That's all, Your Honour! : Nov.7-13

1. Now, when you hear all over the TV that the US President has signed deals worth $10billion with Indian companies and government, you would instantly expect them to show what the actual deals were, no? However, irrelevant trivia, directionless discussions dominated the entire 3 day trip. Thankfully, print media did give us details about these deals, and quite frankly it was an incredibly proud moment for many folks - The President of US coming to India to secure jobs for people of his country :). Obama not mentioning Pakistan at the Taj drew some flak in the country. Thankfully, the next day in a town hall meeting with the students - a girl asked him how come the US helps Pak so much despite knowing of its support to Pakistan (the electronic media went gaga over this question too, but that's for a later day!). And then Obama started a long winded answer, where most of us did now understand where he started and where he ended (this was the case with most of his answers - dull, dreary, long, no direction) ! The substantial part of the answer being this - It is a strategically important country in the region. And is also a victim of its own terrorism. (same old stuff). And then says a stable Pak is in the interest of India. Well agreed, but shouldn't Pak first realise a stable Pak is in the interest of Pak! And therefore work towards it? Why is this India's responsibility?

And the next day, while addressing the joint session of Parliament, Obama says they would like to see India as a permanent member in an expanded UN Security Council. And then again our TV media went gaga - only realising later that this came along with some caveats. This article in Hindu analyses this announcement correctly - India is expected to support US in places like Iran; play a larger role in Mynammar etc. Though the announcement is significant - there is really nothing substantial about it. Ofcourse, for the TV media - it is the significance that matters, not the substance :D. Ohh, then he also asks Pak to take steps to bring the planners of 26/11 attacks to Justice! For most of the time, all they cared were about how Michelle Obama "wowed" the nation with her dances (with children). Anyways, our takeaway from this trip is the relaxation of further sanctions imposed on us - now there will be much more freer transfer of high-end technology. Again, what an incredibly proud moment for so many Indians - US President coming to India to secure jobs for his citizens :).

2. Within an hour of Obama leaving the country, Ashok Chavan's resignation as the CM of Maharashtra, because of his involvement in the Adarsh Society Housing Scam, was "accepted" by Sonia Gandhi. He then went and submitted it to the Governor. Finding a replacement took time, because almost all leaders were involved in this! Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde were also involved - but incidentally, they will get to stay as Union Ministers. Another Union Minister, Prithviraj Chavan was chosen as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Turns out, he also owns a flat elsewhere, meant for weaker sections of the society! Either way, the 4th CM in 5 years and only time will tell if he will complete his term! Chance pe Dance - NCP also changed its deputy CM ! Ajit Pawar, cousin of Hon. Shri. Sharad Pawar was "elected" as the Deputy CM unseating Chagan Bhujbal !

3. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) submitted his report on the 2G scam to the President. And he said the Union Minister, Shri A.Raja has caused the exchequer a loss of Rs. 1,76,000 crores through his decisions! To give you a perspective of this number - the defence budget of India last year was Rs. 1,40,000 crores !! Raja and his party DMK, however insist he has done no wrong - saying he just followed the 1999 policy and rates! You see, here's where people don't understand stuff. Why would anyone in their right mind use the 1999 rates in 2008 too?? Why? Just why?? More importantly, who? (and "telecom firms" is not the answer we are looking for. we want names of those who benefitted). Guess what - Raja even defied the PM's orders on this. Yes, you read it right - he defied the Prime Minister and yet he gets to keep his job! In the meanwhile, Jayalalitha jumps into the fray and offers her support to the UPA if Raja is sacked - for which the Prime Minister responds by saying it is for the "high command" of the Congress to take note of this! Strange, given that one would assume the Prime Minister of the country would also be part of the "high command"! That's all, your honour!

