The media is a "one-trick pony"-- more, or less.....
A sensation-a-day is the mantra on which the media celebrates its existence. A sensation at least once in a few days is the formula on which it manages to thrive. No sensation for a couple of weeks, and that is the sure-fire blight for "media-wilt"! Idle thoughts these are not. Anybody who has perhaps a less than average memory, but who is careful about keeping a note of half-a-dozen sensations from the previous month, and checking for its "progress" for about three months would come to the above conclusion. Then there is another interesting side to sensations too-- you just can't have a couple of simultaneous sensations! One of them will get relegated to the back of nowhere in no time!
Such being the curious nature of media "attention" on issues that are more than mere sensations, it behoves the responsible citizen to "recap" and "revisit" topics and issues that demand more than a cursory attention. The recent tragedy at Sabarimala on the occasion of the Makarajyothi (in mid-January) is fresh in the minds of at least some of us, and surely the date is etched indelibly in the minds of the poor souls who lost a father, a husband, a son or a brother in the melee at Pulmedu on that fateful day. Do have a look at my earlier post "Sense and Sabarimala". ( http://2ndthinker.blogspot.com/2011/01/sense-and-sabarimala.html )
The weeks that followed the tragedy saw a tapering off of interest in the matter despite a rather spirited slanging match between the Forest Department, the Electricity Board and, of course, the Devaswam Board. Now the brouhaha has virtually died down and we (and surely the media!) are waiting for something else to happen before we start our response engines!
I was in the meantime keeping track of the post-tragedy fallout.
It was interesting, nay amusing, to see the government (which means the clever politicians!) playing hide-and-seek with the question of whether the Makara Jyothi was man-made or not, and in the event that it was man-made, who was/were the man/men who made it! The Chief Minister, an adroit old hand, easily side-stepped the issue by saying that it was a matter of 'faith' into which the government was loath to enter! No question of any enquiry of fact-finding regarding a question that was debated ad-nauseum by all and sundry, including the rationalists. It is fated to remain a mystery.
The sad fact remains that the Makara Sankranthi pilgrim rush is mostly as a result of the pilgrims' wish to witness the 'divine jyothi'. What goes without saying is that the creation and perpetuation of the "cash cow" that the Makara jyothi was a legerdemain that was being accomplished with the tacit knowledge and connivance of the "powers that be". Those who have been following the developments are sure to remember the many revelations in the media as regards the truth about this "magical flickering light that appeared on cue" at Ponnambalamedu, and for a glimpse of which hundreds of poor pilgrims had paid for with their precious lives.
Here are a few links of interest:
"...The ‘Makarajyothi' issue has taken a new turn with a former Commissioner of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) writing to the Devaswom Ombudsman in Kerala, asserting that the TDB had indeed been lighting the fire seen atop Ponnambalamedu..." Read more at < http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article1117779.ece >
"...Contending that Makarajyothi was not a miracle but a man-made fire, the Supreme Court was moved on Saturday to stop lighting it at Ponnambalamedu near the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala in January every year... More at < http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article1117782.ece >
"...The Hindu on Friday posed the question (is the Makara Jyothi man-made) before a number of prominent persons closely associated with, or seek to represent the interests of, the revered and ancient forest-shrine. The answer: it is indeed man-made...." Follow the story at < http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article1110275.ece >
The clincher, however, was the statement made by the Pandalam Raja himself in a letter to the Editor of The Hindu newspaper. ( http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article1110364.ece ) The Pandalam Royal family is part and parcel of the legend of Lord Ayyappa and even today the Raja retains many privileges, including being the official custodian of the Lord's festive ornaments and paraphernalia. The Pandalam Royal family has been involved with the rituals of the Ayyappa temple from the very beginning. But apparently the Devaswam Board's clever stratagem for making some solid quick money did not "gel" with the rather orthodox Raja, and he has now come out with a categoric denial of there being any "divinity" associated with the flame that flickers at Ponnambalamedu.
The Raja being the accepted authority as regards many customs and rituals of the Sabarimala temple, there does not seem to be the need for any further authority to accept the truth that the "divine jyothi" is a man-made sham jyothi, lit in order to deceive the poor pilgrim. We have to educate the pilgrims about the truth of the jyothi before the next Makara Sankranthi day. Tout it as a part of the temple ritual, if you will. If the environment and forest ministries will permit, the Devaswam Board can open a trekking path to Ponnambalamedu and make some good money by selling a limited number of passes to pilgrims so that they could witness the "deeparadhana" and the "jyothi" being lit at the hilltop. Well, why not??
If that is not possible, maybe for the present, the Board and the government have to see that no "clandestine jyothi" is lit there, throwing the pilgrims into another dangerous convulsion. It may be recalled that the Indian Space Organization had promised detailed satellite maps of the terrain to the government and the Board. It would be interesting to keep track by satellite of the presence of any "human agency" lighting the "divine fire"! Why can't a body of selected public figures, Board officials, Forest and government reps and a few rationalists be permitted to be present at the Ponnambalamedu venue on the Makara Sankranthi evening so that the issue could be settled once and for all???
That, precisely, is the rub!! Nobody wants to "settle" the issue for good! Why? There is good (?) money in it! That, dear reader, is the sad truth behind all that apathy...
Another curious development that was briefly reported was the claim made by a group representing the "malayarayans" and "malappandarams" and other hill tribes that they traditionally had the claim to light the Makara Jyothi at Ponnambalamedu. They were driven off when the forest area came under the Electricity Board after the commissioning of the Sabarigiri hydel project. The tribals are vocal about wanting their claim restored. A very interesting development indeed. I dont know, but they do not seem to have moved the court yet in this connection. This would tie in with my earlier suggestion. Restore the tribals' right and also start a new 'pilgrimage' to Ponnambalamedu and "market" the jyothi as a part of the Sabarimala rituals. This definitely would save lives and unnecessary rush and madness that have increasingly come to be a mark of the Sabarimala pilgrimage as the years go by.
Yet another aspect that led to the tragedy that received the attention of many officials and functionaries was the unprecedented burgeoning of crowds at the hilltop temple. Not only that the mechanism of crowd control had miserably failed at the Sanctum and all along the trekking paths, there was another 'phenomenon' this year. All the roads leading to Sabarimala were clogged with vehicles and irate pilgrims.
It will be easy to understand if you approached the whole 'phenomenon' from the 'result' and did some 'reverse engineering' to arrive at what had caused all this. The 'result' this year was that the waiting period for everything, be it 'darshan' of the Lord, be it the time in the last-leg queue before the temple, be it in the trekking paths, be it on the roads.... the waiting period could be counted in hours...something like eight to fifteen or more hours...and sometimes, in the far off approaches, almost 20 plus hours.
This was an unusual phenomenon. The usual mechanisms of traffic and vehicle movement and parking and other controls were not working effectively, with the result that vehicles and pilgrims were "pouring in" and clogging every inch of space for miles and miles around. And they were right royally stuck there, mostly in the mountain roads, and far away from anything or anybody. With wait periods growing into something like half a day, or more, these pilgrims became a body of "captive customers" for the "vultures" who moved in, charging at times Rs 50 for a bottle of water, Rs 25 for a snack or other unimaginable sums for paltry products and services.
This was an appalling 'phenomenon' noticed and confirmed by many officials, of course, "off the record", and by many pilgrims, who wanted to be very much on record. So what is the conclusion that any dimwit can come to in the light of this shocking revelation? The whole crowd situation was, to a large part, "engineered" this time by another avaricious bunch--the traders and shopkeepers who "service" the pilgrims. It is common knowledge how every trader, every jeep and other private vehicle driver is squeezed for "commissions" by reps of parties and power groups. There is no need to try and identify these 'extra-constitutional' powers. They are as real as real can be, and they span all political colours and affiliations. Forest officials, particularly, mention this nexus between the local political functionaries and the traders. And anybody who knows anything about at least the abkari and real estate and other "mafias" of God's Own Country only know too well that when it comes to 'milking' the people, pilgrims or non-pilgrims, there is consensus and nexus and what not between the (here, micro) "corporate" players and the political players--which, after all, happens to be a nationally accepted reality these days!
It would take some spirited and impartial enquiries to bring to light the "real truth/s" behind the Sabarimala tragedy. As I suggested at the very beginning of my earlier post, right now that seems like a possible outcome only if Lord Ayyappa himself listens to the pleas of the faithful and "calls the shots", so to speak. The rest of us, if we remember to bother, can be satisfied with a vague report that might have good company while gathering dust in the repositories of the government -- where all such reports eventually go upon their submission.
In the meantime there was some mention of a master plan made and submitted to the State Government by that Master Builder, Laurie Baker. [ "...A pictorial report prepared by the late architect Laurie Baker on creating essential amenities for Sabarimala pilgrims without harming nature has been gathering dust for the past 15 years..." Read more at < http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article1118038.ece > ]
Naturally, from what I heard, Baker, ever the man of sensibility and unmatched love for nature, favoured the hill temple to be maintained in a spartan manner, with all the concrete monstrosities that have mushroomed around the sanctum, dwarfing it beyond belief, to be razed to the ground. Pilgrims would be permitted to trek up the hill path, again maintained in a natural manner without concrete walkways, with the Pampa Ganapathy Temple serving as a gateway point. This is an eminently sensible and practical suggestion. But the master plan, prepared after a first-hand visit by the Master himself, lies gathering dust in the shelves of the Secretariat.
Will the authorities publish that precious document?? PLEASE! And invite comments from architects, the general public, pilgrims and priests and also from planners so that some kind of a practical solution could be arrived at as soon as possible. But then that would call for a serious 'purpose' in the 'mind' of the government, at best an inanimate and inhuman mechanism.
I have been, on the side, talking to many knowledgeable and gifted people who shared their ideas and concepts to "streamline" the Sabarimala pilgrimage as a unique experience that could even be marketed as a " spiritual destination". The details, like the pieces of a large and complex jigsaw puzzle, are now slowly falling into place. But I am sure of one thing--when a group of live minds with sincerity and enthusiasm come to concentrate on a problem, the solution is likely to be simple and elegant and beautiful.
On second thought, that's what WE ALL want with regard to the Sabarimala situation, whether we are believers ourselves or not. I am looking forward to sharing with you that final shape/solution of the 'jigsaw puzzle' in a future post.
So, here is to a sensible Sabarimala pilgrimage!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
LORD, GIVE US THIS DAY OUR 'NOTA' BUTTON !
Sincere prayers will always be answered--eventually!
That was what we were solemnly assured by "Kaappi Annan", the retired GOM (grand old man) who usually presides over our little group at the coffee house with all the aplomb of Kofi Annan at the UN. (Incidentally, the name is a pun on 'coffee' and 'annan', meaning the elder brother; let us admit it, Annan's wise ways, his crisp comments and observations, and above all his wonderful common sense, kept us on the straight and narrow and focussed most of the time, and we all loved it.)
For quite some months the discussion had kept coming back to democracy and voting, and how the clever coalition politics had short-circuited the very idea of a truly democratic election and a selection by the people. Then out of the blue another avatar --the EVM-- burst on the scene, complicating the already murky situation further. From before most of us were born, we had paper ballots. Whether it was by a slip of the finger, or sheer plain ignorance or by a clever 'sleight of hand' that a virgin slip of ballot paper was added to that ever-increasing heap of 'support' for Mr Invalid, it has to be agreed that this particular possibility inherent in the paper ballot was sometimes really really desirable. Then some clever guy (probably the same guy or group who dreamed up the 'coalition' political formula and a short-cut to power) wanted to take India into the 21st century, along with the average office and factory and the corner 'dhaba' who were "computerizing" with a vengeance--end of paper, and the augury of the paperless Electronic Voting Machine.
