That's all, your honour!: May 23-29

1. Thirteen coaches of the Howrah-Kurla Jnaneswari Express were derailed in the early hours of friday (~1:30am) in West Bengal. A Goods train later rammed into these coaches, resulting in the deaths of more than 140 people so far. Railway minister Mamta Banerjee has said that the derailment was because of a bomb blast! Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said this is because of a sabotage! Ohh, but both of them blamed the Maoists for this act only. Either way, what is sure is the fact that Maoists have carried out this deadly crime and are solely responsible for the killing of these 141 people. While the government and the ruling party still mull over and debate how to handle this issue, Maoists are on a roll carrying out attacks at will, killing civilians and police officers as and when they wish to, and are openly declaring a war on the country saying their main aim is to overthrow the state. Yet here we are, still not sure about how to counter their mindless violence. The mindless debates that happen on TV these days reek so much of bogusness that it makes one puke (or maybe just go mad!).

2. After playing a very nice game of Table Tennis with Shibhu Soren in Jharkhand, the BJP has finally withdrawn support to his government last week. First they said they will withdraw support; then they said Shibhu will support a BJP led govt.; then they said Shibhu was talking to Congress too; then they said Shibu will support a BJP led govt.; then they said no no, BJP and Shibhu will share power for 28 months each (they even announced who their CM was going to be); then they said no no, Shibhu now is not willing to give up the post of the CM! Tired right? Just when we were all wondering when BJP will be tired enough of all this, was when the call to withdraw support was made. Like senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi said - this was a theater of the absurd! BJP must make accountable the leaders who were responsible for this fiasco, else it will send a wrong signal.

3. Remember that Police Officer Rathore? The guy who molested a 14 year old girl Ruchika, 19 years back, and later harassed her family to no extent that she was driven to commit suicide? He then even went on to become the DGP of Haryana, and was finally convicted of the crime post his retirement. The bugger was given only 6 months of jail time, and there was mass outrage in the urban population of the country. To top it, Rathore walked out of the jail smiling! And last week, the court sentenced him to a 18 month sentence as against the maximum 2 years. Nevertheless, the bugger still gets to spend so much time in jail which is hell enough for a retired DGP. Also, a special mention has to be made of Ruchika's close friend Aaradhana who waged this relentless battle for 19 years to see that justice has been done to her friend. Next I think this Rathore guy has to be booked under abettment of suicide too - guy deserves the harshest punishment for all the crimes he committed.

4. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed a press conference after 4 years! Yes, that's right, for 4 years, he hasn't spoken to the press in India (only while on foreign tours, he spoke to the press on his plane). So as always a hype was generated around this event, and given that there are so many contentious issues on which we wanted to hear the Prime Minister's views, the event was looked forward to. It turned out to be a drab, because the Prime Minister ducked answers to many important questions (like that of Naxalism, Corruption by A. Raja, Ministers accountability) or gave some rhetorical answers. The questions were good, as in they covered most of the issues we wanted to hear his views on. The answers were .... well, let's leave it at that! By the way, guess which channel asked the question on Rahul Gandhi?... NDTV :D (of all the burning issues, this channel picked this question to ask!)

5. Canada rejected the visa of an former Intelligence Bureau officer who was to accompany the Prime Minister on his tour there. It was then bought to light that a former officer of the army and another officer of the para military force were also denied visa. Now, are you ready to fall off your chair? The reason given is: the organisations they have worked "has engaged in systematic attacks on civilians and has been responsible for systematically torturing suspected criminals". Yes - the intelligence bureau and the army have been classified this way by a Visa officer, who purpotedly has done a google search before issuing the Visa!!! It really can't get naive than this - what was the officer thinking? She will get feted in her country for this act? hahaha, still can't stop laughing, your honour!

అదన్నమాట!: మే 23-29

1 . శ్రీ కాళహస్తి గుడి గోపురానికి పాతికేళ్ళ క్రితం కొంచం డ్యామేజ్ ఏర్పడింది. దాన్ని ఆధికారులు విస్మరిస్తూ వచ్చారు. క్రిందటి వారం, ఈ గోపురం కుప్ప కూలిపోయింది. కూలిపోయే రెండు రోజుల ముందు tv9 వాళ్ళు గోపురం కూలిపోయే దిశలో ఉండి అని చూపించారు. అధికారులు వెళ్లి, నిజమే అని గ్రహించి, 150 అడుగుల మేర జనాన్ని రానేయకుండా ఏర్పాట్లు చేసారు. ఇందు వాళ్ళ, గోపురం కూలిపోయినప్పుడు ప్రాణ నష్టం ఏమి జరగలేదు. 500 ఎల్ల క్రితం శ్రీక్రిష్ణదేవరయుల వారు ఈ గోపురాన్ని కట్టించారు. వివిధ రాజ్యాల పై ఆయన సాధించిన విజయాలకు చిహ్నం గా ఈ గోపురాన్ని నిర్మించారు. అదీ ఇవ్వాళ మన అసమర్ధత వల్ల కూలిపోయింది.

