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Rabble Rousing Random Ramblings by S Jagadish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
How the collective wisdom of our leaders gets exhibited
In the past 2-3 weeks alone, there've been 3 instances where the wisdom of our political leaders has been exhibited in all its glory.
- DMK demands that Sri Lankan Tamil refugees be made permanent residents of India.
- Spend nearly Rs. 10 crores to sterilize 70% of all stray dogs in Delhi ahead of the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
- Karnataka government decides that the best way to send out an environment-conscious message is to force auto-rickshaw owners to paint their autos green!
Labels: commonwealth games, karnataka, politics, refugees, sri lanka, tamil
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Last year, the Tamil Nadu government decreed that the first day of Thai would be the first day of the new year based on 'consensus amongst almost all Tamil Scholars' (sic). Of course, that announcement was challenged in court. I'm not sure about the current status.
What gives a government the rights to decide the date on which people speaking a language or following a culture will celebrate a new year? Is the decision restricted to the government holiday list, or is it enforceable? If the decision is made to overturn a Sanskritized/Brahminical calendar that has existed for so many years, and the new Tamil calendar will be based on the Thiruvalluvar era, that's pretty ironic coming from a DMK government because the very first Kural of the "Thirukural" has a reference to a deity!
அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதி பகவன் முதற்றே உலகு.What is interesting though is that if the first day of Chithirai (traditionally the first month of the Tamil calendar as far as I know) isn't a big deal, then why are there so many promos on Sun TV and Kalaingyar TV, both part of the DMK propaganda machine (except for a detente of around a year when the Marans were thrown out from the DMK), announcing special programs to herald the onset of Chithirai? In fact, Sun TV is proudly claiming its 16th anniversary (launched in 1993 on Tamil New Year's day).
So will the DMK government be kind enough to let us know the additional information that has been obtained by scholars in the previous 15 years (between 1993 when Sun TV was launched and 2008 when the new year was moved) which has been the basis for moving the date of the Tamil New Year?
In addition, I'm fairly sure we keenly look forward to Sun TV and Kalaingyar TV also telecasting special programs on the first days of Vaigasi, Aani, Aadi, Avani, Purataasi, Aippasi, Kaarthigai, Maargazhi, Thai, Maasi and Panguni!
Labels: culture, dmk, language, new year's day, politics, tamil
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Just what the doctor didn't order for Pakistan
Pakistan's Supreme Court today barred Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections and also declared as null and void the election of his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of the Punjab province.
Obviously, the PML (N) isn't going to take this lying down and there have been huge & widespread protests all over Pakistan.
The Sharif brothers haven't accepted the authority of the current judges because they were sworn in by Pervez Musharraf under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) issued in November 2007.
There are a couple of interesting aspects of this whole drama which seem inexplicable.
- After Musharraf's coup on 12 October 1999 (to present a study in contrast with India, where a day later, Vajpayee was taking oath after a general election), he forced judges to re-take oath under a new PCO since the constitution had been suspended. Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was among the first few judges to take oath. Further, after taking office at the Supreme court, he was among the 12 judges who validated Musharraf's coup and pronounced that Nawaz Sharif's removal was legal. He then convinced the then president to resign, which resulted in Musharraf becoming president. He was also party to the supreme court's decision to dismiss petitions questioning Musharraf's constitutional amendments.
So why on earth was Nawaz Sharif fighting for reinstating him? - Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan in late 2007 after striking a deal with Musharraf, ending a 7 year exile in Saudi Arabia. So, Nawaz Sharif was perfectly ok with an agreement with Musharraf, but not ok with judges appointed by Musharraf! If, as Nawaz Sharif had always held, Musharraf's coup was illegal, then the agreement reached with Musharraf was also illegal.
It is currently going through a severe economic crisis (it needs something like USD 14 billion even after recently getting a USD 7.6 billion loan from the IMF even as it's "all-weather friend", China, offered no help during Asif Ali Zardari's recent visit). It is getting hammered for the deal with the Tehreek-e-Taliban in a portion of Swat and letting Dr. AQ Khan off scot-free. There's tremendous pressure from India (and to a disappointingly lesser extent, from other countries whose citizens were also murdered) over ensuring that the government took action on those responsible for the terror attacks in Mumbai last year.
