress. But his stand on terror was dubious. While he went on harping about 26/11 as a failure he wasn’t able to give a convincing answer on state-sponsored terrorism in Kandhamal. And was totally silent about Gujarat. Priya Dutt wasn’t asked about her stand on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots accused either.

I found the meet flawed in one sense – it was focused totally on what the candidate promises to do. Now, this is fine in a democracy like USA where the elected reps are not bound by the party’s stand. In the US there is cross-voting on all important bills. But in India, if an elected rep takes a stand different from the party, he is punished. An Indian rep has to follow the party whip. So what confidence can I have in what either candidate promises? Finally, it will be the party stand that he/she will vote for. So what I should be considering is whether I consider the BJP or the Congress as the better party. My candidate’s suitability will matter only on certain issues like getting funds/ projects allocated to Mumbai city. Does this override the party factor? I don’t think so. In all probability I will end up voting for Priya Dutt or rather against Jethmalani. For me, he is the right man in the wrong party. And my decisions will continue to be governed by the ‘Party Factor’ until Indian democracy matures enough to make my elected rep reasonably independent of the party.

Reverse outsourcing?

The Obama administration’s recent moves to curb outsourcing of American jobs are just a temporary setback to the move towards a globalised world where time, distance and other barriers disappear and every person/ country does what he/she is best at. This is inevitable if the economic theory of “Comparative Advantage’ holds true. And actually it wouldn’t be too bad for the US either. It is better than others at a lot of things. India, for one, could outsource a lot of things to the US

For a start we could hire US investigators to probe crimes in India. Indian police would pass on all the evidence related to a case to the US team which would analyze it and report back with their recommendations. Next we could outsource implementation of law and order to them. They need not be present in India. They can monitor us from their base in the US using hi-tech satellite imagery, etc and perhaps also use UAVs and other sophisticated weapons to hunt criminals just like in the movie ‘Enemy of the State’.

If this works fine we can let them patrol our borders. They seem to have a better understanding of our principal adversaries – Pakistan and China – and will be able to anticipate their moves better.

Our judicial system is overburdened and there are no indications this will ease anytime soon. The next step could be to hive off our judicial system and let the US manage it.

The last step can be the Parliament. Our legislators are simply incapable of formulating and passing much-needed laws. The US seems to do it much better than us.

All this will free up our citizens to work in call centers and back offices of American companies. So it will be a win-win deal for both sides. I’m sure Obama won’t mind :D And it won’t be something new for us either. We have experienced it before.

Implemet Swiss banking in India?

The recent incident where the US Govt got UBS to agree to reveal details of some 52,000 accounts of US citizens has been taken by some as a ray of hope that someday India would also get details of Indian money in Swiss banks. If US can do it, so could we. However, I don’t subscribe to that optimism. I don’t think our government will do it. Afterall, the illegal money of all our politicians, businessmen, gangsters and godmen (the lines between them are becoming blurred by the day) lies in Swiss banks. So why would they shoot themselves in the foot?

And, if through public pressure that miracle does happen, they will have shifted most of that money to some other banking haven by then.

Instead of dreaming about what can’t be achieved why don’t we think practically and implement Swiss banking secrecy laws in India? The bottomline is – if you can’t stop or outlaw something, legalize it. If we do so, most of the black money won’t have to go out of India and we won’t lose precious foreign exchange. We may even see an influx of foreign exchange from the crooks of the world. This would go a long way towards alleviating poverty. What say?

Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't

The conduct of the Tamil Nadu lawyers in surprising. They of all people should know that a citizen of India has a right to freedom of speech. So why should they have objection to Subramaniam Swamy’s anti-LTTE statements? The LTTE has been banned by GOI as a terrorist organisation. The lawyers’ behaviour reeks of separatism and utter disregard for the constitution of India.