అదన్నమాట!: నవంబర్ 7-13

హైదరాబాద్ లో అసెంబ్లీ కి 2 చదరపు కిలోమీటర్ల విస్తీరణం లో ఎవ్వరు ధర్నాలు చెయ్యకూడదు. అటువంటిది, మొన్న సాక్షాతూ ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారే కాంగ్రెస్స్ పార్టి నిర్వహించిన ధర్నా లో పాల్గునారు. ఇంతకి ఈ ధర్నా సంగతి ఏంటి ? రాష్ట్రీయ స్వయం సేవక్ సంఘ్ మాజీ అధ్యక్షుడు సుదర్శన్ సోనియా గండి గారిని ఏవో మాటలు అన్నారు అంట ! రాజీవ్ గాంధి ని ఇందిరా గాంధి ని చంపించింది సోనియా గాంధి అని అన్నట్టు సమాచారం. అలా అని ఉంటె, తీవ్రంగా ఖండించాల్సిన విషయమే. కాని, ఇలా సాక్షాతూ ముఖ్య మంత్రి మరియు మిగతా మంత్రులు, ఇతర నాయకులు, ఇలా రూల్స్ ని బ్రేక్ చేసి మరి సోనియా గాంధికి వారి విధ్యేట మళ్ళి చాటుకునే అంత అవసరం ఏమి వచ్చింది అండి? రాష్ట్రానికి ఎన్నో అన్యాయాలు జరిగినప్పుడు, సదరు ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారు ధర్నాలకు దిగుతార అండి?

ఇది ఇలా ఉండగా, tv9 వారు తెదపా లో చీలిక కోసం తెగ ప్రయత్నాలు జరుగుతున్నాయి అని, ఒక అత్యద్భుతమైన కల్పిత కథ ఒక ప్రసారం చేసింది. తల తోక లేని ఈ కథ ని అసలు ఎవరు చెప్తే ప్రసారం చేసారో, నయంగా tv9 మనకి చెప్పాలి, కాని న్యాయంగా వ్యవహరిస్తే, అదీ tv9 ఎందుకు అవుతుంది లెండి :D

Trysts with MSM - Part 11

MSM stands for Main Stream Media.

Can't help but note these. National Bureau Chief of IBN, Bhupendra Chaube tweets this on Nov. 6th

Air force one has arrived, excitement as if a bridegroom has come for a wedding

Upon multiple people questioning him about this undue hype, he replies saying this:

@KanchanGupta i was being sarcastic, a dig at media's hype

So now, one would expect more sensible tweets to come from him, in the following days. Sample some of them over the course of the next 3 days :

PM obama dinner menu : chingara jammu prawns, fish and green-chilly lamb, kakori kababs, mughlai chicken, gobi, dal dampukht, rice pulao

Highlights of obama's address: several mps including mani shankar,anu tandon,jyoti mirdha left standing as parliaments central hall was full

Highlights of obama's addres:10 trinamool cong mps sat on the same bench,which was actually meant for 5.Space created for mamataa there only (asked him how where each MP sat is a highlight of the address - no answer!)

As obama came in, while rahul was doing namaste to him, obama extended his hand shake,had shared dinner table too with him last night at PMs

Gursharan kaur and sonia gandhi were wearing a similar colour saree, a sort of red colour (most important news, hence the emphasis by me :D)

A raja, sitting just before rahul G, tried his best to catch his eye, rahul didn't look towards him even once,upa still can't sack raja

There are some more like this. Ofcourse, he has also tweeted a couple of times of some substantial issues but these much more important news items outnumbered them. And Bhupendra Chaube was not alone in this. Almost all channels went over the top (even that description doesn't capture the true picture of the depths to which they plunged) during the period of this visit. Believe it or not, no other news was covered for even like 5 minutes !! They dedicated only about a min every now and then, for "other news" in the country. Well, what else would you expect if the National Bureau Chief of a major channel talks about the colour of the sarees of Sonia Gandhi and the PM's wife.

PS: Bhupendra Chaube also had this to say:

Ironical that obama is wooing captains of an india that's shining to shore up his prospects back home, while here in india, rahul Gandhi continues to reach out to an india that's still in darkness. So r we really a country that's shining? Or have we simply closed Our eyes to an india that's also hoping for someone to lift it from its deprivation. What a day to question the idea of india! Good night

I asked him:

@bhupendrachaube why do you always have to bring in that "two Indias" crap? Really, India is so simple that you can just classify in 2 ways?

