CORRUPTION EMPOWERED CABALS - A REALITY OF INDIA

From time to time various estimates have been made regarding the extent of corruption loot going on in India and the figures arrived at have been simply astronomical and mind boggling. One such estimate that appeared recently "Congress' saga of scams: Rs 48,20,69,00,00,000 public money looted in 70 years" highlights  the deeds of Indian Congress and its allies. It does not mean that the others in polity is innocent as a lamb, they too had a dip in the national loot proportionate to their period of ruling, mostly in states. A fair estimation will be a 25% addition to this sum as their contribution. Most of this money goes as Black Money: A Curse For Indian Growth Story

All aspects of the Indian system be it the legislative, bureaucracy or judiciary along with their functions of law making, governance, economy, delivery of justice etc., etc. are controlled and managed by the corruption empowered cabals. Most of the decisions in purchases, adherence to rules and regulations in industry and trade, manpower selections, appointments, promotions etc are all controlled by the principles of lick my boots, scratch each other's back and grease my palm in stead of the basic criterion of merit and conforming to correctness. Given below is a list of cabals affecting the future of Indian nation.

• Political Cabals : Politicians all over the globe are considered to be an unenviable class not only by intelligentsia but by many politicians also. A few notable quotes describe the reality of politics and politicians.

  "Politics is the last resort for the scoundrels" George Bernard Shaw

      "It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I        have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first".        Ronald Reagen

We are constantly witness to the ushering of various politicians regarding the fact that there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies in politics notwithstanding any ideological differences or whatsoever. The only guiding factor is the lust to be in power and a shareholder in the national loot.

• Bureaucracy Cabals : There is cabal at all levels of executive, from the lowest to the highest which controls all decisions, monetary or otherwise, recruitments, appointments, postings, transfers etc., based on philosophy of lick my shoes, you scratch my back and I will scratch yours and involving monetary considerations for a large majority of cases. In fact India of the Few- For the Few, By the Few sums up the Indian Reality, not many have the courage to talk about. 
• Corruption Cabals : Apart from polity and executive, these cabals include the land and real estate mafia, Hundi and Havala operators, terror funders and smugglers, black marketers, tax thieves and evaders and 
• Judicial Cabal : The Collegium, The Bar Council of India, The Common Law Admission Test the three main pillars of the Indian Judiciary have also been taken over by cabals and are in fact  The three most arrogant and opaque cabals in Indian legal system .
• Media Cabal : An honest, sincere and unbiased Press/Media, the fourth estate is one of the main pillars of strength in moulding the path of a nation. In India vast majority of media and press has fallen a prey to the baser elements and it is being used by unscrupulous polity through personal and business gratifications through discretionary powers and they in turn help polity to fool the masses. This fact is clear by the fact that this media cabal is on the forefront of condemning all actions of the government, be it on the legislation front or governance front that could jeopardize the identity of fake/duplicate voters, citizens, beneficiaries of government doles, subsidies and beneficial schemes. 
• Cabals in Education : In spite of the fact that there is no dearth of talent, merit and brain in the country, the nation is facing the  Indian Reality of a Rudderless education system , all courtesy the corruption cabals operating in the field of education with the backing of polity and money power. Meritocracy has given way to mediocrity is a gross understatement. More than 90% of the  pass outs from Indian education system irrespective of the stream or level are simply unemployable. This is the story of education infrastructure, facilities, faculties, students and the selections, controlled by different cabals in polity, national governing bodies, individual universities and institutes.

                              

WHY MODI IS THE MOST HATED PRIME MINISTER FOR THE OPPOSITION AND INTELLIGENTSIA ?

In his seventh year as prime minister of India, Modi continues to be the most popular leader among the masses. Strangely he happens to be the most hated by the opposition and intelligentsia because of his actions which are not to the liking of many sections of elite of Indian society.

In the seventy plus years of  post independence India, no doubt it was Congress party that ruled the country for about six decades. The Indian democracy did throw up a few  alternatives to Congress from time to time in the shape of many erstwhile Congress leaders. However the first to last a full term was of National Democratic Alliance ( NDA ) led by  A B Vajpayee of BJP. Now India has Narendra Modi at the helm of affairs from 2014 onwards in his second term. Though BJP all by itself  enjoyed the majority in 2014  as well as in 2019, still the government is that of NDA.

The politics in independent India theoretically evolved around secularism and socialism. This is at least what has been the central idea of manifestoes of all political parties all these years. When it comes to actual politics , it boils down to plain and simple vote arithmetic manipulations through the age old maxim of Divide and Rule on the basis of religion, cast, creed, sex, age, occupation, urban/rural etc. etc.. In essence in Indian politics, there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies as secularism and socialism are used just to create perception to woo a particular vote bank at a particular point of time. 

BJP has been labelled as a non secular party by many. The naked truth of Indian politics is that all political parties, national or regional, excepting Congress party has shared power directly  with BJP or in governments where BJP also shared power, though whenever need arose, they labelled it non secular or anti socialism. The Congress party also fell to the greed of being in power in case of Maharashtra recently in coalition with Shiv Sena, essentially a Hindu party, forgetting their being self proclaimed champions  of secularism.  As it is wooing Muslim voters, one of the largest undividable chunk of Indian vote bank has been the sole effort of all so called secular parties, many a time ignoring the basic principles of equality for all citizens even in the eyes of law. In this race aligning with Muslim League has been a glaring example of Secularism of the Congress.

The second major postulate of Indian politics i.e. Socialism has been even greater sufferer at the altar of Indian politics. Ever growing lust for all baser instincts i.e. money, power, wine and women, led to explosion of corruption and corrupt practices and urge to nurture the model of  Philosophy of Corruption Empowerment. The insensitivity of Indian polity to corruption mitigation which is so very important for the prosperity  of our millions can be gauged by the following. One prime minister who served for more than 15 years when told about growing corruption casually said that it was a global phenomenon while another prime minister in eighties was candid enough in admitting that out of 1 Re given by Indian union only 15 paise ( Or 15 % only ) reached the target. But did anything change? Were any measures adopted to cure this malaise both from the centre or any state, by any party, national or regional? The answer is an emphatic NO. 

    The Indian polity dwelled only on vote bank politics all these years in the garb of secularism and socialism through not only creation of Corruption empowered cabals but creation of fake, duplicate and multiple entries in all national lists, be it Voter's List, List of MNREGA workers, List of beneficiaries of government subsidies, List of Permanent Account Holders (PAN)  holders, List of citizens etc. etc., List of Bank Account Holders, to enable manipulations in election results and grabbing a big pie of national exchequer through theft, bribes, corruption tax evasion and generation of black money

All political parties have shared fruits of power with BJP and all political parties in their economics profess and work within 10-15% left or right of centre. It is also amply clear that the plank of BJP being non secular, anti Muslim is just a rhetoric.  All that BJP stands for is uniformity before law for all citizens in all walks of life without exception. So why is Modi hated so much by opposition and so called intelligentsia? What has he done or is going to do which makes him a political untouchable in the country?

