Issue out of no issue

http://ngkjrs69.sulekha.com/blog/post/2012/05/issue-out-of-no-issue.htm 

It is not a matter of surprise that our representatives in the Parliament have selective priorities but it is an issue of concern. As if, there is a dearth of issues to be discussed and debated, our MPs chose to make out an issue out of no issue. Yes, I am referring to the recent episode of cartoon involving Ambedkar and the constitution. Not only they made ruckus in the Parliament, they went on to ransack the office of the gentleman who was involved in this issue. As expected no party condemned this violent act while they went berserk on the issue of the cartoon.

Tirumaavalavan, is a MP from Tamilnadu who started a party Tamil Vidutalai Chiruttai (Tamil Liberation Panthers – christened obviously inspired by LTTE, the Liberation Tigers). Even Tirumaavalavan is not sure, from whom and for whom he wants the Tamils to be liberated! He initiated this issue in the Parliament stating that the cartoon is insulting the Great Ambedkar. As all of us are aware, anything pertaining to Dalits and Minorities cannot be left alone and one cannot remain silent on those issues as they are the vote-getting factors, every party jumped in supporting Tirumaavalavan, more interestingly wanted to usurp the issue from him for their gains. 

The objection has no validation if one had seen the cartoon. In no way it is insulting Ambedkar. If at all, it insults Nehru only. The cartoon depicts Ambedkar riding a Snail named Constitution with a whip in his hand and Nehru, in turn, whipping Ambedkar to go fast! Having known that one is riding a snail, how can one expect the journey to be faster? Just by whipping can that happen? This cartoon had clearly expressed that the process of preparing a Constitution will take long time and any sense of urgency is meaningless. Alas! Our present day leaders are not matured enough nor educated enough to understand such things. 

The objection is invalid on following points too: 

• This cartoon was made even when Ambedkar was alive and he never protested it 
• This cartoon was in the NCERT books since six years and an insult to Ambedkar happening suddenly is a question of surprise 
• Everyone in the public service is subject to bouquets and bricks – one cannot be selective 
• There is something called Freedom of Expression The protests by the MPs reflect these: 
• The tolerance levels of those in the Public Service is going down and they cannot digest any views expressed against them – this is a unhealthy sign (even yesterday the speech of Laloo in the House against Anna and Baba Ramdev is a part of such intolerance) 
• If these men made the history of our country (they are not creating it – please read it carefully), obviously there will be no truth or the percentage of truth in the history will be very less 
• These gentlemen who fight for a man who made the Constitution are unaware that in the same Constitution there is an Article 19 that gives every citizen a freedom of expression 
• They are unaware that it’s not Ambedkar alone who prepared this Constitution but a panel of eminent lawyers and Ambedkar was the political face of the panel who chaired it 
• We, Indians, totally lack the sense of humor 

A picture is better than 1000 words. Pages of illustration would not have explained this issue better than this cartoon. If the politicians want to get rid of cartoons, first of all, let us get rid of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Is there a dearth of Cartoons in these Sabhas? Each MP is a cartoon. Shall we get rid of them? 

These incidents reflect the deteriorating quality of Indian politics. The so called leaders are hunting for sensational or emotional issues. They lack the maturity to handle a comment or appraisal. They create demi-Gods out of their leaders and this is worse than idol-worship, yet they preach rationalism. They can even go to the extent of distorting the reality in the name of history that goes against their policies (I don’t know whether the parties have one). Removal of Kondadeo's statue with Shivaji by the Sambhaji group in Pune is an illustration to this.

Why this Hue and Cry - Do we really need this?

http://ngkjrs69.sulekha.com/blog/post/2012/05/why-this-hue-and-cry-do-we-really-need-this.htm 

Sachin Tendulkar is nominated for the Rajya Sabha. One cannot describe whether this is a master stroke played by the Congressmen who were literally seeking some media attention. Of course, Congress was trying hard to draw the attention of media but despite all the bias, it was doing it for different or wrong reasons only. Had Sachin joined Congress, then there is no room for debate. He had accepted to be nominated to the Upper House or the House of Elders. If he is elder, he should have given room for younger ones in the team long ago. He is still continuing playing stating he is enjoying the game. May be, he might be enjoying but he never tried to realize whether the spectators enjoyed it or not. 

