Saturday, February 26, 2011

Day 192


Today’s headline in every newspaper is the railway budget presented yesterday by Mamta Banerjee. As the West Bengal is going to election this year, so there was no passenger fare hike as per expected. And another expectation was the number of new projects and new trains for her home state. I’m not blaming her for this. Actually this is a general pattern for the railway ministers to give huge packages and new projects to their respective home states. It has become an unwritten law. It’s good that new projects give more employment to the people of that place but rest of the country shouldn’t be left out. But there are few good things coming out of this year’s railway budget. Senior citizen’s concession for women is to start from the age of 58 instead of 60 earlier. And men will get 40% concession as compare to 30% earlier in the category of senior citizen. One thing more I like very much in this year’s railway budget. 1.75 Lakh vacancies are to be filled. Children of employees over 50 and unable to work are likely to be appointed by the railway itself. Around 16,000 ex-servicemen are to be hired. This is really appreciable. But I think that Mamta Banerjee has to think about the finances now. There is severe financial crunch in railway’s finances. There is very little left for the future investment. Now the railway has to borrow for any future investment. Time has come now to think about the finances also.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Day 191


Hi friends. I’m back. I know you people might have thought that I have again disappeared in thin air after writing for couple of days in a row. But that’s not the case. Actually, I was observing few things. Globally there has been protests and revolt in Middle East which is resulting in the change in the government of the respective country. And at home, there is a political unrest regarding the 2G spectrum. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is having a tough time. He has to take care of his coalition partner and he has to face the opposition also. I agree with him on one point. Running coalition government isn’t an easy job. Being the head of the government, he has to oblige the coalition partners. He doesn’t have much privilege to choose his ministers. It’s the choice of the coalition partners. Actually, sometimes, I wonder that in a coalition government a Prime Minister or a Chief Minister is the softest person. He can’t make any wish but he has to go with the wishes of his coalition partners.  And this is the point which gives a freedom to the coalition partners to do the things whatever they wish. They always blackmail the main political party of withdrawing support very often. Same thing happened when Manmohan Singh told A Raja to resign over the spectrum scam issue. That followed the political drama of M Karunanidhi to save A Raja. A Raja resigned in a dramatic way. That followed raids at the residential and official premises of DMK leaders. But I feel that it’s a cover up. There must have been a political agreement between Congress and DMK. Otherwise A Raja wouldn’t have resigned until and unless Karunanidhi was assured that Raja will be dealt leniently. There is a big cover-up.
And we need strong laws and strong determination to end the corruption.  Until we get ready to fight against corruption, India isn’t going to be a corruption free country. And the politicians have to stop compromising on the sake of country. The coalition government isn’t a good thing for a developing country like India. The major political party of a coalition has to stop bending its spinal cord to the wishes of smaller regional party. I know that in a general election, a large amount of money and manpower is required. After all, we are the largest democracy in the world. But to prevent the midterm election at the cost of multi Crores scams like 2G spectrum scam isn’t a good choice to make. If Manmohan Singh would have terminated Raja from his ministry without having fear of breaking of coalition then he would have emerged as a strong leader rather than seen as a weak leader amongst people. 

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Kavita

 कुछ रिश्ते पास हो कर भी दूर से लगते है, वक़्त के साथ वोह और भी दूर लगने लगते है.
दिल खोजता है कोई साथी अपना, जो हर पल साथ रह सके.
कोई मिलता जिसको अपना कह सकते, बस एक तलाश है जो अब तक जारी है.
कभी कभी याद आते है वोह शाम जब महखाने तक हम जाते थे, थे कुछ लोग वहा जो हमप्याला बने थे.
फिर भी प्यास न ख़तम हुई महखाने में जा कर, तलाश अभी तक जारी है किसी अपने की.
असमंजस में हू कि किस पथ पे जाऊ, हर रास्ता एक नयी उम्मीद दिलाता है.
शायद कोई खरा है पथ के उस ओर, पर किस पथ जाऊ ये सवाल खरा हो जाता है.
नयनो की प्यास और  दिल की आस भुझती नहीं है, और यह जिंदगी कभी रूकती नहीं है.
चलते चलते ना जाने कितनी दूर आ चूका हू, फिर भी चला जा रहा हू.
कही कोई है मेरे इन्तेजार में, बस इसी मृगतृष्णा में जिए जा रहा हू. 

