Vote Bank Politics...

Yesterday The Five Year Plan (2007-12) was approved by the National Development Council. It specifically provided fund allocation for 15 point programmes for minorities.

Highlights of the Programme are:

• earmarking 15% of all targets and outlays to target minorities (read Muslim as the Planning Commission paper is very specific)
• locating benefits in areas of substantial minority population (read Muslim)
• Revising schemes for modernisation of Madrassas and appointment of Urdu Teachers
• Most importantly it also includes the Communal Violence Bill and the Posting of Muslims in Muslim Concentration Areas
• It also wants by 2007-2008 15% of all credit flow from the Banks going to Minorities (read Muslim).
• It targets districtions with 25% Minority Population with additional parameters on socio-economics and basic amenities.

The Prime Minister has said this is about better targetting and inclusive growth while his advisor Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that this only targets the areas while everyone i.e. non Muslims benefit as well.

Well let us see how non-Muslims below the poverty line benefit from this or if any of this has anything to do with Quality of Life for Muslim Population in general

- Posting Muslims in Muslim Concentration Areas

- Appointing Urdu Teachers

- a Communal Violence Bill (doubt if Muslims benefit from this either)

- a central government run finance corporation to lend money exclusively to Muslims

- managing grave yards

This is purely a well thought out strategy for muslim appeasement. But I have doubts whether it will work for congress in next elections. Congress has been wooing muslims with this kind of schemes and plans since long. But since 1990s it has lost out on UP & Bihar - States with considerable muslim population & also must win states if u want to have foothold in national politics.I wonder whether Mulayam-Mayawati-Laloo will allow muslims to drift away to congress.

Narendra Modi's Reply to PM

With inputs from:

Enough with this Communal Socialism Dr. Manmohan Singh

Modi deserves better from Media.

I have been very upset with both Print & Electronic Media for their role in recent Gujarat Elections. Be it CNN-IBN, NDTV, Times of India... they have not been objective in writing / reporting about Modi. Their focus is to target Modi rather than what he has achieved in last 5 years.

However surprisingly I came across a good article in India Today about Modi Government's achievements in five years.

Here is the Article.

THE MODI MODEL

IF DEVELOPMENT ATONE IS THE CRITERION THEN MODI GETS AAAA+ IN HIS SIX YEAR RULE

JYOTIRGRAM P0WER SCHEME:

The scheme ensures 24 hour, three-phase domestic power supply to all 18,000 Gujarat villages, spurring an economic revolution in villages and reverse migration from city to villages in many parts.

GIRLS' EDUCATION SCHEME:

The main feature is that both ministers and IAS officers go to villages for three days in a year to persuade parents to send their daughters to school. lt has seen the girl drop, out rate in school sliding from 48 to three.

BETI BACHAO ANDOLAN:

The Beti Bachao drive of the Government aimed at preventing female foeticide Through a joint awareness campaign by government, NGO’s and people's Representatives has seen the sex-ratio improve from 802 to 870 since 2001.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT:

The success of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investment Summits hosted by Modi received recognition from RBI recently when it pegged the investment coming to Gujarat at Rs 75,000 crore which equals the figures of Maharahtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu put together.

HIGHEST GROWTH RATE IN THE COUNTRY:

Gujarat registered the highest growth rate of 10.6 per cent in the country during the first four years of the 10th five-year plan that ended last March as against the National figure of 7 .2 per cent during the same period.

NON POPULIST GOVERNANCE BASED ON ACCOUNTABILITY:

A largely populist-free model of governance that aims at accountability. lt also means few sops to people. In the power sector the government has not hesitated to slap cases on farmers indulging in power theft. This and other measures ensured that the state's power set-up wiped out a combined loss of Rs 2,200 crore and posted a profit of Rs 200 crore last year. The government could carry out power reforms better and faster than most other states.

GOOD GOVERNANCE MARKED BY FISCAL DISCIPLINE:

Gujarat became a revenue surplus state from a revenue deficit state after a gap of 15 years. The revenue deficit was Rs 6,700 crore when Modi took over in 2001. Two state PSUs Gujarat State Fertilizer Company and Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals which were running into losses turned into profit-making units.

PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION:

The Government has tried to involve people in governance, creating a rare model of people's participation. For example, the urban development drive to upgrade small municipal towns last year sent the tax collections soaring simply because the people were motivated to pay their taxes. Developmental works worth Rs 300 crores were also carried out with the help of private donations. When it celebrated e-governance year last year the state got a huge number of computers as donations in villages from local residents.

PETRO CAPITAL 0F INDIA:

State PSU Gujarat State Petrochemicals has made Gujarat the petro-capital of lndia by laying a 2,200 km gas grid in the state of which 1,400 kms is already complete. Huge natural gas and crude oil reserves were found in Krishna-Godavari basin. The gas grid is expected to give a major fillip to industrial production because gas is much cheaper to naptha which most industrial units had been using so far.

ACHIEVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURE SECTOR:

The state has given soil health cards to more than half of the 38 lakh farmers in the state to enable them to comprehend the quality of the soil on their farms and decide on precise crop pattern and the right fertilisers. 700 scientists from the four agricultural universities of the state have been involved in educating the farmers on crop patterns and fertilisers. This move won praise from eminent agro scientist, M.S. Swaminathan.

UNIQUE NIATIONAL SECURITY MODEL:

The state has set up a unique security model based on tight vigilance and effective action due to which not a single terror attack has taken place in Gujarat in the last five years while cities like Delhi and Mumbai get hit by terrorists.

by Uday Mahurkar

Another Interesting Link on the subject...

Indian Mainstream Media-True Merchants of Hate

Nandigram.....

It was very sad to read the news of Massacre of local people in Nandigram by the so called CPI(M) activists (I would term them as terrorists). First they tried to evict them with police force in March this year which resulted into death of 14 civilians in police firing. This event was witnessed by all on TV. They did not succeed that time. So the next thing they did was to send their activists with full arms and ammunition to force the people living in Nandigram to leave their homes. Police Department chose to turn a blind eye to the happenings in Nandigram while the terrosists went about killing people, burning the properties and raping women. Even media was not allowed to go in. They even did not allow CRPF to enter the area until their mission was completed. This was a well planned genocide by CPI(M).

After the incident everyone from CPI(M) were out to justify their actions. Their game plan is to attack anyone who criticize them on this issue. Even Governor of the state was not spared. CM of West Bengal even justified the actions by saying it was tit for tat. For gods sake: both tit and tat are your own people! West Bengal has really been Test Laboratory of Communists for almost 35 years now but I doubt whether it will continue to be so....

Some informative links on Nandigram.

Governer's Statement on Nandigram

Focus on Nandigram

Nandigram: A Battle For Rural BengalWhat happened in Nandigram?

What Happened in Nandigram?

Nandigram & Deformations of Indian Left

This is our Home Minister Speaking......

Checkout this link
Our Home Minister says our Intelligence agencies are unfit to fight terror. This is just unbelievable. U r at the helm of affairs now for close to 3 years. U very well know what is wrong with the system then what the hell have you been doing all these years.

One more link on the same subject. A must read.

Times of India Lead India Contest

Times of India is running a Lead India Contest. In today's newspaper views of eight finalists (I guess Gujarat Region) are published on issues like Reservation, PSU Disinvestment, SEZs, Sting Operations and Tougher laws to tackle Terrorism. So far as PSU Disinvestment, SEZs and Sting Operations are concerned there seems to be more or less uniformity of views except for Kashyapi Awasthi who is not in favour of SEZs and Kiran Sethi who opts out airing her views on Economic Issues citing lack of "required knowledge".

Here are their views & my scribbles in red on them. Personally I am impressed with Devang Nanavati. SMS "LEAD DEVANG" to 58888 to vote for him.