Seems like the US National Intelligence Council assessment 4 years ago could turn out to be accurate after all!
Labels: judgement, nawaz sharif, pakistan, politics, supreme court
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PMK's Ramadoss wants an "indefinite" bandh in Tamil Nadu
In a brazen attempt at terrorizing Tamil Nadu, the PMK's founder & president, S Ramadoss has proposed an "indefinite" bandh in Tamil Nadu in protest against the Sri Lankan army's attacks on the LTTE.
Thankfully, he is charitable enough to exclude ambulances and the supply of milk from the scope of the bandh. Of course he isn't going to be impacted. He and his goons will court arrest and be released in an hour, probably escorted home by the DGP.
The ones who suffer are the general populace, without the ability to go to work, run their business, buy vegetables & fruits at affordable rates, etc.
Given that the Supreme Court had ruled, a decade ago in 1998, that bandhs were illegal and unconstitutional, Ramadoss' demand for an "indefinite" bandh is an indicator of how important adherence to laws and the Constitution is for him and others of his ilk. Although I don't foresee it happening, the Tamil Nadu government should throw Ramadoss & the rest of the gangs into jail for threatening to breach the law and order of the state.
Labels: ltte, politics, strike, tamil nadu, terrorism
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Does the DMK think public money is its ancestral property? Crores of rupees are wasted when by-elections are conducted. If a sitting MLA or MP dies, then it's tough to argue against a by-election. But when the incumbent resigns in protest (over Telengana or Kaveri, for e.g.), then that is totally unacceptable.
Over the past few days, DMK MPs from Tamil Nadu, including the CM's daughter Kanimozhi & Kalanidhi Maran, have submitted their resignations to Mr. Karunanidhi. If the Union Government doesn't act as per the demands of the all-party meet last week, the resignations will be forwarded to the presiding officers of the houses of Parliament.
Who bears the cost of the resulting by-election? Will the DMK bear the expenses? Of course not. When there are so many more important issues to act upon, such as the pathetic electricity supply situation in the state and the unused flyovers constructed at a huge cost (the Usman Road one, for e.g.), to focus on the plight of people who aren't even Indian citizens reeks of selfishness, political opportunism, diversionary tactics and rank incompetence.
Similar questions can also be asked about the BJP, in Karnataka, forcing Cong (I) and JD (S) legislators to resign as MLAs, and join the BJP government, in order to circumvent the defection laws.
Labels: dmk, india, politics, resignation, tamil nadu
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- Justice Soumitra Sen, a judge in the Calcutta High Court, misappropriated over Rs. 20 lakhs in a case where he was a receiver (i.e. the trustee of the sum of money that was deposited by the party paying the penalty). The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, KG Balakrishnan, has announced that he will approach Parliament to begin impeachment proceedings against Justice Sen.
- Ivan Lewis, an MP in the UK and a minister in the Department of Health, has apologized to a female member of staff in his office for bombarding her with personal and intimate text messages (textual harassment?) in 2007. Despite her complaining to others in the department, no action was taken. She first got herself transferred to a different department. She then quit working for the government. There has been no action taken against Ivan Lewis.
- Babubhai Katara, a BJP MP, who was arrested in the Indira Gandhi Airport (New Delhi) in April 2007 on charges of illegally trying to smuggle out a woman and a teenaged boy to Canada on the passports of his wife and son. The Parliamentary Committee which investigated the charges now recommends that Babubhai Katara be expelled from the Lok Sabha.
Yet, because of the concept of 'privileges', these offenders & criminals are merely removed from their posts, or sometimes an apology is assumed to suffice.
Isn't it high time the 'privileges' granted were balanced with ensuring that the justice administration system took over rather than farcical apologies or expulsions from Parliament? For example, nothing stops Babubhai Katara from contesting the Rajya Sabha elections, or indeed the next Lok Sabha elections.
Labels: crimes, criminals, politics, privileges
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How things could develop on/before July 22
After the Left withdrew support to the UPA government last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that his government would seek a vote of confidence from the Lok Sabha on July 22.
