Alleged Rape Victim's identity indirectly revealed - Shame on the concerned TV Channel!

Alleged Rape Victim's identity indirectly revealed - Shame on the concerned TV Channel!

Today, as I was watching the news on one of the English News Channels, I came across a news item which spoke about a politician having allegedly raped a minor girl, and to cover it up, accused her of being a thief and got her arrested.

Till this point, I did not have too many major objections. What followed was totally shocking. To the best of my knowledge, the law as well as common courtesy maintains that the media must not identify an alleged rape victim directly or indirectly. Especially if the victim happens to be a minor, as in this case. In a blatant violation of this basic norm, the Channel went on to show the face of the alleged victim's father, along with some sound bites from him!

I'm sure that the entire world, including the neighbours, friends, colleagues, relatives, etc. of the alleged victim would now be totally aware about who the alleged victim is. In our male dominated society, especially among those from poor, rural, Dalit backgrounds, one can imagine the kind of taunting and ostracizing that can follow after viewing the scenes on TV.

I wonder how people claiming to be bothering about values can be so cruel.

Will one or more of the following take note and take necessary action:

• Value-based advocates who are often happy to file a PIL for all and sundry causes
• Competing TV channels
• Women's rights groups
• Judiciary, on a suo motu basis
• Police officials - Especially if this involves the violation of any specific law
• Political parties

Interestingly, the very same TV channel which I'm accusing of having been insensitive to the alleged victim went on to spend at least 45 minutes of Prime time discussing the closure of the Arushi murder case by the CBI, where one of the main focus points was about how the servants of Arushi's household were ill-treated by the investigators!

Regards,

N

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Minor acts of corruption, major impact!

Minor acts of corruption, major impact!

Often, we keep hearing (I'd love to use strong words - am refraining out of politeness) "justifications" / "rationalisations" for supposedly minor acts of corruption by using the pretext that such acts are unlikely to have any major impact.

Here's a link that tells you why that's bunkum:

• From the man who nailed Nithari's lies!

At least a few lives could have been saved, a few instances of rape could have been prevented if only:

• The sewerage cleaning folks had done their duty as per norms - After all, they were getting their salaries
• The cops had followed up and investigated cases of "missing maids" - After all, they were getting their salaries
• The National Commission for Women had bothered to follow up cases pertaining to complaints made by the lowest strata of society

I could go on. Sad, but true.

Guess that we must try to learn and ensure that we don't:

• Indulge in acts of omission / commission of corruption, negligence, carelessness, callousness
• Tolerate such acts of omission / commission by others around us

Even being a silent spectator tantamounts to participating in the crime. Let's join hands to wake up and generate adequate awareness!

Regards,

N

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Timely flights, at what cost???

Timely flights, at what cost???

Just saw a news item wherein the Government has changed the rules about "Low Visibility Flying" to enable more flights to land and take off @ Delhi.

Take peek:

• Allowing Low Visibility Flights

I've got two quick questions:

• If these new rules are adequately safe, why the *$%# was the Government enforcing the earlier rules all these days / weeks / months / years? If they're not adequately safe, why introduce rules that are less than safe???
• Given these new rules, would you dare to fly? I've my own doubts!!!

Yeah! I'm aware of the usual responses - such as

• "Safety is of paramount importance"
• "The technology allows us to do this"
• "We're taking all necessary precautions"
• "An expert panel has checked and given the go-ahead for the new proposals"

My own take on such changes of rules:

• Let a transparent report be submitted by an expert panel to a "review group" that has representation from the general public.
• Let such changes not be Knee-jerk reactions, let there be a minimum advance notice of a predetermined number of weeks / months before any such rule changes are implemented. This would also offer adequate time for other views to be received. After all, we certainly don't want to play around with safety. That too after experiencing the sad death of a serving Chief Minister possibly due to non-enforcement of safety precautions.

Regards,

N

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Games FMCG Companies Play

Games FMCG Companies Play

Over a period of time, customers have become much smarter.

• We look for "special offers", discounts, freebies
• We shop at apt discount stores
• We buy certain items at modern outlets and some others at the neighbourhood kirana stores.
• We look at expiry dates, weight vis-a-vis price, etc.

However, FMCG companies employ "even smarter" MBAs. Obviously, they are often one step ahead of both the customer and the regulator. As always.

Recent innovations to "silently con" even the smart customer:

• New frontiers of creativity - This time in Packaging!

Interesting, indeed!

Wonder what my friend who's into a "Customer Awareness" organisation would have to say about this latest one???

Regards,

N

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Republic Of Scams

Republic of Scams!

Got this mail from one of the many forwards that keeps pouring in.

I'd like you to at least glance through it before reading my own comments at the bottom of this post.

Republic Of Scams

Total Scam Money (approx) Since 1992:

Rs. 73000000000000 Cr.
(73 Lakh Crore)

Hard to digest ?
Just check the below given details
1992 -Harshad Mehta securities scam Rs 5,000 cr

1994 -Sugar import scam Rs 650 cr

1995 -Preferential allotment scam Rs 5,000 cr
Yugoslav Dinar scam Rs 400 cr
Meghalaya Forest scam Rs 300 cr

1996: -Fertiliser import scam Rs 1,300 cr
Urea scam Rs 133 cr
Bihar fodder scam Rs 950 cr

1997 -Sukh Ram telecom scam Rs 1,500 cr
SNC Lavalin power project scam Rs 374 cr
Bihar land scandal Rs 400 cr
C.R. Bhansali stock scam Rs 1,200 cr

1998 -Teak plantation swindle Rs 8,000 cr

2001 -UTI scam Rs 4,800 cr
Dinesh Dalmia stock scam Rs 595 cr
Ketan Parekh securities scam Rs 1,250 cr

2002 -Sanjay Agarwal Home Trade scam Rs 600 cr

2003 -Telgi stamp paper scam Rs 172 cr

2005 -IPO-Demat scam Rs 146 cr
Bihar flood relief scam Rs 17 cr
Scorpene submarine scam Rs 18,978 cr

2006 -Punjab's City Centre project scam Rs 1,500 cr,
Taj Corridor scam Rs 175 cr

2008 -Pune billionaire Hassan Ali Khan tax default Rs 50,000 cr
The Satyam scam Rs 10,000 cr
Army ration pilferage scam Rs 5,000 cr
The 2-G spectrum swindle Rs 60,000 cr
State Bank of Saurashtra scam Rs 95 cr
Illegal monies in Swiss banks, as estimated in 2008 Rs 71,00,000 cr