The EVM was slick and it was digital and, of course, paperless! And it was infallible!! The entire country welcomed it with open arms. Many of us, who had with horror looked to the periodic punishment of being sent as Presiding Officers for elections, heaved a collective sigh of relief when the EVM came onto the scene as it lessened our "manual labour" a lot. Things sailed on pretty smoothly for a while. Then came all sorts of doubts about the 'fool-proof' and tamper-proof nature of the EVMs. The government was vehement in its assertion that the EVM could not be tampered with. But computer experts were quick to point out that it was possible to 'hack' any piece of electronic gear at the "root" level-- if you knew how to, and if you had some simple tools of the trade. Today even the general public is quite savvy about "hacking" as they see and hear about such hi-tech exploits almost daily in the media and on the Net. For the dedicated hacker, or "cracker", virtually nothing seems to be impossible. There have been occasions, even recent, when accusations were made that "doctored" EVMs were substituted in order to manipulate election results. That is another ball game and it has to be addressed on its own--later, as it is not our concern right now.
Our concerns to begin with, were the "arithmetic" of the coalition politics, and also how the EVM had made it well nigh impossible for the voter to really mark his/her preference in situations when the choices were equally undesirable. His vote went to somebody, whether he liked it or not, whether he wanted it or not. Once s/he was in the polling booth, s/he was under the tyranny of the EVM and you HAD TO push some button or other. With the paper ballot, you had a fool-proof "fall-guy" always-- Mr Invalid-- though it was a crime to make a vote invalid purposely. Ah, but then a slip of the finger could always be excused... But who said our politicians were asinine with "nothing in the upper storeys"?? With one fell and clever swoop they had cemented their position well by pushing all those invalid votes into favouring someone or other. We didn't like it one bit.
This then was our "bone of contention", and the problem that vexed our little group's humble brains for a while. Nobody could think of a solution. And the government and the Election Commission were sitting pretty saying that this was progress and everything was fine the way it was. It was then that Kaappi Annan one evening uttered those famous words about sincere prayers and how they will be answered--eventually. He probably wanted to tell us dimwits that the clever politicians (who else is that invisible behemoth called the government?) would never agree to make a change that they knew would eat into their chances, and so our only alternative was prayer and supplication to the Almighty.
Dutifully we followed suit and sincerely sent up our prayers in this regard heavenward. Though we had our doubts whether the Creator would choose to intervene on our behalf with the Left who never believed in Him, or with the Right who knew that it was better to believe in the Americans who print 'In God We Trust' on their coins and leave it conveniently at that, often giving His status to the little round gold icons. With the recent announcement of elections, our prayers took on a note of urgency bordering on panic. And at last, proving our Annan right, the Supreme Being responded to our prayers. As has been recorded in many apocryphal stories, to many of us this too happened as a dream conversation, an executive summary of which would go something like this:
"O Lord, give us this day our NOTA button..."
"I have created the Heaven and Earth, and many things besides, but am yet to hear of this.."
"O Lord, it is the NOTA button on the EVM..."
"Children these days have an abominable habit of speaking in acronyms... What's it?"
"O Lord, it is the Electronic Voting Machine..."
"I dont remember creating that... And what of this funny button?"
"O Lord, it is a button we want on it... it's the 'None Of The Above' button..."
"I dont claim to understand these newfangled gizmos, but let me make one thing absolutely plain... I did not create the EVM, and so it is not my responsibility to give you buttons for 'none of the above' or 'all of the above' or other combinations... Do you get that?"
"O Lord, have mercy and please succour us..."
"My word is final. I dont think it is a big deal for you to approach the CEC; my angels tell me he was the one who gave you the EVMs initially. From reports that reach me, I understand that the machine is fully tamper-proof. How do you expect me to insert a new button into that? Further I cant think of my name getting dragged into headlines about 'corruption in really High Places' and such like if I choose to touch the machine with intentions of making alterations to that. In the circumstances you would do well to submit your prayers to the CEC. All I would want to say is that those who have read their 'puranas' and the fables know that it is easier to wake a sleeping man than one whose somnolence is for the TV cameras. Prayers dismissed as being ultra vires. Over and out..."
The dream faded away and we were jolted awake in cold sweat. The jolt registered something like 9 plus on the Richter scale, but we found ourselves on the terra firma once again the next evening at the coffee house.
At last Annan spoke: Now that the Good Lord has chosen to wash His hands of the affair and has mentioned the CEC, let us think of submitting a prayer before that lordly official. There is logic in what the Almighty did point out. But then when a process or procedure is computerized, it should offer the user all the features that were inherent in the original, conventional system. Any departure from that is a violation of the standing rules of the game and it has to be legally questioned. Courts of Law surely understand questions of discrimination and non-conformity etc. But as a first resort let us propitiate and persuade the God of Poll Things about this NOTA thing, before we think of moving the machinery of Supreme Justice, decreed Annan sagely.
So we got together and drafted another prayer--this time on paper.
Before the Honourable CEC:
Permit us, Sir, to bring to your exalted notice a situation that to many would appear as funny, but to us a most serious and urgent one. As we all know the Indian Constitution states that any citizen of voting age can contest an election in our land. Though the architects of our Constitution were men of calibre and honesty, in essence they appear to lack forward thinking. They put no defining limits on the specs for the candidates. A professed Gandhian, who moonlights as a goonda, can contest by the side of a refined criminal or a self-styled joker or one of those scions of 'brand' families. Whether it was through their goodness or their lack of foresight that they permitted this, we know one thing. In the days of coalition politics, the clever parties can field a number of candidates who are all chips of the same old corrupt bloke, though there might be some apparent variations of colour.
Right now the voter in the country is facing a huge dilemma. An overwhelming section of politicians consist of those who have given bribes and those who have taken bribes and then those worthies for whom the oaths of office that they take are as holy as dicer's oaths, and also many of those who betrayed the trust of the people. If the bunch of contestants happen to be from this 'unholy group' (it is more than likely that this will be the case), the voter may want to choose "none of the above" to represent him and conduct governance.
As of now the "mechanics" of the EVM makes it mandatory that you have to choose one from the list, whether that is your true choice or not.
Kindly note that the paper ballot system gave an option to the voter of not voting for any one from the list if he so desired. It is educative to seriously consider a hypothetical situation when the votes polled for all the candidates taken together number far less than all those polled for "none of the above". Where is the mandate? Dont we have a democracy, at least on paper, where a majority is a must? The present EVM denies the voter this option of indicating "None of the above" that was tacitly present throughout in the paper ballot system.
We strongly urge you to take urgent steps to denote one button in every EVM as 'None Of The Above'. We also need legislation to specify that if any candidate polls votes that are less than the number polled for NOTA, he cannot be elected. Really we must specify that a candidate must poll more than 50% of the total polled votes if we are to have a truly democratic election, and not a charade of democratic procedures.
In the greater interests of the country and democracy we the responsible, law-abiding, tax-paying voters of this great nation demand of you the above changes in the EVM and the rules that govern elections. We have enough time to consider and implement such changes before the forthcoming elections. In this context we submit once again the following prayer before your exalted self:
O Great CEC, give us this day our NOTA button..... PDQ! *
---------------------------------------------------------------
* Pretty Damn Quick
* * * * * * * * * * * *
That was what we were solemnly assured by "Kaappi Annan", the retired GOM (grand old man) who usually presides over our little group at the coffee house with all the aplomb of Kofi Annan at the UN. (Incidentally, the name is a pun on 'coffee' and 'annan', meaning the elder brother; let us admit it, Annan's wise ways, his crisp comments and observations, and above all his wonderful common sense, kept us on the straight and narrow and focussed most of the time, and we all loved it.)
For quite some months the discussion had kept coming back to democracy and voting, and how the clever coalition politics had short-circuited the very idea of a truly democratic election and a selection by the people. Then out of the blue another avatar --the EVM-- burst on the scene, complicating the already murky situation further. From before most of us were born, we had paper ballots. Whether it was by a slip of the finger, or sheer plain ignorance or by a clever 'sleight of hand' that a virgin slip of ballot paper was added to that ever-increasing heap of 'support' for Mr Invalid, it has to be agreed that this particular possibility inherent in the paper ballot was sometimes really really desirable. Then some clever guy (probably the same guy or group who dreamed up the 'coalition' political formula and a short-cut to power) wanted to take India into the 21st century, along with the average office and factory and the corner 'dhaba' who were "computerizing" with a vengeance--end of paper, and the augury of the paperless Electronic Voting Machine.
The EVM was slick and it was digital and, of course, paperless! And it was infallible!! The entire country welcomed it with open arms. Many of us, who had with horror looked to the periodic punishment of being sent as Presiding Officers for elections, heaved a collective sigh of relief when the EVM came onto the scene as it lessened our "manual labour" a lot. Things sailed on pretty smoothly for a while. Then came all sorts of doubts about the 'fool-proof' and tamper-proof nature of the EVMs. The government was vehement in its assertion that the EVM could not be tampered with. But computer experts were quick to point out that it was possible to 'hack' any piece of electronic gear at the "root" level-- if you knew how to, and if you had some simple tools of the trade. Today even the general public is quite savvy about "hacking" as they see and hear about such hi-tech exploits almost daily in the media and on the Net. For the dedicated hacker, or "cracker", virtually nothing seems to be impossible. There have been occasions, even recent, when accusations were made that "doctored" EVMs were substituted in order to manipulate election results. That is another ball game and it has to be addressed on its own--later, as it is not our concern right now.
Our concerns to begin with, were the "arithmetic" of the coalition politics, and also how the EVM had made it well nigh impossible for the voter to really mark his/her preference in situations when the choices were equally undesirable. His vote went to somebody, whether he liked it or not, whether he wanted it or not. Once s/he was in the polling booth, s/he was under the tyranny of the EVM and you HAD TO push some button or other. With the paper ballot, you had a fool-proof "fall-guy" always-- Mr Invalid-- though it was a crime to make a vote invalid purposely. Ah, but then a slip of the finger could always be excused... But who said our politicians were asinine with "nothing in the upper storeys"?? With one fell and clever swoop they had cemented their position well by pushing all those invalid votes into favouring someone or other. We didn't like it one bit.
This then was our "bone of contention", and the problem that vexed our little group's humble brains for a while. Nobody could think of a solution. And the government and the Election Commission were sitting pretty saying that this was progress and everything was fine the way it was. It was then that Kaappi Annan one evening uttered those famous words about sincere prayers and how they will be answered--eventually. He probably wanted to tell us dimwits that the clever politicians (who else is that invisible behemoth called the government?) would never agree to make a change that they knew would eat into their chances, and so our only alternative was prayer and supplication to the Almighty.
Dutifully we followed suit and sincerely sent up our prayers in this regard heavenward. Though we had our doubts whether the Creator would choose to intervene on our behalf with the Left who never believed in Him, or with the Right who knew that it was better to believe in the Americans who print 'In God We Trust' on their coins and leave it conveniently at that, often giving His status to the little round gold icons. With the recent announcement of elections, our prayers took on a note of urgency bordering on panic. And at last, proving our Annan right, the Supreme Being responded to our prayers. As has been recorded in many apocryphal stories, to many of us this too happened as a dream conversation, an executive summary of which would go something like this:
"O Lord, give us this day our NOTA button..."
"I have created the Heaven and Earth, and many things besides, but am yet to hear of this.."
"O Lord, it is the NOTA button on the EVM..."
"Children these days have an abominable habit of speaking in acronyms... What's it?"
