Goal Achieved...

Saddam Hussein has finally been executed on Saturday Morning. The Americans must be really jubilant about they achieving the Goal.

But was executing Saddam their real Goal? At the time going on war against Iraq they had a goal of freeing Iraq from atrocities of Saddam Hussein and make Iraq a peaceful democratic country. Almost two years on Iraq war, is Iraq a peaceful country?

Was America's real Goal to provide good life to Iraqis?

Not at all, American's did all this for the thing called “Black Gold”. They had no interest in Saddam Hussein or Iraqi citizens. If Iraq had no “Black Gold” Americans wouldnt have even looked at it.

Why doesnt Americans go and try to resolve the conflicts and civil wars going on in African countries? It wouldnt go, because at the end of the day it would achieve nothing. Here in Iraq it has got itself good hold on the Crude Oil industry and can easily divert things towards America.

Will executing Saddam Hussein bring to an end to daily killings in Iraq taking place? More people have died after the Iraq war then during the war. If this was the situation, we feel for once that Iraq was better before war for atleast common Iraqi people.

In any case Americans have executed Saddam, now lets see what worse is to come for Iraqi's. God save them.

For Nation's Pride

The martyrs of 13 Dec. 2001 gave back the gallantry medals awarded to their relatives who laid their lives for the National pride. If hadnt they laid their lives, some these minister and MLAs would be enjoying in heaven (or hell God knows). These martyrs have returned their medals because a culprit is relieved, who is caught behind the act and is proved by the law of the land that he is guilty of taking innocent lives. He was given punishment of Death, but thanks to political debacle, even after so long time still Government is undecided whether it should hang him or not. This will boost the morals of the terrorist in this country, freely kill anyone, if you get Death then try to make a political scenario out of it and your death penalty hangs in air for the life time. Why is the hanging of Afzal being so much debated about? The reasons political party gives are uproar of public outcry in Kashmir. Does it mean that anyone can kill any one or carry out terrorist activity and enjoy full freedom. If there is public outcry, then its duty of Kashmir Goverment to control it. It doesnt mean that a culprit should be set free or his punishment be kept on lingering. I think way the government works, a decision would definetly come of whether Afzal should be hanged or not after he dies a natural death. The family members of the martyrs have done right by returning the medals. I think its a encouragement for terrorist in the country to carry out such more attacks.

Caste and Arjunsigh

Our great leaders (seems quite funny ha) are going to change the law of the land by passing a resolution in the parliament. The original law states that any one being given quota based jobs or help should be strictly on his financial status and that too for the time being and not permanent. They have strictly told that their should not be consideration of caste for the upliftment of the needy.

But our leaders, which are all learned, are planning to change this law and bring in a new law whereby quota system would be decided on the basis of caste. So if a dalit is billionaire still his sons would be able to enjoy the benifits of quota and if a Brahmin is so poor to feed himself but will not be liable for the quota benifits.

India is really moving towards 21st century (sorry -21st it should be rather). The delimma of this quota system is that whatever be your financial status but if u come under purview of the quota system you get all its benifits. What infact need of the day was to uplift the poor and the needy who are really worth a help. Thanks to quota system, in future we are going to have such doctors or employees who are hardly worth the work they do.

Think for yourself, if a quota benifited guy whose IQ is 50% then the quota doomed guy, but still the benifited guy becomes a doctor and treats, what would be health scenario of the country.

Did God at the time of making man see that ok, you will be born in a dalit family so your IQ will be less.

What should be done is remove the word caste from all the admission forms, job application form, everywhere. Why the hell do we need to know a persons caste, better know his talents and abilities. If he is worth give him a job. And that is happening in the Private organization. The quota is being fabricated by our dirty political goons for their vote banks and benifits their near and dear ones.

Now quota is being forced into private companies. But private companies would strictly oppose its or do it for sake of saying but in real never implement it. After all they mean serious business and not “Sarkari Kaam Kaaj - Hota Hai and Chalta Hai”.

We the youth of country should also help in fighting this quota.

I pray to God to give Mr. Arjun Singh, the honourable HRD Minister, some good / wise thoughts so that he thinks about quota in a positive way. Its not we dont want quota, let it be, but not at all based on someones caste.

9/11 History

Americans have always been in Cold War with Russia. Russia was on its peak in respect of technology, military strength, in 70s. This was pinching the Americans a lot. They couldnt bear the fact the Russia will slowly become one of the super powers of the world. Infact Russia was a super power at that time and no country would dare to come against Russians, not even the Americans. This led the CIA, USA, to play a foul game (of which its victim itself now). They started backing the Talibans in Afghanistan and started a war against the Russians. In this way they were able to enter on the land of Afghanistan and also successful in pushing back the Russians from Afghanistan. They used the Talibans as shield against the Russians. Talibans also were happy of receiving American help both financially and militarily. They (Talibans) got all the latest arms and ammunition to fight the Russians. Thus the Taliban successfully pushed the Russian Army out of Afghanistan. Now the Talibans wanted the Americans to leave their land, but Americans were not here for just this small business. They wanted to place a Government in Afghanistan which was like a puppet in its hand. They were successful too in doing this. But, not all the sections of the Taliban were happy with these. Slowly a revolt was slowly being built against the Americans. The Radical Islamists of Taliban were very much against the Americans on their land. The arms, ammunition and money provided by CIA, America was now being used against it only. During this period in being of 1980s Osama Bin Laden came into picture. He was a born billionare but a strong follower of Islam.They started building small terrorist groups to be used against the Americans, this terrorist group is known as Al Qaeda. One of the American Army man was working as a Spy on behalf of Al Qaeda in American Army. The spy was so intelligent that he was able to fool the whole of FBI, CIA and American army and presented himself as a faithful to the Americans. He successfully stole the training manuals of the American army and supplied them to the Al Qaeda terrorist training camps. He himself used to visit Afghanistan and gave training to the terrorists for war tactics, taught them how to make bombs, etc. etc. This all happening under the nose of the Americans and they were not able to realise this for 15 years. All strategical information was being sent out to Al Qaeda, who was busy training its men to teach the Americans a lesson. The truck bomb attack on World Trade Centre in 1997 was a warning which the Americans didnt heed and they took it lightly. The role of the CIA, FBI and Intelligence Agencies in America is a bit suspicious. Though they had found many clues leading to the Spy in American army but they always ignored it or let the spy off. Now here we feel was America deliberately doing this, so that it could find one good excuse to attack the Arabic Nations (rather oil manufacturing countries) and capture them all. If this is true, the Americans are going the pay the price for this now for quite a long time. After unsuccessful attempt in 1997 to bring down the twin towers, Al Qaeda was looking for options to teach the Americans a good lesson. Even in 1997 World Trade Centre blast there had been clues leading the pin towards the Spy. But again the CIA and FBI did not take any serious action. Infact the Spy was quite intelligent to fool the Americans that he was spying Al Qaeda, and gave information to CIA and FBI which was very very less useful. After 1997 came series of bomb blast on American consulates across the world, major attacks in Kenya and Tanzania where 100s of people had died. After this the Americans became serious against the terrorist and started looking to hunt them down. Thus various investigations intiated, and one of them led to the American Spy. Who was then arrested and kept in prision. But by then he had Al Qaeda a full fledge terrorist organization, who has only 1 goal to finish America unless it 100% evacuates its Islamic Land. So then the plan of using planes as missile to attack the twin towers came up and the planning and its implementation started taking shape. The attacks on the Americans are not going to stop for now so soon. The Amercians have to learn a lesson that its better mind only the business on its own land rather then trying to capture the Oil Rich Nations. Unless they keep on doing this they are going to bear this sour fruits. Americans took over Kuwait, then Iraq, Afghanistan and now Iran. But Iran is not that easy to capture as in Iran people are very much in favour of its regime and government. Any foolish step of America is going to lend the world into trouble. So in short, America itself is falling into the grave it had dug for others.

