Living Diagonally In My Parallel World!

Strange are the ways of this government led by Manmohan Singh. India is the worlds second largest cotton producer. (US is number one). On 5th March the Commerce Ministry declared a ban on cotton exports. Did anyone bother to check with the exporters who had committed delivery’s? Was there a check done to ensure that India’s reliability in the international market does not go down? This decision had international effects. Countries like Pakistan and Australia celebrate the decision. The cotton futures in NYSE went up by 6%. Surprise of surprises – The Agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, expressed ignorance about this decision and also declared that he had not been consulted. This is spectacularly comic that a senior minister is not informed of a decision taken by another ministry and they declare this in public! A week after this decision was declared the Commerce minister issued another release and declared that the decision was revoked! This has been happening far too frequently from ...

It was surprising to see a slew of politicians visit the German Bakery in Pune after the blast. Chidambaram, Ashok Chavan, Ramesh Bagve, Sharad Pawar, Sushma Swaraj, Neelam Gorhe, Narayan Rane, Nitin Gadkari, Eknath Khadse, Pune’s corporators …. The list goes on why do all the leaders have to visit the site whenever such an incident occurs? Morever, they also visit the wounded in hospitals. They entourage follows them everywhere. Do they even realize the infection they may possibly spread? Some politicians say that they visit to reassure the citizens. Reassure what? It is the citizens who are killed when there are such blasts. These are all seasoned and mature politicians. Its time they realize that their visit only adds to the pressure of the local police and inconveniences the local populace. It also firms the old precedent that unless a political bigwig visits a scene of blast the incident does not carry any importance. These gentlemen should set a new precedent of allowing...

All the major political parties have published their manifestos to lure the voter in the Assembly elections in Maharashtra. I have some questions to ask these politico’s. Since there is no way that I would get access to them I am raising these stupid questions (in italics) here on my blog. The main question is why haven’t they taken steps when they were in power? Congress-NCP • The manifesto mentions a masterplan for ‘Vision Mumbai’ to develop the metropolis as an international financial hub within five years. – Dear rulers what have you done in the past 10 years for the betterment of Mumbai and its citizens? • Extension of Pune-Mumbai Expressway up to Sion, completion of Mumbai-Nashik Expressway – Is there an action plan for the maintenance of these highways? What is the time period for completion? How long would toll be charged on these highways? • Establishing crisis management group for Mumbai city are the other key proposals. – What has been done since the attack on Mumbai? Have y...

This year I was following the Finance Ministers budget speech. I thought I understood some of it! Many newspapers have hailed the budget as a good one. I may be wrong at this point of time but I think the FM did not deliver as expected. I am just putting to ink my thoughts based on my experience (however limited it may be). I was hoping for changes in the personal tax slabs and that the limit for home loan benefit would be increased. But he disappointed me. He has also proposed to abolish the Fringe benefit tax. While this is good for companies its bad for the individual tax payer as the onus now rests on the individual. The FM has increased the allocation to infrastructure projects by almost a fourth. This is excellent but what is very worrying is that the fiscal deficit will be increased in a planned way to 6.8%. This is too dangerous. He has planned to reduce it to 4% in three years. Lets hope he is successful. After so many years I think we cannot trust politicians to keep their wo...

Who owns India? The Indira Gandhi family? Why do people in politics have to stoop to the lowest level when it comes to pleasing their political masters? Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi do not need such populist things. Indira was a master leader and politician. Jawaharlal was the first prime minister. This in itself is a great deed. But each time the Congress party comes to power it starts naming everything after Indira or Rajiv or Nehru. Have a look at this list- Central Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana; Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission; Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for the Children of Working Mothers, Department of Women & Child Development; Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana; Indira Awas Yojana Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme; Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission Jawaharlal Nehru Rojgar Yojna Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojna; Indira Gandhi Canal Project, Funded by World Bank Rajiv Gandhi Shilpi Swasthya Bima Yojana State schemes Rajiv Gand...

Once upon a time .......

