When A Tweet Becomes A Whistle ….

*THE IPL ISN’T ABOUT CRICKET. IT’S ABOUT BIG MONEY, POLITICS, SEX AND DRUGS.THE MURKY CANVAS OF THE THAROOR-MODI SPAT*

Its the open secret no one wants to acknowledge: the IPL is not about cricket. The ugly controversy surrounding Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor and IPL chief Lalit Modi — over Tharoor’s friend Sunanda Pushkar owning 4.9 percent free sweat equity in the Kochi team that Tharoor helped put together — is merely a warning sign pointing to a much deeper dirt pit that comprises in equal parts big money, politics, glamour, greed, sex, drugs and intense backroom jostling.

The reason the Tharoor-Pushkar controversy snowballed at the speed it did is less to do with the facts of the case than this unsavoury combination that underpins everything to do with the IPL these days. Unfortunately, much of the news about these seamy dealings is still merely in the realm of gossip and speculation: murmurs in a baroque gossip bazaar. Yet, recounting these murmurs is enough to outline the shape of things. After all, remember, the murmurs are all emanating from insiders. But to put things in perspective, first the primary question: What are the facts of the Tharoor- Pushkar case?

With the IPL announcing that it would invite two new franchises to join the league, a few months ago Tharoor actively began to promote the idea of a Kochi team and helped cobble together a consortium of investors — Rendezvous Sports World — to sponsor the team. As a cricket enthusiast and MP from Kerala, Tharoor was presumably motivated by his zeal to bring home turf Kerala into the lucrative circle of the IPL. Ordinarily, the fact that a female real estate professional close to him was given 4.9 percent free equity in the team would have raised absolutely no eyebrows. After all, prima facie, there was no allegation of any money transaction or public funds being misused, nor had Tharoor extended any ministerial favours for the franchise. So why the disproportionate stink?

Why did the Tharoor fracas threaten to disrupt Parliament? Why did news of it reach Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in far away Washington and  overshadow his talks with Obama.

Why did Tharoor have to spend two-anda- half hours on Thursday 

morning, April 15, with one of the Capital’s top corporate lobbyists and 

troubleshooters (who works for one of the richest men in the world) seeking help? After all, as one of the protagonists said, “It’s common knowledge that other politicians running across aviation, agriculture road transport and the Opposition, are minting money and have undeclared stakes in every cricket pie. Why has there been no uproar about all that?”

The answer is, wittingly or unwittingly, Tharoor had disturbed equations in the dirt pit. Rumours are, when the Kochi team won the bid, many carefully laid plans by others were laid to waste. To understand this, for a moment, return to the facts: the other stakeholders jostling for a franchise were the Sahara Group, owned by Subrata Roy; the Pune team sponsored by Saif Ali 

Khan, Kareena Kapoor and relatively lesser-known businessmen; and an Ahmedabad team sponsored by the Adani Group, one of India’s top infrastructure companies.

Subrata Roy, of course, outplayed everyone by making an astronomical bid of $370 million, prompted by his numerologist. Pune was out of the running. That left Kochi and Gujarat running neck and neck.  So what made Lalit Modi suddenly twitter innocuously last weekend about

Sunanda Pushkar and how Tharoor had allegedly asked him not to inquire into who she was — the kindle that lit the fire stack? It’s common knowledge that Modi and Tharoor are friends, so why this sudden and ugly fall out? (Friends of Tharoor say that Modi is misusing a bantering remark the minister had made to him over a drink. Tharoor is, indeed, set to marry Pushkar but is

waiting for a divorce from his Canadian wife Christa Giles to come through and, therefore, has been loath to make his relationship public. This is why when Modi asked him in a nudge-nudge sort of way, “So, who is Sunanda Pushkar?” Tharoor had laughingly evaded the question saying, ‘Don’t ask me that as yet.’ So what made Modi turn that into something sinister?)

The answers lie muddied in the pit and snake back to earlier events. When Lalit Modi lost the elections to the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA), he not only lost a fiefdom, he lost much-needed immunity. With a Congress government replacing the BJP in the saddle, his political patronage was blown and more than 20 cases were opened against him, relating to tax

evasion and financial irregularities when he was at the helm of the RCA. He desperately needed new armour, and a firm foot back in the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI). The rumour mills say that Lalit Modi had approached Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and was assured by the latter that if he could ensure that the Gujarat team wins the franchise and brings both glamour and money to the state, he’d be made the secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association (of which the chief minister is the president).