Normally the police is criticized for not taking action against ‘supposedly peaceful’ mobs. Now when police did take action, maybe more stringent than needed, we have a problem. It is a case of dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t. The police may be at fault in this case, but the lawyers certainly are. I don’t understand the SC’s stand. It seems to be siding with the legal fraternity. While it has asked the State Govt. to immediately remove the police station from court premises it has said nothing about the lawyers’ behaviour so far. We have seen this kind of partiality from the SC before. When it comes to RTI, corruption, etc in other arms of the state the SC is gung-ho about going after the culprits. But when it is a question of judges or even lawyers, the SC goes soft. This is hypocricy.

Astrologers and bullshit

This post was prompted by a DNA article which called astrologer R. Narayanan 'the Nostradamus' of the 21st century. It credits him with some fantastic predictions and quotes him saying Monday, Feb 23, 2009 will be 'deadly'. Like his ilk he proceeds to dish out generic predictions which have no timeline and are vaguely worded. Most times I have a good laugh at these things but sometimes it rankles me that people don't see through their hollow craft. Here is the article

"THIS MONDAY WILL BE DEADLY, WARNS ASTROLOGER

He is undoubtedly the 21st century Nostradamus. Having predicted the fall of MGR and the ascension of Manmohan Singh, 77-year-old, retired central government officer R Narayanan predicts a political upheaval in India, a volatile stock market and crash in real estate prices due to an unusual conjunction of six celestial bodies viz Sun, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus and Moon in Capricorn constellation on February 23.

"Because of this phenomenon, both good and evil will occur in the world. I foresee a major war in the Middle East involving Israel, Jordan and Iran. A war is also imminent between India and Pakistan. Political leaders in India will suffer health hazards and IT staffers working in the US, the UK and Middle East may return home," the numerologist told DNA from his first floor flat of a posh locality in Chennai.

He also predicts terror attacks in India and the West as well as natural calamities such as an earthquake occurring in the Himalayan region, Andaman and Nicobar islands, southern states of India, Afghanistan, Los Angeles, Ivory Coast, Africa, Japan and Jakarta.

"We come from a family of traditional astrologers with my ancestors being much sought after by the kings of Ramnad [Ramanathapuram]. My father was a teacher and he groomed Abdul Kalam by providing him shelter in our home. He didn't believe in astrology and always insisted on education. But by divine grace, I developed an extraordinary extra sensory perception following a head injury at the age of 24 and have since been able to foretell the future based on the science of astronomy," he explains.

The injury left Narayanan in a state of coma for close to 20 days in a Ramanathapuram hospital. His sojourn of premonitions based on extra sensory perceptions began then.

"After I regained consciousness, I foresaw a grave danger for the doctor who was supposed to conduct my surgery. I told the doctor about it. But the doctor dismissed it as hallucinations due to my injury. Unfortunately, the next morning I was informed that the doctor had collapsed due to a massive heart attack," he says.

Narayanan was soon discharged from hospital as he also predicted the fate of a fellow patient, who too succumbed to illness.

Narayanan has a huge corporate following. Many corporate entities seek his advice on names and logos."

I never heard of any of his predictions before. Which terror attacks had he predicted. Why doesn’t DNA give us details of when these predictions of his happened and when the actual events took place?

To me it is nothing but bullshit. If these people who claim to predict the future really have the capability to do so then let them make concrete predictions with specific timelines. Say like India and Pakistan will declare war on each other on XX-XX-XXXX and the war will last for XXX days. Or a X.X magnitude earthquake will strike so and so region on XX-XX-XXXX. Till that happens the media should not give them undue publicity.

I'm better off not believing in any religion

Is it a crime to try and help people understand their religion better? It sure seems so from the following article. And my guess is that the 'High Priests' of all religions would prefer the faithful to remain ignorant of the true teachings of their religion and blindly follow what they tell them

2 Afghans face death over translation of Quran

KABUL: No one knows who brought the book to the mosque, or at least no one dares say The pocket-size translation of the Quran

has already landed six men in prison in Afghanistan and left two of them begging judges to spare their lives. They're accused of modifying the Quran and their fate could be decided Sunday in court.

