tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67416128478225086042024-03-18T14:41:29.332+05:30Footloose and FreeScan Slices on Travel, Health, Personal Finance, Politics, Internet, Movies, Books and Societyneelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-18534126092943870422013-12-31T22:57:00.002+05:302014-01-01T10:11:12.266+05:30Beware of the AAP leftists !Arvind Kejriwal is the new Socialist on the political horizon. I was happy that the era of the economy-killing Socialists got over in 1991, when the Congress party dumped Socialism that kept India poor ever since independence. At least the two major political parties, Congress and BJP, came to appreciate that subsidy was not the way to raise people's standard of living even in the medium term. One by one, the deficit-causing subsidies were getting removed. Unfortunately, this trend will now get reversed, with the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party. The party is headed by left of centre - oriented Kejriwal. Prashant Bhushan, the billionaire Lawyer who is an important leader of the party mouths Socialism of the extreme kind. Yogendra Yadav, the intellectual face of the party leans substantially to the left. Others like Kumar Vishwas, Sanjay Singh etc. do not seem to have any definite views on economy, but they will go along with the populist direction the party is taking. Political decisions such as halving the electricity tariff and subsidizing the distribution companies is old style Socialism and is not good for economic progress. Aam Aadmi Party is more dangerous to the economic health of the country than the old Socialists of the bygone era were, since the Aam Aadmi Party leaders are men of financial integrity and have credibility as politicians since they are not corrupt. Therein lies the danger of people condoning the party's senseless rush on the socialist road. I wish that non-Socialists like Kiran Bedi had joined the party to function as brake on the left-tilt of Kejriwal, Bhushan and Yadav.neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com112tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-51081788039119474362013-12-31T13:51:00.000+05:302014-01-01T10:16:42.989+05:30Aam Aadmi Party is old Socialist wine in new transparent bottle After watching the TV and reading newspapers for the last four weeks, I wonder who really won the last month's mini-general elections. I am confused. The headlines and the detailed reports speak only about the Aam Aadmi Party . I thought that the BJP won majority in the three of the four states and emerged as the party with the highest number of seats in Delhi. But the media has completely side-lined this fact and has been talking only about the AAP. In Delhi, the AAP came a close second to the BJP. That is all. It did not win a majority. With the support of the Congress Party , AAP has formed the Govt. But the fact remains that AAP came second. The media hype is a complete negation of and total distortion of the election results. Let us forget the media's mischief and move on.
How different is the AAP from other political parties? AAP wants to decide all major issues on the basis of the opinion of the vocal section of the population. Those who will assemble on the road and shout 'Yes' or 'No' to Kejriwal's questions ( whether decision A should be taken or decision B) will decide how the Govt. will be run. They call this as real Democracy. They refuse to answer if you ask them what then is the role of the MLA-s elected. Why is a Democracy in which MLA-s within the legislature represent the people outside is inferior to AAP's participative Democracy which is vague and has space only for those who assemble on the roads in the various mohallas for a voice vote and those who keep sending sms messages saying yes or no? AAP ministers will travel by auto-rickshas to the secretariat, particularly if the TV cameras follow them. Fine. AAP leaders will abuse every other party and claim that the only non-corrupt leaders in the entire country are they themselves. Are Modi, Jaitley, Sushma, Advani, Karat, Patnaik, Nitish Kumar, Shivraj Chauhan, Raman Singh, Prithviraj Chouhan , Mamta etc. corrupt ? Never mind. But what are the AAP leaders' economic policies? They are one step behind the communists in this respect. They are more like Lohia-style socialists. They want to give every thing free. Water, Power, houses. They accuse all industrialists as looters. AAP is not much worried about how wealth can be generated. The party wants the existing wealth distributed equitably. They will be happy if they can do just that and nothing more productive. It wants to have a say how the industry should price its products. Good, but who will have the courage to invest in any industry if the Govt. fixes the price of its output ? For eg. electricity.
AAP might change politics positively in aspects related to austerity, listening to people, transparency etc. But the party will take the country to disaster through its socialist , near-ultra leftist economic policies.All the gains made in the last 23 years since liberalization will be wiped out by the by-now notorious brooms. It is too big a price to pay for transparency in public life and checking corruption. There are better ways, better parties to achieve such objectives without destroying the economy. Is any one listening or are all of you busy shouting yes or no to questions of AAP's surveys in various mohallas?
neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-55473800893124343402013-11-19T13:39:00.000+05:302013-11-21T18:23:40.051+05:30The unbearable burden of ID papersIndia suffers from extremes in several fields. Floods and droughts, ultimate prosperity and abject poverty,overstaffed private schools and single teacher municipal schools, space satellites and bullock carts...... The list is long. Let me mention just one more. People with no valid papers to prove their identity and those with multiple documents for every purpose,be it personal identity , proof of address or senior citizen status.Now let us restrict the discussion to the second category in this post since only God and time can help the first category.
The document which most of the people seem to possess is the ration card. It is a little odd that the document which came into existence because of the shortage of essential food items and was designed for facilitating just distribution of such items among the large population became an identity document.Till some years ago, the only document,besides Passport, that was accepted as proof of address was the ration card.To apply for Passport, the basic document required and used was the ration card. In those days, there was no voters identity card. Rent receipt,electricity bill , water bill, telephone bill and bank passbook were not accepted as proof of address.Even as proof of identity, leave alone proof of address, there was only ration card.There was as yet in the horizon no PAN card which is widely used as personal identity these days.There has been a sea change in the last twenty years.More and more people opt to apply for Passport.Irrespective of whether many or only some passport holders choose to or get to travel abroad, the Passport comes handy as a document to endorse personal identity and residential address.Many, if not all, possess voters identity card.This too, like the Passport, is accepted as both personal identity and address proof. Then there is PAN card for personal identity. For address proof, rent receipt, sale deed for the apartment,electricity bill, water bill,telephone (both landline and mobile) bill, LPG gas bill and credit card statements are accepted. The latest document cleared for proof of address is the Aadhaar card.The Indian Government is planning another document called resident card and this will be issued by the National Population Register.
So , theoretically one has several documents which one can use to identify oneself. But it is a different story in practice.If your landlord refuses to issue a rent receipt because of his fear of income tax, then this option of rent receipt as proof of address is denied to you.The electricity bill is in the name of the landlord;so this option too is non-existent. If your Passport was issued in Delhi and you live currently in Mumbai, you have no way of using the Passport as proof of address.If your voters identity card was issued in Mumbai and now you have been transferred to Chennai, you can not use this card as address proof for applying for cooking gas. If the residential phone is sanctioned and paid for by the company you work for, then the telephone bill is not in your name and so it is not proof of your address.You can use the bank passbook as proof of address;but to open a bank account you first need to submit a document for proof of address. You see, obtaining the first document for proof of address is tough;thereafter things get easy.The need is to simplify things in such a way that there is one basic document available to all citizens for use as both personal identity and for address proof. And getting the change of address reflected on this card should be possible without hassles and delay.This single card could be either Aadhaar or modified PAN card. But the issuing agency should be the postal department as its reach and spread is unmatched. Even the smallest villages have a post office. Besides, which other organisation can verify and certify the declared address of a person as accurately and speedily as a post office ? In fact the postal department already issues an address proof card; due to insufficient publicity, not many are aware of it. The master identity card should have a number,the holder's full name, date of birth,address,photo and finger prints.Exactly like the Aadhaar card, but the responsibility for the address declared on the card should be vested with the postal department. Whenever there is change of address, the holder should apply to the post office for verification and certifying and within 2 months of change in address, the card should reflect the change. Aadhaar card, PAN card , Post office address proof card and voters identity card can all be replaced by this basic master identity card. The burden of keeping a plethora of identity documents will be done away with.The ration card will be limited to the original purpose of giving subsidized food to BPL population.Passport use will be confined to its intended purpose of travel outside the country. Driving license will be what it was meant for , namely conferring on the holder the right to drive a vehicle on public roads. Electricity bill, phone bill and gas bill will be what they are in essense and nothing more, bills demanding payment for services enjoyed.neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-23483858524170541542013-11-12T14:40:00.001+05:302013-11-16T19:29:09.979+05:30Meet the ' Villi ' of Tamil TV Mega Serials !Who or what is a Villi? The dictionary would say that villi is a small structure in the intestine. But in Tamilnadu, if you ask a common man who a villi is, he would belly-laugh for a full minute and say " Don't you see movies? Villi is a woman who is unadulterated evil." What linguistic purists would call villainess , we in Tamilnadu name as villi. That means female villain. When ladki can be a female counterpart of ladka , there exists a chachi for every chacha, why not call the female baddie as a villi by giving a tweak to the word villain ? Ethnic logic.