OBCs should throw away the demeaning crutches offered

I am by brand an 'Other Backward Class'. I did my PhD at an IIT and taught at another IIT for 27 years before retiring. It is to the credit of the IIT system that it never asked me my caste brand, neither when I entered as a student or faculty nor when I was promoted. It is sad that these things are going to change. It may not be irrelevant to note that they didn't ask my caste or religion at Oxford University in the UK, McGill University in Canada or the German Universities where I went to work.

If you are socially disadvantaged, you must strive to overcome that disadvantage and the only way to do that is to educate yourself and your children. Ask for good schools, good teachers and scholarships. If you opt for charity and crutches, you will always remain for generations to come, a receiver of charity limping on borrowed crutches. Charity demeans both the giver and the receiver.

I was born to poor, virtually illiterate parents in a remote village. But I was lucky to have a great science teacher in our village school who excited me about science; not just to learn textbook science, but to do experiments after school hours and on holidays and to do Socratic debates about science with him. Whatever modest success I have had in my professional scientific career, I can trace to such early fortunate circumstances and influences.

If you haven't had proper schooling and if you are just airlifted into an IIT by virtue of your scheduled or backward caste, you will be a miserable misfit in the intellectually and socially elite IIT atmosphere. You cannot cope with the courses; you cannot speak the campus lingo. You feel ostracized, intellectually and socially. I am saying this based on my decades of long experience with such students at IIT. Even after special coaching for a year at IIT and being exempted from the dreaded Entrance Examination, the SC/ST reserved students cannot perform. Often they require further academic concessions, albeit unethical, to barely pass the courses. It helps nobody, least of all them. I do not know what happens to them in their post-IIT life; some commission should study it. But I doubt whether many second generation SC/ST IITians make it to the IIT directly through the JEE.

It takes enormous, dedicated, and sincere effort for decades on the part of the government if quality universal school education is to be provided to all, as decreed by the Constitution and as Independent India has miserably failed to deliver in over 50 years. But it is far easier to shortchange and hoodwink the SC/STs and OBCs by making a legislative flourish of the pen offering useless, humiliating backdoor entry to them in the Institutes of higher learning. This political gimmick even distorts the meaning of 'higher' learning.

Even the sanctioned SC/ST quota in IITs today goes unfilled to a large extent (50 per cent?).

IITs cannot attract quality faculty (current vacancy is probably 20 per cent or more). Imagine the scenario when 49 per cent admission is reserved on the basis of caste and not on the basis of the academic potential of the students. IITs will be shunned as Paraya or Backward Class Institutes by serious academicians of all castes and by the international academic community.

The brand IIT has been created through about 50 years of dedicated, serious academic work of world quality by the faculty and students. Such institutes cannot be created overnight by legislative actions like opening a new IIT in a remote but politically correct location or just by renaming as IIT an existing university with its century-old caste and nonacademic baggage.

Oxford colleges are famous for their meticulous lawns. When asked by a visiting American student how you make such a lawn, the Oxford gardener replied: 'It is easy. You just regularly mow it, weed and water it. Do that for seven hundred years. Then you get a lawn like this.' What is true for the Oxford lawn is true for its academic excellence too.

So what should the OBC students, for whom the politician's heart has suddenly started bleeding, do? They should join the anti-reservation agitation and agitate for decent schools, good teachers and scholarships and refuse to be taken for an easy ride by the vote seekers. They should maintain their dignity and refuse the segregating ignominy of backdoor entries into institutions of higher learning. They should ask for better training, better running shoes, better coaches and show that they too can race with the others.

They should throw away the demeaning crutches offered.

I know this will not come to pass. The IIT campuses will be made 50-50, 50 backward and 50 forward, splitting it in the middle along the caste divide, the handicapped and the non-handicapped crowding, jostling on the same race track, nobody going anywhere.

If segregation is a legislative imperative, I suggest that it is better to have it on different campuses, rather than on the same campus. That is a win-win, 100-100 reservation situation. The SC/ST, OBC, BC and FC all having their own IITs with 100 per cent reservation, not only for students, but for faculty and staff too (why stop at students?). Maybe we could thus have healthy academic caste wars. Each group on its own racetrack.

Another possible win-win scenario for all comes from the use of high tech IT, satellite communication etc in which India is strong. We could close down all existing caste-ridden IITs and replace them with a single secular, egalitarian, virtual IIT. Virtually any number from any caste can enroll and have the same professor lecture to thousands over the high tech wires. It ensures a level playing field for all up in the sky.

Swami Vivekananda was shocked by the horrendous caste divisions in Kerala and called it a mad house. We now have a whole mad nation!

Caste -- forward, backward or scheduled -- is a shame of our country. It is an indelible indignity that brands an Indian for life at the moment of his birth. The higher castes may flaunt their caste through caste markings and last names and the lower ones may try to hide it except when it can be cashed in for favours like admissions, concessions or jobs. Egalitarian pretensions notwithstanding, caste has become an organizing principle of modern Indian society. It determines who will marry whom, who will eat with whom, who will touch whom, who will vote for whom and of late who will get into IIT!

Source: http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/jun/09guest.htm

Are Brahmins the Dalits of today?

