Today is the 57th Republic Day of this great nation of ours. I was lucky enough to listen to the President's address to the Nation on webcast, and now am able to catch breaking scenes of the Parade.
The commentator said that all these are new scenes, experiences for the King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Bin Aziz, and I am sure they must be. After all, he never gets to see women take part in public life in his country.
My heart fills with pride when i see our soldiers and workers from all parts of the country, belonging to all regiments, states take part in this grand parade, and despite all the negetivities around me, I know we are headed for better things.
Recently some English newspaper took a poll asking, "should the Republic Day Parade be scrapped?"
I have only one thing to say to the editor, I hope you are scrapped to a country where you have no freedom, have no culture and absolutely no national pride. This parade makes me swell with pride every year i see it, and terrorists have tried to sabotage it time and time again, but have failed.
This parade takes place in all state capitals of the country, and often the troubled states have had attacks, but let it not stop us from weeding the cancer amongst us. My wish for our government is that they grow balls to crush the enemies of this country with such ruthlessness that all little twerps around us who dare to mess with us always remember to say their last prayers before they set out to kill themselves because they know they ain't coming back alive.
Jai Hind.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
The Supreme Court's indictment of the Bihar Governor
In one of my earlier posts I had talked about how the Governor of Bihar, Buta Singh, played a role in ushering in Nitish as the new CM. The SC said that Buta subverted the Constitution by recommending the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly while the ground reality still offered the chance of a new state government.
In its criticism of the Union Government, the Supreme Court said that they should have verified the Governor's report before doing what he had recommended. Guilty as he is, Buta is defiant as ever, declaring he will still take the salute during the Republic Day parade on Jan 26.
However, the onus of the blame should go on the Congress led Union Government, which once again showed its inability to be fair and just as far as politics go. They were hand in glove in the Governor's effort to not let the JD(U) form the government, because it didnt want to ally with Lalu's RJD, an important member of the UPA.
The Daily Pioneer is a good English newspaper, and this report gives a fairly good critique of what has transpired and what is to come.
Buta 'sentenced', Cabinet also guilty
The nation on Tuesday witnessed the sorry spectacle of a defiant Buta Singh cocking a snook at the Supreme Court's strong indictment and the Centre unable to nudge him out of office despite the Governor being pronounced guilty of subversion of Constitution for recommending the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly in May last year.
The moral authority of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack the Governor lay in tatters as the judgement said that the Union Council of Ministers should have verified Buta Singh's report before accepting it as gospel truth.
Making a subtle reference to the role of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the majority 3:2 Bench judgement stated that the documents which were placed before the President were not sufficient to justify dissolution of the House.
"I've no intention to resign," Mr Buta Singh said in his first reaction after the Supreme Court held that he misled the Centre in recommending the dissolution of the State Assembly.
A five-judge Constitution Bench, by a majority judgment of 3:2, said the full motive of the Governor was to prevent JD (U) from forming the government in the State. The court held that the Governor mislead the Union Council of Ministers by sending a report containing unascertained facts.
The defiance of the Governor must have shocked even his political masters at the Centre. But they were shackled by the awareness that Buta Singh knew too much about the Centre's dubious role in the dissolution of the Assembly, hence efforts were on to persuade him, rather than force him to step down.
However, the Congress said the Supreme Court while indicting Bihar Governor Buta Singh had not found any fault with the Council of Ministers. There is no indictment of the Union Council of Ministers by the Supreme Court in the verdict, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.
The judgement triggered a political upheaval with the Opposition gunning for the Prime Minister's head and political parties joining afresh the debate on the need for apolitical appointees as Governors.
While the court minced no words in criticising the Governor's role, its comment on the Centre's failure to verify his report prompted a hurried damage-control exercise by the Congress, which found little support from its allies.
The Left parties were quick to demand Mr Buta Singh's recall while even Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, who was instrumental in dissolution of the House, refused to bail out the Centre and the Governor. Only LJP chief and Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan defended the Governor.
In its criticism of the Union Government, the Supreme Court said that they should have verified the Governor's report before doing what he had recommended. Guilty as he is, Buta is defiant as ever, declaring he will still take the salute during the Republic Day parade on Jan 26.
However, the onus of the blame should go on the Congress led Union Government, which once again showed its inability to be fair and just as far as politics go. They were hand in glove in the Governor's effort to not let the JD(U) form the government, because it didnt want to ally with Lalu's RJD, an important member of the UPA.
