Snott's Shack

Photography

2006-09-10T15:08:00.000-04:00

My experiments in photography.

Deviation

2006-06-10T22:34:00.000-04:00

I have decided to deviate from the original intention of this blog. I have opinions on a lot of things outside the scope of politics that I would like to bring into the open. As things stand I will be blogging in the near future on things related to psychology, philosophy, religion, poetry and societal analysis.

Watch this space for some hopefully interesting content over the next few months!

Moral bankruptcy

2006-03-26T19:44:00.000-05:00

This post will most likely end up being a coherent summary of my incoherent views on some of the events that have happened over the last few months.

It is amazing how Indian politics manages to redefine the pinnacle of abyss with every passing week!! If one thought the disqualification of Jaya Bachan was intriguing, what has followed is simply- beautiful. As has been widely reported, the congress ended up getting a taste of its own medicine - and it took yet another political master stroke by Sonia Gandhi to reclaim their lost integrity.

Was it really a sacrifice or a stunt? Since I possess a completely skewed anti-Sonia mindset, I am inclined to believe this is a political stunt that is yet another nail in the coffin for the BJP. Having said that I believe no one among the contemporary Indian politicians has ever had the principled courage to do what Sonia Gandhi has.

Advani, Somnath Chaterjee et al .. individuals who since time immemorial have claimed a higher moral ground than others, have never had it in them to relinquish their posts on moral grounds - a pretty obvious indication of their hypocritical attitude and lust for power.

Having followed Indian politics for a long time, though not as seriously as I do now, I had perceived Somnath Chaterjee to be a man of very high moral standing. But the events of the past few months have in my opinion exposed him to be a bigot. I consider the hasty expulsion of the eleven MP's by the parliamentary committee to be one of the biggest heist pulled off by the MP's against the people of India.

Given the moral standing of Indian politicians in general, one would believe that there are definitely more MP's indulging in such acts. But Somnath Chaterjee more than anyone I can recollect suggested vociferously that the actions of a few MP's do not reflect the character of all MP's. He opposed any suggestions to broaden the investigations to include all MP's - he gave the benefit of doubt to a bunch of people who have done nothing to deserve it.

I have never been enthralled more by any one than by LK Advani, a brilliant orator who has a clarity of thought perhaps not espoused by any other politician. Ironically though, he is as morally bankrupt as my bank account (Any donations from my highly populated set of readers are most welcome!). The babri masjid issue was completely unjustifiable - proof of his religious intolerance, though I would have respected him more if he had it in him to stand up for his religious beliefs ( whatever they are ) rather than vacillate on the issue once he came to power.

Unfortunately for India, we have a right wing fundamentalist party in the BJP, an economically and politcally horrendous bunch of leftists and a minority sucking pseudo-secular party in the congress. A liberal party that could take a fair approach towards religious and casteist issues would perhaps serve us better. But then again the current spectrum of political parties is maybe after all a fair indication of our society. How many of us are really liberal when it actually comes down to backing up our words with action?

... and so we are left with Sonia Gandhi as cunning as she may be, taking the top honour for being the most principled politician in our country. For she knows well enough that she can count on her political brethren across party lines to alter the law to cover their asses - and hers.

Wily Oily Politics!!

2006-01-02T10:57:00.000-05:00

The recent bullfight between Russia and Ukraine over the pricing of gas is proof that energy is a major political tool in the current world scenario.(Reference: Gas Row)

It is also a stark reminder for India to rethink its decision to even evaluate the possibility of a gas pipeline through Pakistan. Even if the current government in Pakistan might seem trustworthy on this issue, there is no saying what stance future governments would take. The possibility of a pro-militant government emerging in Pakistan can never be ruled out and India pumping billions of rupees into such a project is ludicrous.

The biggest blunder India has committed is in allowing Pakistan to go nuclear. Nuclear arms completely neutralizes any advantages in terms of conventional weapons how ever great they may be. Israel's stance that it will not allow a nuclear Iran in the middle east shows that they recognize that such a scenario will annul all their military advantage and jeopardise their security.

Only when the Indian Armed forces are used pro-actively to defend our interests as against to their reactive usage over the last five decades will India ever be taken seriously. With the Maoists tearing india from inside-out and Pakistan and Bangladesh a serious external threat, it is time for India to be agressive in defending our interests and to take pre-emptive actions towards that end. There should be no space for moral jingoisms and indecisiveness given the current political and security scenario.

Having lost its military advantage by allowing Pakistan to go nuclear, the least that India could do now is to deny Pakistan greater bargaining powers by shelving the proposed gas pipeline.

More reservations ?

2005-12-31T21:04:00.000-05:00

Having expended all my energy travelling and catching up with friends over the last two weeks and with no inclination to celebrate 'New Year's Eve', I have finally got down to updating this blog. Contrary to expectations I'm not gonna write about the Cash-for-Questions episode for now, I would instead like to give my views on the Education bill that was recently passed in the lok sabha.

Preview:

To sum it up, the bill calls for

"unaided private educational institutions to reserve a certain amount of seats for socially backward students"

It effectively amends the constitution so as to circumvent the Apex Court's ruling that such a move would be unconsitutional.

