Should we Support Ms. Arundhati Roy?

           First things first. Ms. Arundhati Roy joins an elite club. A case has been registered against her under IPC Section 124(A) for sedition. Lokmanya Tilak & Gandhiji are few great members of this elite list. (Though i wonder if she likes being on the same list as Gandhi). Ms. Roy, Tilak & Gandhiji were charged with the same IPC section for doing the same thing - Supporting 'Azaadi'. What an irony? Lord Macaulay who drafted our Indian Penal Code (IPC) must be laughing in his grave. A few days back, our President asked a Kashmiri woman about what she means by 'Azaadi'? The woman shot back, the same thing you wanted from British. I doubt if our President has any answer.
          Like everyone else, my instant reaction to Ms. Roy's speech a few days back was raw anger. But if you see the bigger picture, i think she has a valid point. She is just saying in a way that 'Kashmir is special'. That's what the state CM said in the state Legislative Assembly. Watch this video and by the same yardstick Mr.Omar Abdullah should also be slapped with sedition. Yesterday i saw the draft Communal Violence bill and guess what ? The 2nd line says - It extends to the whole of India except the state of Jammu & Kashmir'. This single statement in that law should seal the argument in Ms.Roy's favour. What's the point in boasting that J&K is our 'Atoot Ang' when there's a real  problem? Edward Luce in his book 'Inspite of the Gods' quotes this very eloquently. Below is that extract (not verbatim):
             During the 1857 mutiny there were 100,000 British Soldiers in India, when India's population was 200 million. Currently in Kashmir there are 500,000 Indian Soldiers when Kashmir's population is just 10 million. How easy it was for Imperialists to divide India? Or perhaps this is a measure of how difficult it is for India to win Kashmiris.
          So i think we have a problem in J&K. We may have our strategic reasons like the 'chicken's neck' region. But India should try to find some meaningful 'Azadi' within its Federalism and move on from this issue. Imagine Pakistan supporting India for a UNSC permanent membership, once the Kashmir issue is settled amicably. Its much better than the doubletalk where Obama calls India a 'arrived power' in our Parliament and Ms.Clinton calls us a 'self-appointed front runner' in their secret cables.

P.S: I just can't believe the way my thinking evolved on this whole issue. I may not be entirely correct and be sounding too simplistic, but at least i am not jingoistic.

Regulator For Media - Need of the Hour

           In the last few years Indian Media has grown into a big 'Monster'. It progressed (or i should say 'deteriorated' ) from a show like 'KBC' where you can win 1 Crore for your knowledge to a show like 'Sach Ka Saamna' where you can win 1 Crore if you are a morally degraded individual. When 'Rakhi Sawant' gives India 'Insaaf', there is something seriously wrong. Definitely Media is doing a 'lot of good', but equally or more its doing a 'lot of nasty things'. It encouraged and is encouraging 'lynch mob' mentality. News is no more just News, it has become a 'Commodity', so the media houses moved on to 'Packaging', 'Fabricating' and even 'Creating' News - Reminds me of the dialogue 'Tomorrow's News Today' in the movie 'Tomorrow Never Dies'. And another phenomena is this 'larger than life' image of chief anchors and journalists - NDTV is Barkha Dutt and Barkha Dutt is NDTV. Similarly Arnab Goswami is Times Now and Times Now is Arnab Goswami. Traits of our 'idol worship'.
                    The latest story about Media-Corporate-Politician nexus and Niira Radia's conversations with Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi is the 'culmination' of this natural progress/deterioration of Indian Media. See the chain of events - Paid News, Private Treaties. These Journalists have the guts to ferociously defend themselves and their employers don't give a damn about sacking them. Its not that they did something 'illegal', the point is about principles, morals and ethics of Journalism. When we read or listen to them, we think that they are 'true' and the 'Media' sets the agenda and 'influences' the thinking of people. In this article in 'Hindu', Vir Sanghvi says Niira Radia is just one of his 'multiple inputs' for the article he wrote in HT. So, 'We The People' are being fed News/Views/Analysis of these 'kind' of inputs and sources. We can guess the quality of 'other' inputs of Vir Sanghvi.
                  Coincidentally yesterday was 2nd anniversary of 26/11. What about the media excesses on that day 2 years back? Media's talk about Self-Regulation is just hogwash. In the 'garb' of Right to speech and expression, Media crossed all the boundaries. Its time to unleash a 'whip' and stop its transgressions. Its time for 'Legislature' to codify the rules of the game.

Kaun Banega Next PM?