It is some ten years ago that I started watching Tamil TV serials. Since Sun TV has a market share of around 75%, it is generally serials aired by Sun TV that are discussed whenever any one talks about Tamil serials on TV. The world shown in these mega serials is peopled mainly by women. Women of all ages. Men are disposable accessories. The protagonist, the antagonist and the side-kicks are all women. Only the courier boy, the policeman, the temple pujari, the supari killers and the Autoricksha driver are men in the serials. Obviously, they have minor roles to play in the story. Occasionally, the husbands, the father-in-laws and the sons make their humble appearances to help move the story forward and obligingly recede into the background quickly. Otherwise, it is throughout a women's show telecast for women though directed by mostly men. There are two principal time slots for these mega serials. One is between 10 am and 2.30 PM; the second is between 6PM and 10.30PM. Each serial is for a total of 30 minutes out of which about 12 minutes are for advertisements. In this limited time of 18 minutes, the director has to create twists and turns, tears and screams, love and hate. The forenoon, noon and afternoon serials are mainly watched by housewives while they cut the onions, check the pressure cooker, dump the clothes in the washing machine and eat their lunch or get ready for the post-lunch siesta. These serials are heavily women-oriented and the storyline is a throw-back to the 1960-s. Mother-in-law torturing the daughter-in-law, parents of the bridegroom troubling the parents of the bride for dowry, widows bringing up their young children against all odds etc. etc. It is a catharsis for the women viewers. Even if the social changes in the last few decades and the spread of the nuclear family system have rendered the ubiquitous mother-in-law toothless, the serials depict her as an ongoing unwelcome reality. The mother-in-law who watches it has a long sigh, thinking about how fate has cheated her of her divine rights namely torturing her daughter-in-law. She can at least watch the small screen mother-in-law doing things which she herself has always wanted to do, but which the changing times have tied her hands from doing. Euphemism for making the daughter-in-law's life miserable. The real life daughter-in-law watches the serial empathizing with the small screen daughter-in-law though in real life she could be living several hundred kilometers away from her real life mother-in-law and it is the latter who is probably scared of living with the former under the same roof. Though the serials are old fashioned with regard to mother-in-law and dowry nuisance, they do not hesitate to co-opt recent social developments. For example, no serial is free from divorces sought by women themselves on grounds of cruelty by husbands, widow remarriages, upwardly mobile professional women, college girls having boy friends etc.
The evening serials are more generous in accommodating men. The reason is that men who return from their work spend a few minutes in front of the TV before they eat their dinner and doze off. So, one gets to see some male characters mouthing dialogues and playing more substantial roles than in the day-time serials. But even in the evening serials, the main characters are heroine and villi, not hero and villain. A serial producer can break this formula only at the risk of slipping in TRP rating. More than the heroine i.e. good woman , it is the villi, the bad woman who keeps the viewers in thrall. There are two types of villis. The first belongs to the old school of villainy. She wears Kanjeevaram silk saris, consults astrologers ( who in this new millennium still count the star movements on their ten fingers) on when disaster will strike the heroine and her family and abuses one and all in chaste Tamil. Vadivukkarasi belongs to this first school. The second type belongs to the new school of villainy. This new school villi is well-educated, uses plenty of English words, wears kurti and jeans, uses digital technology freely , such as videographing a murder using her smart phone so that she could later blackmail whomever , using a pen drive to copy sensitive information from a company's files, google-searching on her iPad or Android for the best supari talent in town etc. Rani of Athipookkal fame is from this new school. Though there are outward differences between the two types, the basic nature of all the small screen villis is the same. Their sacred mission in life is to destroy good people, rob their wealth, separate couples, kidnap for ransom and such other sadistic acts. Nothing new in this since big screen villis have been assisting the villains in doing this for ages. But what is new is that the villis of today do not need the villains' assistance to do these bad acts ; moreover, todays' female viewers have begun to lap it up and ceased to be shocked no matter to what crude and cruel level the villainy degenerates , as long as the episode remains spicy and absorbing. Every Friday episode ends with such a heart-pounding turn thanks to the villi's machinations that there is tremendous longing in the viewers' hearts for Monday to dawn without delay. The villis have finally edged out the heroines as the pivot of the story and enjoy better billing than any one else including heroines. The only exception to this is Radhika's serials in which importance given to villi is minimal and grudging. It is Radhika all the way, sometimes twice over !neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-71668400978101340752013-11-10T11:24:00.003+05:302013-11-10T11:37:40.954+05:30You, Your maid servant and Mr.Ambani get the same LPG subsidy !What a fair system it is ! You (though I do not know the individual you) earn ,let us say, Rs.50000.- per month. Alright, let us settle it at Rs.60000.- Your maid servant earns Rs.6000 per month through her work at different households. Mr.Ambani, either of the two brothers, is either the richest or the second richest person in India and is one of the richest men in the world. To put out a definite figure as his annual income is an insult to him. Let us simply say that it would be a few hundred crores. You ( also I) and the maid servant will feel small and insignificant before him. But do you know, the government does not distinguish between you three? All of you are equal in the eyes of the Government. In order to pass the ultimate litmus test for equal treatment of the citizens, the government gives the same number of subsidized LPG cylinders i.e. 9 per year to all the three. Not just Ambani is treated as equal to the Aam Aadmi of this country, but Tata, Birla, Mahindra, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Sibal, Mayavati, Amitabh Bachchan, Narayana Murthy and thousands of others who do not need LPG subsidy. Why talk only about them? If you drive a car to your office every day, if you are reading this blog on your iPad, if you visit a multiplex cinema twice a month, if you are taking a foreign holiday together with your family once in two years, then you do not deserve the LPG subsidy. There are people who genuinely need to be subsidized. Think of the situation a year ago. There was no cap on the number of subsidized cylinders. Depending on the consumption, a household could order 6 or even 60 per year. The richer the household is, the more is the LPG consumed. Better-off people get more guests, they have to entertain more; so they consume more LPG. So, before the cap was introduced, richer households were getting more subsidy in absolute rupee terms than poorer households. Can any sane person justify this? But why is that no economist takes note of this fact? The ivy-league eggheads rushing to the media condemning the LPG subsidy as the sole evil causing deficit in economy do not fail to enjoy the subsidy in their own domestic lives. Why do they not advise the Government to keep people of their ilk outside the protective net of subsidy? Why is the media silent on this? Why is there no demand for a more equitable system where only the genuine poor get the subsidy and not those driving a Mercedes ? Not just in LPG, this ' equal treatment of all citizens' can also be seen in diesel subsidy. It is not just the buses and trucks which get subsidized diesel. The huge luxury SUV-s owned by the rich get this diesel subsidy. The diesel cars driven by the upper strata of the middle class enjoy this subsidy. Is it so difficult to identify which section of the population or what kind of use should get subsidy? When income tax rules are framed so meticulously as to cut out the slightly higher earning sections from availing of certain deductions, when ration cards are issued in different colours just to ensure that subsidized rice or kerosene do not get enjoyed by the economically better-off sections, what is the problem in keeping out people who do not need or deserve subsidy in LPG or diesel? Is this vote bank politics? The rich will not shed tears if their LPG or diesel subsidy is taken away. But the vocal middle middle class or upper middle class which is known as chattering class and which is active in social networking sites on the net, picks up a microphone in the guise of a citizen journalist and shapes public opinion will strike back. In a sense, this class too is a vote bank. The political parties are afraid of this section though many from this class do not care to vote in the elections. Vested interests do not originate only from the rich and the super rich. The middle class, leaving out the lower one-third, has vested interests too and its power is ,of late, seen very much in the causes certain TV channels champion.neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-62285908496744630202013-11-09T10:11:00.002+05:302013-11-09T12:18:44.586+05:30The good old Savings Bank Passbook makes a comeback ! In the 21st century upmarket Private Sector Banks !!Just a few days ago, I received an envelope from a leading private bank in which I have a savings bank account. To my surprise, the envelope contained a new Passbook. There was a covering letter which stated that the bank would be doing away with quarterly or periodical (paper) account statements and from now on, transaction entries will have to be got made in the passbook at the branches of the bank. I could not believe my eyes ! Passbook is supposed to be the old world practice, right? Right, at least in the eyes of those private banks who made a dramatic entry into the Indian banking sector 10 or 15 years ago. Only the slow-moving, lethargic PSU banks with pan-eating and perennially gossiping staff managing the counters are supposed to use the outdated passbook system. The new-age swanky private banks with their clean and posh environment and fresh-out-of-university employees are supposed to be different from the PSU banks. In every thing including the way a record of transactions is made available in the hands of the customers! Be it the exorbitant minimum monthly balance requirement for Savings Bank accounts, the charges for asking extra accounting statements, charges for this service, that service and for every service which is really not much of service, penalty for this unintentional mistake on the part of the customer, that insignificant error by the account holder and a dozen other reasons which are no genuine reasons for penalty etc., these private banks boasted that they were different; in fact, several cuts above the PSU banks ! And now, these private banks are coming to the conclusion that a time-tested passbook is a better system to record transactions than loose sheets called quarterly account statements. It is an indirect compliment to the PSU banks who have stuck to the ubiquitous passbook either due to inertia or out of better understanding of ground realities. I for one have always found the quarterly account statements as any thing but practical. One has to file them carefully and keep them safely for future reference. Chances of losing a couple of them are high. A passbook with a thick cover is much better for preservation. To get the entries done in the passbook once in a quarter by going to the bank is no big trouble. A passbook with the photograph of the account holder affixed and complete residential address mentioned , in addition, serves as identity proof or address proof in many instances when such proof is required to be submitted.