The trial illustrates what critics call the undue influence of hard-line clerics in Afghanistan, a major hurdle as the country tries to establish a lawful society amid war and militant violence.

The book appeared among gifts left for the cleric at a major Kabul mosque after Friday prayers in September 2007. It was a translation of the Quran into one of Afghanistan's languages, with a note giving permission to reprint the text as long as it was distributed for free.

Some of the men of the mosque said the book would be useful to Afghans who didn't know Arabic, so they took up a collection for printing. The mosque's cleric asked Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai, a longtime friend, to get the books printed.

But as some of the 1,000 copies made their way to conservative Muslim clerics in Kabul, whispers began, then an outcry.

Many clerics rejected the book because it did not include the original Arabic verses alongside the translation. It's a particularly sensitive detail for Muslims, who regard the Arabic Quran as words given directly by God. A translation is not considered a Quran itself, and a mistranslation could warp God's word.

The clerics said Zalmai, a stocky 54-year-old spokesman for the attorney general, was trying to anoint himself as a prophet. They said his book was trying to replace the Quran, not offer a simple translation. Translated editions of the Quran abound in Kabul markets, but they include Arabic verses.

The country's powerful Islamic council issued an edict condemning the book.

``In all the mosques in Afghanistan, all the mullahs said, 'Zalmai is an infidel. He should be killed,''' Zalmai recounted as he sat outside the chief judge's chambers waiting for a recent hearing.

Zalmai lost friends quickly. He was condemned by colleagues and even by others involved in the book's printing. A mob stoned his house one night, said his brother, Mahmood Ghaws.

Police arrested Zalmai as he was fleeing to Pakistan, along with three other men the government says were trying to help him escape. The publisher and the mosque's cleric, who signed a letter endorsing the book, were also jailed.

There is no law in Afghanistan prohibiting the translation of the Quran. But Zalmai is accused of violating Islamic Shariah law by modifying the Quran. The courts in Afghanistan, an Islamic state, are empowered to apply Shariah law when there are no applicable existing statutes.

And Afghanistan's court system appears to be stacked against those accused of religious crimes. Judges don't want to seem soft on potential heretics and lawyers don't want to be seen defending them, said Afzal Shurmach Nooristani, whose Afghan Legal Aid group is defending Zalmai.

The prosecutor wants the death penalty for Zalmai and the cleric, who have now spent more than a year in prison.

Sentences on religious infractions can be harsh. In January 2008, a court sentenced a journalism student to death for blasphemy for asking questions about women's rights under Islam. An appeals court reduced the sentence to 20 years in prison. His lawyers appealed again and the case is pending.

In 2006, an Afghan man was sentenced to death for converting to Christianity. He was later ruled insane and was given asylum in Italy. Islamic leaders and the parliament accused President Hamid Karzai of being a puppet for the West for letting him live.

Nooristani, who is also defending the journalism student, said he and his colleagues have received death threats.

``The mullahs in the mosques have said whoever defends an infidel is an infidel,'' Nooristani said.

The legal aid organization, which usually represents impoverished defendants, is defending Zalmai because no one else would take the case.

``We went to all the lawyers and they said, 'We can't help you because all the mullahs are against you. If we defend you, the mullahs will say that we should be killed.' We went six months without a lawyer,'' Zalmai said outside the judge's chambers.

The publisher was originally sentenced to five years in prison. Zalmai and the cleric were sentenced to 20, and now the prosecutor is demanding the death penalty for the two as a judge hears appeals.

Nearly everyone in court claims ignorance now. The mosque's mullah says he never read the book and that he was duped into signing the letter. The print shop owner says neither he nor any of his employees read the book, noting that it's illegal for them to read materials they publish.

