Recently, I've had quiet a few instances where the power of marketing came up. It is marketing not in the true corporate sense, but it still has to do with selling a product, an image.
I was watching this show on the History Channel about the hidden messages in the US Dollar bill. There is all this talk about hidden messages of the Freemasons, about how they are planning a new world order etc. However, another point that somebody mentioned on the show was that the seal of the United States is one of the most recognizable American symbols in the world. Many are probably aware of the front of the seal. which consists of a Bald Eagle behind a shield and holding an olive branch with its right claw and 13 arrows with its left claw.
And it got me thinking about how countries can influence other nations and people, its through the media. For example, that gentleman on the show mentioned that one of America's most recognizable symbols are the McDonald's arches and Coca Cola. People the world over drink Coca Cola and Pepsi, have probably eaten at some American fast food chain and almost certainly watched American tv and movies, and listened to their music. This soft power generation goes a long way in influencing people and winning friends.
In this context, one might say that India has great potential soft power that it projects to many parts of the world. The flag bearer of this charge is probably the Bollywood film industry, with their movies being watched in all parts of the world as well, especially the developing nations.
In addition, India has a great asset in its overseas population, which for the most part, has been a successful group of people who still love their motherland and look for ways of giving back.
Similarly, buildings are great symbols of a nation. The Empire State building and the WTC Twin towers had been symbols of American economy and capitalism. Malaysia built the beautiful Petronas Towers that projected its new ambitions and drive to be a modern country. Of course, when it comes to construction, the world is in awe of China, and what they have done with their cities. Brand new, massive masterplans incorporating huge, lavish buildings spanning all their cities. While I don't agree with how they do it, the point I am trying to make is that I think the Chinese have realized the importance of putting forward a face of modernization and business, because it goes without saying, if you have money in your pocket, you can do anything you like, including crushing protesting villagers, executing thousands of prisoners, but as long as you can make cheap consumer products for the developed world, you are good to go. What has India got to show for its new economy? Nothing really. The world still recognizes us by the Taj Mahal, and if they were asked to mention one monument that modern India has created, I don't think anyone would be able to. Heck even I can't name one.
An example of how India's governments and institutions don't have a freaking clue as to how image projection works, take the case of domestic cricket. While the BCCI will make millions with its India games, our domestic cricket is languishing despite having a very high quality of play and professionalism. Not that a change isn't being attempted. The Indian economy ad blitzes at all world economic forums certainly created a buzz, and the Ministry of Tourism's 'Incredible India' campaign seems to be doing well too. Well, and in sports they attempted to start the Premier Hockey League, replete with uniform sales and tv coverage.
So here is my take on this lack of India's politician's interests in projecting a positive India - they basically don't care. Most politicians in India are like rats, they like working in the dark. Too much good India buzz with ruin their infrastructure to rape and plunder this country behind everyone's back, and any change to this status quo is certainly bad news for them.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Quality Television
On Monday, a new television channel was launched in India, a channel that will take us into the heart and lives of our beloved politicians and telecast their sojourns on the Parliament floor.
Named 'Lok Sabha TV' or LSTV, it will broadcast live proceedings of the Lower House of the Indian Parliament. This is just one, but the main, aspect of the channel's bouquet of offerings. In addition, according to their ad in the newspapers, "LSTV brings you:
* Value added programming including "Know Your MP", "Review By The Chair", "The Issue of The Week", "Village Voice" etc.
* Cultural programmes such as music and dance, plays especially staged for LSTV, fortnightly film and more....
* Programmes on our national heritage and culture."
So thats the quality television line-up we have for you citizens of India. Now we can see our politicians BS on live TV! Like they say, you can't beat technology. Now we will get to hear our Home Minister about how our 'misguided youth' are busy killing innocent citizens but we should not do anything about it because they are only kids.
Now we will get to see our dear Education Minister tell the nation about why we should destroy our higher education sector so that the Con'gress can maintain its grasp on power and if things turn out right, maybe Her Majesty can make him her next Prime Minister.
We will get to see the collective Congress leadership sprawl at the feet of Her Majesty and profusely express their love and admiration for her. Oh, and also dilligently pass the Office of Profit Bill so that Her Majesty can be protected from the boomerang which turned back to hit her instead of her opposition. Tsk tsk, so much work, so little time.
This is the logo of the new television channel. The motto is "Asato Maa Sadgamaya", which in English means, "take me from lies to the truth". This is the hope I have from this channel too. With increased focus on the working of a politician, there will be more discretion and responsibility shown by the politician. Perhaps they will realize that with potentially lakhs of us watching them, maybe its time they cut out the bull shit and actually make sense.
Its not that Parlimentary proceedings have never been broadcast before. The main channel of Doordarshan always relayed the live proceedings of the Zero Hour, but thats just one hour of quality tv, and its Zero Hour, where real issues and the current bills are not the main topics of discussion.
The channel has already been soft launched since May 10, and is a brain child of our speaker, Shri Somnath Chatterjee, one of the stalwarts who would have lost his job if it was not for the Office of Profit Bill to be brought into the house.
This channel is only for the Lower House, so what about the Rajya Sabha? Hey, I want to see the Rajya Sabha too, because as Unny from the Indian Express says, "They must telecast Rajya Sabha too. We miss Jaya Bachchan’s last laugh."
New channel to bring Lok Sabha closer to people
While public broadcaster Doordarshan will continue to telecast the Rajya Sabha's proceedings, the new channel, called Lok Sabha Television (LSTV), aims to show people how their representatives function.
'We are striving to meet the people's right to view proceedings,' said the channel's chief executive Bhaskar Ghose, who is also the media advisor to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
Parliament's lower house meets for a total of about 90 days a year. 'How we keep the channel going for the remaining 270-odd days is a huge challenge,' he said.
'To meet that, we will go beyond the proceedings - to the streets to get the public reaction, to the constituencies of the members to see how parliament is perceived and how funds allotted are utilised,' Ghose told IANS.