So, one private bank has already reverted to the old system of Passbook. The others may follow suit. This makes one thing clear. Do not throw away the baby with the bath water, in the name of modernity or innovation or the urge to be different ! Some practices which are old may still be worth conserving, when seen through the prism of practicality and simplicity. Lastly, the PSU banks, with warts and all, may still be having their ears closer to the mouths of the customers than the private banks. neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-69306846313428035552013-11-08T14:36:00.003+05:302013-11-08T22:10:21.684+05:30E-filed your IT return? But whose e-mail id is in it?As more and more income tax assesses have to or choose to file their income tax returns electronically, certain things have to be kept in mind. One of the important things to watch out is the e-mail id you give in the ITR. Many e-file their returns through chartered accountants or income tax consultants. It is more often than not that the CA-s / IT consultants give their own e-mail id in the ITR rather than that of the assesse. This is done with the good intention that the consultant can keep track of the receipt of ITR-V at CPC, Bangalore since CPC sends a mail confirming the receipt of ITR-V at their end. So far so good. But problems arise when you change the consultant or decide to e-file on your own next year. After the assessment, CPC sends an intimation under section 143-1 either indicating a refund or raising a demand ; this intimation is sent through e-mail to the mail id declared in your relevant ITR. When your former IT consultant receives it, he might not forward it to you if he has no records of your e-mail id because of the fact that you are no more his client. So, whenever you e-file your ITR through a consultant, insist that your e-mail id is declared in it rather than that of the consultant. This is for future. But those of you who have just changed their consultant or begun filing returns on their own and so have missed out on the intimation sent by CPC on their last year's returns should log on to the e-filing website of Income Tax Department and change their particulars regarding e-mail id to which information should be sent by the IT department. In addition, they can ask for a fresh electronic copy of CPC intimation under section 143-1.
neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-84171909493185934152013-11-05T18:47:00.000+05:302013-11-09T12:01:56.192+05:30Red Bus is neither red nor a Bus !Red Bus is no Bus, leave alone the colour of the bus being red. It is just a ticket for Omni Bus in India. www.redbus.in is an online bus ticket booking site. I have very pleasant experience with the above site in booking bus tickets.The ticket selling company has tie-ups with 350 bus operators for a total of 4500 routes. The company was started by some software engineers of Bangalore 7 or 8 years back. I hear that the company has just been bought over by ibibo for hundreds of crores.
What I liked most with their system is that they have been able to persuade at least a few bus operators to accept mTicket. mTicket is simply an sms message sent to the passenger's mobile phone after the ticket is booked.No print-outs to be taken. No worry about losing the print-out. The mTicket gives all the relevant information such as the name of the vBus service operator, the boarding point, the destination, the ticket price , the departure time, the seat number etc. You can simply show the sms to the conductor of the bus and get in. It is a boon for those passengers who have a computer and a net connection, but no printer to take a print-out. Of course, a copy of the ticket is sent to the e-mail address of the passenger. Those uncomfortable or unfamiliar with online booking, virtual ticket etc. can opt for phone booking and delivery of a conventional paper ticket. Even Sunday home delivery is available in a few cities.
Like with any other online ordering, you can use credit card, debit card or internet banking. In addition, cash on delivery mode is available. You are charged Rs.40.- for delivery of the ticket at your door step. If both onward and return journey tickets are booked simultaneously, the payment is Rs.40 for both together, not Rs.40 each. Quite fair.
I find the facility to choose the seat on the basis of the pictorial information given on empty seats extremely useful.
neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-73324081341677705382013-10-20T12:47:00.001+05:302013-11-09T14:11:27.800+05:30The Persistent Pigeons of MumbaiIt is more than a minor battle. It is a major war. How does one scare away the pigeons from one's balconies, flower-beds or the windows of one's apartment?
The pigeons are birds who prefer to live in buildings rather than on trees. Unlike crows or other birds, they build nests for breeding in whatever safe places are available in houses, large residential blocks and industrial buildings. They breed four to six times a year. Once the eggs are laid ( two each time), you can forget evicting them for two full months i.e. till the eggs are hatched, the babies grow up and get wings to fly out on their own. If you fail to use the small time gap offered to you between one cycle and another, you will have to wait for another two months. Unless, of course, you are the type who is capable of evicting mercilessly the parent-pigeons and the baby pigeons by any means. I am not that type. So, I utilized the time gap by watching the birds every day and the moment, the young ones started flying, I just waited for two days to ensure that they can really fly and then had the balconies covered with a nylon pigeon net. The net is really good, costs about Rs.1200 for 10'x7' and the labour for fixing it another Rs.1000 or so. But before laying the net, there was this enormous task of cleaning the place dotted with the accumulated droppings of the pigeons. It is said that the wet droppings are not harmful, but dried droppings, which create polluted dust while being swept, could cause respiratory problems for the human beings. Therefore, it is advisable to wash the place first with phenol-mixed water before removing the droppings. Now, where have those pigeons gone? They are going to apartments in higher floors and one day they will be evicted from there too. Already, some residents of the higher floors are consulting me on the nylon net. By the way, pigeons avoid ground floor apartments. The higher the apartment is, the safer for them it is, they seem to think.
If you think that the pigeons can be scared away by shouts or threatening them with a stick etc. , you are mistaken. Pigeons are very persistent. They are a highly intelligent species. I have read that it is one of the only six species who can pass the ' mirror' test i.e. they can recognize their appearance in a mirror. I am told that they can recognize all the 26 alphabets of the English language. No jokes. Give a google search command and satisfy yourself. Tests have established this fact in U.K. Of course, the Indian Pigeons might fail this test; they should be taught Devanagari or South Indian scripts.The point is that they remember their homes and so in spite of your driving them away every time they appear in your balcony, they will return sooner than you think. This 'homing' talent of the pigeons has been very well utilized by the human beings since centuries. Sending messages through pigeons to places several hundred kilometers away was a common thing in the past. In the first world war, pigeons were used by army units to convey messages regarding troop movements and survivors to the high command and vice-versa. I have read that a particular American carrier pigeon named Cher Ami was decorated with the French Award 'Croix de Guerre ' for its heroic service of saving 200 men through timely delivery of 12 messages during World War I. Not only that, after its death, its name was inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame. If you disbelieve me, press the Google button again.
Some more interesting facts about Pigeons. They live for about 10 years. They originated from northern Africa, particularly Egypt. Since there were no trees there, they lived on the rocks. So, subconsciously they perhaps fear trees and prefer solid structures to live and breed in. All religions are sympathetic to pigeons. The Sikh religion connects the pigeons with reincarnation. Guru Gobind Singh's pictures show him with a pigeon. The other Indian community which feeds pigeons regularly, in my opinion, is the Gujarati community. Pigeons are monogamous. The male pigeons woo the females through puffing up their neck feather, bowing and running around in circles at the same spot. The moment you watch this drama unfolding and thereafter their locking their beaks together in an ecstatic dance, beware and rush to buy the nylon net for your balcony. Otherwise, you must wait for two more months till the logical culmination of one complete breeding cycle. Do not complain later that I did not warn you.
neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-45856286068333957802013-10-18T12:12:00.002+05:302013-12-01T14:14:29.171+05:30 Modi , the fire in the BJP's bellyWhy is Narendra Modi feared? The answer is not difficult to find if we first ask the counter-question. Who fears him? The vested interests. The politicians of different parties. The ' secular' lobby who wants to keep the minorities illiterate and poor by treating them as a vote-bank. Those journalists , both from the print and the electronic media, who sell their souls to politicians , power brokers and corrupt businessmen for the sake of a few foreign trips, liquor bottles ,routine gifts and a rare nomination to Rajya Sabha or some Govt. body. The NGO-s who have profited from making poverty a business idea. The corrupt officers of the Government departments. it is not the Aam Admi who fears him. Otherwise why should every survey of public opinion put him on top of the list of preferred Prime Ministerial candidates?
The vested interests do not want to see some one in a powerful position, who can not be bought. They looked for and failed to find any price tag on him. The man has no wife or kids. He has no interest in amassing property for himself or for any one else related to him.His mother lives in a small apartment with his brother. His brother uses public transport. None of his relatives has become rich , exploiting his or her closeness to the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He refuses to wear a scull cap just to please a certain section of the people. He does not grant special interviews to high profile media stars, giving them a huge break in their career. So, all the men( or women) in black ( or with black heart) have no option but to hate him; this man threatens their very survival in a way no politician has ever done before.
