THE BIRTH AND RISE OF CORRUPTION EMPOWERED CABAL IN INDIA

In 1947 when India got independence, Indian polity and bureaucracy were by and large an honest and God fearing community. There could be some biases, likings, putting in a good word for some favour but nothing was ever done in exchange of money. Bribery and corruption were almost a taboo in the society. Tax compliance was an honour. With the passage of years, bribery, corruption, tax evasion all became accepted norms in the society and those who stayed away from these activities were ridiculed for not being worldly wise and daring. 

How did it start? Why did it start? The shift from pre independence era poltician's mindset of a servant of people to the mindset of being the ruler/king hardly took two decades. Once this rot set in, the necessity of having faithful servants in all positions arose. The lust of power immediately brought in the lust for money, riches and a desire for all baser elements of life.  The desire for power coupled with the desire for riches pushed the Indian politicians to the real long established definition of poltics. "It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first". These are the words of Ronald Reagan, the Ex US President and he couldn't have been more apt and correct, particularly when you see present day breed of the Indian Politicians.

Nobody can taste the fruits of  power and riches all alone, whatever may be the mode of governance. Kings/Dictators had their own faithful and powerful men in key positions, left regimes manage through party cadres and in a multi party democracy the leader has to share the spoils with a much larger group and to have them faithfully glued  to your side must close the eyes of the system so that they prosper. That propels the lick my boot, scratch my back model in reality. The resulted in the birth of corruption empowered cabal which encompasses the length and breadth of all walks of life , which grew exponentially in the next four decades, the colour of ruling polity being of no consequence.During these years no leader, no  politician , no intelligentsia, no bureaucracy, no judiciary, no media/ journalist, in fact nobody of any consequence from amongst 'The Haves of Indian Society' took cognizance of this malaise. In fact they are all guilty of enjoying the fruits of the birth and rise of corruption empowered cabal and are solely responsible for delaying the INDIAN CHANCE TO BECOME AN ECONOMIC SUPERPOWER They failed the nation in sorting out the CHALLENGES BEFORE INDIA , THE POTENTIAL ECONOMIC SUPERPOWER OF THE 21st CENTURY . 
The opportunity windows are a once in lifetime phenomenon in the history of a nation and India is in the midst of this window. Western European countries, Japan and China became prosperous before getting old. Let us resolve that we will not let the present corruption empowered ecosystem thrust upon us by this cabal deny us the prosperity/ happiness that can be ours if we utilize this opportunity judiciously. Let us not forget that 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 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.

We as a nation have our tasks and priorities well defined and well cut. Let us fight for the end of this cabal and not fritter away our date with destiny which is just a decade away.

PHILOSOPHY OF CORRUPTION EMPOWERMENT - BANE OF SEVEN DECADES OF INDEPENDENT INDIA

After India attained independence, a lot was expected from the governments of independent India. India was a very prosperous country during the period of middle ages and attracted the traders, philosophers and looters/ invaders from 1000AD onwards. India became poor and backward as a result of loot/ arson , barbarism and cruelties by firstly Muslim invaders and rulers and finally by British Colonisers.

     India attained independence in 1947 and about the same time Germany, Japan, France etc started building up their war wrecked nations with the help of Marshall Plan. China started its march towards prosperity from 1949 onwards after the communists came into power. India also started around the same time. Western European countries and Japan became prosperous by 1960. But sadly India remained a poor and under developed country and continues to be the same even after seventy odd years.

      Where did we fail? We had the wherewithal for becoming prosperous but we squandered all the opportunities to become prosperous. In this failure two things stand out and even today unless we mend our ways we will keep on rotting and yearning for a  reasonably comfortable life for our masses. The first and foremost failure on the part of Indian polity of all hues, belonging to any of the left, right or centre ideology was the ability to keep a largely honest and God fearing nation as a corruption free nation. In fact the polity of independent India gave the nation ' The Philosophy of Corruption Empowerment ' , so much so that the CORRUPTION EMPOWERED CABAL  that came into prominence in all walks of life is fighting tooth and nail any effort to mitigate this ecosystem - the bane of seven decades of independent India . Many people from amongst the haves of India will tend to disagree but cannot deny the  crude reality of India that no government, no bureaucracy, no judiciary, no intelligentsia, no media has ever raised its voice for bringing the problem to light, leave apart finding a solution to destroy this demon.From time to time every class has talked of corruption by their opponents, not for punishing the culprits or finding a solution to mitigate this devil, but to gain an access to power so as to enable themselves to be the share holders in this national loot.The second failure on the part of India has been in seeing only the stomach to be fed with every human being rather than  two hands that can add to the earnings and prosperity of the nation.This can either be a case of  WRONG ECONOMICS OR WRONG INTENTIONS. The unintentional wrongs can be rectified after some time but the continuity of thought process and the lack of will and effort in making the list of  genuine beneficiaries devoid of duplicates and fakes is a strong pointer to the deep faith in the philosophy of corruption empowerment.  

