Ramachandra Guha's violent assault on history

Ramachandra Guha sure has a knack for stereotyping. In a recent column, he called Punjabis cheats. Now he claims that "we" have a violent streak (thanks to Sandeep for bringing this to our attention).The question is, who is "us"? The final para of the column offers some clues, it is Hindu men.

So we are violent, claims Guha. Can we have some benchmark here please? Are we more violent than Genghis Khan? How about the Japanese during the height of their imperial triumph? The caliphate? Crusaders? Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao? Vikings? American settlers in the early days? Darfur marauders? Also, will this benchmark be applied in real terms with some statistical backing (say per capita casualties, violations etc.) or will it be administered through mind reading?

Some of our sec-soc friends are actually right. We do need real universities. Since almost every kid is doing computers these days, we are seeing some serious scarcity in the liberal arts arena. People like Guha are jumping in to fill the void.

Guha claims that Subhas Chandra Bose was violent because he gave the following speech:

"Friends! My comrades in the War of Liberation! Today I demand of you one thing, above all. I demand of you blood. It is blood alone that can avenge the blood that the enemy has spilt. It is blood alone that can pay the price of freedom. Give me blood and I promise you freedom." (Burma, 1944, speech as Indian National Army commander)

Blood? Ooooh! So scary! Bring me the smelling salt.

Now let's see here. Here is an example of a typical speech by an army commander when he is about to send his troops in harms way:

"Boys, I want you to piss your pants, throw your rifles and run back to your mommas."
(England, 1944, General Patton)

Just kidding. He said something to the effect that he didn't want those sons of bitches (meaning the troops) to die for their country. He wanted them to make the other sons of bitches (meaning the Germans) to die for their country. (full speech).

Violent? A commander delivering a rallying speech before sending his troops into war. Violent? Huh?

Guha mixes excerpts from the Congress election manifesto, the Guardian newspaper, heresy evidence and his own interpretation of religion and culture to prove that we are - well, violent. Apparently every other historical text is wrong but his. The world war never happened. The Brits left solely because of the steely determination of Gandhi and Nehru. Guha finds roots of Subhas Bose's violence in the cult of Kali. Has he even taken the trouble of researching Subhas Bose? Bose's father had gurus from both Shakto and Vaishnava traditions. Bose was most influenced by Rishi Aurovindo's philosophy. In real life Bose was the most amiable person possible, not the bloodthirsty animal Guha wants to paint him like.

This is seriously funny. Richard Nixon was a Quaker, Jimmy Carter a Southern Baptist. Look what happened! By the way, Guha is a pure Tamil (as far as we know), in case you are wondering.

Most of the article is basically gibberish, bearing no resemblance to actual history and offering no real insight by way of analysis. As usual, he plays the victim:

As it happens, those who lost the political argument continue to have millions of followers and admirers. The chief architect of Indian freedom was Gandhi; the chief architect of Indian democracy, Jawaharlal Nehru. However, were a poll taken among middle-class men, Savarkar, Bhagat Singh and Bose would all garner more votes than Nehru and - in some states and among certain communities and classes - even more votes than Gandhi.

Now you begin to see Guha in true light. If certain communities do not accept his version of history, they are the bad ones. How true is his claim that Savarkar, Bose or Bhagat Singh would garner more votes than Gandhi? Why, then, do we have a party of perpetual Gandhi flashers in power?

Many ordinary Indians also admire him, as witness his presence on posters and calendars in middle-class homes across the land. Bose’s appeal is enhanced by the fact that for the bulk of his career he operated within the mainstream of, indeed at the very top of, the national movement. He was twice elected President of the Indian National Congress. That he then broke away from Gandhi and company and forged an alternative path of his own places him in a different category from Savarkar and Bhagat Singh.

Well, we have Osama's picture in ordinary homes too. Our political leaders name their kids Stalin. Bose broke away from Gandhi? Come on Guha Sahib, you can do better than that. The Gandhi-Bose feud is well documented.

In nothing else have Western writers gone more wrong about Gandhi than in overlooking his insatiable love of power and implacability in its pursuit. In this he was no different than Stalin. Only, he did not have to kill because he could eliminate his opponents equally well by means of his non-violent Vaishnava method. (I need not repeat here that he was a devout Vaishnava.) A well-known Bengali tale illustrates non-violence as practiced by Vaishnavas. One day a renowned Vaishnava, who was passing near some men who were about to kill another man, their enemy, stopped in horror and cried out: 'Hold, hold! Don't kill a creature of of Krishna!. ' ' What then should we do?' asked the men. The Vaishnava replied: 'Tie him up in a sack and throw him into the river.' This according to the Vaishnavas was not killing, but the non-violent way of getting rid of enemies. This was done. In like manner, Gandhi had Bose put into a sack and thrown into a river. Bose succeeded in breaking out of the sack, but his swimming strength was insufficient for him to attain either bank of India's river of politics. He was carried downstream, out to sea, eventually to reach foreign shores - only to die. Trotsy was murdered in Mexico. Bose was killed in an air crash on Formosa. Their modes of death was different, but the end was the same; a necessity in both cases for the man in power. (reproduced from Thy Hand, Great Anarch!, Nirad C. Chaudhuri).

It is quite clear that Guha is trying his very best for a national award. Any more of Nehru and Gandhi invocation (right now he averages about a dozen per passage) and he is a sure bet for next year's Padma Vibhushan. He is also showing signs of desperation. Mid-terms polls may come up. He has just released a book, the timing is just right. God forbid, if a communal party were to come to power next year.....

No Civics - just life stories

We first learned about the new NCERT Civics text for the seventh grade from an article in The Hindu. The article was ecstatic in praising this book. Apparently this book, titled Social and Political Sciences II, replaces Civics. According to the article, the book tends to avoid definitions to sum up a concept. It uses case studies and narratives instead.

During our time, Civics used to be a pretty dry subject. You had to memorize the names and functions of the pillars of democracy, i.e. the democratic institutions. You learned about your rights and duties. You also learned about the constitution.

Instead, this new book has a comicey feel to it, among other things it features images from the hit movie Deewar to illustrate the concept of dignity of labor.

This got us curious. We decided to analyze the book and find out what it is all about.

The very first thing you note about the book are the ugly black and white drawings. Through these drawings, the students are introduced to the socialist narratives. The book is chock-full of various social programs undertaken by the Congress led Government, for instance the mid-day meals (which prominent social activist Chandrabhan Prasad considers a total failure besides being a misguided populist measure).

While it is expected that a people friendly Government will try its very best to indoctrinate children in socialism, your eye doesn't really pop out until you come across this:

This friends, is the Article 15, according to this book. Note the missing three most important clauses. Now, given that this book is meant for 12-year olds, you could argue that they are not mature enough to understand the implications of the clauses (3) , (4) and (5). Unfortunately this is not the case. The students are expected to not only understand but react to this:


The second chapter introduces the concept of universal healthcare. The usual ideas follow, for some reason Kerala and Costa Rica are presented as two model places which implement ideal healthcare policies.

