Let us take giant leaps and not small steps

Montek Singh Ahluwalliah has come, let us go in for a leap in infrastructure works
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalliah has come and discussed various issues with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Cabinet colleagues and also members of the state planning board.

What usually happens, hitherto, is to increase the outlay for various ongoing projects by 10 per cent. In unusual instances, there would be 20 per cent increase, if there is constant pressure.

But this is not infrastructure development, which actually requires a giant stride. In other States which are concerned with developments, it is the case that huge fly-over projects stretching to kilometers of length is being completed within months. Which speaks volumes for the fact that if there is a will, projects can be completed. Then one should not create hurdles in the way of proceeding with the work simply for getting commission or other benefits.

Already the Smart City project has lagged behind, after it was cleared. The Opposition has charged that the foreign players were not much interested in the project. Steps should be taken to expedite the work.

The all-state high-speed rail corridor, Kochi Metro and the like should not be embroiled in usual bureaucratic and political bungling. Whatever is the quick way in a transparent manner should be pressed into service.

In fact, Kerala does not have much of a high-calibre development achievement. That does not mean that we should never attempt such mega schemes.
Let us take giant leaps and not small steps.

All right, Subramanian Swamy often makes sweeping statements against leaders, but this time P.Chidambaram could be sweating it out

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy is characteristic by his sweeping statements inside and outside of courts. Claiming that he has proof of many wrong-doings by various leaders, subjectively chosen by him for blows, he has had many of them run for survival.

Subramanian Swamy is a pastmaster at verbal acrimony in stylish English, enough of Hindi and of course Tamil, and he has been taking worthies to courts on and off. He argues the cases themselves. His writing has also been sometimes controversial, like an article written in DNA (Daily News and Analysis) about Muslims. Only those Muslims who profess to be Hindustanis should have voting rights, according to his article. That is a different matter. And he is facing the music in court about it.

Now for some time, Swamy , who had claimed earlier that he could become the Prime Minister of India provided he has 20 MPs with him, has been out to decimate Home Minister P.Chidambaram. It may be because of his eagerness to find a stalwart co-accused for A.Raja in the 2 G spectrum scam case, or may be intended to browbeat the Congress and generate warmth from the BJP that he is gunning for the scalp of Chidambaram. We may not know whether he has to settle some personal scores with Chidambaram.

Anyway, Chidambaram has to be extra careful, for Swamy has taken out weapons in his armoury, no-holds-barred at that.

The Delhi judge is to make a decision on February 4 whether Chidambaram should be tried in the 2 G case on the basis of the so-called pieces of evidence tendered by Subramanian Swamy. And Chidambaram has the baggage of having had to resign on an earlier occasion.

The issue then involved alleged investments by Chidambaram's wife Nalini in the scam-tainted Fairgrowth Financial Services that had been promoted by banker Bilgi Ratnakar, a close associate of rogue broker Harshad Mehta.

There may or may not be something to nail Chidambaram as claimed by Subramanian Swamy, but it will be a blow for Congress if he is dragged into the case.

Post of Army Chief of 1.2 billion people is sacrosanct; there can be no trivialization on plea of verifying facts

The Supreme Court has dismissed the public interest litigation about the age row of Army Chief General V.K.Singh saying the plea is not maintainable and taking it up would create an unnecessary precedent.

The apex court has not mentioned anything about the merits of the issue, whether the date of birth of the General is May 10, 1950 as accepted by the government or May 10, 1951 as claimed by the General.

The petition filed by the General himself has not been taken up by the apex court as yet, and it has not been listed.

In the normal course, such petitions like the plea for determination of the age of an individual would be considered first by the lowest of the courts. The issue should be interesting to notice whether one can take out the Brahmastra first, that is approaching the apex court instantly without going through the lower courts.

Then the issue is one raised by the Army Chief and in view of the propensity for sensationalisation, one has to watch over the situation whether the apex court will take it up.

Defence Minister A.K.Antony has reacted for the first time about the issue saying let us wait for the verdict of the Supreme Court, the highest court of the country. The government was keeping maximum restraint and it does not want to sensationalise the issue.

That is definitely what should be done.

There are certain decorum with regard to handling such issues. Can a Cabinet Minister file a petition against the Prime Minister, still holding the post of the Cabinet Minister?

The post of the Chief of Army Staff of 1.2 billion people of the country is sacrosanct and there cannot be trivialization of matters, be it in the name of probing the veracity of the fact or otherwise.