The Daily Pioneer is a good English newspaper, and this report gives a fairly good critique of what has transpired and what is to come.
Buta 'sentenced', Cabinet also guilty
The nation on Tuesday witnessed the sorry spectacle of a defiant Buta Singh cocking a snook at the Supreme Court's strong indictment and the Centre unable to nudge him out of office despite the Governor being pronounced guilty of subversion of Constitution for recommending the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly in May last year.
The moral authority of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack the Governor lay in tatters as the judgement said that the Union Council of Ministers should have verified Buta Singh's report before accepting it as gospel truth.
Making a subtle reference to the role of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the majority 3:2 Bench judgement stated that the documents which were placed before the President were not sufficient to justify dissolution of the House.
"I've no intention to resign," Mr Buta Singh said in his first reaction after the Supreme Court held that he misled the Centre in recommending the dissolution of the State Assembly.
A five-judge Constitution Bench, by a majority judgment of 3:2, said the full motive of the Governor was to prevent JD (U) from forming the government in the State. The court held that the Governor mislead the Union Council of Ministers by sending a report containing unascertained facts.
The defiance of the Governor must have shocked even his political masters at the Centre. But they were shackled by the awareness that Buta Singh knew too much about the Centre's dubious role in the dissolution of the Assembly, hence efforts were on to persuade him, rather than force him to step down.
However, the Congress said the Supreme Court while indicting Bihar Governor Buta Singh had not found any fault with the Council of Ministers. There is no indictment of the Union Council of Ministers by the Supreme Court in the verdict, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.
The judgement triggered a political upheaval with the Opposition gunning for the Prime Minister's head and political parties joining afresh the debate on the need for apolitical appointees as Governors.
While the court minced no words in criticising the Governor's role, its comment on the Centre's failure to verify his report prompted a hurried damage-control exercise by the Congress, which found little support from its allies.
The Left parties were quick to demand Mr Buta Singh's recall while even Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, who was instrumental in dissolution of the House, refused to bail out the Centre and the Governor. Only LJP chief and Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan defended the Governor.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
The Politician-Terrorist Nexus in J&K
What begins with K, ends in R, and promises to be a thorn in India's foot for a long while because of its political leaders' historical blunders to deal with it and the fact its the 'jugular vein' of somebody that hates us very much?
India has a strange problem in Kashmir. We call it our own, yet the state is governed by Article 356, which exempt it from many obligations of the other states of the union, and the crores of rupees ensure that it has the lowest poverty levels in the entire country. Yet I don't see know solution coming forth to solve its "militancy" problem. Our soldiers die fighting the terrorist scum being regularly trained and sent forth from the jihad factories in the west, while the state politicians are pampered by the federal government to show them how much better it is to work in the world's largest democracy than join the Hurri-rats and shout for independence.
Yet when i read news reports that active politicians in the state have been involved in abetting the terrorists by providing them information and shelter, it makes my blood boil. According to intelligence reports, active terrorists are working as party workers, even are elected officials in some places and at the same time hatching plots to hurt the nation.
Two political workers in J&K were involved in an abduction attempt of the Prime Minister of India! Is it obvious or what to see how high these scum aim for?
I simply can't believe that the intelligence agencies and more importantly the Union Government was not aware of this little nexus for so long. I would like to believe that our intelligence agencies and network is competent enough to know what is going on in our own country to the most extent. So why is now that the J&K Police has come forward and threatens to reveal more names as it continues with its 'investigation?'
I dont know, but I could probably put together a few events that point to this change:
For one, the IISc attacks in Bangalore. For once, it woke the establishment up to the fact that these terrorists can hit elsewhere than Kashmir. The New Delhi attacks didnt seem to result in much from the Government except for the few tears and kind words, but when you hurt an IIT professor in one of India's finest institutes, apparently you have hit a raw nerve.
My only thought is that dont these pusillanimous politicians realize by now that Kashmir and North-East and Bangalore are part of the same great country? Is the life of a soldier at the frontier or the common man in a market any less important than any other Indian? No it is not, but I dont know who will succeed in breaking the nice little system we have created, that of keeping the north-east and Kashmir out of the national mainstream.
Then there is the change of guard in the J&K Government. Ghulam Nabi Azad, an established Congress party leader, is the new CM. He belongs to the state and took over the helm from Mufti Sayeed, the leader of PDP. Azad has been talking tough on Musharraf's so-called peace proposals, and maybe the PMO, and ultimately Sonia Gandhi, is interested in changing the way things are done up there.