At first, Modi tried hard to make friend Tharoor back off so that the Adani bid could be more competitive. He even tried to mislead the Kochi group by telling them that all they needed to win the race was $299 million. The consortium, however, was reportedly alerted by former Indian skippers Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri that Modi was actually seeking $322 million. The

Kochi team was also told that they would face many technical hurdles to block them from winning the bid.

But instead of backing off, the Tharoor- mentored Kochi consortium bid an astronomical Rs 1,500 crore and won the franchise. Powerful men — potential investors and politicians — across the country flew into a tizzy.  Allegations began to fly fast and thick. The Kochi consortium alleges that Modi offered them a $50 million bribe to abandon their bid after they had won the Kochi franchise. They refused. The desperation in different quarters soared.

The rumour goes too that, at one point, Modi made an urgent call to Tharoor saying things had gone beyond him and if Tharoor didn’t back off, Modi’s life would be in danger. But Modi was not the only angry man. Rumour also has it that Tharoor finds himself politically isolated for other reasons.

Such is the jostling for stakes in the IPL money-glamour-influence pie, a very senior UPA cabinet minister from Maharashtra and a former classmate of Tharoor’s, had called the latter asking him to get Rendezvous Sports to offload its stakes in favour of an owner of a Maharashtra- based white goods giant. (In a serpentine twist, this businessman had apparently first paid Modi money for a chance to invest in the Ahmedabad team. When that franchise bid was foiled, he wanted to invest in the Kochi team.) However, apparently driven by some sense of chivalry to the original consortium, Tharoor refused.

Soon after, a senior functionary of the BCCI sent Tharoor a similar message in favour of the  corporate giant. Tharoor again declined. He had just made himself another enemy within the world’s richest cricket board.

The further irony is that, according to highly reliable sources in the cricketing management fraternity, the 4.9 percent free sweat equity Sunanda Pushkar is being pilloried for does not even belong to her. A mere .5 percent is reserved for Pushkar. *Disturbingly, the rest belongs — off paper and on trust — to two iconic cricketing giants, one of who is still playing for the Mumbai IPL team**. *This free equity is the quid pro quo they demanded for helping put the Kochi team and its promoters together — not a rank corruption perhaps in the larger scheme of things, but certainly an impropriety.

One has a greater sense of the fantastical world of the IPL and what passes for right and wrong when you take into account the fact that Tharoor is probably right in saying the equity will not benefit him and is commensurate with what Pushkar was bringing to the table as a highly attractive and successful marketing professional. Yet, he is caught in a twilight zone where he is honourbound and cannot entirely disclose why he is saying this. (This might be why small white lies seem to be sprouting around them. Pushkar claimed in a written statement to the media that she had been approached by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to assist them as a marketing

consultant. While it seems true that top-line event management professional Karim Murani associated with KKR is a friend of hers, KKR co-owners Shah Rukh Khan and Jay Mehta, actor Juhi Chawla’s husband, have denied the claim outright.)

BUT MONEY, influence and ambition are only one set of ingredients in the IPL dirt pit. Each match is accompanied by a swirling constellation of late-night parties and beautiful women that moves with it across cities. Drugs and sex, then, seem to be another equally potent mix driving rivalries

and events in the world of IPL. Back to murmurs in the rumour bazaar then. It appears a thwarted franchise bid is not the only reason Lalit Modi set out to discredit the Kochi team in

the hope that he could have it disqualified. He has other personal reasons for declaring war on Tharoor.

Sources in the rumour business say that the night before Tharoor met the city’s most influential troubleshooter, he and his Man Friday, Jacob Joseph, had put together what they claimed were documents that would sully Modi’s reputation. A few days earlier, newspapers had carried front-page stories linking a beautiful South African model, Gabriella Demetriades, with Modi.

It seems Modi no longer wanted the association and had requested Tharoor’s office, as Minister of State for External Affairs, to deny Gabriella a visa. Piqued by the backroom pressure and anxiety Modi had been visiting on his boss and the Kochi team, Tharoor’s aide Jacob Joseph refused to entertain the request and not only expedited the visa but apparently taunted Modi’s aides about it. The story goes that when Modi found out, he called Tharoor in a rage at night and slammed the phone down, vowing vendetta.