> पंडित जवाहरलाल नेहरू ( ऑगस्ट १५ , १९४७ - मे २७ , १९६४ ) कॉँग्रेस > गुलजारी लाल नंदा ( मे २७ , १९६४ - जुन ९ , १९६४ ) कॉँग्रेस > लाल बहादूर शास्त्री ( जून ९ , १९६४ - जानेवारी ११ , १९६६ ) कॉँग्रेस > गुलजारी लाल नंदा ( जानेवारी ११ , १९६६ - जानेवारी २४ , १९६६ ) कॉँग्रेस > इंदिरा गांधी ( जानेवारी २४ , १९६६ - ...

This is absolutely hilarious! The Election Commission has issued guidelines on how the indelible ink is to be placed and on which finger. They have come out with a notification that the ink should be on the middle finger. So all the "celebrities" - politicians, film stars et all - are showing the middle finger to the media to prove that they have voted! Look at this photo of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and his wife. Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karaunanidhi voted Kule Aam

The left parties and the Congress had their own agendas when they came to power in 2004. But they declared that they have a common minimum programme and on that base they joined hands to enjoy power. The left as always enjoyed power without accountability. Can anyone imagine the left calling a general strike to protest against the Congress’ policies? Its own partner in power! And the strike was successful in West Bengal too. The state is ruled by the Left party! How can a party in power call a strike in its own state? Later as the elections approached the Left thought that they could place Congress on the mat on the nuclear issue and gain some mileage. They withdrew the support to Congress and claimed to be on a high moral ground. The Congress joined hands with Amar Singh and retained power! A victim of souring of relations between Congress and Left parties was the Singur plant. The Tata’s had invested Rs.1500 crores. The worlds eyes were upon India to see how the Nano could be produce...

मला आवडलेला एक अतिशय उत्तम लेख . दि . २९ डिसेंबर २००९ च्या महाराष्ट्र टाईम्स च्या अंकात प्रकाशीत झाला। लेखक आहेत सुहास फडके . यातील शेवटच्या काही मतांशी मी सहमत नाही , मात्र एकंदरीत हा लेख आपल्याला विचार करायला लावतो . (I don't subscribe to some views. Nevertheless the article is thought provoking). पाकसमोर आपण दरवेळी शेपूट का घालतो? पाकिस्तानविरूद्ध युद्धज्वर निर्माण केल्यानंतर पुन्हा एकदा भारताने माघार घेतली आहे . असे घडण्याची ही पहिलीच वेळ नाही. याच दशकाच्या आरंभी , अतिरेक्यांनी संसदेवर हल्ला चढवल्यानंतर अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी यांच्या नेतृत्वाखालील राष्ट्रीय लोकशाही आघाडीच्या सरकारने , सीमेवर सैन्याची प्रचंड जमवाजमव केली. कोणत्या क्षणी भारत चढाई करणार असे चित्र निर्माण झाले. प्रत्यक्षात तसे काहीच झाले नाही. पाकिस्तानच्या भारताच्या सार्वभौम अशा प्रतिका...

Vilas Deshmukh again The Comptroller and Auditor General of India ( CAG ), in the latest report, has singled out Vilas Deshmukh’s educational institute for taking undue benefits through land allotment in the MIDC in his hometown, Latur. The annual audit report of MIDC released last week showed that the Vilasrao Deshmukh Foundation got undue benefits during Mr Deshmukh’s tenure as CM. This apparently caused losses to the tune of Rs 1.19 crore to the MIDC, the CAG report of 2007 said. It noted that the MIDC received a ‘suo motu’ application from the Deshmukh Foundation in 2001 seeking allotment of 3.56 lakh square metres for establishing an educational campus in Latur.

Another one on the dirty politicians - Narayan Rane has alleged that a powerful politician who is close to Vilas Deshmukh was invloved in the 26/11 Mumbai blasts. He told this in the legislative assembly too. This is a very serious allegation. This raises some questions – Why isn’t anyone enquiring with him about the proof? Or is it that this guy is a nut and so his statements are to be ignored? Why haven’t the police questioned him? Isn’t hiding vital information on a crime itself a crime anymore?