2 . ఆంధ్రుల అభిమాన నటుడు శ్రీ కేసీఆర్ గారు జగనన్న వరంగల్ కి వస్తే, "యుద్ధ వాతావరణం" సృష్టిస్తాము అని హెచ్చరించారు. జగనన్న వరంగల్ ఎందుకు వెళ్తున్నారు? ఓదార్పు యాత్ర పేరు తో, తన తండ్రి వై ఎస్ ఆర్ చనిపోయినప్పుడు, ఆ బాధ వల్ల చనిపోయిన వ్యక్తుల కుటుంబాలను పరామర్శించడానికి రాష్ట్ర పర్యటన చేప్పట్టారు. ఇందులో భాగంగానే వరంగల్ జిల్లా కి కూడా వెళ్ళాలని అని అనుకున్నారు. కే సి ఆర్ ఒప్పుకోలేదు. ఇతర తెలంగాణా వాదులు కూడా ఒప్పుకోలేదు. తెదేపా లో కొంత మంది తెలంగాణా నాయకులు కూడా జగన్ వరంగల్ వెళ్ళడానికి వీల్లేదు అని చెప్పారు. ఆఖరికి ముఖ్య మంత్రి, హొం మంత్రి, కాంగ్రెస్స్ హాయ్ కమాండ్ కూడా ఈ యాత్ర వరంగల్ లో చేపదిత్చల గొడవలు జరుగుతాయి కాబట్టి, వెళ్ళాడు అని చెప్పారు. జగన్ వినలేదు. ట్రైన్ ఎక్కాడు. తెలంగాణా వాదులు పట్టాల మీద చెట్లు పడేసారు. కొన్ని చోట్ల పట్టాలు మీద కూర్చున్నారు. వరంగల్ లో అయితే ఇంకా పెద్ద పెద్ద గొడవలు జరిగాయి. మధ్యలోనే జగన్ ను అర్రెస్ట్ కూడా చేసారు. ఇదేం ప్రజా స్వామ్యం అండి? జగన్ తో చాలా విభేదిన్చాచు మనం, కాని అతని అధికారాలన్నీ అడ్డుకునే హక్కు ఈ రౌడీలు ఎవరు అండి? రోశయ్య ప్రభుత్వ అసమర్ధత కి ఇది ఇంకో మంచి నిదర్శనం.

3 . చిరంజీవి గారు ఢిల్లీ వెళ్ళరు ఈ వారం. సోనియా గాంధి ని కలిసారు. ఆయన రాజ్య సభ ఎన్నికల్లో పార్టీ నుంచి ఎవర్ని పోటికి నిలబెట్టారు అంట. శుభం. ఆయన రాజకీయ వినాసననికి ఇది ఇంకో మెట్టు. శుభం !

"ఏ కులము నీదంటే, గోకులము నవ్వింది"...

పద ప్రయోగం లో ఒక శక్తీ ఉంటుంది. అది ఆలోచనల్ని రేకేతిస్తుంది. ఆహ్లాదాన్ని కలిగిస్తుంది. ఆవేశాన్ని పుట్టిస్తుంది. అప్పుడు అప్పుడు ఆశ్చర్యాన్ని కూడా కలిగిస్తుంది ! పద ప్రయోగం లో ఉన్న ఈ శక్తీ ని పండితులు ఎలాగో అర్ధం చేసుకుంటారు. కాని పామరులు కూడా అర్ధం చేసుకుని, ఆస్వాదించి, ఆనందపదేటట్టు గా కవిత్వాన్ని మనకి అందించిన వాళ్ళలో వేటూరి సుందర రామ మూర్తి గారు బహుశా చివరి వారు ఏమో.

ఆయన అందించిన పాటల్లో వైవిధ్యాన్ని వర్ణించడం సులవైన విషయం ఏమి కాదు. అంత వైవిధ్యం పండిచడం ఆయనకే చెల్లింది. ఒకే సినిమా లో "కృషి ఉంటె మనుషులు ఋషులవుతారు, మహాపురుషులవుతారు" మరియు "ఆరేసుకోబోయి పారేసుకున్నాను హరి" అని రాయడం అయన వల్లనే అయ్యింది. "ఆకు చాటు పిందె తడిసే " అని రాసిన, "రాలిపోయే పువ్వా నీకు రాగాలెందుకే" అని రాసిన, ఆయనకే చెల్లింది. "నరుడి బ్రతుకు నటన, ఈశ్వరుడి తలపు ఘటన, ఆ రెంటి నట్ట నడుమ నీకెందుకు ఇంత తపన " అని రాసిన "శుభలేక రాసుకున్న యదలో ఎప్పుడో" అని రాసిన, అయన కలంకే సాధ్యం అయ్యింది. గోదావరి గురుంచి రాస్తూ "బ్రతుకు తెరువు ఎదురీతే గా" అని అల్లినా, "అడగను లే చిరునామా ఓ మైన, ఏమైనా" అని రాసిన, అయన చేతికే సాధ్యం అయ్యింది.

ఇలా రాసుకుంటే పొతే, చాలా చెప్పచు. అలా చెప్పుకుంటే పొతే, చాలా నేమరవేసుకోవచ్చు. నేమరవేస్తున్న కొద్ది ఆనిముత్యాలు బయట పడుతూనే ఉంటాయి, ఇలాంటి కవిత్వం విని ఆస్వాదించగలిగే అవకాశం మనకి వచ్చింది అని గర్వ పడక మానలేము. ఆయన వదిలి వెళ్ళిన పద సంపదని చూసి ఆశ్చర్య పడక ఉండలేము. ఆయన మరణం తెలుగు సినిమా కి తీరని లోటు అని చెప్పడం కన్నా, తెలుగు సాహిత్యం కి తీరని లోటు అని చెప్పడం సబబు.