"O Lord, it is the Electronic Voting Machine..."
"I dont remember creating that... And what of this funny button?"
"O Lord, it is a button we want on it... it's the 'None Of The Above' button..."
"I dont claim to understand these newfangled gizmos, but let me make one thing absolutely plain... I did not create the EVM, and so it is not my responsibility to give you buttons for 'none of the above' or 'all of the above' or other combinations... Do you get that?"
"O Lord, have mercy and please succour us..."
"My word is final. I dont think it is a big deal for you to approach the CEC; my angels tell me he was the one who gave you the EVMs initially. From reports that reach me, I understand that the machine is fully tamper-proof. How do you expect me to insert a new button into that? Further I cant think of my name getting dragged into headlines about 'corruption in really High Places' and such like if I choose to touch the machine with intentions of making alterations to that. In the circumstances you would do well to submit your prayers to the CEC. All I would want to say is that those who have read their 'puranas' and the fables know that it is easier to wake a sleeping man than one whose somnolence is for the TV cameras. Prayers dismissed as being ultra vires. Over and out..."
The dream faded away and we were jolted awake in cold sweat. The jolt registered something like 9 plus on the Richter scale, but we found ourselves on the terra firma once again the next evening at the coffee house.
At last Annan spoke: Now that the Good Lord has chosen to wash His hands of the affair and has mentioned the CEC, let us think of submitting a prayer before that lordly official. There is logic in what the Almighty did point out. But then when a process or procedure is computerized, it should offer the user all the features that were inherent in the original, conventional system. Any departure from that is a violation of the standing rules of the game and it has to be legally questioned. Courts of Law surely understand questions of discrimination and non-conformity etc. But as a first resort let us propitiate and persuade the God of Poll Things about this NOTA thing, before we think of moving the machinery of Supreme Justice, decreed Annan sagely.
So we got together and drafted another prayer--this time on paper.
Before the Honourable CEC:
Permit us, Sir, to bring to your exalted notice a situation that to many would appear as funny, but to us a most serious and urgent one. As we all know the Indian Constitution states that any citizen of voting age can contest an election in our land. Though the architects of our Constitution were men of calibre and honesty, in essence they appear to lack forward thinking. They put no defining limits on the specs for the candidates. A professed Gandhian, who moonlights as a goonda, can contest by the side of a refined criminal or a self-styled joker or one of those scions of 'brand' families. Whether it was through their goodness or their lack of foresight that they permitted this, we know one thing. In the days of coalition politics, the clever parties can field a number of candidates who are all chips of the same old corrupt bloke, though there might be some apparent variations of colour.
Right now the voter in the country is facing a huge dilemma. An overwhelming section of politicians consist of those who have given bribes and those who have taken bribes and then those worthies for whom the oaths of office that they take are as holy as dicer's oaths, and also many of those who betrayed the trust of the people. If the bunch of contestants happen to be from this 'unholy group' (it is more than likely that this will be the case), the voter may want to choose "none of the above" to represent him and conduct governance.
As of now the "mechanics" of the EVM makes it mandatory that you have to choose one from the list, whether that is your true choice or not.
Kindly note that the paper ballot system gave an option to the voter of not voting for any one from the list if he so desired. It is educative to seriously consider a hypothetical situation when the votes polled for all the candidates taken together number far less than all those polled for "none of the above". Where is the mandate? Dont we have a democracy, at least on paper, where a majority is a must? The present EVM denies the voter this option of indicating "None of the above" that was tacitly present throughout in the paper ballot system.
We strongly urge you to take urgent steps to denote one button in every EVM as 'None Of The Above'. We also need legislation to specify that if any candidate polls votes that are less than the number polled for NOTA, he cannot be elected. Really we must specify that a candidate must poll more than 50% of the total polled votes if we are to have a truly democratic election, and not a charade of democratic procedures.
In the greater interests of the country and democracy we the responsible, law-abiding, tax-paying voters of this great nation demand of you the above changes in the EVM and the rules that govern elections. We have enough time to consider and implement such changes before the forthcoming elections. In this context we submit once again the following prayer before your exalted self:
O Great CEC, give us this day our NOTA button..... PDQ! *
---------------------------------------------------------------
* Pretty Damn Quick
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Saturday, March 19, 2011
THREE MISSIVES
I. To the First Citizen of the U S:
Hi Barak!
Surprised? You shouldn't be, as post-Wikileaks, the skies haven't fallen--yet, that is. Now the leaks that hog the front pages are the ones from Fukushima. That is, until a few days back-- when the Hindu burst an Indian bombshell by starting publication of the India-related cables sourced from Wikileaks.
I am no longer sure whether you have been briefed/updated about this as I have my own reasons for not trusting those guys around you in government and diplomatic circles to keep you tuned to what is happening around the world --and hence this letter.
But what triggered my missive was in fact the letter by one Mr T Darmalingam from Chennai published today (19 March, 2011) in the Letters to the Editor column of the HIndu itself. (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article1552233.ece) To me he seems to be a particularly perspicacious gentleman and his thoughts rightly deserve some attention, and perhaps consequent action, from you. The reader's thoughts, if you will allow me an edgewise pun, do not leak and hold water very much. Let me quote:
"...the US diplomatic staff, like their counterparts elsewhere, have a lot of spare time at their disposal. They collect plenty of gossip and pass them on to their bosses to justify their presence..."
Apparently Mr Darmalingam is one who knows very well the rarefied levels at which the diplomatic corps cavort and is somewhat of an insider when it comes to knowing first-hand how the diplomats stretch the truth somewhat just to make their reports entertaining and 'authentic' with local colour, so that the State Department would accept their raison d'etre withour demur.
I dont know much about what kind of Americans generally opt for the diplomatic services. But a comparatively "khushi" (the Brits spell it 'cushy') diplomatic junket in the East is not exactly what I would call a "bitter pill" to either a young man or woman, or to the more mature person who knows his marbles. As has been said ad nauseum, the East is East and the West is West..etc etc, and consequently it may not be easy for the average westerner to understand fully the complicated working of the Eastern (here please read Indian) mind--at the best of times, we, born and brought up and guaranteed to die or commit suicide or be killed here in this land of our fathers and father's fathers, do not understand the Indian mind!! In the light of this holy, unalloyed truth, read in conjunction with certain other truths revealed by our honourable PM in the Parliament itself yesterday, the statement of Mr Darmalingam merits closer study and analysis,and eventual acceptance.
Our most honourable PM has indicated that the so called India Cables, as leaked by Wikileaks and now published by the Hindu, are in effect fictions. The other people whose names have unfortunately been quoted in the leaked documents too have, to borrow the words of the PM himself, "stoutly denied the veracity of the contents". You know Barak, you cant dispute the honourable words of the PM of the largest democracy of this world. As the First Citizen of the most powerful democracy of the world you know it as well as we do that lies, half-/un-truths and obfuscations are anathema to those who habitually uphold the best traditions of democracy, come hell or highwater or even colossal leaks.
Let me urge you to come to the obvious but unpalatable conclusion after considering what that master sleuth Sherlock Holmes has said about particularly trying circumstances: "....however improbable something is, it is not wholly impossible.." when all things are considered. Your diplomats, enjoying to the hilt their high life in the post-cold war era, and that too in a land (in)famous right from the days of the Raj for the charms of its dusky high society wall flowers, have been feeding you, excuse me, very tasty bits that were basically crafted with crap. If you attend a couple of parties, particularly in Delhi where the high and the mighty and those wannabes and those who imagine themselves to be the H & M throng such watering places in droves, it wouldnt be too difficult to garner a few names that mattered. The diplomats, being mostly men of high education and imagination and a great degree of resourcefulness, and highly romantic to boot, soon found that they could with ease fabricate a "serial fiction" in the best traditions of the Indian TV soaps, with intrigues galore, and send it as cables to HQ back in the US. Like the Indian housewives emoting in front of TV sets before, during and after the "serial killers", those in the State Department, in the thrall of "what is going to happen next?...will she poison the other woman??..or will he be pulled into a damning situation once the pregnancy is discovered..." etc etc, failed to see, as they say, the wood for the trees. This is my best surmise, under the circumstances.
And guess what? Diplomats know only too well that they have immunity, not only from colds, cruelty and AIDS, but from more virulent and dangerous things. They thought the boffins at the State Department knew their marbles and would play the game properly. It is plain that their confidence that the cables were never going to see the light of day emboldened them into garnishing the tales with the most salacious of intrigues and allegations and outright inventions and figments of fancy. Didnt you notice the half-smile of Mulford as he dreamily kept to his lintany of 'no comments'? He didnt deny writing those cables, but couldnt bring himself to say anything about what he thought was never going to be discussed in public. Actually the gaffe was not theirs, but you know whose.
High diplomacy is one helluva job spiced with intrigues and stuff as everybody including Mr Darmalingam knows. The prevailing cloak of mystery is what contributes to its mystique. Once the mystery is lost in the glare of public disclosure, it becomes as stale as a magic trick demo-ed step-by-step. It was the certainty that their sacrosanct cables were never going to come to light that led your diplomatic functionaries give free rein to their imagination. How on earth could someone in their right senses believe that the stalwart politicians of India, who eat, sleep and breathe democracy, and sweat and toil for the poor of the country, be 'bought' with a few dollars, so to speak??!! Stuff and nonsense, if not fiction and farce...
There is, I believe, no need to chastise those poor guys who walk the tightrope of diplomacy. Let them have their share of fun. Also, on many occasions the least said is often the best. Let the diplomatic corps continue to attract men and women of imagination and romance and send them off to exotic lands all over the world to foster 'relationships'. Come to think of it, without the charming diplomats and their parties, this world would be a dull place indeed.
But when you do need information, and that too authentic information, it is best to rely on the old stalwarts of the "cloak and dagger and trenchcoat" brigade. Just tell them to go easy on the dagger part and make greater use of the cloak. Trenchcoats, sadly, are passe and are seen only in period movies. The three-piece suit too has lost some of its cutting edge. The trendy thing is to wear a Sherwani or such stuff and 'blend' with the 'desi' crowd or perhaps cleave into them as the Bible puts it very succinctly and play your cloak/uncloak stuff. Surely their reports are likely to be more reliable than the Booker-winning tales of your diplomats.
In one word, dont trust them for your information, though there is no harm in reading them for sheer entertainment.
Yours, as always.
--Aam Aadmi.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
II. To Her Excellency the President of India
Your Excellency,
It is with trepidation and hope that we, the average upright, law-abiding, tax-paying, non-bribe-taking, more-or-less honest citizen of India makes bold to write to you. Again, you being woman of sensibility, the Mother figure, holding this august position, gives us the courage to speak to you directly about our worries and concerns. We shall be brief.
The country as you know has been passing thorugh the "radiation belt" of scams and allegations ever since the new year dawned. The seriousness of these allegations have woken up the Supreme Temple of Justice of the land to take what action is deemed best under such circumstances.
If the scams of yesterday were primarily economic, the present transgression, if it is to be called that, is into the territory of morality and integrity. Serious allegations have surfaced as a result of the airing in public of what are called the India Cables as released by Wikileaks and published serially by the Hindu newspaper. No one in their right mind would say that the allegations are frivolous. On the other hand, if they are true, they point to absolute rottenness to the core at the highest levels of government and diplomacy, not to speak of politics.
These allegations are to be met by something more substantial than "stout denials" by the parties concerned. As the Rashtrapathi ( or shall we say, as the Rashtramatha) your concern shall be for justice and truth as it reflects on the integrity of the government and its mechanisms. We are not looking at the integrity of individuals or the innocence or lack of it of individuals. We are concerned about the manner in which the collective mechanism of government has come under a black cloud of the suspicion of serious wrongdoing.