Nehru was totally out of touch with ground realities. He was an European in Indian skin. His wooly non-alignment and disproportionate interest in international politics consumed most of his time in office. Shastri was a grass-roots leader, but remained as PM for too short a period to make a difference. Indira Gandhi could be pampered through sycophancy and servility to the Family and crumbs of privilege fetched from her. Rajiv Gandhi could be softened through Doon School connections and support on controversial issues like Bofors . V.P.Singh was on a hopeless trip to find a mention in the history books for cleansing the society of caste system; he had no time to notice the looters as long as they did not oppose Mandal. Narasimha Rao was an old world politician and had use for courtiers as long as they loathed the Gandhi family. Gowda was a sleeping farmer,any one whose waking hours are short could not be a threat. Gujral thought most of the time about making peace with Pakistan where his birthplace is located; he was hardly aware of what was happening in India. Vajpayee as PM was a goody-goody type, wanting to take every one along with him. Being a poet, he could not be stern even with the bad but powerful elements of society. Man Mohan Singh carries out the Family's orders; so why not court the Family instead of him? Now comes a man from the land of Mahatma Gandhi and says' Better behave or else....' , showing the stick. You can not bribe him. You can not frighten him. You can not blackmail him. He is both honest and efficient. He has no feet of clay. No scams. Is not afraid of criticism.What choice do the vested interests have other than fearing him and expressing their fear through hate articles and hate comments? Pity them !
Every time a Burkha Dutt or a Vir Sanghvi or a Manish Tiwari or a Jairam Ramesh or a Diggy Raja or a Renuka Choudhary badmouths him, a couple of hundred thousand voters join the Modi bandwagon afresh.
Chug Chug gaadi Modi ki, Pakad gayi ab tej Gati, Socho mat kahin beech me aane ki, Pahunchayegi bure logon ko avashya kshati !
neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-73848801510631265902013-10-14T14:13:00.000+05:302013-11-08T22:12:18.945+05:30Check Income Tax e-filing website regularly !Many of you might be visiting the income tax e-filing website only at the time of filing the annual returns. People who file their returns manually never visit this site in all probability. Even those who file their returns online might be doing so through their chartered accountants / income tax consultants. Those assessees might never be visiting this website for any reason. But it is necessary for all the assessees to visit this site periodically. Why must one do so? Read below.
Because there might be outstanding tax demand under section 143-1a for some previous assessment year. Hard copy might not have reached you due to reasons such as the Postman finding your door closed and returning the notice to the sender i.e. IT department, your present address being different from what you gave in your PAN application years ago or even what has been given in your latest return etc.
If the demand raised in 143-1a notice is not acceptable to you, you can file a rectification application under section 154 to the department within 5 years. But if you have never got the 143-1a notice in hand, how could you do that?
The amended website lets you check several other things. The refund/demand status, ITR-V receipt status, return processing status, rectification status, 26AS statement , your jurisdictional assessing officer etc. One can change one's postal address, e-mail address etc. too through this website.
There are a few things one can check without logging in but by just mentioning your PAN number when asked for. But several other requests call for a propler log in with your PAN number , the password and date of birth. For this, you can use the same password which one uses at the time of e-filing. But if you still file your returns manually, then you should register yourself with a password so that one can use the website for many needs.
neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-13804301285423048102012-05-16T12:11:00.000+05:302013-11-09T13:51:47.991+05:30Arnab Goswamy, you are messing up our lives !Well, Arnab is only an euphemism. Not just Arnab Goswamy, also Rahul Kanwal, Burkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai and other major and mini-celebrities of the 24-hour TV channel world !
There used to be a time when we, the Aam Admi types, worried only about our jobs, the bosses, the salary cheques, the taxes and the domestic servants. But look at today's situation. When the clock strikes nine, Arnab Goswamy , the Assam-born Bengali babu with a boyish face peeps into our drawing room. His eyes are already red. His nostrils grow wider by the minute. His lips quiver with emotion. His voice thunders. He is the new angry young man of the decade.From the TV screen , he looks at you intensely through his bifocals, exactly as Amitabh 'Vijay' did 40 years ago, but without spectacles, in 'Zanzeer'and delivers his lines in a steadily rising pitch. Amitabh used his fists to beat up the villains, this Goswamy chap lashes at the netas with his sharp tongue.Amitabh at least used to take a few blows before he decided 'enough is enough' and went about breaking the bones of the villains. But Goswamy never gives a chance to any of the discussion panel members to as much as even open their mouths. The moment some one dares to do so, he shouts the poor man down, accusing him of being a friend of scam-infested A.Raja or Kalmadi.The panel members become speechless; after all, who would like to be thought of, by the National TV-viewers as being in the company of the 2G Rajas and CWG Kalmadis? I have heard that even Mani Shankar Iyer known as Cyanide-tongued Iyer is powerless in front of Goswamy. To emit cyanide, Iyer should be able to open his mouth but Arnab has already sealed it for the duration of the debate !
Your blood boils when Shri Goswamy , without the slightest trace of Rosha Golla in his accent, exposes the various misdeeds of the politicians. You want to join Goswamy in rooting out the society's ills by doing whatever you can, though you realize that all that you can do is to send an sms to Times Now expressing your support. Goswamy goes home happily and Times Now laughs all the way to the bank, but what about you? You retire to your bed worrying about what to do to to prevent the female infaniticide, to pass the Lok Pal bill, to stem the menace of the Maoists, to tackle across-the-border terrorists etc. etc. You have lost your sleep and you would soon your hair. If you close your eyes, Babu Moshai Goswamy is back with a vengence, talking about some scam or the other in your nightmare. What has happened to your life?
Did you ask what has happened to your life? Well, it has been taken over by the TV. These 24x7 news channels have succeeded in convincing you that life is not worth living. After watching them, you suspect a dead rat in every corner.You start suspecting every one, be it the courier boy, the newspaper vendor, the neighbourhood kirana store annachi, the coconut vendor or the Kulfiwala and even his uncle. There has to be a scam. There has to be a misdeed. Lurking somewhere. Well-hidden and white-washed. Soon, Goswamy will expose it. If not Goswamy, the Punjabi lad Rahul Kanwal will do it gladly. Or the good old ( no pun intended) Burkha. All that you have to do to learn about it is to become a couch potato at 9 every night. And watch in horror the Goswamys, the Kanwals and the Dutts in blood-churning action ! Phew ! Life was a lot better in the pre-cable days !neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-5293471882566364362012-04-07T22:19:00.008+05:302013-11-09T14:02:16.083+05:30Laptop 'bye bye', Tablet 'come hither' ?Till a couple of years ago, there were predictions that the desk-top computers were a vanishing breed and the Laptop computers were the future. Part of the prediction has already come true. Desk-tops are being bought less and less. But the other half of the prediction is increasingly being questioned. The arrival of the sleek Tablet computer has queered the pitch for the Laptops. <br /><br />People graduating from a desk-top face the formidable question. Graduate to what? Laptop? Or, Tablet? What is the difference between the two, Laptop and Tablet?<br /><br />A laptop is a mobile computing device. But the Tablet is even more mobile since it is far lighter than a Laptop. But this extra mobility of the Tablet comes with a disadvantage. A Tablet can have roughly one-tenth of the storage capability of a Laptop. So, there is a limitation with regard to what it can process. Some one with needs for business computing would find the Tablet grossly inadequate. He has to depend on a Laptop for the heavier tasks.<br /><br />But every one does not use a computer for business. Many use it for sending e-mails and surfing the net. They want to play music. They want to watch videos. These people account for the bulk of Computer users. For these, Tablet is ideal. Its storage capacity is sufficient. Besides, the Tablet battery lasts far longer, almost 10 hours before needing a recharge. A Laptop battery lasts half this duration. So, if some one's use of computer is more while travelling, then the Tablet with its powerful battery is more suited. Besides, while the Laptop can be used for surfing the net only through Wi-fi during travel,the Tablet can have 3G connectivity. Finding a Wi-fi connection while on-the-go (except in Hotels and Airports)is not easy in India.So,3G on Tablet is a boon. <br /><br />If you have a lot to type, then Tablet is not for you. It does not have a physical keyboard. It has only a virtual keyboard.With such a keyboard,your finger often hits the character adjacent to what you had instructed it to. You are better off with a Laptop, if you want to write pages and pages. If you are a Twitter user, Tablet is just fine.<br /><br />There is no simple printing solution available for Tablets. Laptops are just like desk-tops and any printer can be used.<br /><br />Many wonder whether the term 'Apps' refer only to applications developed specially for Tablets. Of course, since the adevent of smartphones, the word 'Apps' has come to mean application softwares developed for smartphones and tablets. Originally, apps meant any piece of application software. For example, Word, Excel, Skype etc. But since these softwares suitable for desk-tops and laptops can not be used for Tablets or Smartphones because of the difference in the system software, special versions had to be developed so that they could be used in the ambience of the mobile operating systems such as Android.These softwares developed specially for mobile operating systems began to be called Apps. The Android apps can be used only in Tablets that have Android operating system and Apple apps can be used only for iPads manufactured by Apple.<br /><br />Laptops permit only Skype video chats. But many Tablets permit net-independent video-calling since they have front cameras and phoning facility.<br /><br />With Tablets, you can have GPS navigation just as in smartphones. This feature has excellent practical value.<br /><br />You can use Tablets to read e-books. 7" or 10" inch screen is good enough for strain-free reading.<br /><br />To sum up, if you use a computer for fun and entertainment rather than for heavy information processing and business applications, then the Tablet computer is ideal for you.neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-39573517259910863872012-04-05T12:40:00.010+05:302012-04-12T14:08:18.752+05:30The Tamil Lingo, its amusing side<div align="justify">The Tamils (including yours sincerely) are proud of the fact (?) that their language can survive without Sanskrit words, unlike the North Indian languages and even other South Indian languages. But without intending to offend the die-hard extremists of the linguistic kind, let me show you some examples of the Northern words infiltrating the Tamil language over the centuries ; the Tamils, of course, can argue in a face-saving way that they have avoided the linguistic pollution through assigning totally different meanings to such imported words. </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><br /><br />SAWAL: This is obviously a Hindi word. In Hindi, it is used to mean a question. The Tamils freely use this word in their every day speech. But they use it to mean ' challenge'. In Hindi, there is the word Chunauti for challenge. But the Tamils have made a simple sawal into a formidable challenge. Did you see how cleverly the Tamils have tackled the challenge of the Hindi offensive?