Zalmai pleaded for forgiveness before a January hearing, saying he had assumed a stand-alone translation wasn't a problem.

``You can find these types of translations in Turkey, in Russia, in France, in Italy,'' he said.

When the chief judge later banged his gavel to silence shouting lawyers and nodded at Zalmai to explain himself, the defendant stood and chanted Quranic verses as proof that he was a devout Muslim who should be forgiven.

Shariah law is applied differently in Islamic states. Saudi Arabia claims the Quran as its constitution, while Malaysia has separate religious and secular courts.

But since there is no ultimate arbiter of religious questions in Afghanistan, judges must strike a balance between the country's laws and proclamations by clerics or the Islamic council, called the Ulema council.

Judges are ``so nervous about annoying the Ulema council and being criticized that they tend to push the Islamic cases aside and just defer to what others say,'' said John Dempsey, a legal expert with the U.S. Institute of Peace in Kabul.

Deferring to the council means that edicts issued by the group of clerics can influence rulings more than laws on the books or a judge's own interpretation of Shariah law, he said.

Judges have to be careful about whom they might anger with their rulings. In September, gunmen killed a top judge with Afghanistan's counter-narcotics court. Other judges have been gunned down as well.

Mahmood Ghaws said that even if his brother is found innocent, their family will never be treated the same.

``When I go out in the street, people don't say hello to me in the way they used to,'' he said. ``They don't ask after my family.''

All-out War with Pakistan is not feasible

Since 26/11 the hawks in India have been singing the war tune. Thankfully there seem to be some sensible people in power who recognize that, regardless of whether Pakistan co-operates in bringing the perpetrators to justice or not, a war with nuclear-armed Pakistan is not feasible.

We must face the reality that India vs Pakistan is not like Israel vs Palestine where one side can simple pummel the other. A war will mean huge losses for India as well. And we might not even come to a stage where we can win it given that US, China and others are likely to intervene, either diplomatically like in 1948, or even militarily. And we certainly don’t want Delhi and Mumbai to be nuked even if we manage to nuke the whole of Pakistan in return. This catastrophe is simply unacceptable.

Also, in the unlikely event that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are neutralized and we manage to defeat Pakistan what will we do? Many areas of Pakistan are not in its control today and we won’t be able to exercise control there either. Look at what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq. If the sole superpower of the world can’t handle occupation of a foreign country, guessing the plight of an Indian force occupying Pakistan is a no-brainer.

I’m not saying we should not do anything. There are other options we can and should be trying. Some of these are

1) Build pressure through international community – An all-out war on the diplomatic front is the 1^st and foremost thing we should do. We need to give the international community concrete proof of Pakistan’s complicity in 26/11 and other attacks. We should go hammer-and-tongs in all bilateral and multilateral for a about Pakistan’s role as the ‘terror’ capital of the world. It should not just be words but irrefutable proof which would stand in a court of law. I’m afraid the track record of our investigation agencies in this matter is very poor and it’s the biggest shortcoming we have

At the same time we should be careful to emphasize that it is rogue, but extremely powerful, elements in Pakistani’s military & political establishment that are responsible for the terror and not Pakistani citizens in general. It makes no sense to alienate all Pakistanis in general. Pakistani citizens are as much a victim of terror as we are and we should sympathize with them through all media available to us. Our aim should be to alienate the hardliners in Pakistan.

2) Spend more on defense. Revamp the intelligence network – Over the years we have neglected our defense capabilities. We must invest heavily in hi-tech surveillance equipment and fence the remaining border with Pakistan to prevent trespassing by militants. Ditto for our ‘open’ seas. Our defense forces need cutting-edge ammo, not sub-standard equipment dished out by our PSUs. There should be no compromise on quality as far as defense equipment is concerned.