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Day 190


I know if I’ll again write something about the recent addition of the corruption practices in India then you people might think that I’m going on the same topic. But I got some shocking news. And after all, it’s the money of the common man which it pays as various direct and indirect taxes. Today while surfing the net I went on the online edition of The Pioneer. I read the news article there that a committee of BJP has investigated some projects in North East states. Surprisingly that committee has discovered various scams worth several thousand Crores in which Rs 4 Lakh Crores hydro power project in Arunachal Pradesh. Most of the states in North East are ruled by Congress party. According to the article, few points are there which can be termed as the tip of the iceberg. The thing which attracted my attention was that few projects were awarded to the companies within the days they were incorporated. For e.g. – Tuff Energy was allotted a project of 70 MW worth Rs 400 Crores within 50 days of its incorporation without any bidding. The hydro power project was awarded at the cost of Rs 4 Lakh Crores which included Rs 20,000 Crores as kickbacks.
The huge amount of money is going to the corrupt hands. And surprisingly our Prime Minister represents North East. I think 2011 has become the year of discoveries of various scams. There is only one way to stop it. Make harsh laws that can create a fear amongst these corrupt people. What I can suggest now is that to recover all the money which these corrupt people earn through kickbacks as well as their assets. And if a minister is involved then he should be removed from the office immediately. The investigating agencies shouldn’t be pressured to go slow or to give clean chit to the accused. And the punishment should be the maximum so that it can set an example to all those who are involved in the corrupt practices.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Day 189


Well in my last post I wrote about the corruption and the poor state of India in the world map. There are so many scams and scandals happening in our country that sometimes it really hurts to see all the bad things happening here. We had a glorious past. But our future isn’t that much glorious. Sometimes I feel that the corrupt people took advantage of our laws. Time has come to amendment the laws and to make it more tough. And the trial procedure is too lengthy that sometimes the verdict came so late that it loses its worth. Sometimes the accused is dead and hence the case is closed. Just like it happened in the case of Harshad Mehta. He was a stock broker who used to get loans from the bank on fake Bank Receipts. He manipulated the Bombay Stock Exchange with heavy investments in 1992. By the time, the scam was revelled; he has made a scam of Rs 4000 Crores. He died in 2002. About 72 criminal cases and more than 600 civil action suits were filed against him. When he died, many cases were pending in the court. I’m not saying that the judiciary should give verdicts very quickly. But 10 years is long time. And there are many cases which are pending in the court against the corrupt people. So I request the members of the Parliament to amend the laws and to bring new laws which can maximise the punishment in such cases. In my view, the bail system – either anticipatory or normal – should be abolished if a person is convicted in a corruption charges. I think that a fear of strict punishment forces a man or a woman to not to commit any crime. 

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Day 188


Sometimes, it becomes very tough to write. For the last one month, I’m trying to write but I’m unable to write. There aren’t any scarcity topics. But the problem is what to write about them. Should I write about the crash of Bombay Stock Exchange? Should I write about the protests in Egypt? Should I write about the scams and scandals about the spectrum? I’m confused that what I should write about these topics. All of you are aware of these current affairs. It’s good news that A Raja has been arrested and is in the judicial custody for the interrogation. But one thing is bothering me. That thing is the time this course of justice is going to take. And what punishment is he going to get? The amount of money being involved isn’t small. That’s a huge amount which would have been used for the development of the infrastructure and basic amenities in our country. It’s a positive sign that India is becoming economic superpower. GDP is high. But what about the Per Capita Income? In terms of Human Development Index, we are amongst the bottom countries in the list. Poverty is still there in our country. About 30% of the Indian population is Below Poverty Line. It means around 1 out of 3 Indians is poor. So on what issue should we proud our self? Still after 63 years of independence we call our self to be a developing country. There are small countries than us like Singapore and Malaysia who have excelled in reaching the status of a developed country. Why that can’t happen to our country? These are few questions which always come in my mind. 

Day 496

  JAI SHRI RAM   Actually, I thought to write this post on 22 nd January itself, but I was busy whole day in watching the live broadcas...