2009: -The Jharkhand medical equipment scam Rs 130 cr
Rice export scam Rs 2,500 cr
Orissa mine scam Rs 7,000 cr
Madhu Koda mining scam Rs 4,000 cr"

SC refuses to quash PIL against Mayawati in Taj corridor scam
Orissa mine scam could be worth more than Rs 14k cr

CORRUPTION, MONEY LAUNDERING SCAM, Koda discharged from hospital, arrest imminent

'A Cover-Up Operation':
"It's a scam involving close to Rs 60,000 crores"
Spectrum scam: How govt lost Rs 60,000 crore India's biggest scams 1, Ramalinga Raju, Rs. 50.4 billion
India's biggest scams 2, Harshad Mehta, Rs. 40 billion
India's biggest scams 3, Ketan Parekh, Rs. 10 billion
India's biggest scams 4, C R Bhansali, Rs. 12 billion
India's biggest scams 5, Cobbler scam
India's biggest scams 6, IPO Scam
India's biggest scams 7, Dinesh Dalmia, Rs. 5.95 billion
India's biggest scams 8, Abdul Karim Telgi, Rs. 1.71 billion
India's biggest scams 9, Virendra Rastogi, Rs. 430 million
India's biggest scams 10, The UTI Scam, Rs. 320 million
India's biggest scams 11, Uday Goyal, Rs. 2.1 billion
India's biggest scams 12, Sanjay Agarwal, Rs. 6 billion
India's biggest scams 13, Dinesh Singhania, Rs. 1.2 billion

1, Jeep Purchase (1948) :- Free India's corruption graph begins. V. K. Krishna Menon, then the Indian high commissioner to Britain, bypassed protocol to sign a deal worth Rs 80 lakh with a foreign firm for the purchase of army jeeps. The case was closed in 1955 and soon after Menon joined the Nehru cabinet.

2, Cycle Imports (1951) :- S.A. Venkataraman, then the secretary, ministry of commerce and industry, was jailed for accepting a bribe in lieu of granting a cycle import quota to a company.

3, BHU Funds (1956) :- In one of the first instances of corruption in educational institutions, Benaras Hindu University officials were accused of misappropriation of funds worth Rs 50 lakh.

4, MUNDHRA SCANDAL (1957):- It was the media that first hinted there might be a scam involving the sale of shares to LIC, Feroz Gandhi sources the confidential correspondence between the then Finance Minister T.T. Krishnamachari and his principal finance secretary, and raised a question in Parliament on the sale of 'fraudulent' shares to LIC by a Calcutta-based Marwari businessman named Haridas Mundhra. The then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, set up a one-man commission headed by Justice M.C.Chagla to investigate the matter when it becomes evident that there was a prima facie case. Chagla concluded that Mundhra had sold fictitious shares to LIC, thereby defrauding the insurance behemoth to the tune of Rs. 1.25 crore. Mundhra was sentenced to 22 years in prison. The scam also forced the resignation of T.T.Krishnamachari.

6, Teja Loans (1960):- Shipping magnate Jayant Dharma Teja took loans worth Rs 22 crore to establish the Jayanti Shipping Company. In 1960, the authorities discovered that he was actually siphoning off money to his own account, after which Teja fled the country.

7, Kairon Scam (1963):- Pratap Singh Kairon became the first Indian chief minister to be accused of abusing his power for his own benefit and that of his sons and relatives. He quit a year later.

8, Patnaik's Own Goal (1965) :- Orissa Chief Minister Biju Patnaik was forced to resign after it was discovered that he had favoured his privately-held company Kalinga Tubes in awarding a government contract.

9, Maruti Scandal (1974) :- Well before the company was set up, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's name came up in the first Maruti scandal, where her son Sanjay Gandhi was favoured with a license to make passenger cars.

10, Solanki Expose (1992) :- At the World Economic Forum, Madhavsinh Solanki, then the external affairs minister, slipped a letter to his Swiss counterpart asking their government to stop the probe into the Bofors kickbacks. Solanki resigned when India Today broke the story.

11, Kuo Oil Deal (1976):- The Indian Oil Corporation signed an Rs 2.2-crore oil contract with a non-existent firm in Hong Kong and a kickback was given. The petroleum and chemicals minister was directed to make the purchase.

12, Antulay Trust (1981) :- With the exposure of this scandal concerning A.R. Antulay, then the chief minister of Maharashtra, The Indian Express was reborn. Antulay had garnered Rs 30 crore from businesses dependent on state resources like cement and kept the money in a private trust.

13, HDW Commissions (1987) :- HDW, the German submarine maker, was blacklisted after allegations that commissions worth Rs 20 crore had been paid. In 2005, the case was finally closed, in HDW's favour.

14, Bofors Pay-Off (1987) :- A Swedish firm was accused of paying Rs 64 crore to Indian bigwigs, including Rajiv Gandhi, then the prime minister, to secure the purchase of the Bofors gun.

15, St Kitts Forgery (1989) :- An attempt was made to sully V.P. Singh's Mr Clean image by forging documents to allege that he was a beneficiary of his son Ajeya Singh's account in the First Trust Corp. at St Kitts, with a deposit of $21 million.

16, Airbus Scandal (1990) :- Indian Airlines's (IA) signing of the Rs 2,000-crore deal with Airbus instead of Boeing caused a furore following the crash of an A-320. New planes were grounded, causing IA a weekly loss of Rs 2.5 crore.

17, Securities Scam (1992) :- Harshad Mehta manipulated banks to siphon off money and invested the funds in the stock market, leading to a crash. The loss: Rs 5,000 crore.

18, Indian Bank Rip-off (1992) :- Aided by M. Gopalakrishnan, then the chairman of the Indian Bank, borrowers-mostly small corporates and exporters from the south-were lent a total of over Rs 1,300 crore, which they never paid back.

19, Sugar Import (1994) :- As food minister, Kalpnath Rai presided over the import of sugar at a price higher than that of the market, causing a loss of Rs 650 crore to the exchequer. He resigned following the allegations.