If one asked whether Sachin deserved this post, then anybody can answer in negative. Till date, Sachin has never expressed an opinion in open with regard to the affairs of Cricket let alone the affairs of India! He always projected a personality of non-controversial one. He has not displayed any administrative skill till date nor had he got an opportunity. The timing, perhaps, is wrong. He is still playing cricket and the party should have waited till his retirement. But Congress is in urgency, needed some edge and had played this game. 

At the outset, do we really need the Upper House? The Upper House is literally useless to the common public but useful to the politicians who can use this as a back-door entry to ministerial berths. The provision of 12 nominated members is another joke indeed. They were supposed to be specialists in their respective fields and are expected to serve the Government in that field by remaining neutral. However, this is not happening. Those who are nominated never remain neutral. The worst choice till date was Lata Mangeshkar. It would not be an exaggerated statement if we said that she literally insulted the Upper House by not attending a single session. Leave aside delivering something to the field she represented. If she knew she cannot contribute why agree for nomination. I would not be surprised if Sachin too followed the Lata way as he is busy playing games and shooting ads! 

The history of nominated members proves this. Their attendance used to be hardly 50 ~ 70%. Very few nominated members take part in debates and pose questions. It is another story that nominated members and independent members do not get priority in posing questions. Anu Aga is another choice. There are women who are more successful than her but she is chosen for her anti-Modi stand. She is rewarded. One is not sure whether Rekha is chosen only to humiliate Jaya Bacchan? I am not sure. Then why people agree to be nominated members? 

The Sops you get as an MP and the pension amount for life time. The people’s money is squandered like this. If the Govt wanted to represent someone from Sports, there are lot many choices better than Sachin. Retired players and administrators would have been the real choice. The ICC too did not invite Sachin to deliver a speech but Rahul Dravid and Sangakkara. Sachin may be an exceptional player but certainly does not deserve to be an MP. 

Worse is, the choice of Sachin for Bharat Ratna. Sachin unabashedly expressed that his profession is acting as to avoid additional tax on the brand-ambassador incomes. He has not paid tax for his Ferrari and his new house has got complications with BMC. How can such a citizen be called a Bharat Ratna who does not pay the dues to the Government on time? Cricket craze in India is well known and it is more than a religion and Sachin is God. Congress party, which is looking for some image-boost, had gone for this option expecting crores of his fans to vote for the party. Will it happen or not is not known but the choice of Sachin representing the Upper House is a wrong choice. 

Same is the case with President’s office. Ever Since VV Giri occupied this post, this Chair has lost its respect. Fakruddin Ali Ahmed was rewarded for allowing Bangladeshis to vote in Parpetta constituency to make Congress win. R.Venkatraman read out the message of Rajiv Gandhi in Moscow although he was the First Citizen then and I am still perplexed under which protocol RV did that. Perhaps, the loyalty fact. The list is endless. SD Sharma, KR Narayan, Zail Singh – all of them were chosen just to reward for their loyalty to the family. The choice of Pratibha Patil was a real joke and only Jayalalitaa had the guts to say so in public. She occupied the chair after Kalam who brought some shine to it but Patil worked hard to bring all disgrace to this post. Even this post is not escaping the caste / religion game. Karunanidhi, the great rationalist wants a woman, preferably from Muslim to be the next Prez, Congress wants a woman from Dalit Community or someone from Minority. The irony is, no party is selecting a candidate based on the right qualifications. President in India had never been apolitical. With hung Parliament expected next year, every party wants a rubber stamp who can favor them irrespective of numbers. With such choices, the posts are brought only disgrace. 

Just like Bharat Ratna lost its sheen, the Padma Awards were doled out as consolation for supporting the Governments, the Upper House and even the President Office is treated like this. Rather than doing like this, Why can’t we get rid of Presidents, Governors and Upper houses that only incurs expenses and do nothing to the common public or to the progress of our country?

http://ngkjrs69.sulekha.com/blog/post/2012/03/imaginary-line-of-poverty.htm

Not long ago, the Planning commission of India cut a serious joke by creating a new Poverty line at Rs 32/- per day and drew flak from all corners of the country. The commission was busy quibbling about the details of defining the poverty line. They came out with a new figure of Rs 28/- yesterday. With Bangladesh spoiling the dreams of India’s Asia Cup win, this story did not hog the limelight yesterday.



I am not an economist as our honourable PM is, who is supposed to be an expert in this field but did little with his expertise to improve the situation in our country. As a layman, i am perplexed at the manner in which this poverty line is defined. Do these statistics really measure the right factors and if it measured, is it being done accurately? With these measures, what are we trying to do? Don’t these measures indicate only the buying power of a household?