       It is time the nation and the leadership understands  the importance of  Corruption Mitigation and Good Governance - The Biggest Growth Engines for Indian Economy. Now that we have the Aadhaar platform and the power of computers, information technology and data management available in the country, we will have to blame ourselves if we do not force the government to cleanse the system of fake and duplicate everywhere, be it the census, citizenry, ration cards and subsidies, voter lists, bank accounts, PAN accounts, real estate owners etc., etc. , the resistance and excuses from CORRUPTION EMPOWERED CABAL   in the name of privacy not withstanding.

My last appeal to the hapless masses of India.

Sisters and brothers of India, whether from villages or cities, from any religion, caste or creed,rich or poor, don't be taken in by any tricks of politicians, their cronies, stooges and s breed of corruption empowered haves in authority /power, in ranks of so called intelligentsia, in businesses,in media, in self employed people. Please understand that end of corrupt people and corruption will be the end of your poverty and miseries. Your poverty is a direct result of corruption by those in authority and power.

MUMBAI AHMEDABAD BULLET TRAIN : A MAJOR STEP FORWARD TO THE INDIAN GROWTH STORY

Ever Since Indian government has taken a decision to introduce a bullet train ( High Speed Rail ) between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, all hell has been let loose by the opposition parties of India in decrying this decision om PM Modi which has the capacity to transform the Indian economy and the lives of common citizenry of India in a decade or so. The government is being touted as anti common man but India has a history of terming most of the progressive measures as repressive. Computerisation was supposed to be anti workers, so was industrialisation. This was generally the view of left parties but today even the centrist party like Congress which was the initiator of the computerisation and industrialisation has joined in the unholy alliance of decrying bullet train through its leaders and  large number of crumb getters who earned the title of intelligentsia through its patronage.

I will give three examples from railways which were outstanding efforts of the crumb givers of this intelligentsia and they rightly sang praises of the effort of the then Indian Government.But today their wisdom seems to have eluded them and they see everything wrong with this path breaking step by Mr. Modi.

a)  Rajdhani Express was introduced in 1969, for providing fast connections (up to 140 km/h or 87 mph, speed variation depending upon the particular track section) from New Delhi to the capital cities of various states in India.
b) Under the aegis of Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation and Indian Railways, Palace on Wheels was introduced on January 26, 1982. ... Thus, with a view to promote tourism in Rajasthan and to provide the world travelers a royal experience of traveling, Palace on Wheels was launched in the year 1982.

c) Rajdhani Express was introduced in 1969, for providing fast connections (up to 140 km/h or 87 mph, speed variation depending upon the particular track section) from New Delhi to the capital cities of various states in India.

But there are some sane voices also. The truth about bullet train has been reflected by Suresh Goel in The track to success: on the bullet train project . There are three advantages from the HSR project: economic benefits, including infrastructure development and job creation; technological development, in which Indian companies imbibe the new technologies and potentially also become suppliers to HSR contracts worldwide; and cultural transformation through a demonstrated ability to implement large projects and improve safety.

Investment in infrastructure development has always acted as a catalyst in the economic growth of India. This project could provide an important boost to public investment. The soft funding of the project by the Japanese government is an additional advantage, which brings the two countries together and provides significant economic benefits. In addition to creating demand for local industry, the project would also generate significant employment for a large number of skilled and unskilled workers. The HSR system is more energy- and fuel-efficient. Studies show that HSR systems are around three times more fuel-efficient than aeroplanes and five times more fuel-efficient than cars. Given the traffic density in this corridor, this project could lead to a significant reduction in India’s carbon footprint.
Equally sane and eye opener is the article How Japan's bullet train can transform Indian Railways into a global leader in size, scale & skill. which lays stress on the spinoff benefits. it is a different level of technology and India can ill afford to ignore it at this stage of its national development. A network of HSR in the longer run would facilitate travelling with enhanced passenger comfort, safety and environmental benefits. An HSR system would also release capacity of existing rail lines, enabling faster movement of freight and passenger traffic on the existing lines. The HSR system also releases capacity of airports as short-haul flights get curtailed. This capacity in turn could be utilised for longer duration flights that improve economics of air transport. In addition, development of new cities, promotion of manufacturing to supply equipment and components for the HSR system would provide employment to a growing and better skilled workforce. Investment in HSR is a highly beneficial system because of its various spinoffs, including infusion of new technology in the country which in the long run would lead to improvement in the operations of the existing railway network also. The project is being structured in a manner that it leads to large-scale manufacturing of rolling stock, signalling systems and other electrical equipment and components under Make in India. Additionally The highs peed train will act as a huge social and psychological change act — it should change the mindset of Indians, particularly the Railways, and teach them the art of excellence, safety, punctuality and perfection. 

Changing lives with solar microgrids

Haiti is the poorest the country in the western hemisphere. Only 25 per cent of the 10.3 million people in the country have access to electricity. One nonprofit organization is testing a solution that could not only change the lives of the unelectrified in Haiti, but could be a model of how to bring electricity to the 1.2 billion people in the world still living in the dark.

EarthSpark International has built a 93 kW solar-powered microgrid in the small town of Les Anglais (pop. 3,000 in the “downtown” area), which currently supplies clean reliable power to approximately 2,000 people.