20, MS SHOES SCAM (1994) :- Anyone who war old enough in 1994 to read will remember the advertisements- tens of them intriguingly headlined: 'Who is Pawan Sachdeva?' For the record, it was the peak of the public issue-led advertising boom and the ads were created by the Delhi branch of Rediffusion. Sachdeva, the promoter of MS Shoes, allegedly used company funds to buy shares (of his own company) and rig prices, prior to a public issue. He is alleged to have colluded with officials in the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and SBI Caps, which lead-managed the issue, to dupe the public into investing in his Rs. 699-crore public-***-rights issue. Sachdeva was later acquitted

21, JMM Bribes (1995) :- Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shailendra Mahato testified that he and three party members received bribes of Rs 30 lakh to bail out the P.V. Narasimha Rao government in the 1993 no-confidence motion.

22, In a Pickle (1996) :- Pickle baron Lakhubhai Pathak raised a stink when he accused former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and godman Chandraswami of accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from him for securing a paper pulp contract.

23, Telecom Scam (1996) :- Former minister of state for communication Sukh Ram was accused of causing a loss of Rs 1.6 crore to the exchequer by favouring a Hyderabad- based private firm in the purchase of telecom equipment. He, along with two others, was convicted in 2002.

24, Fodder Scam (1996) :- The accountant general's concerns about the withdrawal of excess funds by Bihar's animal husbandry department unveiled a Rs 950-crore scam involving Lalu Prasad Yadav, then the state chief minister. He resigned a year later.

25, Urea Deal (1996) :- C.S. Ramakrishnan, MD, National Fertiliser, and a group of businessmen close to the P.V. Narasimha Rao regime fleeced the government and took Rs 133 crore from the import of two lakh tonne of urea, which was never delivered.

26, Hawala Diaries (1996) :- The scandal surfaced following CBI raids on hawala operators in Delhi in 1991. But it was S.K. Jain's diaries that had heads rolling.

27, CRB SCAM (1997) :- Another scam forged by greed and discovered through accident. Chain Roop Bhansali, a smart-talking entrepreneur, created a pyramid financial empire based on high-cost financing. At its peak, his Rs. 1,000-crore financial conglomerate had in its ranks a mutual fund, a financial services company into fixed deposits, and a merchant bank. That Bhansali knew how to work the system became evident when he also managed to secure a provisional banking license. Then his luck ran out. An executive in the State Bank of India Inadvertently discovered that some interest warrants issued by Bhansali were not backed by cash. The bubble finally burst in May 1997, but by that time investors had lost over Rs. 1,000 crore. This was among the first retail scams in India and it was played out, in smaller avatars, across the country-especially in the South where financial services companies promised returns in excess of 20 per cent and decamped with the
principal. Bhansali was arrested for a few weeks and released later on bail.

28, MEHTA'S SECOND COMING (1998) :- The Big Bull returned to the bourses. This time, he allegedly colluded with the promoters of BPL, Videocon International, and Sterile Industries to rig the share prices of these companies. The inevitable collapse happened sooner than planned, Harshad Mehta orchestrated a cover-up operation that included a high=jinks effort by officials of Bombay Stock Exchange to (illegally ) open the trading system in the middle of the night to set things right, but the damage had been done. SEBI finally passed its ruling on the scam in 2001, banning the three companies concerned from tapping the market-BPL, for two years. Mehta was debarred for life form dealing in Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) in October 2001

29, VANISHING COMPANIES SCAM (1998) :- A passing remark heard by then Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram resulted in a furore over what was badly-kept secret on Dalal street. Chidambaram was told that hundreds of companies had disappeared after raising moneys form the public. An informal scrutiny revealed that perhaps over 600 companies were missing. Chidambaram ordered a probe by SEBI. The SEBI probe conducted in May 1998 revealed that while many companies are not traded on the bourses at least 80 companies that had rises Rs.330.78 crore were simply missing. Later that year, the Department of Company Affairs (DCA) was asked to probe and penalize these companies. DCA still investigating. Investigations continue to this day.

30, PLANTATION COMPANIES SCAM (1999) :- It was as innovative a swindle as any effected in the world. Savvy entrepreneurs convinced gullible investors that given the right irrigation and fertilizer inputs, teak, strawberries, and anything else that could be grown, would grow anywhere in the country. The promoters could afford to collect money from investors and not worry about retribution (or returns, for that matter). For, plantation companies fell under the purview of neither SEBI nor Reserve Bank of India. Indeed, they didn't even come under the scope of the Department decided to change things in 1999, enough investors had been gulled: 653 companies, between them, had raised Rs. 2,563 crore from investors. To date, not many investors have got their principals back, just another affirmation of the old saying about money not growing on trees.

31, Match Fixing (2000) :- Mohammed Azharuddin, till then India's cricket captain, was accused of match-fixing. He and Ajay Sharma were banned from playing, while Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar were suspended for five years.

32, KETAN PAREKH SCAM (2001) :- Ketan Parekh's modus operandi wasn't very different from Harshad Mehta's. If Mehta used banker's receipts, then Parekh used pay orders to ramp up the prices of his favourite scrips (the K-10). Apart from money form the banking system Parekh also rerouted money from corporated like HFCL (Rs. 425 crore), and Zee (Rs. 340 crore) to good effect. He was caught when pay-orders issued by Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank bounced. Although the total amount involved in the scam was just Rs. 137 crore, the impact was far greater.

Apparently, when a bear cartel sensed Parekh was in trouble, it stepped in and leveraged a dip in the NASDAQ to bear down stock prices. The resultant slump in the markets happened soon after Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha presented what he considered his best budget ever. Under pressure from the government, SEBI investigated the scam and heads began to roll. Among them: the entire management team of BSE, including its president Anand Rathi, CSFB, First Global, and, in an indirect connection, P.S.Subramanyam, the Chairman of UTL Evidently, for the 18 months that PSS was Chairman of UTI, the Trust had mirrored the actions of the bull cartel. The result? When the market tanked, so did the NAV of its holy cow, the US-64.

33, Tehelka Sting (2001) :- Tehelka, an online news portal, used spycams to catch army officers and politicians accepting bribes, in their sting operation called Operation Westend. Investigative journalism turned another corner in the country.

34, Stockmarket Scam (2001) :- The mayhem that wiped off over Rs 1,15,000 crore in the markets in March 2001 was masterminded by the Pentafour bull Ketan Parekh. He was arrested in December 2002 and banned from acccessing the capital market for 14 years.