There has been a lot of debate on the entire issue of reservations in education to uplift the underprivileged sections of our society. Here are a couple of articles for the ignorant readers,

Article 1 (For the bill; The user comments are worth reading too!)
Article 2 (Against)

My Take:

A definition of 'uplift' to begin with (Source: dictionary.com) :

To raise; elevate.
To raise to a higher social, intellectual, or moral level or condition.
To raise to spiritual or emotional heights; exalt: music that uplifts the spirit.

Taking this into account I am of the view that the education bill does serve the purpose of attempting to raise the social, intellectual and moral level of those students from the underprivileged sections of our society.

An excerpt from Article 1:

"... Moreover, fetching good marks at school with the help of good equipment, facilities and teachers should not constitute the only definition of merit"

As the author points out most government schools in our country are I suppose of lesser quality in terms of their infrastructure and the standard of the education that they impart compared to the majority of the private schools. Considering that most of the students from the lower sections of society come from government schools, I agree it would be unfair to gauge their merit on a linear level with other students ( for no fault of theirs ). Though the author conveniently fails to mention that improving the standard of government run schools would be a better long-term solution than reservations, I guess in the short term reservations at the undergraduate level provide an easier and quicker way towards achieving the goal of their upliftment.

The deeper malaise in my view lies in the fact that most proponents of the bill (and those who support reservations w.r.t education) also advocate reservation for jobs in the public and private sectors. This is a clear indication that these people are trying to take the easy way out and are plainly exploiting the apologetic nature of the intellectual elite in our society when it comes to the subject of oppression.

The proponents of reservation for jobs claim that there is discrimination against the SC/ST's and their likes in the private sector and that reservation is the solution to it. But how does it end the discrimination if the individuals who discriminate go unpunished? The logical solution would be to bring a law against discrimination and not reserving jobs in the private or the public sector. This provides the meritorious students from the SC/ST's to claim whatever it is they rightfully deserve and also serves to weed out the leeches amongst them. My view is that reservations at the undergraduate level should continue, but all other reservations should be abolished.

On a similar note I think the Women's Reservation bill is not the solution to the under-representation of women in Parliament. Given the current situtation, the aim should be to improve the quality of our administrators (be it men or women) and not such short sighted proposals. Maybe reserving a certain amount of seats for transsexuals in Parliament would serve to improve their condition in our society?

Though highly wishful perhaps only allowing IAS/IPS/IFS officers to run for Parliamentary elections would improve the percentage of women in the Parliament!! (Talk about dreamers :) ).

Happy New Year ! yawn ....

Political justice ..

2005-12-04T13:31:00.000-05:00

A lot of intriguing political and not so political events have transpired in India since my last writing.

- The 'Mitrokhin' revelations
- The 'Ganguly-Chappel' saga
- The 'Volcker' report and
- The Bihar elections

Amazingly there are quite a lot of similarities between all the above mentioned events.

A disturbing commonness to all these events was that when each of the first three events came to light .. the common reaction of the accused in all the cases was to target the personal integrity of the accuser and to look to the past to their defence.

The congress and the CPM questioned the integrity and motive of "Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin", claiming it would set an unhealthy precedent to dicuss "fiction" in Parliament; Ganguly and his sidekicks questioned Chappel's past record as a coach in their defence. Natwar Singh proclaimed "I have been the biggest sycophant of Indira Gandhi, How can they accuse me?; Who is Volcker? This is the handiwork of the US and the CIA.".

Another common question raised by all of the accused was why these concerns weren't raised earlier. This sadly reminds me of the adage

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Each of us are equally responsible for the state of politics in india. It is imperative that honest individuals nip the rise of evil in the bud, For they let the country down if they fail to do so and are as guilty as the other. This requires a combination of 'Honesty' and 'Courage' and unfornuately even though there may be many honest men around in Indian politics, there are very few if not none in mainstream politics that possess both these virtues that is required to crush the evil that has taken over.

A common trend of the evil men is to use the silence of the good men to their defence. Most recent examples being those of Laloo Prasad Yadav and Natwar Singh using Dr.Manmohan Singh's silence as an affirmiation of their personal integrity. Manmohan Singh may be a nice man, but his failure to stand up against the likes of Laloo Prasad Yadav and Natwar Singh will more than obviate all his good deeds. Today the Natwar Singhs and the Laloo Prasad Yadavs can claim to have served the country distinguishedly for they are well aware of the pussillanimity of men like Manmohan Singh.

Which is why it is important to consider the constrasting Ganguly-Chappel saga from a non-sporting angle. If Chappel had failed to bring to light his observations about Ganguly the very first time he gained cognizance of it, that was all that was required for a highly selfish individual like Ganguly to continue to 'demand' respect. Agression and deviousness should always be countered with equal agression and deviousness for the good to survive. Chappel has probably done more good to indian cricket with this one thing than all the past players combined.

