Happy Holi Friends

Marvelous Rusty

                                    I have never read Ruskin Bond maybe because not interested in fiction and the day my wife insisted i should read one, i relented ,and was one of the most interesting books i have ever come across. After reading few of his books i can safely say that Ruskin books are ones that can cheer up your otherwise dull day or soothe you down after hectic day. He beautifully and intuitively spun simple life stories . Most of his novels take place in scenic,serene city of Dehra Dun with incidents of nearby jungles and mountains adding more funn. The themes of his writings show inspirations from his friendships and relationships with the locals and even strangers beside nature (he seems very infatuated with).

                                 His books are about simple joys of life like flowers blooming, joys of riding bicycle early morning, scent of earth after first splash of rain etc. Not many writers have the mettle to write simple stories without dabbling into philosophy or politics and still keep readers captivated.

                                 Where do you get to read such magnificent lines eloquently and effortlessly conveying a message in innuendos, so enjoy reading "Rusty" as it portrays life beautifully.Some of the most impressive lines i have enjoyed reading...
"Drunkenness is really a vice because it degrades a man and humiliates him. Prostitution is degrading but a prostitute can still keep her dignity. Thieving is degrading according to the character of theft.Begging is degrading but it is still not as undignified as drunkenness. In all vices victim is aware of his degradation but in drunkenness we lose our pride our heads and above all our natural dignity."
"My old lama will, I am sure, be among the first to return ,even if he has to walk all the way over the mountain passes .Maybe that's why he plods up and around this hill every day. He is practicing for the long walk back to Tibet ".
"I watched him until he was far along the path. I wondered how long he could last. Perhaps a year or two, perhaps a day ,perhaps an hour. But whenever or however he died, it wouldn't be death. He was too old to die. He could only sleep. He could only fall gently , like an old brown leaf."
"The sick and the dying are heartened by the thought that people are still well enough to feel reckless , indifferent to each other's safety! In Delhi there's feverish desire to be first in line, the first to get anything ... In Delhi , to be second in the race is to be last"

Crony Capitalism

                                   Firstly the meaning of "Crony" capitalism is as defined -  "Crony capitalism is a term describing an economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials. It may be exhibited by favoritism in the distribution of legal permits, government grants, special tax breaks, or other forms of state interventionism."

                                  Crony capitalism is a curse on humanity with ability to severely dent and destroy economy, environment and eventually annihilate precious lives. India has two glaring examples of crony capitalism that has destroyed lives of innocent people but seems no lessons have been learnt till date to safeguard country and people from dwelling again in malpractices of few.

                                    India first witnessed a terrible case of capitalism going wrong, the infamous "Bhopal gas tragedy" of December 1984 and the second was the grounding of "Kingfisher airlines", a debacle by flamboyant and overambitious Vijay Mallya.

                                     Bhopal gas tragedy struck on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.  An eye popping case of corporate negligence comes to fore as management of company(UCIL) under invested in safety, which allowed for a dangerous working environment, allowing several safety systems to be inoperable due to poor maintenance and switching off safety systems to save money. A leak in storage tanks caused toxic gas cloud of  methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals to reach shanty towns located near the plant on the night of 2–3 December 1984. 

                                   The exposure to gas cloud by thousands of people of Bhopal led to travesty unprecedented in scale and numbers. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals which resulted in  3,787 (government estimate) deaths related to the gas release while unofficial estimates count death toll thrice more then the official data.The painful long term effects of Gas tragedy is unrecoverable environmental pollution and economic rehabilitation besides health hazards to local population exposed to gas.

                                   Over 500.000 people were exposed to the gas killing 8000 within three days while thousands more die in the months afterwards but the compensation offered by company was miniscule. UCIL agreed to pay $470m (£299m) to settle the initial fight for compensation in India's Supreme Court in 1989. As the survivors' legal representative, the government had asked for $3.3bn (£2.1bn). Unfortunately the struggle of survivors and victims is two pronged, fighting health hazards till date with no or little compensation provided . Bhopal gas victims and activists are still struggling for compensation with no help in sight from government or company.

                                     The second case of exploitation is even more uglier then Bhopal gas disaster. Vijay Mallya a flamboyant billionaire who fancies himself as the Richard Branson of India, launched his airline in 2005 to celebrate the 18th birthday of his son Siddharth. 

                                  With flawed business model at helm, Kingfisher Airlines soon started loosing money and was folded by October 2012. It is worth noticing that though the airline's underlying assets were far lower than its liabilities still banks (PSU) were in hurry and continued to lend Vijay Mallya.  Vijay Mallya owes over Rs 7,200 crores to at least 17 banks. It is to be noted that the employees continued to work for 6-8 months after closure of operations in hope and assurances given by Vijay Mallya to restart airlines,a ploy of management to garner more funds from banks, till airlines permanently shut down in mid-2013 with unpaid salaries of more than 3000 employees since 2012.The shareholders and employees suffered financially and psychologically while Mallya had exit plan in place to save himself . It's not a surprise that in our system banks and government machinery hobnobbing with influential individuals to exploit toothless laws and benefit immensely with malpractices of crony capitalism. 