ఆయన రాసిన గీతాల్లో, ఇప్పటికి ఎప్పటికి గుర్తు ఉండి పోయే వాక్యం - "ఏ కులము నీదంటే, గోకులము నవ్వింది. యాదవుడు , మాధవుడు మా కులమే లెమ్మంది." భాష కి వన్నె తెచ్చి, సగటు మనిషి కూడా ఇంతలా ఆనంద పడేటట్టు చేసిన వేటూరి కి జోహార్లు.

That's all, your honour!: May 16-22

1. An Air India Express plane overshot the Mangalore airport runway and crashed. 158 people were killed in this ghastly accident. 7 people survived. The details of why the crash happened are still not clear, but that has not stopped our news channels to speculate and zero in on "pilot error" as the cause for this accident. How conveinient to place the blame on a person who is no more available to defend himself. Many reporters also said that Mangalore runway was always scary (for the length and also since it is on a hill). Alas, all these facts come into light only after a tragedy happens. Apparently, the Civil Aviation minister, Praful Patel took moral responsibility and submitted his resignation. And as expected the Prime Minister rejected his resignation. Whatever.

2. Maoists blew up a bus in Dantewada. Again. 35 people were killed, 24 of them civilians. Special Police Officers, who were tired walking, took a bus and Naxals blew up the bus. Apparently, some crook from the Maoists "regretted" the loss of civilians, but justified the blast saying that the SPO's were targetted. Home Minister P.Chidambaram was all over TV complaining that he has very "limited" mandate to deal with this problem. It was really disappointing to see the Home Minister sound so helpless because of lack of support within his government and party. An excellent case of bi-partisanship was witnessed this week when the Chief Minister of Chattisgarh said that he has no differences with P Chidambaram, but the media choose to not concentrate on this. Ohh, by the way, if you think this is the only incident of Maoist violence this week, you are grossly mistaken. They blew up another vehicle in Bengal in which 4 CRPF jawans were killed (these jawans made the same mistake again - travelled in the same route twice), and they also blasted a railway track in Bihar. And yet, we debate how to deal with Maoists - What a sham!

3. Remember Afzal Guru? He has been held guilty in the attack on Indian Parliament by the Supreme Court. For waging war against the country, he was awarded the death sentence in 2002. He then appealed, and finally the President sent the petition to the Home Ministry for a recommendation. Looks like a open and shut case right? Well, when UPA is in power, why will it be so? The UPA is worried that it might lose it's vote bank if it hangs Afzal Guru. It is a direct insult to the patriotism of that "vote bank". All these years, we were told that Afzal Guru is number 26 in the list, and it will take time before a decision is taken. Suddenly, last week, Home Minister says that the file is with the Delhi government and so far 16 reminders have been sent to the government to recommend!! Delhi CM flatly denies this, and the next day says that the file has been sent to the Lt. Governor of Delhi!!!! Wait - the story is not yet over. Now, the Lt. Governor of Delhi sends back the file to the govt. of Delhi, asking for proper recommendations!!!! And now news is that the government will not decide on the file till the Commonwealth Games are over. And remember folks - this guy was convicted for waging a war against the country.

4. The External Affairs Minister, Mr. S.M.Krishna realised that there is a dearth of comedy in what he speaks. So in all seriousness, he gave a gem of a statement - "I am willing to trust Pakistan on terror.". That's right people - he said he is ready to trust Pakistan on terror. And the interviewer just let him off with this answer, no follow up questions. Not just the interviewer, the entire media is hugely reluctant to pose any difficult questions on this "talks". And please read this excellent piece on how (and why) Pakistan is reluctant to act on 26/11. Decide for yourself, your honour, if we can "trust Pakistan on terror."!

అదన్నమాట! : మే 16-22

ప్రధానంగా ఈ వారం లైలా తూఫాను సృష్టించిన భీబత్సం మీదే చర్చా జరిగింది. ప్రకాశం, నెల్లూర్ జిల్లాలు బాగా అతలాకుతలం అయ్యాయి. ఈ తుఫాను దారి మళ్ళి, ఒర్రిస్సా వైపు పయనం మొదలుపెట్టింది. దీని కారణంగా విజయవాడ విశాఖ, విజిఅనగరం, శ్రీకాకుళం జిల్లాల్లో కూడా భారి వర్షాలు కురిసాయి. తెలంగాణా లో ఓ మోస్తారు నుంచి భారి వర్షాలు కురిసాయి. మండే ఎండల నుంచి ఈ వర్షాలు కొంచం ఉరట ఇచ్చాయి. పదిహేడు మంది మరణించారు. 50 ,000 మందిని సురక్షిత ప్రాంతాలకు తరలించారు. ఇప్పుడు ఇప్పుడే వీళ్ళు తిరిగి వాళ్ళ ఊరుకి వెళ్తున్నారు.

గూగుల్ ఇవ్వాళ్ళ చాల నెమ్మది గా పని చేస్తుంది. టైపు చెయ్యడం చాలా కష్టం గా ఉంది ... ఇక్కడితో ఆపేస్తున్న ఇవ్వాళ.

The Manipur Blockade...