Already the IISc blast accused have been shot dead in, where else, Kashmir, and numerous other operatives have been arrested all over. So finally, what about the politicians who abet the terrorists? All I ask is for the GoI to see that this is not what is good for the country, and it scars the very souls of soldiers and innocent, unarmed civilians that lose their lives to these barbarians. This scum needs to be cleaned from J&K politics, and used as a stepping stone to clean up the traitors in other parts of the country. We have them everywhere, no doubt. Petty, theiving politicians without a vision and without a care for anybody but themselves. Lets start with getting rid of our internal demons first, otherwise all this talk of the next world power is hogwash.
India has a strange problem in Kashmir. We call it our own, yet the state is governed by Article 356, which exempt it from many obligations of the other states of the union, and the crores of rupees ensure that it has the lowest poverty levels in the entire country. Yet I don't see know solution coming forth to solve its "militancy" problem. Our soldiers die fighting the terrorist scum being regularly trained and sent forth from the jihad factories in the west, while the state politicians are pampered by the federal government to show them how much better it is to work in the world's largest democracy than join the Hurri-rats and shout for independence.
Yet when i read news reports that active politicians in the state have been involved in abetting the terrorists by providing them information and shelter, it makes my blood boil. According to intelligence reports, active terrorists are working as party workers, even are elected officials in some places and at the same time hatching plots to hurt the nation.
Two political workers in J&K were involved in an abduction attempt of the Prime Minister of India! Is it obvious or what to see how high these scum aim for?
I simply can't believe that the intelligence agencies and more importantly the Union Government was not aware of this little nexus for so long. I would like to believe that our intelligence agencies and network is competent enough to know what is going on in our own country to the most extent. So why is now that the J&K Police has come forward and threatens to reveal more names as it continues with its 'investigation?'
I dont know, but I could probably put together a few events that point to this change:
For one, the IISc attacks in Bangalore. For once, it woke the establishment up to the fact that these terrorists can hit elsewhere than Kashmir. The New Delhi attacks didnt seem to result in much from the Government except for the few tears and kind words, but when you hurt an IIT professor in one of India's finest institutes, apparently you have hit a raw nerve.
My only thought is that dont these pusillanimous politicians realize by now that Kashmir and North-East and Bangalore are part of the same great country? Is the life of a soldier at the frontier or the common man in a market any less important than any other Indian? No it is not, but I dont know who will succeed in breaking the nice little system we have created, that of keeping the north-east and Kashmir out of the national mainstream.
Then there is the change of guard in the J&K Government. Ghulam Nabi Azad, an established Congress party leader, is the new CM. He belongs to the state and took over the helm from Mufti Sayeed, the leader of PDP. Azad has been talking tough on Musharraf's so-called peace proposals, and maybe the PMO, and ultimately Sonia Gandhi, is interested in changing the way things are done up there.
Already the IISc blast accused have been shot dead in, where else, Kashmir, and numerous other operatives have been arrested all over. So finally, what about the politicians who abet the terrorists? All I ask is for the GoI to see that this is not what is good for the country, and it scars the very souls of soldiers and innocent, unarmed civilians that lose their lives to these barbarians. This scum needs to be cleaned from J&K politics, and used as a stepping stone to clean up the traitors in other parts of the country. We have them everywhere, no doubt. Petty, theiving politicians without a vision and without a care for anybody but themselves. Lets start with getting rid of our internal demons first, otherwise all this talk of the next world power is hogwash.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
K J Rao kicking commie butt in West Bengal
My title is misleading, but when I see an honest Indian try to make a difference in this rotten system, my heart and mind tell me to support that person with all I have got, and right now all i can give Mr. KJ Rao is my voice on the internet and my prayers to God.
Keeping the rhetoric aside, that Rao would be creating ripples in the communist bastion of west bengal was expected by one and all, and going by the news reports in the national media, Rao seems to be exposing the illegal vote bank created by the netas in that state to stay alive.
For some reason no common man in the country was willing to take on the illegal Bangladeshi immigrant vote bank in the north-east, including WB. Well its not too hard for me to believe, considering the north-east has been one little system exploited by the polity and kept out of the national mainstream for long for the rest of the country to not really care about it as much anymore. Anynow, Mr. Rao desides to do something about it. From Outlook Magazine Online...