         Our PM filed his affidavit to SC saying that they indeed took some 'action' w.r.t Swamy's letter/plea. I was reading about Lokmanya Tilak a few days back and an Empire Judgment against him where the British judge defined 'disaffection' as 'absence of affection'. Glad that our G.O.P didn't get inspired in similar lines and quote 'inaction' as a form of 'action' in their defense in the affidavit. This form of action (inaction) was notoriously institutionalized by their party's ex-PM Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao. Glad that they stopped from making it statutory.
         I am not sure if Yuvraj, Rahul Gandhi must be padding up for his innings as a PM, because of this injury to their top-order batsman. May be they can send a night-watchman if they don't want to risk Rahul's wicket or may be they can give the PM a by-runner (by backing him to the core). A few weeks back i read in some Newspaper that there's a lobby who wants Mr. Nandan Nilekani as future PM. For me this is preposterous. They are saying that he has all the qualities like Mr. Manmohan Singh and is a bona-fide successor. I would say in addition to having all the good qualities like Mr. Singh, he will be also having 2 undesired qualities - lacking a ground-reality experience of the real India (or the Bharat as they say) and being a puppet for the real power. Rahul taking over is far better than an arrangement like this, at least he has been doing a lot of ground work among the real masses. Actually i have nothing against Rahul Gandhi, in fact its his greatness that he is still not interested in wielding power. He could have done that long back if he intended. My grouse is against this 'dynasty syndrome' or the nepotism in the Indian context. Its in all fields, but Politics & Cinema are most visible and Politics affect everyone. For me the glaring example of this nepotism is Tushar Kapoor in the movie Golmaal. If he is not a somebody's son, nobody would have given him even that 'dumb' role.My grouse is against this phenomena where son's/daughters of movie stars and politicians are thrust upon us even though when they lack the basic skill.
        Enough of my ranting! I think we should all thank Mr. Swamy for filing these letters and pleas. Kapil Sibal says that these are Swamy's tactics for gaining political space. I would say, that this is a far better way of doing that than other politicians who try to gain political space by raising caste or religion differences. On a lighter note Swamy say's that he doesn't want mid-term polls as he has a pending case against use of Electronic Voting Machines.
           

Manmohan Singh -- Luck By Chance?

        To be frank, i started wondering and doubting the honesty of our PM. Not that we have better options, but just if he is truly worthy of all the praise. The initial doubts started in 2008 with his stubborn attitude during UPA-I for passing the Nuke deal with USA. In 2008, he declared in Lok Sabha that  'India's technology apartheid' has ended. Guess what, only in 2010 Obama removes DRDO & ISRO from the entity list. During the passage of Nuclear liability bill, our PM said that they will take the 'broadest consensus of all'. We all saw their 'bad intentions' in inserting the 'intention' clauses and then using 'and' between 2 clauses. This is definitely not 'broadest consensus'. Now the grapevine is that US has expressed its displeasure and wants our Nuclear liability law to be amended. This is nothing but disregard for the life of 'Third world countrymen'. [ Yeah, its such a contradiction, that we are both a third world country and a power who has arrived simultaneously] US's Price-Anderson act has a liability of $10 billion, but for India they want only a pittance.
        In 2G scam, now the Apex Court has rapped our PM. He is sitting 'silent' on Dr. Swami's plea for investigation on Raja for the last 16 months. Now coming to the genesis of this post - Today by chance i happened to see Yashwant Sinha's book 'Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer'. I am surprised to learn that 'Manmohan Singh' happened to be very lucky in presenting those liberalization reforms of India. Yashwant Sinha was supposed to propose those in his budget but thanks to Rajiv Gandhi, Chandrasekhar's government fell and India has to mortgage Gold. Yes, our PM is very erudite, but more than that i think he is also 'lucky'. He was at the right time at the right place... And now he is just warming the seat for the 'Yuvraaj'. A stop-gap arrangement..

           

UNSC -- A Misplaced Priority?

                          Obama's remark regarding India's permanent UNSC membership is pleasing to many ears (though the wording is 'near future' and also there are so many caveats). But i think India and Indians should introspect more  and question themselves whether they deserve/desire a UNSC membership and if so for what 'real purpose'? Is it just to side with U.S.A and toe its line and further India's interests (obviously this means we no longer are masters of our foreign policy) or is it for the sake of greater humanity as highlighted in Article 51 of our constitution?

Many voices were raised when India laid out a red-carpet to General Than Shwe of Myanmar. India's compulsions are understandable considering the 'string of pearls' and energy riches of Myanmar. Obama wants India to be upfront in talking about 'bankrupt regimes', but does it end with just being upfront only or does he envision a role for India in NATO? Does he wants India to join US in its adventures of exporting democracies? Like the puppet democracies they installed in Iraq & Afghanistan? Nehru will be turning over
in his grave if indeed India joins such massacres against humanity. And what about India's moral support to Palestine? Israel is more important now considering India's gravest internal security threat and we forget all our moral compunctions. I cant remember India making any noise about 'Gaza' blockade.

Now coming to the sanctity or significance of UNSC? What good is UNSC when it can't stop U.S.A from invading Iraq under the false pretext of WMDs? What good is it when it goes on imposing sanctions after sanctions on Iran when Brazil-Turkey tried a viable alternative? UNSC is a lost cause and its a misplaced priority. If anything India should focus,  it is about meeting the Millenium Development Goals, making the fruits of development inclusive and removing poverty. India should get over boasting its GDP numbers and do something to improve our dismal ranking in transparency, Human Development Index, Mortality rates and education.

P.S: Can Obama's reference to incarceration of leaders be applied to Liu Xiabo? What about behind the scene motivations for giving him a Nobel? Looks like not just UNSC, even a Nobel can be manipulated.