Since the arithmetic still doesn't work out too well for the UPA, jokers like Shibu Soren (JMM) and Chandrasekhar Rao (TRS) are trying to extract whatever they can (minister posts & a Union cabinet decision in favour of a separate Telengana state) from the Congress (I).
Then there's a huge debate on whether Speaker Somnath Chatterjee should vote with his CPI (M) comrades on July 22 or not. If my understanding of the Constitution is right, the speaker cannot do so ordinarily. The only situation under which the speaker can vote is if his vote is the casting vote (Article 100). So if the scores are tied, Somnath Chatterjee only then has the duty to vote.
There're a total of 543 members. Remove Somnath Chatterjee and the government needs to get 272 out of the 542 votes in its favour to stay in power. The Left has 59 seats. The Left is majorly pissed off with Manmohan Singh for going ahead with the nuclear agreement despite its protests and despite the UPA-Left committee not having come to a decision.
At the same time, the Left does not want to be seen as co-operating with the BJP during the vote of confidence. So I think this is what could happen:
- The Left abstains from the vote. The new total vote count becomes 484 since you now subtract 59 Left votes from 543 seats. So now the UPA only needs to ensure it gets 243 votes in favour of the government. That it already has, with the support of the Samajwadi Party. So the government will survive.
- The casualty will be Manmohan Singh. He'll resign. Sonia Gandhi will have to find a new Prime Minister. The Left will resume outside 'support' to the government.
- Preparations for general elections will start. Assuming that the deal does go through the IAEA and the NSG, I'm not sure about the exact next steps if the US Congress okays the agreement. Does it come back to the Indian Parliament? If so, then the Left could block the deal then. If not, in any case, the Indian & US governments will be lame duck administrations. So they'd be wary of closing the deal. The next government can deal with the headache.
- Contrary to the Left's expectation that their magnanimity in ensuring survival of the government (by abstaining) will be appreciated, the fact remains that they caused havoc in political circles. The price they could pay would be in terms of the number of seats they win in the next general election.
The Australian Parliament commissioned a study on the water requirements of nuclear power stations. The results corroborated an earlier study by the US-based Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) which suggests that nuclear power stations use up more water (Table S-1) and also produce less electricity per pound of circulating steam compared to other energy sources like fossil fuels, biomass or natural gas. The Australian Parliament report's conclusion is:
Per megawatt existing nuclear power stations use and consume more water than power stations using other fuel sources. Depending on the cooling technology utilised, the water requirements for a nuclear power station can varyKeeping in mind that fresh water is preferred for these power plants and the fact that we live in times when water leads to inter-state and inter-country disputes, it seems to me that a nuclear power plant is not a sound option. Of course, if there was a cost-effective way to use desalination plants to convert saline water from the sea and then route it to the power plant, that could be an ideal solution.
between 20 to 83 per cent more than for other power stations.
Labels: congress (i), crazy commies, lok sabha, loony left, manmohan singh, nuclear agreement, politics, prime minister, sonia gandhi, speaker
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The Karat approach hasn't worked, time for the stick approach
Yesterday, the Left parties announced withdrawal of support to the UPA government, a little over 4 years after they had first supported it from 'outside'.
Although it has been apparent for a while that the 'Loony Left' will pull the plug soon over the civilian nuclear energy agreement with the USA, Prakash Karat now indicates that inflation was a huge factor as well behind the decision. In fact, the UPA government today requested the IAEA secretariat to circulate a draft safeguards agreement to the IAEA Board of Governors.
As a result, the Manmohan Singh government is in a minority and now has sought support from reliable folks like the Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (S) & the Trinamool Congress to ensure it gets past the half-way mark of 272 seats. The current arithmetic has 226 seats for the UPA constituents and 39 from the Samajwadi Party. Even if you add up those fringe parties and some independents, the number just about crosses 272. That's a huge risk to take given that the government could fall if one of those chaps called in sick or had a brainwave that he shouldn't be supporting a government that he'd opposed for 4 years!
Also, the political price that the Congress (especially) will pay is huge. It is very obvious that support from the Samajwadi Party will require the Congress to reduce the number of seats they will contest in the next elections. In addition, there's a definite corporate agenda as well. The SP's leadership is extremely close to 2 major business groups: Anil Ambani's ADAG & Subrata Roy's Sahara India Pariwar.