For about 6 weeks now, various Naga tribal groups have been blocking two highways, NH39 and NH53 that lead into Manipur. Why? They are protesting against the Manipur government's decision not to allow Mr. Muivah to visit his birthplace in Manipur. Who is Muivah? He heads, what is called as the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM). NSCN basically is fighting for "Greater Nagaland", and this means that it wants controls over parts of Manipur too.

The above paragraph is a very simple explanation of the background. Suggest that further reading be done, to understand the full problem (one such article is this).

Anyways, so now Muivah decides to visit his home town in Manipur. Manipur government refuses. So tribal groups supporting him block the highways that go to Manipur. For the past 6 weeks, because of this blockade, vehicles carrying essential items have been stranded, people wanting to go back have been stranded, and trade activities have come to a near complete halt. Then what about those staying inside Manipur. Given that no fresh essentials have been allowed inside, rates have sky rocketed, hospitals are in short supply for medicines and have reduced the intake of people (so now we have more sick people, and no medicines), there is little or no petrol and diesel available.

'A litre of petrol is selling at Rs.200, a cooking gas cylinder for Rs.1,500, while a kilogram of rice is selling at Rs.60 to Rs.70,' - This is from a resident of Manipur. Look at this picture in the link. If this were to happen, say in Central India, would the media have been so silent? IPL - a private business venture, run by a group of private individuals hogged the limelight in ALL national news channels for a full week. Yes, for a full week. With little or no updates from the first day to the 7th. I did a google search for "Manipur Blockade" and many news items showed up. Except for the first link, all the other links were last updated on May 12. Today is May 18th. And the blockade is still on.

A state in India is facing so much hardship, and the media is nowhere to be seen and worse the central government is nowhere to be seen. Why blame the citizens from North East when such kind of treatment is meted out to them?

PS: This article by Tarun Vijay makes good reading.

That's all, your honour! :May 9-15

1. Viswanathan Anand beat Topalov to retain his Chess World Championship. He is the world champion in a game that is played in almost all countries of the world (and not just 8 :D). Over the past decade, he has single handedly demolished the Russian domination of the game, that has originated in India! For this particular world championship game, Anand and Topalov played 12 games in all, and till the 11th game the scores were tied at 5.5 each. Anand won the last game, playing with black that too. Interestinglu, Anand had to travel for 40 hours by road to reach the venue, because of that volcanic ash effect! He was given an extension of just 1 day, and though he lost the first game, he bounced back strongly in the second. In this interview in The Hindu, he discusses in detail about strategies during this championship. However, his victory coincided with Indian Men's cricket team exit from World Cup T20! (btw, the women's team went upto the semi-finals!)And obviously this put sections of media in a soup :D... what to concentrate on now! Arban Goswami even asked Anand what he thought of Dhoni's statement that late night parties of IPL were responsible for that fiasco! That's right, Anand was asked what he thinks of Dhoni's assessment! Anyways, this rediff article lists out Anand's achievements and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why he is a genuis!

2. For the 3rd time in 3 years, the same story repeated in Hyderabad. Two terrorists come on a scooter/bike, shoot a policeman and then flee away. Always close to the anniversary of the Mecca Masjid blasts. This year was no different. Two terrorists came on a scooter, shot dead a constable and fled away. The constable, V.Ramesh was manning a picket along with 4 others, and guess what none of them had weapons with them! They were manning a picket just 1km away from Mecca Masjid. May 18 is the anniversary of the blast at Mecca Masjid in 2007; 2 times in the past the terrorists have adopted the same strategy; and we still don't equip those manning pickets close to Mecca Masjid! And now the police are having to tread carefully while investigating because apparently they harrased a lot of youth when the blasts happened, in the name of interrogation. The massive search a couple of weeks ago resulted in the arrest of an LeT operative, but the lowering of gaurd post that arrest led to this fiasco.

3. Next week, the UPA government completes one year in office. NDTV already set the ball rolling by talking about performance of just 2 ministers in its poll here. It is quite evident how incoherent the government has been over the past one year, and yet I bet the media will search and search for positives and then try to present a "balanced" story! Wait and watch, your honour!

అదన్నమాట! :మే 9-15

ఎం ఎండలు అండి బాబు. మాడ్చేస్తునాయి రాష్ట్రాన్ని ! రాజకీయ వేడి కూడా అలానే ఉంది లెండి. చంద్రబాబు గారు, రోశయ్య గారు ఒకరినొకరు తెగ తిట్టుకున్నారు ఈ వారం లో. సాక్షి పత్రిక అయితే ఇంకా పూర్తి గా రోశయ్య సర్కారు ని దిమ్పెదాము అనే అగెండా తోనే ఉన్నట్టు ఉంది. మాట్లిడితే చాలు, వై ఎసార్ ప్రవేసపెట్టిన సంక్షేమ పధకాలు అమలు ఆపేస్తున్నారు అని మొర పెట్టుకుంటుంది ఈ పత్రిక ! ఇది ఇలానే సాగితే, నాయుడు గారు కేవలం ఆ పత్రిక ని ప్రజల్లోకి తీసుకువెళ్ళి చదివి వినిపిస్తే చాలు.... మరి ఇంకేం ప్రచారం చేయ్యనాకర్ లేదు !

