Friday, April 24, 2009

Should India Join US In Its Af-Pak Policy?

Recently PM Manmohan Singh showed a positive interest in joining the war with the United States against the evil forces of Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, some will still question the decision and argue that in India, there is no dearth of problems. We ourselves need money to fight our own terrorism problems, to limit corruption, to negate the ever increasing bad affects of poor infrastructure, lack of education, immense hunger and many more. In such condition, if India does not involve itself in destroying other countries' terrorists, it will be better for the nation only.

However, I certainly do not agree with all these arguments as, if evil forces come to the power in our neighboring countries, then India will suffer its maximum wrath. The growth of terrorism in these countries will destroy the peace in India also. I particularly can’t help except lauding our PM hearing his one reason, “A strong, prosperous and democratic Pakistan is in India’s interest”. It is such a true line. If everything goes right with Pakistan and there are no terrorist activities, then India’s defense budget may decrease and Govt. can channelise that amount to other fields like food, infrastructure, education, health, etc. Otherwise, day by day, the budget will increase as it is happening traditionally till date. The other very important concern is the power of terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. If they grow and became such a monster that they can avail these two countries’ nuclear weapons, then what will be the future of India? The terrorists have no moral value and no fear of the other world unlike every nation’s governments. Therefore, they can easily access and employ nuclear power to destroy any country and after that, they don’t have to answer anyone also. And mind you...they are very much capable of doing so.

Therefore, in my opinion, it’s high time that India should also join forces with the US to take part in its Af-Pak policy as in the future, India will be its main beneficiary. And one should destroy the problem in early stages itself as it is comparatively much easier to eradicate it by roots.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Is There Any Justification of Providing Legal Help to Terrorists Like Kasab?

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab is convicted of Mumbai terror attack on 26/11 and is to be charged under 166 separate counts of murder along with the two other accused Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed. Is there any need of showing him mercy and giving him some more days to live?

I certainly agree with Shiv Sena chief Mr. Bal Thackeray that there is no need to delay the proceeding as a terrorist like him does not deserve any leniency. He had killed scores of innocent and in doing so; we are showing disrespect to those guiltless murdered people. Mr. Thackeray is also 100 percent right when he questioned, “Kasab's mother, who is coming to visit his son in prison, would now be given treatment as if she was a veermata”. Everybody knows that he had done the crime. There is enough evidence including the video tapes. Then why is there a delay? We should not wait till the time Kasab’s terrorist friends do another Kandahar and free him. In this process, every labor of every Indian soldier is wasted, excluding all the money that is spent on his stay, proceedings and so on. These are the money of common people and no one has the right to waste it like that, not the government also. Just think how much labor, time and finance were squandered when Mumbai police filed a voluminous charge sheet of over 11,000 pages and also how much resources were wasted to decide on a lawyer for him. This, if we invested in other development works, could make India a few inch better places to live.

This person does not deserve a single day’s life as it will eventually harm India only as in the case of recent blunder by government babus where a "clerical error" on the part of the Mumbai cops was responsible for what was then being used by Islamabad to support its claim that it was actually India which was delaying the investigations into the attacks. This incident only brought down the image and reputation of the whole nation. As long as Kasab is alive, these kinds of things might happen in future also.

I simply don’t understand the reason behind the delay of Kasab’s hanging. His sins are proved and he himself admitted those. So why the holdup? Because our law say that we should give enough chance to the convicts to express their thoughts that we are giving Kasab the largesse? Then we are wrong and the law should be changed with immediate effect so that in case of such criminals and terrorists, the proceedings could be make quick. And there is also a public demand to hang Kasab near India gate and in my opinion, that also can be done as we, then, will set an example of what will happen to the culprits who would dare to raise their evil fingers to the country. Jai Hind…

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Are Politicians Fulfilling Promises After Election