Many politicians of the country are convinced by the fact that Corruption Mitigation and Good Governance can be Biggest Growth Engine of Indian Economy but because of political compulsions and lust for power failed in doing something meaningful in this regard. Mr. Modi , strangely enough for an Indian politician has taken it very seriously and has started hitting the Demons of Indian Economy and Governance one by one. During last six years , he has taken the following decisions which seem to have touched the juggler vein of rest of polity.  

• It all started with Demonetization and introduction of GST. Some people particularly  tax thieves and evaders, real estate mafia, terror funders, Hundi and Havala operators and the polity which benefitted from activities these started hating Modi.   

• Realising the total  potential of AADHAAR : The project of unique identification ( UID) number or Aadhaar was initiated by Manmohan Singh's goverment but they developed cold feet when the total scope was understood. In fact UID is the only Aadhaar/base for good governance in India  and opposition has been trying to block all linkages of Aadhaar on one pretext or the other.
•  Welfare schemes and measures like crop insurance, Ayushman Bharat, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi   

 Cutting down the possibilities of pilferage, graft and cuts in all government schemes through cashless direct transfers into bank accounts.

• Doing away with bogus, fake and duplicate ration cards 

• Direct transfer of government  assistance into accounts of beneficiaries, MNREGA payments into individual's accounts

• Muslim women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019
•  Dealing with Pakistan and China from a position of equals

• Fighting terrorism in J&K and Naxalite - Maoist terror in 100 odd districts of the so called red corridor with a lot of success for the first time.   

• Integration of J&K with India    

• Citizenship Amendment Act 2019
• Proposal for National Population Register (NPR) 
• Farmer related legislations namely, 1.Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) 2020,  2.Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services 2020 and 3.The Essential Commodities (Amendment) 2020.

    All these actions and legislations have 

        1. Dented the monopoly and strong hold of the opposition parties on the Muslim and extremely poor vote banks of the opposition parties.

           2.  A major shift in approach to dealing with   China and Pakistan has increased Modi's popularity considerably with the masses. 

Plus minus in the vote bank along with secularism are not the main reasons of hatred towards Mr. Modi but permanently eroding the credibility of these opposition leaders as The Messiah of protection of Muslims and hapless poor masses by his actions is definitely giving birth to this hatred.

But the major cause of this hatred emanates from the policy and governance actions which are denying them the opportunity of gobbling 85% of the government expenditure, (this fact was mentioned by one of the Indian prime ministers in mid eighties) through direct transfer into the bank account number of real living beneficiaries. During the last five years about Rs 10 lakh crores has been disbursed like this. Now through farmer related legislations, the opposition and so called intelligentsia, bureaucracy etc. etc. has been denied loot share from almost  Rs 25 lakh annually. This being the biggest blow and hence the reactions are also equally big and strong. 

In fact denying opportunities of manipulations of vote bank politics and a big share in national loot is why Modi is hated so much by the opposition and so called intelligentsia.

    

         

FARM BILL PROTESTS -- PROTESTS BY FARMERS OR CORRUPTION EMPOWERED POLITICAL CABAL

 The three legislations namely,

Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) 2020, 

Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services 2020,  

The Essential Commodities (Amendment) 2020,

concerning farm produce and its sale have been passed by the Indian parliament and have become acts after signing by the President of India. It had raised a lot of hue and cry during its passage in the parliament and even now protests against the act acts are taking place. It is worthwhile to remind here that these provisions formed a part of manifesto of Indian National Congress from 2012 onwards. The other political parties mostly regional though some of them termed as national parties technically never seem to think in terms of country as a whole.

First of all, what is the extent of protests. The involvement of citizenry is almost at the same level as that of protests in the case of Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizenship, at best a couple of thousand people at various places. Yes, the polity of all hues (except the BJP) with their touts and corruption empowered cabal they have nurtured for almost seven decades is on the streets. There are media guys who feel their wings are clipped by the present ruling dispensation have used big big qualitative adjectives like massive, the nation on the boil etc. etc. for these protests. For their information, India has about 13 crore farmers/cultivators and a few thousands at some places in the country is a miniscule representation for a class. What is their motivation?

Agriculture has been a state subject, i.e. it forms a part of state list of our constitution, which essentially means that states are supposed to address all issues related to agriculture. An entry 33 in the concurrent list was made by the present union government in Jun 2020 which limits the power of states in agriculture and empowers the Centre by stating that both the states and union government can legislate regarding production, trade, supply and distribution of a range of foodstuffs and agricultural raw materials.

Since centre has come into the agriculture from Jun 2020, all the Woes of The Indian Farmer emanate from the failure of all state governments who have been looting the farmers ever since independence. In fact truth about these protests came out from one state politician from Tamil Nadu that these acts are an intrusion on the federal structure of India. Polity all over the globe and Indian polity in particular doesn't believe in powers unless a big earning opportunity  is attached to it. Incidentally about Rs 25 lakh crores worth of agriculture is produced in India and sold in the Mandis of the country. Furthermore, the ratio of what a farmer gets and what a final consumer pays for any goods at best is perhaps as low as 1:4 and in many cases it can touch 1:6 and for perishables much higher. The Rs 25 lakh crore figure is in terms of price paid to the farmer. One needs to understand that for the state government bigwigs of polity, arhatiyas, commission agents and middle men, it is a game involving Rs 50-100 lakh crores annually and more than 90% in cash only. An extremely lucrative  activity for black money earners and political funding. Farmer has nothing to lose, in fact he is going to gain only. 

That exactly is the reason of so much agony  thrust on Indian polity through these farm related legislations. If only these states ruling guys cared for the plight of farmers they would have increased the MSP in their states to the level of their liking and enacted legislations that all agricultural produce will sell only above MSP irrespective of the fact that it is bought by government or a private party. Polity of all hues has failed in not standing with the ANNADATA all these years and fooling him with hollow catchy slogans. Let us make a sincere beginning in the right direction to improve the lot of our Annadata with more and more of such measures to raise the earnings of farming community to give him a  reasonable living standard. 

    

FARMER WOES IN INDIA

 About 50% Indians depend on farming sector in India, about 13 crore farm owning families along with farm labour and those involved in farm related activities. However, the farming sector contributes about 15-17% to the national GDP. Another basic fact to be noted is that out of these 13 crore land owning families about 12.5 crore own less than 1 Hectare of land. We must understand that this chunk of 95% of farmers even with a small family of 4 persons can only live as extremely poor on the basis of the produce from his holding of about 1 Hectare. ( Say anything between Rs 50000 - 60000 ). 

Now, any measures to improve the lot of this large chunk of about 50 crore people should be fair to one and all and has to be thought of in the light of following facts. 