Abhay Mangaldas | 42 | Masters in Communication | Hotelier | USP: Heritage conservation
Reservation
I believe in equal opportunity. If reservation is treated like a golfer’s handicap (as you improve your game, your handicap goes down), it can be a useful tool to level the score. Reservation is necessary for sections of society that have been discriminated against or have not enjoyed the same opportunities as their more fortunate counterparts. Reservation should be used as a ‘leg up’ till they catch up.
- Trying to be politically correct by not mentioning the time frame for "a leg up till they catch up"

Tougher laws to tackle terrorism
I think that vigilant intelligence combined with stricter enforcement of existing laws and a fast track judiciary can tackle terrorism better than any new ‘tougher’ laws. Bolting the stables before the horses flee can be more effective than tougher laws like Pota that go against basic human rights and are often misused.
- Seems to be torch bearer of human rights. Against tougher laws.

Devang Nanavati | 36 | LLB | Lawyer | USP: Advocate with excellent track record

Reservation
The time has come for us to revisit the whole principle of reservation under our Constitution. At the dawn of independence, there was a crying need for the upliftment of the socially and economically backward classes. However, the misuse of the relevant laws and resultant evils have overpowered the benefits of the system. Reservation was supposed to be limited to those for whom there was no level playing field. Instead, proponents of reservation are now advocating it for the private sector which sends shivers down my spine. Merit alone can decide these posts.
- No attempt to be politically correct. Against Reservations.

Tougher laws to tackle terrorism
Special means to counter terrorism are the call of the day. The one argument that comes up against tougher laws is human rights violations. If the right kind of direction, guidance and compassion emanates from the top echelons, the ‘human rights violations’ issue can also be mitigated to a great extent.
- Wants tougher laws and has a answer for the argument of human rights violations.

Kashyapi Awasthi | 28 | M Ed | Lecturer| USP: Researching school dropout rate in Gujarat
Reservations
External reliance disables, self reliance enables.’ I am against reservations. For, if it was doing any good to the marginalised groups, the number of such groups would have decreased in sixty years. It is only targeted to gain votes. Instead, these groups should be given exclusive coaching for developing language and expression so that they can interact with the mainstream and become at par with them. This would perhaps reduce the discrimination, otherwise we are compromising with the quality and doing no good to the needy.
- Clear in her mind. Doesnt want Reservations.

Tougher laws to tackle terrorism
India needs tougher implementation of laws where there are no double standards. A criminal should be dealt with irrespective of his/her stardom or political affiliations. We know of the Jessica Lall case, Best Bakery case, Madhumita case and so on. So what we need is strong enforcement of the existing laws and not more stringent laws.
- Stresses tougher implementation of existing laws... hey what has terrorism to do with Jessica Lall, Best Bakery and Madhumita case....

Kiran Bir Sethi | 41 | NID alumni | Educationist | USP: Fighting for open space for children in city
Reservation
Reservation is a stop gap/band-aid solution to a much deeper malady that society faces. Rather than tackling inequity as a philosophy and not as a political mandate, our leaders so far have seen ‘reservation’ or the lack of it only as a topic to leverage votes. Even though our governments may change, or philosophy towards inequity should not – no matter which government is in power. How can the fact that we need to reduce the gap between and in the populace even be up for discussion every 5 years? If the government thinks that ‘reserving’ seats without looking at building competence will solve the issue, it is sadly mistaken.
- Seems to be upset (& rightly so) with politicians on the issue and is against the policy of reservations (hope i guessed it right her initial 3-4 lines are hard to understand :)...)

Tougher laws to tackle terrorism
Do we even have laws for tackling terrorism? The world has no idea how to tackle terrorism. Case in point – Bush and his ‘we will smoke them out’ attack. The world today is a lot more scared and dangerous place since 9/11. Again – we have stop gap/band-aid solutions that don’t result in any lasting effect or change. Have laws, and people will work on how to break them. Terrorism is unfortunately here to stay – a legacy of our prejudices and our lack of awareness. We need to tackle it, but don’t we need to understand it first?
- Wants to understand terrorism before tackling it. I guess its just one part of multi dimensional approach to takle terrorism. It can not substitute tougher laws.

Jay Vasavada | 34 | M Com | Writer, orator | USP: Spreads awareness about social causes
Reservation
I am against reservation as it has not served its true purpose. Instead of forgetting “identity by birth”, it has strengthened it! Even without reservations the Patel community has outshone in the last 6 decades despite social discrimination. As the Supreme Court has stated, the creamy layer has not been defined and reservation must be limited.
- Well Said.