Rao deletes names of voters of Bangladeshi origin in WB
ha ha ha, shits gonna go down Mr. Basu. I dont know why I am so optimistic, and even if my optimism maybe be misplaced at the present moment, I am really enjoying seeing your traitor party squirm, for 'no' apparent reason. Meanwhile, the left maintains that the media is exaggerating the bogus voter list in their state. I dont blame them. If its not dirty and unethical, its not Indian democracy. The Hindu newspaper reports....
Basu seeks to downplay bogus voters issue
Bengal in for some tough measures, hints Rao
Keeping the rhetoric aside, that Rao would be creating ripples in the communist bastion of west bengal was expected by one and all, and going by the news reports in the national media, Rao seems to be exposing the illegal vote bank created by the netas in that state to stay alive.
For some reason no common man in the country was willing to take on the illegal Bangladeshi immigrant vote bank in the north-east, including WB. Well its not too hard for me to believe, considering the north-east has been one little system exploited by the polity and kept out of the national mainstream for long for the rest of the country to not really care about it as much anymore. Anynow, Mr. Rao desides to do something about it. From Outlook Magazine Online...
Rao deletes names of voters of Bangladeshi origin in WB
Considering there are more than 20 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in this country, this is small start, but a start indeed. Apparently the CPI (M) is ruffled with all the attention being given to the Hero of Bihar and his team of officials from the Election Commission. Why is so much time being spent by these commies sucking up to the Election Commission as if there is indeed something rotten in the state of West Bengal?
Hmm, I guess only Lord Hanuman knows that, but its interesting to see that Jyoti Basu, former CM of Bengal, has to come out explaining that the Election Commission is not their enemy.
This is again from the Outlook Magazine....
CPI(M) warms up to EC as K J Rao arrives
ha ha ha, shits gonna go down Mr. Basu. I dont know why I am so optimistic, and even if my optimism maybe be misplaced at the present moment, I am really enjoying seeing your traitor party squirm, for 'no' apparent reason. Meanwhile, the left maintains that the media is exaggerating the bogus voter list in their state. I dont blame them. If its not dirty and unethical, its not Indian democracy. The Hindu newspaper reports....
Basu seeks to downplay bogus voters issue
"Bogus voters means what? I find it in the newspapers. Some people are dead but their names still exist in the electoral rolls. The names of some people who have changed their residences where they used to live also figure in the rolls. This is not legitimate. This cannot go on", the CPI(M) Polit Bureau member told reporters after attending the party's weekly state secretariat meeting here.Its a very nice little system that the left has established for themselves in the state, and they seem to be threatened that somebody is trying to change it. Ha ha ha, by the way, West Bengal is not Bihar. Here, the people vote for the left. Well, i hope you have your vote bank well oiled up traitors, because
The CPI(M) leader, however, would not say anything whether the state administration should have detected the existence of bogus voters.
Reports said there were a large number of bogus ration cards issued in border districts based on which voting rights had been secured.
Bengal in for some tough measures, hints Rao
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Bihar was resurrected, lets hope WB's next
How Bihar was won
The Communist Party of India-Marxist, which leads the West Bengal government, has reacted angrily to the Election Commission's recent decision to send key officials -- including K J Rao, who became a celebrity for his fearless conduct of last autumn's election in Bihar -- to the state. Provoked, CPI-M doyen and former chief minister Jyoti Basu declared that' Bengal is not Bihar.'
he recently-concluded election to the Bihar assembly have attracted nationwide attention and appreciation because of the extraordinarily (by Bihar standards) peaceful poll, perceived to be by far the fairest in that part of the country.
A keen watcher of the electoral scene in India remarked that this poll has demonstrated that the Election Commission of India has successfully migrated over the years from macro-management at the national level to booth-level management at the field level and this change of focus has led to the success of the Commission's campaign for a free and fair poll.
What made the difference this time in Bihar was the availability of the rolls in electronic form and technology-savvy officers. It is a lot easier now to scour the rolls for duplicate names and suspicious entries.
A software programme generated a list of households showing more than 10 to 15 voters and these were also verified to eliminate the names of dead and migrated voters. These were combined with the use of photo-matching software to elicit possible duplicate entries from the Electoral Photo Identity Card records, and their subsequent verification led to the deletion of 18.31 lakh (1.831 million) voters and the addition of 4.83 lakh (483,000) new voters. The net reduction amounted to three percent of the state's electorate.