The third chapter introduces the idea of state versus central Government, their roles and responsibilities and also the concept of MLAs and "opposition". There is a comic strip in which two girls are going to school when they come across a Bandh. There is a loudmouth person with an antiquated PA system who the girls identify as the "opposition" leader. The girls sneer.

The very next page elaborates on a state assembly and explains who are the rulers and who are the opposition. It is no coincidence that they pick Himachal Pradesh, pointing out that BJP is the opposition.

This is not an isolated example, the book picks several socialist success stories from Congress or Left states.




In Chapter 4, the concept of housewife is demonstrated using a Sikh family. Chapter 5 features an exercise in which students are asked to draw pictures of people employed in various professions. Then they are supposed to tabulate the number of students who drew a picture of a male or female for any given profession. Most surprisingly, the chapter also provides model answers, which is supposed to be something like - farmers all males, nurses all females etc., i.e. the students are supposed to stereotype and then be told that gender stereotypes are wrong. This is seriously funny.

Chapter 6 through 9 brings up establishment related issues. These parts deliver a strong doze of socialist economics, the communist manifesto would have been a better substitute. The book regretfully informs the students that the big media houses influence public opinion and how that is a bad thing. We recommend that as a practical exercise students take a tour of CNN-IBN.com. The book informs that advertisement spending is evil because it tilts the game in favor of the big manufacturers who spend crores on meaningless ad campaigns that add no value to society. Markets create inequality, only favoring certain parts of the value chain. Finally, in chapter 10, as a glowing example of a socialist success story, the Tawa Matsa Sangh cooperative story is narrated. This one happened during the previous Congress regime in MP.

There is a reason Civics was taught the way it used to be taught. It tells you in concrete terms where you stand in the democratic ecology of a country and indeed what those institutions are. This appalling book does a travesty of education by adding conclusions, value judgments and sometimes twisted facts and statistics.

How about these for life stories:

• The average wealth of Congress MPs is over 3 crores and this is merely what they publicly state. Meanwhile the PM criticizes CEOs for making too much dough
• Dangerous games are played with the constitution on a daily basis. Right now, several unelected members of the Left parties have gatecrashed into the parliamentary process.
• This should be a case study titled "How you can bypass the constitution". Ninth schedule anyone?
• Now that farmer suicides are causing widespread embarrassment, they are being elevated to the status of a "national crisis". Gee, where did I see that before?
• You don't have to be a citizen of this country to be a member of the parliament, as Congress MP Subba has demonstrated
• In Maharashtra, every politician has a cooperative, a sugar mill and a college.
• You don't really need a majority to grab powers, for instance Goa.
  

This is not the only assault on textbooks. Congress plans an ever deeper revision of the texts until they become indistinguishable from the party's election manifesto.

Only in India!

We had quotas, then came reservations. Slowly "Affirmative Action" crept in too. Now we will also have "Positive Discrimination"!

Everybody happy!

Easy come, easy go

Congress is known to have a cavalier attitude towards issues such as national security and citizenship. Now they are embracing escaped convicts from other countries as their members.

Moni Kumar Subba, Congress MP from Tezpur in Assam, flashes his birth certificate when he is accused of being a foreigner who has faked his identity.A CNN-IBN investigation in March 2006 exposed Subba for lying about his place of birth and hiding his Nepalese identity. The birth certificate is the only document Subba has to prove his Indian citizenship, but a CNN-IBN investigation has again established that the certificate is a fake and that he is a foreign national. [link]

Subba is also suspected of being a convicted felon in Nepal. But then again, that may not be such an exclusive honor for a member of the Congress party.

This is not the only case where a person without proper citizenship holds a prominent political position.

An LJP legislator from Bihar has been asked by the Election Commission to explain her position in response to the allegation that she was not a citizen of the country. Nagina Devi, MLA from Bathnaha, received a letter from the EC asking her to be present in person on September 17 to explain her position on the allegation that she was a Nepali citizen, official sources said on Tuesday. In the event of her not turning up, it would be deemed that she had nothing to say in her defence, the letter said. [link]

While we are at it, there is no harm in checking out some of the MPs and MLAs from West Bengal.

Char Bigha Zamin

Priyanka Vadera's four-bigha plus agriculture plot in downtown Shimla fills the void that makes the surroundings a VIP Enclave in the real sense of the term. [..]

"It was the best available land that we have got for the daughter of our leader Sonia Gandhi," KS Khacchi, a local Congress worker, said. "The best possible efforts would be made to ensure that the structure that comes up is unique and scenic in more ways than one," he added.

Khacchi played a key role in buying the land for around Rs 46 lakh at the Government rate. Otherwise the land would have cost much more, given the proximity of the plot to Kalyani Helipad, Kufri village [..] [link]

Given that we have a surplus of social justice wallahs, farmers and locals are regularly getting the short end of the stick as far as land deals are concerned. Farmers have received abysmally low prices for their lands starting from Singur to Gurgaon. This farce continues, as Reality Check reports here.

Meanwhile, influential people continue to get land wherever they want at throwaway prices. This is a double whammy for the economy. First, the real land owners get zilch. Second, land is grabbed by people with political power who may not be the best users of the land. This land grab scam is the classic problem in socialistic economies. It is a combination of hold-up and rent seeking behavior.

The solution of course is to modify the laws to allow farmers to sell land at a price they want. The excuse that those laws protect farmers' interests is clearly no longer valid. Land is getting grabbed anyway, at least let the farmers enjoy some solid dough.

Recently, the Punjab Government took an admirable stand on land acquisition issues:

Badal said, "A company that wants to come to Punjab must buy land at market rates. The Congress government has given village and commercial land, like in Mohali. This is worth Rs 100 crore but it's been promised at Rs 2 crore. [..] We won't acquire land for anyone. Whoever needs to purchase land should do so at market prices."

"The SEZ policy is the decision of the Indian government and we are going to support it. We welcome SEZ in Punjab," Sukhbir Singh Badal said. Badal says his government has no problem with Reliance retail outlets. But he insists that the party buying the land must pay market prices. [link]

This Government claims to be the protector of poor farmers. In reality, they are running a brokerage service for land grabbers and scammers.

Unclear Agreement

No two persons appears to have the same understanding of the Nuclear Agreement.

Hydeous

Monday, 27th August 2007. Two days after the incident, Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLA Nayini Narsimha Reddy, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy, Home Minister K. Jana Reddy and Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President Dr. K. Keshava Rao share an ROTFL moment. [via acorn]

So, how are we doing since the blast?

Most politicians interviewed after the blast said that we do not need a tough terror law. They reminded us that even when POTA was in effect, we suffered terror attacks while simultaneously emphasizing the need for quick implementation of the Sachar committee recommendations.

Apparently there were lots of warnings about a possible attack on the city. The following report may offer some clues as to why no action was taken:

Police sources told TOI that in the last six months or so, the intelligence agencies were instructed to step up vigilance on the opposition political parties, especially the Telugu Desam, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Left parties. [..] According to the sources, with both general and assembly elections due in 2009, the political bosses have instructed the intelligence department to assess the political strength and poll preparedness of the TDP, TRS and the two Left parties. [link]

Using Government resources for political campaign is not new in India. But this takes it to a new low (or should we say high?).