The channel would not confine itself to parliamentary proceedings, but also tackle current affairs, take up current issues in and outside parliament and carry out analysis. 'We will go well beyond the proceedings,' he said.
LSTV would be a bilingual channel - using English and Hindi in its bulletins and commentaries.
While BBC telecasts the proceedings of the British parliament and C-Span, a consortium of cable operators report the US Congress, senate and the meetings of its various committees, India's new initiative is billed as arguably the world's only non-partisan channel that is not owned or funded by the government.
A result of Chatterjee's efforts, the channel would be, in a sense, a kind of birthday gift to the Lok Sabha speaker who turns 77 Tuesday.Chatterjee is the custodian of the channel, which is funded by the Lok Sabha secretariat.Some advertising revenue could also be generated if public sector enterprises take up sponsorships on the channel, Ghose said.
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The interesting piece of news is that the channel is not funded by the government, funded instead by the Lok Sabha secretariat, but at the same time one will have to be very skeptical of the channel being non-partisan. Successive governments of India, like most governments everywhere in the world, increasingly try to bring their bias and agendas into media programmings, and for a government as given to agendas as the Con'gress, I highly doubt this channel will be without its influence.
But its a start, and yes, let the circus begin, now with its own dedicated 24X7 channel.
Named 'Lok Sabha TV' or LSTV, it will broadcast live proceedings of the Lower House of the Indian Parliament. This is just one, but the main, aspect of the channel's bouquet of offerings. In addition, according to their ad in the newspapers, "LSTV brings you:
* Value added programming including "Know Your MP", "Review By The Chair", "The Issue of The Week", "Village Voice" etc.
* Cultural programmes such as music and dance, plays especially staged for LSTV, fortnightly film and more....
* Programmes on our national heritage and culture."
So thats the quality television line-up we have for you citizens of India. Now we can see our politicians BS on live TV! Like they say, you can't beat technology. Now we will get to hear our Home Minister about how our 'misguided youth' are busy killing innocent citizens but we should not do anything about it because they are only kids.
Now we will get to see our dear Education Minister tell the nation about why we should destroy our higher education sector so that the Con'gress can maintain its grasp on power and if things turn out right, maybe Her Majesty can make him her next Prime Minister.
We will get to see the collective Congress leadership sprawl at the feet of Her Majesty and profusely express their love and admiration for her. Oh, and also dilligently pass the Office of Profit Bill so that Her Majesty can be protected from the boomerang which turned back to hit her instead of her opposition. Tsk tsk, so much work, so little time.
This is the logo of the new television channel. The motto is "Asato Maa Sadgamaya", which in English means, "take me from lies to the truth". This is the hope I have from this channel too. With increased focus on the working of a politician, there will be more discretion and responsibility shown by the politician. Perhaps they will realize that with potentially lakhs of us watching them, maybe its time they cut out the bull shit and actually make sense.
Its not that Parlimentary proceedings have never been broadcast before. The main channel of Doordarshan always relayed the live proceedings of the Zero Hour, but thats just one hour of quality tv, and its Zero Hour, where real issues and the current bills are not the main topics of discussion.
The channel has already been soft launched since May 10, and is a brain child of our speaker, Shri Somnath Chatterjee, one of the stalwarts who would have lost his job if it was not for the Office of Profit Bill to be brought into the house.
This channel is only for the Lower House, so what about the Rajya Sabha? Hey, I want to see the Rajya Sabha too, because as Unny from the Indian Express says, "They must telecast Rajya Sabha too. We miss Jaya Bachchan’s last laugh."
New channel to bring Lok Sabha closer to people
While public broadcaster Doordarshan will continue to telecast the Rajya Sabha's proceedings, the new channel, called Lok Sabha Television (LSTV), aims to show people how their representatives function.
'We are striving to meet the people's right to view proceedings,' said the channel's chief executive Bhaskar Ghose, who is also the media advisor to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
Parliament's lower house meets for a total of about 90 days a year. 'How we keep the channel going for the remaining 270-odd days is a huge challenge,' he said.
'To meet that, we will go beyond the proceedings - to the streets to get the public reaction, to the constituencies of the members to see how parliament is perceived and how funds allotted are utilised,' Ghose told IANS.
The channel would not confine itself to parliamentary proceedings, but also tackle current affairs, take up current issues in and outside parliament and carry out analysis. 'We will go well beyond the proceedings,' he said.
LSTV would be a bilingual channel - using English and Hindi in its bulletins and commentaries.
While BBC telecasts the proceedings of the British parliament and C-Span, a consortium of cable operators report the US Congress, senate and the meetings of its various committees, India's new initiative is billed as arguably the world's only non-partisan channel that is not owned or funded by the government.
A result of Chatterjee's efforts, the channel would be, in a sense, a kind of birthday gift to the Lok Sabha speaker who turns 77 Tuesday.Chatterjee is the custodian of the channel, which is funded by the Lok Sabha secretariat.Some advertising revenue could also be generated if public sector enterprises take up sponsorships on the channel, Ghose said.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The interesting piece of news is that the channel is not funded by the government, funded instead by the Lok Sabha secretariat, but at the same time one will have to be very skeptical of the channel being non-partisan. Successive governments of India, like most governments everywhere in the world, increasingly try to bring their bias and agendas into media programmings, and for a government as given to agendas as the Con'gress, I highly doubt this channel will be without its influence.
But its a start, and yes, let the circus begin, now with its own dedicated 24X7 channel.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Still working against the nation
I think i've made this point before, and i'll make it again: politicians are loathe to take decisions that will strengthen the foundations of this nation because it will unsettle their own power and influence over the country. The dumb decision to block websites and blogs by the Government was as ham-headed as it can get, and it again showed that the politicians of India have no brain to thrive in a new world and a new economy.