After all, the government is an elected body of ordinary and fallible men and women. So it would be best if the government is asked to step aside for a while and undergo a litmus test for truth and probity administered by you and the Supreme Court directly. As has been pointed out in the article 'Bribery charge must now be investigated' by Siddarth Varadarajan (The Hindu, Page 10, 19 March, 2011; http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article1552023.ece ), it would be an easy matter for our investigation agencies to 'triangulate' the various bits of information and navigate to the very core of truth.
Rather than let the atmosphere fester with allegations and counter-allegations and truths and half-truths and what not, it would be in the interests of the Nation and its people if the truth was discovered at whatever cost and revealed before the people and the world. Such an effort would send powerful signals to the wrongdoers from within the country or without, and also give us the tools to weed out anti-democratic and anti-people practices with strong laws that call for absolute transparency and total accountabilty in government and governance.
Praying for sensible, decisive and immediate action, we remain, Madam,
Most sincerely yours,
-- Aam Aadmis
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
III. To the Honourable Chief Justice of India
Your Lordship,
Permit us to place before you the copy of our missive to Her Excellency the President of India, in which we have attempted to address our concerns.
Your Lordships had recently echoed our very thoughts when in exasperation the highest Bench of Justice of this land expostulated "What the hell is happening in this country?"
My Lord, we too do not know what is happening in this country, and most of us would like an answer to that lakh-crore rupee question that is uppermost in the minds of most Indians. It is time, we believe, for an independent investigation, directly overseen by the Supreme Court of Justice of this land, to be ordered into all the murky issues that plague this nation of ours. The truth is only feared by the obsurantists and wrongdoers, but is welcomed by the citizenry at large, as your Lordships know. The PM's pointed admission of the pressures of "coalition dharma" leaves not even the principled individual free of the taint of graft and the stench of nepotism. The current crop of "leaks" is more serious -- if there is even an iota of truth in them. The wilful erosion of democratic and sovereign values, if true, is a prospect that frightens the right-thinking citizen beyond measure.
To put this Nation back onto the rails of democracy, respectability and truth, honesty and probilty in public life calls for an immediate diagnosis of the cancer and its excision once and for all.
The last sanctuary of the honest citizen, we are convinced, is the Citadel of Justice that you command.
My Lord, we pray for Justice that should be seen to be done, with fear or favour to none.
Most truly yours,
--Aam Aadmi
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Hi Barak!
Surprised? You shouldn't be, as post-Wikileaks, the skies haven't fallen--yet, that is. Now the leaks that hog the front pages are the ones from Fukushima. That is, until a few days back-- when the Hindu burst an Indian bombshell by starting publication of the India-related cables sourced from Wikileaks.
I am no longer sure whether you have been briefed/updated about this as I have my own reasons for not trusting those guys around you in government and diplomatic circles to keep you tuned to what is happening around the world --and hence this letter.
But what triggered my missive was in fact the letter by one Mr T Darmalingam from Chennai published today (19 March, 2011) in the Letters to the Editor column of the HIndu itself. (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article1552233.ece) To me he seems to be a particularly perspicacious gentleman and his thoughts rightly deserve some attention, and perhaps consequent action, from you. The reader's thoughts, if you will allow me an edgewise pun, do not leak and hold water very much. Let me quote:
"...the US diplomatic staff, like their counterparts elsewhere, have a lot of spare time at their disposal. They collect plenty of gossip and pass them on to their bosses to justify their presence..."
Apparently Mr Darmalingam is one who knows very well the rarefied levels at which the diplomatic corps cavort and is somewhat of an insider when it comes to knowing first-hand how the diplomats stretch the truth somewhat just to make their reports entertaining and 'authentic' with local colour, so that the State Department would accept their raison d'etre withour demur.
I dont know much about what kind of Americans generally opt for the diplomatic services. But a comparatively "khushi" (the Brits spell it 'cushy') diplomatic junket in the East is not exactly what I would call a "bitter pill" to either a young man or woman, or to the more mature person who knows his marbles. As has been said ad nauseum, the East is East and the West is West..etc etc, and consequently it may not be easy for the average westerner to understand fully the complicated working of the Eastern (here please read Indian) mind--at the best of times, we, born and brought up and guaranteed to die or commit suicide or be killed here in this land of our fathers and father's fathers, do not understand the Indian mind!! In the light of this holy, unalloyed truth, read in conjunction with certain other truths revealed by our honourable PM in the Parliament itself yesterday, the statement of Mr Darmalingam merits closer study and analysis,and eventual acceptance.
Our most honourable PM has indicated that the so called India Cables, as leaked by Wikileaks and now published by the Hindu, are in effect fictions. The other people whose names have unfortunately been quoted in the leaked documents too have, to borrow the words of the PM himself, "stoutly denied the veracity of the contents". You know Barak, you cant dispute the honourable words of the PM of the largest democracy of this world. As the First Citizen of the most powerful democracy of the world you know it as well as we do that lies, half-/un-truths and obfuscations are anathema to those who habitually uphold the best traditions of democracy, come hell or highwater or even colossal leaks.
Let me urge you to come to the obvious but unpalatable conclusion after considering what that master sleuth Sherlock Holmes has said about particularly trying circumstances: "....however improbable something is, it is not wholly impossible.." when all things are considered. Your diplomats, enjoying to the hilt their high life in the post-cold war era, and that too in a land (in)famous right from the days of the Raj for the charms of its dusky high society wall flowers, have been feeding you, excuse me, very tasty bits that were basically crafted with crap. If you attend a couple of parties, particularly in Delhi where the high and the mighty and those wannabes and those who imagine themselves to be the H & M throng such watering places in droves, it wouldnt be too difficult to garner a few names that mattered. The diplomats, being mostly men of high education and imagination and a great degree of resourcefulness, and highly romantic to boot, soon found that they could with ease fabricate a "serial fiction" in the best traditions of the Indian TV soaps, with intrigues galore, and send it as cables to HQ back in the US. Like the Indian housewives emoting in front of TV sets before, during and after the "serial killers", those in the State Department, in the thrall of "what is going to happen next?...will she poison the other woman??..or will he be pulled into a damning situation once the pregnancy is discovered..." etc etc, failed to see, as they say, the wood for the trees. This is my best surmise, under the circumstances.
And guess what? Diplomats know only too well that they have immunity, not only from colds, cruelty and AIDS, but from more virulent and dangerous things. They thought the boffins at the State Department knew their marbles and would play the game properly. It is plain that their confidence that the cables were never going to see the light of day emboldened them into garnishing the tales with the most salacious of intrigues and allegations and outright inventions and figments of fancy. Didnt you notice the half-smile of Mulford as he dreamily kept to his lintany of 'no comments'? He didnt deny writing those cables, but couldnt bring himself to say anything about what he thought was never going to be discussed in public. Actually the gaffe was not theirs, but you know whose.
High diplomacy is one helluva job spiced with intrigues and stuff as everybody including Mr Darmalingam knows. The prevailing cloak of mystery is what contributes to its mystique. Once the mystery is lost in the glare of public disclosure, it becomes as stale as a magic trick demo-ed step-by-step. It was the certainty that their sacrosanct cables were never going to come to light that led your diplomatic functionaries give free rein to their imagination. How on earth could someone in their right senses believe that the stalwart politicians of India, who eat, sleep and breathe democracy, and sweat and toil for the poor of the country, be 'bought' with a few dollars, so to speak??!! Stuff and nonsense, if not fiction and farce...
There is, I believe, no need to chastise those poor guys who walk the tightrope of diplomacy. Let them have their share of fun. Also, on many occasions the least said is often the best. Let the diplomatic corps continue to attract men and women of imagination and romance and send them off to exotic lands all over the world to foster 'relationships'. Come to think of it, without the charming diplomats and their parties, this world would be a dull place indeed.
But when you do need information, and that too authentic information, it is best to rely on the old stalwarts of the "cloak and dagger and trenchcoat" brigade. Just tell them to go easy on the dagger part and make greater use of the cloak. Trenchcoats, sadly, are passe and are seen only in period movies. The three-piece suit too has lost some of its cutting edge. The trendy thing is to wear a Sherwani or such stuff and 'blend' with the 'desi' crowd or perhaps cleave into them as the Bible puts it very succinctly and play your cloak/uncloak stuff. Surely their reports are likely to be more reliable than the Booker-winning tales of your diplomats.
In one word, dont trust them for your information, though there is no harm in reading them for sheer entertainment.
Yours, as always.
--Aam Aadmi.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
II. To Her Excellency the President of India
Your Excellency,
It is with trepidation and hope that we, the average upright, law-abiding, tax-paying, non-bribe-taking, more-or-less honest citizen of India makes bold to write to you. Again, you being woman of sensibility, the Mother figure, holding this august position, gives us the courage to speak to you directly about our worries and concerns. We shall be brief.
The country as you know has been passing thorugh the "radiation belt" of scams and allegations ever since the new year dawned. The seriousness of these allegations have woken up the Supreme Temple of Justice of the land to take what action is deemed best under such circumstances.
If the scams of yesterday were primarily economic, the present transgression, if it is to be called that, is into the territory of morality and integrity. Serious allegations have surfaced as a result of the airing in public of what are called the India Cables as released by Wikileaks and published serially by the Hindu newspaper. No one in their right mind would say that the allegations are frivolous. On the other hand, if they are true, they point to absolute rottenness to the core at the highest levels of government and diplomacy, not to speak of politics.
These allegations are to be met by something more substantial than "stout denials" by the parties concerned. As the Rashtrapathi ( or shall we say, as the Rashtramatha) your concern shall be for justice and truth as it reflects on the integrity of the government and its mechanisms. We are not looking at the integrity of individuals or the innocence or lack of it of individuals. We are concerned about the manner in which the collective mechanism of government has come under a black cloud of the suspicion of serious wrongdoing.
After all, the government is an elected body of ordinary and fallible men and women. So it would be best if the government is asked to step aside for a while and undergo a litmus test for truth and probity administered by you and the Supreme Court directly. As has been pointed out in the article 'Bribery charge must now be investigated' by Siddarth Varadarajan (The Hindu, Page 10, 19 March, 2011; http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article1552023.ece ), it would be an easy matter for our investigation agencies to 'triangulate' the various bits of information and navigate to the very core of truth.
Rather than let the atmosphere fester with allegations and counter-allegations and truths and half-truths and what not, it would be in the interests of the Nation and its people if the truth was discovered at whatever cost and revealed before the people and the world. Such an effort would send powerful signals to the wrongdoers from within the country or without, and also give us the tools to weed out anti-democratic and anti-people practices with strong laws that call for absolute transparency and total accountabilty in government and governance.
Praying for sensible, decisive and immediate action, we remain, Madam,
Most sincerely yours,
-- Aam Aadmis
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
III. To the Honourable Chief Justice of India
Your Lordship,
Permit us to place before you the copy of our missive to Her Excellency the President of India, in which we have attempted to address our concerns.
Your Lordships had recently echoed our very thoughts when in exasperation the highest Bench of Justice of this land expostulated "What the hell is happening in this country?"
My Lord, we too do not know what is happening in this country, and most of us would like an answer to that lakh-crore rupee question that is uppermost in the minds of most Indians. It is time, we believe, for an independent investigation, directly overseen by the Supreme Court of Justice of this land, to be ordered into all the murky issues that plague this nation of ours. The truth is only feared by the obsurantists and wrongdoers, but is welcomed by the citizenry at large, as your Lordships know. The PM's pointed admission of the pressures of "coalition dharma" leaves not even the principled individual free of the taint of graft and the stench of nepotism. The current crop of "leaks" is more serious -- if there is even an iota of truth in them. The wilful erosion of democratic and sovereign values, if true, is a prospect that frightens the right-thinking citizen beyond measure.