Sadly, a POTA-less regime is proving to be no less potent in its potential for human rights violations.

Levelling allegations that about 50 Muslim youth were picked up by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the past five days, Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee (CLMC), India, on Tuesday put out names of 22 youth who were allegedly taken into custody by police.

"They are being tortured by police in torture cells in areas like Shamshabad, Uppal and Ramanthapur. Our sources said these interrogations are being carried out in resorts and hotels,'' Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee general secretary Lateef Mohd Khan said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

Khan said riots had broken out in the Old City in 1990 due to internal differences in Congress party. "Now, the blasts could have happened because of the same reason," he alleged. [link]

This clearly runs counter to the popular opinions about POTA. You see, human rights violations in a semi-fascist country like India is generally a function of political will and the need of the hour. Add a little economics and human nature. With POTA, the cops could hold the most suspicious dudes for extended periods of time. Without POTA, they must cast their nets extremely wide in the hope of finding that odd little bit of evidence. Also, under tremendous pressure, the police will be forced to not report many detainees simply because they are in violation.

POTA is one instance of BJP's shortsightedness. They should have reenacted TADA by calling it TADA-II. Think about the implications.

If all this does not make sense, don't worry about it. Just order Hyderabadi Biriyani next time you go out for dinner.

Farmers and Numbers: Part III

To paraphrase Joseph Stalin, it does not matter how many farmers
commit suicide. It only matters who counts the deadbodies.

Recent reports suggest that not only did the farmer package not stop suicides, they may have spurred even more deaths.

'Interestingly, the prime minister's visit along with the agriculture minister to the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra on June 30, 2006 was followed by an increase in the number of suicides in the region. Over 150 suicides occurred between July 2 and August 21,' the report says. [link]

This, in a good crop year.

Note that the Vidarbha farmer suicide issue reached a crescendo of coverage in the newspapers during the PM visit. The package was widely publicized. Perhaps a section of the media truly believed that the package would help.

We noted earlier that the marginal utility of these packages may have long been exhausted to the point that moral hazard is now kicking in.

According to a CNN-IBN report:

Farmers in the killing fields of Vidarbha live on credits and die in installments. As many as 1,338 farmer have ended their lives till date. On Friday, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the region and announced a new package, Vidharba was still grappling with the dark reality of farmer suicide.

The 3,750-crore- rupee package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for cotton farmers in Vidharba hasn't touched many lives like that of 64-year-old Bhavrao Ingole, 74-year-old Sukdev Meshram and 26-year-old Sunita Lasankute.

Bhavrao received a cheque of a paltry Rs 350, which bounced twice

"Last year, the crop got damaged due to rains and I got a cheque of Rs 350 in the name of relief. Even that bounced twice," Bhavrao Ingole claims. [link]

Meanwhile, this is what our esteemed Minister of Agriculture has to say on the issue:

Union agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Friday that the media were not doing justice to the issue of farmers’ suicides in Vidharbha. Briefing the press after a joint review of agriculture by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr. Pawar said he came to the conclusion after hearing the State government’s presentation on the package for farmers.

Mr. Pawar said the State’s presentation showed there was a substantial improvement in the situation. The State government figures showed a fall in the number of suicideshe said. He, however, said he did not want to comment on the statistics in response to questions. [link]

As always, we are sternly reminded that we should abaondon stats and rely on life stories narrated by ministers instead.

Meanwhile a new visit by the PM is planned. Who knows if the new package will be of any help? If you were to believe in the Rajiv Gandhi theorem (at the most 15% of any social spending reaches the intended audience), the situation seems to be stark.

We end this series with a couple of quotes by P. Sainath (this year's Magsaysay award winner), who is perhaps the most authoritative figure on farmer related issues in India today:

Q. Is it true that the suicides went up in July this year as opposed to last year despite the PM’s visit to Vidarbha?

There are two sets of figures, one is the official set, which is very recent, shaky and not reliable, then there are the Vidarbha's Jan Andolan Samiti's figures, which are more reliable. Both confirm this.

Q. Have there been any positives at all in the government’s actions?

There was a political benefit to the PM's visit; nothing in terms of the economy. [..] To find the positives in the government's actions, you would need a microscope.

[link]

Farmers and Numbers: Part IV

Dr. Ramadoss gets an order

To his great dismay, Dr. Ramadoss discovers that not all of India is his family's feudal turf. Not yet, at least.

In a rebuff to Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss, the Delhi High Court on Monday directed him to sign the degree certificates of AIIMS students within 24 hours - the very same certificates that the minister was refusing to sign as they bore the signature of Dr Sandeep Agarwala, the registrar whom the minister, as president of AIIMS, was not recognising.

Stung by the court directive, Ramadoss - according to agency reports - has agreed to sign the certificates. [link]

All objections raised by Dr. Ramadoss in the matter were mercilessly squashed by the judge. The certificates were duly signed.

In a country where half the children are malnourished, Dr. Ramadoss has his priorities right. He has spent most of his tenure chasing multinationals and film stars and enacting legislations banning onscreen smoking. Good job.

Stories that don't get much attention

ALLAHABAD: Curfew was relaxed on Sunday in Allahabad, which witnessed large scale rioting over alleged desecration of the Geeta on Saturday.

Scores of Hindus in Allahabad went on rampage on Saturday, pelting stones and destroying public property in the communally sensitive town after they found a torn and damaged Geeta in a Temple.

Police were forced to place certain areas under curfew to curb large-scale vandalism.

With tempers ebbing on Sunday, police lifted curfew in certain areas for two hours for locals to buy their daily essentials. [link]

[Edited version]

Infrastructure OR Nukular Power?

Caption: Vehicles pass through a water-logged street in New Delhi.
Parts of the Capital received moderate rainfall on Sunday evening.

Bangladesh: Thank you India (Boom)! Oops!

Year 1971. A feisty Indira Gandhi leads India in a war against Pakistan. The point of contention? Huge humanitarian issue in erstwhile East Pakistan. Massive rush of refugees from Bangladesh into India. War begins. Pakistan suffers a "humiliating" defeat. A new nation is born.

Year 2007. Bomb blasts in Hyderabad - first at Mecca Masjid and then at two popular joints. About 50 dead. Prime suspect: one Mr. Bilal, commander of a Bangladesh based terror group.

Throw in various issues of land encroachment, harboring Ulfa terrorists and of course massive scale smuggling, racketeering, fake notes, prostitution, slavery etc. A smattering of denial of deals to Indian companies. Not much interest in developing economic relations with India.

Meanwhile the new nation has flirted with dictatorship, religious theocracy, military Junta and all other conceivable types of Governments. Don't even talk about the current state of affairs.

Note also the deafening silence of the Indian media about the massive scale human rights violations against minorities in Bangladesh. The only vocal protester, Taslima Nasreen, currently in exile in India, is fast becoming a persona non grata.

These sort of problems arise when a country is unable to identify its citizens by a common trait. Thanks to the Brits and other colonial countries, more than two thirds of the world has become bastardized. The natural historical boundaries of nations have been destroyed. Ethno-religious groups are being forced to cohabit with incompatible groups.

Of course you can't hate them (meaning the Brits and other colonizers). Especially we can't. But for the Brits, we would have a different, perhaps much more unpleasant arrangement.