• Minimum Support Price ( MSP ) covers only a small fraction of farm produced commodities, some 25 odd commodities only and there also the procurement of about 5% of the total produce is bought by union government. 
• We should never ignore that no farmer can live solely on the goods produced on his farm. In fact a majority of any farmer household's kitchen, food and clothing requirements also come from the market.\
•  If 50 crore are dependent on agriculture produce, there are 120 crore consumers of this produce. This additional 70 crores comprise of all labour and workers, small vendors and businesses. Their additional earning requirements because of food price rise could result into the prices of everything spiraling upwards, thereby erasing the gains of the farming community.
• Agriculture has been a state subject, i.e. it forms a part of the state list of our Constitution, which essentially means that states are supposed to address all the issues related to agriculture. But on Jun 20, 2020 Entry 33 in the concurrent list limits the power of states in agriculture and empowers the Centre by stating that both the state and the Union government can legislate regarding production, trade, supply and distribution of a range of foodstuffs and agricultural raw materials.

A big majority number of states and the country as a whole has been at the mercy of one particular party and its allies for all but 11 years and they have failed the farmers, Dalits, other poor and minorities even because they resorted to the model of creating and empowering  Philosophy Of Corruption Empowerment - Bane Of Seven Decades Of Independent India  which resulted in the Birth and Rise Of Corruption Empowered Cabal In India and controlling these big vote banks through the weapons of Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed and hollow slogans wielded through these cabals without caring for the plight and welfare of hapless masses.

Now that these parties are no longer in power and they themselves and the elitist as well as all levels of empowered cabals have lost out on their illegal earnings, they have started their campaign with following nonsensical suggestions. 

• Firstly these parties want 100% of farm produce to be procured by union government from the present 5% being procured. Great idea but why did it not strike them when they were enjoying the power. Because either they did not know that value of 17% of GDP i.e. Rs 27 lakh crores exceeds the annual budget of India. And supposingly Indian government procures it, then who sells it to the market. Or perhaps they just want to  criticize the government of India to justify their salaries and perks.
• Secondly these parties want that total produce should be sold by farmers in Mandis at Minimum Support Price. Since they are ruling in majority of states and the state governments can formulate such policies as per constitution , why are they leaving such a welfare measure to Modi to take credit and win future elections?????????

In the light of all this, what is the real answer to the farmer woes in India? First and foremost any subdivision of individual holding below one Hectare is catastrophe for a farming family. This clearly implies that the country has to not only put a control on population but also wean away a few tens of millions from these farming households to industry, services and other professions to maintain present parity.

    Secondly, the country has to find solutions to losses of farmers by natural calamities like floods, hailstorms, famines, as also man made problems of rotting of grains and perishable items because of lack of infrastrucure such as normal storage, cold storage, quick movement of produce from areas of abundance to areas of shortage, development of adequate food processing and losses because of rodents, pests, disease etc.

    Thirdly, saving the farmer from the clutches of inspectors, Aahrtiyas, middlemen, commission agents, wholesalers, retailers etc. In short, a system has to be evolved where the ratio of the price which a farmer gets and the price which a consumer pays is not less than 0.5.

I BEG TO DIFFER Mr PRESIDENT

The President of India, Sh Pranab Mukherjee during his address to the nation on the eve of 65th Republic day greeted the nation and talked about the the murky state of affairs engulfing the Indian nation as a result of fractured mandates in elections and the economic crisis India along with the rest of the world is facing these years. His observations on corruption and hypocrisy finding place in his address to the nation only show how deep these maladies are in the Indian system of politics and governance.

"Corruption is a cancer that erodes democracy, and weakens the foundations of our state. If Indians are enraged, it is because they are witnessing corruption and waste of national resources. If governments do not remove these flaws, voters will remove governments." 

Corruption mitigation and good governance can be the biggest growth engines for Indian economy and cannot be allowed to be ignored by any government.Strange is the coincidence that he too like all members of the ruling combine thinks in terms of voters removing these governments whereas the only logical answer to corruption mitigation is to punish all such offenders legally in a quickest possible time.

"Equally dangerous is the rise of hypocrisy in public life. Elections do not give any person the licence to flirt with illusions. Those who seek the trust of voters must promise only what is possible. Government is not a charity shop. Populist anarchy cannot be a substitute for governance. False promises lead to disillusionment, which gives birth to rage, and that rage has one legitimate target: those in power."

Government is certainly not a charity shop but for all these years, our leaders have been deriving their prowess to win elections and rule this country through doles, freebies and subsidies.Mr. President you were also wedded to such practices when you were in active politics.Or is it that such practices are in the best interests of the citizenry when the established parties dabble in them and if a new player steals the thunder from under the feet of the established players, government becomes a charity shop. And lastly are we to understand that corruption cannot be routed and hence no one should make this promise. 

PERFECT RECIPE FOR BEING A SUCCESSFUL POLITICIAN IN INDIA

The Lok Sabha elections 2014 are a few months away and the total Indian polity is on full view at its best worst.At my age I have been a witness to all the general elections of independent India. As far as I recall, the first three elections witnessed some element of sacrifice and service to the nation ( nation implying both, the country and its people at large ) amongst the members who chose public life as a profession. As the years rolled by in the history of independent India, men with a taint of being corruptible at the very first opportunity started flocking in the glamorous world of politics. To start with these people will succumb to baser instinct of lust for power. It was tolerable though neither desirable nor acceptable.With passage of time, the other baser instincts of man, like wine, woman and money gained ascendancy over all the virtues of life and the members of polity started becoming a abhorred class for the silent majority of hapless sufferers of Indian citizenry.

It is not just for nothing that India still remains one of the poorest countries on this globe. The politicians howsoever hard they may shout about the progress made in sixty five years of independence cannot hide the basic fact that more than seventy five percent of population still needs to be provided almost free rations, rations not to give them a wholesome meal but to keep them breathing and existing as per medical terminology. In fact one keeps on wondering if India is progressing or regressing.

In this scenario of reality, a new perfect recipe for being a successful politician in India has been evolved and salient features of this recipe are as under:

• Hone your skills to fool the masses by talking big, idealistic and talking in terms of solutions that may take ages to fructify.
• Forget the country and its citizenry, think about yourself and yourself alone in all your deeds.
• Never forget the old adage " Money makes the mare go ". So concentrate fully on gathering money for self, your near and dear ones, your stooges and cronies.
• Natural resources and national wealth are meant to be plundered by mighty and powerful of the system. Let it happen unabashedly, for this plunder is the mainstay of party coffers and election funding which in turn are mainstay of your existence.
• To cover up your own misdeeds, allow everyone in the state machinery to have a share of loot through corruption, graft and bribe.
• And finally to ensure that the legal process never catches up with the offenders allow it remain painfully slow so that by the time law manages to take its course after a few decades, no evidence can remain fool proof or by that time the offender has bid good bye to this world after enjoying the fruits of his offence.
• And lastly, always look concerned and caring for the plight of the nation and its citizenry but manipulate showing helplessness because of your political adversaries.