To put this Nation back onto the rails of democracy, respectability and truth, honesty and probilty in public life calls for an immediate diagnosis of the cancer and its excision once and for all.
The last sanctuary of the honest citizen, we are convinced, is the Citadel of Justice that you command.
My Lord, we pray for Justice that should be seen to be done, with fear or favour to none.
Most truly yours,
--Aam Aadmi
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Thursday, March 10, 2011
A(B)C MEGACORP PUBLIC ISSUE
I have had my faith in the Indian ... all along.
You ask anybody about India and Indians and they are sure to harp on the one-hundred-and-one types that make up that body politic called the Indian. And perhaps in an attempt to salve your irritation, s/he would quote the old school civics text and tell you that India's strength lay in its "unity in diversity"--a dramatic phrase that suits dramatic moments like when addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, at one end, or when maybe delivering a mere speech from the not-so-grand local public podium, at the other. But it is one phrase that is a very difficult pill to swallow, in spite of the accompanying glass of undiluted patriotism. Indians are a diverse bunch --and that is an understatement, if ever there was one!
But I still had my faith in the typical Indian all along.
Because I had, by pure accident, stumbled upon a factor that was common to all Indians. Take them from the know-it-all North, from the suave and sambar South, from the hauteur driven 'Colonial' East, or the Bollywood and black-money West, put them on any alien soil, and simply watch; keep watching for some time, and soon you will see a shocking pattern emerge. Despite their 'schooling' in the diverse corners of the world, despite their having 'absorbed' the culture, hairdos, hemlines and intonation of the surroundings, despite their being elected to the civic bodies and the clubs of the alien soil, despite their....(here put that big list of things that hard-working Indians are apt to achieve in no time in alien lands)....yeah, despite all that, when they come home... --not to a leased bed-sit or flat, but to their own home, bought and furnished, as only an Indian can do, whether he is in his own 'backyard' in India or in Suburbia in the US or Canada or Europe-- ....yes when they come home and "drop their guard", which had all along been 'up' in order to be good Western citizens, they instantly revert to being a "typical" Indian in their way of thinking and talking and acting...and 'acting' includes beating the wife, pulling up the daughter or even "honour killing" the sister, or behaving in umpteen other ways that will be quite obvious and familiar to a typical Indian observer as 'desi' ways.
There is a singular Indian streak in all Indians. Period. And I had all along believed that whatever the Colonials or the Neo-colonials did, they penetrated only the surface, not even the thick skin, and underneath it all, us Indians staunchly maintained our Indian-ness, our insularity and our cranky ways of doing things which we had inherited from our great-great-great grandparents. You just couldn't 'brain-wash' an Indian-- for obvious reasons, say the anti-Indians! But my years of careful observation and experience had made me pretty rooted in my conviction that when it came to the crunch, you could trust the Indian to behave like an Indian.
But not any more.
I see an Indian (and that too not one picked at random from the teeming streets) behaving with typical un-Indian-ness. He is only Indian in his dress and manner and his blue turban. But he has been totally brain-washed by all the neo-liberal stuff they drummed into his brain at the Western B-schools and universities where he spent a lot more than his impressionable youth, if we are to believe his bio. No, I do not blame him at all for what all he is doing--or not doing, which is more than what he is doing, when you look at it from that angle. It is purely a neo-liberal Western conspiracy, as I and many of my acquaintances think and believe.
We came to that conclusion the other day while discussing the article "Corporate Socialism's 2G Orgy" in The Hindu of 7 March. The article paints a horrifying picture of a systematic "subsidizing" of the corporates of India at the expense of the poor and the agriculturists and the middle class. This was being done particularly since our man came to occupy the 'hot seat' as a 'chosen man'. The figures quoted in the article--which are 'legal' figures released by the Ministry, no less-- would put the other recent scams to shame and qualify this 'official' and 'legitimate' scam to occupy the pride of place in the Guinness Book of Records.
If you have any doubt about its nature as a scam, go no further than the Oxford Dictionary--any dishonest scheme/swindle qualifies it as a scam. I urge you to read the article in question once again (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article1515930.ece ) and come to your own conclusions whether the legerdemain of juggling with figures in order to hide the honest truth is a fraud or not. The budget, particularly this year's, is mere sleight of hand, a conjuring trick, that hides more than it reveals.
India, if we bid goodbye to the "feel-good" neo-liberal era and time-travel backwards, prided itself on the economic and social vision of the Founding Fathers of this Nation and its Constitution and its later policies. The very Directive Principles positively envisioned a Welfare State, where in a short term economic and social stability and equality was expressly planned to be augured in. The Five-year Plans, whatever might have been their shortcomings, if any, were the fuel on which a nascent India steamed ahead enviably. Huge sums of public money were invested in creating and consolidating the core infrastructure of this vast nation. The result of all these steady steps of reform and nation-building could very well be seen in many spheres.
Had we continued along that pathway of providing a better life, a better tomorrow for the "aam aadmi" of this great nation, surely today we would have achieved a greater and a more real and a more honest growth than what is trumpeted by the blowers of the neo-liberal horns. What happened in the era of the neo-liberal euphoria? There was this unprecedented and unnecessary frenetic call for growth and more growth. And one by one the great pillars of infrastructure built up with the sweat and tears of the public was got rid of by repeating the mantra of 'disinvestment'. Every public service and utility was starved and suffocated and left to die an unnatural death, while the private corporates grew fat on the carrion of these great public institutions, whose planned decimation left a huge vacuum that they were eager to occupy.
The very servants of the public (the only time politicians and ministers will use that phrase is during the poll tamasha days) paid from the coffers to safeguard these pillars of public service, removed the corner stones and the cap stones of these edifices. If you are fond of scams, especilly the ones not yet uncovered, look no further than to the reign of Mr Ramdoss, our honourable minister so concerned about the health of the general public, who with extreme alacrity shut down ALL the centres of preventive vaccine production, citing some vague WHO directive. Now after so many years, a Parliamentary panel has found that what was done was "not proper". (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article1510997.ece)All right, and thank you, but what has the Panel finally DONE? Have they restored the status quo ante and ordered the immediate reopening of these manufactories? Has anybody been punished for the 'misdemeanour'? How many lakh-crores were paid by the foreign drug companies, and to whom? And how much money had been siphoned out by these companies in the last few years by way of inflated prices for a product that had been manufactured absolutely satisfactorily all these years by these home-grown institutions establised as part of the Five-year Plans?
More important--did they consult the owners before shutting the laboratories and manufactories down? The public owns them, and you just can't 'disinvest' something that is owned by someone else. Try it elsewhere and see where that would get you! If this is not a dishonest scheme, I dont know what is...
Mr Singh will, if you ask him, quite 'honestly' tell you that he was not told of all that, and more. And, poor man, graciously he would accept fully the blame. What difference does it make whether he accepts the responsibility or not? What good does it to the country, and to you and me? Once you accept the blame, you should do your best to reverse the error, repair the damage as good as you can. AND punish those that were supposed to tell you and keep you abreast of things and who didn't, and THEN punish the actual wrongdoers. Without doing that, if you go on repeating the "error in judgement" mantra, the judgement errors will soon snowball into judgement terrors.
In the good old days (and that means about 5-10 years back, or if you will, before 2004 ), ministers had a few people in their offices whose chief occupation was to read the day's papers and prepare 'important' cuttings for the great man. I gather that such cuttings from local vernacular dailies, with translations, used to be sent North in the past. Mr Singh has apparently only illiterates in his staff whose vocabulary seems to be limited to a monosyllabic 'yes sir', and who don't read the papers. As for the sanitized images that appear on the visual media, the less said, the better. A gentleman friend who retired as a Judicial officer tells me that the Honourable Justices of the HIgh Courts often kept an eagle eye out for instances of social injustice, as reported in the major newspapers, and many were the times when they intervened with the power that was vested in them 'suo motu' in order to correct the situation in a grand gesture of the upholding of Justice, absolute and impartial.
Our man as he pursued his economic studies ad nauseum in the foreign centres of learning seems to have forgotten all these things. His brain now registers only the neo-liberal mantras and his guiding lights are the politico-corporate junta. He doesn't see anything wrong in this new amalgm of Yankee interests as he has been totally brainwashed. Only the other day he had equated stolen money with subsidies given to the poor-- the first (and let us hope it will be the last too) such instance when the 'leader' of a nation of largely poor has disowned the poor totally. The only thing that merits his attention and according to him deserves subsidies is the corporates --which is the holy truth as per the Bible of the neo-liberals.
This being the reality of the day, it would be foolish to hope for and wait for some sort of a 'change' for the better for the common man. The only course, as has been suggested by my Judge friend, is to approach the last refuge of the common man, that symbol of Justice, the Supreme Court, and bring this blatant discrimination in implementing the tax burden. The common man must pay, or else.... If you are a corporate, oh, you will be mollycoddled. The Supreme Temple of Justice would surely not tolerate two laws for two different people, and its heavy gavel would come crashing down upon the wrongdoers. A good plan, surely. So let us by all means move the Supreme Court for the redressal of our grievance of discrimination. But is that the only way out?
And that brings me to the A(B)C plan.
I have a better scheme. Let us all get together and subscribe Re 1 each and as per company rules and all else and in full compliance with the laws of the land etc etc, float a company --the Aam aadmi (Bharat) Corporation -- to pursue our well-being and prosperity! I guess it is possible and allowed under the corporate and other laws. We will probably have the largest subscriber base and enough money to take care of everything, including the hire charges for top level PR honchos (who needs Radia if you can afford the best?), ads in all the major media etc to establish our 'corporate image' and presence.
And above all the votes we hold are better than the second-rate votes that are cast in the board rooms of common corporates--they can be cast, and that too effectively, in all the public elections!
We ARE the largest corporate entity that all India, nay, the entire world has seen. We are the NUMERO UNO, and on top of the Fortune 500! And we are...
Aam aadmi (Bharat) Corporation !!
I will guarantee this will work. Mr Singh, programmed by his Western education to recognize corporate power, will see reason and we will soon garner all that we wish for and more, for ourselves and for our 'corporate agronomists', who no longer will have to look for an inexpensive means of snuffing out their lives in the face of 'economic situations'!
It is a dream to top all dreams. On second thought, why don't we get down and do it ASAP ???
* * * * * * * * * * * *
You ask anybody about India and Indians and they are sure to harp on the one-hundred-and-one types that make up that body politic called the Indian. And perhaps in an attempt to salve your irritation, s/he would quote the old school civics text and tell you that India's strength lay in its "unity in diversity"--a dramatic phrase that suits dramatic moments like when addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, at one end, or when maybe delivering a mere speech from the not-so-grand local public podium, at the other. But it is one phrase that is a very difficult pill to swallow, in spite of the accompanying glass of undiluted patriotism. Indians are a diverse bunch --and that is an understatement, if ever there was one!
But I still had my faith in the typical Indian all along.