A part of the force was inducted a few weeks in advance in order to sanitise some areas by conducting raids to unearth illegal firearms and nab absconding criminals. A strict monitoring of the progress in the execution of non-bailable warrants issued by the courts helped to keep a check on criminals. On poll day, the endeavour was to cover almost all sensitive polling stations with armed police -- either from the central forces or the Bihar armed police.
The Election Commission's no-nonsense approach in transferring poor performers or partisan officials and inducting efficient and neutral officers sent the right signals to the bureaucracy to perform without fear or favour.
One is sorry and also loath to admit it, but it is true that the state being under President's Rule helped as the state administration was more forthcoming and its officials were not subjected to contrary pulls.
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If we have to thank anyone for the successful elections in Bihar, it should be Ram Vilas Paswan! It doesnt make sense? Of course it does.
When Bihar first went to the elections, Paswan had the opportunity to play kingmaker and form a coalition with the two available partners, the NDA, led by BJP, or the UPA, led by Congress. He decided to choose neither and the subsequent stalemate saw no publically elected government. In comes the President's Rule, bringing with it a thousand hopes that maybe this day, Bihar's tide has finally turned. Meanwhile, a fresh set of elections were set to be held a few months later.
Unfortunately, Buta Singh was just as incompetent and corrupt, and people were left surprised and seething. Their anger was also directed towards Paswan, who, because of his sheer obstinance (it could be something deeper, i dont know), took the state to another unnecessary and avoidable elections.
The EC was ready this time, and the High Court was more than willing to help. K J Rao, the hero of Bihar, oversaw one of the most fair and incident free elections in India's most notorious state.
His next assignment - the assembly elections in West Bengal.
For those in the know, WB has been a communist bastion since the 70's, and this has enabled them to perfect certain despotic practices, including vote rigging by issuing lakhs of fake ration cards and providing legitimacy to thousands of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
So how do you think a hypocritical "people's" party will respond to such a man of integrity and national respect? Well, they start by warning their gang members that a new Sherriff is in town.
Rao has made an impact already, and the Left is pretending to be supportive, admitting to excess ration cards. But to be realistic, Rao has a couple of things not going for him.
For one, he is fighting against an incumbant party which has been in power for more than 20 years. In Bihar, the President's rule ensured no political party could come in his way.
CPM's omnipresence in WB means its cadre are spread out in the grassroots of public administration and public opinion.
Finally, this bastion of the Left will probably not be toppled yet, but heres to hoping the process will start with the first salvo fired by the hero of Bihar. Jai Hind.
The Indian airport saga
India is currently on an aviation high. The stagnant aviation sector, which saw the three major players in Indian Airlines, Jet and Sahara battle it out for a meagre number of flyers for a country our size, surged ahead on a liberalized avation policy and as the benefits of economic reforms began to settle in.
In the next five years, domestic air travel is set to by 25% a year (Aviation Daily). Many new companies have started their operations, led by India's first low cost carrier, Air Deccan. Air Deccan started with the promise that it would make flying affordable for the common man. Other airlines such as Kingfisher and SpiceJet followed suit.
The 2005 Paris Air Show was perhaps a coming out year for Indian aviation. Indian airline companies opened their hearts and wallets to Boeing and Airbus, ordering more than 200 jets from the two companies. The mid-size jet leader Embraer got a share of the pie as well.
Kingfisher became the first Indian airline to order the spanking new Airbus A380, which will be the world's largest commercial jet when it takes to the skies. Boeing predicts India will buy close to a 1000 new jets in the next 20 years.
Similarly, the Govt. of India signed open air agreements with a number of countries, namely the United States and Britain,
As always, the farsightedness of the Government of India came up short again. With the various statistics predicting the aviation boom and millions more taking to the skies, the Government failed to expand our airports to meet that growth.
Today, all, yes ALL, our airports in the country are small, cardboard boxes which smell, have a horrendous service and are ruled over by the Airports Authority of India, that old relic of the Socialist India that has as much a hand in this miserable state as the Government itself.
Indeed, as a forumer on Bharat-Rakshak.com forum remarked, "It was a sad day for Indian aviation when the AAI was formed."
Why is the AAI a relic? In this age of professionalism, it is one organization that is anwerable to nobody but itself. All major airports conform to international standards and strive to achieve them. Their efforts are graded by independent organizations who ensure the standards are maintained. In our great system, the AAI sets its own standards and has its own evaluation system. In other words, the AAI can get away with ensuring that our airports offer only the bare minimum, because there is nobody to tell them otherwise.