At a time when the Congress government wants to raise the quota for Other Backward Classes to 49.5 per cent in private and public sectors, nobody talks about the plight of the upper castes. The public image of the Brahmins, for instance, is that of an affluent, pampered class. But is it so today?

There are 50 Sulabh Shauchalayas (public toilets) in Delhi; all of them are cleaned and looked after by Brahmins (this very welcome public institution was started by a Brahmin). A far cry from the elitist image that Brahmins have!

There are five to six Brahmins manning each Shauchalaya. They came to Delhi eight to ten years back looking for a source of income, as they were a minority in most of their villages, where Dalits are in majority (60 per cent to 65 per cent). In most villages in UP and Bihar, Dalits have a union which helps them secure jobs in villages.

Did you know that you also stumble upon a number of Brahmins working as coolies at Delhi's railway stations? One of them, Kripa Shankar Sharma, says while his daughter is doing her Bachelors in Science he is not sure if she will secure a job.

"Dalits often have five to six kids, but they are confident of placing them easily and well," he says. As a result, the Dalit population is increasing in villages. He adds: "Dalits are provided with housing, even their pigs have spaces; whereas there is no provision for gaushalas (cowsheds) for the cows of the Brahmins."

You also find Brahmin rickshaw pullers in Delhi. 50 per cent of Patel Nagar's rickshaw pullers are Brahmins who like their brethren have moved to the city looking for jobs for lack of employment opportunities and poor education in their villages.

Even after toiling the whole day, Vijay Pratap and Sidharth Tiwari, two Brahmin rickshaw pullers, say they are hardly able to make ends meet. These men make about Rs 100 to Rs 150 on an average every day from which they pay a daily rent of Rs 25 for their rickshaws and Rs 500 to Rs 600 towards the rent of their rooms which is shared by 3 to 4 people or their families.

Did you also know that most rickshaw pullers in Banaras are Brahmins?

This reverse discrimination is also found in bureaucracy and politics. Most of the intellectual Brahmin Tamil class has emigrated outside Tamil Nadu. Only 5 seats out of 600 in the combined UP and Bihar assembly are held by Brahmins -- the rest are in the hands of the Yadavs.

400,000 Brahmins of the Kashmir valley, the once respected Kashmiri Pandits, now live as refugees in their own country, sometimes in refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi in appalling conditions. But who gives a damn about them? Their vote bank is negligible.

And this is not limited to the North alone. 75 per cent of domestic help and cooks in Andhra Pradesh are Brahmins. A study of the Brahmin community in a district in Andhra Pradesh (Brahmins of India by J Radhakrishna, published by Chugh Publications) reveals that today all purohits live below the poverty line.

Eighty per cent of those surveyed stated that their poverty and traditional style of dress and hair (tuft) had made them the butt of ridicule. Financial constraints coupled with the existing system of reservations for the 'backward classes' prevented them from providing secular education to their children.

In fact, according to this study there has been an overall decline in the number of Brahmin students. With the average income of Brahmins being less than that of non-Brahmins, a high percentage of Brahmin students drop out at the intermediate level. In the 5 to 18 year age group, 44 per cent Brahmin students stopped education at the primary level and 36 per cent at the pre-matriculation level.

The study also found that 55 per cent of all Brahmins lived below the poverty line -- below a per capita income of Rs 650 a month. Since 45 per cent of the total population of India is officially stated to be below the poverty line it follows that the percentage of destitute Brahmins is 10 per cent higher than the all-India figure.

There is no reason to believe that the condition of Brahmins in other parts of the country is different. In this connection it would be revealing to quote the per capita income of various communities as stated by the Karnataka finance minister in the state assembly:

Christians Rs 1,562,

Vokkaligas Rs 914,

Muslims Rs 794,

Scheduled castes Rs 680,

Scheduled Tribes Rs 577 and

Brahmins Rs 537.

Appalling poverty compels many Brahmins to migrate to towns leading to spatial dispersal and consequent decline in their local influence and institutions. Brahmins initially turned to government jobs and modern occupations such as law and medicine. But preferential policies for the non-Brahmins have forced Brahmins to retreat in these spheres as well.

According to the Andhra Pradesh study, the largest percentage of Brahmins today are employed as domestic servants. The unemployment rate among them is as high as 75 per cent. Seventy percent of Brahmins are still relying on their hereditary vocation. There are hundreds of families that are surviving on just Rs 500 per month as priests in various temples (Department of Endowments statistics).

Priests are under tremendous difficulty today, sometimes even forced to beg for alms for survival. There are innumerable instances in which Brahmin priests who spent a lifetime studying Vedas are being ridiculed and disrespected.

At Tamil Nadu's Ranganathaswamy Temple, a priest's monthly salary is Rs 300 (Census Department studies) and a daily allowance of one measure of rice. The government staff at the same temple receive Rs 2,500 plus per month. But these facts have not modified the priests' reputation as 'haves' and as 'exploiters.' The destitution of Hindu priests has moved none, not even the parties known for Hindu sympathy.

The tragedy of modern India is that the combined votes of Dalits/OBC and Muslims are enough for any government to be elected. The Congress quickly cashed in on it after Independence, but probably no other government than Sonia Gandhi's has gone so far in shamelessly dividing Indian society for garnering votes.

The Indian government gives Rs 1,000 crores (Rs 10 billion) for salaries of imams in mosques and Rs 200 crores (Rs 2 billion) as Haj subsidies. But no such help is available to Brahmins and upper castes.

As a result, not only the Brahmins, but also some of the other upper castes in the lower middle class are suffering in silence today, seeing the minorities slowly taking control of their majority.

Anti-Brahminism originated in, and still prospers in anti-Hindu circles. It is particularly welcome among Marxists, missionaries, Muslims, separatists and Christian-backed Dalit movements of different hues. When they attack Brahmins, their target is unmistakably Hinduism.

So the question has to be asked: are the Brahmins (and other upper castes) of yesterday becoming the Dalits of today?

Source: http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/23franc.htm

Quota is Final: Arjun.

Here is the full interview of Mr. Arjun Singh, HRD Minister, conducted by Mr. Karan Thapar. Please read on the whole interview to know how knowledgable our honorary ministers are. Source : http://www.ibnlive.com/news/devils-advocate-arjun-singh/11063-4.html Karan Thapar: Hello and welcome to the Devil's Advocate. As the debate over the reservations for the OBCs divides the country, we ask - What are the government's real intentions? That is the critical questions that I shall put today in an exclusive interview to the Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh.

Most of the people would accept that steps are necessary to help the OBCs gain greater access to higher education.The real question is - Why do you believe that reservations is the best way of doing this?