He says: @ssudhirkumar imp to remind ourselves of challenges bac home too

I ask back - @bhupendrachaube but why do u get reminded of it only when jobs get created? Why not celebrate that fact?

For which he replies - @ssudhirkumar celebrate successes for sure, but don't turn a blind eye to challenges back home, honeywell, GE wooing us is one side of story

Further questions on how he keeps reiterating the same point, and make the tax paying citizenry look like some kind of cheap souls, did not result in any answers. Also, asked him to list out 3 things that changed as a result of Rahul Gandhi "reaching out" to an India that's "still in darkness" - no answer.

That's all, Your Honour! : Oct.31-Nov.5

The Adarsh scam controversy has been postponed atleast by a week (the Obama visit has taken over the news cycle), while all main involved politicians were busy targetting each other. The CWG scam details are also not to be heard. Apparently they have also been postponed to next week. AICC "elected" Sonia Gandhi and she skipped any mention to all the corruption charges hanging around the party's and the government's neck. Apparently those issues might get addressed later this month. Sachin Tendulkar has also postponed his 50th test century to next week (to be hit in Hyderabad, whilst fans like us watch him do that :) ).

Keeping all this in mind, let's postpone our weekly updates for this week too, your honour :).

అదన్నమాట!: అక్టోబర్ 31 - నవంబర్ 5

1969 - 1970 అప్పుడు ఎలా ఉందొ తెలిదు కాని, ఈ సారి రాష్ట్ర అవతరణ దినోత్సవాలు జరిగిన వాతారణం చూస్తుంటే, ముందు ఎప్పుడు ఇంత వ్యతిరేకత తో జరిగి ఉండవు అని అనిపించింది ! శ్రీమాన్ కేసీఆర్ గారు అయితే, విషం కక్కుతూనే ఉన్నారు. ఉస్మానియా విద్యార్ధులు, మేమేం తక్కువ తినలేదు అని విధ్వంసం కి దిగారు. వరంగల్ లో ఏకంగా తెలంగాణా తల్లి విగ్రహాన్ని ఆవిష్కరించారు అంట! ఎందరో మహానుభావులు కృషి చేస్తే, ఒక రాష్ట్రం గా మనం అవతరించాము. కలిసి ఉన్ననాల్లు ఆయినా, సరిగ్గా వ్యవహరించి, వాళ్ళ కష్టాన్ని, త్యాగాన్ని గుర్తించచ్చు కద? కాని, ఇలాంటి మంచి ఆలోచనలు ఇలాంటి చెత్త నాయకులకి ఎలా వస్తాయి లెండి ! వచ్చే ఏడాది నవంబర్ 1st ఎలా ఉంటుందో, ఏమిటో..

"Rehabilitation" Packages...

The Nov.26, 2008 attacks on Mumbai are believed to be the worst terror attack on India (am not sure how media classifies terror attacks as bad, worse etc, but let's leave that discussion for another day). When Shivraj Patil was the Home Minister of India, there were multiple terror attacks in various parts of the country. In any other country, he would have been sacked long back, but it took a 26/11 to happen for him to "resign". It took a trip to the Taj Hotel along with Ram Gopal Varma for the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh to resign (funny isn't it - he doesn't get to resign for glaring failures of 26/11 but has to resign for this cheap

stunt).

Now, one would assume the political careers of these two "leaders" has been finished. Also, one would assume that even if they were to bounce back, it will take a veryy long time. Here's where the central government stumps you. Within one year - yes, within one year - Vilasrao Deshmukh is made a Union Cabinet Minister (that too for Industries!) and a little later than one year, Shivraj Patil was appointed as the Governor of Punjab - an excellent rehabilitation package for ensuring that innocent people of this country died.

Recently, we are hearing about this Adarsh scam - the Chief Minister of Maharashtra is involved in this too, and is apparently on his way out. While the media goes gaga over ensuring a "corrupt" leader losing his post, aren't the above two examples enough to show that it is just a matter of time before Ashok Chavan is "rehabilitated" too ? What then is the point in gloating over, if he quits the post? Only those at the helm of affairs in the country are responsible for so blatantly insulting public memory - and yet no one dares to question their actions!