(Add your favorite cliche involving roses, glasses etc. here.)

Farmers and Numbers: Part II

First, a little quiz:

Which of the following states/places saw the maximum number of farmer suicides during the 2001-06 timeframe (during which time this became a major political issue)?

a) Orissa
b) Kalahandi
c) Andhra Pradesh
d) Karnataka
e) Vidarbha
f) Kerala

Don't spend too much time on it though, you will find the answer (and more) in this post.

Flashback to May, 2004. Chandrababu Naidu is ousted after a stint of about nine years, amid a huge national uproar on the alarming increase in farmer suicides in AP. During the final few years of his tenure, article after article, research paper after research paper claimed that the CM, in his zeal to pander to the information industry, completely neglected the Agricultural sector. Naidu's TDP is summarily defeated in May, 2004 and a people friendly Government, led by YSR Reddy is voted in.

Suicides by farmers are nothing new in AP. The issue first hit the headlines in 1987 when 20 cotton growers committed suicide. The problem assumed alarming proportions in 1997. In the last seven years, about 200 farmers have ended their lives each year. And these are conservative estimates.

During the TDP government's regime, farmers' suicides had become a regular occurrence. The Congress reckons over 3,000 farmers ended their lives under Naidu's rule. Farmers' organisations (kisan sabhas) place this figure at 1,800. Official records say 900 farmers have committed suicide since 1997. [link]

Same stat, three sets of numbers. Assuming the farmer orgs are right, this puts the TDP factor at 2 and Congress factor at 1.67 (these factors will be useful later in the analysis).

Now, let's throw in some recent data. According to a recent publication [pdf] by Social Watch India, 2,410 farmers commited suicide between 2001 and 2006 in Andhra Pradesh. Given that the average score was about 200 per year between 1997 and 2004, you can subtract about 700 from this and you arrive at a number for YSR Reddy from May, 2004 till 2006.

So, at about estimated 1,400, the YSR regime has already seen more than 1.5 times the official figure of Naidu's time. This excludes 2007, which isn't over yet! Even if you take the Congress figure of 3,000 for all seven reported years from the earlier article, YSR has scored a much better per year average so far. If you take the farmers' organization figures, YSR is going to beat Naidu by a whopping margin. You could call it an innings defeat. In one term, YSR is set to kill more farmers than Naidu did in two terms. Of course, Andhra farmers are getting killed by other more direct means by the state Government as well.

Some more stats: TDP claims 3,302 died during the YSR regime through 2006. The National Social Watch report claims 1,126 in 2004 alone. Another interesting report with a suicide density map (at the bottom). Using the TDP factor, the number 1,400 seems about right. It also matches with the independent source.

Answer to the Quiz. At 5,980 (2001-2006), Karnataka beat Andhra Pradesh by a huge margin. Here is a link to Karnataka's political history. We expect the journos to decamp from Vidabhra and move to Karnataka soon.

Final Tally (2001-06)

Karnataka (5,980)
Andhra Pradesh (2,410)
Maharashtra (2,280)
Kerala (506)
Punjab (179)
Gujarat (24)
Orissa (8)

Notice that some states are missing from the tally.


Farmers and Numbers: Part III

Farmers and Numbers: Part I

Farmers and Numbers: Part II

The best video you will see today

Swedish professor Hans Rosling delivers a stunning lecture, using animated bubble charts and real data. (link via IndianEconomy.org). Running at about 20 minutes, you may be tempted to give the video a pass. We urge you to see it.

Animation after animation clearly shows that the world has become a much better place since the 70s, in every aspects. Globalization has brought dramatic changes to the lives of billions of people across the world, for the better. The world has become much more equitable across and within countries.

Recently there was a hue and cry about how India is worse than Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of some development indices. Well, Sub-Saharan Africa includes South Africa. And Mauritius.

Similarly, some of our intellectuals like to believe that India should remain a socialist economy since Sweden is a socialist economy and it is much better. It may be a matter of debate whether the Swedish economy can be called "socialistic" in the most understood sense of the term, at least in India. The video tells you why Sweden does much better. Simple, they prefer data to life stories.

Losing faith

Business is losing faith in Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reports BusinessWeek in an article in its latest issue. [link]

In May the Indian Prime Minister endured a hail of criticism from the business community after he urged corporate chieftains to "eschew conspicuous consumption" or risk a backlash—a warning that left his audience wondering whether the sage economist was turning his back on reforms he himself had pioneered as finance minister 15 years ago.

But his government has been so embroiled in internal disputes that New Delhi has failed to capitalize on an extraordinary opportunity to cut farm and oil subsidies, abolish rent control laws, and change onerous labor regulations. These and other measures are essential if India is to keep growing at almost double digits and lower the poverty level from 25% of the population.

The business community's list of complaints is long. Privatization of state-run companies has been put on hold, on ideological grounds. A program to build Chinese-style special economic zones has foundered over how much to pay displaced farmers for their land. Official approvals, slow to come, are blocking badly needed commercial and residential construction.

India's poor don't have much to cheer about either. In 2004 the government launched a $2.8 billion annual plan to guarantee rural laborers 100 days of work at minimum wage—a bid to provide a livelihood to millions. But in most states, critics say the scheme has been wasteful and ineffective.

An intellectual blow to the left

Reflecting the increasing isolation of the Left Front in the intelligentsia, West Bengal's eminent Leftist writer-activist Mahashweta Devi feels that it has achieved "very little" in its 30 years of rule in the State. [link]

"I was deeply impressed to see how strong the work culture is in Gujarat. The city and village roads are well-built, even the remotest villages have electricity and drinking water. I was especially impressed with the medical facilities in the panchayats and local-level health centres. Not at all like West Bengal where, even now, villages and panchayat areas have hardly any electricity and where the Government's so-called swasthya pariseva (healthcare service) is totally non-existent," she said. "In West Bengal, which has been under a CPI(M)-led Left Government for 30 years, little has been achieved," the writer said. She also alleged that starvation deaths and child mortality are "rampant" in West Bengal.

I think the leftists should go out more. In a panel discussion held in Europe, Arundhati Roy actually said that she had expected to get killed during one of her speeches in the US. It is quite clear that at least some of the communist ideologues today hold their wits together by means of strong self-deception. The rest are scums, their act is deliberate.

It is heartening to see some of the influential oldtimers coming around.

Autograph please

At least 1,200 resident doctors of the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) went on a flash strike on Tuesday evening expressing their displeasure with Union Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss.

However, the doctors have assured that the ICU and emergency services at the hospital will not to be affected for next 12 hours.

The doctors are upset that at least 700 medical degrees are pending with Ramadoss for his signature - a bureaucratic delay that is affecting their chances of going abroad for further studies or work. [link]

Meanwhile the standoff continues between AIIMS director Dr. Venugopal and Hon'ble Minister of Health Dr. Anubumani Ramadoss.

This is the latest in the tug of war between the Health Ministry and India's top medical institute, which is getting fierce by the day.

The AIIMS faculty is up in arms against Ramadoss, protesting a bill that will enable the removal of their director P Venugopal.

