Election Manifesto: The Missed Points

The most “important” way for “inclusive growth” and “upliftment of the oppressed” in India is Reservation. All political parties believe so. But in spite of all pro-quota parties and their luminary and visionary leaders, there are still many areas “untouched” and I think they also should be considered for reservation. Here is a list:

1. Seats in Indian railways and Air India should be reserved for (15% for SC, 10% for ST, 30% for OBC, 20 % for Minority). After all, these casts have been oppressed by the "upper" casts for centuries. Isn’t it?
i. Any train passing through Maharashtra should have 50% seats reserved for “Marathi Manoos”.
ii. Similar thing will be considered for other states in due time depending on the level of voilent protest they do.

2. How about a reservation in Indian cricket team with the following rules:
i. The posts of captain, coach and vice captain will be alternately held by SC, ST, OBC, Minority and General category player.
ii. No two people among captain, coach and vice captain can be of the same cast at any given time. (This is to ensure that “proper representation” is given to all sections of society.)
iii. The playing eleven MUST consist of 2-SC, 2-ST, 3-OBC, 2-Minority and 2-General category players. In addition, BCCI will file a petition to ICC to increase the number of on-field players to 12 so that another player from ex-defense personal or ex-freedom fighter son category can be accommodated.

3. The planned man on moon mission of ISRO MUST take people from all casts & sections of society in the above mentioned percentage.

4. The posts of PM and ministers should be reserved.
PM – OBC
President – Minority
Defense Minister – ST
Finance Minister – SC
HRD Minister – General (So that Arjun Singh can hold this post to "ensure" proper implementation of the above “policies”)
Etc.

You can add many more points to this list. I just started it. Now we should make sure that all our political parties include this in their election manifesto.

Without Title

Hadu Bondhu Das, a farmer in Kalahandi district of Orissa, a father of 3 children, is contemplating suicide. The never ending draught and loan has left no hope for the future.

Rajiv Ranjan 'Guddu' (who was a good student once) has formed a gang of four to kidnap kids of rich people in Bhgalpur, Katihar, Munger and Begusarai districts region of Bihar. The joblessness in the state has left nothing except this way of earning a living for him and his gang men.

Jokhu Prasad now works as a daily laborer in his village in Gorakhpur, UP at less than half of what he used to earn two months back as an autorikshaw driver in Mumbai. The wave of attacks on North Indians in the city had left him bleeding on the streets two months back. He somehow managed to flee away with his wife Putli and daughter Renu.

Khumukcham Gokul is planning another bloody revolution for Gorkhaland statehood. He thinks that the growth of his community people is not possible in WB.

Naxal groups in Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, AP, Chattisgarh are planning a united approach to combat the police.

Ratan, a clerk at municipality office of Jabalpur has decided to take out his both sons from convent school and enroll them in a government school where his two daughters study. He can not afford the increased school fee of the convent school.

Gopichandar and his family of 4 arrived to Hyderabad this morning. Looking for daily laborer job. Their farmland in Guntur district in AP has been taken by govt which will be used for an SEZ.

Shobhit, a newly joined SET of Infosys has postponded the plan to buy a bike for now and will go to office by BMTC bus. Reason: Increased fuel price and heavy traffic in Bangalore.

The prime minister of India has won the trust vote in parliament today.

At least somebody is happy in India.

What’s in a name?

The family which has done the greatest good to India is the Nehru-Gandhi family.
What else can be the reason for naming several hundreds of important institutes, airports, hospitals, colleges, roads, govt. programs etc after some member of this family. From Indira Gandhi International airport (Delhi), Rajiv Gandhi International airport (Hyderabad), Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Kamla Nehru Road, Jawahar Rojgar yojna………………… and the list goes on and on. Actually it will be hundreds of things for each of the family member. Take Rajiv Gandhi for example:

Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for the children of working mothers, Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship for SC/ST candidates, Rajiv Gandhi National Awards Scheme for Original Book Writing, Rajiv Gandhi Bharat Samvrudhi Yojana-Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission, Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, , Rajiv Gandhi Udayam Mitra Yojana, Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidytikaran Yojana (RGGVY, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Rajiv Gandhi foundation , Rajiv Gandhi shiksha Mission, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Rajiv Gandhi shelter scheme, Rajiv Gandhi Handicrafts Bhawan, Rajiv Gandhi Computer Saksharta Mission, Rajiv Gandhi National Park, Rajiv Gandhi Swavlamban Rozgar Yojna, Rajiv Gandhi Rehabilitation package for fishermen, Rajiv Gandhi University, Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Awards................... to name a few.

Actually as a progressive thinker, I suggest we start naming buildings and institutions on the name of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi (Vadera) and her children. Ultimately these are the people who will do the utmost service to the nation in future. Right?

Is this Democracy or Monarchy?

Singh is King

Dear Dr. Manmohan Singh,

Congratulations for being able to do what you believed was right. Your academic background leaves no doubt that you are an eminent scholar and expectedly you have contributed extremely well as an economist at different national and international positions. But as you yourself admit, you are a politician by accident; I did not have much hope from you as a PM, apart from being free from corruption.