35, Home Trade Scam (2002) :- Under the pretext of gilt trading, Rs 600 crore was swindled from over 25 cooperative banks in Maharashtra and Gujarat by a Navi Mumbai-based brokerage firm Home Trade. Sanjay Agarwal, CEO of the firm, was arrested in May 2002.

36, Stamp Paper Scam (2003) :- The sheer magnitude of the racket was shocking-it caused a loss of Rs 30,000 crore to the exchequer. Disclosures of the mastermind behind it, Abdul Karim Telgi, implicated top police officers and bureaucrats.

37, Oil-for-Food Scandal (2005) :- K. Natwar Singh was unceremoniously dropped from the Cabinet when his name surfaced in the Volcker Report on the Iraq oil-for-food scam.
What India Could Do With Rs 73 Lakh Crore?
Build: 2.4 crore primary healthcare centres. That's at least 3 for every village, at a cost of Rs 30 lakh each.

Build: 24.1 lakh Kendriya Vidyalayas at a cost of Rs 3.02 crore each, with two sections from Class VI to XII.

Construct: 14.6 crore low-cost houses assuming a cost of Rs 5 lakh a unit.
Set up: 2,703 coal-based power plants of 600 MW each. Each costs Rs 2,700 crore.

Supply: 12 lakh CFL bulbs. That'ms enough light for each of India's 6 lakh villages

Construct: 14.6 lakh km of two-lane highways. That's a road around India's perimeter 97 times over.

Clean up: 50 major rivers for the next 121 years, at Rs 1,200 crore a river every year.

Launch: 90 NREGA-style schemes, each worth roughly Rs 81,111 crore.
Announce: 121 more loan waiver schemes. All of them worth Rs 60,000 crore.

Give: Rs 56,000 to every Indian. Even better, give Rs 1.82 lakh to 40 crore Indians living BPL.

Hand out: 60.8 crore Tata Nanos to 60.8 crore people. Or four times as many laptops.

Grow the GDP: The scam money is 27% more than our GDP of Rs 53 lakh crore."
Greed, graft, politics, bribery, dirty money. Just another day in the life of a nation still rated among the most corrupt in the world. Scan the scams that have grabbed headlines, destroyed reputations and left many people poorer.

 

Let's assume, for a moment, that ALL the above scams are exaggerated by a factor of 10 to 1. Let the amount involved be just 10% of the claimed scam amount. Let's further assume that the "Powers-that-be" do not want to take the logical steps involved in bringing back the money to you & me, the ordinary citizens of this nation.

But, surely, it must be possible for them to come up with another "Amnesty" scheme, where the money can be brought back and deposited in a 10-year deposit at LIBOR rates of interest with the Government of India - No questions asked! Only condition, there will be a 10% one-time tax on the amount so deposited.

Even then, the amount involved would be huge enough for the Government of the day to come up with lots of goodies in our 2011 budget for the proverbial "Aam Aadmi"! 

Will Pranabda listen?

Regards,

N

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Swiss precision applied to a dress code for bankers

Swiss precision applied to a dress code for bankers

What do you think is appropriate "Professional Dressing" for Bankers? If at all you wish to draft a set of rules or frame a dress code, how long would that be? If you're under the impression that such a dress code should not be more than a maximum of a page or two, think again.

Apparently, there are some "experts" who feel that it is entirely within the realms of reasonableness to come up with a 40+ page BOOK of Dress Code.

That's right - I did mention that the dress code that I'm referring to runs to more than 40 pages.

The famous Swiss Bank UBS has just come up with a "Dress Code" for its staff. Do take a look:

• Dress Code at UBS - Taking it to extremes!

Believe it or not, we're not talking about school kids, but about seasoned, mature, intelligent adults - many of them with a few years of experience to boot!

And still, UBS deems it fit to come up with very specific rules about the entire gamut of dress that's apt / taboo for both men and women.

The rule book actually covers (but is not restricted to):

• Shoes
• Socks
• Underwear
• Glasses
• Nail Polish
• Ties

And, as a clarification, I must mention that these rules were not issued as a joke on any "April Fool's Day" - They were indeed meant to be followed and enforced!!!

Would any of you be interested in:

• A job at UBS? Or even, ... ... ...
• Being a customer of UBS, if you're going to be greeted by virtual photocopies of robotic individuals who are all forced to "Look alike"???

Think about it!

Regards,

N

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Shedding Onion Tears

Shedding Onion Tears

It is presently fashionable to shed tears over Onion Prices.

True, Onion prices have gone up, and quite significantly.

Equally true, onion prices were much lower even a few weeks back, and are likely to come back to saner levels in the weeks ahead.

Further, it is fairly obvious that the government could possibly have ensured that the onion prices did not zoom as much as they did.

However, I have a few fundamental questions:

• Prices of all kinds of products are going up all the time - Ranging from fuel, dal, fruits, movie tickets, alcoholic beverages, jewellery, house prices, house rentals, etc. - There is no comparable furore. Why?
• When salaries zoom upwards, there is a perfectly smug silence - the middle class is famously splurging away to glory. One does not hear that "there should be a cap on salary levels" - When salary levels go up, "meritocracy prevails", and "Market forces need to be allowed to play to encourage talent". When such is the case, why do the very same middle class suddenly ignore the very same "Market forces"? Why do they then run to the government asking the "Powers-that-be" to "Immediately intervene"?
• When we want to sell our houses, we wait for the "right prices" - We don't sell it at a lower price out of sympathy for the masses who want affordable housing. When we wish to sell shares, we wait for the "right prices" - we're not accused of "hoarding". When any fuel price hike is announced, immediately there's a long queue of trucks and cars in petrol bunks - Nobody should accuse us of "hoarding". However, when the poor vegetable vendor tries to preserve his/her onions for an extra day or two in the hope of a slightly or significantly higher price we accuse them of virtually criminal hoarding! This despite the fact that onions, being perishable in nature, can't be "hoarded" for too long. Why do we have such double standards?
• Admittedly, a few months back, onion prices were hovering around 10-12 per KG. If the vendors are profiteering now, they must have suffered a significant margin squeeze at that time. Why was there a stunning silence at that time about the plight of the then pathetic condition of the very same vendors who're accused of profiteering now???

I did study Economics at school, college and during my CA & MBA days. Unfortunately, the answers that come to my mind for the above questions are not satisfactory.