</div><br /><br /><div align="justify">KHAALI: This Hindi word means 'Empty' or 'Free'. Do you know how the Tamils handle this khaali stuff? They have made two words, one Khaali and then Ghaali. While I was a kid, I did hear people using the word Khaali to mean empty or free, in the same way the word is used in Hindi. But in the recent years, I have been noticing the Tamil people saying Ghaali to mean empty . And a person with bad character has always been referred to as a Khaali in Tamilnadu. Now this Khaali with 'K'......does it not have a similarity to the Hindi word Ghaali which means abuse or use of foul language? So, Tamil Khaali is Hindi Ghaali and Tamil Ghaali is Hindi Khaali. Now no one can tell us that we are using foreign words. We have distorted them sufficienly so that they have lost their original meaning.</div><br /><div align="justify">KHILADI: This Hindi word simply means a player. But the Tamils do not call their sportsmen as Khiladi. For that they use the word 'veeran'. It means some one exhibiting heroism. Cricket veerar, Kabadi veerar etc. And what do the Tamils mean when they say Khiladi? They use it to mean some one with negative traits. </div><br /><div align="justify">There are several such Hindi words ( or words of Sanskrit lineage) which have been accommodated in the Tamil language. This was done at a time or during an age when love for a language did not connote fanaticism. </div><br /><br />Now, let me shock the non-Tamils by saying this. Do you know that the Tamils never drink coffee? Oh no, not even Tea. Why so? They do love coffee, tea and other beverages. But they do not <em>drink </em>them. They <strong>eat</strong> them. Yes, they use the word ' sappidu ' which means 'eat'.They do not use the word ' kudi' for consuming coffee, tea etc. which is the correct word for 'drink'.They say 'Coffee sappidu' (eat coffee), not 'coffee kudi' (drink coffee). As far as I know, the Tamils use 'kudi'or 'kudithal' (drink) only when they refer to water and liquor.<strong></strong>But why bother about such puzzles? Let us say 'Cheers!' to the Tamils and drink a tumbler of <strong>STRONG </strong>Kappi.neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-56331328598391428662011-11-01T19:00:00.004+05:302011-11-01T19:43:30.034+05:30Damaged currency note from Bank ATM?<div style="text-align: justify;">The Reserve Bank of India says that you can walk into any bank irrespective of your having an account in it and demand that the damaged or torn or mutilated currency note you have unfortunately come to possess during one of the several monetary transactions in daily life be exchanged for a good one. But that does not seem to be applicable to damaged notes spit out by the ATM machine. At least, that is what the bank in which I have a Savings Bank account has told me.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Recently, I withdrew some cash from the ATM machine nearest to my residence. For the first time in over three years, there was a torn note among the several notes. Had the torn note been of a lower denomination, I would have pasted a cello- tape on it to cover the torn portion and given it in some shop while buying some goods. Even the shop keeper would have ignored the cut and paste job. But this note happened to be a thousand rupee note. No shop keeper accepts a thousand rupee note without examining it thoroughly. Since there have been news reports of counterfeit currency in circulation, particularly in 500 and 1000 denominations, every one is very careful. Naturally so. I had no option other than to take it to my bank and ask for an exchange. The official at the cash counter asked me for the ATM slip which one gets from the machine while withdrawing money. Luckily, I had it with me and handed it to him. To my surprise, the official said that the particular ATM from which I withdrew money is maintained by a distant branch and not the one I have account in and to which I have come. So, he said, the solution is to travel 6 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">km</span> to that branch and get the note exchanged. I could not agree to the impractical suggestion and I insisted that the note be exchanged at this very branch. The poor official had to go the branch manager, however reluctantly so and get his consent before issuing me a new thousand rupee note, as a one time exception. But he made it clear that in future, I should approach that branch whichever is responsible for maintaining the particular ATM , if I had a similar problem. Alternatively, I should choose that ATM which is just outside any bank branch so that one just walks into the branch and gets the job done if the note needs to be replaced. This, in effect, would mean that I should give up the luxury of using the ATM which is less than 100 metres from my residence and instead have to walk nearly a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">km</span> to withdraw money from an ATM which is directly outside the bank. Sounds illogical, right? Though torn notes from ATM are not a regular <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">occurrence</span>, possibility does exist ; the fact that if you need to withdraw Rs.10000.-, the ATM <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">coughs</span> out 9 thousand rupee notes, 1 five hundred rupee note and 5 hundred rupee notes makes the probability, however small, of a thousand rupee note being torn rather than one of smaller dimension being so does make one a bit nervous.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-19208726315396926292011-09-01T19:28:00.004+05:302011-09-01T20:01:26.006+05:30Form16A.....find the devil in the fine print !<div style="text-align: justify;">When every year you calculate the income tax to be paid, you do take into consideration the interest income you have earned on your bank fixed deposits. Form 16A which is also called the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">TDS</span> certificate is issued by the bank after the end of a financial year. The form mentions the interest paid/credited for the four quarters, and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">TDS</span> ( tax deducted at source) amounts for the four quarters. This information is an important input for your arriving at the total tax to be paid and balance tax to be paid after considering the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">TDS</span> amounts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Very few people pay attention to the other details mentioned ( or to be mentioned but not actually mentioned) in the form 16A. How would you know that the bank has deposited the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">TDS</span> cut from your interest in the Govt. account? For this, you must check whether transfer <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">challan</span>/voucher number is given for every <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">TDS</span> amount mentioned in form 16A. The bank is supposed to file a quarterly <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">TDS</span> return to the Income Tax department for all the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">TDS</span> amounts cut from each of its customers . These returns are now filed electronically. The returns are uploaded to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">NSDL</span>/TIN . When the uploading is successful, TIN issues a receipt . So, form 16A which your bank has given you must contain the receipt number. This receipt number is an 8-digit alphabetical combination. If this number is not given in your form 16A, you must demand from the bank that they mention the receipt number. Receipt number is the only proof that the bank has filed the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">TDS</span> returns. If they have not filed the returns, then you do not get tax credit in form 26AS. The income tax department goes by whatever is mentioned in form 26AS.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another important thing to be checked is whether the bank has mentioned your PAN number in the form 16A. If they have mentioned it in ink while the rest of the details are printed, chances are that the bank did not mention your PAN number in their <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">TDS</span> returns. Without PAN number being there in the bank's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">TDS</span> returns, the income tax department can not link the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">TDS</span> amounts to your PAN number; so you do not get the tax credit for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">TDS</span> cut and deposited. Such <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">TDS</span> amounts will not appear in your form 26AS. You will soon get a letter from the income tax department raising questions on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">TDS</span> amounts you have mentioned in your IT returns.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Do not have blind faith in your bank. While their intentions may not necessarily be suspect, the bank employees' well-known negligence might land you in problems. So, go through your form 16A before you file your IT returns and ensure that mistakes in the form are corrected well in time.</div>neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-27711792971545773062011-03-19T21:03:00.003+05:302011-03-19T21:40:34.178+05:30Play of Money in Tamilnadu Elections<div style="text-align: justify;">In the Indian Elections, money has always played a role. Obviously, I am not referring to the genuine expenditure incurred by the candidates. Cost of posters and hoardings, expenses for organising public meetings and rallies, money spent for scores of vehicles hired and food for the volunteers and political workers. These are definitely expenses which are justifiable. But the unjustifiable and illegal expenditure namely money paid to the poorer sections of the electorate for voting in favour of a particular candidate has assumed alarming proportions.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Tamilnadu</span> has been a pioneer even in this evil practice. Every election has seen more money flowing by way of bribe. The recently innovated '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Tirumangalam</span> Formula' is an euphemism for buying votes by giving <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">exhorbitant</span> and unprecedented amounts to a large section of people irrespective of their financial status. The 'Scientist' (!) who invented this formula is none other than <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Alagiri</span>, one of the sons of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Karunanidhi</span>, the Chief Minister of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Tamilnadu</span>. It is an innovation in the sense that money was delivered to the voters of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Tirumangalam</span> where a by-election was held, in the early hours of the day and hidden between the pages of morning newspapers. Estimates of cash paid for a vote vary between Rs.500.- and Rs.5000.- There are reliable reports that if a family has 4 votes, it was paid Rs.20000.- That would mean that if there is a deficit of 10000 votes (assuming that money need not be paid for all the votes obtained by a candidate) , an expenditure of Rs.5 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">crores</span> would be able deliver this number of votes. For a party which has earned thousands of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">crores</span> through corruption while being in power, spending a total of Rs.500 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">crores</span> in about 100 assembly constituencies is no big deal.<br /><br />One genuine question needs to be asked in this context. Is it not imaginable that people accept money but do not necessarily vote for the candidate who bribed them? Observers of the political scene say that a promise is extracted from people who are being paid substantial bribe; the promise is that they will vote for the candidate who bribed them. This promise is demanded in the name of God. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Tamilnadu</span> rural folks being very religious and God-fearing, this method works perfectly; not many betray or go back on their promise. While people getting money along with their newspapers in the early mornings have no promises to keep, those voters who <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">are personally</span> handed over bulk amounts ( say Rs.5000.- per vote) for their entire family are asked to promise and they keep their word irrespective of their liking or otherwise for the candidate.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Tamilnadu</span> has been leading the country in many fields and the people of the state are rightly proud of such feats. But it is a pity that the state has started pioneering novel methods of bribing voters. This is one innovation that the state will have to feel ashamed of.<br /><br /></div>neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-5090284908387384232010-12-01T12:04:00.003+05:302013-11-09T14:03:32.778+05:30Nira Radia Tapes and fall of a giant from the pedestal<div align="justify">The most important fall-out of the leak of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Radia</span> Tapes is the fall of an important figure from the public pedestal. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Ratan</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tata</span>. He has been no.1 in the list of the few industrialists and businessmen that the Indian public trusted. But the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Radia</span> Tapes have damaged that reputation. The fault is not with the people who leaked the tapes. The fault is not with the magazines which published them. The fault is with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Ratan</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tata</span>. If you keenly listen to the tapes and digest the contents, it becomes clear that <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tata</span> dreaded the probable return of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Dayanidhi</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Maran</span> as <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Telecom</span> Minister. He wanted some one, any one other than <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">Maran</span>. But <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Raja</span> was good enough for him. Pliable, accommodating, approachable, practical. Seen in the context of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tata's</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">telecom</span> interests, the desire to see <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">Raja</span> as <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">Telecom</span> minister is not all that saintly. In fact, the efforts mounted to bring <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Raja</span> as <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">Telecom</span> minister is very evident from the tapes. This effort made by <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tata</span> , besides of course others, has dented <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tata's</span> image, may be irretrievably and for ever. This is sad news for a man who will be retiring in a year or two.</div>neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-82733567921460184132010-07-19T22:38:00.014+05:302010-07-20T23:01:16.629+05:30Tamil Newspapers and their news priorities<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVxmUpS2gI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/TObMicR-jZw/s1600/SDC10045.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495923823466437122" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVxmUpS2gI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/TObMicR-jZw/s200/SDC10045.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVxCBYKJWI/AAAAAAAAAJI/83JtEmMJxJw/s1600/SDC10044.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495923199818999138" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVxCBYKJWI/AAAAAAAAAJI/83JtEmMJxJw/s200/SDC10044.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div align="justify">While I buy 'The Times of India' newspaper for national news, I buy a Tamil newspaper to get to know what is happening around me. The Tamil newspaper ' Daily <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Thanthi</span>' costs more than the Times. However, it has less number of pages than the Times. The print quality is pretty good and a lot of colour is used. There are more advertisements than what Chennai edition of the Times manages to get. The most important thing to note is that <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Daily</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Thanthi</span> is one of the highest circulated vernacular newspapers in the country. Now let us see what constitutes 'News' as far as this paper is concerned.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">The front page news invariably is about the state of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tamilnadu</span>. Right now, there is an investigation going on into the duplicate mark sheet scandal. On the 15<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> July, this was the main front page news. The only other news on the front page was the police firing in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Andhra</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Pradesh</span> and the consequent death of 4 agitating fishermen.The rest of the front page is dotted with colourful advertisements .</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">In the inner pages, considerable space was devoted on the above date to the following news items. 1. Life term punishment to the Bangalore woman who murdered her fiance with the help of her lover eight years ago. There is a large colour photo of the grim-looking woman published. 2.Arrest of the clever real estate owner who succeeded in selling Govt. lands to a Govt.-owned oil company. Photo of the clever man published. 3.Large photo of actor <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Sarath</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kumar</span> seeking the blessings of the chief minister of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tamilnadu</span> on the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">former's</span> birthday. In the photo, the actor is smiling broadly, his wife Radhika is smiling more broadly and the C.M. is almost laughing. 4.Half of page 5 is devoted to the speech given by the owner of the newspaper at the inaugural ceremony of a 3-star hotel at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tiruchendur</span> in South <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tamilnadu</span>. 5.Suicide of a Kannada film actor after murdering his wife.Photo of the actor and his wife taken in better days published. 6.Arrest of more persons in the case involving corrupt chief engineer of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tamilnadu</span> Electricity Board. (Photo, though not in colour, of the corrupt chief engineer and his corrupt deputy.) 6.Arrest of the married lover of a murdered woman on charges of homicide. (Photo of the married lover-boy turned murderer published).7. The editorial page has an editorial questioning the Govt.'s choice of the persons for Republic day awards. But three times the space given to the said editorial has been given to what the chief minister Mr.<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">Karunanidhi</span> has written in his party's newspaper 'Murasoli' attacking the opposition leader Ms.<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Jayalalitha in chaste Tamil</span>. </div><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">If I have not listed any major national news ( not considering the judgement on Bangalore woman and the suicide of Kannada actor as neither national nor very major) among the seven items mentioned above, the fault is not mine. There is very little national news in this newspaper. There are three or four national news items ( <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">BJP</span> protest against <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">Karnataka</span> Governor, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">Manmohan</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" class="blsp-spelling-error">Singh's</span> speech on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" class="blsp-spelling-error">Naxalites</span> etc.) but tucked in some corner of inner sheets. Of course, those readers hungry for national news can locate them with some effort. And some sports news, stock market news etc. too are found.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">One should not forget that this newspaper has its fingers on the pulse of its readers who <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">constitute</span> a substantial percentage of the state's population. So, assuming that the paper gives what its readers want , people 's primary interest is what happens in the immediate surroundings of theirs. Say, within a radius of some 250 to 300kms from their home. This must be true about people in other states of the country as well; and about regional newspapers in other parts of the country too. Murders most foul, the police catching the murderers, the background of the murder, major thefts in the locality, film actors' real life affairs and other extra-curricular activities, Sex S<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" class="blsp-spelling-error">anyasis</span>, their extra-religious but juicy escapades.......... these are what sustain people's interest and the readers get their '<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" class="blsp-spelling-error">paisa</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_25" class="blsp-spelling-error">vasool</span>' if the newspapers sprinkle such news liberally and make them well-spiced. Economy, GDP, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_26" class="blsp-spelling-error">Indo</span>-<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_27" class="blsp-spelling-error">Pak</span> dialogue, Afghanistan, global warming, Maoists ....... these must be happening in another planet, a million kilometres away from where the readers live in flesh and blood. Are the English newspapers listening? </div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify"></div></div>neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-34951312768974122032010-07-19T18:20:00.003+05:302010-07-19T19:00:13.655+05:30Paranormal Activity<div align="justify">Recently I watched the English movie " Paranormal Activity". I understand that the movie has been shot with a shoe-string budget. No recognizable actors. No superb cinematography. But the effect the movie creates on the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">viewer</span> is terrific. The fear that we all have, at least most of us have, for entities that are not human has been well-exploited. I do not remember to have seen any thriller or horror movie in which suggestion that something sinister is about to happen is used so effectively. There are two endings in the DVD. I do not know which ending the movie screened in cinema halls has. But the DVD gives you a choice. Though both the endings are tragic, one is more dramatic while the other is slightly less stomach-churning. I strongly recommend that you see the movie. But there is a strong possibility that if you see the movie late night, then the hours following the end of the movie will see you sleepless, avoiding looking directly at every shadow that appears on the window glass of your bed room .</div>neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-29053216617700814322010-07-19T16:08:00.025+05:302010-07-20T15:28:38.958+05:30Turkey- a slice of my experiences<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVt3JBfPXI/AAAAAAAAAJA/Cts3nZbkVBs/s1600/SDC10028.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495919714357951858" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVt3JBfPXI/AAAAAAAAAJA/Cts3nZbkVBs/s200/SDC10028.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVtIZo-DWI/AAAAAAAAAI4/iX-06Br_7Iw/s1600/SDC10025.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495918911364664674" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVtIZo-DWI/AAAAAAAAAI4/iX-06Br_7Iw/s200/SDC10025.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVscs2Gn6I/AAAAAAAAAIw/sXRJ5FElBRM/s1600/SDC10033.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495918160605781922" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVscs2Gn6I/AAAAAAAAAIw/sXRJ5FElBRM/s200/SDC10033.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVr4bTvBqI/AAAAAAAAAIo/yvSyjevmcQY/s1600/SDC10036.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495917537422935714" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVr4bTvBqI/AAAAAAAAAIo/yvSyjevmcQY/s200/SDC10036.JPG" /></a> <div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVpbCwHz5I/AAAAAAAAAIg/lhKj_tBpHfU/s1600/SDC10024.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495914833591652242" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVpbCwHz5I/AAAAAAAAAIg/lhKj_tBpHfU/s200/SDC10024.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVousOPgxI/AAAAAAAAAIY/Zph_SWxMYPo/s1600/SDC10020.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495914071629726482" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVousOPgxI/AAAAAAAAAIY/Zph_SWxMYPo/s200/SDC10020.JPG" /></a> <div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVoJtwQAFI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/WU0yuMzc6u0/s1600/SDC10007.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495913436385640530" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVoJtwQAFI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/WU0yuMzc6u0/s200/SDC10007.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVne7ZUiTI/AAAAAAAAAII/6D64qTJ_MTE/s1600/SDC10009.