This gentleman has broken the golden rule!!!

An officer and a gentleman. That is what is often mentioned about military officers. But India’s Army chief General V.K.Singh, after reportedly affirming his willingness to treat his birth year as 1950 when he was being promoted earlier as Lieutenant General, has thrown all the norms of grandeur and discipline, to the winds and has taken the government to the Supreme Court saying his birth year was 1951.

There were discrepancies about his date of birth in different records, one saying his daste of birth was May 10, 1950 and another May 10,1951.

His statutory application was disposed of by the government saying his date of birth could be reckoned as May 10,1950.

Defence Minister A.K.Antony has made the decision after proper vetting by the Attorney General. He had taken the wise decision in accordance with the recommendations of the Attorney General.

There are a lot of people in India who have different dates of birth in different records. The school records may have one date and other records a different date.
For example, in olden days, when the school re-opened on June 1 and the student should have completed six years as on that date, many children with a different date of birth were admitted with date of birth in May so that they could be admitted to school in June. Those days there were no system of issuing birth certificates by local bodies. They continue with their studies and shaped their career and future in accordance with the bogus date of birth. That was something done in good faith.

After having got the topmost promotion and after enjoying all the spoils of office, it was unbecoming of General V.K.Singh to have dragged the government and his superiors (like the President of India who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces) to court.

The General going to court over a matter like this is not something like getting his right secured at the last minute. He should have taken the authorities to court before his becoming the Lieutenant General. Then his future would have been bleak in the Army. One must respect one’s own word. We usually say “ I have only one word”. This gentleman has broken the golden rule.

Will any good come from the Prime Minister to save lakhs of people of Kerala from Mullaperiyar disaster?

The latest is that Union Minister for Science and Technology Ashwinikumar has said Mullaperiyar dam is spick and span. What science and technology he was referring to while giving a fitness certificate to the fragile 116-year-old dam is not known.
He blandly states that experts have given the clean chit. He may have been referring to the affirmation of people like Thatte whose biased position was well known to everybody.

The Prime Minister had sought a salubrious climate for taking measures to bring in a settlement, probably by convening a meeting of the Chief Ministers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The Prime Minister had gone to Tamil Nadu for some other programmes recently and on the occasion DMK leader Muthuvel Karunanidhi wanted the Prime Minister to call off the measures he had initiated earlier to press national disaster management steps with regard to a possible break of the Mullaperiyar dam. The person who should have persuaded the Tamil Nadu leaders to come to the negotiating table has simply obliged the Tamil Nadu leaders. He has totally ignored the interests of the Kerala people.
By mollifying the Tamil leaders he had secured the support of the DMK in the FDI issue. It is another matter that the FDI bill had to be jettisoned.

Now for passing the budget and finance bills, he may get the support of these fringe groups. And Mullaperiyar would be a fine issue with which he can get the support of the Tamil leaders.

Who were opposing the passing of the Dam Safety Bill 2010? It was Tamil Nadu which strongly opposed the bill which had provisions for the states in which the dams are located to initiate various safety measures.

In the case of dams like Mullaperiyar, which is located in Kerala, we may get authority to proceed properly to ensure safety for the people here. The Centre had done nothing to have the bill passed.

What is the crucial point is that Kerala alone will have to take strong measures, whatever these are, to ensure safety for the people of Kerala by averting a breach of the weak Mullaperiyar dam.

Kerala politics in for turmoil?

Kerala politics in for turmoil as V.S.Achuthanandan is being proceeded against for corruption.

The Vigilance is proceeding against Opposition Leader V.S.Achuthanandan for corruption involving landscam to benefit a relative of his, when he was Chief Minister. He is being charge-sheeted as first accused in the case, with the-then Revenue Minister K.P.Rajendran of CPI as the second accused and six other officials.

Achuthanandan has already made it clear that he is being framed on political considerations and he has nothing to do with the donation of the land. Present Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has asked two simple questions, one whether the benefiary was a relative of his, and two whether he did not know about this when the Cabinet took the decision to grant his relative land.

His party colleagues in Kerala belonging to the rival group led by party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan have refused to make any comment, rather they maintained guarded silence.

Only politburo member Sitaram Yechury has made the comment that V.S.need not quit.
It seems Achuthanandan himself has sought permission from the central leaders of the party to allow him to quit.