In a recent AIIMS faculty association meeting, over 200 senior doctors decided to petition Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop Ramadoss from passing the AIIMS amendment bill that will bring changes to the AIIMS Act 1956.

According to Newsweek:

The premier AIIMS has been described by Newsweek magazine as a medical "oasis of the poor" and treats at least 8,000 people every day. Patients from across the country avail treatment here for a nominal fee.

Respect needs to be earned, quotas or life stories won't work in that area.

Moral policing in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu does not want women to have access to emergency contraceptive pills.

Cipla's new emergency contraceptive, popularly known as the 'morning after pill', the i-pill is showing contra-indications in Tamil Nadu.

The Tamil Nadu Directorate of Drugs Control has sent a notice to a popular Tamil magazine, Ananda Vikatan, for publishing advertisements of the i-pill.

The state government has 'moral' issues as well.

Says N Selvaraju [Director Of Drugs Control], "The advertising of this drug will mean that women will think 'I can do anything and there's an easy way not to get pregnant'. We can't allow such an attitude. We are not against women's rights, but this is a moral concern."

Cipla had lost a similar case against the Tamil Nadu government last year for its drug Norlevo, which was another emergency contraceptive. [link]

Given that the state politicians claim themselves to be rationals, Tamil Nadu appears to have very retrograde ideas about what women should or should not do. Recently they hounded actress Khushboo for making certain remarks.

Contrast this report with a recent CNN-IBN coverage of a similar Government intervention in MP (BJP ruled state).

The narrative fits together nicely

Rajdeep Sardesai being interviewed by his own channel.

Quiz [Answer]

In May 1940, a well known Indian leader heaped lavish praises on Hitler. Who was this leader?

Most commentators got the answer right. Indeed the great leader was no other than Gandhi.

A. G. Noorani reviews a recently released book and comes up with the conclusion that the book is short on substance and full of sensational trivia.

Gandhi praised Hitler. "I do not consider Herr Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted," he wrote in May 1940. "He is showing an ability that is amazing and he seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed." He regretted that Hitler had employed war rather than non-violence to achieve his aims, but nonetheless averred that the Germans of the future "will honour Herr Hitler as a genius, a brave man, matchless organiser and much more".

Then in 1946:

In 1946 he told Louis Fischer: "Hitler killed five million Jews. It is the greatest crime of our time. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher's knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs... As it is they succumbed anyway in their millions." The author wrote: " Gandhi's ambivalence towards the Nazis was matched by his feelings about the Japanese."

Now, contrast the tone of the Noorani article with the constant media campaign and hate mongering about how folks from a certain religion admire Hitler and how this is a foreshadow of looming fascism. Also note how annoyed Noorani is at the author. He had quite a different frame of mind when he severely criticized President Kalam in another recent article. In the latter article, Noorani concludes that Kalam had attempted to overstep his boundaries. So now we are down to reading people's minds and judging them by thoughts rather than actions.

In another news, the latest Indian Institute of Management at Shillong will be called Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management. Why not just call it Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Management? Granted we need to honor our late Prime Minister, but don't we have enough symbols dedicated to him already?

Farmer suicides down

Farmer suicides are down in six Vidarbha districts for the first seven months of the year, according to a report from Indian Express. Apparently the police and the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti have different ways to track suicides. The Samiti puts the figure at 605 for all eleven districts.

General observations:

1. There is something called "Agrarian suicides". Inasmuch as the dead can not be relied upon to testify for the reasons of their deaths, it would be great if the methodology followed to determine an agrarian suicide as opposed to a garden variety suicide was made known.
   
   
2. Apparently these numbers are "dynamic" in nature. But the Maharashtra Government is very confident about them.
   
   
3. Certainly, say officials, attributing this year’s improvement to policy interventions over the last one year in the form of packages from both the state and the Centre.
   
   
4. Add to this good rains that led to an unprecedented spurt in rabi production and lucrative prices for soyabean, which is fast replacing cotton as the main crop in these districts.
   
   
5. Once again, no data available to determine the relative effects of #3 and #4.
   
   
6. Cotton saw a bumper harvest attributed by authorities mainly to the huge spurt in the use of Bt cotton. Wait, what? Isn't Bt Cotton the infamous and ineffective seed introduced by the profit racketeering Monsanto?
   
   
7. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed. Perhaps they should be more confident on Government measures, no?

Yet another report called for urgent corrections to the relief package totalling Rs. 17,000 crores.

While searching for suicide statistics, we found this report: South India - world's suicide capital. Well, despair no more. Help is now available in the form of bomb blasts. No more messing around with amateurish rope knots, poisons etc. Just go out more on the weekends to popular venues.

The only consolation to Chandrababu Naidu (suicides were a primary reason behind his ouster), ex-CM AP, is that his son got married today. Sadly he could not enjoy the ceremony fully as he had to attend emergency meetings in the wake of the tense situation in the city.

Tehelka gets a new sponsor and it's you

Can anyone explain why the Gas Authority of India Ltd. would need to advertise at all? A few corporate TV spots would make sense from recruitment etc. point of view. But of all places, why Tehelka?


Tehelka proudly wears the logos of its sponsors, Air India and GAIL on its home page.

Both are public sector undertakings. GAIL comes under Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Air India is under Ministry of Civil Aviation. Thus the tax payer indirectly ends up supporting a Congress mouthpiece.

Keep in mind that there are other ways Tehelka could potentially channel monies into its newspaper. They run several NGOs and they are blessed by our top politicians who frequently show up in the functions. Someone should fully audit this whole thing.

GAIL's mission statement is Gas and Beyond. You could say it fits Tehelka in way.

How's that for timing?

* * * Updated * * *

Sensational journalism, meet irony. Yeah, it's hard and it hurts.

Even as CNN-IBN prepares for a well coordinated political campaign for Congress in aniticipation for a chance snap poll ("Special: Mumbai riots a planned, perfected pogrom?", "Sonia's healing touch eases UPA-Left tension" etc.), blasts rocked Hyderabad yet again.

HYDERABAD: At least five people were killed and over a dozen injured when two blasts in quick succession rocked a park and a popular eat-out in Hyderabad on Saturday evening, police sources said.

The injured have been taken to nearby hospitals. Both the areas have been evacuated.

The first explosion took place at Lumbini Park near the state secretariat at around 2000 hours and another at Gokul Chat Bhandar 15 minutes later, they said. [link]

Luckily for Shri Sardesai the blasts did not do quite as much damage. We expect CNN-IBN to resume its schduled programming as soon as possible, with their headline alternating between a Sonia related story and the Bombay riot "expose".

Come to think of it, the P-word is being thrown around too casually. The word was introduced into the popular political lexicon post Gujarat riots. Now they have extended it to the Bombay riots as well. As we see it, the Bombay riots could neither have been planned, nor could it be called perfect. With that kind of casualty ratio (575:275), it looks much more like a random orgy of violence.

[Update] More details are trickling in about the blasts.

The killing just doesn't stop. At least 40 people were killed and scores injured in two powerful blasts in Hyderabad, one at an amusement park packed with weekend holidayers and another at a landmark eatery in the heart of the city on Saturday evening..[link]

One explosion happened at an amusement park where a laser show was underway. Another happened in a popular eatery thronging with weekend crowd.

