Submission

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The "socialists" are doing pretty well for themselves

Our Hon'ble Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Ramadoss is well known for his crusade against health hazards such as Cola drinks and cigarettes. Pretty soon you will not see any film star smoking on screen, unless the image is pixelated. Not only did Ramadoss take stern measures towards banning cigarette and cola ads, he has spoken out against Cola based drinks several times.

"Sportspersons and Bollywood stars are icons. They should not take advertisement assignments for soft drink companies like Coke and Pepsi since these drinks are detrimental to the health of children," he (Dr. Ramadoss) said.

Naming celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, he said they must desist from promoting "Coke and Pepsi" if they wanted to do some good for society. (11th June, 2006)

Please note the date of the above article.

A few weeks ago, chemical tests conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment found above acceptable levels of toxic pesticides in Cola drinks.

Close on the heels of a major health scare on finding pesticides in bottled drinking water, a non-government organisation on Tuesday claimed that the bottled soft drinks owned by two multi national companies -- PepsiCo and Coke -- also failed the same health standards testing positive for pesticides.

According to the tests conducted by the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of CSE, all samples contained residues of four extremely toxic pesticides and insecticides: lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos. (5th August, 2006)

Bloggers went to town on this report. Needless to say, most people were appalled by the obvious double standards and questioned the rationality behind the contemplated ban of Cola drinks. Quite naturally, communists picked up the story as well and spinned it as an evil capitalistic conspiracy to poison hapless poor Indians. For instance, read the post by this moron, better still read through the comments as well.

So, does this mean no more Cola for you? No worries. The good Doctor Ramadoss has just given a clean chit to Colas. Not only that, he has expressed severe doubts about the methodology followed by the agency.

Health Minister A Ramadoss constituted the committee on August 4 to examine "the methodology of sampling, methodology of testing and validity as well as the consistency of results derived by CSE in its report."

As far as we can tell, the committee has just been formed. It will take a while to go through the documentation and conduct further tests. However, Dr. Ramadoss has no doubts in his mind, just like he has none as far as the OBC reservation goes. Our socialist Gods are beyond question and their actions beyond all scrutiny.

The folks of CSE however are not amused:

I am not at all surprised. It is a clumsy attempt of the Government to give a clean chit to the cola companies...Let us be very curt, it is not the Government speaking, it was Coca-Cola speaking - Director of CSE, Sunita Narain.

In case you are wondering, what made Dr. Ramadoss make a U-Turn on his stand and suddenly start squarely batting for the evil capitalists, we are a little confused too. This was a perfect opporunity for him to push for banning Cola based drinks, especially since he so sincerely believes they harm little children.

I guess we will just let it go at that. We suggest you do that too and enjoy Coca Cola.

Does Professor Gupta need his "Johnson"?

Okay, as our esteemed readers might be aware, the OBC quota thingy is nearing its end-game phase. There is a heck of a dogfight going on regarding who should claim credit for it. Strangely the media is totally mum about the creamy layer aspect and we are guessing it will not be excluded. For more updates on recent developments surrounding these issues, please refer to our good friend, blogger RealityCheck.

About the sixteen-thou-crore dumping on expanding the capacity of the affected institutes - we are still sceptical. We noted that some folks have already swallowed the OBC reservations as a given and at this point hoping that these monies will be at least spent towards infrastructure upgrade. Alas! As our past experience indicates with "development" projects, at least 70% of these monies will go towards enrichment of well connected contractors (read families and friends of Arjun Singh, Ramadoss, Meira Kumar, PC etc.).

So, how will the capacity expansion take place? Glad you asked.

Senior faculty member Ramesh Gupta has said in a published working paper that IIM-A can accommodate 150 additional students and continue being the academic leader even with existing faculty and infrastructure.

The paper adds that even the present hostels are enough. Of 26 student dormitories, two dormitories have been set aside for cultural events and can house 60 students. Also, there is no justification for offering 'married accommodation' for one-year executives' programme. If let out to PGP students, 100 more students can be accommodated.

Yes, it is back to the Nalanda days. Why do students need family lives or even sex? How about cultural events? Aren't they supposed to exercise strict Brahmacharya and keep their noses buried in books?

This reminded us about a comic scene from the cult movie Big Lebowski (not the scene pictured above). The protagonist (The Dude) narrates to his friends that a group of nihilists threatened to relieve him of his manhood.

The Dude: Fuck sympathy! I don't need your fuckin' sympathy, man, I need my fucking johnson!
Donny: What do you need that for, Dude?

We are wondering about that too. I am guessing professor Gupta must be in his middle age. He has already done with his procreation activities. He wonders aloud why do married executives need family accommodations. Does he need his "Johnson" at this point? Would an OBC doctor please detach the totally useless item from his esteemed body?