Arjun Singh: I wouldn't like to say much more on this because these are decisions that are taken not by individuals alone. And in this case, the entire Parliament of this country - almost with rare anonymity - has decided to take this decision.

Karan Thapar: Except that Parliament is not infallible. In the Emergency, when it amended the Constitution, it was clearly wrong, it had to reverse its own amendments. So, the question arises - Why does Parliament believe that the reservation is the right way of helping the OBCs?

Arjun Singh: Nobody is infallible. But Parliament is Supreme and atleast I, as a Member of Parliament, cannot but accept the supremacy of Parliament.

Karan Thapar: No doubt Parliament is supreme, but the constitutional amendment that gives you your authorities actually unenabling amendment, it is not a compulsory requirement. Secondly, the language of the amendment does not talk about reservations, the language talks about any provision by law for advancement of socially and educationally backward classes. So, you could have chosen anything other than reservations, why reservations?

Arjun Singh: Because as I said, that was the 'will and desire of the Parliament'.

Karan Thapar: Do you personally also, as Minister of Human Resource Development , believe that reservations is the right and proper way to help the OBCs?

Arjun Singh: Certainly, that is one of the most important ways to do it.

Karan Thapar: The right way?

Arjun Singh: Also the right way.

Karan Thapar: In which case, lets ask a few basic questions; we are talking about the reservations for the OBCs in particular. Do you know what percentage of the Indian population is OBC? Mandal puts it at 52 per cent, the National Sample Survey Organisation at 32 per cent, the National Family and Health Survey at 29.8 per cent, which is the correct figure?

Arjun Singh: I think that should be decided by people who are more knowledgeable. But the point is that the OBCs form a fairly sizeable percentage of our population.

Karan Thapar: No doubt, but the reason why it is important to know 'what percentage' they form is that if you are going to have reservations for them, then you must know what percentage of the population they are, otherwise you don't know whether they are already adequately catered in higher educational institutions or not.

Arjun Singh: That is obvious - they are not.

Karan Thapar: Why is it obvious?

Arjun Singh: Obvious because it is something which we all see.

Karan Thapar: Except for the fact that the NSSO, which is a government appointed body, has actually in its research in 1999 - which is the most latest research shown - that 23.5 per cent of all university seats are already with the OBCs. And that is just 8.5 per cent less than what the NSSO believes is the OBC share of the population. So, for a difference of 8 per cent, would reservations be the right way of making up the difference?

Arjun Singh: I wouldn't like to go behind all this because, as I said, Parliament has taken a view and it has taken a decision, I am a servant of Parliament and I will only implement.

Karan Thapar: Absolutely, Parliament has taken a view, I grant it. But what people question is the simple fact - Is there a need for reservations? If you don't know what percentage of the country is OBC, and if furthermore, the NSSO is correct in pointing out that already 23.5 per cent of the college seats are with the OBC, then you don't have a case in terms of need.

Arjun Singh: College seats, I don't know.

Karan Thapar: According to the NSSO - which is a government appointed body - 23.5 per cent of the college seats are already with the OBCs.

Arjun Singh: What do you mean by college seats?

Karan Thapar: University seats, seats of higher education.

Arjun Singh: Well, I don't know I have not come across that far.

Karan Thapar: So, when critics say to you that you don't have a case for reservation in terms of need, what do you say to them?

Arjun Singh: I have said what I had to say and the point is that that is not an issue for us to now debate.

Karan Thapar: You mean the chapter is now closed?

Arjun Singh: The decision has been taken.

Karan Thapar: Regardless of whether there is a need or not, the decision is taken and it is a closed chapter.

Arjun Singh: So far as I can see, it is a closed chapter and that is why I have to implement what all Parliament has said.

Karan Thapar: Minister, it is not just in terms of 'need' that your critics question the decision to have reservation for OBCs in higher education. More importantly, they question whether reservations themselves are efficacious and can work. For example, a study done by the IITs themselves shows that 50 per cent of the IIT seats for the SCs and STs remain vacant and for the remaining 50 per cent, 25 per cent are the candidates, who even after six years fail to get their degrees. So, clearly, in their case, reservations are not working.

Arjun Singh: I would only say that on this issue, it would not be correct to go by all these figures that have been paraded.

Karan Thapar: You mean the IIT figures themselves could be dubious?

Arjun Singh: Not dubious, but I think that is not the last word.

Karan Thapar: All right, maybe the IIT may not be the last word, let me then quote to you the report of the Parliamentary Committee on the welfare for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes - that is a Parliamentary body.

It says that looking at the Delhi University, between 1995 and 2000, just half the seats for under-graduates at the Scheduled Castes level and just one-third of the seats for under-graduates at the Scheduled Tribes level were filled. All the others went empty, unfilled. So, again, even in Delhi University, reservations are not working.

Arjun Singh: If they are not working, it does not mean that for that reason we don't need them. There must be some other reason why they are not working and that can be certainly probed and examined. But to say that for this reason, 'no reservations need to be done' is not correct.

Karan Thapar: Fifty years after the reservations were made, statistics show, according to The Hindustan Times, that overall in India, only 16 per cent of the places in higher education are occupied by SCs and STs. The quota is 22.5 per cent, which means that only two-thirds of the quota is occupied. One third is going waste, it is being denied to other people.

Arjun Singh: As I said, the kind of figures that have been brought out, in my perception, do not reflect the realities. Realities are something much more and of course, there is an element of prejudice also.

Karan Thapar: But these are figures that come from a Parliamentary Committee. It can't be prejudiced; they are your own colleagues.

Arjun Singh: Parliamentary Committee has given the figures, but as to why this has not happened, that is a different matter.

Karan Thapar: I put it to you that you don't have a case for reservations in terms of need, you don't have a case for reservations in terms of their efficacy, why then, are you insisting on extending them to the OBCs?

Arjun Singh: I don't want to use that word, but I think that your argument is basically fallicious.

Karan Thapar: But it is based on all the facts available in the public domain.

Arjun Singh: Those are facts that need to be gone into with more care. What lies behind those facts, why this has not happened, that is also a fact.

Karan Thapar: Let's approach the issue of reservations differently in that case. Reservations mean that a lesser-qualified candidate gets preference over a more qualified candidate, solely because in this case, he or she happens to be an OBC. In other words, the upper castes are being penalised for being upper caste.

Arjun Singh: Nobody is being penalised and that is a factor that we are trying to address. I think that the prime Minister will be talking to all the political parties and will be putting forward a formula, which will see that nobody is being penalised.