BJP’s poll manifesto for 2009 election spawn a serious question in my mind that would they satisfy all the promises? Well, they have assured people a lot and fulfilling the promises, such as raising the tax-free limit to INR 3 lakh a year (higher for women and senior citizens), availability of 35 kg rice or wheat at INR 2 per kg for Below Poverty Line [BPL] families per month, rebuilding of Ram temple at Ayodhya, opportunity of religious tourism, abrogation of Article 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir, starting of pension scheme for farmer, Improvement of law and order in Orissa, New housing policies for Chandigarh, Free mobiles to poor, broadband to all for INR 200 and one crore free laptops with open source softwares, would be a Herculean task in today’s global recession and in the midst of numerous other tribulations. Did not they, political parties, think before committing? It was NDA today, may be UPA or any others’ turn tomorrow. All are same and promises the moon before the polling dates.

However do they abide by their words? If not, should not they be jailed or sued for not satisfying their promises once the election gets over and they are elected?

According to me, the answer should bring a positive reaction from every possible quarter, except from the corrupted politicians only. They kindle a hope in people’s mind that whatever the sorrow and difficulties they are facing would be abolished if they get into power. People, in order to reduce their woes, also support them. However, at the end of the day, the same politicians after winning the polls don’t even recognize the same people to whom they went begging for vote collection before the election!

The politicians show a ray of hope to common men and within a period of few months, take away every inch of expectations brutally. They maliciously murder all the hopes of a common man. When one businessman contracts with another, he has to abide by all the regulations and fulfill all his obligations mentioned in the agreement paper as he has approved it beforehand. If not, the other party can legally claim compensation in any form such as monetary or physically. Here also, same justice should be handed over. So what if the politicians do not enter into any legal or written commitment? They engage the whole media and in front of lakhs of citizens, take oath to satisfy all their promises. These should be taken into notice also as these are important evidence, depending upon whom, the court can give punishment to the accused politicians. These instances should be established and then only, the politicians will think twice before promising something which they also know is impossible for them to provide. Then the play of fooling around the innocent Indian citizens could be stopped. The precedence should be set and as soon as possible...

IPL2: KKR or it should be SRK or may be BRK?

That means...Kolkata Knight Riders [KKR] or Shahrukh’s Riders of Knights [SRK] or Buchanan’s Knight Riders [BRK]?

On March 25th KKR coach John Buchanan announced that the Knight Riders will not have only one captain, but as many as 4-5, excluding the assistant coach who will be deciding on the batting order for every match of the IPL 2, which is due to be held in South Africa. The captaincy candidates are New Zealand vice-captain Brandon McCullam, newly appointed West Indies captain Chris Gyale, Aussie rejected 34 year old Brad Hodge, Bengal captain Laxmi Ratan Shukla and India’s most successful captain ever – Mr. Saurav Ganguly.

In my sense, it will be absolute blunder. This cricketing world never ever listened something weird of that sort. Some will beg to differ with me as none could think of T20 cricket also few years ago, but it is a reality and a success today. However, I must say that making a tournament and changing the concept of the most powerful man in cricket is two different thing altogether. In my opinion, 3-4 captains at a time in a team is a policy that will create rift among the players. One can distribute the work among individuals like Indian team is doing. For instance, in case of bowling, Zaheer Khan is showing the way. But, the definitive decision should be taken by the captain only. Otherwise it has all the ingredients to backfire. Consider this example, in a certain case, where 15 runs are needed from one last over, one captain may think that a spinner who is bowling well in the match so far should be given the task of contending, whereas another captain may believe that it is relatively easy to score of a spinner and thus a proven fast bowler who can bowl Yorkers at 140-150 km/hr should be given the opportunity. There generates a rift, confusion and a wish to be noticed among all the other captains which can cause hindrances in team spirit.

Buchanan is saying that he can also assign different chief captains for different games. What purpose will this serve? Suppose, if McCullam has done well in a game, he may well be replaced by Shukla, who only played a game or two in international level. This can result into an uncertain captain’s mind on field and a crack in team unity. As a captain, one can prefer a certain player over another and that player can do well in that game also. In the next game, when another takes over the captaincy, he may well not committed to give his 100% as he may well be indebted to his earlier captain who gave him the chance! Also the KKR assistant coach, Murphy, who will decide on the batting order has never played international cricket! Coaching is one thing and strategy and decision making is another. Mr. John Buchanan needs to understand this.