Modi has consistently told the media that he does not know Gabriella and has nothing to do with her. Unfortunately for him, however, he seems to have left an e-mail trail when he wrote to Joseph for help about denying the visa. These mails contravene his claim about not knowing Gabriella because in his hurry to shunt her off, he apparently forgot to delete his chain-mail

exchanges with her. “In the mail to her, Modi clearly tells Gabriella that he will handle the visa and that there should be no problems. So why did he change his mind? Is there a fear that Gabriella would spill some beans he would not be able to handle?” says a senior BCCI functionary, who is aghast at the Modi-Tharoor row and the way it has blown craters in the reputation

of a tournament that, till recently, was being touted as the world’s fastest growing sports show.

There are other pieces in the counter-campaign being prepared against Lalit Modi. Among them is the assertion that Modi was not only booked for drug abuse in college but is involved in a court case for cocaine abuse as recently as 2006 in the UAE.

The April 15 meeting with Delhi’s top corporate troubleshooter also seems to have paid other dividends for Tharoor. Support has started pouring in from many quarters. The office of Subhash Chandra Goel, Chairmain Zee Telefilms, for instance, has offered clinching evidence of Modi’s involvement in a lottery scandal in India’s northeastern states for which a court case has

been going on for years. (It’s in keeping with the dirt pit that Goel has, of course, been at loggerheads with Modi ever since his Indian Cricket League (ICL) was scuttled by Modi and his IPL with the backing of the BCCI, even though the ICL had been first off the block.)

“It’s become a free for all,” BCCI top man Shashank Manohar told TEHELKA in disgust over a brief telephonic conversation. “The IPL is now becoming the dirty underbelly of Indian cricket.” Manohar — who has been named as IPL co-chairman — insisted every issue would be discussed and debated at the BCCI-IPL sub-committee meeting scheduled next week and asserted that he

would happy if all franchisees opened up their stakes for review in a transparent manner.

This would probably be worrying news for almost everyone involved in the IPL. To open up everyone’s stakes is equivalent to yanking the lid off a can of worms. In the grimy mess that would ensue, Sunanda Pushkar’s 4.9 percent would probably look like a child’s playtime snack.

Sources in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) say that when one of the richest men in the country says he owns a team through personal wealth, it is something of a lie. The stakes have apparently been bought through his company with shareholders’ money, which makes the Rs 43 crore his team lost last season an unlisted liability for public shareholders.

But as the cliché goes, this is merely the tip. There are also rumours that a key protagonist and IPL official has holdings not just in Rajasthan Royals, but also in Kings XI Punjab and KKR. IB officials add that this functionary also has a stake in a media company associated with the IPL and

owned by a relative.

There are other lateral movements afoot — unfortunately motivated more by a need for secure pastures it seems, than a consideration for the game. KKR skipper Saurav Ganguly, for instance, has apparently approached fellow Bengali Subrata Roy for possible absorption in the Sahara Team. A top KKR official says Ganguly has also advised many of his fellow players to jump

ship. The rumour mills say Yuvraj Singh has also sent a similar message to the Sahara chairman.

But these are relatively minor moves. The bazaar gossip says the editor of a major media house, whose son had recently come under the radar of corporate intelligence bodies, is also trying to get into the IPL franchise racket.

In the middle of all this, a third angle is brewing silently that threatens to queer things for those batting themselves sixers through the IPL. This involves the former BCCI and ICC president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, who has been camping in Delhi for the last few days. Dalmiya, totally sidelined within the BCCI and left watching the IPL circus from the wings, is now determined to force the IPL to share its profits with the state cricket associations — thereby divvying up the money pie. Currently, IPL — which earns more than Rs 700 crore a year — pays a pittance

of Rs 4 crore to each state association. Dalmiya wants to raise that to around Rs 30-40 crore. He has enlisted several politicians cutting across party lines in this campaign. By getting the state cricket associations to back him, the wily gamester could get a chance to reinsert himself into the

big game.

The pity is nothing it seems is above board with the IPL anymore. Even spectators have a scam going on. Last month, Income Tax officials were alerted across the country to find out whether IPL officials were fudging tickets and avoiding tax. Their findings were in the affirmative. In a

demeaning instance of ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’, it appears corporates were buying loads of lower denomination tickets yet accessing box seats that come with complimentary liquor and food. This was helping IPL organisers to avoid paying entertainment tax.