Karan Thapar: I want very much to talk about that formula, but before we come to talk about how you are going to address concerns, let me point one other corollary - Reservations also gives preference and favour to caste over merit. Is that acceptable in a modern society?

Arjun Singh: I don't think the perceptions of modern society fit India entirely.

Karan Thapar: You mean India is not a modern society and therefore can't claim to be treated as one?

Arjun Singh: It is emerging as a modern society, but the parameters of a modern society do not apply to large sections of the people in this country.

Karan Thapar: Let me quote to you Jawaharlal Nehru, a man whom you personally admire enormously. On the 27th of June 1961 wrote to the Chief Ministers of the day as follows: I dislike any kind of reservations. If we go in for any kind of reservations on communal and caste basis, we will swamp the bright and able people and remain second rate or third rate. The moment we encourage the second rate, we are lost. And then he adds pointedly: This way lies not only folly, but also disaster. What do you say to Jawaharlal Nehru today?

Arjun Singh: Jawaharlal Nehru was a great man in his own right and not only me, but everyone in India accept his view.

Karan Thapar: But you are just about to ignore his advice.

Arjun Singh: No. Are you aware that it was Jawaharlal Nehru who introduced the first ammendment regarding OBCs?

Karan Thapar: Yes, and I am talking about Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961, when clearly he had changed his position, he said - I dislike any kind of reservations.

Arjun Singh: I don't think one could take Panditji's position at any point of time and then overlook what he had himself initiated.

Karan Thapar: Am I then to understand that regardless of the case that is made against reservations in terms of need, regardless of the case that has been made against reservations in terms of efficacy, regardless of the case that has been made against reservations in terms of Jawaharlal Nehru, you remain committed to extending reservations to the OBCs.

Arjun Singh: I said because that is the will of Parliament. And I think that common decisions that are taken by Parliament have to be honoured.

Karan Thapar: Let me ask you a few basic questions - If reservations are going to happen for the OBCs in higher education, what percentage of reservations are we talking about?

Arjun Singh: No, that I can't say because that has yet to be decided.

Karan Thapar: Could it be less than 27 per cent?

Arjun Singh: I can't say anything on that, I have told you in the very beginning that at this point of time it is not possible for me to.

Karan Thapar: Quite right. If you can't say, then that also means that the figure has not been decided.

Arjun Singh: The figure will be decided, it has not been decided yet.

Karan Thapar: The figure has not been decided. So, therefore the figure could be 27, but it could be less than 27 too?

Arjun Singh: I don't want to speculate on that because as I said, that is decision, which will be taken by Parliament.

Karan Thapar: Whatever the figure, one thing is certain that when the reservations for OBCs happen, the total quantum of reservations will go up in percentage terms. Will you compensate by increasing the total number of seats in colleges, universities, IITs and IIMs, so that the other students don't feel deprived.

Arjun Singh: That is one of the suggestions that has been made and is being seriously considered.

Karan Thapar: Does it find favour with you as a Minister for Human Resource Development?

Arjun Singh: Whatever suggestion comes, we are committed to examine it.

Karan Thapar: You may be committed to examine it, but do you as minister believe that that is the right way forward?

Arjun Singh: That could be one of the ways, but not the only way.

Karan Thapar: What are the other ways?

Arjun Singh: I don't know. That is for the Prime Minister and the other ministers to decide.

Karan Thapar: One way forward would be to increase the total number of seats.

Arjun Singh: Yes, definitely.

Karan Thapar: But the problem is that as the Times of India points out, we are talking of an increase of perhaps as much as 53 per cent. Given the constraints you have in terms of faculty and infrastructure, won't that order of increase dilute the quality of education?

Arjun Singh: I would only make one humble request, don't go by The Times of India and The Hindustan Times about faculty and infrastructure, because they are trying to focus on an argument which they have made.

Karan Thapar: All right, I will not go by The Times of India, let me instead go by Sukhdev Thorat, the Chairman of the UGC. He points out that today, at higher education levels - that is all universities, IITs and IIMs - there is already a 1.2 lakh vacancy number. 40 per cent of these are in teaching staff, which the IIT faculty themselves point out that they have shortages of up to 30 per cent. Given those two constraint, can you increase the number of seats?

Arjun Singh: That can be addressed and that shortage can be taken care of.

Karan Thapar: But it can't be taken care of in one swoop, it will take several years to do it.

Arjun Singh: I don't know whether it can be taken care of straightway or in stages, that is a subject to be decided.

Karan Thapar: Let me ask you bluntly, if you were to agree to compensate for reservations for OBCs by increasing the number of seats, would that increase happen at one go, or would it be staggered over a period of two-three or four year old process.

Arjun Singh: As I told you, it is an issue that I cannot comment upon at this moment because that is under examination.

Karan Thapar: So, it may happen in one go and it may happen in a series of several years.

Arjun Singh: I can't speculate on that because that is not something on which I am free to speak on today.

Karan Thapar: Will the reservation for OBCs, whatever figure your Committee decides on, will it happen in one go, or will it slowly be introduced in stages?

Arjun Singh: That also I cannot say because as I told you, all these issues are under consideration.

Karan Thapar: Which means that everything that is of germane interest to the people concerned is at the moment 'under consideration' and the government is not able to give any satisfaction to the students who are deeply concerned.

Arjun Singh: That is not the point. The government knows what to do and it will do what is needed.

Karan Thapar: But if the government knows what to do, why won't you tell me what the government wants to do?

Arjun Singh: Because unless the decision is taken, I cannot tell you.

Karan Thapar: But you can share with me as the Minister what you are thinking.

Arjun Singh: No.

Karan Thapar: So, in other words, we are manitaining a veil of secrecy and the very people who are concerned...

Arjun Singh: I am not maintaining a veil of secrecy. I am only telling you what propriety allows me to tell you.

Karan Thapar: Propriety does not allow you to share with the people who are protesting on the streets what you are thinking?

Arjun Singh: I don't think that that can happen all the time.

Karan Thapar: But there are people who feel that their lives and their futures are at stake and they are undertaking fasts until death.

Arjun Singh: It is being hyped up, I don't want to go into that.

Karan Thapar: Do you have no sympathy for them?

Arjun Singh: I have every sympathy.

Karan Thapar: But you say it is being hyped up.

Arjun Singh: Yes, it is hyped up.

Karan Thapar: So, then, what sympathy are you showing?

Arjun Singh: I am showing sympathy to them and not to those who are hyping it up.

Karan Thapar: The CPM says that if the reservations for the OBCs are to happen, then what is called the creamy layer should be excluded. How do you react to that?

Arjun Singh: The creamy layer issue has already been taken care of by the Supreme Court.