But then again, looking at the first line, it could also imply that politicians of India know what's going on, but do not want to do the right thing. The other thing is the sneakiness with which these monkeys have subverted the system, and when the media and the common man have raised their objections, the government fully insists that there is nothing to argue about and that its a done deal.
A few days ago, I learnt that there is a Union Social Justice ministry when they said that the castes of the SC/ST bureaucrats should be dropped from their profiles when their names are circulated for appointment in departments and ministries at the center. According to the honorable Minister, a very old worker in the Gandhi household, Meira Kumar, there will be a danger of social bias coming into play.
I found is surprising that they say this, because this is exactly the kind of bias that her cohorts are trying to bring into India's higher education sector and the private sector. As far as I know, the private sector has, for the most part, always focusing on merit to hire, and now the illustrious Con'gress wants to change all that. I have said it before and i'll say it again, I firmly believe that now this country needs economic equality just as much as it needs religious and caste equality. The sad fact is that our baboons of netas have managed to fuck up the latter already, and are now trying to mess up the former.
This UPA government, like i said, has no plan for the country. The cabinet ministers work at their own whims and on their own agendas. There is no communication among them, and they have been unable to put together a single coherent policy together. Most of the economic liberalization policies of today are heavily dosed with the Common Minimum Programme, and thus for every step forward, the government takes 4/5th step backwards. Today's government is running on two incentives: do not piss off the commies, and do not let the BJP get any mileage from any tragedy.
Arjun Singh is a man on a mission, and I do not know what the mission is, but I do know it is not in the interests of this country's development. A fellow forumer on Skyscraper City posted this piece of news which filled me with even more loathing for the government. A few years ago, the netas sitting in the Parliament had passed a law that made the right to basic education a fundamental right. There is a lot that goes into making that a reality, and the government was working on the draft of a bill that would have laid down the guidelines and rules with which we could turn this dream of universal education into a reality. Instead of implementing it, apparently the government has decided to shift the responsibility onto the states. I understand their action though, subverting the rule of law and lying spineless and gutless on the ground in the face of national threats is really hard work.
According to the Telegraph of Kolkata, even the Commie allies did not know that the government had done this, which is surprising, considering the commies have had a butt hanging in every decision that the Con'gress led UPA has been taking. Anyways, heres the story.
Education bill buried
Four years after education was made a fundamental right, the Centre has quietly junked a planned bill aimed to make the right a reality with even key allies not aware of the move.
CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury recently expressed surprise when he was told the government had passed the buck to the states. “We don’t know about this. Education is a priority area for us,” Yechury said.
The bill was to provide for free and compulsory education to all children between 6 and 14. Last month, the human resource development ministry dropped plans to table it in Parliament and, instead, sent a diluted version to the states, asking them to adopt it.
The states are reluctant for two reasons. One, not all of them have elementary education on their main agenda. Two, unlike the junked bill that bound the Centre to foot the entire bill for implementing the provisions, the latest version provides for a 50:50 split.
The non-government People’s Campaign for Common School System has threatened to hit the streets in protest, hoping the political parties, too, would respond inside and outside Parliament.
It was the NDA government that had paved the way for the education bill by getting the 86th Constitutional Amendment Bill, which makes education a fundamental right, through Parliament.
The HRD ministry, then headed by Murli Manohar Joshi, had drawn up an enabling bill to implement the right, but the Vajpayee government lost the May 2004 elections and the bill remained on paper.
The UPA government set up the Central Advisory Board of Education (Cabe), which revised the bill and sent it to a committee headed by Union minister Kapil Sibal for further consideration.
But the Planning Commission and the finance ministry dealt a death blow to the planned bill, pleading lack of funds.
The model bill sent to the states does away with many of the stringent provisions of the Cabe version, such as punishment for those who hire child workers and prevent them from going to school. It also ignores Cabe-suggested norms for hiring of schoolteachers to improve education quality.
Had the Centre got the bill passed in Parliament, it still could not have forced the states to adopt it since education is on the concurrent list. But it would have given the fundamental right some legal teeth.
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Lack of funds is cited has the reason for many of the plans which the government says it cannot implement. I understand that, since it has been the case for ever since I can remember, but if somebody high up there really had some common sense, wouldn't it the case for allowing more private enterprise in the country so that the government could focus on the social sector instead? Its so funny that while the UPA government keeps saying how committed they are to the social sector, all their time is spent on trying to control private enterprise, and in most of the cases, our fundamental rights.
To end it all, it seems the blog ban is over. I suppose the brainless invertebrates didn't realize there would be so many internet users in the country who would have something to say on the matter. But props to them all, because the media frenzy it generated probably made the netas realize that maybe subversion of our basic rights is not the right way to grasp onto power. Because as much as the politicians don't like it, most people of India do have eyes, and do have a common sense to see the obvious.
But then again, looking at the first line, it could also imply that politicians of India know what's going on, but do not want to do the right thing. The other thing is the sneakiness with which these monkeys have subverted the system, and when the media and the common man have raised their objections, the government fully insists that there is nothing to argue about and that its a done deal.
A few days ago, I learnt that there is a Union Social Justice ministry when they said that the castes of the SC/ST bureaucrats should be dropped from their profiles when their names are circulated for appointment in departments and ministries at the center. According to the honorable Minister, a very old worker in the Gandhi household, Meira Kumar, there will be a danger of social bias coming into play.
I found is surprising that they say this, because this is exactly the kind of bias that her cohorts are trying to bring into India's higher education sector and the private sector. As far as I know, the private sector has, for the most part, always focusing on merit to hire, and now the illustrious Con'gress wants to change all that. I have said it before and i'll say it again, I firmly believe that now this country needs economic equality just as much as it needs religious and caste equality. The sad fact is that our baboons of netas have managed to fuck up the latter already, and are now trying to mess up the former.