As I understand, this is the measure to indicate the Government on providing the subsidies to the really needed. However, by keeping this number low (obviously an imaginary number or a fake number), are we trying to prove the world that there are no poor people in India? Yet, the subsidies are not stopped. There are confusions in the manner these are calculated. Imagine a family with an income of Rs 4800/- per month and another with Rs 5000/-. Who is poor? Going by numbers obviously the first family is. However, imagine the expenses of the first family is less (considering the fact that they stay close to their workplace whereas the second family travels a longer distance thus paying more on transportation), who is poor here? Hence individual comparison is not ethical.



The calculation of these numbers was developed in the 70s. They decided the line according to average consumption expenses of households where per capita consumption of 2400 calories in cities and 2100 calories in villages. I am still confused why the calories intake in urban has to be more than the rural area. Since then, this line has been updated using consumer prices indices only.



Various committees have come out with different figures of poverty line by measuring it in variety of methods. The official line delivers a poverty rate of around 32% of the population. The Suresh Tendulkar committee estimated it at 37% (based on calories consumption), while another led by NC Saxena said 50% (based on nutrition values), and in 2007 the Arjun Sengupta commission identified 77% of Indians as "poor and vulnerable". The World Bank's PPP (Purchasing power parity) estimate of Indian poverty was higher than 40% in 2005, while the Asian Development Bank arrived at almost 50%. The UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index finds the proportion of the poor to be higher than 55%.



Congratulations to you if you had not still fainted after going through the figures. Is it not the time to separate the people’s real needs from the arbitrary assessments of poverty which have guided our Government so long? With the changing lifestyle, i am sure the calorie consumption too would have gone for a toss by now. Under such circumstances, what can these numbers have something to do with the calorie consumption?



This figure is a bone of contention to the State Governments too. The categories of BPL (Below poverty line) and APL (Above) were made to discriminate supply of cheaper grain (subsidized) through PDS. With federal system in practice, the responsibility of delivery of such services and goods to BPL lies with State Govts whereas Central Govt only allocates resources. Although the BPL is decided by the sample survey, the number of households (in reality) in BPL is far high from this imaginary figure.



Should we not include the shelter, clothing (power of buying here?), jobs, primary health care, basic amenities like availability of drinking water, toilet, electricity etc.,? A recent survey showed that 40% of 2011 batch MBAs are jobless as they could not find one. Where are projects to provide employment? Every year, a team of 9 million freshers seek employment. What are the plans to deal with such a situation?



How about the growing disparity between the rich and poor? The rich is becoming richer and the poor stays there. The volume of middle class families in India is increasing in multiple folds from year to year. Corporate Social Responsibility is one factor that has no mention among Indian entrepreneurs but for a few. Unless the corporate come out and give it back to the society, things will not improve.



Intentionally, i am avoiding the issue of corruption here as it is known to everyone that this has a major role to play, however, we are indifferent towards corruption as we have accepted this as a walk of life. Let the academic debate continue on the definition of poverty line. However, it should not be cooked to show a perception that the volume of poor population is getting shrunk. This is nothing short of cheating the public. The expertise of our super economist PM should not be wasted in cooking up figures but to be put in use as to give this country some constructive solutions!

Tag Game - self appraisal of my blogs

http://ngkjrs69.sulekha.com/blog/post/2011/12/tagged-by-balu-self-appraisal-of-my-blogs-an-advertisement.htm

Am I right or Wrong?

My cynical views on the recent episodes of Fasting and Arresting of Anna Hazare!

http://ngkjrs69.sulekha.com/blog/post/2011/08/am-i-right-or-wrong.htm

FAST - not good for us!

FAST - not good for us!

some views of mine shared on the recent happenings

It happens only in India!

It happens only in India!

The definition of murder is lost from the recent judgment on the Maria-Jerome-Grover case. Let us accept that the murder was done on a rush of blood, fit of rage etc., I am surprised that if Grover was killed because Jerome saw him in half-naked status, what was his girl friend doing? If they were not involved why should he kill? They killed and later chopped the body into pieces. Was it not a cold-blooded murder? But the judge differed stating this is nothing but culpable homicide not leading to murder. Shocking!

In a rush of blood, he killed but later realized. Then in all fairness, both should have got themselves surrendered in a police station. Instead, they decided to chop the body into 300 odd pieces, with all ease, packed the parts into a bag and tried to dump and fire it on a secluded area! Yet, the judge states that this a destruction of evidence? Perplexing!