Because I had, by pure accident, stumbled upon a factor that was common to all Indians. Take them from the know-it-all North, from the suave and sambar South, from the hauteur driven 'Colonial' East, or the Bollywood and black-money West, put them on any alien soil, and simply watch; keep watching for some time, and soon you will see a shocking pattern emerge. Despite their 'schooling' in the diverse corners of the world, despite their having 'absorbed' the culture, hairdos, hemlines and intonation of the surroundings, despite their being elected to the civic bodies and the clubs of the alien soil, despite their....(here put that big list of things that hard-working Indians are apt to achieve in no time in alien lands)....yeah, despite all that, when they come home... --not to a leased bed-sit or flat, but to their own home, bought and furnished, as only an Indian can do, whether he is in his own 'backyard' in India or in Suburbia in the US or Canada or Europe-- ....yes when they come home and "drop their guard", which had all along been 'up' in order to be good Western citizens, they instantly revert to being a "typical" Indian in their way of thinking and talking and acting...and 'acting' includes beating the wife, pulling up the daughter or even "honour killing" the sister, or behaving in umpteen other ways that will be quite obvious and familiar to a typical Indian observer as 'desi' ways.
There is a singular Indian streak in all Indians. Period. And I had all along believed that whatever the Colonials or the Neo-colonials did, they penetrated only the surface, not even the thick skin, and underneath it all, us Indians staunchly maintained our Indian-ness, our insularity and our cranky ways of doing things which we had inherited from our great-great-great grandparents. You just couldn't 'brain-wash' an Indian-- for obvious reasons, say the anti-Indians! But my years of careful observation and experience had made me pretty rooted in my conviction that when it came to the crunch, you could trust the Indian to behave like an Indian.
But not any more.
I see an Indian (and that too not one picked at random from the teeming streets) behaving with typical un-Indian-ness. He is only Indian in his dress and manner and his blue turban. But he has been totally brain-washed by all the neo-liberal stuff they drummed into his brain at the Western B-schools and universities where he spent a lot more than his impressionable youth, if we are to believe his bio. No, I do not blame him at all for what all he is doing--or not doing, which is more than what he is doing, when you look at it from that angle. It is purely a neo-liberal Western conspiracy, as I and many of my acquaintances think and believe.
We came to that conclusion the other day while discussing the article "Corporate Socialism's 2G Orgy" in The Hindu of 7 March. The article paints a horrifying picture of a systematic "subsidizing" of the corporates of India at the expense of the poor and the agriculturists and the middle class. This was being done particularly since our man came to occupy the 'hot seat' as a 'chosen man'. The figures quoted in the article--which are 'legal' figures released by the Ministry, no less-- would put the other recent scams to shame and qualify this 'official' and 'legitimate' scam to occupy the pride of place in the Guinness Book of Records.
If you have any doubt about its nature as a scam, go no further than the Oxford Dictionary--any dishonest scheme/swindle qualifies it as a scam. I urge you to read the article in question once again (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article1515930.ece ) and come to your own conclusions whether the legerdemain of juggling with figures in order to hide the honest truth is a fraud or not. The budget, particularly this year's, is mere sleight of hand, a conjuring trick, that hides more than it reveals.
India, if we bid goodbye to the "feel-good" neo-liberal era and time-travel backwards, prided itself on the economic and social vision of the Founding Fathers of this Nation and its Constitution and its later policies. The very Directive Principles positively envisioned a Welfare State, where in a short term economic and social stability and equality was expressly planned to be augured in. The Five-year Plans, whatever might have been their shortcomings, if any, were the fuel on which a nascent India steamed ahead enviably. Huge sums of public money were invested in creating and consolidating the core infrastructure of this vast nation. The result of all these steady steps of reform and nation-building could very well be seen in many spheres.
Had we continued along that pathway of providing a better life, a better tomorrow for the "aam aadmi" of this great nation, surely today we would have achieved a greater and a more real and a more honest growth than what is trumpeted by the blowers of the neo-liberal horns. What happened in the era of the neo-liberal euphoria? There was this unprecedented and unnecessary frenetic call for growth and more growth. And one by one the great pillars of infrastructure built up with the sweat and tears of the public was got rid of by repeating the mantra of 'disinvestment'. Every public service and utility was starved and suffocated and left to die an unnatural death, while the private corporates grew fat on the carrion of these great public institutions, whose planned decimation left a huge vacuum that they were eager to occupy.
The very servants of the public (the only time politicians and ministers will use that phrase is during the poll tamasha days) paid from the coffers to safeguard these pillars of public service, removed the corner stones and the cap stones of these edifices. If you are fond of scams, especilly the ones not yet uncovered, look no further than to the reign of Mr Ramdoss, our honourable minister so concerned about the health of the general public, who with extreme alacrity shut down ALL the centres of preventive vaccine production, citing some vague WHO directive. Now after so many years, a Parliamentary panel has found that what was done was "not proper". (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article1510997.ece)All right, and thank you, but what has the Panel finally DONE? Have they restored the status quo ante and ordered the immediate reopening of these manufactories? Has anybody been punished for the 'misdemeanour'? How many lakh-crores were paid by the foreign drug companies, and to whom? And how much money had been siphoned out by these companies in the last few years by way of inflated prices for a product that had been manufactured absolutely satisfactorily all these years by these home-grown institutions establised as part of the Five-year Plans?
More important--did they consult the owners before shutting the laboratories and manufactories down? The public owns them, and you just can't 'disinvest' something that is owned by someone else. Try it elsewhere and see where that would get you! If this is not a dishonest scheme, I dont know what is...
Mr Singh will, if you ask him, quite 'honestly' tell you that he was not told of all that, and more. And, poor man, graciously he would accept fully the blame. What difference does it make whether he accepts the responsibility or not? What good does it to the country, and to you and me? Once you accept the blame, you should do your best to reverse the error, repair the damage as good as you can. AND punish those that were supposed to tell you and keep you abreast of things and who didn't, and THEN punish the actual wrongdoers. Without doing that, if you go on repeating the "error in judgement" mantra, the judgement errors will soon snowball into judgement terrors.
In the good old days (and that means about 5-10 years back, or if you will, before 2004 ), ministers had a few people in their offices whose chief occupation was to read the day's papers and prepare 'important' cuttings for the great man. I gather that such cuttings from local vernacular dailies, with translations, used to be sent North in the past. Mr Singh has apparently only illiterates in his staff whose vocabulary seems to be limited to a monosyllabic 'yes sir', and who don't read the papers. As for the sanitized images that appear on the visual media, the less said, the better. A gentleman friend who retired as a Judicial officer tells me that the Honourable Justices of the HIgh Courts often kept an eagle eye out for instances of social injustice, as reported in the major newspapers, and many were the times when they intervened with the power that was vested in them 'suo motu' in order to correct the situation in a grand gesture of the upholding of Justice, absolute and impartial.
Our man as he pursued his economic studies ad nauseum in the foreign centres of learning seems to have forgotten all these things. His brain now registers only the neo-liberal mantras and his guiding lights are the politico-corporate junta. He doesn't see anything wrong in this new amalgm of Yankee interests as he has been totally brainwashed. Only the other day he had equated stolen money with subsidies given to the poor-- the first (and let us hope it will be the last too) such instance when the 'leader' of a nation of largely poor has disowned the poor totally. The only thing that merits his attention and according to him deserves subsidies is the corporates --which is the holy truth as per the Bible of the neo-liberals.
This being the reality of the day, it would be foolish to hope for and wait for some sort of a 'change' for the better for the common man. The only course, as has been suggested by my Judge friend, is to approach the last refuge of the common man, that symbol of Justice, the Supreme Court, and bring this blatant discrimination in implementing the tax burden. The common man must pay, or else.... If you are a corporate, oh, you will be mollycoddled. The Supreme Temple of Justice would surely not tolerate two laws for two different people, and its heavy gavel would come crashing down upon the wrongdoers. A good plan, surely. So let us by all means move the Supreme Court for the redressal of our grievance of discrimination. But is that the only way out?
And that brings me to the A(B)C plan.
I have a better scheme. Let us all get together and subscribe Re 1 each and as per company rules and all else and in full compliance with the laws of the land etc etc, float a company --the Aam aadmi (Bharat) Corporation -- to pursue our well-being and prosperity! I guess it is possible and allowed under the corporate and other laws. We will probably have the largest subscriber base and enough money to take care of everything, including the hire charges for top level PR honchos (who needs Radia if you can afford the best?), ads in all the major media etc to establish our 'corporate image' and presence.
And above all the votes we hold are better than the second-rate votes that are cast in the board rooms of common corporates--they can be cast, and that too effectively, in all the public elections!
We ARE the largest corporate entity that all India, nay, the entire world has seen. We are the NUMERO UNO, and on top of the Fortune 500! And we are...
Aam aadmi (Bharat) Corporation !!
I will guarantee this will work. Mr Singh, programmed by his Western education to recognize corporate power, will see reason and we will soon garner all that we wish for and more, for ourselves and for our 'corporate agronomists', who no longer will have to look for an inexpensive means of snuffing out their lives in the face of 'economic situations'!
It is a dream to top all dreams. On second thought, why don't we get down and do it ASAP ???
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Friday, March 4, 2011
DEMOCRACY --AND ITS ARITHMETIC
Let us admit it, quite a lot of us are not good at Math. And for most of us "yesterday's kids", our fathers weren't exactly swimming in dough; and in all probability they thought it was infra dig if their kid went to college on a 'bought' seat. To boot, they never believed in running their households like a Karate master ran his Dojo--kids were by and large left to their devices. Otherwise (horrors!) quite a few of us would have ended up as engineers or doctors, the only careers worth pursuing --at whatever cost-- according to Gen X's parents. That meant we the lazy-bums could spend a number of years blissfully at college pursuing the liberal arts when you were free from pursuits of other more interesting kinds. The result? A lot of accumulated sins that finally overtook most of us by the end of 2010 in the shape of figures and sums.
Whoa! I can't imagine the nights of trepidation I spent grappling with figures with so many zeroes that it appeared as if they were being spewed out by a Gatling gun. Came February and the only figures I was willing to think of were less than fifty; more in the vicinity of 35--36 and about 24 or roughly thereabouts. But March, right from the Roman Era, ("...beware the Ides of March...") was a month of trouble and tribulation, though they hadn't yet invented that annual exercise in skulduggery called the Budget, not at least in Rome. My fears came true as I scanned the following...and figures once again started bombarding my enervated mind.
"...We do not have a democracy ... Any country where only half of the eligible voters are registered and where only half of those who are registered vote and where only half of those who vote like their choice, is NOT a democracy. Any country that isn’t ruled by its government, that is ruled instead by the (corporates), isn’t a democracy ... any world government that is ruled by trans-national corporations isn’t a democracy. Yet such is the state of our national and global governments..."
(Edits and emphases mine, done in order to make the statement more direct and general. I urge you to read the original essay It’s Healing Time on Earth at < http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/publications/brower_92.html > . Though the context is different, its relevance to the average, caring citizen is very high indeed. It is a sad commentary on the interests and focus of today's parents and youth that most of them would not have heard of its author David Brower or have an idea why his thoughts are highly relevant in our times.
Mr Brower has been a leading figure in the environmental movement and an articulate spokesman for a sustainable society for many years. He is the founder of 'Friends of the Earth' and the 'League of Conservation Voters'. In 1982 Brower founded Earth Island Institute and the Brower Fund, and he initiated the biennial "Hope of the Earth" conferences on peace and environmental and social justice. Brower has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. His is a voice of sanity in today's world that jives to the cacophony of 'development' and 'growth'.