INDIAN POLITY : A POWERHOUSE OF SHAMELESS NATIONAL MISLEADERS

The Indian prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh yesterday was candid enough in accepting his government failures in controlling inflation, checking corruption and tackling unemployment which have been the major banes of his government during its tenure all through. In spite of all this how he could bring himself to he singing praises for the achievements of his government particularly when talking about the growth achieved during the last nine years. One starts wondering whether he is an overrated economist or an underrated politician. But one thing is quite clear that he could feed the nation on some statistics which as numbers are true but in true essence totally misleading. When inflation during all this period has been at a level of 10% and more, when the government salaries have doubled on account of increases in dearness allowance alone in the last seven to eight years, is the GDP increase a result of more production or a result of stagnant production with increased prices of goods and commodities due to inflation.The first mathematical guess appears to be suggesting a contraction in the overall produce. The nation will be grateful if the loyal statisticians of this insincere polity give out figures of produce in tonnage and numbers as the case may be, rather than the rupee value. The Indian nation is lucky that the inflation did not reach astronomical figures for then the polity perhaps would have fed the nation with growth rates exceeding even 20% and would have sought credit instead of being ashamed of their total failure.

WHO WILL STEM THIS ROT???

The Indian national elections to the 16th Lok Sabha are still about nine months away and all political parties are busy fooling the Indian voter and maligning each other in the murkiest of the manner. The well meaning honest Indian is witnessing  the high voltage drama going on everyday wherein the biggest howlers disguised as spokespersons are at their worst best and keep the nation amused by their daily quota of prowess of gift of the gab with half lies and no truth whatsoever. The hapless common man is all the more helpless as he fully knows that he has no choice of an honest government, and with the choices available his aspirations will just meet the fate 'out of the frying pan into the fire'. All such people would like to vote for the best man but sadly enough either this best man is not a candidate or is not allowed to be a candidate by the system of goons and buffoons ruling/ruining India.

The country which boasts of a galaxy of economists and a committed  polity ( committed to what? Your guess is as good as mine ) is passing through one of the worst economic crisis and the leaders of the advanced western countries of our globe are thoroughly enjoying the hara kiri acts of the Indian government towards destroying the Indian dream and chance to become world leaders. Isn't it really ironic that instead of present advanced countries and economic superpowers working for maintaining their coveted supremacy and global leadership, it is the Indian polity that is helping them all out by not doing anything to meet the challenges before India, the potential superpower of the 21st century. 
The need of the hour is to have somebody who could say with Charles de Gaulle, "In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate". It is a pity that political masters of India betray both, the country as well as electorate just to be in power by all kind of foul means. How one wishes that Indian polity too has some statesmen in its ranks, for 
Statesmen think of next generation and create opportunities, Leaders Seize opportunities that come their way, while Politicians think of next elections and fritter away these opportunities and dirty politicians who are the core of Indian polity simply mess up everything and this is what separates wise men from men, men from boys and boys from impudent louts in the realm of changing fate of a nation.

INDIAN REFORMS OR SHORT CUT TO DISASTER

Indian population of one billion plus had seen high hopes of an end to their woes and miseries in the hands of the trio of highly acclaimed economists but all their hopes and aspirations seem to have bitten the dust because they have miserably failed to put their knowledge to its best use. The polity has all along been thriving on hollow promises, high sounding slogans and true to its basic baser instinct of fooling citizenry at large and lust for power, UPA II has worked hard to manipulate the two path breaking reforms (in their words), namely the food security bill and the land acquisition bill.

It is not that the Indian government on the whole and these three musketeers in particular do not understand the total implications of their actions on the health of the economy and deterioration of the psyche of human resource of India. But their lust of power pushes them to the dictum of everything is fair in love and war, the war to grab power and dictates them to resort to anything and everything that can fetch votes, not withstanding its negative impact on the nation.

It is really sad that total Indian polity has failed to take the food security bill in the correct perspective and all politicians in the country wanted to excel each other in blowing away public exchequer in the most undesirable and inefficient manner. They fail to realize that the country's resources are limited but these vote banks are quite capable of blackmailing the polity into submission knowing its need to ensure votes for its mere existence.

Much has been said about land acquisition bill and that it will have far reaching effect on the fortune of our farmers. A few points any learned politician of the country will like to answer.

• In next five years how much of land from how many farmers/ farming families is likely to be acquired? May be a couple of thousand of farmers and fooling around 200 million voters, in the same way as fooling around 300 million voters for reservations in jobs by doling out 1 lakh jobs during the last 65 years. What a great achievement ?
• Who is going to reap the benefits of land acquisitions by government for infra projects, industry and urbanization? Is it not a fact that much before the actual land acquisition comes into play, the sharks belonging to power corridors, the kith and kin of politicians, their stooges and cronies manage to corner all land. The bill is an effort to give them the huge windfall benefits. If there was iota of sincerity in the minds of the polity, to give the real benefit to the farmer or the real landowner, some safe guard against this activity could have been incorporated, otherwise in present form, it is only an effort to maximize the gains of Vadheras and the likes of them along with the piddlings of the power corridors.

The seemingly innocuous land acquisition bill  is an effort to multiply manifolds the illegal earnings of who's who of the power corridors and to fool the farmer at large to grab his valuable vote for the black motives of the polity. Its overall impact on the economy,  its growth and to the urbanization of the country is going to be highly negative. Land acquisition bill will push up property prices by 30% along with making land acquisition a long drawn process riddled with uncertainties. Every cloud has a silver lining and hopefully the provisions contained in the bill will be used by landowners at nuclear power plant sites to see an end to the call on nuclear power in India : our worst enemy.

WRONG ECONOMICS OR WRONG INTENTIONS

Pseudo economics, artificial actions and on all policy fronts with the sole consideration of vote bank politics have pushed India into a situation which is certainly not the envy of even the best of the supporters of the present government of India. It is only the modern day equivalents of historical court jesters and those excelling in the art of boot licking and sycophancy of the power corridors to succeed in their own dubious self interests who are all praise for the government actions which have failed to produce any positive results  on inflation front, the mother of all problems related to the economic health of the nation and the resulting rupee devaluation and a dwindling economy. Common sense says that the buying power of the rupee in the Indian market directly has a strong bearing on its buying power in the international market and yet strangely the only action taken by government of India is tightening of monetary policy through reserve bank without much effect on the inflation front but significant deleterious effects on the Indian economy. The real challenges before India the potential superpower of 21st century seem to have gone in the background and the Indian economy has been caught in the vicious cycle of slowing growth, fiscal deficit and current account deficit. All actions by the hi fi economists of the country seem to be hitting a wall perhaps because no concerted and sincere effort is being made.
Economics, governance and inflation are so much interlinked that any slackness in economics or governance will not allow inflation to come down to acceptable limits till such time the benefits of NREGA and increase of per capita income through increase in GDP are nullified by the increase in unemployment and dwindling growth rates of GDP. Similarly, Fiscal deficit and current account deficit do temporarily come down with decrease in international commodity prices of gold, crude etc and will go up as the commodity prices rise again. Unless and until the oil economics is viewed and managed in totality, oil economics will be the eternal bane of Indian economy and India's growth story. On the gold front also, Indian rulers are conveniently and merrily forgetting the basic fact that it is the most convenient method of absorbing black money. Increasing import duty can be a short term deterrent for some but in the long run the demand for yellow metal will not reduce and it will give incentive to more black money generation through smuggling route.