This UPA government, like i said, has no plan for the country. The cabinet ministers work at their own whims and on their own agendas. There is no communication among them, and they have been unable to put together a single coherent policy together. Most of the economic liberalization policies of today are heavily dosed with the Common Minimum Programme, and thus for every step forward, the government takes 4/5th step backwards. Today's government is running on two incentives: do not piss off the commies, and do not let the BJP get any mileage from any tragedy.
Arjun Singh is a man on a mission, and I do not know what the mission is, but I do know it is not in the interests of this country's development. A fellow forumer on Skyscraper City posted this piece of news which filled me with even more loathing for the government. A few years ago, the netas sitting in the Parliament had passed a law that made the right to basic education a fundamental right. There is a lot that goes into making that a reality, and the government was working on the draft of a bill that would have laid down the guidelines and rules with which we could turn this dream of universal education into a reality. Instead of implementing it, apparently the government has decided to shift the responsibility onto the states. I understand their action though, subverting the rule of law and lying spineless and gutless on the ground in the face of national threats is really hard work.
According to the Telegraph of Kolkata, even the Commie allies did not know that the government had done this, which is surprising, considering the commies have had a butt hanging in every decision that the Con'gress led UPA has been taking. Anyways, heres the story.
Education bill buried
Four years after education was made a fundamental right, the Centre has quietly junked a planned bill aimed to make the right a reality with even key allies not aware of the move.
CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury recently expressed surprise when he was told the government had passed the buck to the states. “We don’t know about this. Education is a priority area for us,” Yechury said.
The bill was to provide for free and compulsory education to all children between 6 and 14. Last month, the human resource development ministry dropped plans to table it in Parliament and, instead, sent a diluted version to the states, asking them to adopt it.
The states are reluctant for two reasons. One, not all of them have elementary education on their main agenda. Two, unlike the junked bill that bound the Centre to foot the entire bill for implementing the provisions, the latest version provides for a 50:50 split.
The non-government People’s Campaign for Common School System has threatened to hit the streets in protest, hoping the political parties, too, would respond inside and outside Parliament.
It was the NDA government that had paved the way for the education bill by getting the 86th Constitutional Amendment Bill, which makes education a fundamental right, through Parliament.
The HRD ministry, then headed by Murli Manohar Joshi, had drawn up an enabling bill to implement the right, but the Vajpayee government lost the May 2004 elections and the bill remained on paper.
The UPA government set up the Central Advisory Board of Education (Cabe), which revised the bill and sent it to a committee headed by Union minister Kapil Sibal for further consideration.
But the Planning Commission and the finance ministry dealt a death blow to the planned bill, pleading lack of funds.
The model bill sent to the states does away with many of the stringent provisions of the Cabe version, such as punishment for those who hire child workers and prevent them from going to school. It also ignores Cabe-suggested norms for hiring of schoolteachers to improve education quality.
Had the Centre got the bill passed in Parliament, it still could not have forced the states to adopt it since education is on the concurrent list. But it would have given the fundamental right some legal teeth.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lack of funds is cited has the reason for many of the plans which the government says it cannot implement. I understand that, since it has been the case for ever since I can remember, but if somebody high up there really had some common sense, wouldn't it the case for allowing more private enterprise in the country so that the government could focus on the social sector instead? Its so funny that while the UPA government keeps saying how committed they are to the social sector, all their time is spent on trying to control private enterprise, and in most of the cases, our fundamental rights.
To end it all, it seems the blog ban is over. I suppose the brainless invertebrates didn't realize there would be so many internet users in the country who would have something to say on the matter. But props to them all, because the media frenzy it generated probably made the netas realize that maybe subversion of our basic rights is not the right way to grasp onto power. Because as much as the politicians don't like it, most people of India do have eyes, and do have a common sense to see the obvious.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
the joke that the UPA has become
After the Mumbai blasts, it seems the government has fired duds on practically all fronts, at the local level, the national level, and now the international level.
The pusillianimity of the government was obvious when none of the three most important people responsible for internal security, the PM, the Home Minister and the National Security Advisor, were unwilling to take names and take a firm stand on the tragedy. More than anything, the people of Mumbai, as resolute and spirited as they were, were angry and wanted to see results.
I believe I have talked about the UPA's reluctance to accept the fact that home grown terrorism is a reality, and while the initial clues pointed to SIMI, the blame shifted to their lords and masters in Pakistan. However, whats embarrassing for the government, and insulting to the common citizen, is that the government has come a cropper in finding any evidence linking Pakistan to it. In fact, other than firing in the dark in all directions, I don't think this government has achieved anything concrete.
One would think that after such a horrendous tragedy and with world sympathy on its side, India would be able to get the world to see its side of terrorism, but like every other department, this government has failed miserably in diplomacy too. Other than the usual "we condemn the blasts and stand by India.." words, India has been able to do nothing at the recent G-8 summit in Russia. I believe the Prime Minister should not have gone at all, since it was only a week after the blasts, but he chose to go, probably in the hope of earning some diplomatic points, but I believe the reason he went was to escape the criticism at home.
Its unfortunate that such a brilliant individual as the PM is controlled by a woman who could have changed the face of this country with her power and influence, but who instead chooses to cling to power with all the shenanigans that she is able to muster up. Its unfortunate that the PM has to rule over a cabinet that has no coordination, and dozens of personal agendas, and a no common vision.
Either the Government has no idea how to run a country, or they are willing to go to any lengths, including jeopardizing our sovereignty, to secure the muslim votes for the next elections. Their war is not with poverty, hunger, terrorism, but their war is with their political rivals in UP and the BJP. While Mulayam and Congress have absolutely no concern for anything else but the vote of the UP Muslim, UPA's first concern on the national level is that no matter what happens, BJP should not get political mileage out of any tragedy.
Anyways, the governments of India after PV Narasimha Rao never really had any balls, and Pakistan knows it, the terrorists they support know it, and the home-grown terrorists who have thrived in this conducive environment know it. Oh, did I mention the gentle pat on the wrists when the Government cancelled secretary level talks between India and Pak? Oh I am sure that must have hurt.