Why a Microgrid?

Haiti has more than 30 existing municipal microgrids, but most of them don’t work. And even when they do function, they run on diesel and operate just a few hours a day, a few days a week. So EarthSpark’s goal was to provide people with 24-hour clean affordable electricity.

EarthSpark began working in Haiti providing people with small solar home systems and solar lanterns, products that are life-changing tools for people without access to grid electricity. But the organization soon realized that those aren’t the solutions to which everyone aspires. “To truly unlock economic opportunity, people need access to higher levels of electricity than what a solar home system can provide,” Allison Archambault, president of EarthSpark International, told RMI.

“With the right conditions minigrids can provide energy services in a low-cost sweet spot between small levels of energy consumption that can be effectively served by small stand-alone solar systems and traditional grid extension,” according to Eric Wanless, a principal in RMI’s international practice leading the Sustainable Energy for Economic Development initiative. EarthSpark isn’t the only group focusing on microgrids.

The cheapest way to scale up wind and solar energy? 

January 27, 2016 9.45pm AEDT

Wind power and solar power are ways to reduce carbon emissions, but these generation sources are dependent on the vagaries of the weather, which means neither wind nor solar can produce electricity on-demand at all hours of the day. This variability has led many to assume that greatly expanding wind and solar to reduce carbon emissions will cause electricity costs to skyrocket and require expensive energy storage.

My colleagues and I have just published a new study to show that this assumption is not correct. In fact, if the U.S. were to move to a national 48-state electric system, rather than the regional one in place now, the country would be able to transport more renewable energy around the country. That change could reduce CO2 by 78 percent at lower costs than today without using any storage technologies.

Using a computer model, we found that this larger electric system would utilize power more efficiently regardless of the generators within it. The cost reduction between the national style system we modeled and the current one, which is divided into about 130 regions, is US$47 billion per year. That translates into an electricity cost of between 8.5 and 10.2¢ per kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared to the current national average of 12.7 cents per kWh.

THE REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN, A NEW ERA HAS BEEN USHERED IN INDIAN POLTICS

During the last five decades all people (who were sincere and honest to the nation and country and not to any boss, chair or party to fulfill their desires through nondubious and noncorrupt means) talked in their drawing rooms that this country can progress to prosperity only when a revolution takes place, a revolution by the silent hapless billion plus people of this land against all efforts of the ruling polity and bureaucracy to fool them, to loot them.

Even today as I write this a big debate is going on on all media channels wherein all the national spokes persons of all the established parties are attributing Aam Aadmi Party's win and Bhartiya Janta Party's loss to the secular credentials of one and Hindutava agenda of the latter. But let us understand that no revolution in the history of mankind has occurred with religious agenda. In fact all revolutions have taken place as a war between haves and havenots because haves have always thrived and made merry on power, authority, corruption and loots..Still they do not want to take cognizance of the fact that that it is the awareness and recognition of the plain and simple reality of today's India described in words below
 i.e

Sisters and brothers of India, whether from villages or cities, from any religion, caste or creed,rich or poor, 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.Your poverty is a direct result of  corruption  by  those in authority and power.
which is responsible for such a clean sweep in the latest Delhi elections. In fact it is the dawn of a new era, a watershed mandate in the Indian political history where the power of ballot has rejected the hitherto effective and accepted model of Indian politics wherein the vote banks could be purchased/ goaded/fooled by empowering a few henchmen/goons economically much in the same manner as Muslim rulers would make Nawabs and British rulers would make Rai Sahibs at the expense of common man's rights and dues. The new model mooted by Aam Aadmi Party expects the Indian rulers to work for the betterment of each and every individual rather than for a few favoured and chosen ones.

President Obama, Cut Dirty Nuclear Power From Your Climate-Change Talks

By Zoe Loftus-FarrenPhoto: Jeff Fusco/Getty Images

President Barack Obama is getting serious about climate change, a challenge that "poses a greater threat to future generations" than any other, he said in last week's State of the Union. In July, his administration announced an EPA regulation to slash carbon pollution from power plants. In November, he struck a pact with China on long-term emission reductions. And recently the White House unveiled a plan to cut methane emissions nearly in half by 2025.

Addressing climate change means, in large part, stepping away from dirty energy sources like coal and oil and toward cleaner sources. That’s a good thing. But it requires developing more energy elsewhere, including from one alternative source that has gotten scant attention in the mainstream press: nuclear energy, which poses its own serious environmental risks. 

The EPA’s proposed power-plant regulation provides a carbon credit to states for maintaining nuclear energy production at current levels: in other words, a carbon subsidy for maintaining the nuclear status quo. Following the release of the draft rules, EPA administrator Gina McCarthy made clear that the credit is meant, in part, to help the struggling nuclear industry. “There are a handful of nuclear facilities that, because they are having trouble remaining competitive, they haven’t yet looked at re-licensing,” she said at a roundtable discussion with business leaders in Chicago. If nuclear energy plants begin closing, she warned, “It’s a lot of carbon reduction that needs to be made up for a long period of time.”