With the IPL having stooped so low, it might really be time to blow the whistle officially. The irony is that this must have been the last thing on Lalit Modi’s mind when he tweeted about Shashi Tharoor and Sunanda Pushkar 

last weekend. But his tweet has indeed become a whistle.

India or Bharat? Where do we live?

We celebrate sixty years of our constitution. This is a monumental occassion. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar as chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, was the Chief Architect of Indian Constitution.The Constituent Assembly of India was set up as a result of negotiations between the Indian leaders and members of the British Cabinet Mission. The constituent assembly was elected indirectly by the members of the Provincial legislative assembly.

Part – 1, of our constitution opens like this …. “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States”. Was it foresight, that they deliberately choose to keep both the names. Sixty years hence we are not much better in clearing this perception. While ’India Shines’ across the world, does Bharat shine equally. Paradoxically we are not one but two countries. While India races forward with its IT poweress and economic consumption, Bharat is still struggling with finding two meals a day. While Indians across the world are bringing about great changes be it in IT or science or research, 70% our countrymen living in the villages of spend four to five unproductive hours every day in the evening and night due to unavailability of electricity.  Just imagine how much more productive we could have become had been able to utilize the billion-manhours every day.

A lot of western countries are amazed as to why India was not much affected by the recession. Again we must thank our great nation builders like, Nehru, Patel, Azad, Bidhan Roy, who made great investments in making us self-sufficient and self-reliant today. The first twenty years post independence were the crucial years when we got our basics right. The only thing we have to import today is ‘crude’ to satisfy our energy needs. Just imagine if we had to import food to feed our billions, iron & steel to feed the industries. Yes we got it right (in the centre) whereas the communists, China and Russia opened up their borders to capitalists and the capitalists doled out billions to their private banks in the biggest expression of socialism. (Castro was right half a century back)

Sixty years back our leaders had a selfless vision of nation building. Its the need of the hour today. India generates 1.5 lakh mega watts of electricity today compared to 8 lakh mega watts of China. People in Purulia and many other parts of the rural Bharat, still live on ‘kendu’ and  ’mahua’ fruits for five months of the year as well as becoming a ‘begari’. A sizable portion of our population in rural Bharat still live their entire lives under bonded labour.  The benifits of the economic revolution should reach all and not only the creamy layer. The time is right for another decade of nation building and positive steps have been taken by the PM. The JNNURM, NREGA, Bharat Nirman Yojna, Gramin Vikas Yojana are steps being taken to make Bharat stronger.

As Detroit finally moves to Chenai and Pune, Silicon Valley to Bangalore, the next decade will see the seat of power move from White House to the Indian Parliament.  Jai Hind!!!

LEFT OUT!

Readers of Shakespeare can compare Buddhadeb to the tragic heroes depicted in the literature. What a tragedy this has become. A man who two weeks back began his tenth year as the chief minister of West Bengal suddenly finds himself consigned to redundancy. The man who could have become the Deng Xiaoping of Indian Left, who could transform communism into a new mantra of progress and positive thinking finds himself ditched by his own party.

In 2006 the Left coalition had thundered to power with a two-thirds majority, riding on the urban and middle-class vote who saw the vision of a resurgent Bengal. Unfortunately the gigantic mandate has become a distant memory. The current memory is dominated by the almost shocking triumph of the Trinamool-Congress combine in the general elections post the Nandigram-Singur debacle and more recently the maoist siege of the rural areas.

This is perhaps not surprising to many, as Buddha has become a victim of the same Frankenstein the party had created in its 32 year rule. In its three decade rule it has created a society where institutions are brazenly politicized, where violence has been legitimized, and the bengali ethos has been corrupted to such a level that he has become a constantly sneering contemptuous and narrow visioned individual(with notable exceptions). The leftists disdained merit and instead of generating talent, it encouraged envy of talent. This resulted in bengalis thronging to mumbai, bangalore, delhi, etc where his talent and intelligence was not looked as being against left ideology.