The blasts were intended to produce maximum number of casualties. Perhaps you could call it a "planned and perfected pogrom", not sure about this. As usual foreign hands have been blamed, red alert sounded in other cities (so confidence inspiring in a POTA less regime), words such as RDX, HuJI, LeT etc. occupy news reports.

Left out

Does anyone still believe the Government is going to collapse? In the past week, the left has moved from a total hardline stance to "we will wait till the IAEA meet" to "we will wait till the Government operationalizes the plan", whatever that means. Merely a couple of days ago the fall of the Government seemed inevitable. Today many people are singing different tunes.

So what happened?

The leftists simply do not have the belly to go to a snap poll when the wounds from Singur and Nandigram are still so fresh. Meanwhile Prakash Karat is scouting around for new bases. A convenient scapegoat in the form of Ambassador Ronen Sen has been found.

There is no doubt in our minds that the left is in serious trouble. The next election might as well bury them forever. Let's try to understand what is happening. We love the phrase "narrowing of interests" which blogger RealityCheck uses so often.

What would you rather do, subscribe to the communist folklore and settle for a life of mediocrity (albeit one that promises fictitous equity) or believe in group incentives which just might help you beat the odds? How would your views change if you see kids around you beating the odds? Not all of them will beat the odds using group incentives but you might still want to hedge your bets.

Thus it is a no contest between the egalitarian premise and narrowing of interests. The left realizes this. It is not just about the OBC quotas in central institutes. Mayawati's rise means trouble for Congress which can only be averted by implementing private sector quotas for Dalits. Unfortunately Congress is in the OBC quota logjam at the moment, it is a big bite they can neither swallow nor spit out. Unless that one plays out fully, their hands are tied. Our reading is that Maya will beat Congress to making a strong proposal for private sector quotas. Her anti-retail moves are as much about hatred for the Ambanis (who are friends of SP) as they are about collecting future bargaining chips. She also realizes that in the era of narrowing interests people want their benefits here and now, not wait about half a decade for the success of a dubious Agro-reform plan (yeah, like we didn't have a zillion of them already!).

So, why did the left throw the gauntlet all of a sudden? It is a clear diversionary tactics. This muscle flexing was only meant to assure whatever support base they have left that they still matter and they are still powerful.

It appears that the West Bengal faction of the left is the first to blink. Apart from Singur and Nandigram fiascos, the state is long overdue for anti-incumbency.

The Government may yet fall, which is contingent on an entirely different group which has maintained strange silence through the whole thing as it did during the Haneef case. Was there a secret arrangement? Only time will tell.

Mayawati should exercise caution

Several days ago, we observed that Mayawati's UP win hadn't gone down well with the socialists.

The attacks seem to be picking up pace. CNN-IBN is running an "expose", claiming alleged financial irregularities by Mayawati:

Maya 'gifts' BSP office worth crores to brother

Lucknow: The BSP Prerna Kendra is the place which is meant to act as a source of great inspiration to Dalits across the country. It is the place which bears tell tale signs of BSP's brand of Dalit revolution.

Now this place is about to become a personal property - the property of the brother of UP's Chief Minister Mayawati, Anand Kumar.

CNN-IBN has details of the deed which has been worked out.

According to the deed, the market value of the Bahujan Prerna Kendra located at 5, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg is more than Rs 1.25 crore. [link]

Compare and contrast this report with the Pratibha Patil related exposes. In those cases, the media strongly asserted:

a) Nothing has been proven in a court of law yet (and never will be, as we now know)
b) All Maharashtra politicans have a suger mill, a cooperative and a college - so what's the big deal?

Also, note how the report starts with the legacy of Ambedkar. As we noted before, Mayawati is being held to an absurd benchmark, conveniently defined by the sec-soc lobby. The subtext is clear, Mayawati is not upholding Ambedkar's visions. Hence she is not the right choice for Dalits. Once this framework is properly laid out by the media and consumed by gullible public, all they need to do is cry foul! No need to examine the details. For instance, if Mayawati supports retail expansion in UP, it will be a foul. Ambedkar never said retail, did he?

Another minor detail, the headline mentions that the office is worth "crores". Turns out the office is worth about 1.25 crores. The report also mentions that the office will now become "personal property" of Mayawati's brother. Well, the office will be given to a trust. Not quite the same thing, is it? Buried deep in the report is the factoid that the office was actually built from BSP funds, i.e. funds built up by political donations to the BSP party. This is not in the same ballpark as the Pratibha Patil and Co. scams. Heck, this ain't even the same game!

Mayawati should be very careful. She is up against a very determined group of people who have been running a fascist regime for decades. She should learn a lesson from history too, when the mother-in-law/daughter-in-law duo of Indira Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi used nasty techniques to arrest Babu Jagjivan Ram's political ascent.

Soldiers of fortune

Shiv Sainiks are at it again, they vandalized The Outlook's Bombay office to protest their leader's less than charitable portrayal in the said magazine's independence day special.

This isn't the first time they reacted way over the top for real or imaginary insults to their leader. The previous time was perhaps that statue related issue.

Make no mistake about it, we do believe that this attack was ugly and the perpetrators must be punished. However, we do think that running that story on the 60th anniversary edition was merely political opportunism. Were these people the only villains? If you add 2nd order effects such as poverty, starvation etc., we could have a completely different list.

In a sense the cartoon was most appropriate for Thackeray. His ideology is a virulent blend of ethnic identity based politics, religious dogma and social justice. Shiv Sena has done many curious things in the past, riot involvement aside. They used to send fish sellers to apartment complexes to scandalize and harass vegetarian upper-class folks. They are the strongest proponent of Bhumiputra clauses - a move that is bound to poison India's already divided public in the days to come. Thackeray thundered, Bombay is for Marathis, only to recant a few days later. Bombay is still for Marathis, but as a footnote they add Gujaratis and Parsis for good measure. Bhojpuri people still unwelcome though.

We are still confused about their recent decision not to support Shekhawat for President. Would they be in the Congress camp if Congress had a Marathi leader? This move showed the complete moral bankruptcy of Thackeray. Perhaps they aspire to be like another DMK.

This could be a great opportunity for BJP to lose this ugly appendage although political reality may prevent them from doing so.

60 years of ....

Will she continue to tilt her head towards the right when she grows up?



We hope she makes the right choice. It will make a huge difference to the lives of almost half of her peers and the generations beyond.

Vertical Limit

(image from bharat-rakshak.com)Major Rasul: Well, it's three o'clock. Time to wake up the Indians.
(Movie quote from Vertical Limit)

Traditionally, Indian people have been apathetic to foreign policy matters for the most part. It could be due to any number of reasons. Strictly state controlled media could be one. Another could be the deep psychological impact etched on the minds of the people through centuries of foreign rule during which all they could do was turn inwards and brood.

We also talked about Kashmir, incessantly and obsessively. Kashmir was made into a national pride issue. Did we really want Kashmir? We didn't have it to begin with and there is no evidence we particularly aspired for it. In those days, we were not even sure we would get Hyderabad, which eventually we did, for a hefty sum of money. But we read in our history books how our brave leaders snatched all the princely states and distributed their wealth among poor people.