Our intelligence network is in shables. Multiple agencies, no-cordination, the list of what's wrong can go on. An urgent revamp is necessary

3) Economic war – Cripple Pakistan’s economy by hitting their exports. Give subsidies in whatever form feasible (keeping in mind WTO and other obligations) or take steps to make Indian exporters who compete with Pakistan’s major exports more competitive. Shut down the routes taken by terror funding. Undoubtably, Swiss banks would be a major conduit.

4) Surgical strikes – While a full-scale invasion is not feasible surgical strikes can be tried. We know the co-ordinates on many of the terror camps. These strikes may provoke some border skirmishes from Pakistan and calls for peace from international community but I doubt a full-fledged attack from Pakistan. It is something worth thinking about.

5) Diplomatic ties – I would have no objection to breaking off diplomatic and other ties (cricket, films, actors, etc) if only to put across the point that enough is enough. Pakistan’s people also need to pressurize their govt. to act against terror.

6) Kashmir – We can keep shouting from the rooftops that Kashmir is an integral part of India and that it is a bilateral issues b/w India and Pakistan. But that is far from the truth. On what basis do we have a right to rule Kashmir? An accession treaty signed by a Maharaja? How can a democratic nation cite an instrument from an unelected ruler? Didn’t we have a duty to hold a referendum? And if a maharaja’s word is word of the people then why did we annex Hyderabad from the Nizam? He wanted his state to be part of Pakistan. It is sheer hypocrisy on our part. History cannot be undone now but I feel it s high time we took serious steps to convince Kashmiris that they are better off being part of India, hold a referendum in the Kashmir we occupy and show the world that we are right. If we fail in this the let Kashmir go. True, this would raise the spectre of separatism in TN, Punjab and elsewhere but that cannot be a reason for not trying to solve the Kashmir problem. It would be the best test to decide whether this motley group of states called India deserves to be called a nation.

7) Muslims in India – Atrocities by Hindutva forces (RSS, VHP and their affiliates) only acts as fuel to stoke passions against India across the border. We must take tough action against these elements. And also against Muslim organisations like SIMI which mislead Muslims and turn them into terrorists. This vicious cycle of we kill you and you kill us needs to be stopped somewhere.

Even if we take action on a few of these fronts we may reap rich rewards.

Indisciplined Indians

The other day I was surfing channels when I came across an interview of SRK. He was talking about what ails our society in general, what things we need to improve on. Among these were a few acts of indiscipline which we seem to revel in.

Have you ever seen Indians make a straight line unless ordered to do so? Everywhere you see double and triple lines. We also seem to take pride in breaking lines.

We keep our houses clean but throw anything and everything in public space as if it’s a dustbin. Mindlessly we spit on the road, on other people as well. Someone even spit paan in my lift. Yuck!!!

And our road manners are absolutely fantastic. We don’t mind going into a one-way road and justify it by saying there is no traffic from the other side so it is acceptable. We park anywhere we want. If someone has to get out of the car we stop it in the middle of the road without giving a damn about the person behind us. Autos and bikes change lanes at will without a worry in the world and the poor car drivers have to look out for them. As pedestrians we think the road belongs to us. I have seen people stopping traffic because they want to cross and have no patience to wait their turn.

We don’t mind being late for meetings. We joke that the meeting is at XX.XX IST which means it’s not sacrosanct. Deadlines don’t scare us. We think we can always get them extended. Well, the joke is on us.

We do all this without any guilt, without realizing it is wrong. Has it become ingrained in our collective psyche?

Are we a nation?

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka fight over the waters of the Cauvery, Maharashtra and Karnataka have a border dispute, there is violence in Mumbai against non-Maharashtrians (specifically North Indians) & violent protests in Bihar against the violence in Mumbai, Tamil MPs threaten to quit if Indian Govt does not ‘warn’ Sri Lanka against atrocities on Sri Lankan Tamils, terror reigns in Kashmir & the North-east in the name of the ‘struggle for independence’, the list can go on.