With all his advantages, “Brand Buddha” sadly failed to build the political support needed for reform, relying completely on the comrades and cadres (who have by now become used to imposing their writ by force) who had become jealous of his popularity and cult. The failure of the left leaders to rally behind him and unite the party to the cause of reform led to factionalism within the left, not used to dealing with personal charisma. His own colleagues in the government destroyed the bridges he was trying to build between the party and people. The systematic destruction of Bengals intellectual capital, the culture of negativism, the development unfriendly government machinery shredded the new industrial policy and the radical changes it visioned. More sad was that, Buddha himself did not stand up and lacked the political skill to sell his policies to his own comrades. Only if he had delivered Singur, which was promised as the harbinger of a resurgent state and showed the same zeal and enthusiasm as he showed when he got Sector V at Salt Lake going, things would not have come to such a pass.

The expected regime change in 2011 will only go as so far in replacing one set of comrades with another set of party faithfuls. Bengal is being streaked with violence and blood once again as one set of violent party workers try to replace another set of violent party workers. Didi might replace dada at the red citadel and colour it white (or green) but it will take more than a change in political leadership to awaken Bengalis from the slumber it has got into and turn around the process of decay.

To Buddhas credit, he started the process and tried, now it will be upto his successor to give the final push. Will it be the deep ravine or the paradise on the other side of the steep mountain?

Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai???

Maa bolti thi – ‘Chinesee par bharosa mat karna’.

Chainaman to hame khatam karne pe tula hua hai.

Almost coinciding with the 13th round of Sino-Indian border talks (New Delhi, August 7-8, 2009), an article (in Chinese language) has appeared in China captioned “If China takes a little action, the so-called Great Indian Federation can be broken up” ( Zhong Guo Zhan Lue Gang, www.iiss.cn , Chinese, 8 August 2009). Interestingly, it has been reproduced in several other strategic and military websites of the country and by all means, targets the domestic audience. The authoritative host site is located in Beijing and is the new edition of one, which so far represented the China International Institute for Strategic Studies (www.chinaiiss.org).

Zhong Guo Zhan Lue Gang has served a ‘chilli chicken’ which has the sharpest chillies from China.  This Chinaman’s menu includes;

Starters – Giving political support to Bangladesh enabling them to encourage ethnic Bengalis in India to get rid of Indian control and unite with Bangladesh as one Bengali nation.

Soup – Joining forces with different nationalities like Assamese, Tamils, and Kashmiris and support the latter in establishing independent nation-states of their own, out of India. In particular, the ULFA in Assam, a territory neighboring China, can be helped by China so that Assam realizes its national independence.

Main Course – Bring into its fold countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, to destabilize India from all sides and also recover the 90,000 sq km. territory in Southern Tibet.

Dessert -The ‘so-called’ Indian nation cannot be considered as one having existed in history.

LINK

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This is not surprising as China wants India out of the way and will go any extents to do so. As to how desperate they are can be understood from this article, ‘China labels fake medicines exported to Nigeria as -Made In India’.

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Indian Rich Hiding Behind The Poor

Close to a thousand villagers stood for hours in the formation of a life-size human windmill near Khidki village in Alibag, in what could well be the largest protest for renewable energy in India till date.

They were demanding that the Maharashtra Government drop plans to build 10,000MW coal-fired thermal power plants in the region and explore renewable energy instead. The villagers said they were committed to fight the acquisition of their fertile land for coal-based power plants.

The community is opposing plans to set up thermal power plants over 8,500 acres of fertile land. The companies involved are the Tata Power Company Limited (1,200MW) and the Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited, a Reliance subsidiary, (4,000MW) at Shahpur in Alibag. The Patni group (500MW) and the Ispat group (2,000MW) want to set up their plants in the adjacent Medekhad Khadi.

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There is now little doubt that climate change will hit the poor hardest, particularly in Africa and Asia. Being unable to afford any better, poor people are forced to settle in areas that are highly vulnerable to the affects of climate change. With climate change leading to further decreases in already scarce resources like arable land and water, poor populations are going to be pushed further to, or even over, the edge.

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In a recently conducted study looking at household electricity use and transport across seven different income ranges, it was discovered that a relatively small, wealthy class (1% of the population) is hidden by the 823 million poor of the country who keep overall per capita emissions below 2 tonnes of CO2 a year.While the richest income class in this study, earning more than 30,000 rupees a month, produce slightly less than the global average CO2 emissions of 5 tonnes, this amount already exceeds the sustainable global average CO2 emissions of 2.5 tonnes per capita that needs to be reached to limit global warming below 2 degrees centigrade.