But please accept my hearty congratulations for fighting the lonely battle and at the end convincing your party and allies (barring left) to back you on the Indo-US nuclear deal. I am quite sure that had it been any other Indian politician in your place, s/he could never dare to stake the govt for this (at the time of record inflation and resurrecting opposition). Not that I am happy about the performance of your govt in the last 4 years. I think it was quite pathetic. But this time I am convinced that no one else could have done this. The soft spoken man in turban had the last laugh. I am surprised that media is not highlighting this brave effort of yours. Now, even if your govt falls, you won hearts. Singh is King.

Yours Sincerely,
Sushil Upadhyay

Balance

Randomness is the nature of the nature. The nature is balanced by random forces in all the directions. Consider a closed empty box in your room with nothing but air in it. It is kept on your floor. Suddenly if it starts moving up in the space, how would you feel? :-)
We know that the air molecules in the box move randomly in all possible directions and hence neutralize each other’s forces. But what if all the molecules get motivated and become progressive and all start moving up. They will lift the box. Is not it? It will destroy the physical stability of the universe. Thankfully, nature has balanced things by randomness.

Similarly we always complain about various things not happening the way we think they should. We want everything to be progressive, righteous, correct, ethical etc (definition of these terms vary from person to person). Like the left parties and BJP should let the govt. go ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, the leftists should allow economic reforms and privatization, there should be no corruption etcetera etcetera. But will not USA start taking us as lightly as it takes to UK if we agree to all their suggestions. I do not know whether this nuclear deal will get through or not, but the domestic opposition has clearly told USA that it is not a charity which we will be glad to accept. Mr. Bush had made it look like a charity that he was offering. But the Indian opposition has clarified that it is a DEAL. Not surprisingly, the US media doesn’t talk about it these days. They are embarrassed.

The Vajpayee govt had a separate disinvestment ministry (first time in our history) headed by Mr. Arun Shoury, whose only job was to privatize the state owned companies. But should it be done mindlessly? Remember at what price did they sell BALCO to the Sterlite group? It was much less than the fair valuation. Also is privatization the only solution for progress? What if the private companies start minting money from the public? Remember Reliance Energy (which supplies power in Mumbai) suddenly increased domestic power cost by 240% a year back? Should not monopolies be checked?

So I believe a strong opposition is the backbone of a strong democracy. Without opposition, countries will become like Pakistan. There should be forces in all the directions to balance the things. That’s democratic way. Sure, democracy runs slower but chances of blunder are very less here.

Regarding corruption, everybody is not corrupt. Also, everybody is not corrupt every time. So it’s balanced too. :-)

Understanding Indian Politics

Almost every educated and civilized person believes that democracy is the best way for progress of a country. I am no different. But, I think, pure democracy at all levels will lead to a chaos and ego clashes. Because, democracy makes every person equal, and if everybody is equal, there won’t be any leaders. I will take examples of Indian politics. By all means India is democratic. Ideally our political parties should be democratic too i.e. their leader should be ELECTED by the party members, and it happens; only the elected member belongs to the same family of the previous leader.

Axiom: Only a blood relative of a big political leader has the ability to become a big politician in India.

Proof:

• Congress has the most powerful family at helm. That’s why this party has ruled India the maximum.
• Whereas when we see the other parties, they came into power riding high on the public image of somebody but vanished soon after. Janta Party came into power because of JP (Jayaprakash Narayan), but since JP did not have any scion to take the mantle from him, Janta Party disappeared.
• Similarly BJP came to power because of Vajpayee, but sadly he is a bachelor. :-) So no question of son/daughter taking the responsibility. Today, everybody in BJP is equally big leader and there is no super leader to lead them. That’s causing it’s downfall.
• The sons of Karunadhi are the strong contenders for the crown of Tamilnadu. I can predict the downfall of AIADMK after Jayalalitha if she remains unmarried. :-)
• The sons of Deve Gawda are the most likely for chief ministership of Karnataka in future.
• Sons of Mulayam Singh Yadav are ready to take the UP battle from him. Poor Mayawati, she is still unmarried.

So, an engineer can not certainly produce (biologically) an engineer, same is true for a doctor, scientist, cricketer and so on. But only a big politician can produce a successful politician in India. The world’s biggest democracy is run by monarchs, literally.

Well, this is strange and seems wrong from an idealistic point of view, but it works that way in Indian politics. So the future India will more likely be led by the sons/daughters of Sonia Gandhi, Bal Thackarey, Mulayam, Karunanidhi, Chautala, Narendra Modi…..and so on.


Similarly, there are companies in western countries owned by professionals, but traditionally India has had family owned businesses (the TATAs, Birlas, Godrej, Bajaj, and so on). The globalization has given us the professionally owned companies like L&T and Infosys. But still, till today majority of Indian businesses are owned (or controlled) by families.

Conclusion: Family owned political parties and businesses are most suitable and stable for Indian conditions.

* And Gandhis will rule here generation after generation.