Where is the demarcation line? Cannot all details of scribes’ involvement in politically murky affairs be published?

Things are taking a serious turn with Kuldip Nayar preparing to approach the Press Council of India about journalists’ involvement in string pulling for appointment of particular persons as minister and helping out 2G spectrum allotment scam offenders.

Simultaneously Ratan Tata is moving the Supreme Court, as per channel reports, trying to put a stop to further publication of telephonic talks between scribes and political leaders and the like.

If there is no scurrilous and sexually explicit or other incendiary content in it, what is the harm in publishing the telephone conversation details?

Now the US Government is dumb struck by Wikileaks, still it apparently is not gagging the move to publish content. The US government is only alerting those concerned with the leak exercise that things may go wrong.

Our democracy is also developing fast and there should not be a full-stop to opening up. Leaks about conversations of Radia, Barkha Dutt, or Vir Sanghvi are not enough. If there are conversations and involvement of others, let the full content come out. Let the people know, for these are not private affairs of individuals, but these are affairs of the state and therefore it is of concern to the people.

Bihar had never been governed well, Nitish had given a semblance of good governance and he has won

Times are changing. The Yadav magic is not shining anymore in Bihar. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s party had to bite the dust in the Assembly elections in Bihar, where Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal(U) and ally BJP are coming back to power. He would be sworn in Chief Minister on Friday.

One could see the good governance of Nitish Kumar at the Centre as Railway Minister. He had strengthened the kitty of the railways where a separate security fund was created for maintenance and renovation of old infrastructure.

When Lalu Prasad Yadav became the Railway Minister he presented himself as a great minister pointing to the robust financial health of the railways. In fact, he had scrapped the security fund which was merged with the general fund. Congress Party had to just look askance at the gaffe of Lalu for coalition compulsions.

Anyway Nitish Kumar had shown his mettle. And now he ruled Bihar with confidence and conviction. Lalu Yadav had earlier trumpeted that his people are poor, they don’t need good roads for vehicles to ply on . When floods ravaged the state, he had said people would welcome it as they could easily catch fish and eat it.

Such wide-mouthing would not carry the day always. If the Nitish Kumar way of development is continued, the state may go in for better times.

Congress has no efficient local leaders there. And so it could not reap better results.

Will it be a setback for BJP’s grandstanding?

The latest speak about BJP’s Karnataka Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa refusing to kowtow to the central leadership’s inclination for him to quit. In New Delhi, where he landed for consultations and meetings rather late, he made it clear that he would not resign over the land scam imbroglio.

He also said that no one had told him to call it a day. It was at a time when the BJP wanted to take the moral high ground in Parliament over its stance on the 2 G spectrum allocation scandal rocking Parliament and tweaking the ears of the Congress Party for its inaction, not to mention the Supreme Court’s demand for an affidavit regarding the Prime Minister’s alleged procrastination. The PMO has denied any instance of inaction, all the same the government was put at unease.

Now the BJP should be in trouble if Yeddyurappa finally refuses to fall in line. Usually, in such political situations, the people concerned take a so-called brave stand to strike some sort of a rapprochement regarding successors and a quiet exit, without much encumbrances falling on them subsequently.

Let us see whether Yeddy’s would also be such a game.

Great positions manned by morally puny figures

We cannot say the corruption, slush and sleaze, no doubt potboiler stuff, are the offshoot of systemic failure. In fact, there is no system failure, the problem is with the persons sitting in responsible positions and doing things without an iota of conscience prick. Moral, ethical dimensions do not deter them to do any underhand dealings.

2G spectrum allocation scam, CWG muddle, Adarsh Housing Society misdeeds, landscam in Karnataka – these have all come out, how many more are yet to be discovered- no doubt, are a symbolism of man’s minds going mean for petty gains.

Two three flats, a few acres of land, a few crores of rupees and the like should be peanut for a Union Minister, Chief Minister and the like. Media specialists functioning as agents for the corrupt have not come out fully. A lot of them are steeped in evil practices for gains. Those among the media who want to pursue an ethical line are not allowed to do so by the evil section straddling senior positons. Such worthies do not deserve any respect. Those who had to bow out on account of the machinations of this type of malevolent actors need not be worried. They may have lost something in the eyes of those seeking worldly pleasures, but their mental framework, the sheer will-power to stand up against evil within the system are all shining like anything. They don’t wither away.

In democratic system, at least a tip of the iceberg of corruption gets unravelled. In totalitarian systems, nothing comes out until the system itself perishes.

Those couched in top positions should have sufficient results kept in their kitty at the end of the day for them to be happy about. What we see around us are not happy things, but the worst kind of evil.

We have embraced capitalism, but where is the social security network?

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has stressed the need for "institutions and mechanisms that can deliver effectively our promise of livelihood security, the right to education, to employment, to food, to shelter."