Karan Thapar: That was vis -a-vis jobs in employment, what about at the university level, should they be excluded there as well because you are suggesting that the answer is yes?

Arjun Singh: That could be possible.

Karan Thapar: It could be possible that the creamy layer is excluded from reservations for OBCs in higher education?

Arjun Singh: It could be, but I don't know whether it would happen actually.

Karan Thapar: Many people say that if reservations for OBCs in higher education happen, then the children of beneficiaries should not be entitled to claim the same benefit.

Arjun Singh: Why?

Karan Thapar: So that there is always a shrinking base and the rate doesn't proliferate.

Arjun Singh: I don't think that that is a very logical way of looking at it.

Karan Thapar: Is that not acceptable to you?

Arjun Singh: No, it is not the logical way of looking at it.

Karan Thapar: So, with the possible exception of the creamy layer exclusion, reservation for OBCs in higher education will be almost identical to the existing reservations for SC/STs?

Arjun Singh: Except for the percentage.

Karan Thapar: Except for the percentage.

Arjun Singh: Yes.

Karan Thapar: So, in every other way, they will be identical.

Arjun Singh: Yes, in every other way.

Karan Thapar: Mr Arjun Singh, on the 5th of April when you first indicated that the Government was considering reservation for OBCs in higher education, was the Prime Minister in agreement that this was the right thing to do?

Arjun Singh: I think, there is a very motivated propaganda is on this issue. Providing reservation to OBCs was in the public domain right from December 2005, when Parliament passed the enabling resolution.

Karan Thapar: Quite true. But had the Prime Minister specifically agreed on or before 5th of April to the idea?

Arjun Singh: Well, I am telling you it was already there. A whole Act was made, the Constitution was amended and the Prime Minister was fully aware of what this is going to mean. Actually, he had a meeting in which OBC leaders were called to convince them that this would give them the desired advantage. And they should, therefore, support this resolution. And at that meeting, he himself talked to them. Now, how do you say that he was unaware?

Karan Thapar: But were you at all aware that the Prime Minister might be in agreement with what was about to happen but might not wish it disclosed publicly at that point of time? Were you aware of that?

Arjun Singh: It was already there in public domain, that's what I am trying to tell you.

Karan Thapar: Then answer this to me. Why are members of the PMO telling journalists that Prime Minister was not consulted and that you jumped the gun?

Arjun Singh: Well, I don't know which member of the PMO you are talking about unless you name him.

Karan Thapar: Is there a conspiracy to make you the fall guy?

Arjun Singh: Well, I don't know whether there is one or there is not. But fall guys are not made in this way. And I am only doing what was manifestly clear to every one, was cleared by the party and the Prime Minister. There is no question of any personal agenda.

Karan Thapar: They say that, in fact, you brought up this issue to embarrass the Prime Minister.

Arjun Singh: Why should I embarrass the Prime Minister? I am with him. I am part of his team.

Karan Thapar: They say that you have a lingering, forgive the word, jealousy because Sonia Gandhi chose Manmohan Singh and not you as Prime Minister.

Arjun Singh: Well, that is canard which is below contempt. Only that person can say this who doesn't know what kind of respect and regard I hold for Sonia Gandhi. She is the leader. Whatever she decides is acceptable to me.

Karan Thapar: They also say that you brought this issue up because you felt that the Prime Minister had been eating into your portfolio. Part of it had gone to Renuka Chaudhury and, in fact, your new deputy minister Purandar Sridevi had taken over certain parts. This was your way of getting back.

Arjun Singh: No one was taking over any part. This is a decision which the Prime Minister makes as to who has to have what portfolio. And he asked Mrs Renuka Devi to take it and he cleared it with me first.

Karan Thapar: So there is no animus on your part?

Arjun Singh: Absolutely not.

Karan Thapar: They say that you did this because you resented the Prime Minister's popular image in the country, that this was your way of embroiling him in a dispute that will make him look not like a modern reformer but like an old-fashioned, family-hold politician instead.

Arjun Singh: Well, the Tammany Hall political stage is over> He is our Prime Minister and every decision he has taken is in the full consent with his Cabinet and I don't think there can be any blame on him.

Karan Thapar: One, then, last quick question. Do you think this is an issue, which is a sensitive issue, where everyone knew there would have been passions and emotions that would have aroused has been handled as effectively as it should have been?

Arjun Singh: Well, I have not done anything on it. I have not sort of what you call jumped the gun. If this is an issue, which is sensitive, everyone has to treat it that way.

Karan Thapar: But your conscience as HRD Minister is clear?

Arjun Singh: Absolutely clear.

Karan Thapar: There is nothing that you could have done to make it easier for the young students?

Arjun Singh: Well, I am prepared to do anything that can be done. And it is being attempted.

Karan Thapar: For seven weeks, they have been protesting in the hot sun. No minister has gone there to appease them, to alley their concerns, to express sympathy for them. Have politicians let the young people of India down?

Arjun Singh: Well, I myself called them. They all came in this very room.

Karan Thapar: But you are the only one.

Arjun Singh: You are accusing me only. No one else is being accused.

Karan Thapar: What about the Government of India? Has the Government of India failed to respond adequately?

Arjun Singh: From the Government of India also, the Defence Minister met them.

Karan Thapar: Only recently.

Arjun Singh: That is something because everyone was busy with the elections.

Karan Thapar: For seven weeks no one met them.

Arjun Singh: No, but we are very concerned. Certainly, all of us resent the kind of force that was used. I condemned it the very first day it happened.

Karan Thapar: All right, Mr Arjun Singh. We have reached the end of this interview. Thank you very much for speaking on the subject