I'd be grateful if someone could provide a few answers!!!

Regards,

N

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Better drive slowly - Lest you overtake a Minister's Car!

Better drive slowly - Lest you overtake a Minister's Car!

This one is perhaps known intuitively to most of us, but let's put it on record - Never ever dare to overtake a Minister's Car.

If you wonder why, here's what happened to Bharat, a real estate businessmen from Bangalore and his family when Bharat dared to overtake Mr. Bache Gowda's car (Mr. Bache Gowda is the labour minister of Karnataka)

• Businessman overtakes Minister's car, family bashed up!

This incident apparently happened in August 2010. Unfortunately, I don't recall too much of an uproar in the National media in this connection.

Probably they were all too busy with a combination of the CWG scam, Adarsh Society Scam, Ruchika Girhotra case, Spectrum scam, etc.

I was unable to find anything more on further action taken against the minister.

Regards,

N

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UP foodgrain scam may require 5,000 FIRs

 UP foodgrain scam may require 5,000 FIRs

Remember the blog post that I'd written about on the UP Foodgrain scam? In case you wish to refresh your memory, take a look at the following link:

• Money to be made at the bottom of the pyramid - This was about a scam which has been going on for at least the past few years, where foodgrains meant for the poor "Below Poverty Line" families are being systematically diverted to be sold in other states / countries. The value of the scam is considered to be over Rs. 35000/= crores per annum. Till date, it is estimated that at least Rs. 200000/= crores would have been siphoned off.

More vivid details are given on the website of Times of India:

• UP Foodgrain scam may require over 5000 FIRs

What is surprising is that, despite the amount involved being much larger than the 2G scam and the fact that the UP Foodgrain scam is apparently still "Work in Progress", the visual media, print media, political parties at the State and Central level, etc. seem to be far less interested in the UP Foodgrain Scam.

Why?

Simply because it does not involve a "Single" Minister or Bureaucrat - It involves a large network of bureaucrats, politicians, etc., cutting across geographies and parties.

Hence, it looks like

• the politicians and/or bureaucrats are keeping quiet because they're not sure about which of their own skeletons will come tumbling out - Had it been a single minister or bureaucrat, the rest of them would have taken a moral high ground to pounce the way they pounced on "poor" Raja!
• the media is ignoring it because the "story" is not as conducive to maximise TRPs and readership - Hence they continue to focus on stuff like 2G scam, the Khap Panchayats, etc.

Moral of the story:

• Let the people at the bottom of the pyramid suffer all they want.
• We'll all proceed with our own lives the way we deem fit
• As and when there's nothing else to focus on, we may choose to revert to this story!

Any comments???

Regards,

N

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Husband bashes up MLA Wife, Arrested

Husband bashes up MLA Wife, Arrested

Shocked by this news item:

• Gangster arrested for battering MLA Wife in Bihar

Only solace: At least in case of a Member of the Legislative Assembly, the law seems to take action promptly against domestic violence!

Regards,

N

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Thoughts, Comments & Views on our existing legal system - Part 2

Thoughts, Comments & Views on our existing legal system - Part 2

This is a continuation of an occasional series with my thoughts on our legal system.

You can see part one in

• Thoughts, comments and views on our existing legal system - Part 1

In Part 2, I'll deal with a few observations of the proverbial common man:

We Indians are big on talk and are often found wanting in action.

We're willing to bicker about our legal system, the delays, the corruption, etc., but at a personal level, many of us do not hesitate to break the law of the nation, break rules of the organisation where we work, indulge in corrupt practices, etc. Some examples:

• Look around the number of people jumping traffic signals. Especially at night, but even during the day if there's no cop watching.
• Look at the number of people (often including yours truly) not wearing a seat belt while driving a car / not wearing a helmet / drive in the wrong direction of a one-way road / overspeeding / parking in a no-parking space.
• Take a peek at the number of small-time restaurants / tea stalls using the subsidised gas cylinders which are NOT meant for commercial purpose.
• Observe the number of rich (and poor) households dumping their garbage on the platforms instead of the dustbin which is a few blocks away.
• Take a walk on the beaches and get shocked by the extent of littering - all of which has been done by people like you and me.
• Go to any "old" government building - to find that many walls and floor corners are used as spittoons.
• Try to find a single person who has sold a flat / house / land without a "black" component. I've come across a few, but believe me, it took a lot of efforts. I can perhaps try to understand the "self-rationalisation" that is behind someone "Paying a black component" to buy a property. But what prevents a so-called honest person from selling a property without a black component?
• Look at the number of people willing to buy a "black ticket" for a movie
• Look at the number of persons who use office time and resources for browsing the net, making personal calls, etc.
• Look at the quantum of office stationery that is presently available for the use of your family members right now at home.
• Try to recall the number of occasions when you've told a lie to your boss to either go home early or to take a day off.

I could go on and on. In short, in many instances in our own personal lives, our actions would not make us feel proud. I'm afraid, our value system is rotten. We certainly need to work on it.

When I bounced off this post with a few friends, a common response was that I'm magnifying trivial matters.

I just wish to recall a dialogue from a Tamil film ("Anniyan", starring Vikram) - "When a billion Indians indulge in corruption to the extent of Rs. 10/= per head per month, the impact is huge. It is not trivial any more".

As our old adage goes, "When character is lost, everything is lost".

Regards,

N

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Money to be made at the Bottom of the Pyramid

Money to be made at the Bottom of the Pyramid

So, you folks thought that I am going to write about some jargons from the great management Guru CK Prahalad?

Sorry - This one is straight from the world of our very own local Indian Politicians.

If you really want to learn about how to make money from the Bottom of the Pyramid, watch Times NOW channel over the next couple of days.

• They've just started describing in great detail about how the UP politicians have been siphoning off food grains worth Rs. 35,000/= crores per annum.
• From where? From the allocation made by the Centre for food grains meant for the "Below Poverty Line" families (BPL families).
• How? By "smuggling" it on all kinds of vehicles ranging from two-wheelers to trains to South India, North-East India, for selling the same in the open markets, or, better still, for exporting them to foreign countries.
• The estimated loot, is, apparently, upwards of Rs. 2,00,000/= Crores
• For those of you who are interested in the number of zeroes in this loot, the amount involved is, apparently, upwards of 2000000000000/=. You can count the zeroes on your own. I tried counting, and found it difficult. And gave up.