This should be pursued in right earnest. He has made a caveat. These things cannot be done from the top. These should have top priority at the state level. No point of difference with him regarding the priority for all-round development.

But I have always been insisting on one thing about social security in the serious sense now that we have opened up our economy, markets, gone in for liberalization, globalization etc in tune with the norms of capitalism.

Where is our social security network as obtaining in capitalistic countries. There should have been a hue and cry from the political parties for institutionalizing a federalized social security department catering to the people who are jobless and incomeless.

Countries like the UK are going in for slashing the benefits for those taking unduly advantage of the welfare network. Mind you incomeless people are given as much as 850 pounds a week for their survival in many forms.

Here we have allowed big companies and corporates to reap rich harvest from the opened up market and economy. Parallel work for setting up effective social security network has not even begun. One may say Mahatma Gandhi job scheme is there. That is not the sort of social security scheme running successfully in capitalist countries.

One can say the economy is robust, growth is forward and the like. But we are backward in the matter of taking care of the incomeless people. There should be a social security network as a federal scheme taking care of all the people of all states, to be taken care of by a single department.

Is it possible to simply ask Tecom to butt out?

Smart City project in Kochi has been much touted for creating a lot of jobs in the IT sector benefiting the educated unemployed in the state. After four and a half years of its stone-laying, the project has not moved an inch forward. No doubt, political interference has stalled the project.

It was the previous government led by Congress leader Oommen Chandy that had mooted the project. The subsequent V.S.Achuthanandan government has not been amenable to some of the provisions of the agreement entered into between executing company, Tecom, and the government.

Achuthanandan government may have scored a point by saying that it was not giving over the existing IT park for free. But then was it forced to give freehold rights to Tecom? The government says there was no such provision, but Tecom insists on freehold rights of 28 acres, that is 12 per cent of the total extent of 236 acres. Oommen Chandy says there was no word, freehold, in the previous agreement.

Legal stalwarts should have been retained before signing the agreement. International companies dod that, but Kerala leaders limit legal advice to the one being given to it by the politically submissive lawyers. That will not do when it comes to issues that come up in the international arena.

Now, if Tecom is asked to butt out, will it sit idle? It will go before international legal fora for sufficient compensation. Adjudication, if any, would also entail huge compensatory provisions. Political oral blitzkrieg would not deter international companies from fleecing their pound of flesh.

Now it is the turn for Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi

Muthuvel Karunanidhi’s children are lucky like the father. Their turn would come on a platter. Now that A. Raja’s fate as a Union Minister appears to be sealed, judging from the turmoil in Parliament, stiff opposition from political rivals and comments from the Supreme Court, who could be the successor to him in the Union Ministry?

No doubt, it would be none other than the poet-writer MP Kanimozhi. Earlier, she was elected to the Rajya Sabha. And she has been doing a fine job in Delhi, positively championing the cause of DMK and her family.

It has been only because the DMK’s support was indispensable for the Congress-led UPA II Government at the Centre that Raja remained in the ministry in spite of strong opposition arising from the 2 G spectrum scam. Coalition compulsions have been holding the fort for him so far as his mentor Karunanidhi stood with him.

Now whatever may be said about it otherwise, archrival J.Jayalalithaa’s missive offering unconditional support to the UPA II Government if Raja is ousted may prove to be a big pressure against him.

Kanimozhi’s days of reckoning are ready in Delhi, it seems

Fresh air of freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar

Definitely, Myanmar is a peculiar country where democracy has no sway. Everything is decided by the military junta. For the last 30 years at least there has been constant and continuing struggle for freedom and democratic exercise for the people, mostly led by a single woman leader- Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her party had won the election years ago, but the military dictators did not allow her to take over the reign. Instead she was put in house arrest, a euphemism for imprisonment. She was leading her life like this for 15 years.

Her term of incarceration should have ended in 2009, but the same was extended for the act of someone swimming into her place of residence. Now she has been released. Will the junta allow her to take up democratic campaign and propaganda? The whole world has been putting pressure on the military regime to release her. At least now, it has obliged, but will it tolerate a different voice?

In apartheid –ridden South Africa, Nelson Mandela was put in prison for decades, and it was solitary confinement and doing the work of blasting rocks. At last he had to be released. The world rejoiced at that.

Cloistered Myanmar should not be allowed to continue with military dictatorship, not allowing dissent. The world is too large with different opinions elsewhere and Myanmar cannot be militarily autocratic. Human kind cannot go on praising the rulers, and that too the military variety.

Indian citizens should consider it their great blessing to have a democratic republic where the people can voice any kind of assertions. Sometimes people go overboard and speak about things bordering on maybe sedition. Still, we are a tolerant nation.
Let all people of all the world enjoy a breath of fresh air of freedom and equity. Let Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Myanmar enjoy freedom.