I wonder whether India deserves to be called a country. Each state has a different language, a different culture and in some cases they loathe each other. Many South Indians (rightly?) refuse to speak Hindi, which they say has been imposed upon them. People of many other states also do not readily accept Hindi as the ‘national’ language. So as a way to get around the language problem we use English, a foreign language, to communicate. In elections regional parties get a significant chunk of the vote, which means regional issues matter a lot. All states want job reservations for ‘locals’. And I see an increasing incidence of regionalism in the last few years.

A nation has something which binds it together – a common culture, religion, ethnic composition, a sense of brotherhood, etc. Yes, there will be some people who will still practice regionalism but as long as they are a minority kept in check the nation is safe. But from what I see the only thing that binds India together is being under British rule. What commonality did the British rule give us? A common administrative system & a common hatred of British rule. A majority of Indians practice Hinduism but I see a vast diversity in the way they practice it so I don’t see it as a glue 2hich can bind this nation we call India. The glue which the British gave us may wear off soon and we must find something else.

We used to proudly say we are a country with unity in diversity. But we have to ask ourselves whether this diversity is too diverse for us to call ourselves a nation. Is regionalism slowly triumphing over nationalism?

India – a good neighbour?

We have fought wars with Pakistan and China and count them among ‘enemy’ countries. Bangladesh, which we helped liberate, doesn’t trust us. Neither do Sri Lanka and Nepal. Tiny Bhutan is the only neighbour we have good relations with. Is there something wrong with India’s foreign policy or are we so unfortunate to have troublesome neighbours who won’t behave no matter how hard we try?

Ban the Bajrang Dal

The recent violence in Orissa is just one more instance of the utter disdain the Bajrang Dal has for the law. Basically over the last few years the Bajrang Dal has been waiting for excuses to flex its muscles and terrorize the minorities into submission. I have no doubt that the Bajrang Dal cadres were the rioters’ ‘foot-soldiers’ during the Gujarat 2002.

The pattern is clear. One unfortunate event for which members of the minority community may or may not be responsible occurs, the Hindutva biggies (RSS and BJP) give the go ahead and Bajrang Dal swings into action, while the (BJP/allied) govt fiddles. Protests are raised in other parts of the country but the govt takes its own time to make things normal. In the meantime the minorities have been shown their place. This is the reason why I will never vote for BJP despite the fact that BJP/NDA has better administrative abilities than UPA and that the UPA is also no saint when it comes to communalism. I admire the progress Narendra Modi has brought to Gujarat but still loathe him from the bottom of my heart for the genocide in Gujarat in 2002. I value communal harmony more than economic betterment.

Recently I saw a TV debate where someone from the Bajrang Dal was making a pathetic attempt to justify the Orissa massacre by blaming the Christians. His justification was the Christians were forcibly converting people in Kandhmal by giving money and false promises. But the shocker came when I overheard a senior, respected lawyer I personally know (I won’t name him) say the same thing (Recently when Tatas decided to relocate Nano to Gujarat he was all praise for Narendra Modi and said ‘Modi 5-6 musalmanon ko maarega magar Gujarat ka progress karega’). I was tempted to tell him how flawed his logic is but stopped short as he had not addressed me. I felt like screaming out that if one wrong justifies another then even the recent bomb blasts are justified. I have no doubt many of those who took part in them have at some time been wronged against, most probably by the Bajrang Dal and its ilk. Why then do you arrest those who planted the bombs and let those who raped and killed in Kandhmal go scot-free?????????

This brings me to the question – is the Bajrang Dal’s accusation of forcible conversions correct? I can refute their allegations on 2 counts. Firstly if you are a believer, no one and nothing can coerce you to change your faith. Not money. Not false promises. The only reason why conversions take place is because the person does not believe in his original religion. So why do Hindus convert? I blame the Hindu caste system for that. If I am treated badly in my religion and my intrinsic belief in the religion is not strong I will definitely convert. I would have no second thoughts about that. Neither did millions of Dalits when Baba Ambedkar showed them the way to Buddhism. So I think the conversions are justified. If Bajrang Dal wants to stop conversion of Hindus to other religions they must lobby to do away with the caste system.