Maria had already spent 3 years in jail and hence will be free from today and walk back home. Ironical! She did not stay in prison as a punishment. All along she was in and out of the prison. A punishment is given so that the culprit realizes his mistake and gets a chance to correct them. Here, it is thoroughly opposite!

Perhaps, the sections in which the cases are fought would have led to this sort of judgment. Still, I don’t understand that how can, for a single murder, charges can be different for both accused involved? Similarly, in the past, the definition of Rape was lost with so many cases on rape confused us the people. Am I wrong if I said, Crazy is justice!

The selectors are gathering today for selection of India team for England. They say history repeats and it is proven that all the 3 Tamil Nadu players (Mukund, Vijay and Badri) who got an opportunity to display their talent failed thoroughly. Pathetic is the last word one can say about their performance.

I don’t know why the selectors have forgotten Cheteshwar Pujara because he did not play in T20 leagues? He is another Dravid in the making and he is unfit for T20 sort of games. If at all, we need a stabilized middle order after Sachin-Rahul-Laxman, it cannot be formed without Cheteshwar Pujara. Virat is too immature and so is Yuvraj and Raina. Its high team the selectors picked Pujara as I am sure that Suresh, Virat and Yuvraj cannot play in the swinging conditions of England. Dhoni, repeatedly, is making the mistake of sidelining Amit Mishra. Personal favors cannot be as implicit as Dhoni does now. He reminds me the days of Umrigar where Marattas was favored in the Indian cricket team. This is not a good sign but Dhoni is the chocolate boy of Indian cricket and cricket in India brings more money. So telling ill of Dhoni is a sin.

Indian sport had another low in the doping episode. We can’t blame the athletes entirely but the officials, coaches who are supposed to ensure that they are free from such hassles that they concentrated only on their sports. Alas! We can’t expect this to happen in India. If Indian sportsmen win some accolades it is not because of coaches, administrations or sports organizations but despite them.

Manmohan Singh is the weakest ever Prime Minister (worse than Deve Gowda and Gujral) cries the Opposition party. They should be thankful to the UPA for such a weaker PM. Similarly, the UPA should thank the Opposition that despite having such a weak PM, scam-filled-days, failures all over in the Govt, the Opposition is not strong enough to topple the Government and seek a fresh mandate. The lack of alternative is keeping the Government intact and the Congress feels by then, Rahul baba will be ready and the people will forget all these ill-fated days.

The Civil-society has usurped the position of Opposition but the Congress is not willing to give it the full credit. They blame it on RSS (as they keep doing it for years) and give undue credit to the Opposition. In the melee, likes of Anna Hazare demands authority without responsibility. Its only the congress that cries foul on Lokpal. None of its allies is opening their mouth. Same is the case with Opposition. They have not said whether they support it or they don’t. They have not come out with their version of Lokpal yet.

Meanwhile, the speaker categorically rejected the PAC report. Why should we have one if we are going to have such comedy episodes? Why are we wasting money when the inflation is rocketing high? The PM had initiated the press conference again (to woo the media and requesting them to write in favor of him) and none is sure in what way this will help the common man. He has not yet come out with a clear reply with regard to Inflation. In fact, his press conference raised more questions than he answered.

Nero played fiddle when Rome burnt but here the Super PM goes on holiday in Switzerland (to wind up their bank accounts extending favor in form of purchase of aircraft from Swiss Govt) and other is a dumb duck who is waiting for signals from the holidaying PM. God save India.

Saffron, White and Green

Saffron, White and Green

If what Ramdev Baba did was not right, then what Government did last night was a blunder! One would agree that the political aspirations of Baba made him to take a leaf out of the book of Anna Hazare as to pressurize the Government. Was it wrong? In a democratic state, every one of us has a right to aspire to be the leader. What if Ramdev Baba wants to become one? After all, his demands are in the interest of common public.

Most of his demands are cinematic but sensational and in India sensationalism sells. If Ramdev Baba has to take a plunge in politics, he has to face tough competition with bigger goons. I am pleased that unlike many other political parties who perpetually divided the citizens on the lines of region, language, caste and religion, he is not raking such issues to float a political party. He is using those demands that strikes chord with every middle class family of India. This is the clan (middle class families) that shies away from elections, good at arm-chair criticism, whine & crib but pay all the taxes through their noses! To create an interest among this clan is a great service to Indian democracy and if Ramdev does it I welcome it.