Brainwashing Cong Style: Catch 'em young

Remember the huge uproar surrounding the inclusion of certain personalities in the educational textbooks during the NDA regime?

Lok Manya Tilak as a militant national and Subhash Chandra Bose as a terrorist, that's not all, sexual innuendos, voyeurism and an ode to naxal poetry, that's what makes up the syllabus for students now.

Published by National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) this year, these textbooks will be read by students form class I to class XI. And for once politicians across party lines rose together in protest.

Now, I am unable to decide which is more atrocious, calling Lokmanya Tilak a militant, branding Netaji a terrorist or singing odes to the Naxals? (I am assuming exposing children to sexual stuff and innundoes in the name of "art" is ok since an IAS officer declared it so). Of course these are rhetorics and pale in comparison to the clear and present danger posed by the huge fan base of Osama Bin Laden in India.

Now. let us see if Netaji deserved the title of terrorist. For the sake of argument, we will assume the line of logic that one man's freedom fighter is always another man's terrorist. For instance, the recent Bombay bombings were acts of vengeance by fighters for minority rights, at least according to some eminent bloggers. Basically, let's just take out the moral element out of it altogether. After this the whole thing gets reduced to a few technicalities which show that:

Netaji:

1. duly formed an army and declared war by accepted conventions
2. fought battles against armed forces
3. didn't carry out deliberate civilian casualties
4. was open to bi-partisan talks and infact did participate in talks with other nations
5. was fighting for a political region he could claim as his own by birth
6. had credible reason to believe that the "occupants" were denying his ilk political freedom

I encourage readers to point out mistakes in my above assumptions. Doesn't sound like a terrorist to me.

How long before they brand Swamiji a Hindu fascist in text books?

Happy Independence Day

Hope by the time you grow up, you will be truly free. Free from the clutches of the communists, the propaganda of the socialists, the violence of religious zealots, ideological impurities such as reservations, political correctness, entitlement mentality ....

Most importantly, free to be able to wave your flag and proudly claim your identity.

Rhapsody in August

You woke up one morning and sneezed. A simple cold. But for you, a life changing event. You are not to go to school that day. You are a school boy in Nagasaki, Japan, the fated day is August 9, 1945. Later in the day, at around 11:00 am, "fat man" would be dropped on your city. All your classmates would get evaporated. Instantly.

Thereafter, every year, on 9th August, you would make a pilgrimage to your old school yard. There would be others too. You would stand in circles around a small memorial, place flowers around it. Every year, till the day you die.

Rhapsody in August is a lesser known Kurosawa film. It is relatively recent, released in 1991. The plot is simple. Four grandchildren visit their grandmother in the outskirts of Nagasaki. The parents of two of them are visiting the US and apparently found the long lost brother of Grandma.

Grandma had lost her husband in the bombings (he was a school teacher in the above mentioned school). She is still ambivalent about America. She is still in pain and she still misses Grandpa.

Would her feelings change when her half American nephew (played by Richard Gere) visits her?

Kurosawa presents a heartwrenching tale of loss, redemption and forgiveness in this gritty film. In one of the most memorable scenes, the grandchildren are walking around statuettes in the memorial park. Each statue is from a different country. They read out the names of the countries. The youngest asks, where is the statue from the US? He is quickly reminded by the others, there is none from the US.

Indeed the Japanese moved on and made the most remarkable success story of the 20th Century. Today they are the second biggest economy.

Fast forward about 60 years. Think about Iraq. It is astonishing what a stark contrast that country makes. Indeed one can not help but wonder, what if we were to gain our independence in today's fractious political environment? What would the likes of Chidambaram, Ramadoss, Meira Kumar, Laloo etc. do?

Wanna play the game of reservation chicken?

Remember the dogfight between various factions over who wanted credit for the OBC quotas? Well, the game has barely even begun.

Divisions within the UPA on reservation for OBCs seem to be widening by the day. After last week's acrimony among senior ministers on quotas comes the latest salvo from DMK chief M Karunanidhi, asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to "respect and respond to the people's mandate by immediately extending reservation to OBCs at all levels and in all institutions under the government of India without any dilution".

"It is strange that the creamy layer concept was not applied to the unreserved category till date...these demands are entirely unconstitutional and unethical"
- Karunanidhi

Strange indeed. At this point it is difficult to speculate who will have the last laugh in this game of reservation chicken.

Voice of the underprivileged muffled by totalitarian regime

The pro-quota folks often thump their chests by equating the numerical strength of the potential quota beneficiaries to democracy. In reality however, the quota benefits are cornered by a privileged few.

The same goes for dalit representation in the media and politics. Do the likes of Kancha Ilaiah, Udit Raj represent the truly oppressed? Don't think so. Same goes for the OBC leadership. These folks claim that the quotas are a triumph of the democratic process. Here is a thought, let's say we take to referendum the best way to disburse the Rs. 16,000 crores (quota cost). What do you think will win? Bags of rice for millions of poor or seats for a few thousand rich OBCs?