Peace process intact as India, Pak hold border talks
Despite a bad patch in relations between the governments of the two countries since last week's bomb blasts in Mumbai, Indian and Pakistani officials met on Wednesday to discuss ways to beef up border security and combat smuggling.
The talks between the border security officials at the Wagah border check post came days after India postponed a meeting of foreign secretaries due this week in New Delhi to review progress in a peace process begun over 2 years ago.
Border security consultations take place every three months, and are not part of the "composite dialogue" -- negotiations on a range of political disputes including the core issue of Kashmir.
Although there has been no breakthrough yet in investigations into the Mumbai attacks, the suspicions have fallen on Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Pakistan has condemned the Mumbai blasts and President Pervez Musharraf has warned any stalling in the peace process was what the "terrorists" wanted.
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As for India's stance internationally, well, they had no idea what they were doing anyways.
No takers for Govt's Pak-hand theory
More than a week since terror ripped Mumbai apart, India's inability to produce concrete evidence against Pakistan has rendered its attempts to trap the usual suspect rather feeble. While Pakistan is widely accepted as the fountainhead of terror in the subcontinent, India has been roundly ticked off by the US for not gathering enough proof against its neighbour on the Mumbai blasts.
That Islamabad has been the gainer in this round is evident in the unequivocal praise heaped on Pakistan by the Americans for its fight against terror. This, along with a rather general "condemnation" from the G-8, instead of a decisive rap on Pakistan's knuckles, has fed the impression that India's may be a case of cry wolf after all.
Islamabad has turned the occasion to its diplomatic advantage to impress upon the international community that Pakistan is a bogey raised by the Indian leadership to cover up the failure of its security agencies to nab the real home-grown terrorists residing in the very heart of Mumbai.
A chastened Manmohan Singh on his return from St Petersburg on Tuesday, therefore, said, "I have always believed the destiny of the people of South Asia are closely inter-linked," and that "Both our countries need peace and stability."
This is a significant humbling since the Prime Minister's public posturing in Mumbai last Friday, where, in a rather delayed reaction, he had warned Pakistan that "If the acts of terrorism are not controlled, it is exceedingly difficult for any Government to carry forward what may be called as normalisation and peace process." He had also said, "We are certain that these terror modules are instigated, inspired and supported by elements across the border."
Eventually the G-8 leaders only threw in their lot with India because "terrorism ... constitutes a threat to each of our country, as well as to international peace and security."
Meanwhile, in a stern rebuff, a middle-level officer in the Bush Administration suggested India should rely on hard evidence before pointing fingers. "I know there's a lot of speculation out there now.... But I think we need to be led by the evidence before we start trying to draw conclusions and make policy pronouncements on it," US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said.
Gloating over this commendation, Pakistan Foreign Minister Mahmud Kasuri said, "The US, European Union and other leading countries are not so stupid as to pay public compliments if they think Pakistan is actually running (terrorist) training camps albeit not for Afghanistan but Kashmir, because in the ultimate analysis, it all gets linked."
Lack of proof against Pakistan in the Mumbai case has therefore left the Prime Minister with weak formulations phrases like the dialogue process has "suffered," and that we should "reflect on our relations with Pakistan."
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So look at it this way, the UPA is unwilling to accept that anything is wrong with the country. The people are angry so they needed to do something. After much deliberation and many conflicting statements from its fragmented leadership, they say Pakistan did it, but since they have managed to destroy our internal security and intelligence apparatus, they were unable to produce evidence, and Prime Minister went to Russia for support, and didnt get any.
And since there is nothing wrong with the country, and accusing some Indians of being traitors is just a ploy by the BJP because they hate Muslims. Right? So there is no harm in mollycoddling with the enemy. Mulayam's doing it, BJP's doing it, so why not the UPA?
Cong, NCP wooing SIMI cadres
The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party in power in Maharashtra have been actively wooing SIMI's former members with an eye on the town's 35 per cent Muslim population. Even when the local police periodically rounds them up following incidents like the recent Mumbai bomb blasts.
Thanks to the efforts of these political parties, Javed Qureshi, a prominent SIMI activist from here, has even managed two terms as Councillor in the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation. Qureshi represented the Congress as councillor from 2001 after the ban on SIMI. He switched loyalties to the NCP last year after being denied a ticket in order to retain his seat.
According to Qureshi(41), he left SIMI when he turned 30 as per the organisation's rules. However, he did not entirely severe his links with the organisation. A member of a prominent business family here, Qureshi played a major role in organising SIMI's Ikhwana Conference in 1999. Fiery speeches by speakers at the conference denouncing the Babri Masjid provoked the 5,000 or so attendees to clash with police.
The A.D. Mane Commission of Inquiry set up to probe the lathi charge came up with startling information about the speeches made at the conference. The Maharashtra Government sat on the report till September 2001 when in the aftermath of the attack on New York's World Trade Centre, SIMI activists here openly expressed support for Osama bin Laden.
Qureshi is unapologetic about the support for bin Laden as well. “They (SIMI activists) said Osama is our brother in a manner that all Muslims are brothers,” says Qureshi.
The pusillianimity of the government was obvious when none of the three most important people responsible for internal security, the PM, the Home Minister and the National Security Advisor, were unwilling to take names and take a firm stand on the tragedy. More than anything, the people of Mumbai, as resolute and spirited as they were, were angry and wanted to see results.
I believe I have talked about the UPA's reluctance to accept the fact that home grown terrorism is a reality, and while the initial clues pointed to SIMI, the blame shifted to their lords and masters in Pakistan. However, whats embarrassing for the government, and insulting to the common citizen, is that the government has come a cropper in finding any evidence linking Pakistan to it. In fact, other than firing in the dark in all directions, I don't think this government has achieved anything concrete.