Quota and Arjun Singh

Arjun Singh has gambled with quota seats which is gonna either cost him or cost the country. As our so called great committee of ministers has suggested to increase the number of seats in elite institutions to counter act the effect of increase in quota seats. Do our this great ministers know that there are not even enough hostel or infrastructural facilities for the existing seats, how are they going to manage with more seats. As rightly said by Mr. Narayana Murthy (Infosys), Director, IIM Ahmedabad- “How do they (ministers) sitting in Delhi can decide to increase the number of seats? Are they aware of the ground situation here. There are not even proper infrastructural facilities, or adequate faculties to fulfill the demand of current number of seats. Do they have plan to improve infrastructure facility while implementing more seats.” Above all, why do you feel that OBC people need special quota, did the God while creating us distributed us intelligence as per the caste. These politicians are doing what the Britishers had did, divide the coutry on basis of caste and rule. Already tensions have errupted because of this, there were clashes in Patna between the supporters and oppossers of the quota system. Slowly will spread in whole country. How do the Government plan to control this? Congress has always shouted on top of voice of it being a secular party. And they always blamed BJP of being anti-secular or Hindutva. But what is congress doing now, dividing the country on basis of caste. If Mr. Arjun Singh is so concerned about the OBC people, he should, infact all the the MLAs everybody in the parliament, should take an oath that if they were to fall ill, they would only be taking treatment from an OBC Doctor who got admission in Medicine by just securing 50% marks as against the 85-90% marks required, whatever be the calliber of the OBC doctor, because these OBC doctors are only going to treat a normal man of India. Instead of they running away to foreign countries to get treated they should get treatment here by an OBC doctor. They are really concerned for upliftment of the OBC class, by taking this oath they can uplift and bring confidence in the OBC people. Medicos instead of going on hunger strike should place forward this condition infront of these minister. Then we would really how know many are really concerned for the upliftment of OBC. Its not that we oppose the upliftment of OBC, but is it fair that a brain securing 50% marks can treat the same way to a person that a 90% marks securing brain can? Do our great and intelligent ministers can answer this thing.

Quota Bhoot

Again the “bhoot” of quotas have come up. Now the targets are the elite institutions around the country like IIMs and IITs. Why do we need to know the caste of the student who is coming in for studies? Look at his damn merit card or marks thats it. How much are we gonna pamper this so called Lower Class people. Every you go, they have a quota, in jobs, education, everywhere. I think slowly we are gonna reach a stage where there would be quota for general category and open for the lower class people. In the very first place remove the column of caste, religion from the application forms. Why the hell does one need to know the caste or religion of student or job seeker? Better judge him by his merits thats it. Hundreds of brilliant students loose out or dont get admission to medical colleges where quotas are in state. The lower class people take admission and almost 50% of them drop out after 1st year, so those all seats are a waste. Instead if it was given to a person on merit basis and who really deserved it then would have been a fruitful one. There are bright students in OBC and backward classes too, they study get good marks and get admission. A general category student needs to score 95% and above for medical while the same by OBC and lower class can be obtained for 60%. Is this fair? These politicians are doing the quota for their bread and butter and their “khursis” they damn care about the OBC or backward class people. I sternly oppose the quota system and all in all remove column of religion and caste from all the application forms of government, instituational, etc. etc.

Narmada Bachao Andolan - Is it really needed?

Narmada Bachao Andolan - A brief introduction

Here is an excerpt of the introduction on website http://www.narmada.org

“We recognise the complexity of the issues involved. However, once one cuts through all the rhetoric, lies and subterfuge of the vested interests, the gross inequities are clear. Large numbers of poor and underprivileged communities (mostly tribals and dalits) are being dispossessed of their livelihood and even their ways of living to make way for dams being built on the basis of incredibly dubious claims of common benefit and "national interest". For us, this is simply immoral and therefore unacceptable. No purported benefits can be used to justify the denial of the fundamental rights of individuals in a democratic society. And given the evidence of past megadam schemes in India and elsewhere and what has already happened in the Narmada Valley, we believe that the promised benefits will never be realised.

A quick look at the ground reality would disabuse anyone of the real nature of the dam-builder's enterprise. Large dams imply large budgets for related projects leading to large profits for a small group of people. A mass of research shows that even on purely technical grounds, large dams have been colossal failures. While they have delivered only a fraction of their purported benefits, they have had an extremely devastating effect on the riverine ecosystem and have rendered destitute large numbers of people (whose entire sustenance and modes of living are centered around the river). For no large dam in India has it been shown that the resettled people have been provided with just compensation and rehabilitation. At a more abstract level, the questions that arise in the Narmada Struggle challenge the dominant model of development (of which Sardar Sarovar dam is a prime example) that holds out the chimerical promise of material wealth through modernisation but perpetuates an inequitous distribution of resources and wreaks social and environmental havoc.

We would like to emphasise that the water problems of drought-prone areas of Gujarat, like Kutch, Saurashtra and North Gujarat (the Government's raison d'etre for the dam) are admittedly real. However given the nature of the plans for Sardar Sarovar, it will never solve these problems. On the contrary, in the shadow of the costliest project ever undertaken in India, it is unlikely that alternative schemes that would genuinely address these problems would be implemented. Sardar Sarovar takes up over 80% of Gujarat's irrigation budget but has only 1.6% of cultivable land in Kutch, 9% of cultivable land in Saurashtra and 20% cultivable land in North Gujarat in its command area. Moreover, these areas are at the tail-end of the command and would get water only after all the area along the canal path get their share of the water, and that too after 2020 AD. In summary, all available indicators suggest that these needy areas are never going to benefit from the Sardar Sarovar Project.

In simple terms, the struggle over the river Narmada holds a mirror to our national face and challenges our commitment to professed ideals of justice, equality and democracy.”

A per my reading, the NBA (Narmada Bachao Andolan) is opposing because the feel the various state governments are not rehabilating the Adivasis who are affected by the Dam.

Here is the overview of the Rehabilitation given to the individual Adivasi family:

"

• Grant of minimum 2 ha. of land for agricultural purpose of the size equal to the area of land acquired.
• Every co-sharer would also be eligible for 2 ha. per family.
• Every landless agricultural laborer in the area going under submergence would be entitled to 2 ha. per family.
• Encroachers on Government land and even those encroaching forest lands in the area going under submergence would be entitled for 2 ha. of land.
• Every major son of all above categories would also be treated as a separate family and be entitled to a 2 ha. of land for agriculture purpose.
• Every family would be provided residential plot of 500 sq.m. free of cost.
• Cash compensation of land going under submergence.
• Resettlement grant will be payable at Rs. 750/- per family which will be increased at eight per cent per annum to account for escalation considering January, 1980 as the base year.
• For construction of plinth Rs. 10,000 per family.
• Subsistence allowance Rs. 4,500/- per family.
• Grant for ploughing / tractorising fields Rs. 600/- per family.
• Grant for purchase of productive assets (bullocks) agricultural implements Rs. 7,000/- per family.
• Roof tiles equivalent to roof area of house or each family or 85 sq.m. whichever is less free of cost.
• Transportation of dismantled building materials and household kits, to new sites free of cost.
• House electrification up to 1.5 point for both housed and huts in farms free of cost.
• 30 sq.m. temporary shelter of C.C.I. sheet per outsee family on house plots free of cost.
• Insurance for (1) huts and dwelling Rs. 5,000/- (2) for contents including own belonging Rs. 1,000/- insurance for personal accident (I) Death Rs. 6,000/- (ii) loss of use of two limbs or two eyes or one limb and one eye Rs. 6,000/- (iii) Loss of use of one limbs or one eye Rs. 3,000/- (iv) permanent total disablement from injuries other than above Rs. 6,000/-.
• House at 45 sq.m. at the cost of Rs. 45,000/- in lieu of tinshed, plinth and roof tiles will be provided free of cost.”

source - http://www.sardarsarovardam.org/

This are the benifits to individual, then there are other rehabilitation plans for the community as a whole.