I have thought for a long time about writing on India and the quality of its politicians. We have had so many discussions within friends on this topic. Everyone agreed that India needed better politicians – some suggested that the rulers will only be as good or bad as the citizens so if we want to improve the quality of politics, we must join politics. I was thinking about the Raj Thackeray issue. See even I am referring to the fiasco as “Raj Thackeray” issue. In my opinion the problem lied somewhere else but the media presented the issue as an anti North Indian issue. The basic point was that in the past few years, the adverts for railway exams that are held in Mumbai/Maharashtra are consistently not published in the local newspapers. The only newspapers that they were published in Maharashtra were a few Nagpur based newspapers and Loksatta in Mumbai. This issue had been taken up with Maharashtra MP’s but they had failed to act on it for whatever reason. (maybe they were vetoed by th...

यशवंतराव चव्हाण ---- १ मे १९६० ते १९ नोव्हेंबर १९६२ --------(केंद्रात संरक्षणमंत्री झाल्याने राजीनामा). मारोतराव कन्नमवार -- २० नोव्हेंबर १९६२ ते २४ नोव्हेंबर १९६३ -(निधन). पी. के. सावंत (हंगामी) - २४ नोव्हेंबर १९६३ ते ५ डिसेंबर १९६३. वसंतराव नाईक ------- ५ डिसेंबर १९६३ ते २० फेब्रुवारी १९७५ --(राजीनामा). शंकरराव चव्हाण ------ २१ फेब्रुवारी १९७५ ते १७ मे १९७७ -----(राजीनामा). वसंतदादा पाटील ------ १७ मे १९७७ ते ५ मार्च १९७८ ---------(विधानसभा मुदत संपली). वसंतदादा पाटील ------ ५ मार्च १९७८ ते १८ जुलै १९७८ --------(राजीनामा). शरद पवार - ----------१८ जुलै १९७८ ते १७ फेब्रुवारी १९८० -----(केंद्राकडून राज्य सरकार पदच्युत). राष्ट्रपती राजवट ------- १७ फेब्रुवारी १९८० ते ९ जून १९८०. ए. आर. अंतुले -------- ९ जून १९८० ते १२ जानेवारी १९८२ ------(राजीनामा). बाबासाहेब भोसले ----- २१ जानेवारी १९८२ ते १ फेब्रुवारी १९८३ ---(राजीनामा). वसंतदादा पाटील ------ २ फेब्रुवारी १९८३ ते ९ मार्च १९८५ -------(विधानसभा मुदत संपली). वसंतदादा पाटील -------१० मार्च १९८५ ते १ ...

I recently read an excellent article in Maharashtra Times. घाईगर्दीच्या निर्णयांत कायदा-सुव्यवस्थेचा बळी - डॉ. पद्माकर रा. दुभाषी लोकशाही प्रशासन लोकाभिमुख व संवेदनशील असले तर त्याला परिस्थितीचे आकलन होऊ शकते. त्यासाठी हेरखात्याचे अहवाल लागत नाही. परंतु आज काल मंत्री व त्यांच्याभोवती घोटाळणारे प्रशासकीय व पोलिस अधिकारी सत्तेच्या धुंदीत सामान्यापासून दूर जातात. ........ शांतता आणि सुव्यवस्था हे निकोप समाजजीवनाचे व्यवच्छेदक लक्षण मानले जाते. आपल्याकडे मात्र शांतता व सुव्यवस्थेचा वारंवार भंग झाल्याचे चित्र दिसते. ते पाहून भारतीय मूळ असलेल्या नोबेल पारितोषिक विजेत्या नायपॉल यांनी 'हजार दंगलीचा देश' - 'अ नेशन ऑफ थाऊजन्ड म्युटिनीस' असे भारताचे वर्णन केले. कोणत्या ना कोणत्या कारणाने समाजाच्या एखाद्या वर्गात असंतोष पसरतो व कायदेशीर रीतीने मार्ग काढण्याऐवजी त्या वर्गातील लोक कायदा हातात घेतात, दुसऱ्यावर व सार्वजनिक मालमत्तेवर हल्ले चढवितात, रेल्वेरूळ उखडतात, हमरस्ते अडवतात, समाजात दहशत पसरवतात व दैनंदिन व्यवहार ठप्प करतात. विध्वंसक जमावाला सामोरे जाऊन भावनांचा उदेक शां...