All that has changed now, foreign policy related issues keep grabbing the headlines. The old Siachen debate is still on. They are now conducting opinion polls and reaching conclusions. The media has taken it upon themselves to fix the Kashmir problem. A recent survey conducted by several news organizations found that Kashmiris want freedom. There are also calls for a referendum.

There is nothing wrong with all these citizen initiatives or track II diplomacies. The issue is that just because these initiatives are taken by the media and activist folks, they may not be free from the politics they set out to fix. As a simple example, a survey conducted by Pew Research Center on March '06 found that Indians overwhelmingly favor the US.

Looking for some good news amid the often dismal findings about America's image abroad? Try India. Anti-Americanism has surged in much of the world since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, but India has bucked the trend. Among Indians, America's image has actually improved in recent years.

Across a range of measures, Indian public opinion is consistently pro-American. The 2005 Pew Global Attitudes survey found that about seven-in-ten Indians (71%) have a favorable view of the United States. Of the 17 countries polled in the survey, only Americans themselves hold a more favorable view of their country. [link]

Contrast this with what CNN-IBN found, according to a story (Titled: India, Pak: Two nations, same anti-US sentiment) that occupies their headlines at the time of writing:

The Indian Express-Dawn News-CNN-IBN-CSDS poll confirms that the opinion of the urbanites in both the countries - more informed and opinionated than the rest of the population - still reflect an anti-US mood.

There are few takers of the American line on ‘war against terror’ on either side of the Indo-Pak border. Urban Indians and Pakistanis are alike in believing that the US led ‘war on terror’ is nothing but an excuse for global muscle flexing and in attributing unholy motives to the US role in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even 9/11 fails to arouse much sympathy for the US. Most of the urban Indians and Pakistanis interviewed for this poll blamed the US foreign policy for the attack on twin-towers. While a majority of the urban Indians (much less in the case of Indian Muslims) who have heard about 9/11 hold Al-Qaida responsible for the attack, eight out of nine Pakistanis believe that there is no evidence to link Al-Qaida with 9/11. [link]

We will not speculate whether the survey results and interpretations had anything to do with the fact that CSDS conducted it or whether the news organization in question has an undenialble political slant.

We just hope Indians do not get a rude awakening at the end.

Let's play

Wanna have some fun? Try playing the my fundamentalist is better than your fundamentalist game. You could also try the blame the victim game or shove it under the carpet while holding it in your hand game.

We were a mute spectator to all these games all weekend long. Here are some general observations:

• Hindutva related incidents, even the garden variety ones immediately set off a blitzkrieg of intellectual outrage from all quarters predicting an imminent apocalypse. In contrast, minority related issues are presented with a sense of minor vexation.
• Hindutva incidents are usually covered in the media as either standalone incidents or in the context of a larger menacing worldwide Hindutva conspiracy, while the minority related incidents are always presented with a compare and contrast approach. For instance, the recent attack on Tasleema Nasreen was the same as the Baroda art controversy.
• Corollary #1, murderous assaults by minorities are morally equivalent to a few slaps and shoves by Hindutva people.
• Corollary #2, you really have to see it in the context. You see, poverty, discrimination, Sachar report etc.
  
• Hindutva related incidents stay on the headlines much longer and spur many more TV shows (empirical observations, well, let's call it life stories and leave it at that). Meanwhile, minority incidents are always preempted by bigger issues, such as the Kashmir problem etc.
• Hindutva incidents are usually attributed to religious fundamentalism and compared to fascist regimes. Minority related issues are called "Freedom of speech" issues. You know, as in Dasmunshi's dislike for late night soft porn (the bugger actually said he was staying up late to catch channels streaming soft porn with a remote in his hand).
• Not a peep from the PM or our brand spanking new political President so far. Presumably they are prepping for the I-Day.
  
• Muslim intellectuals, including Nafisa Ali claimed that the attacks had nothing to do with Islam, hence please mark one down, Hindutva people.
  
• Last but not the least, the headlines attributed the incident to attackers, miscreants, or simply a mob of lawmakers. Some even went so far as to claim that the attackers were MIM (not related to M&M which is a type of American candy).

The brazenness with which Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi [pic] threatened the decapitation of Tasleema Nasreen the day after the incident, should have sent alarm bells ringing in any civilized nation. He said that the very existence of Nasreen is provocative. It does not take too much imagination to extend this logic. It is a near certainty that Owaisi will not face a trial.

Should we be worried about such incidents and where it places Hindus in the global context? To put matters into perspective, despite Owaisi's claims that Tasleema is a foreigner and hence we should see the matter from that angle, we have seen heads roll (literally) in India in resonance to global caliphate related events. Starting from 9/11 to Danish cartoon controversy to Saddam hanging - we have seen an orgy of violence erupt in India in reaction to incidents that have no immediate bearing on India. The extent of the problem can be seen in a CNN-IBN TV show, where a riot broke out. You can't even have a discussion unless it is completely on their terms. It is almost certain that the Government will use the foreigner excuse to rid itself of the problem. Tasleema should seek asylum in a European country, like Holland (wait! remember Van Gogh?). Tasleema has no place to run to, no place to hide.

Recently a Pakistani intellectual verbalized his wet dream of having a unified South Asia under Islamic rule (just like the Mughal times). Just today there was a news item, 60,000 Muslims in Jakarta rallied to revive the caliphate. The 1-2-3 agreement predictably sent a lot of Mullahs in a tizzy and Pakistan's trigger finger appears to be itching. Then there is Dawood Ibrahim.

All this reminds us of the court scene in Shootout at Lokhandwala, where Bachchan plays the defense attorney for encounter killer cops. He makes a dramatic defense. He asks the judge, hypothetically, who would he rather leave his family with, the cop under trial or the dreaded thug? Secularism is a fine concept but clearly it matters how it is being administered and by who. Doesn't taste good when it is shoved down your throat, like the way it has been for the past 60 years.

We know how we like our secularism. How would you like yours? Shaken or stirred?

Marooned

Over 19 million people displaced, as many as 2 million marooned. The great flood no one talked about and never hit the headlines. [link]

Secularism collides with Reality, falls down, bleeds profusely

About 100 protesters, including three lawmakers, from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party burst in, shouting that the author was "anti-Islam". Ms Nasreen backed into a corner as objects rained down and she was threatened with a chair, witnesses said. One witness said Ms Nasreen was slapped. She was protected by others at the meeting and was later taken to safety by police. Officers detained the three lawmakers and a number of other protesters. Ahmad Pasha Quadri, one of the lawmakers, said: "Our protest is against Taslima Nasreen because of her writings ridiculing Islam. We want the Indian government to send her back to Bangladesh." [link]

This was actually far more serious than it reads. Tasleema later said "they [the Muslim mob] wanted to kill me".