గత వారం లో హైదరాబాద్ లో ఒక కాన్స్టేబుల్ ని దుండగులు కాల్చి చంపారు. గత మూడు ఏళ్ళల్లో ఇలా జరగడం మూడో సారి. మక్కా మజీదు లో పేలుడు జరిగి మూడు ఏళ్ళు కావస్తుంది. ప్రతి ఏడాది, ఇలా దుండగులు పేలుడు జరిగిన డేట్ కి దగ్గరలో ఒక పోలీస్ ని చంపేస్తున్నారు. ఆయినా సరే, మన పోలీసులు కి కనీసం తుపాకులు కూడా ఇవ్వడం లేదు ప్రభుత్వం. చనిపోయిన రమేష్ తో పాటు ఇంకో నలుగురు పోలీసులు ఉన్నారు అక్కడే. ఎవ్వరి దగ్గర కు తుపాకులు లేవు. ఇదే అదును చూసుకుని, దుండగులు వచారు, కాల్చారు, పారిపోయారు.

Trysts with MSM - Part 6: Vikram Chandra's reply

For 53 days (twice a day), I was asking NDTV folks a question on twitter.

" Hi @BDUTT @vikramchandra @prannoyroyndtv Is NDTV planning to clarify on the "summoned on March 21"fiasco raised by d CM of Gujarat? "

Barkha Dutt is the Group Editor of NDTV English News. Vikram Chandra is the CEO of NDTV networks (non-news, according to him). Prannoy Roy is the Chairman of NDTV.

So what is this fiasco I was referring to? This letter to Editors Guild has all the details, so there is no need to write about the fiasco again in this post. IBN's Editor-in-Chief replied to that letter. The Hindu clarified on the error, pointed out by the CM of Gujarat. NDTV has not, and the intention was to ask if they would want to clarify the error.

After 53 days, Vikram Chandra replied last night. Warning: There is a danger of you falling off from your chair after reading the reply!

"@ssudhirkumar was waiting for half century! Issue addressed on Big Fight on 27th March. Didn't you watch?? What a waste of effort!"

Now, when you read that reply, one would assume that the Big Fight show on 27th March talks about some clarification from NDTV, for otherwise one wouldn't expect a senior person like Vikram Chandra to get down to such mockingly childish replies. So then I decided to go through the troubling experience of watching the Big Fight show of March 27, to see where the "issue was addressed".

Guess what - at no place does Vikram Chandra clarify NDTV's stand! 15 minutes into the show, Vikram Chandra asks Siddarth Varadarajan about why the CM made it such an issue with respect to the date, and Sidd said the date is not an issue. That's it folks. That's all about the date. Nothing more. Nothing less. "The date is not an issue". That's how the "issue was addressed".

This obfuscation by the media that the date is not an issue is comical. A whole bunch of debates and theories centered around the Gujarat CM "non-appearance" on this date. Obviously there was an error in reporting. Why couldn't NDTV just say "Yes, we got the date wrong,we regret the error and any incoveinience thus caused" ? And then what is stopping them to go and take on the perceived intentions of the Chief Minister. You want more proof?

Look at the website people. Three lines stand out. The first one attributes to the sources that " Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is likely to skip appearance on Sunday ". The 5th line says "SIT had summoned Modi to remain present before him tomorrow ". And the 9th line says this "Modi has a week starting Sunday to appear before the SIT "

Now if in the same report, three contradictory lines are dished out, questioning that is wrong? Wait - when this discrepancy was pointed out to another NDTV anchor Nidhi Razdan, I was told that I don't understand English!

That is not all - Attached to the post below is a snapshot of NDTV scroll on the 27th of March saying "Narendra Modi served summons last week" - another factual error.

My issue here is quite simple - Media has done an error, and it is just not forthcoming to say, yes there is an error. When questioned, you have all seen the kind of responses some folks have been giving. There are many other instances where TV media has shown abject disrespect to the policy of accountability. In one instace, this same Vikram Chandra told me this; "what gives you the idea that I owe you any explanation for anything?? You don't like the site, don't log on! Bye! "

Again, the questions posed were not on design of the website, for me not to "like it". All questions were on the content. Now is it their contention that content cannot be questioned? But that is how hard questions are dealt - discredit the questioner in an attempt to flaunt intelligence.

Vikram Chandra's answer is a joke. So, while he is free to gloat under the misconception that he gave a super intelligent answer to a basic question; that by pointing out to a fact that I didn't get watch his show, he can get away with "issue has been addressed"; it is imperative that NDTV clarify on the points raised above, and till then the questioning will continue!

Perhaps, something can be learnt from The Hindu. They run a daily Corrections and Clarifications column - I wonder when TV will even dare to have such a show/column.

PS: The icing on the cake is this: Teesta, in the same show, says this - Modi was given a window of 10 days, from March 21 to March 31, to appear. Howzatt, Mr. Vikram Chandra!

PS2: No, I am in no way disrespecting those who were brutally murdered. Bring the perpetrators to justice. Hang them. However, the issue I am raising here is Media's obvious sense of "we can do no wrong" and "we are beyond questioning" attitude, which is detrimental to the growth of our democracy.

NDTV's poll on "Rate the UPA government"...

The NDTV poll here is titled "Rate the UPA government".

Now, what is this question doing on such a questionaire? "Q.Who in your opinion is the most popular Indian?" The options being Shahrukh, Sachin, Amitabh and Dhoni! None of them are connected to the UPA government, so how exactly is this going to help "rate the UPA government"?

