Saturday, July 25, 2009

Play by the rules

The hue and cry about Continental folks frisking President Kalam is overdone. That too coming from our MP's is laughable. They cannot expect every other country and agency to behave like themselves 'i.e' riding roughshod over all rules and regulations.
Full marks to our former dear president for having taken the incident in his stride. A true professsional he is.
We Indians always suffer from a false sense of hurt and waste time accusing others of wrong doing. Yes Continental would not dare to do this for a Margaret Thatcher or Vladmir Putin or a former Chinese president. The reason is obvious guys these are rich and powerful countries. We will be treated like second class folks in the International arena as long as we are poor and underdeveloped. Power respects power,hence let us focus our energies on taking the country on a faster developement path. 60 years after Independence we cannot even build proper highways,take care of basic needs of our citizens etc etc this is all due to the lopsided policies developed by the wise men in the parliament.
Let India play by the rules, same rules for every one, that is the day we will be marching faster towards a developed and equitable society.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Statues etal

Statue Frenzy -
Here’s a suggestion for Mayawati which will ensure a place for her in the annals of history. Instead of spending time and effort installing lifeless statues why not spend all the money and more of it in building a "National Museum of Dalit History". Such an effort will be helpful in educating the world on the history of Indian dalits. This can serve both as a museum, education and research center.
The rigor she is showing in ensuring erection of these statues should be channeled in the right direction. UP has one of the worst track records in primary education and infant immortality in the country. If she can put the same rigor and ensure every child goes to school the impact on dalit empowerment would be larger.
Anyways the statue mania is by and large a problem in this country with statues being erected for all and sundry. Most of these obstruct traffic and add to the urban mess in the country. I guess there should be a nationwide ban on statue erection.
Water, Power –
The yearly monsoon drama and blaming monsoon for lack of water and power looks stupid.
We are a huge country blessed with natural resources both coal, water and others. Why could not we set up mega power plants over the past 60 years, lack of privatization in the sector, poor planning and a phlegmatic bureaucracy are the reasons why we are always in a catch up mode.
A country which aspires to a super power cannot give 24 x7 power (forget about water) to its capitals’ denizens. That is the reason we are not considered serious contenders to super power title, china is.
Need of the hour is implementing river catchment protection, water conservation, ground water protection legislations in spirit. I guess there must be plethora of policies around these by now both at the center and state levels. Most of these environmental bodies are populated by bureaucrats with no energy for implementation of these policies and are swayed in their decision making by their political bosses.
River pollution is another area which lacks required focus. Again take the example of the Yamuna in the capital. Successive governments are failing to take into cognizance the need for de-polluting the river, clearing the catchment of encroachments and beautifying it. Same is the situation with all the cities in the country which are on the banks of rivers. They are an ugly sight for the beautiful names they have.
There are a plethora of problems on the water and power situation in the country and its time for governments to act.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Church vs Hindutva in AP

  The past year we have seen  damage to about 140 temples and now illegal construction of a Church on top of  a hill lock in Edlapadu in Gun...