If we consider that the Governments have provided individual and / or community 50% of the above benefits mentioned. Then one simple question comes to ones mind “Did this adivasis ever in life would have grown to this extent which they have through the rehabilitation?”.

Even if we dont consider this, for progress we need to sacrifice, infact everyone has to sacrifice.

Also for the sake of 35000 families we are putting at stake millions of families. Is that fair enough to call for an “Andolan”. And the affected people will get atleast something if not 100% of what is claimed by Government, but if the dam isnt completed then people of Gujarat regions like Suarashtra, Kutch and north Gujarat will not be compensated at all in any other mean.

The NBA says that waters of Narmada wont reach Saurashtra or Kutch before 2020 A.D. Infact the waters of Narmada are already flowing in the Sabarmati river passing through Ahmedabad, which has filled the Sabarmati banks with water which were dried out till last year.

If the height of the dam is raised to the orginal proposed height then water of Narmada will reach Saurashtra and Kutch by natural gravitation through canals.

The estimated benifits if the dam is constructed to full proposed height of 163 M. are as follows:

“Irrigation

The Sardar Sarovar Project will provide irrigation facilities to 17.93 lac ha. of land, covering 3112 villages of 73 talukas in 15 districts of Gujarat. It will also irrigate 75,000 ha. of land in the strategic desert districts of Barmer and Jallore in Rajasthan and 37,500 ha. in the tribal hilly tract of Maharashtra through lift. About 75% of the command area in Gujarat is drought prone while entire command (75,000 ha.) in Rajasthan is drought prone. Assured water supply will soon make this area drought proof.

Drinking Water

A special allocation of 0.86 MAF of water has been made to provide drinking water to 135 urban centres and 8215 villages (45% of total 18144 villages of Gujarat) within and out-side command in Gujarat for present population of 18 million and prospective population of over 40 million by the year 2021. All the villages and urban centres of arid region of Saurashtra and Kachchh and all "no source" villages and the villages affected by salinity and fluoride in North Gujarat will be benefited. Water supply requirement of several industries will also be met from the project giving a boost to all-round production

Power Generation

There will be two power houses viz. River bed power house and canal head power house with an installed capacity of 1200 MW and 250 MW respectively. The power would be shared by three states - Madhya Pradesh - 57%, Maharashtra - 27% and Gujarat 16%. This will provide a useful paking power to western grid of the country which has very limited hydel power production at present.

A series of micro hydel power stations are also planned on the branch canals where convenient falls are available.

Flood Protection here will be two power houses viz. River bed power house and canal head power house with an installed capacity of 1200 MW and 250 MW respectively. The power would be shared by three states - Madhya Pradesh - 57%, Maharashtra - 27% and Gujarat 16%. This will provide a useful paking power to western grid of the country which has very limited hydel power production at present.

A series of micro hydel power stations are also planned on the branch canals where convenient falls are available.

Flood protection

It will also provide flood protection to riverine reaches measuring 30,000 ha. covering 210 villages and Bharuch city and a population of 4.0 lac in Gujarat.“

After reading the facts and figures, do we feel that should we oppose the Narmada Dam construction and support NBA.

Save 35000 families or millions of families.

Should we see progress of millions of family and farmers who will be financially stronger by cultivating land because of avialable water or save 35000 adivasi families.

Its not that we say that we should ignore them, their rehabilitation should be done 100% but by placing hurdles in the dams work we are benifiting nobody. Infact fight with Governments and officials that the eligible adivasis get their rights from Government.

Today was again a sad day for SSNL as the central government has laid arms against few opposers of dam and stalled the work of the dam.

I think we are being very narrow sighted then being foresighted.

This are my views for the SSNL every individual has his own views.

Cartoons - enjoy

Bringing down illegal structures!!!!

Delhi municipal corporation has taken up a drive to demolish all the illegal structures.

So ultimately because of bringing down those properties who all will be affected. Almost all who have purchased property. Many questions that comes to my mind are:

1. Why the Municipal authorities not able to stop the construction of these so called illegal structures at the very initial stage?

2. How come the municipal corporation all of a sudden woke up from its sleep and decided to bring down the structures?

3. Isnt the municipal corporation or its officers too answerable to the court and common man as to why did all of a sudden the corporation realized that everything was illegal?

4. If it was illegal how did the posh shopping complexes get electricity, water supply connections?

5. Arent the officers of the specific department offenders when they have allowed the huge structures to come up?

I think in India wherever illegal things happen, and when its stopped only the common man suffers, not a single goverment official is blamed for it or punished. While on the other hand, everything happens because of their blessings and under their nose.

Even the courts are not in a position to blame a single government official, because the procedure of passing order is such that not a single person can be blamed, if it can be blamed and punished whole of the department will be punished.

Illegal construction is everywhere in India, and no body is able to stop it. Neither Goverment officials (who generally shun eyes after taking money) nor the courts of India.

Punish those corrupted officials atleast once instead of always blaming the common man and make them suffer losses.

Wage Hike of MLAs

Yesterday a bill was passed which hiked the wages of our so called working MLAs (quite a big joke na) from Rs.16000/- to Rs.35000/-. Does our MLA really need any kind of salary. The money they make from bribe is more than enough to feed 10 times the family of their size. This Rs.35000/- is apart from the other benefits they get like home, phone bills, medical allowances, food allowances, and whatever possible. This Hike Bill got cleared from both the houses without any noise, because it was for a common concern of all MLAs.

If Government would have surveyed and asked 100 literate people that do Indian MLAs really require a pay or pay hike I feel 99% would have said not required.

There are more needy people in India then this White Collared Goondas to get salary. They tell themselves public servant but most of the time are busy quarelling in pulling away each others seat and power.

In a parliamentary session 90% of the session time goes off quarelling and walk outs and 10% work is done. So I feel their salary should have been made Rs.1600/- instead of increasing. Need to pay for the amount of work they do. God save India from this dirty politicians, we need more and more people like APJ Abdul Kalam Saab. Even though he too will be taking salary but atleast puts worthwhile efforts and does some good work which justifies his salary.