One would think that after such a horrendous tragedy and with world sympathy on its side, India would be able to get the world to see its side of terrorism, but like every other department, this government has failed miserably in diplomacy too. Other than the usual "we condemn the blasts and stand by India.." words, India has been able to do nothing at the recent G-8 summit in Russia. I believe the Prime Minister should not have gone at all, since it was only a week after the blasts, but he chose to go, probably in the hope of earning some diplomatic points, but I believe the reason he went was to escape the criticism at home.
Its unfortunate that such a brilliant individual as the PM is controlled by a woman who could have changed the face of this country with her power and influence, but who instead chooses to cling to power with all the shenanigans that she is able to muster up. Its unfortunate that the PM has to rule over a cabinet that has no coordination, and dozens of personal agendas, and a no common vision.
Either the Government has no idea how to run a country, or they are willing to go to any lengths, including jeopardizing our sovereignty, to secure the muslim votes for the next elections. Their war is not with poverty, hunger, terrorism, but their war is with their political rivals in UP and the BJP. While Mulayam and Congress have absolutely no concern for anything else but the vote of the UP Muslim, UPA's first concern on the national level is that no matter what happens, BJP should not get political mileage out of any tragedy.
Anyways, the governments of India after PV Narasimha Rao never really had any balls, and Pakistan knows it, the terrorists they support know it, and the home-grown terrorists who have thrived in this conducive environment know it. Oh, did I mention the gentle pat on the wrists when the Government cancelled secretary level talks between India and Pak? Oh I am sure that must have hurt.
Peace process intact as India, Pak hold border talks
Despite a bad patch in relations between the governments of the two countries since last week's bomb blasts in Mumbai, Indian and Pakistani officials met on Wednesday to discuss ways to beef up border security and combat smuggling.
The talks between the border security officials at the Wagah border check post came days after India postponed a meeting of foreign secretaries due this week in New Delhi to review progress in a peace process begun over 2 years ago.
Border security consultations take place every three months, and are not part of the "composite dialogue" -- negotiations on a range of political disputes including the core issue of Kashmir.
Although there has been no breakthrough yet in investigations into the Mumbai attacks, the suspicions have fallen on Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Pakistan has condemned the Mumbai blasts and President Pervez Musharraf has warned any stalling in the peace process was what the "terrorists" wanted.
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As for India's stance internationally, well, they had no idea what they were doing anyways.
No takers for Govt's Pak-hand theory
More than a week since terror ripped Mumbai apart, India's inability to produce concrete evidence against Pakistan has rendered its attempts to trap the usual suspect rather feeble. While Pakistan is widely accepted as the fountainhead of terror in the subcontinent, India has been roundly ticked off by the US for not gathering enough proof against its neighbour on the Mumbai blasts.
That Islamabad has been the gainer in this round is evident in the unequivocal praise heaped on Pakistan by the Americans for its fight against terror. This, along with a rather general "condemnation" from the G-8, instead of a decisive rap on Pakistan's knuckles, has fed the impression that India's may be a case of cry wolf after all.
Islamabad has turned the occasion to its diplomatic advantage to impress upon the international community that Pakistan is a bogey raised by the Indian leadership to cover up the failure of its security agencies to nab the real home-grown terrorists residing in the very heart of Mumbai.
A chastened Manmohan Singh on his return from St Petersburg on Tuesday, therefore, said, "I have always believed the destiny of the people of South Asia are closely inter-linked," and that "Both our countries need peace and stability."
This is a significant humbling since the Prime Minister's public posturing in Mumbai last Friday, where, in a rather delayed reaction, he had warned Pakistan that "If the acts of terrorism are not controlled, it is exceedingly difficult for any Government to carry forward what may be called as normalisation and peace process." He had also said, "We are certain that these terror modules are instigated, inspired and supported by elements across the border."
Eventually the G-8 leaders only threw in their lot with India because "terrorism ... constitutes a threat to each of our country, as well as to international peace and security."
Meanwhile, in a stern rebuff, a middle-level officer in the Bush Administration suggested India should rely on hard evidence before pointing fingers. "I know there's a lot of speculation out there now.... But I think we need to be led by the evidence before we start trying to draw conclusions and make policy pronouncements on it," US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said.
Gloating over this commendation, Pakistan Foreign Minister Mahmud Kasuri said, "The US, European Union and other leading countries are not so stupid as to pay public compliments if they think Pakistan is actually running (terrorist) training camps albeit not for Afghanistan but Kashmir, because in the ultimate analysis, it all gets linked."
Lack of proof against Pakistan in the Mumbai case has therefore left the Prime Minister with weak formulations phrases like the dialogue process has "suffered," and that we should "reflect on our relations with Pakistan."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
So look at it this way, the UPA is unwilling to accept that anything is wrong with the country. The people are angry so they needed to do something. After much deliberation and many conflicting statements from its fragmented leadership, they say Pakistan did it, but since they have managed to destroy our internal security and intelligence apparatus, they were unable to produce evidence, and Prime Minister went to Russia for support, and didnt get any.
And since there is nothing wrong with the country, and accusing some Indians of being traitors is just a ploy by the BJP because they hate Muslims. Right? So there is no harm in mollycoddling with the enemy. Mulayam's doing it, BJP's doing it, so why not the UPA?
Cong, NCP wooing SIMI cadres
The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party in power in Maharashtra have been actively wooing SIMI's former members with an eye on the town's 35 per cent Muslim population. Even when the local police periodically rounds them up following incidents like the recent Mumbai bomb blasts.
Thanks to the efforts of these political parties, Javed Qureshi, a prominent SIMI activist from here, has even managed two terms as Councillor in the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation. Qureshi represented the Congress as councillor from 2001 after the ban on SIMI. He switched loyalties to the NCP last year after being denied a ticket in order to retain his seat.