Why is it that every measure to take care of the woes of the common citizen has to be detrimental to the country? The answer is pretty simple, all actions are being taken by keeping  the interests of nation and its poor millions in the background and the  baser political/human urges to gain control over vote banks at the forefront. Food subsidy bill is a representative case in point.There is no denying the fact that food security is the first basic big element in the chain of value addition in the earning ability of an individual, his health and India's march towards poverty alleviation. Food subsidy bill talks in terms of providing food to 50% of urban India (377 million) and 75% of rural India ( 833 million) at highly subsidised rates at a whopping cost of Rs 1,30,000 crore to the exchequer. Add to this the cost of pilferage, grain rotting and logistics inefficiencies, an estimated amount of Rs 60,000 -70,000 crore. A cost of about Rs 2,00,000 crore for meeting the basic food requirements of 800 million of Indian citizens after 66 years of rule by politicians totally dedicated to the cause of the common man. A matter to be proud of ???? Still let the country grant them credit for at least imbibing the motto 'BETTER LATE THAN NEVER'. But what is the compulsion of 

• Giving it as a dole for the empty stomach, a liability of human body and not barter it against the output of two working hands which are the biggest asset of every human being. Why can't the polity ensure a monthly income of Rs 7000 for a household of five persons ( 35 days wages split between 2 adults ) or Rs 47 per day per head through a payment against work. The expenditure can be met by clubbing  together money spent on all the doles, freebies and the allied wastage, pilferage and administrative costs. Imagine the miracle of additional 300 (working days) X 100 million (working hands) available man days in a year, a figure even all the European nations combined together cannot dream of.
• Not adopting a methodology that would be most cost effective and least contributor to mismanagement and corrupt practices that have been the bane of majority of government programs and actions.

Why can't these brilliant men at the top think of achieving food security, work security and health security all by a single action of good governance and forgetting subsidies. Perhaps the polity lacks the courage and will to tell their vote banks that they are getting everything as compensation for their labour and work. Or may be the vote bank tells them that payment against work is acceptable from polity that deserves to rule and not from polity which relies only on corruption and corrupt practices for ruling the country.

INDIA CRYING FOR SINCERE AND HONEST POLITY

What a big ask for a country on the threshold of becoming an economic global super power? Sixty five years after independence and still election after election the basic agenda is 'Garibi Hatao', 'Roti, Kapda, aur Makan', Clean drinking water and clean living environment, basic healthcare, basic education, unemployment etc etc and the unending list goes on and on. The biggest achievement of India's so called sincere and honest polity over these decades have been that they have managed to retain all these bare essentials/needs of human living/existence as burning problems of the Indian nation. The helpless millions are left with no choice or alternative but to accept small freebies/doles/ bribes out of national wealth or the illegally earned heaps of wealth of the political masters, their cronies, near and dear ones and those who subscribe to the principle of  "you scratch my back, I will scratch yours". In return for these crumbs, these millions through their valuable vote offer power to these leeches, the leeches who are solely surviving on their blood sucking prowess, a prowess to fool the nation of billion plus citizens into accepting prosperity of a chosen few as willed by God or destiny.

Sisters and brothers of India, whether from villages or cities, from  any religion, caste or creed,rich or poor, this is not the truth. You are born in a country which has been endowed by nature with all the riches except sincere and honest rulers. Indian rulers are working overtime for enhancing the tenures of their tryst with prosperity and power wielding through manipulations of vote dynamics in the name of divisive rhetoric of cast, creed, religion etc..
These politicians have been boastfully talking about the reservations for dalits (SC's), scheduled tribes (ST's), other backward classes (OBC's) and reaping rich dividends in the form of prosperity and power for their cronies and relatives at the expense of even your basic needs of bare existence. Did the constitution mandate that welfare of the poor will be limited only to a couple of thousand  jobs per year in the government sector. At this rate the exploitation and injustice meted out to the poor and deprived classes for thousands of years will be mitigated perhaps in tens of thousands of years. It is strange that all politicians of this country irrespective of their caste, creed or religion are firm believers of this exploitation and have kept self, self interests and all baser instincts of humanity much ahead of the nation and its teeming helpless millions.
How long will you let yourselves be subject to this exploitation  and allow yourselves be bled to near non human existence. Don't be taken in by any of the tricks of politicians, for end of corrupt people  and corruption will be the end of your poverty and miseries. It is a war between your existence and their existence. Your poverty is a direct result of  corruption  by  those in authority and power. And this is something no politician of India seems to be concerned about. That is why

•  No LOK PAL, 
• No action against Black Money Generation, 
• Nothing to stop Graft, Bribe and corruption, 
• Non applicability of Right to information (RTI) to political parties, 
• Objections to any institution asking for accountability of actions of the polity such as Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and Judiciary.
• Government Stranglehold on the investigating agencies 

After all they are wise enough not to do Kalidasa act of cutting the same branch of tree on which they have been prospering and will continue to prosper for all their future generations. Corruption and corrupt practices are the sole lifeline of their very existence in politics and their capability of ruling India. So work hard in all earnest to cut this lifeline of politicians. It requires no gun, no sword.  Democracy has given you the right to achieve this just by giving your vote to the right man, the man who will utilise country's wealth for bringing in growth and prosperity  through more jobs, better wages, improved living conditions, providing basic healthcare and education to impart value addition to your earning power in a time bound manner rather than converting you into beggars and slaves by giving doles, freebies and subsidies in the same manner as was provided by the old feudal lords to maintain their status of masters vis a vis slaves for centuries.

WHAT AILS INDIA?

The whole world recognises the potential of India to become a global economic superpower in the next few decades 

• in the light of availability of global opportunities arising out of the problems being faced by today's economic giants because of 

1. Unsuitable demography
2. Improper mix of human resource
3. Extremely high wage structure not in sync with the commercial aspects of all industrial activity.
4. Over spending on social security and welfare schemes
5. Need to replace current nearly obsolescent technologies with newer revolutionary technologies in the fields of energy security, logistics and transport incurring huge replacement costs. 
6. And above all, depletion of conventional natural resource reserves which have been the strength of twentieth century industrial revolution.

India is most favorably placed as far the demography, human resource and wage structure are concerned. The other irritants can be taken care of with a judicious proportioning of expenditure on welfare schemes and industrial productivity. But strangely enough no big results are either forth coming or appear to be forthcoming in future. Aptly one is forced into asking, ' What ails India' and it is not very hard to find out the answer to this. The following come to one's mind if you try to dwell on this subject.