Jayalalithaa is striking a cordial note with Sonia Gandhi

Refurbishing her ambitions to corner a plum place at the national politics, AIADMK chief of Tamil Nadu, J.Jayalalithaam has offered the cake to the Congress Party. She would support the Congress-led UPA II Government at the Centre, provided Minister for Communications, A.Raja of the DMK, struggling with the 2 G spectrum allocation scam, is jettisoned from the Dr Manmohan Singh Ministry.

She has also made it clear that issues with Sonia Gandhi were a thing of the past. She knows it too well that without entering the heart of Sonia Gandhi, her voyage seeking fresh pastures would prove futile.

The Comptroller and Auditor General, in his report, had stated that as much as Rs 1.76 lakh crore was lost to the national exchequer owing to the shabby way in which the 2 G spectrum was allocated to private entities.
The Supreme Court had also made unsavoury references to the continuance of Raja in the ministry in spite of the allegations.

The surprise announcement of Jayalalithaa, through select media, could not have been at a more opportune time when Parliament is embroiled in continued turmoil over Raja’s irregularities and other issues. No one had approached her seeking support and the Congress has been guarded in its reaction. It just noted Jayalalithaa’s feelings and left it at that saying as of now its ally is the DMK, her bête noire.
She has only nine MPs when the ruling dispensation at the Centre would need the support of at least 18 MPs, if the DMK pulls out of the coalition. She would say she has the number in her kitty, offered by her allies. No doubt, all of them would fleece a pound of flesh from the fresh move.

The impact of the swift turn-around could be gauged from the fact that DMK chief M.Karunanidhi has decided to look into the report of the CAG. His daughter Kanimozhi, MP, has rushed to meet senior leader Pranab Mukherjee of the Congress Party, who is an efficient trouble-shooter.

In a way, things have started moving at the politicalscape in New Delhi as well. Congress had shown the way by taking action against Ashok Chavan and Suresh Kalmadi who were enmeshed in Adarsh Housing Society and Commonwealth Games scams. Coalition compulsions had deterred it from taking suo motu action, but has left it to the DMK to follow suit.

Certain nations not happy with Obama’s concurrence for India’s membership

The latest is that Germany and Japan have expressed their dissatisfaction over US President Obama’s approval of India getting a permanent membership in the UN Security Council.

These and some other countries have been angling for a slot in the Security Council. The world has transformed much after the end of World War II when the contours of the Security Council were drawn.

The winners, the US, UK, Russia (formerly Soviet Union),France and China, have been automatically chosen to be the permanent members of the Security Council. The present China was not there as such. It was Kuomintang China, which was replaced later by China. India was approached by the great powers to become a member before China was admitted. India had suggested that China of Mao Tse Tung should be admitted to the Security Council.

Now the very same China is dilly-dallying over India’s representation proposal. That is the fate of history. Opportunities should be grabbed without looking into the ethics of posts being got, according to opportunists, not only in the international arena, but even in personal life. Still there is a charisma and enthusiasm about being broadminded and following ethics and moral principles. Not many can follow the diktat of ethics.

Now the Communists, including Prakash Karat and A.B. Bardhan have expressed their opposition to the ties being broadened between India and the US. Maybe it is true, India should have to bear more liabilities when it would get the membership in the reformed UN Security Council. There should be a price being paid for every accretion.

Correct yourself, even if you are Obama

Comparisons are odious, if one attempts to do that between the elections in the US and those in Kerala. The parties are different, the cultures are diametrically opposite, the ways of life are not linear.

Still there can be some sort of a general reference. Obama had romped home to victory as the US President, the first African-American one in the history of that great nation, on the plank of ‘change’.

People overwhelmingly supported him. Two years down the lane, people have felt that ‘change’ for the better is not that on the way. His party, the Democratic Party, has got majority in the Senate, though in a reduced way, but rival, Republican Party, has gained 50 per cent majority in the House of Representatives, which is the lower house of the Congress.

That means Obama cannot get his legislations passed in the House of Representatives without the support of the Republican Party. For sure, the American people would see to it that on policy matters the parties may join together and work for the betterment of the people who are now seeped in a situation of rising unemployment and weak economy.

What about the Communists-led LDF in Kerala, India, where they got a drubbing in the local administration bodies elections. The LDF may have done something in the ruling realms. But the people were not enamoured. In a democracy, the people have to feel the affability of the administrators.

It is here that many operators in the political and administrative arenas have failed. The people should be respected. When we refer to people, they are vast and variegated. You cannot call them names, cannot humiliate them, on the contrary they should feel that the government is with them.

No section of the people can be ignored and they should not be termed as abominable. If there are criminals among them, action should be taken against such elements in accordance with the provisions of the law of the land. Others should be roped in for good governance.

Mind you, people should not be laughed at for their faith or non-faith.
The LDF may have opportunities to launch a diatribe against the UDF during the 2011-2016 period when the players in the UDF may not be able to cater to the interests of all the sections clinging on with it.