In keeping with their belief that they, and only they, are responsible for all things aviation in this country, they have raised a hue and cry over the greenfield Bangalore and Hyderabad International airports. Fortunately, the courts have cleared the way for these harrowed consortia to do their job in peace and the new airports are slated to be ready by 2008. The BIAL story showed us how even men who has been Prime Ministers of this country can stoop to such levels to protect their territory and make millions in the process. I talk of HD Devegowda, a copybook example of a narrow-visioned, selfish state level politician.
The biggest scoop is the restructuring of the New Delhi and Mumbai International airports. The saga surrounding these two is a whitepaper on how far India has yet to go in its liberalization and progress.
These two airports carry the majority of India's foreign traffic and thus their expansion and modernization becomes a matter of national security. Not for the AAI though. They would rather protect their interests and unions than actually care about this country. They are against these airports being given to private consortia to be restructured and run, because they believe they have the best expertise to do so. I know they think of us as gullible little lambs, but somebody must shatter their miserable little dream.
The AAI is not alone in this wet dream. One of the last bastions of the legacy of Mao and Lenin, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) fully supports the AAI proposal and is pressuring the government into giving them the contract. They have been demanding a rebid for the projects, but fortunately the concensus in the Cabinet itself is that the rebid path is a no go. Come to think of it, the HIAL and BIAL, despite their late, late start, escaped a pusillanimous Congress government propped up by the Communists.
Despite committees after committees being formed to find out a solution and two companies having already come out tops among the 9 (two withdrew), the left is unrelenting in its crusade to stall this entire process. Credit must be given here to the aviation Minister Praful Patel for his efforts to see this gets through, and to the PM for supporting this process. With the Govt. unable to meet the much touted deadline of December '05 for the contracts to be awarded, it is hoped that it will be done by January '06.
They say this nation is poised to rise to great heights, and i believe them. I believe our rise has begun, but it will take years before we reach the heights we aim for and dream about. That day will only come when the elected politicians of this country believe that only what is good for India is good for them.
In the next five years, domestic air travel is set to by 25% a year (Aviation Daily). Many new companies have started their operations, led by India's first low cost carrier, Air Deccan. Air Deccan started with the promise that it would make flying affordable for the common man. Other airlines such as Kingfisher and SpiceJet followed suit.
The 2005 Paris Air Show was perhaps a coming out year for Indian aviation. Indian airline companies opened their hearts and wallets to Boeing and Airbus, ordering more than 200 jets from the two companies. The mid-size jet leader Embraer got a share of the pie as well.
Kingfisher became the first Indian airline to order the spanking new Airbus A380, which will be the world's largest commercial jet when it takes to the skies. Boeing predicts India will buy close to a 1000 new jets in the next 20 years.
Similarly, the Govt. of India signed open air agreements with a number of countries, namely the United States and Britain,
As always, the farsightedness of the Government of India came up short again. With the various statistics predicting the aviation boom and millions more taking to the skies, the Government failed to expand our airports to meet that growth.
Today, all, yes ALL, our airports in the country are small, cardboard boxes which smell, have a horrendous service and are ruled over by the Airports Authority of India, that old relic of the Socialist India that has as much a hand in this miserable state as the Government itself.
Indeed, as a forumer on Bharat-Rakshak.com forum remarked, "It was a sad day for Indian aviation when the AAI was formed."
Why is the AAI a relic? In this age of professionalism, it is one organization that is anwerable to nobody but itself. All major airports conform to international standards and strive to achieve them. Their efforts are graded by independent organizations who ensure the standards are maintained. In our great system, the AAI sets its own standards and has its own evaluation system. In other words, the AAI can get away with ensuring that our airports offer only the bare minimum, because there is nobody to tell them otherwise.
In keeping with their belief that they, and only they, are responsible for all things aviation in this country, they have raised a hue and cry over the greenfield Bangalore and Hyderabad International airports. Fortunately, the courts have cleared the way for these harrowed consortia to do their job in peace and the new airports are slated to be ready by 2008. The BIAL story showed us how even men who has been Prime Ministers of this country can stoop to such levels to protect their territory and make millions in the process. I talk of HD Devegowda, a copybook example of a narrow-visioned, selfish state level politician.