In a way, Buchanan is questioning the credentials of India’s most successful captain ever by this 4-5 captain formula. He is comparing Ganguly with Gayle who is appointed less than a year ago, Hodge who has zero experience in international cricket captaincy, McCullam who has next to zero experience and Shukla who has the Bengal captaincy for two years only! This is absolute rubbish on Buchanan’s part. When one compare the two, it reveals that Ganguly had won India matches with new, young and inexperienced players over the years and he did that in a time when Indian cricket was going through its worst crisis of match fixing and renovation. On the other hand, Buchanan won matches with players like Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Waugh, Hussey, McGrath, Warne, Gillespie, McGill, Lee and Gilchrist who are all legends of the game. Anyone can win match with even half of them in the side and Buchanan also faced humiliation in 2005 Ashes in the hands of a depleted English side!

It is absolutely a mortification that Buchanan is doing with Saurav Ganguly who single handedly won KKR at least 3 matches last time. Last year KKR won 6 or 7 matches with overseas players like Taibu, Butt, Hafeez playing with Indian players like Aakash Chopra, Murali Karthik at one time. Gyale, Hodge, Ponting, Akhtar, McCullam were all absent. To win matches with such a team was a Herculean task and KKR did exactly that under Saurav Ganguly. 3 matches he won by scoring two 80 odd runs and in one, taking three wickets. Therefore, his performance was not bad and with that, captaincy also. So, why Buchanan is experimenting with the captaincy now? Above all, IPL is a grand platform and is no place to experiment. If at all Buchanan wants to test, he can go back to Australia and may well implement all his strategies with an under 15 or under 17 team of Tasmania. But, not with KKR in such a high profile extravaganza and that too before 3 weeks of the tournament!

Why am I addressing this team as SRK or BRK, and not KKR is that when you do humiliation to the favorite son of the state in such a way, you don’t deserve to include that state’s name in it. I doubt, if Buchanan and Shahrukh sticks with this, whether they will be able to fill 1/100th of the Eden Gardens in IPL 3. Saurav is the flag bearer of Kolkata in cricket and without Him; there can not be a Kolkatan team. Therefore, Kolkata can boycott this team forever and then Shahrukh will have to change the name of this team to may be SRK [Shahrukh’s Riders of Knight] or BKR [Buchanan’s Knight Riders].....

Do Miss India Winners Fulfill Their Promises?

Every year, three of the God's previeliged beauties in India get to wear three crowns of Miss India Universe, World and Earth which instantly give them an international exposure and a sense of resposibility to shine their beloved country's name on world map. They are now entitled to enjoy the euphoria of tabloids, broadsheets, news agencies, multinational networks and a tax free life! However before that, they make some promises of what they will do with their new star status and money, which they will enjoy after winning the prestigeous crown. Many exposes many loopholes in our society and wish to work in that direction. For instance, Lara Dutta after winning the coveted title in 2000, promised to do more for the betterment of the society. Ami Vashi, the Miss India World of 2003, promised to generate funds and channelise them for the betterment of the downtrodden. Likewise, every year the winners promise a lot to work for society at large.

However, after winning the title, they seem to forget all their promises. 1994 Miss India World winner and prominent bollywood actress, Aiswary Rai Bachhan, was very much criticised as she was not keeping the virtuous promises she had made after winning. Normally this only happens. Contestents, after being a celebrity overnight, forget all their previous commitments and their only concentration remains gathering enough contacts to get a foothold in Hindi Film industry. They are also right in doing as as the title offers them a good platform to be noticed and producers also tend to earn on Miss Indias' instant popularity as the success of Juhi Chawla, Aiswarya Rai Bachhan, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra, Diya Mirza, Gul Panag, Tanusree Dutta and many others' suggest over the years. Everyone thinks of themselves only and the big claims such as social concern take a backseat.