• Lack of Vision and far sight: In the history of independent India, the vision and far sight were seen only during two periods, firstly during Nehru's times in the fifties and sixties of the last century covering the first three five year plans and  secondly during the time of Vajpai. After Nehru's era India went into a period of what has been described as a plan holiday by several analysts and a similar condition has perhaps developed during the last ten years also. During these periods the Indian leaders have only concentrated on hollow promises, vote catching gimmicks and rhetoric and worst still all government decisions seem to be motivated by politics and corrupt governance. The decisions on two main pillars of any booming economy i.e. the energy security and natural resource management neither show any vision nor any concern for the poor citizenry of this country. When the whole world seems to be moving towards renewable energy sources for ultimate, ever lasting, and relatively inexpensive energy security, India is lagging behind and is perhaps is being guided by national and international cartels of industry, nations and even scientific and technological power centres. Indian geographical and habitation scenario is perhaps most suited to Energy security with solar and wind energy but is perhaps not being pursued because these energy sources are not owned by any cartel or any power centre or any lobby. Water resource management has suffered because of this lack of vision, so much so that a country bestowed with abundant water from perennial rivers, a lot of rainfall is in the danger of a water crisis with ground water tables moving deeper and deeper. On one hand every year floods cause huge loss to agriculture and property while on the other millions suffer because of famines occur as a result of severe drought in many parts of the country.
• The lack of governance is the other major ailment that is pulling down India. In fact Indian government is a government sans governance. One is astonished to hear from the government that India neither has proper laws to fight crime, bribery, corruption etc. nor has the requisite infrastructure for quick disposal of law cases.The government seems to be a mere informer to the nation and takes pride in that. Who will find solution to these ailments is not known? Day in day out the country is made to understand that no individual or leader alone can fight these maladies and that the people have to become honest and responsible. If that happens by any miracle will the country need these rulers to waste national kitty on them, a vast majority out of them are   goons and buffoons who are ruling/ruining India. A reminder to the ruling class of the country

Good Economics and Good Governance is Ideal
Bad Economics and Good Governance is A Compromise
Good Economics and Bad Governance is Undesirable
Bad Economics and Bad/Corrupt Governance is A Disaster

• The irony of Indian situation is that India has embraced the last of the above four options with utter disregard to the quantum of doles, freebies, subsidies and administrative expenditure an economy can sustain. As if that were not enough every action of government with regard to natural resources like minerals, water, spectrum, land etc. is meant to be to the detriment of the nation and benefit of polity, powerful bureaucrats, industrialists and their stooges and cronies. So much so that India has  ignominiously earned for itself the epithet of A land of scams.

ON GROUND REALITIES OF INDIAN ECONOMIC HEALTH

The polity and the rulers of India, both at the union government or the states are only bothered for their respective thrones and constantly strive to outdo each other in their public fooling pseudo good politics for their short term gains and much against the long term interests of the nation and its citizenry. It is not that they do not understand the implications of what they call as good politics but in their quest to attain and retain power they ignore even the basics of managing a good household budget and running a family. They know it for certain that 'Good politics without good economics and good governance is surely a complete disaster for the nation' but they forget even the basic principles of running a country i.e. 'Good Economics and Good Governance is Ideal, Bad Economics and Good Governance is A Compromise, Good Economics and Bad Governance is Undesirable, Bad Economics and Bad/Corrupt Governance is A Disaster. The polity has willingly chosen the path of of self destruction combining good politics with bad economics and bad governance. Let us understand the importance of the wisdom contained in this Chinese proverbs/sayings “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” and this is the way to take the country and its citizenry forward and " Look in each man two working hands and not a mouth to be fed".

India is tangled in the problems of high inflation, high current account and fiscal deficits resulting out of passivity and lethargy of the government because of its single point concentration on vote bank politics and and no worthwhile efforts to improve upon the governance. In fact the Indian government is a government sans governance and whatever governance is there it comes from courts and Reserve Bank of India. Now that the water has crossed all dangerous levels, there has been some effort on the part of union government to bite the bullet for taking small steps towards good economics much to the chagrin of majority of Indian polity which describes these measures as against the interests of the common man. Let India as a nation understand that blaming the world economy scenario for our woes is self defeating in the sense that other nations will not help India in getting  out of the economic mess it is in. Once their economies start looking up and they are out of the slump and recession like conditions they will strive with double the force to achieve greater prosperity for their nations. India will be left to make use of the crumbs left on the platter by these sincere, honest and wily leaders of the developed west.

Monetary steps and controls could not bring down inflation to the so called tolerable limits of Indian economists and has resulted in the much feared slow down of the economy. Inflation in India is a direct result of bad economics and lack of governance for no amount of monetary measures can address the problem of inflation in the long run. Now the government has started talking about large current account and fiscal deficits. It is not understood why these economists of international repute could not adopt an integrated approach to the problems pertaining to inflation and economic growth. Even now while there is an effort of reducing the fiscal deficit to within limits, the methods employed are highly questionable. Selling of government assets in the form of disinvestment is never a good option for you never sell your silverware for consumption in the form of subsidies, doles and freebies. All other measures seem to be guided only for keeping the stock markets cheerful, buoyant and perked up for realising maximum money from disinvestment for some reduction in fiscal deficit and flow of funds through Foreign Institutional Investors (FII's) for some reduction in current account deficit. FII's are by and large traders and any short term gains through this route are dangerous.  Earlier on we had Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parikh resorting to such activity which ended up as big stock market scams and the gullible Indian investors incurred huge losses in the market. God bless the country when the government resorts to such activity. Investments through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are always welcome because of their long term impact on economy. 

There is little effort to address the problem of high current account deficit wherein the two major culprits are Oil and gold imports along with slowing down of imports. India has to have a some out of the box solution to its energy requirements or else oil economics will  be the eternal bane of Indian growth story  in a global scenario of escalating oil prices with each passing year as the demand increase and resources get depleted. To reduce gold imports the country has to think in terms of mitigation of corruption and black money generation in the economy. The lure and lust for yellow metal among people with white money is on the decrease but enjoys the most favoured investment status along with real estate among corrupt and tax evaders.

Lastly, the government has talked about reductions in government spending in some sectors but strangely it has never talked about austerity measures.

CORRUPTION IN INDIA - A RESULT OF APATHY, COMPULSION OR CORRUPTION MOTIVATED GOVERNANCE ON THE PART OF INDIAN POLITY

India and its development pace are going to dogs because of malaise of corruption which is prospering exponentially. But sadly enough this issue is not getting the due attention it should get from the rulers of the country. This is a known fact, a fact known to all the citizenry of this country that every action, every deed of the government, small or big is mired with corruption and graft but no worthwhile action is coming forth. Still worst the common man has been reduced to being a mute spectator to the demon of corruption and left wondering whether the corruption in India is a result of apathy, compulsion or corruption motivated governance on the part of the polity.

