Mamta,Lalu and Indian Railways

Lalu was hailed as India's best Railway Minister.His Desi wisdom earned him admirers all over the world.undoubtedly he was the most popular Railway Minister.Indian Railways is the world's largest employer.It employs 1.6 million heads.In 2004 when Lalu took over as Railway Minister ,Indian Railways was almost bankrupt.But in 5 years time Lalu with his ingenuity made it a cash surplus organisation.The turnaround made by Indian Ralways, under Lalu's stewardship was made a case study for its students by IIM,Ahmedabad.Lalu's rustic wisdom said " Milk the cow fully,lest it would fall sick". His out of the box ideas were carried out by competent officers.He increased the wagon loads from 80 Metric tons to 90 Metric tons.This generated additional revenue of over 7500 crores.Delgation of powers was at its best during Lalu's regime.He took calculated risks.He decided a passenger train would be inspected and examined only after 3500 KMs and a freight train after 4500 KMs against the earlier practice of inspection after every trip.This made trains available for longer duration,and generated extra trips and extra revenue.Earlier for every inspection Railways took 16 hours after each trip.Lalu handled the Tatkal scheme in a different perspective.It turned out to be a money spinner for Railways and earned over 1000 crores.When the Tatkal scheme was introduced for the first time , there would be a single separate Tatkal coach per train.In otherwords a small number of berths were earmarked for those who could not reserve in advance and want to travel urgently.But this facility was available at a slightly higher cost.But Lalu changed the Tatkal scheme also.He permitted Tatkal booking in regular coaches also.This means those who can afford to pay more could book on Tatkal quota in regular coaches.He also allowed Tatkal booking 5 days before travel date.Railways charged a premium of RS 150 to Rs 300 on every Tatkal ticket booked.But all this was done at the expense of general quota tickets.It surely was a great disadvantage to the common man.But for railways it was a money spinner.It earned greater revenues for Railways.It was essentially a business decision,but against the common man.Now it seems Mamta is all set to reverse this.She might revert back to the old Tatkal scheme.She might also reduce the number of days permitted for Tatkal booking.In principle,Mamta's perspective is correct and is in the interest of the common man.But Railways would lose a considerable chunk of their income generated from Tatkal.Mamta has already indicated her budget would be pro people.But if implemented Railways earnings would surely drop.It is already reported that there is a drop in the freight earnings of Railways.One fervently hopes the Railways does not become RED again.Those days when the federal budgets are presented Mr.Palkiwala used to give his budget analysis.These speeches were delviered only in big metros.Once he delivered his budget analysis lecture at Lakshmi Sundaram Hall in Madurai.I was fortunate to hear his speech then.I am now reminded of what he said about 'budgets' then.He said 'budget is an annual exercise where economics is defeated at the hands of politics.'

Mayawati and her delusions

The UP Chief Minister Mayawati is all set to unviel about 40 statues in UP.This includes 6 statues of her own along with her mentorKanshi Ram.The statues of Ambedkar and other Dalit icons are also in the list.The total cost of all these statues are reported to be over Rs 100 crores.It is also reported the statue of Mayawati in Ambedkar Udyan alone costs around Rs1.55 crores.This is an offcial information given in response to an RTI query.She is obsessed not only with erecting statues,but also in building grand memorials and monuments. Extravagant memorials are being built as monuments for Ambedkar and Kanshiram.Her contention is that each political party has tried to construct memorials for their party leaders during their regime.Why should people make a big hue and cry when BSP is building its monuments.Teen Murti Bhavan,Jawarharlal Nehru Memorial is even cited in support of her claims.But the intriguing point is these memorials have 60 mammoth elephant statues(BSP symbol) made of expensive stones at an estimated cost of Rs 3000 crores.Down South Mr.Karunanidhi also has a penchant for erecting statues and building memorials.But to his credit,he did not erect his own statues.Also he had built memorials for all Netas cutting across party affiliations.He has built memorials for Kamaraj and Rajaji also.He did erect the huge monlith statue of Tiruvalluvar at Kanyakumari.Valluvar Kottam at Chennai is his brain child.Statues of Tamil literary giants along the Marina beach were all erected during his regime.Karunanidhi also has a liking for monumental arches.Lots of them were put up in many places of Tamil nadu during his regime.Jayalalitha and her party for her part did erect statues of MGR all over Tamil nadu.The most number of statues in Tamilnadu would be that of the DMK founder Anna and that of MGR.Whether it is Karunanidhi,Mayawati,Saddam Hussien, or NorthKorea's Kim,the underlying fact is their desire to find a place in history.But in Mayawati's case she is using whopping public money for her pet projects.She also intends to project these as tourist spots.But her adversary Mulayam says these monuments and statues are epitomes of corruption and misuse of public funds.He has also gone on record,that when his party returns to power all Mayawati statues would be bulldozed. Already there are two PIL petitions before the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court on Mayawati's spending spree.Even the SC has questioned Mayawati's fetish desire to install her own statues all over UP.Experts believe apart from spending 3000 crores, it may require an annual outlay of 300 crores to maintain these monuments thereafter .But Mayawati is unfazed by her critics and will go ahead with her projects.It would be of great interest to note how the courts deal with this PIL.Mayawati's arguments would pivot around memorials of leaders of other parties in the country and their worth.She would also play the communal card cleverly.She would cite that the number of monuments for Dalit icons are comparatively less when compared with that of upper caste leaders.Environmentalists say five of Mayawati's pet projects are being carried out at the expense of large green areas.This is something really deplorable.At a time when the whole world is concerned about Global warming,it is an unpardonable crime to destory large areas of green cover for the sake of monuments and statues.Hitler and Stalin had plans to build huge cities in their honour.Who knows,perhaps Mayawati also may be harbouring such plans.Lucknow could well be changed as 'Maya Nagar'.