Tougher laws to tackle terrorism
I firmly believe that one should answer a question in the language it is asked. Terrorists understand the language of terror, fear, violence and barbarism. Terrorism attracting poor uneducated youth is a misconception because we find affluent people in it. Even today we haven’t delivered justice to millions of people who lost their lives 14 years back, while Israel replied to kidnapping of two soldiers by destroying the Beirut airport.
- Again Well Said. Tit for Tat should be out reply.

Subroto Das | 41 | Hospital Management | Social Entrepreneur | USP: Emergency health care
Reservation
I have a middle path view on reservation. Reservation is necessary but populist democracy run on the plank of reservation is deplorable. Our constitution makers rightly justified reservation due to social and economic injustice meted to the underprivileged, pre-independence. Unfortunately, reservation has made caste the determinant factor. Since lower castes are still oppressed we need reservation but with constitutional caps like upper limit and timeline, economics and not caste to be criteria, no reservations for second generation ‘above poverty line’.
- As he said he wants take middle path and remove creamy layer from reservations, put a cap on % of reservaitons & also specify time frame for reservations and substitute caste based reservations with economic criteria based reservations. I think this is the best way to move forward on the issue.

Tougher laws to tackle terrorism
There is no need to legislate tougher anti-terrorism laws. What is needed is “zero tolerance for terrorists within framework of existing laws”. Tougher laws will only lead to further oppression of locals and minorities driving them closer to terrorism ideologues. Instead of creating new laws, our investigation and prosecution machinery have to be streamlined.
- Wants “zero tolerance for terrorists within framework of existing laws”. Sounds good in theory but doesnt work in realty.

Ruzan Khambatta | 36 | M Sc | IT Entrepreneur | USP: Self-made businesswoman
Reservation
No, it is not required. Reservation, whose genesis lies in our constitution was meant for a specific period to uplift the weaker sections but is now used as a political tool to divide. Reservation fosters discrimination and is the root cause for communal disharmony. The need of the hour is “united we stand”. Today we have to be globally competitive and reservation is contrary to competition.
- Well Said.

Tougher laws to tackle terrorism
Terrorism is a global threat which is growing because of absence of strict laws. While few countries support terrorism, some are a breeding grounds for terrorists. To keep them under control tougher laws should be made. Ultimately governments need to wake up to the fact that anti-terrorism laws by themselves cannot end terrorism.
- Well Said again.

Malay Mahadevia | 44 | Dentistry | Corporate Honcho | USP: Infrastructure development
Reservation
In a country like India which has a gap in distribution of wealth between people reservation of a different type is required. Reservation is for equality – for social engineering. If reservation is considered on the basis of caste, in future country will be recognised on the basis of the same which will be a shame. Uniform norms/criteria for reservation can be structured depending on the financial capabilities of people suitable to their inherent competence and attitude without compromising the merit.
- For Reservations but wants a new way so as not to compromise merit.

Tougher laws to tackle terrorism
There are already existing laws which deal with terrorism linked with organised crime for commercial gains and these laws are sufficient enough to punish if government desires to do so. However, the real problem is implementation of the laws by state governments.
- Feels existing laws are good enough to tackle terrorism but are rendered inadequate by politicians. I guess correct so far as second part is concerned.

Pakistan Represents the muslim world.... ???

In the post match interview of the World Cup Final Pakistani Captain suggested that Pakistan Represents the muslim world. This shows the mentality of Pakistani people and the enviornment under which they are brought up. Following is the excerpts from some other blog on the issue.

Then the Pakistan captain said something that was so irrelevant that I couldn't believe my ears. So I looked at the highlights over and over again to make sure that I'd actually heard him say it. This is what he said to master of ceremonies, Ravi Shastri, who asked him a sympathetic question about the game after Shoaib had collected his loser's medal:

"First of all I want to say something over here. I want to thank you back home Pakistan and where the Muslim lives all over the world."