• Apathy towards corruption is so apparent that a person like me had to rethink about the role of rulers and legislatures. As a youngster like all students I understood that we elect representatives through elections for ruling and governing states as well as nation. But today after witnessing the drama on corruption and the concern of these legislatures for more than a decade I am left with no option but to  conclude that elections are meant for electing informers to the nation in the same way as the police has informers on the streets. Leaders belonging to all parties, starting from grass root level workers to the mightiest of the land are found dutifully informing the voters that corruption and graft are prevailing here there and everywhere. Yet no action comes forth - administrative, judicial, preventive or legislative
• Compulsion of coalition government in not getting necessary legislation in place cannot be understood by a normal citizen particularly when such legislations cannot come in the way of social, political or economic ideology of any party. A partial explanation can be found when one thinks of the crab mentality of politicians which is an absolute must in politics for denying the credit to the ruling party for anything that can affect the votes. But this explanation is wrought with dangers as no body will like to be seen as a perpetuator of corruption. 
• Corruption motivated governance is the only plausible explanation as corruption and black money and  allowing such opportunity to one and all of the cadres,bureaucracy, power brokers etc.. are the back bone of politics in India. Money makes the mare go and it is the sole victory ensurer in elections and is equally important for continuance in power as well. The pressures of transfers, promotions, greed of doles of appointments and extensions after superannuation and many a times discretionary allotment of real estate are enough to change the outlook from 'Loyalty to the nation' to 'loyalty to boss or chair' for most of public servants.

When these are the realities on ground, only a systemic change along with quick disposal of cases and plugging loopholes in system as also change of attitude of the polity is a must if India is not to be denied its rightful place of glory amongst the developed world in a foreseeable future.

GOONS AND BUFFOONS RULING / RUINING INDIA

The every day occurrences of high handedness by the mighty of the land, their views on heinous crimes like gang rapes and economic offences speaks volumes about what they think of their beyond the law of the land status and unlimited powers. The rights of a normal citizen and his existence is that of the worm of the lowest order as seen in the following:

• Abduction of Chief Medical Officer of a district in Uttar Pradesh by a minister for not acceding to his illegal orders
• Multitude of gang rapes in Haryana and the apathy and complacency on the part of government and the uttering of senior leaders of the state.Somebody saying that girls should be married when they are minors. Somebody saying that girls themselves are responsible for these rapes. Who knows tomorrow we may be told that girls should be killed before they are born. Not a single word on deteriorating law and order situation and helplessness on the part of government to nab and punish the guilty.
• A Member of Parliament (MP) from Gujarat brandishing his gun on an attendant at the toll plaza who had the audacity of asking the Demon of an MP his I Card for letting him pass without paying the toll tax. Gone are the days when performing one's duty in the right earnest was rewarded even if meant a little bit of inconvenience to the mighty one's of the land.
• Financial irregularities by VIPs and their kith and kin and the government instead of taking a serious note of these irregularities and necessary action thereon, is fighting tooth and nail to defend the actions with all its might. It seems that the government and its ministers are either the lawyers to these VIPs or all apparently dubious looking deals are done after seeking their legal opinion. No surprises that the Honorable Law Minister of India earns the epithet of son in law's minister on our media channels. A national spokesperson of the ruling party and an eminent lawyer was heard on a TV channel the other day saying that the government cannot act in matters of business deals between private parties. A  small question for the guidance of fellow citizens to these legal luminaries. A powerful individual X in government does a favour to a private party and tells the firm to give the benefit to his major son in cash or kind. Is it in order as far as the government of India is concerned. An Individual Y buys an ordinary wooden table from his son for a few crores. Is the transaction in order in the eyes of the government?

There are 746 MPs and 4063 legislatures from all states of India. Out of these 31 % MPs and MLAs have criminal records and cases pending against them in Indian courts. How many more will fall under the economic offence category? Your guess is as good as mine but needless to emphasize that the number is going to be pretty large. George Bernard Shaw could not have imagined that a country with the credentials of India could also exist when he said,"Politics is the last resort for the scoundrels." Though one feels ashamed even to to say so for your country, but is forced to agree to the slightly modified maxim "Politics is the first refuge of a scoundrel." With this mix of elite and august gathering amongst the polity of India, the ruling class, what else can be expected. All these guys get elected also in elections is the saddest commentary on the democracy of India. So how can the rulers or the parties which form the government ignore them or do something against their interests inter alia their own continuance in power.

Every day we are reminded by the polity that no man is guilty unless convicted by a court of law.The first and foremost deduction from this is that these guys with the connivance of the government of the day will never insist and work towards having a judicial and investigating system for the quick disposal of all cases, ideally in two years time from lower courts to the highest court of law. Unless and until that happens, we in India have to live in an atmosphere of anarchy, hoodlumism, might is right and above all in a thoroughly corrupt country destined to be ruled/ruined by the goons and buffoons at the helm of affairs.

INDIA: A LAND OF SCAMS

Japan is known as the land of rising sun, Korea is known as the land of morning calm

Finland is called the land of midnight sun,Indonesia is called the land of thousand islands, Turkey is called the sick man of Europe and Africa is called the dark continent

These epithets are earned as a result of unique geographical location or the strength and weakness of a particular nation. While the government of India likes to call India by the epithet ' Incredible India' , to a common unbiased man the right description for the country is India: A land of scams'. Everyday one comes across some new scam of the magnitude of thousands of crores of rupees, not that what has come to light already is the end of list of scams. In fact all these come to light as a result of probing by media with its meagre resources and strangely enough the all powerful government and its agencies, be it at the centre or states, never saw anything wrong the way country's assets are being looted in the name of development of the country and bringing prosperity to its masses by the who's who of powerful polity, executive and their cronies, stooges and near and dear ones.

We are just talking of instances involving losses and involvements of thousands of crores of rupees and if we have the inclination, energy and resources to find out all cases ranging from 50 lakhs to 1000 crore, the extent  to which this  malaise is affecting the country and its masses is simply beyond human imagination. Yet the polity of all hues is least concerned about it and the attacks and defence are kept in the political arena only. No body is interested in seeking a solution as it affects the very existence of the polity and its ability to loot the nation.
We have heard some top guns of Indian political system screaming that they are ashamed of being Indians over  realities of poverty in this country but never have we come across anyone from this polity being ashamed of corruption malaise. At least I was embarrassed when a foreigner named India as The land of scams and could only hang my head in shame. After all I am not a politician.

INDIAN GOVERNMENT, A GOVERNMENT SANS GOVERNANCE

Governments of countries are meant for administration, governance and necessary legislations to increase the government revenues so that the same could be employed for the betterment of country's economy, and its masses.The present Indian government has failed miserably on these counts because of policy paralysis, its failure to curb inflation, current account deficit, fiscal deficit and above all mitigation of corruption, graft and black money. In fact the Indian government is a government sans governance. In fact sometimes I wonder whether the small phase of 8-9% GDP growth was just a providential jackpot thrust on the nation because of compulsions of advanced western economies. Any value additions on the part of Indian government through far reaching policies, administrative and governance positives does not appear to be a reality.

Statesmen think of next generation and create opportunities, Leaders Seize opportunities that come their way, while Politicians think of next elections and fritter away these opportunities and dirty politicians simply mess up everything.

In fact the Indian polity and leadership falls in the last category of dirty politicians and they are leaving no stone unturned to make a mess of everything and are hell bent not to use this unique opportunity window that has been thrust on India because of global economic woes.