India faces two sharply contradictory realities. On the one hand there is a rapidly growing rich consumer class which has made the country the 12th largest luxury market in the world. On the other hand India is home to more than 800 million poor people who are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The richest consumer classes produce 4.5 times more CO2 than the poorest class, and almost 3 times more than the average.

By far the most pronounced increase in electricity consumption and thus CO2 emissions from the lower income groups to higher income groups is in the use of small electronic devices that make living more comfortable for those who can afford it. They range from DVD players to kitchen equipment and from mobile phones to computers. None of these products account for a really significant share of the CO2 emissions, but together they add up to 49% of the overall household emissions of the >30k income class.

With increasing income, consumption changes from only essentials like food and clothing to a variety of life style goods including electronics. Even with an increase in efficiency of all these products, the constant addition of new goods that consume electricity would drive the life style of the >30k class over the limits of sustainability.

An even greater difference in emissions between classes occurs in transportation with the richest income class emitting 7.1 times more than the poorest class. This is due to an increase in two wheelers, the use of cars starting at an income of more than 10,000 rupees a month and an increase in air travel for people earning more than 30,000 rupees a month.

If the upper and the middle class do not manage to check their CO2 emissions, they will not only contribute to global warming, but will also deny hundreds of millions of poor Indians access to development.

The use of inefficient lighting is responsible for 126 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year (7% of India’s overall emissions). Making CFLs, tubelights and other efficient lighting systems accessible to the poor by massive price reduction and prohibiting the sale of inefficient lights like incandescent bulbs, could cut these emissions by 95 million tonnes – that’s a 5% reduction of overall annual emissions.

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Our country is now the world’s fifth biggest carbon emitter — behind the US, China, Russia and Japan — despite having one of the lowest per capita carbon emissions.

The onus of energy and water conservation should be on people who can afford it and government must offer incentives to people to install green components in buildings. These incentives should come by way of reduced electricity tariff, lower municipal/property taxes and tax breaks to builders and property owners.

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If all new buildings in urban areas were made to adopt green building concepts, India could save up to 3,400 MW of power — enough to light up half of Delhi, or 5.5 lakh homes a year, according to estimates by The Energy and Research Institute (TERI), a thinktank headed by Nobel laureate R.K. Pachauri. This would also save the country Rs 40,000 crore per annum, TERI estimates. And, given that a four-member home consumes 540 litres of water per day, about 1 lakh additional homes could get water for five years from the annual savings we would make if all new buildings were green.

Your Fundamental Right

Eight years after the Constitution was amended to make right to education a fundamental right — an enabling legislation making the Centre and state governments responsible for its implementation -it got Lok Sabha’s approval on Tuesday. Rajya Sabha has already approved the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2009 last week. The Bill would now be sent to President for assent, before notifying it as a law for implementation. Its implementation would be a big challenge and need constant partnership of the state, Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal said, while replying to a discussion on the Bill that provides for compulsory education for all children in 6-14 age group, in the Lok Sabha. “There is a lot of flexibility in the Bill for the state governments to implement it…We cannot achieve the target in a day. I am sure it can be done in partnership with the state governments”. As per the Constitution, state governments are responsible for implementation of elementary education programmes. Sibal said the state governments will have powers to include any section including disabled children in the ambit of weaker sections so that they can get benefit of 25 per cent reservation in unaided schools. However, the final decision on reservation will be of the state governments. The Bill, termed historic by the Parliament, was one of the flagship programmes in the 100 day agenda of the UPA government. Sibal described the Bill was as “harbinger of a new era” for children to meet the challenges of the 21st century. “To me, the law is late by many years. It should have come earlier”. Responding to members’ concern on the financial requirement of the gigantic task, he said a group was on the job, which would provide inputs to the 13th Finance Commission before completion of its term in October this year. The Bill also seeks to do away with the practice of schools taking capitation fees before admission and subjecting the child or parents to any screening procedure. Ten objectives, which include free and compulsory education, obligation on the part of state to provide education, nature of curriculum consistent with Constitution, quality, focus on social responsibility and obligation of teachers and debureaucratisation in admissions, are part of the Bill. *** Complete Article Here : Eight years after the Constitution was amended to make right to education a fundamental right — an enabling legislation making the Centre and state governments responsible for its implementation -it got Lok Sabha’s approval on Tuesday.Rajya Sabha has already approved the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2009 last week. The Bill would now be sent to President for assent, before notifying it as a law for implementation. Its implementation would be a big challenge and need constant partnership of the state, Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal said, while replying to a discussion on the Bill that provides for compulsory education for all children in 6-14 age group, in the Lok Sabha. “There is a lot of flexibility in the Bill for the state governments to implement it…We cannot achieve the target in a day. I am sure it can be done in partnership with the state governments”. As per the Constitution, state governments are responsible for implementation of elementary education programmes. Sibal said the state governments will have powers to include any section including disabled children in the ambit of weaker sections so that they can get benefit of 25 per cent reservation in unaided schools. However, the final decision on reservation will be of the state governments. The Bill, termed historic by the Parliament, was one of the flagship programmes in the 100day agenda of the UPA government. Sibal described the Bill was as “harbinger of a new era” for children to meet the challenges of the 21st century. “To me, the law is late by many years. It should have come earlier”. Responding to members’ concern on the financial requirement of the gigantic task, he said a group was on the job, which would provide inputs to the 13th Finance Commission before completion of its term in October this year. The Bill also seeks to do away with the practice of schools taking capitation fees before admission and subjecting the child or parents to any screening procedure. Ten objectives, which include free and compulsory education, obligation on the part of state to provide education, nature of curriculum consistent with Constitution, quality, focus on social responsibility and obligation of teachers and debureaucratisation in admissions, are part of the Bill.

