Reflections

Tales from Shining and Sinking India is a series of deep fascinating and interesting stories covered by a journalist during the course of his career. The selection is stupendous, meaningful, and a great value add, besides being interesting and largely of current interest. The eclectic selection includes stories on the Naxal problem, massive floods in Bihar, the 26/11 attack and its Media coverage, Air Accidents - YSR Helicopter accident & Mangalore, Chandrayaan, Tibet, A visit to Pakistan as a Media professional, West Bengal and the fall of the Left, and the two best ones – Anna, and a lovely article on Festivals of India Tales from Shining and Sinking India is a book by a Media Personality – Akash Banerjee ; it has its many good points; but let me depart from my convention, and first point out what I felt were its negatives. I want the readers to leave with a positive impression of this excellent work, so for once let me get into the negatives of the book before I delve in...

Some people state that India requires inclusive growth, that we require to support the people through interventionist and populist policies, that we need to shepherd the people with a supporting and guiding hand. Others state with equal vehemence that we require easier competition, that we require to unlock the industry, that we require to give market forces an opportunity... and so the debate goes on; and so the great Indian circus of development efforts continues; and so the great and misdirected Governmental efforts to direct - or misdirect, in reality - India continues. And the fun (or sadness, depending on your point of view) continues, unabated and unstoppable, regardless of who is in power... A cursory perusal of the newspapers will readily bring out the above as simple fact. It is there in just about every daily; in just about every magazine that you would care to pick up and read. Some articles glibly suggest an even more diabolical and dangerous viewpoint, that the correc...

  In the first part of the review, I had given the outline of the book, and the overall approach. As I stated earlier, the book focuses on core issues of governance: giving people a say in the running of government in areas that directly impact them; control over governmental money, as well as the total lack of accountability in the cadres of the government servants in the state and central government. This is a hard fact; I am reminded of a news article of today wherein the police refused to take action against a person because he was a senior Mantralaya official - and in fact took action against a teenage girl over a matter of a football! This is the kind of environment we live in; each one of us can readily think up of several such cases. As another example: I still haven't got my Marraige Certificate; I dont know whom  to approach to get it done - as I wont pay a bribe. There can be countless such experiences when a normal citizen feels totally helpless. An...

" So it is clear that neither than the MPs and MLAs help solve our daily problems, nor can they help in getting good laws passed. This is the dichotomy of the situation. We elect them, but they act according to the wishes of the party they belong to. And if they dont toe the party line, they are punished and may even have to lose the membership of the house or assembly. So, even if you elect a good and honest person as a MP or MLA from your area, it will neither solve the issues of your area, nor will he or she be able to help pass a good law. Isnt it a queer democracy, where neither the public is heard, nor its representatives? " The above lines should touch a chord in every Indian hearts. It is difficult to argue with such powerful logic. And that is the central thrust of this book: that the people of India are effectively powerless, and have been emasculated by the current system. This is a feeling that all of us can empathise with, having dealt with it a...

A simple perusal of the movements of the past 3-4 days throw up a very interesting scenario. Anna Hazare and team have, for all practical purposes, accepted that pushing a workable as well as effective Lokpal through the current set of polticians is going to be next to impossible. They have gone to plan-B - namely, trying to provide a political alternative; thereby effectively vacating the plank (at least for now) of the Lokpal. Simultaneously, Baba Ramdev organises a "dharna"  And, unfortunately, the locus of the demand - and the media and public pressure - shift from the Lokpal to bringing back black money. Nothing wrong with that in principle; with one significant caveat. While the Lokpal focuses on solving the root of the problem and affixing accountability, the "bring back black money" movement very neatly shifts the focus from the core of the problem to its effects. It is like treating the fever, not the illness...  What is even more interesting is t...

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Disturbing trends in judicial activism : 'via Blog this' An interesting article on Judicial Activism in India by a senior advocate in the supreme court has highlighted cases where the apex court intervened. A look at the areas where the court passed orders is most revealing: Control over automobile emissions Air, noise and traffic pollution Parking Charges Helmets Cleanliness in housing colonies Disposal of garbage Control of traffic in New Delhi Made compulsory seat belts Ordering action plans to control monkey menace Ordered measures to prevent accidents at unmanned crossings Prevent ragging in colleges Collection and storage of blood banks Control of loudspeakers and firecrackers Baba Ramdev Eviction from Ramlila grounds Exclusion of tourists from core areas of tiger reserves Investigation and prosecution of ministers and officers in the Jain Hawala case Taj Corridor case 2G telecom case Distribution of food grains t...

The past 18 months have been a roller coaster ride for Team India Against Corruption - starting with the massive interest in the movement in April 11, moving on to the next few heady months... right till the peace in December. During this period, the Team IAC saw it all: heady adulation, vicious targeting and misinformation campaigns etc; they saw the mass frenzy in their support, and also the loss in followers after the initial euphoria. Not a bad experience for a team whose core agenda is to eradicate corruption But first, the Lokpal. The much vaunted Lokpal, as I had observed in one of my earlier posts  http://reflectionsvvk.blogspot.in/2011/12/is-lokpal-solution.html, cannot be the final solution; it can only be one of the cogs. The problem is far too deeply entrenched for it to be legislated away. When just about everyone you see is involved in some form of corruption - whether as the taker or as the giver - then a statutory body can only do so much. Further, anyone ac...

Hugo Dixon & Jeff Glekin: Unravelling India: growth bottlenecks : 'via Blog this' Classic analysis and Development  - 360 degree viewpoint, almost. In summation, the authors are looking at the following points: Corruption High-level corruption Petty corruption Electoral corruption Anti Corruption Movement/s Lokpal / Anna Hazare Media Right to Information and its impact CAG, CJI etc other pro-and re-active offices Stray political responses Corruption Remedies Powerful Independent Lokpal Transparency in Government RTI - 2005 and its impact UID Project and its impact Sustainable Growth Economy Demographic Dividend GDP Per Capita Bottlenecks Private Investment, negative sentiment of the same Politics - Coalition politics and decentralisation Environmental issues and problems Corruption Problems of the day: Decline in investment, fiscal deficit, corruption and environmental roadblocks The article deserves special mention since ...