Governance through courts : The courts have been forced to intervene in normal governance functions for the political process and the government's will was found deficient.The court interventions have grown to such a proportion that it has become a cause of concern as brought out in Disturbing trends in judicial activism but were absolutely necessary in the face of inaction by the government. Some excerpts are highlighted below:

COURT INTERVENTIONS

• In the interest of preventing pollution, the Supreme Court ordered control over automobile emissions, air and noise and traffic pollution, gave orders for parking charges, wearing of helmets in cities, cleanliness in housing colonies, disposal of garbage, control of traffic in New Delhi, made compulsory the wearing of seat belts, ordered action plans to control and prevent the monkey menace in cities and towns, ordered measures to prevent accidents at unmanned railway level crossings, prevent ragging of college freshmen, for collection and storage in blood banks, and for control of loudspeakers and banning of fire crackers.

• The Court is made the monitor of the conduct of investigating and prosecution agencies who are perceived to have failed or neglected to investigate and prosecute ministers and officials of government. Cases of this type are the investigation and prosecution of ministers and officials believed to be involved in the Jain Hawala case, the fodder scam involving the former Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Taj Corridor case involving the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati, and the recent prosecution of the Telecom Minister and officials in the 2G Telecom scam case by the Supreme Court.

• Matters of policy of government are subject to the Court’s scrutiny. Distribution of food-grains to persons below poverty line was monitored, which even made the Prime Minister remind the Court that it was interfering with the complex food distribution policies of government. In the 2G Licenses case, the Court held that all public resources and assets are a matter of public trust and they can only be disposed of in a transparent manner by a public auction to the highest bidder. This has led to the President making a Reference to the Court for the Court’s legal advice under Article 143 of the Constitution. In the same case, the Court set aside the expert opinion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to sell 2G spectrum without auction to create greater teledensity in India.

• The Court has for all practical purposes disregarded the separation of powers under the Constitution, and assumed a general supervisory function over other branches of governments. The temptation to rush to the Supreme Court and 21 High Courts for any grievance against a public authority has also deflected the primary responsibility of citizens themselves in a representative self government of making legislators and the executive responsible for their actions. The answer often given by the judiciary to this type of overreach is that it is compelled to take upon this task as the other branches of government have failed in their obligations. On this specious justification, the political branches of government may, by the same logic, take over the functions of the judiciary when it has failed, and there can be no doubt that there are many areas where the judiciary has failed to meet the expectations of the public by its inefficiency and areas of cases.

• Economic Governance Through Reserve Bank ( RBI )

The Indian economy appears to be in a mess. Inflation rates are uncomfortably high. We have rupee valued at a all time low value in international markets. We have high current account deficit along with high fiscal deficit and the GDP growth is moving downwards continuously. Strangely, the government has left the answer to all these problems solely to RBI whose actions are leading to a catch 22 situation because of the interdependence of these problems when tackled through monetary policy actions. These patchwork solutions will only give some breathing period for the government to act with long term measures to have lasting solutions and alone will take the country nowhere and will only delay the impending disaster. The real answer lie in 

• Inflation control through increasing the availability of goods and not through raising the interest rates which will only reduce the growth rates.Economics, governance and inflation go hand in hand and are the only permanent remedy to inflation and growth rates.
• Current account deficit and fiscal deficit are dependent on Indian Oil Economics in a very big way and requires immediate attention on the part of government to seek a long term permanent solution in reducing the quantum of oil imports as also the subsidy burden in the light scenario of ever increasing   international prices of crude. The path of raising the prices through reduction in subsidies can give respite in the short term but reducing demand, pilferages, thefts and mismanagement of subsidies has to be accorded topmost priority to find a lasting solution.

But the Indian government has chosen the path of 

• Disinvestment in Public Sector Units, a decision country is going to regret in the long run
• Foreign Direct Investment
• Policy of wait and watch  

1. hoping international crude prices will cool off thus reducing the oil bill of the nation
2. western economies will improve and our exports to these countries will grow.

• And lastly Raising oil prices partially but good economics and good politics will never go hand in hand and ultimately good politics will rule supreme. The answer has to through a combination of good governance with a 60% weightage and good economics and good politics with a 20% weightage.

These actions can provide some relief to the Indian economy in the short run but the long term solutions will emerge through good corruption free governance, increasing efficiency, stopping thefts and pilferages and meaningful austerity measures. Alas, no effort in these directions is forthcoming from the Indian government and sadly it remains a government sans governance.

FREE COAL ALLOCATION: A MASTERPIECE MANIPULATION

In a country where all waste and garbage is sold and is the earning method of thousands of people, the decision of government to allocate blocks of coal, the black gold, absolutely free of charge to the cronies, stooges, and near and dear ones of those in power is simply a master stroke in throwing dust in the eyes of Indian citizenry, in the name of welfare of the poor.

• Myths about coal cost contribution to electricity generation

Let us try to understand the impact of allocations on power generation and heavy industry like steel and cement. Recently it was brought out by NTPC that a 25% decrease ( from $100 to $75 a ton ) in international coal prices will bring down the cost of power generation by mere 7 - 10 paise per unit, a meagre decrease of 2-3% in the power generation cost at the plant for a coal cost reduction of Rs 1100/ton. The fuel component of power generation is merely 35-40 paise per unit even when coal is priced at Rs 4000/ton and the cost to consumer multiplies manifolds because of plant capital cost, manpower costs, transmission and distribution costs etc.. Where is the concern for the common man or providing stimulus to growth seen when in one go the governments increase rates to consumers by more than 30%.

In steel production, coal contributes 8 to 12% to the cost of steel whereas in cement industry the contribution of the coal to the cost of cement is about 18-20% and the coal cost includes royalty, mining, coking ( in case of steel production ) and logistics.

The coal block allocation or auction and the loss to revenue relates only to the royalty money. Incidentally the royalty content in coal price of about Rs1500/ton supplied by Coal India is Rs 180/ton. In the light of all this, arguments for coal block allocations are nothing more than a hoax and seem to be governed by everything other than any noble intention. In fact such decisions are bleeding the Indian economy and are putting India's march to prosperity backwards by a couple of years.

• In a recent report on huge profits by Jindal Power, Naveen Jindal a congress M.P. and Chairman and MD of Jindal Power says," Huge Profits not because of cheap coal " but are because of efficient planning, implementation and operations.

But still the government insists that coal block allocations free of charge have been done in the interest of the country and its poor masses. Somebody out of this committed polity with lot of hidden agenda should venture to throw some light on the following basic questions:

• Who is the owner of the land?
• Even lease in residential and commercial property keep on getting revised upwards but coal allotted and use of thousands of acres will be free for all times to come even if its prices escalate manifolds which is going to be a most likely scenario
• The change to auction route according to government is a long and tedious affair requiring legislation . These guys managing the affairs of the government in all their wisdom could not think in terms of royalty payments in their eagerness to favour themselves, fianancially, politically or for any other consideration .