We Know This!!!

India was recently ranked LAST in a survey of 12 Asian bureaucracies.

In a finding that virtually slams babudom as our biggest curse, a Hong Kong-based research firm has rated Indian civil servants as the least efficient of the bureaucracy in 12 Asian nations.

In a damning judgement on the babus, the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), which released the survey report said “India’s suffocating bureaucracy was ranked the least efficient” and that working with the country’s civil servants was a “slow and painful” process.

Numerous studies in the past has also shown India’s bureaucracy to be among the most corrupt and inefficient in the world.  Modeled on the UK and German systems, it was set up to act as an interface between the government and citizens. Instead it is mired in red tape, making even the most basic services a distant dream and leaving the citizens in despair as well as discouraging investors from other countries.

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Is there a way out?

Yes if Singapore can (which like India inherited its public service from its conolial past) so can we. They recruit their babus from among the top graduates of its elite universities.

France, Germany and UK open up their top level postings to career bureaucrats and professionals through an examination system.

In US about 400 people are recruited per year through an open exam. After two years in service they are promoted to Asst.Director and then the field is opened up to competition.

Moreover they have to be made ‘Accountable’ and a serious review needs to be done of their grading process which will only promote the most deserving ones and not the one who is the senior most.

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Why we will never do well in sports!

INDIAN NATIONAL TEAM – A

• Going to play a major International tournament. Transport arrives two hours late. And the transport? Two ‘Matador‘ vans.
• Since they are late, Airline denies them boarding cards. Treats them like shabbily.
• Team leaves with one player short. Why? Visas could not be arranged for the second goalkeeper in time.

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INDIAN NATIONAL TEAM – B

• Going to play an International tournament. Luxury Volvo buses are waiting outside probably from the previous day.
• The senior most manager of the airline along with hordes of officials waiting with bouquets and red carpet. Flight held up for as long as the team wishes.
• Imagine Dhoni and Co leaving without one player. Visas or no visa.

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No guesses for Team B. The Indian Hockey Team faced this situation while embarking on their European our.

Hostage Situation,

Forget Ajmal Kasab. The new breed of terrorists make him look tiny. Today they have 60 lakh commuters hostage because of their blunders and bunglings.

A complete lack of will from the politicians and the bureaucrats is today responsible for bringing Calcutta to such a state.

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A committee headed by the chief secretary had been entrusted to monitor the implementation of the court-directed clean-air programme.

The working — or rather the lack of it — of the State Vehicular Pollution Monitoring Committee sums up the city’s foul-fume fight.

All it has done in 12 months is convene two meetings. No meeting has been held this year and so no move has been made to implement the court’s directives.

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These guys still get a 30% hike in their salaries!!! We need to give them a solid kick where it hurts.

But this person deserves all the hike and much more!

King Of Good Times

The Kingfisher pilots will now on be called :’The Pilots of Good Times‘.

Next time you are flying Kingfisher there is more to think of other than those pretty faces!

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Jaisa raja .. waisa praja!