Violations of the Laws of War

The war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government is no longer a war against an insurgency movement.It has developed into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.Large number of civilians getting killed and wounded can not be acceptable to any civilised society. As a dispassionate observer, I am pained to see the plight of the innocent civilians,especially children,old people,and women caught in the cross fire between the warring factions.It is all the more distressing to note that democracy is in peril in Sri Lanka and voice of the press and media are stifled .Despite all this,what little information that comes out is really disturbing. The so called 'Welfare villages' where the fleeing civilians are accomodated does not seem to have any facilities.Looking at the pictures and video shown on TV/internet,one has no other go,but to believe that the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE are unleashing crimes against innocent civilians in the name of their 'war on terror ' and 'liberation struggle'.
Already the international press has described it as the worst humanatarian crisis in recent times.In fact the UN warned the world a month before that this war could end up as a genocide.Thousands have been killed and many more crippled for life.What is more deplorable is that Sri Lankan government has managed to stall public scrutiny to the happenings in the island nation,by brute force.The people in the ' welfare villages' do not get adequate medical attention and food.There is a lack of shelter and sanitation also.This is indeed a colossal calamity.Forget about an early resolution of the ethnic strife.Bu the innocent civilians can be saved only if the Lankan army and LTTE STOP their opeartions and ensure safety of their fellow citizens.It is really unfortunate that both LTTE and the army shoot at civilians when they try to leave the safe zone.It is a pity that both the LTTE and Lankan army violate the laws of war with impunity.It is reported that the LTTE is using civilians as a shield and the Lankan army does not discriminate bombarding between military targets and civilians.Also the Lankan army keep the displaced persons in camps with high restrictions on movements.Human rights workers are denied access to camps and intimidated by the Lankan army.International humanatarian agencies must be allowed to offer neutral assistance to those in need. Athorities should permit legitimate NGO activities at the welfare villages. All activities at the civilian camps should be transparent to the international media.

I am not not going in to the merits of the insurgent struggle or the alleged racial discrimination by the majority Sinhalese government that sparked off the current struggle decades ago.A leader of the stature of Gandhi is the need of the hour for the strife torn Lanka.Some one who commands respect from both Sihalese and Tamils alike.For peace in Sri Lanka,an immediate requirement is cessation of the war.Thereafter LTTE should disarm and agree for a federal solution with sufficient devolution of powers and return to electoral democracy.The sinhalese majority should ensure equal opportunities to all races in education and employment.After all the sinhalese constitute more than 80% of the Lankan population.The minority Tamil population in no way can threaten their psition.Once the war is over,the SL government should come forward to rehabilitate the millions of displaced Tamil population.The world would like to see the beautiful emerald island return back to its glorious past with lasting peace among their major ethnic races. Until early 70s all communities have co existed peacefully in Lanka.There should be commitment and political will among the Sihalese political leadership to accede to the just demands of the Tamils.May peace and harmony return to Sri Lanka .