According to Qureshi(41), he left SIMI when he turned 30 as per the organisation's rules. However, he did not entirely severe his links with the organisation. A member of a prominent business family here, Qureshi played a major role in organising SIMI's Ikhwana Conference in 1999. Fiery speeches by speakers at the conference denouncing the Babri Masjid provoked the 5,000 or so attendees to clash with police.
The A.D. Mane Commission of Inquiry set up to probe the lathi charge came up with startling information about the speeches made at the conference. The Maharashtra Government sat on the report till September 2001 when in the aftermath of the attack on New York's World Trade Centre, SIMI activists here openly expressed support for Osama bin Laden.
Qureshi is unapologetic about the support for bin Laden as well. “They (SIMI activists) said Osama is our brother in a manner that all Muslims are brothers,” says Qureshi.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
UPA getting closer to authoritarianism
A few weeks ago, the Times of India reported that it had access to certain papers that showed that the UPA government was planning to bring about a bill that would give it absolute powers to deal with the various media channels in the country, including complete take over of their infrastructure during times of war.
At first I dismissed the story with the assumption that its Times of India and they usually jump the gun on a lot of issues. I assumed it is one of their half-researched, sensationalist stories. I think that story was published in a couple of other newspapers as well later, and then there was a news that the various media houses were gathering together to oppose such a bill.
Today, I came across this article about the government's directive to various Internet Service Providers in India to block certain blog sites, including the biggest of them all, www.blogger.com. Incidentally, that is the blogsite I am currently writing in, and the fact that many in India will not be able to read what I am writing is beginning to get under my skin.
Have you noticed a trend in the way the UPA is functioning? Of course, keeping aside the fact that they are gutless and spineless and cheering for the nation's enemies, they are slowly moving towards a more socialist and authoritarian regime?
Sure one will point out examples of the new SEZ laws and the opening of the real estate and everything, but at the same time this one facet of the economy has been heavily diluted by their extreme socialist tendencies in the others. The Common Minimum Programme, as a commentator in Bloomberg.com said, has fizzled into a free-for-all gift fest with the government without a clue as to how the scheme will be bankrolled. Of course, the biggest shocker came when the entire disinvestment process was put on hold because some regional party wanted the money for itself and appease the angry government employees.
Why India Must Sell Only Troubled State Assets: Andy Mukherjee
Economic policy making in India was the casualty last week as the government lost a battle that it shouldn't even have been fighting.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh capitulated to pressure from coalition partners when he scrapped a June 22 Cabinet committee decision to sell 10 percent stakes in two state-owned companies.
Investors would have taken these sales as a sign that Singh's Congress Party government, hamstrung as it is by the obduracy of its coalition partners and Marxist allies, not to mention by the left-leaning sensibilities of its own supreme leader, Sonia Gandhi, still has some room to maneuver.
Now that Singh has blinked, investors are left in no doubt about how much real authority he has.
It was self-defeating. The Common Minimum Program of May 2004, the agenda agreed on by the government and its allies, states that, ``generally, profit-making companies will not be privatized.'' Both National Aluminium and Neyveli Lignite make money.
Singh's government has been far less practical. Its noble mission of ``economic reforms with a human face,'' which was supposed to offer a contrast to the laissez-faire approach of its predecessor, has degenerated into a please-all strategy of announcing all types of government-spending programs with little thought spared for raising commensurate resources.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, we know the Government's two pet projects are bringing the caste system into our education system and into our private sector. Instead of trying to get rid of this society of its class heirarchies, from now on our best universities and best companies will ask a prospective employee his/her caste first, and qualifications later.
And now comes this shocker that the government is also trying to control our airwaves. One might say that the government just undertook a successful selloff of many FM frequencies, but what is the point when you have a bloody bureaucrat snooping on every fucking word you say, making sure that you are not critical of the government. Jeez, I knew we wanted to emulate China, but not this way! This blocking of internet media has convinced me that the Congress does not give two hoots about anything but protecting its grip on power. This article is by another blogger, Shivam Vij.
Are Internet Service Providers blocking blogs?
Bloggers in India are getting together to protest against the sudden blocking of popular Google-owned blog-hosting site Blogger by some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Spectranet, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Reliance Powersurfer, Airtel Broadband and Sify.
On July 15, Mridula Dwivedi, a teacher of management studies in Gurgaon first discovered that visiting any blogspot blog -- such as, say Mumbai Help -- returned the message, 'Site Blocked!' Her ISP, Spectranet, confirmed they had blocked some sites based on government directives.
J Grewal, Spectranet's Delhi representative at the National Internet exchange of India, told this reporter that, on July 15, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had sent ISPs a list of sites to be blocked. R H Sharma, senior engineer with MTNL, said the list ran into some 22 pages.
Now, several bloggers have organised themselves into a Bloggers' Collective and are planning to file a Right To Information application to obtain the list.
Anil Saxena of Spectranet confirmed that the list sent by the DoT contained names of particular blogs, but added that Blogspot as a whole had not been blocked. This is contrary to the experience of customers like Dwivedi, who are still unable to view sites hosted on Blogspot, in addition to those on Typepad and Yahoo!'s Geocities. "The list is confidential and I can't make it public," said Saxena.
Under the Information Technology Act, 2000, a body called the Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT-IN, was created along the lines of similar authorities the world over. Although its main task is in the domain of Internet security, it also oversees Internet censorship under a clause that seeks to ensure 'balanced flow of information.' Any government department seeking a block on any web site has to approach CERT-IN, which then instructs the DoT to block the site after confirming the authenticity of the complaint.
"Such sites may be blocked within the provisions of the Fundamental Right to free speech and expression, granted in India's Constitution," said cyber-law expert Praveen Dalal, adding, "If, however, the blocking is arbitrary, unreasonable and unfair, it would be in violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India."
The trouble is bloggers don't even know which sites the DoT wants blocked. To make matters worse, ISPs seem to be blocking entire domains on which these blogs are hosted.