The next thing that strikes is that only Pranab Mukherjee (Finance Minister) and P.Chidambaram's (Home Minister) performance has been asked to be evaluated. Why? Are there no other ministers? Why not A.K.Anthony (Defence Minister), Sharad Pawar (Agriculture Minister), S.M.Krishna (External Affairs Minister), Kapil Sibal (Human Resources) and many other ministers? Does NDTV think they are not part of the government, or does it think their performance appraisal does not matter? Or by giving a favourable verdict to Pranab and PC, NDTV wants us to believe all is well?

The next farcial question is this: "Who would make a better Prime Minister- Rahul Gandhi or Manmohan Singh ?" Why is NDTV hell bent on devaluing the post of the Prime Minister by associating the name of an MP who is yet to make any substantial statement on any policy in this country? Rahul Gandhi has no administrative experience till now, and to directly ask the audience to choose between Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh is such a farcial thing to do, and I guess only channels like NDTV are capable of that.

And the award for the best question has to go for this: "Telecommunications Minister A Raja has been accused of corruption in Parliament. Do you think he is guilty?" DUH !!!

As always, no answers have been given to these questions on twitter. I have sent them a mail to feedback@ndtv.com and am still awaiting a response.

PS: If you observe, there is actually no question that asks, "So, overall how do you rate the UPA government?". And we thought this poll was about that! How silly :D

That's all, your honour!: May 2-8

1. In early March, the government was supposed to introduce the Civil Nuclear Liability bill in Lok Sabha and it withdrew that proposal in the last minute (and old post here has details on this and the bill). The government then said that they will discuss more with the opposition and listen to their concerns. In between, the Prime Minister visited the US and told the President of US that he will strive to get this thing passed. Given the united opposition stand against the bill, it was expected that the government will not introduce it in this session. However, much to everyone's shock, the government chose to introduce this bill on the last day of Parliament session! Not a word was amended - the same bill that was not introduced before was introduced on the last day of the session. Lalu Yadav and Mulayam Yadav apparently are supporting the bill now. Do you want to guess why? Because the Prime Minister has announced in the Lok Sabha that the government will soon take a decision on caste-based census. That's right - just because he was willing to sound positive on such a HUGE issue, Lalu and Mualayam who have no damn clue on this nuclear bill have agreed to support it. What a farcial way, this government is going to get this nuclear thing done at any cost. It bought MP's to get it passed in 2008 and now is doling out promises without thinking twice.

2. This is not the only deal that the UPA has made with its allies. CBI cases against Mayawati were lifted the moment she supported the government in cut motions. The corrupt A.Raja still stays, despite overwhelming evidence against him. Karunanidhi does not want him to go, and apparently the deal therefore is that the Congress will get an additional seat in the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. Then there is Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel who continue to stay despite proven incompetance and corruption. And now this deal with Lalu and Mulayam. But hey, we cannot question because Manmohan Singh is a "decent" man.

3. Ajmal Kasab was pronounced guilty, and subsequently has been awarded the death sentence. This was an expected result. Anyone who thought otherwise would have been either naive and unbelievably optimistic. Our media, however covered this like as if this was a monumental judgement and the prosecution did an awesome job in getting him convicted. The prosecution lawyer, Ujwal Nikkam, even flashes the victory sign as if he just conquered Rome. Amidst all this melee, the TV media forgot that two other accused were held not guilty. That's right - the police arrested two people from UP and the prosecution could not prove the charges against them. So who is at fault here? The police? The prosecution? Or both? Did they know they had a weak case? If so, why did they keep these two people for so long? These are the questions to be asked, in my opinion. But hey, instead we were all busy celebrating that Ajmal Kasab got a "fair" trial !

4. YSR's son, Jagan Mohan Reddy own Sakshi newspaper in Andhra Pradesh. When YSR was alive, expectedly the only thing that the paper did was to sing praises of the government. Post his demise, the paper started criticizing the government more than the opposition does! Never mind that it is the same Congress party's government. Never mind that the entire cabinet is the same too! The CM Mr. Rosaih is very angry at this development, but given that no one really cares about his feelings here, his reactions are immaterial! Jagan Mohan Reddy is on a spree beating the government schemes. The ironic thing is that all these implementation problems existed even when YSR was alive - so whom is Jagan trying to fool, your honour?!

అదన్నమాట!: మే 2-8

1 . క్రిందటి వారం అంతా హైదరాబాద్ లో పోలీస్ తనిఖీలు చాల ముమ్మరంగా సాగాయి. ఎట్టకేలకు ఒక తీవ్రవాది ని పోలీసులు అర్రెస్ట్ చేసారు. మూడేళ్ళ క్రితం ఒడియన్ దియేటర్ మీద బాంబ్ వేసాడు. మళ్ళి ఇప్పుడు హైటెక్ సిటి లో ఒక కంపనీ మీద బాంబు వెయ్యడానికి ప్లాన్ వేసాడు అంట. మొత్తానికి పోలీసుల శ్రమ ఫలించింది. ఈ సంఘటన వల్ల ఇంకో విషయం తెలుసుకోవాల్సింది అమితి అంటే, ప్రజలు కూడా ఎప్పటికప్పుడు చుట్టుపక్కల పరిశీలిస్తూ ఉండాలి. అనుమాస్పదం గా ఏమి అనిపించినా వెంటనే పోలీసులు దృష్టి కి తీసుకురావాలి.