Shoe Throwing

The latest shoe throwing was on Bollywood star Jeetendra when he was campaigning for the congress candidate Amrish Patel.Of late, shoe throwing on politicians have become a global trend, ever since a pair of shoes were thrown at Bush in the middle of a press conference last December by the Iraqi TV journalist Zaidi as "a farewell kiss from Iraqi people to the dog" .Bush joked "if you want details, the shoe size is 10".In January agitators at Bosnia, vented their anger against politicians by doing a shoe throwing protest.The organisers provided shoes for the protestors. Some of them brought their own old torn foot wear also. Soon after, in February footwear was thrown at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo at the Cambridge university by protestors. Virtual shoe throwing games at Bush became popular in internet, last December. One has to throw shoes at Bush's face with in 30 seconds in the virtual shoe throwing game.This was copied by a Bosnian website which invited internet surfers to throw virtual shoes at the serbian Prime Minister Dodik.Those days eggs and rotten tomatoes were used to humiliate politicians.Even recently eggs and rotten tomatoes were thrown at Subramaniam Swamy by protesting advocates at the Chennai High Court.It seems footwear is the new weapon in the protestors armoury. Throwing footwear as a protest was started years ago in Tamilnadu.EVR Periyar was a proclaimed atheist.Enraged by his anti God statements a sandal was thrown at him by protestors and went in to hiding. At that time Periyar was travelling in a Rickshaw.He stopped the Rickshaw,stood on it and loudly made anti God pronouncements, looking atthe direction from where the sandal came.Promptly another sandal was thrown at him from the hide out.He then said."Any way this is a new sandal.What either of us can do with one sandal?!!" and continued his journey with a pair of new sandals. Periyar was known for his thrifty practices. Needless to say he was happy to carry a new pair of sandals with him.With election campaign reaching a feverish pitch, in India also,shoe throwing incidents are the order of the day. Protesting against CBI gving a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler,a sikh journalist threw shoes on Home minister Chidambaram,while he was addressing a press conference this month.After the incident, Chidambaram jokingly said "his questions were on target,but not his shoes". Shoes were thrown at Congress candidate Naveen Jindal at Kurukshetra.All the flying missiles have failed to hit the target so far.I think the protestors should practice shoe throwing in a throwing range to hit the target.The politicians are however unruffled and in fact they have quickly perfected the art of ducking a flying object with the skills of a batsman facing a bouncer in the 22 yards strip.Jokes apart,this should not be encouraged and all those who indulge in shoe throwing should be punished severly.The punishment should deter others from repeating this.All right minded people should condemn this trend.India is a democratic country with great freedom for expression and speech.The media and press of india are mightier and potent than a pair of shoes.This fact must be borne in mind by all those who indulge in such undesirable activities.

Monarchy,democracy and dynasty

In a monarchy the authority is inherited from the monarch. On the other hand dynasty has a sequence of powerful leaders from the same family.India is one of worlds largest democratic country,where we give prominence to dynasty and elect parlimentarians and leaders from the same family.It is a nice blend of democracy and dynasty almost bordering on monarchy. Look at the Indian political scenario. Most politicians hand over their constituency so keenly nurtured by them to their kith and kin as though they hand over their estates to the next generation. For example the Nehrus are in the business for the fourth generation.What do you call this?. Rae Bareli and Amethi belong to the Nehrus.Unfortunatley this happens in many fields now a days. Film industry is another place where the kapoor clan ruled once and now most heros and heroines have brought in their sons and daughters. Language is no barrier for art. Hence one can notice this in Hindi,Tamil and Telugu film industry. Next to the Nehru family,down south the DMK has most number of dynastic politicians. Starting from Mr.Karunanidhi, one can can see a host of his family members in active politics. Maran,Stalin,Azhagiri,Kanimozhi,Kayalvizhi,Dayanithi etc.They are all the DMK patriarchs nephews,sons,daughters,grand daughters,grandsons,grand nephews.The list of politicians who have brought in their kith and kin by virtue of their position in party has become a national phenomenon in almost all parties barring the communists and the BJP to some extent.The NTR descendants have their say in Andhra politics.In Karnataka Deve Gowda has inducted his two sons Kumarswamy and Revanna in to politics.In Kerala, Karunakaran has brought in his son Muralieetharan and daughter Padmaja in to politics.Father and son are in different parties now.The list does not end here.The scindia family has five members in active politics.Charan singh's legacy was inherited by Ajit Singh, Biju patnaiks legacy by Naveen Patnaik,Devilal's by Chautala and the Abdullas from Kashmir are in politics for the third generation.Ramdoss has groomed his son Anbumani to hold fort at a future date.Shiva sena's Bal Thackeray has initiated his son and nephew in to politics.The inimitable Lalu yadav was unique by bringing in his wife Rabri Devi.Sharad Pawar has brought in his daughter Supriya Sule.There are a host of other lesser known dynastic politicians in many political parties in India.One can see this phenomenon in almost all the South Asian countries.Bhutto and his descendants in Pakistan,Mujibur and his family members in Bangladesh,Bandaranaike and his family members in Sri Lanka.Even in US the Kennedys and the Bush family members were in active politics.In India dynastic politics was opened up by the Congress.The bachelor politicians of India,Atalji and Kamaraj have refrained from doing this.These people contest elections and get elected.But in the frst place,how democratic it is to promote ones son,daughter or brother's candidature in the party?Or is it a mutually beneficial arrangement by the powers that matters in each political party?The assets declared by many candidates show,many of them are crorepathis.Also if one compares the assets of a candidate between the last two elections,there is an apparent growth.Could it be one of the reasons for politicians trying to promote their kith and kin in politics?Has politics become a means for livelihood for these people?Do we have a paucity of young leaders?A debutant from a dynastic lineage can even become a central or state minister without any toil.Does it augur well for the Indian polity?