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495912701313190194" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVne7ZUiTI/AAAAAAAAAII/6D64qTJ_MTE/s200/SDC10009.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVmx6H9UZI/AAAAAAAAAIA/avjM8wKG_mw/s1600/SDC10022.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495911927877816722" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVmx6H9UZI/AAAAAAAAAIA/avjM8wKG_mw/s200/SDC10022.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVkuP2lVcI/AAAAAAAAAHw/XMLcTE1ScLA/s1600/SDC10026.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495909665967789506" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RQu7gAInDkY/TEVkuP2lVcI/AAAAAAAAAHw/XMLcTE1ScLA/s200/SDC10026.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="justify">I had done quite a bit of research on the net prior to my trip to Istanbul. I had even identified an Indian restaurant in Istanbul, since finding a restaurant for vegetarian food is quite a task while travelling anywhere outside India. I had informed myself about how the taxi drivers in Istanbul used a novel method to cheat the tourists. I had noted carefully how Turkish Lira had undergone three changes in the last 5 years. But the real life experiences do not exactly go the way one had prepared oneself for. Well, not all surprises are unpleasant !</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">Actually, Turkey is well-known for its <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Mediterranean</span> cuisine. It has plenty of vegetables and fruits in it, besides olive oil. But <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Mediterranean</span> cuisine is more common in places like <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Antalya</span> than Istanbul. Nevertheless, I identified a Turkish vegetarian <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">restaurant</span> in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Istiklal</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Caddessi</span> area of Istanbul. I could have gone to the Indian Restaurant <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Musafir</span> easily. But I was more interested in eating vegetarian food in an authentic Turkish Restaurant. And I did find one small joint after some enquiries in that area. I was not in for disappointment. What the restaurant called Vegetarian Plate had tomato soup, rice( a bit sticky ), <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">brinjhal</span> , some green salad, a loaf of bread and a sweet. Finally Turkish coffee. Very satisfactory evening. While in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Antalya</span>, I had it much easier. Every lunch or dinner I had in the hotel had plenty of green salad, cooked vegetables , nuts, fruits etc. Besides, of course delicious Turkish sweets. </div><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">But the taxi drivers proved more cunning than what the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Internet</span> had informed me. I had read on certain travel websites that the taxi drivers used to cheat the tourists, taking advantage of the similarity in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">appearances</span> between the 5 lira currency note and the 50 lira one. When the passenger gives the driver a 50 lira note, the latter instead of giving the balance claims that the passenger had given only a 5 lira note and shows a 5 lira note. The 50 lira note very quickly had vanished into the driver's pocket and equally quickly a 5 lira note appears in its place in the driver's hand.The tourists try to argue but finally get tired enough to shell out the taxi fare once more. There are dozens of complaints of this nature in the said travel websites. But what happened to me was something entirely different. Tired after a visit to the museums in the far-away Sultanahmet area of Istanbul, I decided to hire a taxi to reach my hotel which was in the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Taksim</span> Square. The driver at the very outset made it clear that he would not be switching on the meter and would be charging 25 Lira since the traffic, according to him, was heavy that day. I agreed and got into the taxi. The driver appeared friendly and even identified me correctly as Indian. He kept chatting about the chaotic traffic in Istanbul; it was another matter that I did not find the traffic in Istanbul half as chaotic as in Mumbai. Finally when the taxi reached <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">Taksim</span> , I paid him the agreed 25 Lira. He got furious and said that what we had agreed was 35 lira. I heard it as 45 lira and asked him " 45? no, we agreed on 25". He replied " I am not asking for 45, but just 35." He was pronouncing 25, 35 and 45 in an identical way. I think that it was deliberate on his part. Then he showed the meter which he earlier had said he had no intention of switching on ; the meter showed 40. I had no choice. Heads or tails, the driver wins. I paid 35 lira and got out red-faced. So, the drivers in Istanbul can beat you in the game of taxi fare whatever be your <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">preparation</span>. </div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="justify"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-9837582724284749752010-06-27T13:54:00.002+05:302010-06-27T15:02:17.353+05:30Identity Politics, a Divisive Mantra<div align="justify">Politics itself is divisive. It does not unite, but divides. However, democratic politics is unavoidable since no better system of governance that would have the stamp of approval by the governed has yet been invented.But identity politics is pure poison.</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">*<strong>Linguistic Identity Politics</strong>: Linguistic states were formed in India in 1956 with the good intention of encouraging preservation of sub-cultures. Culture of a society is very strongly bound with the language spoken by the people of a region. But look at the consequences of the formation of linguistic states. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Biharis</span> are beaten up in Maharashtra. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kannadigas</span> do not want to share <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Cauvery</span> water with the Tamils. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kannadigas</span> and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Maharashtrians</span> are <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">quarrelling</span> over the district of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Belgaum</span>. Assamese resent Bengali immigrants. But what was most unexpected are the fissures within a linguistic state. U.P. a Hindi speaking state could not satisfy the aspirations of its Hindi speaking hill-inhabitants and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Uttarakhand</span> had to be formed. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bihar</span> , another Hindi-speaking state had to agree to let <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Jharkhand</span> region to have its own state since the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">tribal</span> there felt being exploited by the mainstream people of the rest of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bihar</span>. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">Telengana</span> people can not stomach the dominance of their <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Telugu</span>-speaking brothers in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">Andhra</span> and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">Rayalseema</span> areas of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Andhra</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">Pradesh</span>. The people of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">Chattisgarh</span> separated from the Hindi-speaking state of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">Madhya</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" class="blsp-spelling-error">Pradesh</span> though the people of both M.P. and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" class="blsp-spelling-error">Chattisgarh</span> speak Hindi. Now, the people of western <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" class="blsp-spelling-error">Uttar</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" class="blsp-spelling-error">Pradesh</span> want a separate state. The Marathi-speaking people of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" class="blsp-spelling-error">Vidharba</span> region want a separate state carved out of the Marathi-speaking state of Maharashtra. It is clear that concept of linguistic states has failed.Language alone can not unite.</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><strong>Racial Identity Politics of Dravidian parties</strong>: This is much worse than linguistic politics and has the potential to split the nation. The British , for their own selfish reasons, propagated the theory of Aryan-Dravidian divide. In the early part of the last century, some organisations in the then-Madras Presidency started using this theory as a tool to beat the upper castes of the state with; it was widely perceived that the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_25" class="blsp-spelling-error">Brahmins</span> of the South were originally from the North and by implication, they were not part of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_26" class="blsp-spelling-error">Dravidians</span>. So, some of the educated non-<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_27" class="blsp-spelling-error">Brahmin</span> communities effectively deployed this perception to bring down the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_28" class="blsp-spelling-error">Brahmins</span> from the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_29" class="blsp-spelling-error">latter's</span> dominant position in the society and professions. When the country <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_30" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">achieved</span> independence, some new political parties were formed in South India and these parties in their efforts to defeat the Congress party used the weapon of ' <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_31" class="blsp-spelling-error">Dravidians</span> being different' to spread hatred against the North and by implication the all-India Congress party. This poisonous Aryan-Dravidian theory ( which has been rubbished of late by many historians as baseless) brought the Dravidian parties to power and gave the people a fictitious feeling of having men of their own feather in power. But the damage the Dravidian identity politics has caused to the sense of unity is considerable. </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><strong>Religious Identity Politics</strong>: In the name of secularism, most of the political parties have been deceiving the minorities ; they talk of protecting them without doing any thing substantial to improve their living standards. But this very talk is seen by the Hindus as appeasement of minorities. This reaction by the majority community has enabled the more extreme sections of the Hindu population to practise politics based on religion. The issue of secularism has dominated politics for close to two decades, creating a set-back to efforts to tackle real issues like economy and governance.</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><strong>Caste Identity Politics</strong>: South India started it ; the politicians connived among themselves to award the Backward community status to most of the castes. The so-called upper castes were systematically edged out of the Public sector and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_32" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Government</span> job market. In that process, they were driven out of the state; huge sections rendered helpless by the unjust reservation policy migrated to the North in search of higher education and employment. The politicians of the South especially <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_33" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tamilnadu</span> are gloating that they have solved the caste problem; what they have done is execution of a South Indian brand of ethnic cleansing. Bloodless, if it offers any consolation. The Northern states have just begun messing up with the caste issue. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_34" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mandal</span> was the start. In the north, it is <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_35" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">competitive</span> backward politics. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_36" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mulayam</span> - <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_37" class="blsp-spelling-error">Laloo</span> brand which recognizes only <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_38" class="blsp-spelling-error">Yadavs</span> as the backward community deserving help, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_39" class="blsp-spelling-error">Nitish</span> brand which talks about the Most Backward Communities ( <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_40" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">euphemism</span> for all backward communities except <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_41" class="blsp-spelling-error">Yadavs</span>) etc. This fire which has been started by the politicians will not stop in a hurry. What gets burnt out and what escapes unscathed are things that are in a sealed container called Future.</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"> </div>neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-16484837795939619802010-06-23T14:32:00.003+05:302010-06-23T15:23:09.026+05:30Bhopal Gas Tragedy - A Witness<div align="justify">I was a resident of Bhopal when the tragedy in the form of leakage of a deadly gas from a factory struck the beautiful city of Bhopal. The tragedy happened , I remember, around the time between midnight of the 2<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Nd</span> December and the early morning of the 3rd December 1984. I was fast asleep and so perhaps was every one of my neighbours in the posh residential area <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Arera</span> Colony . <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Arera</span> Colony is situated some 10<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">kms</span> away from Union Carbide factory where the leakage of gas <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">occurred</span>. When I got up at 6.30 am on the 3rd of December, there was commotion in the street outside. People were looking scared, talking among themselves in small groups in fearful tones. The servant maid just then entered our home and gave us the piece of information. "Gas has leaked and several are dead". Gas? Which gas? LPG? She said, not domestic gas, but some factory gas. Those were not days of round the clock Television. We had to switch on the radio ( which was yet to become a museum object) to learn more about the gas leak. Soon it became clear that some poisonous gas had leaked out and killed thousands of people in the older section of the city.My neighbour suggested that we must drive away to the nearby town of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Hoshangabad</span> since there were rumours that the wind was pushing the gas towards our part of the city ( This was later found to be false). The main road was already chocking with cars and scooters and people were trying to get as far away from the affected part of the city as possible.We decided to stay put and wait for the Govt.'s advice. Soon it became clear that the lake, a prominent landmark of Bhopal, had acted as a shield and checkmated the spreading gas, confining it to a smaller area in the older part of the city. Unfortunately, the older part was also the more crowded part. That was why the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">casualty</span> figures ran into thousands.</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">Bhopal was stunned into inaction for several days thereafter. There was hardly any one other than the rescue workers venturing into the affected localities. On the third or the fourth day, myself and a colleague of mine drove to the old city . There was eerie silence <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">everywhere</span>. Some dead bodies were still on the street corners. It was not the lovely Bhopal I had come to know in the previous two years since my shift from Bombay . Soon, the profiteers and bad elements took over the scene. Blankets and clothes donated freely to the suffering people started appearing dramatically in the evening market for sale. Social service organisations, some of them genuine but many of them out to make a fast buck out of the tragedy descended on the scene. There was even a cartoon in the Times of India ( by <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Lakshman</span>) which showed a big-built suited-booted lawyer from the United States bending his huge body to meet the eyes of a roadside beggar and asking him " Hey, would u like to sue the Union Carbide? This is my business card. 50 percent would be my share". </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">25 years have passed. Who knows how many of those affected still live? Who knows how many of those claiming today to have been affected that day 25 years ago are really those whom the poisonous gas had harmed? The sudden swing into action by the Govt. of India and working out a relief package are laughable. 25 years for the court to deliver a judgement? Can any thing be more cynical than this? Would the world have condoned Union Carbide and Anderson if the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">disaster</span> had happened in some Western country? Would the compensation amount given by Union Carbide have been so low? Human lives are cheaper here, right? </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">What has the country learnt from this industrial <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">disaster</span>? Is a disaster-management plan ready? Will it be far less damaging if a second Bhopal were to occur somewhere? </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div>neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-31257150867892744892010-06-23T13:47:00.004+05:302010-06-23T15:23:58.912+05:30Low Interest Regime - Pensioners' Dilemma, Industries' Bonanza<div align="justify">If the interests of any two groups are diametrically opposite, then they are Pensioners ( Retired people) and Industries.</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">The industries and the Business want lower lending interests from the banks. When they borrow at higher interests, their cost of production goes up. The demand as an inverse function of the price of products goes down. The Businesses make lower turnover and lower profits. So, whatever be the rate of inflation, the business lobbies with the Govt. and the Reserve Bank of India to retain the lower interest regime. In these days when every one watches the GDP rate , the Govt. certainly does not want the rate of growth to slip and get the blame for slowing down the economy. If inflation climbs up , the Govt. thinks that the growth in economy will put more money in the hands of the people and silence cries of protest on inflation. Well, to some extent, the Govt. is right. With pay-packets constantly on the rise, the public in the age group 25-60 is not as worried about inflation as used to be the case a decade or two ago.</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">But there is one group which is eyeing the double-digit inflation with tremors and low interest regime with annoyance. It is the pensioners. Those people whose survival depends on the pension they receive or the returns they get on their investments. This group gets hit on both the fronts. High inflation reduces the value and purchasing power of the money they have. Besides, the low interests offered by the banks on the deposits ( which depend on the RBI monetary policies) put less money in the hands of these people who do not earn a salary income any more. Many pensioners think and rightly so, that they can fight inflation through judicious expenditure of money and wise choice of goods to be bought. But they are helpless when the interest income on bank deposits keeps decreasing as keeping the cost of money low enough to benefit the industries becomes the guiding mantra of the Govt. This dilemma of the pensioners has no chance of a happy resolution since numerically the pensioners are a small minority in a country where the majority of the population is under 40. </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div>neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741612847822508604.post-72850250967575632822010-02-09T17:33:00.005+05:302010-02-12T13:04:27.869+05:30The Hindi Movie Jism, a carbon copy !Recently, I saw two DVD-s one after another. It was purely coincidental that I had ordered on the DVD rental company <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bigflix</span>.com <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Jism</span>, a Hindi movie released in the year 2000 and Double Indemnity, a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Hollywood</span> movie released in 1944. The two DVD-s were delivered to me on two successive days.<br /><br />The English movie was delivered first. I enjoyed the movie very much though the movie had been released more than 65 years ago. It was a black and white movie. The director kept the tempo alive till the very last frame. It deals with an insurance salesman who falls for the charms of a scheming woman who wants her husband to be murdered and to pocket the money from a double indemnity insurance policy. The insurance man resists at first; but the fatal attraction that the woman holds for him makes him commit the murder. It is too late already when he discovers the true nature of the woman.<br /><br />To my utter shock, I discovered that the Hindi movie <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Jism</span> had the same story line. Since there was a time <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">interval</span> of 5 decades between the two movies, the producers of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Jism</span> perhaps thought that no one would notice; even if some film buffs do notice, they would not mind. But in my case, I saw the two movies back to back; on two successive nights. Without the prior knowledge that the Hindi movie was a carbon copy of the English one. I felt angry at the producers of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Jism</span> for such a blatant pilferage.<br /><br />The Indian story unfolds in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Pondicherry</span>. John Abraham is a lawyer ; in the English movie Double Indemnity the fact that the hero is an insurance salesman lends <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">enormous</span> authenticity to the wily woman <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">targeting</span> him to be the tool of her wicked plan. After all, the main purpose was to get the insurance money and who better than an insurance salesman can be of help !The Hindi movie has kept the basic features of the plot such as the woman having been earlier the nurse who had murdered the rich man's first wife before marrying him, her pretending to be in love with the hero etc. But the hero being a lawyer and not an insurance man robs the movie of the cleverness of the plot to murder the woman's husband. In the English movie, the care the insurance salesman takes to create witnesses for the train journey the victim undertakes and the tension the eccentric and unpredictable but seasoned boss of the salesman causes to the salesman after the murder make the movie gripping. In the Hindi movie, murder is committed in a very <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">amateurish</span> way and even a child could demolish the alibi the hero creates to prove that he is not the murderer. In place of the insurance man's boss playing a vital role in the English movie, the Hindi movie creates a police inspector who is shown more emotional than rational. The songs and dances that are typical of any Indian movie drive away the edge-of-the-seat feeling a viewer could have been made to undergo in a suspense thriller.<br /><br />Having twisted unsuccessfully the original plot in order to create an impression that this one is a different movie , the Hindi film carboncopies some scenes needlessly ; one such scene shows the tense hero trying to start the car( after the murder) , the woman watching his unsuccessful attempts and snatching the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">ignition</span> key from his hand and starting the engine in a jiffy. In the English movie this scene adds to the suspense since the car is only a few metres away from the Railway track where the body of the woman's husband had been thrown by the lovers . In the Hindi film, since the corpse is thrown in a deserted factory ( without even a night watchman being present to guard the factory ) , the scene of the lovers trying to hurry away in a car that has starting trouble looks unconvincing and leaves the viewer cold.<br /><br />My respect for the old <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Hollywood</span> thrillers has increased after watching Double Indemnity and its unprofessional imitator <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">Jism</span>.neelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17860213360525198045noreply@blogger.com1