On a positive note, it would be good to note that three of the four accused in the above cases are no more in the realms of power. Natwar Singh's days are most definitely over. Ganguly and Dalmiya are not a force in Indian cricket and Laloo Prasad Yadav will hopefully soon be relegated from indian politics. Justice does prevail strangely against dishonesty and trickery, for these men are ultimately stripped of the only thing they aspire for - 'Power'. True justice should probably be more harsher; or does this befit these men ?.

But the time lost with these men in power will see to it that India will always remain a 'Developing' nation aspiring for a tag that should have been ours long before.

It will be interesting to see who the BJP elects as its next president, as that may impact the future of this country for the next few decades, for as long as the accused 'common' to the mitrokhin revelations and the volcker report remains in 'Power' and the only true opposition lies in tatter, things will only get worse. For that 'ONE' accused is the guiltiest of them all.

A Joker and his Joke a.k.a The UN and the UNSC

2005-05-21T02:39:00.000-04:00

"India's push for a permanent membership @UNSC."

Some info about the UNSC and its current state

- THE most powerful body within the UN.
- 5 Permanent members (China, USA, UK, France and Russia - henceforth referred as 5 P.M) and 10 temp. members
- The permanent members were the victors of WWII. Thats almost 55 yrs without any reform of the UNSC !!!!
- Quite understandably decisions are taken to protect the interests of the respective UNSC permanent member states
- All decisions of the UNSC are binding on all member states (atleast in theory)
- A single VETO by any one of the perm. members is enough to liqiudate a UNSC decision.

The current permanent representation @UNSC is analogous to having Ferrari, BMW and Mercedes representing the entire set of F1 Manufacturers (Couldn't resist bringing in some F1 fundae). In short it sucks!!! (Atleast Paul Stoddard would think so :)). All the permanent members are 'required' under the UN charter to abstain from voting on decisions regarding disputes that they are party to and the US among all the 5.P.M's is a brutal abuser of its priviliges, often using the UNSC to further its own interests.

Given these circumstances and the fact that 'world peace' will remain a dream for quite some time to come, it makes a lot of sense for India to push for its candidature at the UNSC. The good news is that the UN seems to have realised that the UNSC needs to be reformed, and is willing to give India along with a few other states (Brazil, Japan, and Germany - BJG) PERMANENT membership at the UNSC. But surely 'You can't have your cake and eat it too' ?! Thats what the UN seems to be telling us. You get to be permanent members but you do not get the ALL IMPORTANT VETOING rights that the current 5.P.M's so lovingly abuse. In short the UN-->(US ??) is making a mockery of reforming the UNSC. As they say "A barking dog never bites", that is precisely what we will be doing @ the UNSC; barking till our throats grow hoarse and I for one would prefer to bite than bark!! It feels good to know that India for one is not interested in just making up the numbers at the UNSC; Our 'current stand' being to either abolish veto rights for all the P.M's or to give it to all. We have a long and hard diplomatic battle ahead of us, and it will sure be interesting to see if we continue with this policy even if BJG change theirs. If not anything it definitely is interesting to watch us stand up to the US on this particular issue.

The Jharkhand Bamboozlement

2005-03-03T19:36:00.000-05:00

What this post is about

I guess this has to be the most riveting news in Indian politics for quite some time, atleast for me. When i began following indian politics, I used to wonder at the sorry state of democracy in India, but over the years have realized that there are very vibrant signs of a democracy in Indian politics.

Ever since the imbroglio over the Jharkhand issue sky rocketed, the proof to the existance of democracy in India became ever more clear to me.

We may hate the BJP and the Congress, but what makes it interesting for us "the Indian public" is that they hate each other !!! Amid all the mud slinging the two parties continually involve in, there is just so much information for the indian pulbic to assimilate.

And in here comes the main responsibility of the media,

To "logically" and "impartially" analyze this information, rip them apart, and present them to their consumers.

And on this particular issue related to Jharkhand, I must accept most of the mainstream media have done a good job. The congress is evidently the culprit here, and the BJP (even though their intentions maybe completely henious) by making a hue and cry over it, have proved why we call ourselves a democracy !!!

As long as we have these 2 parties trying to go one up on the other, and the average voter keeps them on tenterhooks, "we" can be sure that atleast some of our concerns will be heard and addressed, and that India will move in the right direction.

Preface

2005-03-03T19:16:00.000-05:00

Before i begin, I would like to convey the fact that it has been only over the past 2-3 years that I begun closely following politics in India. Hence my knowledge of some of the relevant political past of India is limited.

Introduction

2005-03-03T19:07:00.000-05:00

A brief introduction on my views on mainly the Indian political scenario;

- I completely detest Sonia gandhi having to do anything with Indian Politics.

- In the current political scenario in India, I neither favor the Congress or the BJP as a whole, though I do respect certain individuals on both sides. But I consider the Congress to contain more sycophants than the BJP does.

- I am not really excited at the prospects of the "young blood" existing among the Indian Politicos.

- I feel a tad let down by the main stream Indian Media.

- Finally, I do not think democracy is a joke in India. At the same time neither is it anywhere near perfect.

Political Tracker

2005-03-03T18:18:00.000-05:00

I aim to use this blog to mostly express my views on the political scene prevalent in India, but as well as about politics around the world as and when something interesting comes up.