Raghav Mahto, the 21-year-old who owns the FM Mansoorpur radio station in Bihar that was shut down a few months ago, has now received an award for his achievement.

And from the small shop Raghav used to run the radio station that broadcasted music and social messages to villages within a 15-kilometre radius.

However, the state government shut down the radio station for running without a license.

This is expected. Raghav probably didn't pander to any political party. All he did was brighten up the lives of folks who will never see any benefits of our welfare largesse. If the quotas are not reaching enterprising folks like Raghav in large portions, they are basically useless.

Read more at the excellent Reality Check blog, here.

Abismal

Who is in charge of The Other Idiots site these days? Possibly not Dilip since he apparently bid goodbye to the blogosphere (speculation is rife why he did that - some claim that he had a spate with Shivam since the latter stole the thunder following the blog bans and published not one but two articles on Rediff, thus getting himself quite a bit of fan following). Can we have some quality control there please? It is alright to rant on your personal blog, not on a collaborative blog ostensibly set up for the very important task of highlighting the plight of the other half.

Here is what Abi writes in his recent post:

I didn't plan to attend the talk, as I wasn't keen on spending the evening before the Varalakshmi Vratam ("undertaken by the sumangalis for ... [among other things, a] long life for the husbands") by sitting through a diatribe against reservation; however, a friend challenged me by calling me a 'conservative' liberal (i.e., a liberal with a closed mind) who's unwilling to listen to opposing viewpoints. Just to show him that my mind was not closed (yet), I chose to go to the talk.

Here is a clue professor, keep your rants and personal life to your personal blog. If you must take on someone of the stature of Arun Shourie, you would sound a lot more credible if you didn't appear like you are desperately trying to untie the numerous knots in your knickers.

Needless to say Abi is still not convinced how reservations mess with equality. For a person who blogs 24/7 on the reservation issue, he is rather clueless about what happens in reality. For instance, he was shocked to discover that there could be creamy layer problem for Dalits!

The holes he points out in Shourie's talk are full of banalities and contradictions. For instance:

Shourie clearly puts growth on a pedestal. Many others take this view, too, and I won't argue with them, except to point out that there are many who wouldn't mind a (slightly) smaller growth if it is accompanied by a more broadbased (and more than proportionate increase in) social welfare.

Then on the issue of more support at the primary level he mocks Shourie:

Well, if loathing the policy of reservations pushes a person like Shourie to support a Big Government Welfare State, I want more reservations. Bring'em on! Yeh dil maangey more!

Make up your mind professor. You wouldn't mind giving up a little growth to send rich OBC/Dalit kids to IIT/IIM/Med schools but the idea to provide mid-day meals to poor school kids appears funny.

We know that Abi is logically challenged and briefly touched upon it here, but didn't know the problem was this severe:

Second, since everyone is in favour of a policy that favours one group (say, the OBCs), the advantage of playing vote-bank politics doesn't accrue to anyone, does it? So, what's the big deal?

Well, you can pretty much extend the logic to any populist measure, can't you professor? Wouldn't that prove that vote-bank politics doesn't exist at all? Or does it only exist when it is politically convenient for you?

But, there was very little passion in the way he pursued the main story line. At some level, he seemed to have reconciled to (the inevitability of) the reservation policy. For example, at one point, he seemd to indicate he would prefer reservations based on economic criteria. At another point, he argued for periodic monitoring mechanisms to keep track of who the real beneficiaries are.

Of course, we will never have any monitoring for the quotas. You see, there is no need, Abi passionately said so!

Dude, where's my manufacturing boom?

If ever there was any effort that was bound to fail at the outset, it was the Doha round of WTO talks. Needless to say, our Hon'ble minister for Commerce and Industry, a very constipated looking Kamal Nath came back home with nada.

The megalomania of our leaders shows no sign of tempering. Remember the Pundit Nehru days when we attempted to become a manufacturing powerhouse by building steel plants? Guess who we partnered with? Yep, the erstwhile Soviet Union. We are still bleeding from those things.

USSR collapsed but we still have those pipe dreams. Drop Rs. 16,000 crores, send rich OBC kids to IIT/IIMs. Problem solved. Might as well adopt the Bernanke solution and drop degree certificates from helicopters in rural areas.

Meanwhile despite the promises of huge incentives by our Hon'ble Prime Minister, farmers continue to commit suicide at record numbers. By now it should have been clear that we need to move large sections of our society from unsustainable areas in the agricultural sector to manufacturing. But with the majority of our leaders busy in social uplifting, that is not gonna happen anytime soon. The failure of the Doha talks means lucrative markets will remain closed to us. Can we bypass the manufacturing boom and move straight into a service dominated economy? Wishful thinking, it didn't happen even for Hong Kong.