The other reason I feel Bajrang Dal has no locus standi in the Orissa matter is that those who converted are tribals and not Hindus. Though proponents of Hindutva and even our censuses include tribals in Hindus it is factually incorrect. Tribals do not worship Rama or Krishna. Nor do they share other beliefs of Hindus. The are nature worhippers. They have their own customs, traditions, way of life and religion. Hinduism is not some all-encompassing religion which can be defined to include anyone who does not practice one of the major religions of the world (Islam, Christianlity, Jewism, Buddhirsm, etc)

Hence I feel that Bajrang Dal and all such other organisations (whichever ideology they profess) need to be banned outright. Such organisations are a potent threat to India if they are allowed to thrive. There must be justice for all. Stop all people who spread hatred. Selective justice will not do. Remember that victims create more victims. More Bajrang Dal atrocities will create more Muslim terrorists and the actions of these terrorists will drive more Hindus towards the Bajrang Dal.

To beat your enemy, know your enemy

Some time back Manmohan Singh said that the biggest threat to India’s security is from within not without. And how right he was!!! In the last 1-2 months India has suffered serial bomb blasts by Islamic terrorists and assaults on police by the Naxalites. And we hear nothing but meaningless statements by our politicians about who was behind it (that a no-brainer) and that we will deal with it firmly. But none has the answer to the question - how do they plan to deal with these faceless enemies?

To deal with any enemy you have to understand him. Who is he? Why is he against you? What does he really hope to achieve by hurting you? What gives him strength? What are his weaknesses? Who are his allies and supporters and why are they on his side?

I doubt our government has given a thought to all this. It has only one way of dealing with terrorists and naxalites - our security forces. But only use of force is a counterproductive strategy. And the reason is that the enemy comprises several elements. You must deal with each of them in a different manner. And force must be used only on a select few. I would say the enemy comprises 3 elements - people who have a genuine grievance against you, those who are there for the money and the power and those who really really believe in the ‘cause’ and will stop at nothing to get at you.

1) Those who have some grievance against you (the ‘cause’ is only a mask) – These comprise the majority of your enemy. Maybe you took their land away. Or your security forces killed their near and dear ones. Or looked the other way when goons like Narendra Modi did so. Or maybe they think you discriminate against them in some way or other. Whatever the reason may be the way to tackle them is to reach out to them and try to redress their grievance (whether real or imaginary). Deal firmly with the landlords who exploit the landless. Put the rioters behind bars. Sensitize your security forces to deal with such issues. And more importantly see to it that such events do not happen again. It will ensure more people don’t become terrorists/ naxalites. If you don’t do this more and more people will continue to turn to terrorism. You eliminate a 100. Tomorrow there will be a 1000 more. Also try to see to it that the hardliners don’t get a platform to espouse their cause.

One thing that must be done urgently is to free the security apparatus from the clutches of politicians. This would be the single biggest step towards solving the problem.

2) The mercenaries – They are there for the money. They have nothing else to earn a living. They start with the criminal world and progress into terrorism. They may also sympathize with the ‘cause’. So for them it serves 2 ends. To take care of these people eat away at the incentive they have. Have tough punishments for them in place. Try to improve the employment opportunities and social environment so that lesser people turn into criminals.

3) Those who really believe in the cause – You can’t do much about this type. They have been brainwashed. For them killing you is their only aim in life. The way to deal with them is to isolate them. Wean away the others in their group (types 1 & 2). And when you get them you will have to put them away for good.

We need a far-sighted multi-pronged strategy to tackle this monster that confronts us today.