The great man's words sound uncannily familiar because they echo the subliminal thinking of the average Indian, especially in these times. Was he by any chance speaking of the Indian situation? No. His reference was, of course, to the US --though it is applicable to anywhere in this world where such a situation prevails. With Dr Brower's permission I would like to re-phrase his words a bit to reflect the "Indian Reality", with which I am sure he may not have been on intimate terms. It could go something like this:
"We DO NOT have a DEMOCRACY...in our country where only half the eligible voters are registered, and where only half or less than half of the registered voters "exercise their franchise", and less than half of those voters are lucky to cast their votes for a candidate they like, (the others are forced, especially in the era of the EVM, --the electronic voting machine-- to cast their votes for one of the undesirables who have got into the machine like a ghost that cannot be exorcised; oh, bring back the paper ballot, where with a flourish of your fingers, you could indicate "none of the above" and side with that great favourite of the masses, Mr Invalid! Or, better still, give us a button for him on the EVM!) and where after the elections, the 'winners' would need to cobble together at least half a dozen parties forming a "coalition of interests" and stake their claim for forming the government...”
Let us look at the 'rule of the corporates' part of Dr Brower's statement separately, though that is another reality that has come to stay in the Indian polity, if current signs are any indicators.
Democracy is government by majority. That means out of a hundred, you must have at least 51 with you, to swing the majority in your favour. Really? Is that the case now in our governments, Central and State? I can't let my head overheat and self-destruct by trying to compute the final numbers based on the above proportions and divisions. I leave it to the Math-savvy amongst my readers to arrive at the approximate figures and enlighten us.
It doesn't, however, take a degree in astrophysics to arrive at the shocking reality that stares us in the face -- the democratic "mandate" works out to less than 10 in 100.
And what is this "mandate" stuff? T/read carefully...; it is:
"...the authority to carry out a policy or course of action, regarded as given by the electorate to a party or candidate that wins an election".
Whew! The good thing is that it applies only to the winning candidate! It surely is not applicable to those few who have never contested an election in their life and yet come to sit in the "gaddi" and go about with a thick skin and a sanctimonious air and act as if they have had all the mandates in this world. It IS a laugh...
The operative phrase when you consider the mandate is "...wins an election". In the days before bought college seats and paid media news, while in school you could not pass ('win') from one grade to the next if you didn't have a minimum, measly "pass percentage". And according to the great and the best tenets of democracy (by which ALL our "leaders" swear, whether they are to the right or the left of right or the real left that is really to the right, or in groups of varying permutations and combinations of the above) the "pass percentage" is 51%. Only that gives you a "democratic” mandate.
The mandate that you assume by/for yourself in a coalition situation is in accordance with what you term the "coalition dharma" and what the rest of the world terms the "coalition adharma". Dharma is a very curious word that beats translation into English. The closest you could come is perhaps by saying that it is, literally, "...a decree or custom, as per the eternal laws of the cosmos, inherent in the very nature of things...". So don't you see that "coalition dharma" is "cosmic" in its roots... something like the "Divine Right" claimed by the ruling class of pre-Democratic, pre-Socialist, pre-Revolutionary days, though ‘CD’ has thankfully a faint echo of the ethos of India's past, yet is fine-tuned to the banking and other needs of the modern era.
This then is the Arithmetic of Democracy. And it took one Brower to shout that the arithmetic indicated that the Emperor was in truth walking about starkers, his "modesty" revealed in all its glory (?!) without the cover of the garb of democracy! How long has this democratic 'tamasha' been going on? Doubtlessly for quite a long while. It is an expensive tamasha when you look at the trouble and the expense the Election Commission goes to in order to conduct this charade of 'democratic' elections. Only the concept and the procedure is democratic; the arithmetic is not because figures usually do not lie. Why go through this five-yearly exercise in futility? I can already hear the strident protests of the politicians as they rally to the defense of the “democratic rights of the citizen”. The elections are as good a rubber stamp as any to give any coalition of scoundrels and others who traditionally have taken refuge in politics, the legitimacy of a democratic mandate.
What Mr Brower has said of the US is more than true when it comes to the situation in India too. After all, according to the self-styled guardian of democracy globally, the US and its 'partner' India are the world's two greatest democracies, maybe in 'quality' and size, respectively. With a 'healthy' emulation of all things American, and a parroting of their rhetoric, the Indian system has of late become a Xerox copy of the politician-corporate nexus perfected in the best Yankee fashion of governance. As Mr Obama and Mr SIngh thump each other's back in mutual congratulation about an undying commitment to democracy, if you listen closely you could hear the sound of so many corporate axes being ground in the background. Perhaps the one major difference in India is that, post-elections, the axe-grinding is the loudest sound that marks the "functioning" of the circus called government.
Let us call a stop to this inane game and save a pretty packet too. We will come to some sort of an agreement so that a "musical chair" kind of arrangement could be worked out with "equal opportunities" for politicians of all possible colours. Think of the savings, not only in election expenses, but all the JPC bills, and the savings effected by downsizing the CBI and CVC and other such Constitutional bodies, to speak nothing of the grand saving made in the time and effort of the Honourable Justices of the Supreme Court, the only beacon of hope left for the "aam aadmi" in this land. Let us have some sort of a 'civilized' arrangement for government, rather than all the "horse trading" ( somebody tells me the horses might file an objection to the use of the term!) and other embarrassing uncertainties just prior to "staking" a 'majority' claim, which in reality is perhaps the slimmest 'minority', if there is such a usage.
But, on second thought, I doubt whether such saner counsels will prevail in this great democratic sub-continent of ours. I can imagine the screaming headlines: "Democracy butchered", "The Darkest hour of Indian Democracy", and more. If you are honest, dear, gentle reader, at least to yourself, you could see without making an effort that democracy had already been butchered, made into mincemeat and was being cooked and eaten with savour for the past many decades in this land of Gandhian 'ahimsa' and vegetarianism, and also that Indian democracy hadn't made much real progress from the dark midnight hour in which it was conceived back in 1947.
What makes me so sure of that? If we had cared for democracy in a serious way, we would have had legislation to limit the total number of parties to two, to specify that you needed to have some minimum education before you could get into the bodies of governance and legislation, to insist that nobody other than a duly elected person shall have the right to occupy any such position and, most important of all, to make it mandatory that a clear majority in polled votes as against the registered votes is absolutely essential before the 'mandate' could be exercised. If no one was able to score that essential "minimum pass-mark", or if the public had indicated that their choice was "none of the above", then the President and his Gubernatorial minions could very well run the country--until such time as a clear and popular alternative emerged.
Surely running a country of law-abiding, democratic citizenry who are happy that their will has prevailed is not likely to tax the abilities of the Supreme Commander of the Nation’s Forces and his able lieutenants.
By the way, where are those bells? We shall with alacrity bell these fandangle* felines.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* fandangle: a useless and/or purely ornamental thing
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Whoa! I can't imagine the nights of trepidation I spent grappling with figures with so many zeroes that it appeared as if they were being spewed out by a Gatling gun. Came February and the only figures I was willing to think of were less than fifty; more in the vicinity of 35--36 and about 24 or roughly thereabouts. But March, right from the Roman Era, ("...beware the Ides of March...") was a month of trouble and tribulation, though they hadn't yet invented that annual exercise in skulduggery called the Budget, not at least in Rome. My fears came true as I scanned the following...and figures once again started bombarding my enervated mind.
"...We do not have a democracy ... Any country where only half of the eligible voters are registered and where only half of those who are registered vote and where only half of those who vote like their choice, is NOT a democracy. Any country that isn’t ruled by its government, that is ruled instead by the (corporates), isn’t a democracy ... any world government that is ruled by trans-national corporations isn’t a democracy. Yet such is the state of our national and global governments..."
(Edits and emphases mine, done in order to make the statement more direct and general. I urge you to read the original essay It’s Healing Time on Earth at < http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/publications/brower_92.html > . Though the context is different, its relevance to the average, caring citizen is very high indeed. It is a sad commentary on the interests and focus of today's parents and youth that most of them would not have heard of its author David Brower or have an idea why his thoughts are highly relevant in our times.
Mr Brower has been a leading figure in the environmental movement and an articulate spokesman for a sustainable society for many years. He is the founder of 'Friends of the Earth' and the 'League of Conservation Voters'. In 1982 Brower founded Earth Island Institute and the Brower Fund, and he initiated the biennial "Hope of the Earth" conferences on peace and environmental and social justice. Brower has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. His is a voice of sanity in today's world that jives to the cacophony of 'development' and 'growth'.
The great man's words sound uncannily familiar because they echo the subliminal thinking of the average Indian, especially in these times. Was he by any chance speaking of the Indian situation? No. His reference was, of course, to the US --though it is applicable to anywhere in this world where such a situation prevails. With Dr Brower's permission I would like to re-phrase his words a bit to reflect the "Indian Reality", with which I am sure he may not have been on intimate terms. It could go something like this:
"We DO NOT have a DEMOCRACY...in our country where only half the eligible voters are registered, and where only half or less than half of the registered voters "exercise their franchise", and less than half of those voters are lucky to cast their votes for a candidate they like, (the others are forced, especially in the era of the EVM, --the electronic voting machine-- to cast their votes for one of the undesirables who have got into the machine like a ghost that cannot be exorcised; oh, bring back the paper ballot, where with a flourish of your fingers, you could indicate "none of the above" and side with that great favourite of the masses, Mr Invalid! Or, better still, give us a button for him on the EVM!) and where after the elections, the 'winners' would need to cobble together at least half a dozen parties forming a "coalition of interests" and stake their claim for forming the government...”
Let us look at the 'rule of the corporates' part of Dr Brower's statement separately, though that is another reality that has come to stay in the Indian polity, if current signs are any indicators.
Democracy is government by majority. That means out of a hundred, you must have at least 51 with you, to swing the majority in your favour. Really? Is that the case now in our governments, Central and State? I can't let my head overheat and self-destruct by trying to compute the final numbers based on the above proportions and divisions. I leave it to the Math-savvy amongst my readers to arrive at the approximate figures and enlighten us.
It doesn't, however, take a degree in astrophysics to arrive at the shocking reality that stares us in the face -- the democratic "mandate" works out to less than 10 in 100.
And what is this "mandate" stuff? T/read carefully...; it is:
"...the authority to carry out a policy or course of action, regarded as given by the electorate to a party or candidate that wins an election".
Whew! The good thing is that it applies only to the winning candidate! It surely is not applicable to those few who have never contested an election in their life and yet come to sit in the "gaddi" and go about with a thick skin and a sanctimonious air and act as if they have had all the mandates in this world. It IS a laugh...
The operative phrase when you consider the mandate is "...wins an election". In the days before bought college seats and paid media news, while in school you could not pass ('win') from one grade to the next if you didn't have a minimum, measly "pass percentage". And according to the great and the best tenets of democracy (by which ALL our "leaders" swear, whether they are to the right or the left of right or the real left that is really to the right, or in groups of varying permutations and combinations of the above) the "pass percentage" is 51%. Only that gives you a "democratic” mandate.
The mandate that you assume by/for yourself in a coalition situation is in accordance with what you term the "coalition dharma" and what the rest of the world terms the "coalition adharma". Dharma is a very curious word that beats translation into English. The closest you could come is perhaps by saying that it is, literally, "...a decree or custom, as per the eternal laws of the cosmos, inherent in the very nature of things...". So don't you see that "coalition dharma" is "cosmic" in its roots... something like the "Divine Right" claimed by the ruling class of pre-Democratic, pre-Socialist, pre-Revolutionary days, though ‘CD’ has thankfully a faint echo of the ethos of India's past, yet is fine-tuned to the banking and other needs of the modern era.