And all of us thought that we need solid MBAs from Harvard or Wharton or at least IIMA to make money from the Bottom of the Pyramid!

Regards,

N

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Privacy vs Public Interest

Privacy vs Public Interest

Thanks to Wikileaks and Radia tapes, there has been a huge furore and a raging controversy about where Privacy ends and Public Interest begins.

In the middle of all this, I came across a rather surprising statement from our Home Minister Mr. Chidambaram, who is, in my opinion, a suave, intelligent, smart, sensible political leader. I'm quoting the gist of his statement in the context of Mr. Ratan Tata's concern about the leaks of what is apparently a private conversation (that appeared in the Chennai edition of THE HINDU a couple of days back) from memory:

• "In such cases of phone-tapping, some collateral damage is unavoidable. While we don't condone such leaks, all of us must be aware that such leaks do occur".

Oops! I can't believe that Mr. Chidambaram, of all the people, is having such an opinion.

• Pray, why should anyone tolerate such leaks to the media?
• When a phone is tapped in accordance with law, it is usually for a specific purpose. Nobody has any business to either leak such information or allow such leaks or tolerate such leaks.
• If, in the process of such tapping, the authorities come across material which could be of interest to some other arm of the government, necessary approvals must be obtained by following the prescribed procedure and then such information should be shared with the other arm of the government.
• Similarly, if public interest is involved and any specific information ought to be shared with the general public, appropriate procedures for the same should be followed and only then, the information must be released to the media as a whole, and not to any individual journalist or media organisation in an unauthorised manner.

There are other moral hazards in the statement of Mr. Chidambaram. Other agencies may start making similar claims for release of confidential information. Some interesting examples could include:

• The patent office releasing information obtained in confidence prior to registering patents
• Income Tax authorities could release income details of VIPs and information about non-filing of returns by specific individuals / political parties
• Custodians of critical data like stock exchanges, depositaries, banks, financial institutions, share brokers, insurance companies, hospitals, etc. can release all kinds of information that is available with them in the due course of discharging their respective functions, but which are supposed to be kept confidential.

Mr. Chidambaram, I repeat myself for emphasis - Any information that is obtained in accordance with the law of the land - whether by tapping phones or through any other means - ought to be used exclusively for the intended purpose. Any deviation from this MUST be duly authorised and be an exception. Leaks are bad in law and unethical to boot.

Regards,

N

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Vulgarity In Advertising - An occasional example

Vulgarity In Advertising - An occasional example

There are enough and more of "double-meaning" advertising that one can observe on television. A lot of tasteless stuff has become the norm. Grossly exaggerated claims are also not something out of the ordinary. But downright obscene or vulgar ads as well as ads which cross all norms of decency have been somewhat limited.

Here's one such that I noticed on TV during the India - New Zealand one-day match the other day. Apparently, when a "smart young man" carrying "the right mobile" goes shopping, the shop-keeper (another "sweet young lady"), who had just chased away a previous customer with a curt "No change", gives our "smart young man" a couple of condoms, on the pretext of "No Change". Since I don't remember the precise brand which has come up with this advertisement, I'm not naming the same.

Here are my objections to the above ad:

• Obviously, visibly indicating a direct interest in a sexual one-night-stand, bordering on "solicitation" - To the best of my limited knowledge, this ought to be violating half a dozen laws of the country
• This is a very direct, "in-your-face" ad targeting young adults - Is it appropriate to air it during the break of a cricket match, which is viewed by millions of children? Please don't tell me that they don't understand. They understand these things much better and much more quickly than many adults.
• The ad is highly sexist and demeaning. Just imagine another advertisement depicting the converse. Let us suppose that a male shopkeeper offers a couple of those special pills / "Copper T" to a sweet young female customer on the very same pretext of "No change". Would it not have caused a huge furore? We'd have had the usual gamut of Barkha Dutt / Kiran Bedi / NWA / Suhel Seth / Rajdeep Sardesai / Arnab Goswami / Jayanthi Natarajan / VHP / Bajrang Dal / RSS / BJP / College Students / Self-proclaimed opinion makers crying themselves hoarse about the ad and how it outrages the modesty of women, how women are treated like sex objects, how "Mother India" is insulted, etc. Why is it that something becomes objectionable when it pertains to women but there is total silence when it comes to men????

Wonder what the so-called self-regulatory mechanism of the ad world is doing about this ad?

Regards,

N

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How to search your favourite "Wikileak"

How to search your favourite "Wikileak"

Here's an article that make things easy for you to search your favourite "Wikileak":

• http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/29/how-to-search-the-wikileaks-documents.html

There's too much noise right now. Let things settle down a bit before I put forth my thoughts on the "right or wrong" of publishing all these "Wikileaks"!

Regards,

N

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Non-functioning Parliament - Breaking the deadlock

Non-functioning Parliament - Breaking the deadlock

The winter session of our Parliament has been a non-starter.

The opposition wants a JPC, and UPA would have none of that.

Who pays the price? You and me. Figures being bandied about about the cost incurred due to the non-functioning of our Parliament runs into crores.

All the parties have gone way too far to go back without a loss of face. Hence, the deadlock may continue for a while. Here are my thoughts on how to break the deadlock - Any one or more of the following suggestions ought to work:

1. Let the opposition have their JPC - Will help the UPA to hold the moral high ground.
2. Let the opposition allow the Parliament to function, "under protest" (like they allowed the appointment of the Vigilance boss) - Will help the opposition to hold the moral high ground, claiming that they put the nation's interest, instead of focussing on petty formalities. The 2G scam and all other scams can be investigated, and, if investigations are felt to be either biased or inadequate, judicial intervention is always possible.
3. Either the UPA or the opposition can make a threat of "Resignation from the post of MP" by all their members. The fact is that nobody, least of all the politicians, wants an election right now. This will ensure that the other party becomes more willing to listen to one's point of view.
4. If all else fails, execute the threat in # 3 above. This would provide adequate proof that there are at least some politicians who actually hold high moral values and do not want to have anything to do with a Parliament that has ceased to function!

Regards,

N

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Resign, Mr. Prime Minister, resign!

Resign, Mr. Prime Minister, resign!

An open letter from a big fan of Mr. Manmohan Singh, requesting him to resign from the post of Prime Minister:

Dear PM,

At the outset I must confess that I've been, for a very long time, a huge admirer of your integrity, abilities and sincerity. My admiration started in 1991, when the then Prime Minister Mr. Narasimha Rao chose you to be the saviour of the financial mess that India found itself in.