Sea horses

It is reported more than 100 sea horses were caught by Rameswaram fishermen yetserday.Many of us would have seen sea horses as specimens preserved in the zoology labs in schools and colleges or in some aquariums.Sea horses are actually a type of fish.They don't have scales like fishes.But they have armoured plates all over the body.There are about 50 different species of sea horses.They have a long horse like head and hence the name sea horse.But they are fishes because they breath water and not air.(dolphins live in water but breathe air by projecting their nostrils over water.Dolphins are mammals).They have long tails.They change colours to hide from enemies.There are tiny sea horses 1 cm long to long ones measuring up to 1 foot.The sae horses have a strange courtship.During the breeding season,they court for several days.Holding the tails they swim together, and change colours often.Finally they engage in a "courtship dance",that is said to last for 7 to 8 hours.The female sea horse drops her eggs in the males brood puch.This is very peculiar, because though the female sea horse produce eggs,it is the male sea horse that carries the eggs in its pouch and fertilizes it internally.The gestation period is about 40 to 50 days.During this period the male sea horse carries the eggs until the fuly developed young sea horses are finally pushed in to water.This can not be seen in any other animal.Though the male sea horse gives birth to thousands of young ones,as little as five suvive to live.They normally live in seaweed beds.Sea horses are very slow swimmers.The zoological name of sea horse is Hippocampus. Sea horses are considered as an endangered species world over.Habitat destructtion and excessive fishing are said to be the causes for the dwindling number of this species.Sea horses are used as a native medicine by Chinese herbal doctors.Prepackaged medcinal sea horses are sold in China.Though there are laws to prevent import and export of sea horses,it is being violated.

Race for the saddle

On June 2nd the world will know about the next Indian Prime minister.Though it is too early to predict the outcome,there are too many aspiring Prime ministerial candidates form a host of parties.This includes some regional parties also.Who will don the PM's mantle is a million dollar question.Notwithstanding the uncertainites of the poll outcome,given below is a list of possible PM aspirants .

BJP is projecting L.K.Advani as its PM candidate.As of now Advani is the only potential PM candidate from BJP.In fact BJP's entire campaign is pivoted around the theme 'For a strong PM,vote for BJP'.

Like Last elections, Congress is not projecting any one,as its prospective PM candidate.This has nothing to do with the fact that the PM is recuperating after a surgery.PM being a Rajya Sabha member will continue to be a sitting member of the Rajya Sabha until 2010.In case, the UPA manages to secure a majority to form the government,Congress could decide one way or the other.(choose a potenetial candidate from its Lok sabha members or continue with Manmohan singh).However there could be hardcore sycophants in Congress, who would want Sonia Gandhi to assume the PM's mantle.An equal number of youth congress men could vie with fellow congresmen in favour of Rahul Gandhi also.The unfortunate guy in the Congress would be its 'All Purpose Man' Pranab Mukherji.But if Pranab becomes a surprise candidate, it could be a marvel.No doubt Pranab is a competent candidate to be the Prime Minister.

The alternate front(third front) comprising Leftists,TDP,JD(s),AIADMK,BSP,TRS etc also have Prime Ministerail aspirants.The foremost among them is BSP's Mayawati.She does not in any way hold back her aspirations.She has vociferously voiced her thoughts on this.But the constituents of the third fornt have decided not to name any potential PM candidate until the elections are over.This decision is only to appease others in the front, who have similar aspirations.Obviously they don't want the front to break before the elections on the question of declaring the prospective PM.The implied threat is from the AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha.She is also nursing Prime ministerial ambitions.In the event of a fractured mandate, she is capable of doing a hard bargain and achieve her goals.Leftists apparently want a say in deciding the Potential PM from third fornt,should things move to such a situation.CPM committed a blunder years ago forefeiting a PM's chance to Jyoti Basu.Prakash Karat has gone on record this time,in case third front assumes power,CPM might join the government.Does it mean he has some trumpcards up his sleeve?Does the PB of the communist party want to do some amends to its earlier folly?Though Chandrababu Naidu and Devagowda have said they are not in the race,one gets the feeling that the wily Gowda would be hoping, that in case of difference of opinions among third front parties over agreeing to a common candidate,history could repeat itself and he could becme a compromise candidate once again.

Apart from the three major political fronts there are a host of other PM aspirants from other parties also.Some people have expressed it overtly also.People like Sharad Pawar,Mulyam Singh Yadav,Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu Yadav have also expressed their desire to be the PM at one time or the other in their political career.Anything can happen in politics.There could be dark horses emerging form nowhere.Whatever it is,the stewardship of the nation should rest in the hands of a safe,able,competent,efficient and qualified Prime Minister.