Archaic tax laws

India’s tax regime seems to be stuck in a time warp. The more the government tries to reform it the more complicated it becomes and the outcome leaves a lot to be desired. There are a multitude of exemptions with their corresponding pre-conditions which provide enough loopholes to enable unscrupulous people to take advantage of them. Exemptions are meant to protect the poor/ weak whether they are individuals or companies or to encourage activities which are desirable. But in most cases the exemptions are availed either by the wrong people or they continue well beyond their intended life. Here are some examples of these instances

Charitable institutions
A noble thought indeed. Why should charitable institutions which are meant to serve society at large be made to pay tax? Afterall they are non-profit making organisations. Whatever money they make is given back to society. Seems fair enough. But look at the kind of organisations claiming to be ‘charitable’. I was amused to read the other day that BCCI is a charitable organisation. It made a profit of hundred of crores of rupees from the IPL. What charity has it done? And Mr Lalit Modi has the audacity to claim they should not be taxed as all the money will be distributed to the state associations. What convoluted logic!!! By that logic companies also should not be taxed as they distribute the profits to shareholders :D

Agriculture
Agricultural income is exempt from tax. It does not matter whether the farmer has one acre of land from which he ekes out a hand-to-mouth existence, and would fall in the exemption limits, or he has hundreds of acres around which he drives a Merc. There is absolutely no reason why a large farmer should not be made to pay tax yet no politician today has the guts to tax the big farmers simply because they would lose votes.

Income tax holiday
Industries got tax breaks in their initial years which is understandable. What is not acceptable is that even after they have grown into some of India’s largest and most profitable companies they clamour for the tax breaks to be continued. An example is IT companies. Their attitude is akin to the reservation policy. One you get it you don’t want to lose it. Incidentally they are at the first to say there should be no reservations in private sector.

DTAA
The big daddy of all tax anomalies. While the objective is right the implementation is totally flawed. Alongwith the foreign investors who ‘should’ be given tax breaks to invest in India we have many Indians taking advantage of these provisions. Firstly, there are Indian corporates who set up subsidiaries in tax havens like Mauritius and transfer money there. Then these subsidiaries invest in India and it is called FDI!!!! Then there are our politicians and businessmen who bring back their ill-gotten black money to India through a long chain of transactions involving Swiss banks and other crooks of the world. Then they either earn tax-free profits or sell their investments to the Indian promoters (read themselves) at a loss. And behold. The money is now white in the hands of the Indian promoter.

These are just a few instances. But look at these and you know why these loopholes won’t go away. Their beneficiaries are sitting right there in parliament

Truly a great opposition

The opposition parties in India are so predictable. They will criticize each and every decision taken by the govt. Take for instance the recent price hike in petro-products. Opposition parties wasted no time in calling press conferences to show their ‘sympathy’ for the common man who will be ‘unnecessarily’ burdened with the hike which is a result of failure of the govt!!!!! Sadly, they will win votes for this when infact they should be penalized for waste of petro-products in calling those press conferences. Think of how much energy could have been saved. The BJP stalwarts in Delhi and Indore went one step further. They protested on horseback and bullock-carts. I felt so sorry for those poor animals when I saw them on TV burdened with the weight of more people than they can carry. Where was PETA?

Coming to the current instance I do not see any way out for the central govt. other than raising prices. It reduced central taxes also. It is the state govts who now levy a majority of the tax on petro-products. And most of them didn’t reduce taxes. Ms Mayawati even went to the extent of holding a press conference to announce that she wouldn’t lower taxes. And reiterated that the centre was solely to blame. What irks me is that no one offered any alternate way out. If you don’t like something offer an alternative course of action. Don’t jus criticize.

Another instance is the 123 agreement. We are faced with a huge shortage of power which is only going to worsen going forward. Nuclear power can only add trickles to the flood we are in need of but atleast it will help.

If this is going to remain the state of affairs then I do not see much hope for our country. Ofcourse we will prosper despite our politicians but I think the rich will become richer and the poor will remain where they are.