The Government decided to arrest Baba in the night hours when every one is asleep. Despite Baba being ready to get arrested, certain actions by a few policemen would boomerang on the Government. It is for sure, the supporters would have protested the arrest of Baba but our policemen had always other means to calm the situation rather than going for lathi charge in the wee hours. Why the Government should have acted like this? If we go by the theory of motor mouth Digvijay, the Government would have got scared of his gaining popularity and hence have arrested him and lodged him in a secret place.

What puzzles us is, when the Government allowed a similar protest by Anna Hazare to go on, they arrested Ramdev on the 3rd day itself. I do agree that Government has to be firm and cannot allow every tom dick and harry to black mail it. The question is, why can’t the Government give same treatment to one and all? Here again, let us go by Digvijay’s theory – The Government allowed Hazare because he was not threat to the ruling Government (the reason may be either the Government sponsored him to divert attention from other issues or Hazare had no political aspirations that would prove costly to the present Government) whereas Ramdev Baba made it very clear of his aspirations.

My theorization is, more than the Baba, the color of the clothes he dons created panic among the ruling Government and they decided to stop it. Yes, the puzzling fact is Saffron is a color treated as taboo by the so called secularists whilst it is one of the colors in our National Flag (nowadays the saffron is being replaced by Red in most places is another irony). The Government is aware that the public memory is too short and the sensation created would live for a shorter period only. That’s why they allowed the White protest to go on (Anna’s) while they curbed the Saffron protest (Ramdev Baba’s).

I would support Baba to Hazare because; Hazare wants authority without accountability whereas Baba is willing to accept the responsibility. None is aware about the financial support Hazare got to stage such a protest whereas Baba had that financial muscle. To me, Hazare’s protest was a fixed program and Baba’s was a planned agitation.

Enough of Indian politics – We can go on whining on it and the irrational, unethical practices followed day in day out. Today is World’s Environment Day. Go Green is the new mantra although most of us don’t contribute towards making the World Green.

According to the Pollution Control Board of India, the enemy for environment is plastic. This is a biased perception. We can’t imagine a world without plastics. It is not the plastics that litters but we, the people do. We do not know how to dispose waste. It is the failure of the PCB on teaching the public in waste disposal.

We allow dry cell disposal just like that, we allow Non-RoHS electronic equipments to be in the market, we allow general disposal of electronic equipments, we allow usage of R134 gas in ACs, we allow PU insulated products which are not HCFC free but we pounce on plastics every where! They are more dangerous than plastics waste. Plastics waste can be used for laying roads that can save a lot on tar-bitumen combine.

There are two types of plastics waste used for road laying – Dry and Wet. Dry is the recycled plastic powder mixed with bitumen and laid on the surface. The existing layers are to be removed in slabs and this can be used over it. This prevent increasing height of the roads (repeated layers is avoided) and water stagnation is prevented and hence longer life of roads. The grip of tyres on such roads too is good. Wet is molten recycled plastics mixed with tar laid on the surface. The properties are same. However, a Dry plastic is always preferable. Pilot projects of such roads are laid in almost all states in India and they were proved but the implementation is not done in full. To do this, we need to wriggle out of the paradigm we carry on plastics. Let this shift in paradigm start on this Green Day!

Petrol price hike - what can we do?

Petrol price hike - what can we do?

Petrol price is hiked, once again. To be precise, it is the 9th time in one year’s time. People will make hue and cry and the media will be busy with this issue for two days. Later, all of us will forget this and we will not change the way we do as of now. Everyone agrees that already the rates are subsidized and the hike is inevitable. However, when petrol prices in a few countries where they do not have processing facilities (they import directly) are lesser than ours, I don’t understand the logic of pricing in our country. This raises certain questions in my mind.

• Let them hike the price whenever the crude oil price is increased in global market but are they reducing the prices when they get reduced?
• Who negotiates the price on behalf of the companies? How good the negotiations are? Can they bring in a transparency in this?
• Is there any kick back in the deal?
• For every Rupee a common citizen pays for the petrol, 49% of it only goes to the oil companies and the rest to the Government? Why this? Why can’t we regulate this?
• What are the inefficiencies of the oil companies? Are they burdening the common man because of their lack in Organizational skill?
• Why cant they hike the price without creating a smoke about this? This time, the speculation about price hike was going rounds for more than week making availability of petrol rare as the petrol bunks wanted to make more money with old stocks.
• Why should they wait till the election results are to be declared?
• Why cant the authorities just go on a raid-spree finding hotels using domestic gas cylinders and not commercial cylinders for cooking?
• Why cant the cars are raided for using domestic cylinders (subsidized) and not commercial cylinders to fuel their vehicle?
• Can the companies stop giving subsidy from the second cylinder onwards? I know a few families who have 4 to 5 cylinders and their usage is 15 days per cylinder. This is a huge burden on the Government.