That's all, your honour! : Oct. 24-30

1. Even before we recover from one scam, another one crops up. Like noted caroonist Sudhir Tailang said today - "VVIPS seem to be looting the nation as if there's no tomorrow !". Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan offered to resign in wake of the latest controversy. Army land, on which a 6 storeyd building meant for the widows of Kargil war martyrs, was inexplicably transferred to a civilian housing society - Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society. Now, further more, once this transfer happened, the 6 storeyed building now becomes a 31 storeyed building ! Needless to say, allotments of apartments have been made to relatives of politicians, bureaucrats - and more shocking to three Chiefs of the Army ! While one of them, Gen. N.C.Vij has now surrendered the flat alloted to him, the other two have not yet responded. An RTI application filed revealed that many concessions for the apartments were sought under the pretext that this was meant for Kargil war heroes and martyrs. Also, turns out that Ashok Chavan's mother in law, along with two other relatives, owns a flat in this complex! The murk gets dirtier and dirtier too. Union Ministers seem to be involved, not to mention most state ministers seem to be involved in easily one of the most shameful scams. In a most unusual manner of defense, Ashok Chavan asks what is the problem if "distant relatives" of his get flats!

2. Finally the umpteenth time, the "nataka" in Karnataka seems to have come to an end. The thrid Judge, who was asked to deliver the final judgement agreed with the Speaker's decision to disqualify the 11 BJP MLA's before the vote of confidence. The court is yet to hear the case of the 5 Independent MLA's who have associated themselves with BJP. Even if that judgement goes against he Speaker, the government still has the numbers to survive. Meanwhile, the Income Tax department, has raided some BJP MLA's homes and offices and also some close people of the Reddy brothers (no prizes for guessing who ordered these raids!). Anyways, given that this whole sordid drama has come to an end (atleast it seems so!), it is time for BJP to get back to governance and ensure it doesn't lose it's hold on the sole southern state it is in power.

3. A couple of weeks back, the Central government has appointed interlocutors to talk to all sections of Jammu & Kashmir. Now, the guy heading this group said something like Pakistan's view must also be taken. Also, he asked the students of some university to prepare a road map for Azadi. Now, when political parties got to criticize them, Congress party asks us not to criticize them in "national interest"! Remember that time, when Manish Tewari said that criticizing Rajiv was unpatriotic? Well, seems like we now have new definitions for patriotism and national interest, your honour!

అదన్నమాట! : అక్టోబర్ 24-30

హైదరాబాద్ వాసులకి తెలుగు లలిత కళా తోరణం సుపరిచితమే. ఎన్టీఆర్ కట్టించారు. విశాలమైన ప్రాంగణం లో వివిధ ప్రోగ్రామ్స్ అక్కడ జరుగుతూ ఉంటాయి. మన కలల్ల్ని ప్రోత్శాహించే మంచి వేదిక. గౌరవనీయులు శ్రీమాన్ టి. సుబ్బిరమరేద్ది గారికి ఒక వినూత్నమైన ఆలోచన వచ్చింది ! అసలు ఈ ప్రాగణం పేరులో తెలుగు ఎందుకు ఉండాలి ? దాని బదులు గా, శ్రీమాన్ రాజీవ్ గాంధి గారి పేరు జోడిస్తే కాని, దీనికి సార్ధకత లేదు అని నిశ్చయించారు. లలిత కల తోరణం ని తన డబ్బుల తో కొత్త రూపం ఇచి, దానికి రాజీవ్ లలిత కళా తోరణం అని నామకరణం చేస్తునట్టు ప్రకటించారు. రాష్ట్ర ప్రభుత్వం కూడా సమ్మతించింది . అయితే, తీవ్రమైన వ్యతిరేకత ఎదురు అవ్వడం తో, సదరు పెద్ద మనుషులు కరుణించి, రాజీవ్ తెలుగు లలిత కల తోరణం అని నామకరణం చేసారు ! ఇంకా వ్యతిరేకత ఆగకపోవడం తో, రాజీవ్ పేరుని కూడా తొలగిస్తునట్టు సమాచారం !