The biggest scoop is the restructuring of the New Delhi and Mumbai International airports. The saga surrounding these two is a whitepaper on how far India has yet to go in its liberalization and progress.
These two airports carry the majority of India's foreign traffic and thus their expansion and modernization becomes a matter of national security. Not for the AAI though. They would rather protect their interests and unions than actually care about this country. They are against these airports being given to private consortia to be restructured and run, because they believe they have the best expertise to do so. I know they think of us as gullible little lambs, but somebody must shatter their miserable little dream.
The AAI is not alone in this wet dream. One of the last bastions of the legacy of Mao and Lenin, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) fully supports the AAI proposal and is pressuring the government into giving them the contract. They have been demanding a rebid for the projects, but fortunately the concensus in the Cabinet itself is that the rebid path is a no go. Come to think of it, the HIAL and BIAL, despite their late, late start, escaped a pusillanimous Congress government propped up by the Communists.
Despite committees after committees being formed to find out a solution and two companies having already come out tops among the 9 (two withdrew), the left is unrelenting in its crusade to stall this entire process. Credit must be given here to the aviation Minister Praful Patel for his efforts to see this gets through, and to the PM for supporting this process. With the Govt. unable to meet the much touted deadline of December '05 for the contracts to be awarded, it is hoped that it will be done by January '06.
They say this nation is poised to rise to great heights, and i believe them. I believe our rise has begun, but it will take years before we reach the heights we aim for and dream about. That day will only come when the elected politicians of this country believe that only what is good for India is good for them.
welcome and what i hope to achieve
dear readers,
I don't entend to create something sensational here. I have often been told by my close friends and family that I have a way with words, and its a pity I dont spend enough time to put it all together. My hope is that this blog helps me achieve that to an extant.
Secondly, and i hope i speak for millions of us fellow Indians out there who have a dream for their country, their society and themselves, more often than not, my leaders, the people-in-charge in my nation have left me disillusioned, bitter and frustrated.
As an Indian residing in a developed nation, I dream every day of taking this same affluence and standard of living to India and help build an Indian dream.
Yet the Indian media offers me no hope. I read of grand projects, and even grander schemes by those responsible to scuttle them. While dirty politics and crime against society, our women in particular, make up the majority of the national media, there are but few rays of hope cropping up once in a while. I am lucky to be a member of a few Indian forums online where the like-minded members capture these rays and build on our collective confidence.
While i anticipate most of what I will post here will probably be ranting and whining, I also hope to offer my own insights to make things better and look forward to insights from other readers to add to my own knowledge and awareness.
In fact, I invite everyone else to be a part of my rantfest. If there is nobody to talk to, nothing to punch, come on ova!
In Japan, there are special rooms rented out to working professionals to help them vent their frustrations. These rooms are empty, but for the numerous glass dinner plates and other utensils for you to smash to your hearts content. In addition, the rooms are soundproof so that you can shout at the top of your lungs and let out all your bitterness. Well, i have no access to such a room, and this blog will definitely come in handy instead.
I don't entend to create something sensational here. I have often been told by my close friends and family that I have a way with words, and its a pity I dont spend enough time to put it all together. My hope is that this blog helps me achieve that to an extant.
Secondly, and i hope i speak for millions of us fellow Indians out there who have a dream for their country, their society and themselves, more often than not, my leaders, the people-in-charge in my nation have left me disillusioned, bitter and frustrated.
As an Indian residing in a developed nation, I dream every day of taking this same affluence and standard of living to India and help build an Indian dream.
Yet the Indian media offers me no hope. I read of grand projects, and even grander schemes by those responsible to scuttle them. While dirty politics and crime against society, our women in particular, make up the majority of the national media, there are but few rays of hope cropping up once in a while. I am lucky to be a member of a few Indian forums online where the like-minded members capture these rays and build on our collective confidence.
While i anticipate most of what I will post here will probably be ranting and whining, I also hope to offer my own insights to make things better and look forward to insights from other readers to add to my own knowledge and awareness.
In fact, I invite everyone else to be a part of my rantfest. If there is nobody to talk to, nothing to punch, come on ova!
In Japan, there are special rooms rented out to working professionals to help them vent their frustrations. These rooms are empty, but for the numerous glass dinner plates and other utensils for you to smash to your hearts content. In addition, the rooms are soundproof so that you can shout at the top of your lungs and let out all your bitterness. Well, i have no access to such a room, and this blog will definitely come in handy instead.
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