This then is the Arithmetic of Democracy. And it took one Brower to shout that the arithmetic indicated that the Emperor was in truth walking about starkers, his "modesty" revealed in all its glory (?!) without the cover of the garb of democracy! How long has this democratic 'tamasha' been going on? Doubtlessly for quite a long while. It is an expensive tamasha when you look at the trouble and the expense the Election Commission goes to in order to conduct this charade of 'democratic' elections. Only the concept and the procedure is democratic; the arithmetic is not because figures usually do not lie. Why go through this five-yearly exercise in futility? I can already hear the strident protests of the politicians as they rally to the defense of the “democratic rights of the citizen”. The elections are as good a rubber stamp as any to give any coalition of scoundrels and others who traditionally have taken refuge in politics, the legitimacy of a democratic mandate.
What Mr Brower has said of the US is more than true when it comes to the situation in India too. After all, according to the self-styled guardian of democracy globally, the US and its 'partner' India are the world's two greatest democracies, maybe in 'quality' and size, respectively. With a 'healthy' emulation of all things American, and a parroting of their rhetoric, the Indian system has of late become a Xerox copy of the politician-corporate nexus perfected in the best Yankee fashion of governance. As Mr Obama and Mr SIngh thump each other's back in mutual congratulation about an undying commitment to democracy, if you listen closely you could hear the sound of so many corporate axes being ground in the background. Perhaps the one major difference in India is that, post-elections, the axe-grinding is the loudest sound that marks the "functioning" of the circus called government.
Let us call a stop to this inane game and save a pretty packet too. We will come to some sort of an agreement so that a "musical chair" kind of arrangement could be worked out with "equal opportunities" for politicians of all possible colours. Think of the savings, not only in election expenses, but all the JPC bills, and the savings effected by downsizing the CBI and CVC and other such Constitutional bodies, to speak nothing of the grand saving made in the time and effort of the Honourable Justices of the Supreme Court, the only beacon of hope left for the "aam aadmi" in this land. Let us have some sort of a 'civilized' arrangement for government, rather than all the "horse trading" ( somebody tells me the horses might file an objection to the use of the term!) and other embarrassing uncertainties just prior to "staking" a 'majority' claim, which in reality is perhaps the slimmest 'minority', if there is such a usage.
But, on second thought, I doubt whether such saner counsels will prevail in this great democratic sub-continent of ours. I can imagine the screaming headlines: "Democracy butchered", "The Darkest hour of Indian Democracy", and more. If you are honest, dear, gentle reader, at least to yourself, you could see without making an effort that democracy had already been butchered, made into mincemeat and was being cooked and eaten with savour for the past many decades in this land of Gandhian 'ahimsa' and vegetarianism, and also that Indian democracy hadn't made much real progress from the dark midnight hour in which it was conceived back in 1947.
What makes me so sure of that? If we had cared for democracy in a serious way, we would have had legislation to limit the total number of parties to two, to specify that you needed to have some minimum education before you could get into the bodies of governance and legislation, to insist that nobody other than a duly elected person shall have the right to occupy any such position and, most important of all, to make it mandatory that a clear majority in polled votes as against the registered votes is absolutely essential before the 'mandate' could be exercised. If no one was able to score that essential "minimum pass-mark", or if the public had indicated that their choice was "none of the above", then the President and his Gubernatorial minions could very well run the country--until such time as a clear and popular alternative emerged.
Surely running a country of law-abiding, democratic citizenry who are happy that their will has prevailed is not likely to tax the abilities of the Supreme Commander of the Nation’s Forces and his able lieutenants.
By the way, where are those bells? We shall with alacrity bell these fandangle* felines.
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* fandangle: a useless and/or purely ornamental thing
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011
RAISON D'ETRE
When it comes to saying things with the right kind of 'flavour', I guess you will have to hand it to the French.
English would have been so poorer had it not been for the long period of the Norman's sojourn in the Queen's Isles. Whether it is the subtlety of rarefied lies that mark diplomacy, or the fickleness of taste that mark fashion, or the flights of fancy that define the world of romance, or, admit it, when you get down to the raunchiness of sex, you would find it difficult to say what you really would like to mean without the fecund French turn of phrase.
Poor English, despite its closeness to the custodians of culture on the other side of the Channel who happen to be the only ones who know how to taste the joie de vivre, has no words like these that mean the same thing. Let us turn to the old reliable OED--the Oxford English Dictionary, that final arbiter of meaning for us, careful users of the King's/Queen's tongue. Raison d'etre (No, don't try to pronounce it and demonstrate to the entire world that we the non-French will never get it right!) is "... the most important reason or purpose that accounts for or justifies someone or something's existence". Read that again and it easily boils down to "...someone/something's reason for being around". Switch to the plural and you can include all the noble and the not-so-noble reasons that call loudly for that something/someone's existence.
Good. An abstruse everyday French phrase and we have got it licked in two minutes flat! Now, onto more mundane things.
Now for VFM, the mantra of the Middle Class. "Chathurvarnyam" or the four-class system, was, with the zero and Sanskrit, the invention of Indians. But then in 1947 they threw that out along with the Brits and their Colonial peccadilloes, though 'desi' games like cricket were nurtured side-by-side with 'kabaddi', the truly 'Indian' game in spirit and methodology. The Socialists had their working class and India had no class!
Then God thought that perhaps nascent India needed the MC. Accordingly this class has been expressly ordained into being by our Creator for the very purpose of giving some sheen by contrast to the "business-class" citizens of India and also for serving as the subjects of the Maharajah of Air India, so that once in a while that royal personage could give a boost to his sagging ego and his bottom line by doling out real, unalloyed vassal-like treatment to the MC when the poor souls bought tickets to perdition and flew his silver jets --jets bought with their tax money and whose engines gulped the aviation spirit thrice subsidized by their tax money! Ho, the ways of Providence are indeed mysterious...
I didn't know what VFM meant until a friend's 'savvy' kid wised me up--Value For Money. Maybe they teach all those acronyms in B-schools, along with avarice and a total lack of emotions that are the pre-requisites to being a good 'manager'. But most of us populating that middle level know that value for money is something that you look for in everything, whether it is cars or cattle, chappals or chattels, flats or farmhouses, umbrellas or underwear, or that ultimate high of "shopping", a suitable bride or groom!!
Now let me come to the lakh-crore rupee question--why do we need to bother with these two phrases in our everyday lives? When you want to get something or someone into your life, it is best to ask away these questions and get the answers before we act. But us middle class mortals are not that fortunate usually. By the time we have a breather in life and realize that we are part of the great MC crowd, we have many of these things and people solidly in our lives. So when it comes to the pinch, or sometimes the crunch, we have to ask these unpleasant questions.
This is one such time.
From the first generation of those babies who were the aftermath of the "midnight tryst", with Destiny or whoever else it was, to the generation next and now to the 'generation text' (conceived mostly in the sedate pre-texting days), Indians have been patient. Patient for sixty long years. Nobody is perfect, we all know. And you need time to "perfect your act" and perform.
All right. But sixty years? Sixty long, grinding years...?? Don't you think it is a bit long? You would be patient with a son/daughter who took the long and circuitous route to his/her ‘slot’ and success in life; but your patience is likely to be rewarded with the happy sight of him/her living a full life with aplomb at least by the ripe age of maybe 30, 35 or even 40. Half a century is the insane limit. SIXTY years... and then some. If you are still not with me there, I urge you to start counting from 1947--no need to be finicky about whether to start from the midnight hour or not.
What is the raison d'etre of a government--any government, for that matter? To govern, naturally, stupid! Our government is a clever consortium--they govern strictly according to the dictionary; no need to see if it is to the satisfaction and welfare of the governed, as that is not specified in the dictionary! How many ministers do we have in our Central ministry ? How many in each of our States? How much are they costing the Exchequer, a fancy word invented by the Brits --who love pomp and ceremony, fancy-dress balls and, of course, fancy words-- that ultimately means the poor guys who shell out their money as taxes?
The raison d'etre of this veritable army of self-serving worthies is to 'govern' us and conduct our affairs. How? Ah, my dear Sir, broadly as we wish them to be conducted, and to our general satisfaction and overall welfare. That is why we have representative democracy, and that is the reason for YOU being sent THERE.
Democracy? Ah, yes... But today democracy is like Milma milk, which starts out as the "real thing" --milk from the udders of real, live, honest-to-goodness cows. But then the milk gathers volume, with all sorts of buffalo milk and water being added to it before being fed into the big maw of the dairy machinery, where a judicious amount of "reconstituted milk" (fancy name for the white stuff called milk powder) is added, water is added, various fats and other stuff are added, and is finally checked with that magical device called a Lactometer that tells you if the resulting stuff has the consistency and specific gravity and the colour of milk. It is NOT milk, as you knew it and drank it as a child, but in a court of law you could swear that it IS milk, and you won't be hauled up for perjury. They sell it in poly packs for a fancy price with the catchy slogan " Here is goodness you can wake up to...". (So sad that the Englishman has no 'Vishu' or 'Kani', and so "Keralam kani kandunarunna nanma" has to remain un-translatable.)
What I was meaning was that by the time democracy reaches the upper echelons of power and power brokers, it is as bad as Milma milk... or, as good as Milma milk. It all depends on your point of view. (I do not want to be pulled up for libel--when I used the word Milma, I had in mind any similar dairy product from any State of India which has more or less the same consistency and background. Perhaps I should ask my dear, gentle reader to substitute the word with ‘Milpa’ or 'Palma', an imaginary dairy product, in order to serve as an object of comparison to illustrate the dilution and total transformation of quality/originality as the 'process' is completed.)
If somebody in the meantime has computed the total cost of maintaining all these "servants of the people, for the people", let us ask the second question. Are they returning any VFM? Opinions are sure to differ wildly. So let us look at percentages, rather than 'digital' questions of 'yes' or 'no'. Does the VFM come anywhere near the "pass percentage" of 35 % ? Or, is it A-grade performance at 60%, or exemplary levels at more than 80% ? Or, are we talking about "performance" that is more like a measly less than 10%?
One thing is clear. When those expensively-maintained ministers, including the prime among the lot, go about saying that they did not know what was happening in their ministries, that very admission is proof positive of extreme "under-performance", if not total non-performance. Will any employer, past or present, here or in any corner of this wide world, continue to tolerate such an employee, and that too at great expense, not to speak of the damage he does to the system?
Looking at the definition of raison d'etre clarifies another moot point too. The reason for existence should 'justify' that. So much of money spent for so long on so great a bunch of non-performers.... What justification could anyone have for this gross travesty of governance? What value are we getting for this huge investment. Nothing--except double-digit inflation!! And onions, God alone knows, at what rate of inflation!
This 'tamasha' has become something like a circus that has grown to occupy the entire "big top", with the audience kicked out into the rain and the slush. It is high time we realized that, if at all it is a circus, it is for our 'entertainment' and we have tickets and a right to occupy at least our gallery seats. And, let them not forget it, we demand VFM when it comes to the "entertainment value".
We have, whether we like it or not, a huge machinery called the bureaucracy peopled by scores of functionaries from the chaprasi to the Chief Secretary, and, again, funded by our 'enthusiastic' tax contributions. Are they not capable of keeping the machinery of governance well-oiled and running smoothly for a while? C'mon, we have had enough and more "policies" and high-flying things like that taken care of in the past sixty years and more, and I guess we could survive for a few years, if not more, on the sheer momentum of the past policies and principles. We don't want this expensive circus eating up our hard-earned money --at least not until a bunch of "fresh recruits" agree to "play ball" as per our wishes and decrees and give us some guarantees about VFM.
By no stretch of imagination could a reasonable man in our country now accept the raisons d'etre for the existence of the body of self-styled "guardians" of our Constitution and "protectors" of our lives, who have taken an absolute disregard for accountability and probity in public life to the very nadir of decadence.
This must stop. This must be stopped.
And the time--and the opportunity-- for taking that decision is right round the corner.
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