Only headlines from western news sources such as Reuters, Voice of America, Washington Post etc. (and surpsigingly some from Malaysia and Gulf too) had the word "Muslims" in them. Most Indian headlines read: Tasleema heckled, Tasleema roughed up etc. In the aftermath of the attack Tasleema was packed off back to Calcutta. She is not entirely safe over there, see this flashback from a while ago. It is not clear if the PM will be able to sleep tonight. Let us remind our readers that Tasleema's repeated appeals for an Indian citizenship are ignored by our Government (the same Government which was demanding an Australian visa for alleged terrorist Haneef merely a week ago).

Tasleema also said that, "Such people [meaning the attackers] people are a minority in India."

Think she was being facetious?

Historical Blindness

Cricket Historian turned real historian Ramachandra Guha has written a book on contemporary Indian history called India after Gandhi.

Knowing what we did about Guha so far, we were not too keen on reading the book. He is an ardent admirer of Nehru and calls himself a liberal democrat. But we do feel curious about why the likes of Tehelka and The Hindu are giving Guha so much coverage.

Well, we got a taste of what the book would be like from a CNN-IBN "freedom chat".


For quite sometime now, Guha has tried to pass himself off as non-partisan. He has largely succeeded. As a matter of fact, some of our sec-soc friends actually attacked him because of his view points on the recent St. Stephen's quota increase. Guha has also attacked Arundhati Roy in the past.

While it is also well known which side he bats for, the chat was a revelation. Guha blends some stale criticisms of Congress with feel-good socialistic catch phrases and the most vitriolic left of centre rhetorics.

A few samples from the chat:

The Gandhian ethos can still act as a brake on excessive consumerism, as a moderating influence which also will lead to an environmentally sustainable path of development.

That Periyar and Gandhi differed on specific issues should not worry us! Periyar wrote a wonderful obituary when Gandhi died, for he knew that the greatness of Gandhi was that he was never a sectarian leader.

It is not just the Congress — all major parties, all state governments, and the bureaucracy are loath to empower the panchayats and municipalities. This is a pity, ..

I do however think that the current demonisation of Nehru by free-marketers and Hindutva-vadis is ignorance and not based on facts.

Gandhi would have been opposed to minority-appeasement, but he would have opposed the BJP and the RSS even more. They seek to promote a narrow-minded and bigoted faith, which is totally at odds with Gandhi's inclusive and open-minded Hinduism.

That [suggesting a separate Southern state] was a jocular remark. Of course, I believe in a united and, more importantly, a democratic India.

But as a Hindu myself living in a Hindu-majority country, I do feel that Hindu communalism is the greater threat in India, just as Islamic communalism is the greater threat in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.

Because they [RSS] seek to make India a Hindu Pakistan. I also oppose the Naxalites because they seek to build a totalitarian state. I am a liberal democrat, opposed to all kinds of extremists and bigots.

Possibly — but I don’t see it [proportional representations, i.e. quotas] being seriously debated.

A great question, Ram. Actually, the new NCERT textbooks, out later this year, make history vivid and interesting for children — an outstanding group of my fellow historians, led by Neeladri Bhattacharya, has prepared them. I hope political bigots will not stall their publication and promotion — they are truly fantastic.

Hezboollah and Hamas also run schools and hospitals —they are merely the RSS in an Islamic guise, bigots pretending to have a human face!

The tests ahead include rise of Left-wing extremism (the Naxalites), the persistence of right-wing extremism (RSS, VHP, etc), environmental degradation and political corruption. We remain a 50-50 democracy!

We reserve our judgment till we read the book and we sincerely hope the book doesn't read anything like the chat transcript. There is something fradulent about writing a book on very recent events and calling it history. The danger of influencing current political opinion aside, the events in the recent decade hasn't yet been seen through the impartial eyes of history.

It is fascinating how strongly he believes in the fairness of NCERT books, he should read some of our blog posts (another big one coming) on this topic. At one point in the chat, he says, Film is a very dramatic but also superficial medium - it has to simplify. We hope that he realized the obvious pitfalls while writing the book.

Pratibha Tai's family values

(First husband with the Shiv Sena supremo)
After president Kalam departed the Rashtrapati Bhavan with two suitcases and a ton of books, Tai and her cabal of nine took possession of the palacial abode. We can only guess, but it stands to reason that the unhappiest lot at the moment are the Rashtrapati Bhavan staffers. President Kalam really pushed his simple life ideals, perhaps too far. Legend has it that Kalam often broke protocol and had his meals with the staff - in the regular pantry. Think of the reduced workload, no presidential silver, no setting up the lavish dining room. Environment friendly too, I guess.

Well, it seems that Tai is gonna have none of that.

Three AC cars, five officials, a VIP suite and preferably pohe for breakfast. [...] These and many more directives from Rashtrapati Bhavan to the Maharashtra government on the occasion of the visit of President Pratibha Patil's husband to the state have caused a flutter in political and bureaucratic circles. Rashtrapati Bhavan has asked the state to provide Shekhawat with at least five officials - a senior protocol officer, a public relations officer, a personal security officer, a photographer and an attendant - during his stay, besides reserving appropriate accommodation for him at the Sahyadri guesthouse in Mumbai and the circuit house at Amravati. In Sahyadri, it has been asked to reserve one suite for Shekhawat, with an STD telephone line and fax, and five more rooms with STD lines for his officials. The same arrangements have been asked for the Amravati circuit house and Ravi Bhavan, Nagpur. Other demands: a computer with internet and printer in the ADC's suite, one local photographer at all three places and three AC cars at Mumbai, Amravati and Nagpur. [link]

Come to think of it, our national pride dictates that our first citizen and her family be accorded royal treatment. Generally speaking we have no problem with this, although we are yet to hear if we are officially shining yet. If not, we are supposed to be in a period of mourning and perhaps a little moderatation is advisable.

Anyway.

Tai has her work cut out for her. She has made a few public appearences. She has promised to be a political president, whatever that means. She has also said that women and Agriculture must get first priority.

It is not clear whether the Aam Aadmi has as easy access to our new president, but she is giving the BJP leadership from Goa quite a run around. It is good net practice for her. She might have to repeat this for any number of states in the near future, including but not limited to Karnataka, Bihar (again!), Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan etc.

Don't forget that she will also have deal with eight (the old one plus seven fresh ones) political hot potatoes. Reportedly Kalam claimed that the Afzal file had been sitting with the Home Ministry. Then there is the long process of appeals and counter-appeals, sec-soc indignation etc. I think a better strategy would be to keep the files in a safe place till the '09 blows over.

We will find out soon enough.

OBC Quota: Government down to hard bargaining

Read more at: MSM, RealityCheck, Lex.

Let's Party

Do you read the Verve Magazine? Bet you don't. Perhaps you should. In any case, the magazine offers some rare glimpses of the inner circle in the capital. See if you can find any familiar names in the image. The image is from a party thrown by socialite Devi Cherian and her husband, political lobbyist Dilip Cherian. Apparently this is an annual ritual for the couple.

Please note that just because two people are in the same party does not mean they are sleeping together. Partying is not an offence. We encourage people to party and party real hard. They help feed poor people.

[Post inspired partly by a comment by blogger RealityCheck]

Media Police Game

(Click on image for a larger version)

Imagine yourself as a dreaded enforcer of media laws in a totalitarian state. How many offensive things do you see in this picture? Would you recommend a ban on the perpetrators?