2 . ఇన్నాలు మనం ప్రతిపక్ష నాయకుల ఆరోపణలు విని విని విసిగిపోయాము అని కాంగ్రెస్స్ ఎంపీ రాయపాటి సాంబశివ రావు గారు అనుకున్నట్టు ఉన్నారు. అందుకే ఈ సారి తనే స్వయంగా విమర్సానాస్త్రాలు విసిరారు. రాష్ట్ర క్యాబినెట్ లో అవినీతి పరులు చాలా ఎక్కువ గా ఉన్నారు అని సంచలన వ్యాఖ్యలు చేసారు. సొంత పార్టి మనుషులే ఇంహ్త బాహాటంగా విమర్శలు గుప్పిస్తూ ఉంటె ఏమి చెయ్యాలో తోచని స్థితి కాంగ్రెస్స్ పార్టి డి ఇప్పుడు. రాయపాటి గారు మాత్రం జిల్లా మంత్రి కన్నా లక్ష్మీనారాయణ తో కయ్యానికి సిద్దం అయ్యారు. పని లప్ అని రాష్ట్ర క్యాబినెట్ మొత్తాన్ని దుమేత్తి పోశారు ! రాయపాటి గారు చెప్పిన దాంట్లో కొత్త విషయం ఏమి లేదు అనుకోండి, కాని కాంగ్రెస్స్ పార్టి ఎంపీ గా అయన చేసారు కాబట్టి, ఇంత సంచలనం రేగింది.

3 . ఇది ఇలా ఉండగా, ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారు సాక్షి పత్రిక మీద మళ్ళి విరుచుకుపడ్డారు అంట. సొంత పార్టి ఎంపీ నడిపిస్తున్న పత్రిక లో ప్రభుత్వానికి వ్యతిరేకంగా ఇంత లా వార్తలు వస్తు ఉంటె, మంత్రులు ఎందుకు ఏమి మాట్లాడడం లేదు అని గట్టిగ అడిగినట్టు సమాచారం ! రోశయ్య గారి కోపాన్ని పెద్దగా ఎవరు పట్టించుకోరు అనుకోండి, అదీ వేరే విషయం లే!

Bunch of retards

It is just difficult to get over this picture and the related news item on it, in today front page.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/06/stories/2010050658440100.htm

The background is simple. Sports Minister M.S.Gill mooted a proposal that the heads of different sports bodies should have a fixed tenure of 12 years. That set the retards in the picture loose.

First off all, who talks of a fixed tenure of "12 years" ??? Indian sports bodies are all riddled with ineffeciency and are mostly headed by nincompoops. Don't trust me? In the picture, just see who head some of the association. Jagdish Tytler heads The Judo Association. V.K.Malhotra heads The Archery Association. Praful Patel heads the Football Federation. Suresh Kalmadi is heading the Olympic Association since time eternal. And these people, who belong to different political parties are up in arms agains the sports minister for just mooting a proposal. Not even implementing, for just mooting it.

And look at Kalmadi's statements - " If you fiddle with the autonomy you get into trouble. If the IOC imposes sanctions, it can bring to a standstill all sports activity in the country". Someone should remind this person that the "sports activity" in this country is not moving anyway, so what is it that you will bring to a standstill you retard?

On top of that he warns, "If you fiddle with the autonomy..." Autonomy, my foot - Dude, your association runs on tax payers money,not on money that you personally invest to give such threats. You all should be ashamed of yourself for the present condition of sports in the country - instead what do we get - your threats! The most unfortunate and shameful thing is that these bloody threats will work, and these fit for nothing people will continue to head these bodies till someone in their family is read to take over and make more money. Who cares what happens to Judo players, archers, and football stadiums in this country?

PS: Sorry for the language, but these guys deserve much worse than what I wrote.

That's all, your honour!: Apr25-May1

1. It is common knowledge that there is huge amounts of corruption involved in granting permissions for Engineering and Medical Colleges. However, one wouldn't expect that atleast those who are incharge of AICTE(All India Council for Technical Education) and MCI (Medical Council of India) will not be directly involved in the rot. The chairman of MCI is an exception though. He is so dumb, that he takes bribes directly. And he got caught red-handed while accepting a bribe! I mean, how do people rise to such high positions without knowing basic rules of how to take bribe? Doesn't it surprise you? His name is Ketan Desai, and the bugger is now in jail. Government washed off its hands from the controversy saying, the council is an autonomous body and will take decisions on its own. That essentially means, there will be no full stop to the corrupt practices of these exalted institutions - only that the next guy might be careful not to take bribe directly!

2. An Indian Diplomat working at the embassy in Pakistan was arrested this week, on charges of spying. She was asked to come to Delhi to help on work related to the SAARC summit and was arrested upon arrival. Guess what she first told the sleuths? "What took you so long to catch me?"! Madhuri Gupta worked in the translation department and was apparently nurturing a deep hatred towards the IFS officers, and hence to take revenge, decided to pass on information to Pakistan. Yes, you read it right. The motive was revenge! A reporter of The Jung (the same publication that started the "Aman ki Asha" campaign along with Times of India) introduced her to some Pak diplomats and apparently she used to pass on information, which according to Indian govt. was not "priviliged". And if you want to know how our "intellectual" media messed up the whole reporting, read B.Raman's scathing piece here.