మాకు చరిత్ర చెప్పే మాస్టారు ఒక సారి ఇలా అన్నారు - చరిత్ర ని గౌరవించకపోతే, నువ్వు చరిత్ర హీనుడవి అయ్యిపోతావు ! ఈ రాష్ట్ర చరిత్ర లో ఎందరోమహానుభావులు , భాష కోసం శ్రమించిన పూజ్యులు ఎంతో మంది ఉన్నారు. కళల అభివృధి కోసం కష్టపడిన కళాకారులు చాలా మంది ఉన్నారు. వీరందరినీ విస్మరించి, ఇప్పటికే మన రాష్ట్రం కోసం చెప్పుకోదగ్గ పని ఏమి చెయ్యని శ్రీమాన్ రాజీవ్ గాంధి గారి పేరుని , తమ స్వామీ భక్తీ చాటు కోవడానికి జరుగుతున్న ఈ ప్రయత్నం అత్యంత గర్హనీయం. కాని, మన నేతలు ఎప్పటికీ నేర్చుకోరు - వాళ్ళ భక్తీ ని ఎలా ఎలా ప్రదర్శించాలో ఆలోచిస్తూనే ఉంటారు ! అదన్నమాట!

“The Harm Principle”

First - some must read links that counter Arundhati Roy's arguments

By Faking News - http://blog.fakingnews.com/2010/10/an-open-letter-to-arundhati-roy/

By Great Bong - http://greatbong.net/2008/12/16/the-algebra-of-infinite-fundamentalism/
By Offstumped - http://www.dailypioneer.com/292729/Intellectually-dishonest.html
By Kanchan Gupta - http://kanchangupta.blogspot.com/2010/10/privilege-of-being-arundhati-roy.html

This post however is not about Arundhati Roy and her rants/ramblings/literature/rhetoric etc. The above 4 posts sum up the feelings of "millions" of people aptly (given that "millions" is a word that can be used freely, am taking that liberty too!).

Given her penchant to associate herself with "movements" that are "anti-India", her joining the chorus of "azaadi" seekers came as no surprise/shock to anybody. However, the media's attempts to view her comments in isolation and not as a continuation of her past rhetoric on other violent agitations in the country is very disturbing. The media has once again been succesfull in trivialising this entire issue and also in diverting it from the madness of Arundhati Roy. TV media had debates on whether the debate over Arundhati was an over-reaction! CNN-IBN's Sagarika Ghose went ahead and classified Arundhati's utterances as "creative freedom" that are being curbed by the state! Ofcourse, when asked by what stretch of imagination do her remarks constitute "creative freedom", we get no answer!

And then we have this editorial by The Hindu. Sample this line (emphasis mine):

"In his classic defence of free speech, On Liberty, John Stuart Mill laid down what is known as the 'harm principle.' It postulates that the only justification for silencing a person against his will is to prevent him from causing harm to others."

Small deviation - The emphasised line is common sense. Calling it "harm principle" to make it sound theoritically uplifting and supremely intellectual sounds somewhat funny.

Anyways, let's come back to the emphasis. So The Hindu quotes some author, who says a person can be silenced if his/her utterances are causing harm to others. Now, let's understand this statement in the context of A.Roy's statements. She has been a strong vocal supporter (CNN-IBN has a list of some her statements) of the Maoists - the same guys who go about blasting school buildings, government offices, railway tracks and also occasionally kill policemen. In my, and surely yours, dictionary, these constitute "harm". Now, are we to believe that these thugs are not emboldened by the support receieved by the likes of Arundhati Roy? By so strongly advocating their murderous cause, isn't Arundhati Roy causing "harm" to the civil society? Is it so unreasonable to assume that by her constant complaints against the "Indian Democracy", she is not causing "harm" to the system? By openly encouraging the stone pelters in Kashmir, she is not causing "harm"? In her fetish to write prose, she talks about "graves of Dalit Jawans", as if the other graves are of less significance. Is this not causing "harm" to the families of those who sacrificied their lives for this country? If not, what would you classify as "harm", Mr. N.Ram? If yes, should Arundhati Roy be "silenced", Mr. N.Ram ?