Hence, please don't take offence at my requesting you to tender your resignation.

The time to resign is NOW. Resign, Mr. Prime Minister, resign! Not that I love you any less. But I love India more.

Let's take various aspects of your governance:

• Prominent External Dangers to India
  • China has been issuing stapled visas, questioning the very basics about Arunachal Pradesh being part of India. And what have you done? A few statements and occasional noises, nothing more.
  • Pakistan - Dawood and his friends have been enjoying life as honoured guests in Pakistan. 26/11 happened. Parliament attack happened. And what have you done? A few statements and occasional noises, nothing more.

Resign, Mr. Prime Minister, resign. Not that I love you any less, but I love India more.

• Internal Dangers to India
  • Kashmir - In the past few decades, only an occasional person or two outside Kashmir and a few "rival countries" used to question Kashmir being a part of India. Today, we have public seminars where mainstream Indian citizens are talking about "letting go" of Kashmir. And what have you done? A few statements and occasional noises, nothing more.
  • Maoist Problems - Whether West Bengal or Orissa, AP or Chattisgarh, there are just too many districts where Maoists (by whatever name they may be called) either have total control of the local administration or at least move around freely, terrorizing people. And what have you done? A few statements and occasional noises, nothing more.
  • Self-appointed Moral Police - Whether we're talking about Khap Panchayats or people questioning the right of citizens to celebrate Valentine's day, whether we're referring to unknown political novices getting books banned or about professors having their hands chopped off, the rule of law seems to be in "silent mode". And what have you done? A few statements and occasional noises, nothing more.

Resign, Mr. Prime Minister, resign. Not that I love you any less, but I love India more.

• The dirty dragon of Corruption is OMNIPOTENT
  • CWG scam
  • Adarsh Society scam
  • 2G Spectrum scam
  • IPL scam
  • Indian Medical Council scam
  • Microfinance Scam
  • Housing loan scam (thought it is still being called 'just a bribery case involving certain individuals')
  • Land scams across different states - irrespective of whether they are ruled by your party or not.

The list is endless. Not only me, even far more reputed and powerful people ranging from politicians to lawyers to journalists find it difficult to keep pace with all "active scams"

and keep track of what is happening in each individual case.

And what have you done? A few statements and occasional noises, nothing more.

Resign, Mr. Prime Minister, resign. Not that I love you any less, but I love India more.

• The Anti-poor menace of Inflation
  • Inflation simply refuses to go away 
  • In fact, if we forget the official inflation figures and look at what your favourite Aam Aadmi actually pays, the real inflation is even more acute.
  • Farmers continue to commit suicide
  • Essential prices of commodities continue to sky-rocket - especially food grains, cereals and vegetables are increasingly out of reach of the ordinary citizen
  • The real levels of unemployment are way too high, based on anecdotal evidence. Fortunately, unlike the USA, we don't have reliable statistics on the unemployment data which comes out each month. Otherwise, it would become one more stick for the media and the opposition to beat the government. But is that an excuse? Not for a man of integrity. Certainly, not for you. 

And what have you done? A few statements and occasional noises, nothing more.

Resign, Mr. Prime Minister, resign. Not that I love you any less, but I love India more.

• The bogus excuse of "Integrity" and "Competence"
  • Of course, you are apparently honest, a man of integrity, and all that. I still believe that. I certainly don't have any faint doubt about your own personal integrity.
  • But then, since when did "Integrity" become the sole qualification for being the Prime Minister of India?
  • Nobody, including me, doubts your competence. We all know you to be among the most intelligent of all current global leaders. We are conscious about your personal competence in discharging your duties pertaining to ministries coming under your direct personal control.
  • But then, is the Prime Minister of India not supposed to be a "First among equals" and is he not supposed to ensure effective functioning of each of his ministries?
  • Even if you're given the benefit of doubt on the issues of personal integrity and personal competence, a vast majority of the population don't care to believe that several of your colleagues in the cabinet are men of integrity or men of competence. On the contrary, we keep hearing sob stories about hitting a new nadir on the key issues of integrity and competence every other day.

And what have you done? A few statements and occasional noises, nothing more.

Resign, Mr. Prime Minister, resign. Not that I love you any less, but I love India more.

Dear PM,

As I mentioned right at the beginning, I'm a huge fan of yours.

I certainly believe that you are capable of much more than what you are presently doing (or being allowed to do by the system at large).

That's no excuse for a person of your stature to continue in office.

The time for you to go has come. And gone. It is already too late.

The only thing that is still left reasonably safe is your personal reputation for integrity and competence.

Please don't let that go.

Instead,

Resign, Mr. Prime Minister, resign.

Not that I love you any less, but I love India more.

Regards,

N

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And we thought that this happens only in India!

And we thought that this happens only in India!

With all our high-profile "accused" people

• suffering from sudden heart attacks and other such diseases to get hospitalised
• fly off to unknown destinations within the country till they get bail
• go abroad (under the very noses of investigating agencies) till they've "sorted out" the matters to the satisfaction of one and all.

we were under the impression that this happens only in India. (I'm obviously not naming names -

After all, if they're high profile, you ought to be able to guess.)

Apparently not - Read on:

• HP's new CEO goes into hiding to escape from lawsuit!!!

Regards,

N

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Thoughts, Comments & Views on our existing legal system - Part 1

Thoughts, Comments & Views on our existing legal system - Part 1

Of late, the Raja episode has once again provoked public outrage, and prompted several articles, interviews, discussions, etc. on the same. Like all of us, I also have multiple thoughts on the same. We should not look at it as an isolated case, but look at the macro picture by looking at the legal system as a whole.

• The way many of the TV channels have been pouncing (not only on Raja, but also on the various accused persons in most other such involving high profile cases ranging from rape of young women, caning of errant kids at school, misappropriation of public funds - be it Adarsh or CWG, etc.), it almost appears that they simply want the courts (or better still, the media themselves) to actually decide on the punishment to be given to the accused, without bothering about such nuances as a due process of law.
• When someone in authority (whether the investigating officials or politicians in power) say that "We're investigating / looking into the matter. The Law will take its own course", the media (and often the general public as well) comes to the conclusion that the intentions are almost exclusively a strategy to bury the whole matter forever.
• Many political parties, when questioned about a specific allegation, throw another allegation on a completely different matter on their rivals. Since when did two wrongs make a right?