I am not saying that nobody fulfills their commitment or works towards the cause. But only exceptions, these days, aim that. Otherwise, how many of us remember a certain Aiswarya Rai Bachhan for her social deeds? We know her because of her beauty or acting talent or Bachhan family member or the numerous controversies surrounding her. Where are the social welfare talks in that list? Can anyone please help me in finding that? Not everyone can be like Sushmita Sen, who partially fulfilled her promise of working towards society by adopting a child named Reene, though she was a single mother.

But, do we really expect a beauty pageant winner to wave away our troubles like some fairy Godmother? Certainly we should not. They are also human being. They also came to contest in order to gain name, fame and secure their future by making money - what they get in a very early age. In that age, it should not be expected from them also. However, having said that, this can not justify the absence of a single welfare deed in their whole life. If that is the way to do things, then one should not make tall claims in public at first place and give them a false hope in the process - all in order to win a contest. Jury members, Sponsors, show coordinators and organisers are also responsible in this regard as they should know their actual plan beforehand and how they are going to make it into reality. If they can't do this, then the claims also should not be made at all. I mean what is the use of saying something in front of the whole country which every single citizen knows that will not take place ever...

Tata Nano: Why Every One Seems To Be Against It?

Many have said many things about Tata's Nano car – the people's car priced at INR 1,12,734 only which was almost unimaginable a decade or half ago also. Among the questions raised by critics was that the Nano will raise traffic jam, pollution and also harm the cause of safety of drivers or the commuters.

However, in my opinion, it is a sheer blessing in many senses. An idea that may well proved to be a hit among the huge middle class of India. They can now satisfy their dream of having a car and that too within 1.5 lacs Indian rupees! And remember the EMI will also lessen which will create a sigh of relief in this global economic slowdown. Leave that also. One is talking about congestion in the roads? Don’t we have already crowded roads? What in that regard? Did anyone tell a certain Hyndai or Maruti not to sell their products in the crowded cities? So, why these sort of questions are raised in the case of Tata Nano only? Now coming to the issue of pollution…do not we have two wheelers and three wheelers in abundance at road now? Nano will certainly reduce the quantity of two and three wheelers. Young generation will certainly prefer to have a car, instead of a bike which can carry only two. Their parents also influence the decision as Nano can accommodate four seats comfortably.

So, why everyone is blaming Nano for everything? First, many two-three-four wheelers would have to reduce their prices to compete in the market and in worst cases, may well shut their business. Certainly, these are very powerful men and can, at abundance, give comments and raise such concerns so that Nano is harmed. At first, many global four wheeler brands’ CEOs commented that this idea is not realistic and not possible at all. Now that Mr. Ratan Tata made them bite the dust, they enough reason to feel inferior which may not be acceptable to them.

Otherwise, why one can do so as Tata Nano is advanced in various ways, not by only price, in comparison with its potential rivals like Maruti 800, Alto and Santro. Nano’s two models “Nano CX” and “Nano LX” both have air conditioner whereas models like Maruti 800 Std. and Alto Std. do not have. It has heater which is lacking in both the Maruti models –Maruti 800 Std and Maruti 800 AC. Only Santro GLS can compete with Nano in the fields of Front Power Windows, Central Locking and Body Colored Bumpers. Even GLS does not have Digital Fuel Gauge, Tubeless Tyres, Body Colored Door Handles & ORVM and Front & Rear Fog Lamps which are the special features of Nano. In the engine also Nano is not far behind as it has a 624cc engine in comparison with Maruti 800 and Alto which have 796 cc each.

Therefore, if everything is ok with Nano, why can not one accept it? Japanese Telecommunication market is one of the very advanced industries in the world and that is because, all the players did not stop as modifying or duplicating others’ discoveries. Instead they went ahead and invented the advanced version with unique features to grab the market. The moral of the story is instead of blaming Nano, others should see the positive part of it and those, who are in competition with it, should try to emulate him with their version – that too a distinctive one. That will be true progress in my opinion.