As a common man what can we do?
• Can we stop using our scooties for a travel distance less than 2 km? Cycling and walking is long forgotten. Chinese are far ahead of us in this.
• Should we stop using Cars if we are travelling alone and use cars only we go out as a family?
• Can we start using the public transport?
• Pool-car system is a good option that is highly neglected in our country
• Shall we stop using the subsidized cylinder in our geysers?

Perhaps, the answers to these questions will put a brake on escalating prices on petrol.

Get an Idea Sirji

Get an Idea Sirji

If you are getting into a lift and then worried about the tower-range, then you better get idea goes an advertisement. Perhaps, the owners of this Service Provider do not know that as soon as you enter the Mumbai International Airport, the consumers of this Service Provider don’t get an idea why can’t they talk to their near and dear or their clients. Not only that and the clients are deprived of using the free internet service for which the password is sent through SMS. When you don’t get the range how can you get the password?

Mumbai International Airport – the security here poses a lot of questions. Generally, as soon as one enters the airport, the entire baggages are screened and then only one can proceed get the boarding pass. However, in Mumbai international airport, you can get your boarding pass without going through the screening. Till the time you cross the Immigration, your bags are not screened. Anything could happen between this time. God knows who derived this procedure and how are they assuring the public that nothing will go wrong.

Similarly, another mistake they do is, while there are 30 immigration counters to clear the immigrants, there are only 4 X ray screening machines. This creates a bottleneck and invariably one has to wait for hours to get cleared in the security check. This becomes pretty bad during the wee hours – say from 2am to 5 am. The workers are down with fatigue and the passengers are irritated and any minor misunderstanding leaves bad taste in either’s mouth. Will the authorities look into? Why can’t they balance the flow? I don’t get an idea!

India has won the World Cup? I am not excited. I am worried. In a cricket crazy country, the players are minting money and rewards are doled out. Every Indian cricketer if falls in A grade earn not less than Rs 2 crore every year as contract fee only and even the C grade cricketer earns as much as Rs 50 lakhs as contract fees. Why should they be given such freebies at the cost of public money? The ironical thing is, a Government has diverted their funds from Education department to give these people rewards? What does this imply? I don’t get an idea!

There is no dearth of light in sub-continent. Still, why should we play day-night matches while most of our villages grope in dark? There are announced and unannounced power-cuts that cripple our normal life. The matches resulted in productivity loss as high as 42% in the year-ending month. What was the need for the World Cup and what was the need to waive of the tax to the tune of Rs 45 crores? There were other players like Mary Kom, Sushil Singh, Vijendar Singh, Saina, Anand who were not rewarded like this. Why so much to cricket? I don’t get an idea!

MS Dhoni, the so-called cool captain, had no courtesy to mention a word about the great Murali (he did not even take a leaf from Sangakara’s speech) on his last international appearance, did not mention Jayawardane’s hundred and did not even thank the crowd. He has got a long way to go but why the biased media and the crazy people don’t mind all these and go ga-ga about MSD? I don’t have an idea!

Anna Hazare is the talk of the town. The media has over reacted as usual and so are the people of our country. I have my own apprehensions whether the Jan Lokpal bill will eradicate corruption. The existing laws were also good but they are ineffective.

It’s high time we found out the definition of Corruption. I go to a temple, finding it hard to stand in the common queue, pay some bucks, get a ticket and go and have darshan. Is this legal or corruption? I don’t get tickets in train but I have an option in a quota called Tatkal where I pay a premium and travel in the same train. Is this legal or corruption?

Let us consider the case of RTO. The system is so cumbersome that I cannot afford to avail so many leaves from my duty and hence I have to hire an agent who can do the jobs for me. I pay for this. This is not corruption. However, when this agent and the officer-in-charge form a syndicate and force others to pay for them to do the routines is corruption. Now tell me, What this Lokpal Bill will do?

There are grey areas. It is good to have the Lokpal bill however, as the euphoria created or as it is projected, this will not make India a corruption-free country. The only possible thing is there will be more players to share the cake and we may have to shell out more. Or am I wrong? I don’t have an idea!