If he quits this post as well as membership of the Assembly, there would be serious ramifications.

In view of the developments, the campaign in the coming by-election at Piravom would be racy.

Kochousseph Chittilappilly is a good man at heart, but his idea of opposing a new dam at Mullaperiyar is amateurish

No doubt, Kochousseph Chittilappilly is a good man at heart, having parted with one of his kidneys to an unrelated person. He is a bold businessman as well.

But his proposal for strengthening the God-forsaken 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam, which is nothing but a huge embankment holding water, which if let out in a break, could destroy half of Kerala consequent on which the other half would be affected badly in different ways, and in the bargain abandoning the plan for a new dam at Mullaperiyar is nothing but amateurish.

He should not have undertaken this attempt at all. Remember, one C.P.Roy sitting in dharna along with the agitationists, suddenly had sprung with an idea that would retain the old dam. He, in turn, turned out to be an abominable man in the eyes of those people living in the vicinity as well those downstream the dangerous dam.

There are hundreds of rich Keralites who have plantations, business ventures, farms and the like in Tamil Nadu. They don’t want their wealth stashed this way in Tamil Nadu affected even at the cost of lakhs of people of Kerala. These rich people would not be affected, if the dam bursts. For they can manage other quarters far away from the downstream area of the dam.

Remember, Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan has got the music for suggesting that the old monster can be retained.

Even in 1979, the Central Water Commission had suggested that a new dam be constructed and in the meantime strengthening work should be ensured.
Kochousseph Chittilappilly, please keep off vested interests who might have taken advantage of you.

All these years, they have been taken advantage of,
Now we must give them their due

Everywhere nurses have been exploited, without recognizing the fact that nurses were the backbone of the treatment sector. Exploitation has been the worst in Kerala, as nurses were given a pittance as remuneration.

Most of the institutions have nursing schools and it is very easy for them to manipulate things in such a way that the products of their institutions are kept within their control. They keep their certificates and essential other documents. At least for a year after completion of the nursing course, their services are utilized in return for which they are given a measly sum. Even that sum is used for their living expenses in hostels maintained by such institutions.

Let us not name names of the institutions. All of them were like that. Even institutions which should have taken care of the interests of the nurses like Indian Nursing Council and various state nursing councils have erred in their duty. Human rights panels had looked askance at their plight.
Most of the new lot have to pay back the hefty loans they have taken to complete their studies.

Now there is no way they can be exploited to this extent. The silver lining has surfaced only when the Indian Nursing Council decided that the institutions should return their certificates and there should be no condition of bonds. Accept the fact that bonded labour is over.

A clerk in the central government service gets roughly Rs 50,000 per month. Nurses deserve as much as a clerk gets.

Threats against forming associations, collective bargaining and uproar for better pay packets will not work in the present-day world. Let us treat our nurses with honour.

Kali, Kalki, Mayan calendar: Human kind does not bother about apocalypse

Why should humankind bother about something it cannot prevent? That seems to be the attitude of the fraudsters, cheaters, betrayers, the corrupt and morally deprave. The lot are thriving like anything. The pity is that the same kind of people go about preaching morals. Drugs, liquor camouflage their memory about scruples.

We have rung out 2011 and rung in 2012 with all gaiety. We have lit candles, spread messages of goodwill and harmony and happiness and enthraldom. It should be like that. For what is there to rue about.

Don’t care even if Mullaperiyar dam bursts, the icesheets of the Himalayas melt and rush down as the deluge.

Doomsayers are laughed at, for we ourselves have become the prophets, we advice others to be alert about the impending devastation and the chance to form part of the rapture and be elevated alive.

Mayan calendar predicts December 21, 2012 as the Dooms Day. Nostradamus gives more time, 3927 for final judgement.

Kalki is believed as the next Avatar of Vishnu.
It is believed that He will appear, riding his white horse and drawing a flaming sword, at the end of the Kali Yuga, the dark age through which we are now passing. His task will be to exterminate the evil and restore the Dharma. Thus will begin a new cycle, starting with the new Satya Yuga.

No timeframe was given by Jesus Christ about his return, for God Almighty alone decides the date, for Whom everything is timeless and eternity.

Let there be a few beings who don’t bother about the trials and tribulations brought on to them by the Adharmic.

Key words: 2012, Kali, Kalki, Mayan, Nostradamus, Jesus Christ