3. On April 16, CBI filed a chargesheet in the Supreme Court saying that it had clinching evidence against Mayawati on some corruption cases. On April 23, the same CBI said it is ready to withdraw all its cases. On April 26, the BSP announced support to the UPA when the cut motions introduced by the opposition parties come up for voting. Cut motions are essentially motions that are moved seeking some cuts in the taxes/allotments in the finance bill. With SP, RJD and BSP not keen to support the governement, UPA had a wafer thin majority, and hence agreed to lift all corruption cases against Mayawati. SP and RJD did not vote - instead they walked out in protest. The great Lalu even asked why he will vote with the BJP when it foisted cases against him? When the cut motions were put to vote, UPA got 289 votes (272 needed for majority), and the opposition got 201. Telecom Minister A.Raja's scams have again been exposed this week. Yet, all is well - because Manmohan Singh is a honest and decent PM (it ain't matter that he has no voice or choice) and the "communal forces" have been kept at bay! By the way, the english TV media went ballistic on the opposition. Yes you read it right, they went ballistic on the opposition,the ruling party. According to them, when they knew they were losing, the opposition should not have bought in these motions at all!

4. Speaking of the cut motion, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Shibu Soren is still a Member of the Lok Sabha. BJP supports him at the state, and hence he is the CM there. So common sense would suggest that he will vote along with the BJP. Guess what - he did the opposite! Apparently the deal was that he will be made a Union Minister! But why give up CM post? The last time he became CM, he failed to get elected himself to the Assembly, so he feared the same thing would happen again. So now BJP will obviously get angry. They announced withdrawal of support to JMM. And then the comedy began to unveil. Shibu's son announces that his father voted for UPA "by mistake". That's right - "by mistake". Apparently, he also said that his father suffers from Alzeihmers! Now, trouble started in Congress party too - many did not want to include Shibu. Now, the guy is struck nowhere. And then Shibu's son apparently says that they will agree for a BJP led govt !! And when power is within reach, BJP also decided to dump ethics and is now negotiating with JMM and other parties on the modalities of government formation. Welcome to the world of Indian Politics!

5. So many things happened this week, and it's been a long update :D. So will end it now. Details of the Indo-Pak talks are here in a separate blog piece. And finally - believe it or not - IPL is off the news completely! After FULLY dominating for about a week, it is off - just like whooosh! The aim was to unseat Lalit Modi, and that has been accomplished. All that news about franchises not paying taxes etc etc are all over now. Apparently, "everything has been found in order". That's all, your honour!

అదన్నమాట! : ఏప్రిల్ 25-మే 1

1 . రాజధాని లో పోలీస్ పహారా చాలా ఎక్కువ అయింది. ఈ వారం ఉగ్రవాదుల నుంచి ముప్పు పొంచి ఉంది అని సమాచారం రావడం తో పోలీసులు అప్రమత్తం అయ్యారు. ముమ్మరంగా తనిఖీలు నిర్వహించారు. ముఖ్యమంత్రి సెక్యురిటి ని కూడా పెంచారు. వివిధ షాప్లు, మాల్స్ లో సెక్యురిటి ని కూడా పెంచారు. కొన్ని షాపుల్లో భద్రత సరిగ్గా లేనందు వల్ల వాళ్ళకి అక్షింతలు కూడా వేసారు ! ప్రజల్ని కూడా అప్రమతంగా ఉండమని పోలీసిలు చెప్పడం జరిగింది. ఇలా సమాచారం వచినప్పుడు మాత్రమె కాకుండా, ప్రజలు మాత్రం ఎప్పుడు అప్రమత్తం గానే ఉండాలి .

2 . రాష్ట్రం లో తాగు నీటి సమస్య రోజు రోజుకి విషమిస్తుంది. నీటి ఎద్దడి అంతా ఇంత కాదు. చాలా పల్లెల్లో మహిళలు కిలోమీటర్లు దూరం నడిచి మరి నీళ్ళు తోడుకుని రావాల్సి వస్తుంది. సక్రమమైన నీటి నిలువ చర్యలు తీసుకోకపోవడం ఒక ముఖ్యమైన కారణం ఈ ఎద్దడి కి. ప్రభుత్వం ఇప్పటికైనా మేలుకోవాలి , కాని రోశయ్య గారి ప్రభుత్వం ఎప్పటికి నిద్రావస్త లోనే ఉంటుంది కదా మరి ! ప్రజలకి ఈ కష్టాలు తప్పవు, ప్రభుత్వానికి ఈ కష్టాలు పట్టవు!

3 . తెలంగాణా ఉప ఎన్నికల వేడి మాదే ఎండల తో పాటు పెరుగుతుంది ! తెదేపా లో ఒక వర్గం పోటి చెయ్యకూడదు అంటే, ఇంకో వర్గం లేదు పోటి చెయ్యాల్సిందే అని అంటుంది! కాంగ్రెస్స్ లో కూడా ఇదే కథ. ఎతోచి తెరెసా నుంచి రాజీనామా చేసిన వాళ్ళకి చెమటలు పడుతున్నాయి. ఊపుకుంటూ వెళ్లి రాజీనామా చేసారు. ఇప్పుడు గెలుస్తామో లేదో తెలియని దుస్థితి. పోనీ రాజీనామా చేసిననందుకు తెలంగాణా వస్తుందా అంటే, ఆ దిక్కు కూడా లేదు ! తెలంగాణా ఐక్య కార్యాచరణ సమితి అసలు ఉందొ లేదో కూడా ఇప్పుడు తెలియదు ఎవరకి ! అదన్నమాట!