However, CERT-IN's Director, Dr Gulshan Rai, said he was unaware of the problem and would not be able to respond "off-hand". In a telephone interview, he told this reporter, "Somebody must have blocked some sites. What is your problem?"
Bloggers certainly think of it as a problem though, and are all set to react.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So here is how this pusillanimous, and devious, government will work. It will not fight your enemies, those looking to hurt you and kill you, but it will try to take away your liberties, it will try to take away your self-respect, and will be bent on reducing you to just member of a divided society to be exploited at will.
At first I dismissed the story with the assumption that its Times of India and they usually jump the gun on a lot of issues. I assumed it is one of their half-researched, sensationalist stories. I think that story was published in a couple of other newspapers as well later, and then there was a news that the various media houses were gathering together to oppose such a bill.
Today, I came across this article about the government's directive to various Internet Service Providers in India to block certain blog sites, including the biggest of them all, www.blogger.com. Incidentally, that is the blogsite I am currently writing in, and the fact that many in India will not be able to read what I am writing is beginning to get under my skin.
Have you noticed a trend in the way the UPA is functioning? Of course, keeping aside the fact that they are gutless and spineless and cheering for the nation's enemies, they are slowly moving towards a more socialist and authoritarian regime?
Sure one will point out examples of the new SEZ laws and the opening of the real estate and everything, but at the same time this one facet of the economy has been heavily diluted by their extreme socialist tendencies in the others. The Common Minimum Programme, as a commentator in Bloomberg.com said, has fizzled into a free-for-all gift fest with the government without a clue as to how the scheme will be bankrolled. Of course, the biggest shocker came when the entire disinvestment process was put on hold because some regional party wanted the money for itself and appease the angry government employees.
Why India Must Sell Only Troubled State Assets: Andy Mukherjee
Economic policy making in India was the casualty last week as the government lost a battle that it shouldn't even have been fighting.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh capitulated to pressure from coalition partners when he scrapped a June 22 Cabinet committee decision to sell 10 percent stakes in two state-owned companies.
Investors would have taken these sales as a sign that Singh's Congress Party government, hamstrung as it is by the obduracy of its coalition partners and Marxist allies, not to mention by the left-leaning sensibilities of its own supreme leader, Sonia Gandhi, still has some room to maneuver.
Now that Singh has blinked, investors are left in no doubt about how much real authority he has.
It was self-defeating. The Common Minimum Program of May 2004, the agenda agreed on by the government and its allies, states that, ``generally, profit-making companies will not be privatized.'' Both National Aluminium and Neyveli Lignite make money.
Singh's government has been far less practical. Its noble mission of ``economic reforms with a human face,'' which was supposed to offer a contrast to the laissez-faire approach of its predecessor, has degenerated into a please-all strategy of announcing all types of government-spending programs with little thought spared for raising commensurate resources.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, we know the Government's two pet projects are bringing the caste system into our education system and into our private sector. Instead of trying to get rid of this society of its class heirarchies, from now on our best universities and best companies will ask a prospective employee his/her caste first, and qualifications later.
And now comes this shocker that the government is also trying to control our airwaves. One might say that the government just undertook a successful selloff of many FM frequencies, but what is the point when you have a bloody bureaucrat snooping on every fucking word you say, making sure that you are not critical of the government. Jeez, I knew we wanted to emulate China, but not this way! This blocking of internet media has convinced me that the Congress does not give two hoots about anything but protecting its grip on power. This article is by another blogger, Shivam Vij.
Are Internet Service Providers blocking blogs?
Bloggers in India are getting together to protest against the sudden blocking of popular Google-owned blog-hosting site Blogger by some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Spectranet, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Reliance Powersurfer, Airtel Broadband and Sify.
On July 15, Mridula Dwivedi, a teacher of management studies in Gurgaon first discovered that visiting any blogspot blog -- such as, say Mumbai Help -- returned the message, 'Site Blocked!' Her ISP, Spectranet, confirmed they had blocked some sites based on government directives.
J Grewal, Spectranet's Delhi representative at the National Internet exchange of India, told this reporter that, on July 15, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had sent ISPs a list of sites to be blocked. R H Sharma, senior engineer with MTNL, said the list ran into some 22 pages.
Now, several bloggers have organised themselves into a Bloggers' Collective and are planning to file a Right To Information application to obtain the list.
Anil Saxena of Spectranet confirmed that the list sent by the DoT contained names of particular blogs, but added that Blogspot as a whole had not been blocked. This is contrary to the experience of customers like Dwivedi, who are still unable to view sites hosted on Blogspot, in addition to those on Typepad and Yahoo!'s Geocities. "The list is confidential and I can't make it public," said Saxena.
Under the Information Technology Act, 2000, a body called the Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT-IN, was created along the lines of similar authorities the world over. Although its main task is in the domain of Internet security, it also oversees Internet censorship under a clause that seeks to ensure 'balanced flow of information.' Any government department seeking a block on any web site has to approach CERT-IN, which then instructs the DoT to block the site after confirming the authenticity of the complaint.
"Such sites may be blocked within the provisions of the Fundamental Right to free speech and expression, granted in India's Constitution," said cyber-law expert Praveen Dalal, adding, "If, however, the blocking is arbitrary, unreasonable and unfair, it would be in violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India."
The trouble is bloggers don't even know which sites the DoT wants blocked. To make matters worse, ISPs seem to be blocking entire domains on which these blogs are hosted.
However, CERT-IN's Director, Dr Gulshan Rai, said he was unaware of the problem and would not be able to respond "off-hand". In a telephone interview, he told this reporter, "Somebody must have blocked some sites. What is your problem?"
Bloggers certainly think of it as a problem though, and are all set to react.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So here is how this pusillanimous, and devious, government will work. It will not fight your enemies, those looking to hurt you and kill you, but it will try to take away your liberties, it will try to take away your self-respect, and will be bent on reducing you to just member of a divided society to be exploited at will.
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