                                   The irony is,it is not the first or last case of crony capitalism where few narcissist billionaires get unlimited freedom with zero accountability to usurp loans from public banks rampaging economy and destroying lives of innocent people. The list of such willful defaulters is long -( http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/current-affairs/not-just-mallya-manyhis-colleaguesalso-defaulters_5801561.html ) . These life sucking vampires of crony capitalism suck and dry the soul of nation by tearing apart the political ,ecological ,economical and social fabric for greed. It is high time government should initiate strong action against Vijay Mallya by recovering every penny of investors ,and also make laws more stringent for shabby businessman to comply and not go scot free.

 

                                            

A Year Of AAP Government

                                                 A year has passed, i must say a glorified year when a mob of people surged ahead to claim highest seat of governance in Delhi under Arvind Kejriwal. A new dawn had emerged when people tired of corruption, sycophancy ,nepotism ,arrogance of established political parties voted in mass to decimate established politicians. It all started with India against corruption agitation by Anna Hazare against numerous scams of UPA government that polarized and awakened society. The transformation of movement into political party (AAP) and emergence of Arvind Kejriwal clout and anointment as CM is a truly celluloid blockbuster story.

                                         Over 60% of Delhi population lives in slums and unauthorized colonies with no basic infrastructure. Arvind successfully struck a direct chord with urban poor Delhi voter (AAP got 65% of urban poor vs 23% to BJP) which resulted in securing 67 of the 70 Assembly seats. 

                                      Kejriwal who was frequently being accused of anarchists and dramebaaz quickly transformed himself as administrator by executing poll promises .Some of the major achievements of AAP government as propagated are - 

a) Removal of red beacons and end of VIP culture 

b) Electricity rates reduced by 50% for up to 400 units of consumption

c) 20,000 litres of free water per month per connection

d) 300+ night shelters for the homeless established

e) CAG audit of power discoms ordered

f) In Delhi Jal Board, 800 employees transferred, 3 suspended for corruption

g) Anti-corruption helpline 1031 started

h) Nursery admission helpline started

i) Awarded Rs. 1 crore to family of police constable who died fighting the liquor mafia

j) Inspection of 500+ govt schools by volunteers completed

k) 36000 contract jobs were made permanent which benefited around 1,80,000 people

                                       I believe its too early to gauge performance of government but few shortcomings that hogged limelight are startling. Firstly, AAP government has provided cheap electricity by giving direct subsidy to distribution companies (discoms) is disappointing as freebies like these end up ruining state budget and the proposal for Comptroller and Auditor (CAG) looking at the books of the discoms remains entangled in litigation.

                                    Another half cooked idea which later turned out to be stunt was commendable decision to scrap the quotas in private schools.The decision was to scrap  75 percent of the total seats quota except 25 percent for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), and thus seats will be up for grabs by all admission seekers. It is no secret that the mafia had captured the education system and made it a business,its the biggest scandal of independent India . The government rightfully tried to bring in some sanity in admission process but alas in haste as the decision was set aside by court.

                                  This problem was because of scarcity of schools and one major reason for all this is the poor state of public schools. Government should have given advisory to private school management to gradually transform them instead of directly attacking their freedom in running school .Truth is government should have focused on improving the infrastructure and recruited better quality teachers to uplft standard of schools.

                                 Another stunt orchestrated by AAP was implementation of odd-even scheme,initially it was inferred to reduce air pollution (even though car pollution is less then 2%) but ended up increasing hardships of common man due to woefully inadequate public transport while air pollution remained static as studies by IIT Kanpur suggest.

                                    The pathetic response of AAP government towards strike by Municipal Corporation of Delhi employees resulted in the pile up of garbage on Delhi streets and unavailability of doctors and teachers who also joined the strike. Allocation of Rs.536 crores in the Delhi budget to self promoting ads, raising salaries of MLA's , unceremoniously kicking out the Bhushans and Yogendra Yadav for dissension are few other things that hogged the limelight.For all his failures and frequent rundown with LG ,Kejriwal tries to shift blame on Central govt. Being an IRS(Indian Revenue Service)  officer he was well aware of the constitutional limitations of Delhi yet he made false promises which didn't see the light of the day .Tempting people with promises and then shifting blame on others for non fulfillment is a shrewd thing .

                                          Truth is Kejriwal has no solution to the spiraling problems of the people –massive poverty, massive unemployment, massive malnourishment, almost total lack of healthcare, lack of infrastructure in slums and unrecognized colonies, deplorable condition of schools etc. are some other problems seeking immediate attention and Kejriwal should direct his energies towards fulfillment of problems and showcasing a governance model for other political parties to emulate.

In the words of Santosh Hegde - http://www.catchnews.com/politics-news/aap-occupies-the-exact-space-it-promised-to-cleanse-santosh-hegde-on-eksaalkejriwal-1454757458.html?utm_source=AjayPratap&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=AjayPratap_Promo

                                 A party which emerged from the fire of anti corruption crusade seeking transparency in political horizon is now neck deep in the slumber as dissent is not tolerated read the article to understand the pain http://indianexpress.com/article/blogs/dear-kejriwal-its-time-to-steer-aap-back-to-the-values-from-where-it-emerged/

                                        It would be premature to judge a political party and its performance in one year's time but as an Indian and a firm believer of democracy we need a strong,vibrant, political party apart from the usual choices we have and we can't afford to let a party of volunteers transitioned into being self centered ,mired in sycophancy and run on whims and fancy of few.