I do not wish to get into your bashing of the BJP and quoting of non-existence of some laws in certain countries (am quite used to both these styles of yours, and hence don't see a need to seek a clarification from you).

My next grouse is the quality of letters you published in your news paper today. Incidentally, none of them criticize your editorial. Most of them glorify Arundhati Roy. Those which don't are way too mild in their criticsim (if it can be called that). Are we to assume that your newspaper has recieved no sane criticism of either Roy or your editorial? Or have they not been published because they might cause "harm" to the newspaper?

Particularly, the 8th letter in this link is very disturbing. The writer (who is from Hyderabad) compares the beauty of Srinagar's natural wonders in the 1950's to the dirtiness surrounding them now, and reaches a conclusion that this "indifference" by the Indian state is the reason for the anger. Seriously Mr. N.Ram - that logic is what you found worth publishing in the newspaper? Shall I now try and compare Hyderabad of the 1950's to the Hyderabad of now, rue about the "indifference" and throw stones on the secretariat? Which Indian city has retained it's beauty from the 1950's? So, now all metros should start agitations I guess.

Freedom of Speech - the one that you so passionately espouse - is complete only when you publish alternate views and clarify your ambivalent stands. Else, it will "harm" the reputation of your newspaper.

Sincerely,

That's all, Your Honour! :Oct. 17-23

1. Post that "nataka in Karnataka" episode last week, some sort of sense was expected to be restored this week. However, the High Court bench, which was supposed to decide on the disqualification of the MLA's delivered a split verdict. While the Chief Justice agreed with the actions of Speaker, the second Judge did not. The matter thus posted to another Judge, who after listening to arguments for 2 days, has reserved the verdict! So the wait continues. Not to lose any opportunity during this wait, the rival camps have begun to make sure their numbers stay intact. However, 2 MLA's of the Congress resigned their seats, causing a turmoil in the party. The opposition's strength has now been reduced to 98 (BJP's strength is now at 106). The suspense will continue till the High Court delivers the judgement. If it is in favour of the Speaker, a mini-election is what we will witness given that about 18 seats will have to go for by-polls in six months. If it is not in favour of the Speaker, a drama in the Assembly is what we will witness. Either way, a thrilling drama awaits us in Karnataka. In the other words, the Nataka has not yet ended!

2. If events in this week are any indication, slowly, but surely, we are going to witness the acquital of all those involved in the Corruption Wealth Games. While the media went gaga last week over the "snubbing" of Mr. Kalmadi by Her highness Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Delhi CM, Sheila Dixit, this week it has slowly begun to ask us if we are too immune to corruption - thereby shifting the discussion towards a "societal and system" failure, rather than pinpointing those guilty. It all started when Mr. Kalmadi hit back at Shiela Dixit saying that she should not point fingers at him and instead set her own house in order. He also reminded us that whilst his budget was Rs. 1650 crores only, her budget was Rs. 16,500 crores! A day later, the president of BJP, Nitin Gadkari held a press conference and questioned the PMO as to why and how it approved all the inflated budgetary expenses. Did the PMO know about the corruption then? Did it verify properly the claims made while these estimates were submitted? These and many such pointed questions were put forth. However, in a pre-emptive move, the IT department raided the house of a BJP leader in Delhi, accusing his relative of grabbing a contract! NDTV promptly reported this "raid" and went on to describe a similar raid on Kalmadi's office as a "visit" by officials! This news overshadowed the press conference. Slowly, it was made out to be a "apolitical" thing. And now the discussions are about our immunity towards corruption! In the meanwhile, CVC is all set to probe 22 agencies involved and in 3 monts a report will be submitted it seems. Let's mark today's date and discuss this again in 3 months time!

3. The National Advisory Council headed by Her Highness Sonia Gandhi has decided to place 80 crore people of this country in the "food security" net. At various levels, these people will be gauranteed of 35 kgs of rice at subsidised price. The draft was released just yesterday, and more reading is required. However, please note your honour - Her Highness has decided to place 75% people of this country in the "poor" bracket and make sure the rest 25% pay up for earning more! That's all, your honour!