Sahara is currently fighting 2 battles: the RBI has prohibited it from accepting new deposits from the public and the UP Government was demolishing part of the Sahara Shahar for alleged encroachment and plan violations.
The Ambani's are at each other's throats again. Anil Ambani's attempts to engage MTN (South Africa) in merger discussions has allegedly been thwarted by Mukesh Ambani's RIL. RIL is obviously making a lot of money from exploration and refining, especially now when crude prices are increasing every day. The Samajwadi Party has asked for extra taxation of 'windfall profits' made by such firms.
With 39 MPs, the SP will ask for Chidambaram & Murli Deora's resignation as well as 4-5 ministries for their MPs. What stops parties with 1 or 2 MPs from also having their own set of demands.
The more honourable thing for the UPA government to do is to resign and call for elections. During the campaign, they can point out why they were right and why the Left wasn't right!
Labels: communist, congress (i), crazy commies, elections, india, left, loony left, nuclear agreement, politics
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Will politicians be more wary of election-time promises?
In the span of a year, there have now been two violent agitations by Gujjars, led by the Gujjar Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti. These have resulted in loss of lives and destruction of public & private property.
Nitin rightly points out that the BJP and the UPA are both responsible for the state of affairs since the BJP did nothing to oppose the UPA's policies of "doling out entitlements based on group identities."
Lest we forget, all this started when the BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate, Vasundhara Raje, during the 2003 elections to the Rajasthan legislative assembly, promised to get the Gujjars included in the list of Scheduled Tribes. This was a promise that she had no business giving, since only the Union government is responsible for (and empowered to) make changes under the 'Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950'.
When the Gujjars started questioning her about the election promise, she conveniently pointed out that the Union government had to decide on the matter. Obviously the Gujjar leaders got pissed off. This does not obviously mean they have the right to wreck Rajasthan over the issue. If anything, the leaders of the Gujjar Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti, including Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla, should be jailed under the appropriate section of the Indian Penal Code.
Hopefully one end-result of the Gujjar agitation is that henceforth, politicians will be wary of the promises they give during election rallies. Imagine if the voters started violent uprisings for every single commitment that was not satisfactorily acted upon after the elections!
Labels: elections, gujjar, manifesto, politics, rajasthan, violence
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I don't mean to gloat about it, but I just can't help it. Last year, on 9 February, I wrote:
It is not difficult to foresee that the BJP-JD(S) combine government will not last for too long. Around halfway through the remainder of the term, they will part ways, either because the BJP would pull the rug or because the JD(S) would point out the BJP's communalism as being a factor. Kumaraswamy will enjoy his Chief Ministership, his (and his father's) long cherished dream, and cock a snoop at Yediyurappa's ambitions of being CM for the second half.It has panned out more or less exactly as I'd anticipated. The BJP's communalism is a factor, as is the Deve Gowda family's perception that the BJP is out to get them. This is one level more than the standard Tamil saying Unakkum bebbe unga appanukkum bebbe (Bebbe for you and for your father!) since here it's more like Yen kitterndhu bebbe, yenga appan kitterndhum bebbe (Bebbe from me and from my father!)
For those who doubt if I actually did write about this 20 months ago, check out my post as archived by the Internet Archive!
Labels: deve gowda, karnataka, kumaraswamy, politics
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It is not difficult to foresee that the BJP-JD(S) combine government will not last for too long. Around halfway through the remainder of the term, they will part ways, either because the BJP would pull the rug or because the JD(S) would point out the BJP's communalism as being a factor. Kumaraswamy will enjoy his Chief Ministership, his (and his father's) long cherished dream, and cock a snoop at Yediyurappa's ambitions of being CM for the second half.
I think one way to prevent instability in such a coalition is to insist firstly that the Chief Minister (or Prime Minister for that matter) should be from the party which has a numerical majority (in terms of MLAs or MPs). The second is to ensure that in case of a mid-term poll, the bill is paid for by the party which took the first step in bringing down the government. If it is tough to reach that decision, as happened in the case of Karnataka with both the JD(S) and the Congress(I) insisting that the other was responsible, both parties must bear the expenses for the election.
Labels: deve gowda, karnataka, kumaraswamy, politics
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