BJP has won the Karnataka Assembly elections, winning 110 seats out of the total 224 seats.
Congress, and those despicable local sons of the soil in Janata Dal (Secular) managed only 80 and 28 seats respectively. This will be BJP's first government in the south. People say this is the sign of things to come in the coming union elections. Congress politicians have been vehemently calling this a local issue having no bearing at the central level, but I don't believe a word of that. Congress has lost state elections in most states in the last 4 years, I suppose they are all local elections too, and Congress is probably hoping to ride on its 'successes' of reservations and minority appeasement into its next term at the center.
I am happy to see that the Gowda family has been reduced to nothing. I suppose that's inevitable when you are a two-faced, deceitful politician. I am really hoping the BJB grabs on this opportunity, and does great work in Karnataka, because this will have a good effect on its LS poll chances.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
the pressure's been paying off
I am really used to writing about myself on the internet, and personally, it freaks me out, but I think I should probably mention a really grand achievement of my live.
I have made it to IIM Calcutta.
I started last year without an aim and without a plan. Well, a plan to stay in India that is. Thanks to a lot of factors, I worked towards this competition in earnest, and thanks to the Almightly, its paid off. I always considered myself the dark horse - an NRI for the past six years, not an engineering degree, and without any science education in the last eight years. But hey, I proposed, and God disposed. I can't even imagine the number of absolutely smart kids I must have left behind. They were better than me in maths, maybe DI, and probably had a lot more practice, but I got through. But enough with beating this subject to death. Perhaps this blog is again speed up once I report to the Joka campus.
By the way, this journey hasn't been without its hiccups. Arjun "sycophant" Singh implemented the OBC quota, obviously on instructions from his gutless and divisive party, so that delayed the results by around three weeks. I had fears in my mind whether they will cut general seats to accommodate the new applicants, but fortunately that wasn't the case.
I can't bitch enough about the entire quota system in education. Only recently did I hear of the government's efforts to increase educational funding and other grants. This is the only way to go in our education system. We need to design it that it is equal for everyone, and everybody has an equal opportunity to get in.
The problem lies in the economically weaker sections. But the government isn't thinking about the economically weaker, it is thinking about the apparently 'backward' castes that it aims to exploit for their votes. This has been the quota trend for all our independence. What the government needs to do is ensure that the economically weaker students have enough money to fund their preparations, and if they make it, fund their tuitions.
The problem with our skewed and absolutely messed up economy is that even when they try to target the weaker sections, the only group of people who usually benefit are the stronger among the crowd. For example, because of a lack of accountability and unreliable tax set-up, the rich pose as poor to avail government benefits. Similarly, most perks for the "backward" castes are lapped up by the rich and politically strong amongst them.
I doubt our politicians will ever get rid of the quota systems in our every part of the state as the constitution envisions, and this situation will only get worse, and probably force a lot of good brains to flee. I am sure Dr. Ambedkar is turning in his grave seeing how his great name is being exploited by today's politicians for their own gains.
I have made it to IIM Calcutta.
I started last year without an aim and without a plan. Well, a plan to stay in India that is. Thanks to a lot of factors, I worked towards this competition in earnest, and thanks to the Almightly, its paid off. I always considered myself the dark horse - an NRI for the past six years, not an engineering degree, and without any science education in the last eight years. But hey, I proposed, and God disposed. I can't even imagine the number of absolutely smart kids I must have left behind. They were better than me in maths, maybe DI, and probably had a lot more practice, but I got through. But enough with beating this subject to death. Perhaps this blog is again speed up once I report to the Joka campus.
By the way, this journey hasn't been without its hiccups. Arjun "sycophant" Singh implemented the OBC quota, obviously on instructions from his gutless and divisive party, so that delayed the results by around three weeks. I had fears in my mind whether they will cut general seats to accommodate the new applicants, but fortunately that wasn't the case.
I can't bitch enough about the entire quota system in education. Only recently did I hear of the government's efforts to increase educational funding and other grants. This is the only way to go in our education system. We need to design it that it is equal for everyone, and everybody has an equal opportunity to get in.
The problem lies in the economically weaker sections. But the government isn't thinking about the economically weaker, it is thinking about the apparently 'backward' castes that it aims to exploit for their votes. This has been the quota trend for all our independence. What the government needs to do is ensure that the economically weaker students have enough money to fund their preparations, and if they make it, fund their tuitions.
The problem with our skewed and absolutely messed up economy is that even when they try to target the weaker sections, the only group of people who usually benefit are the stronger among the crowd. For example, because of a lack of accountability and unreliable tax set-up, the rich pose as poor to avail government benefits. Similarly, most perks for the "backward" castes are lapped up by the rich and politically strong amongst them.
I doubt our politicians will ever get rid of the quota systems in our every part of the state as the constitution envisions, and this situation will only get worse, and probably force a lot of good brains to flee. I am sure Dr. Ambedkar is turning in his grave seeing how his great name is being exploited by today's politicians for their own gains.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Urja Pradesh?
I would tell people that if you have lived on the hills, you probably can't live in the plains. All my trips to the Delhi region have been filled with my disdain for the region and the lifestyle. I tell them that in Uttarakhand, at least we get water and electricity, and the people aren't that bad, but I am proven wrong soon after.
There were huge posters in newspapers a few days ago about the commissioning of the Maneri Bhali hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand, and they said it would go a long way in help the state meet its electricity needs. But I get back from Delhi and see that we are facing power cuts too. Makes me feel kind of stupid now considering I told people there that we are the Urja Pradesh, and we hardly have any power cuts at all, amounting to less than an hour a day. But the lights have been going out in my house a lot more, and I ain't happy about it.
President Kalam said in his book, India 2020, that India needs to cut down the T&D losses in a big way if we have to be energy efficient in the future. Unfortunately, none of the policy makers have focused in this direction at all. I believe some areas lose almost 40 to 50 percent of the power before it reaches the consumer from the power station. That is a criminal waste of electricity and our resources. The Con'gress party has been peddling the Ultra Mega Power Projects for a while, which will cost thousands of crores of rupees, but if we focused on improving our transmission and distribution infrastructure, I am sure we could save as much electricity at much less the cost. Unfortunately, no policy maker is thinking this way, and I just don't understand how the planners of this country, if they are planning at all, can't fathom the fact that India can't move forward if we don't focus on our basic infrastructure, most notable being power and water.
There were huge posters in newspapers a few days ago about the commissioning of the Maneri Bhali hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand, and they said it would go a long way in help the state meet its electricity needs. But I get back from Delhi and see that we are facing power cuts too. Makes me feel kind of stupid now considering I told people there that we are the Urja Pradesh, and we hardly have any power cuts at all, amounting to less than an hour a day. But the lights have been going out in my house a lot more, and I ain't happy about it.
President Kalam said in his book, India 2020, that India needs to cut down the T&D losses in a big way if we have to be energy efficient in the future. Unfortunately, none of the policy makers have focused in this direction at all. I believe some areas lose almost 40 to 50 percent of the power before it reaches the consumer from the power station. That is a criminal waste of electricity and our resources. The Con'gress party has been peddling the Ultra Mega Power Projects for a while, which will cost thousands of crores of rupees, but if we focused on improving our transmission and distribution infrastructure, I am sure we could save as much electricity at much less the cost. Unfortunately, no policy maker is thinking this way, and I just don't understand how the planners of this country, if they are planning at all, can't fathom the fact that India can't move forward if we don't focus on our basic infrastructure, most notable being power and water.
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