This is what he said word for word because it's important to quote him correctly. The problem here isn't the syntax, it is the sentiment. I don't expect Shoaib Malik to be a politically correct intellectual, but it is reasonable to expect him to know the world of cricket that he inhabits.

It is a world where Muslims, Hindus and a Sikh currently play for England, where Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and a Hindu play for Sri Lanka, where Hashim Amla turns out for South Africa, where a Patel plays for New Zealand, where Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Hindus play (and have always played) for India. Why would Shoaib think, then, that the Muslims of the world were collectively rooting for the Pakistan team or that they felt let down by its defeat? Did he stop to think of how Danish Kaneria, his Hindu team-mate, might feel hearing his Test skipper all but declare that the Pakistan team is a Muslim team that plays for the Muslims of the world? It is one thing to be publicly religious—Shahid Afridi thanked Allah and Matt Hayden and Shaun Pollock are proud, believing Christians—quite another to declare that your country's cricket eleven bats for international Islam.

Is this the forum to talk about this? Shouldn't Cricinfo and cricket's online community stick to cricket and leave issues like this alone? No we shouldn't, because Shoaib Malik chose to make it our business by saying it in team colours at the end of the ICC World Twenty20 final. He said something that goes to the heart of cricket's loyalties, its culture, its plurality of race and faith and language. If Shoaib took in nothing else about the final, he must have noticed that the bowler who took his wicket was called Irfan Khan Pathan, that the Indian team's most visible cheerleader, the guy who was hugging Indian players in turn at the end of the game, was one Shah Rukh Khan. I feel a residual distaste in even mentioning their names because both Shah Rukh and Irfan are admired in India for what they've achieved, not who they are. But sometimes it is important to spell things out and Shoaib could do with the instruction.

Pointing playing the mind game...

Today I read the column of Ricky Ponting - Australian Cricket Captain in Times of India. It was titled Sree Santh Got away with ordinary stuff (in the semi finals). I guess he is back to his mind games before their team's 7 match one days series in India. He knows Sree Santh is one of the important indian bowlers. He is also temperamental and so he can play with his nerves... but i guess not any more. We have a very shrewed and intelligent new captain in Dhoni who will not allow anything like this to affect Sree Santh's nerves.

If you read his column than u will find that it is full of excuses why Australia could not qualify for finals. Reasons varied from lack of match practice to different venues on which they had to play. Grow up ricky ... accept the fact that YOU DID NOT DESERVE TO BE THEIR IN FINALS. :-)

p.s. Allan Border's column in the same papers said that Sree Santh bowled beautifully.....

PONTING'S COLUMN.

Sree Santh got away with ordinary stuff

Its obviously disappointing not to be part of the team in a semifinal game. Watching from the sidelines, it was the 30-ball explosion that Yuvraj Singh unleashed on the Australians that took the game away.

It ensured that India reached a total that would be difficult to chase. And once Indias bowlers discovered the happy knack of picking wickets at the crucial junctures, we were always playing catch-up cricket.

Yuvraj has always had great ability and in this tournament he has hit boundaries at will. The Indians will be hoping that he will carry this form into the finals as well.

The lack of match practice for most of our batsmen cost us dear on Saturday. The openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden have been doing such a great job chasing down totals,that the other batsmen had hardly got any time in the middle before Saturday’s game. I feel the Indian new ball bowlers got away with some ordinary bowling, particularly Sree Santh, whose figures were better than what his performance deserves.Our players did all the hard work in the middle overs only to lose momentum in the last three overs.

With an asking-rate of over ten an over it was difficult for the likes of Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin to up the scoring rate, and the injury to Michael Hussey was a big blow. We have been struggling with fitness right through the tournament, and viewers would notice the number of runners that have been used so far. This form of cricket is extremely intense, and the travel between games can also take its toll. Perhaps the organisers saw the duration of the game and underestimated how taxing it would be. However, with only one day between games and two-hour flights between venues there has hardly been any recovery time.

We did the maximum traveling in the tournament, having played games in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban over the last six days, which is why we were not as fit as we would have liked to be for a semifinal encounter. (GAMEPLAN)