There's no point in merely looking at just an individual case and trying to bring the same to its logical conclusion. Of course, it must be done. But that should be at best a first step.

In addition, we ought do several other things (including changes in the laws, the way the judicial system operates, etc):

1. When a crime (or alleged crime) against a minor occurs, NO MEDIA should publish the names (or any clues giving hints about the identity) of either the victim or the alleged perpetrators TILL a court convicts someone for the crime. Even then, the victim's name and other details should be made public with the GENUINELY INFORMED CONSENT of concerned parties. In spirit.
2. When there's an allegation (especially one of financial impropriety) is made against a person in power - whether a bureaucrat or politician,
   • The allegation must be accompanied by appropriate evidence. If no evidence is provided, a case must be filed against the person making such allegations immediately for defamation. People certainly don't have any business to make baseless allegations.
   • A 3 member team consisting of an opposition politician, a retired bureaucrat and a serving judge should be formed in every state and at the national level. The sole purpose of this team will be to evaluate the existence of a prima-facie case worth investigating. The time allocated for them should be a minimum of 3 days and should not exceed a maximum of 30 days from the receipt of such allegation. The findings of this team should result in either:
     • Filing a case for defamation against the person making such allegations in case no investigation is recommended or
     • Suspending the accused person from his / her current position to enable investigations to proceed. A publicly tabled report must be submitted on the findings at the end of every month from the date of beginning such investigations.
   • If the person making such allegations wishes to file a case even before the completion of investigation, ideally, no permission should be required for prosecuting bureaucrats. However, permission from the appropriate authority (Governor / President) should be obtained to prosecute ministers. However, such request for permission to prosecute must be decided within a maximum of one month from the date of receiving such a request. In every case where such permission is denied, a case must be filed for defamation for making such baseless allegations

Point No. 1 above will ensure that both the accused and the victim will have adequate protection of their privacy till the case is completed.

Point No. 2 above will ensure that while the genuinely corrupt and/or criminal bureaucrat or politician is brought to book, there is no "fishing expedition" by unscrupulous opposition members or publicity-seekers.

More of my thoughts will be posted in the coming days and weeks.

Regards,

N

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Why I killed Gandhi - Godse's final speech

Why I killed Gandhi - Godse's final speech

This is one of those potentially controversial mails that I received. Checked the veracity of the contents with a couple of people who know their History.

Makes interesting reading.

Personally, of all the things that Gandhi did, the most important aspect which I hate is his supremely powerful "weapon" of "Satyagraha through fasting".

This extraordinary weapon is very much like a knife. In the hands of a surgeon, it can save lives. In the hands of a chef, it can cook delicious stuff for dinner. In the hands of unscrupulous thugs in a dark lane at night, it can impoverish a passerby. In the hands of a hardened criminal, it can actually kill!

Unfortunately, all of us are acutely conscious of the present stature of our Indian politicians across all the parties. And their moral values. Irrespective of whether they learned anything else from Gandhiji, all of them have learnt to use the powerful "weapon" of "Satyagraha through fasting" with telling effect.

And, in the process, they are causing irreparable harm to the nation.

I'm refraining from quoting examples, as that would make me appear to be biased in favour of or against Party X or Politician Y. Read on for academic interest:

WHY I KILLED GANDHI

Gandhiji's Assassin: Nathuram Godse's Final Address to the Court.

Nathuram Godse was arrested immediately after he assassinated
Gandhiji, based on a F. I.. R. filed by Nandlal Mehta at the
Tughlak Road Police station at Delhi . The trial, which was held in
camera, began on 27th May 1948 and concluded on 10th February 1949. He
was sentenced to death..

An appeal to the Punjab High Court, then in session at Simla, did not
find favourable and the sentence was upheld. The statement that you
are about to read is the last made by Godse before the Court on the
5th of May 1949.

Such was the power and eloquence of this statement that one of the
judges, G. D. Khosla, later wrote, "I have, however, no doubt that had
the audience of that day been constituted into a jury and entrusted
with the task of deciding Godse's appeal, they would have brought a
verdict of 'not Guilty' by an overwhelming majority"

WHY I KILLED GANDHI

Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere
Hindu religion, Hindu history, and Hindu culture. I had, therefore,
been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed
a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance
to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for
the eradication of untouchables and the caste system based on birth
alone. I openly joined RSS wing of anti-caste movements and maintained
that all Hindus were of equal status as to rights, social, and
religious and should be considered high or low on merit alone and not
through the accident of birth in a particular caste or profession.

I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners in which
thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars and
Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the
company of each other. I have read the speeches and writings of
Ravana, Chanakiya, Dadabhai Naoroji, Vivekanand, Gokhale, Tilak, along
with the books of ancient and modern history of India and some
prominent countries like England , France , America , and Russia .
Moreover I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above all
I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written
and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more
to the molding of the thought and action of the Indian people during
the last thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done.

All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty
to serve Hinduism and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen.
To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some
thirty crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute
the freedom and the well-being of all India , one fifth of human race.
This conviction led me naturally to devote myself to the Hindu
Sanghtanist ideology and program, which alone, I came to believe,
could win and preserve the national independence of Hindustan , my
Motherland, and enable her to render true service to humanity as well.

Since the year 1920, that is, after the demise of Lokamanya Tilak,
Gandhiji's influence in the Congress first increased and then became
supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their
intensity and were reinforced by the slogan of truth and non-violence
which he paraded ostentatiously before the country. No sensible or
enlightened person could object to those slogans. In fact there is
nothing new or original in them. They are implicit in every
constitutional public movement. But it is nothing but a mere dream if
you imagine that the bulk of mankind is, or can ever become, capable
of scrupulous adherence to these lofty principles in its normal life
from day to day.

In fact, honour, duty, and love of one's own kith and kin and country
might often compel us to disregard non-violence and to use force. I
could never conceive that an armed resistance to an aggression is
unjust. I would consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and,
if possible, to overpower such an enemy by use of force. [In the
Ramayana] Rama killed Ravana in a tumultuous fight and relieved Sita..
[In the Mahabharata] , Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness; and
Arjuna had to fight and slay quite a number of his friends and
relations including the revered Bhishma because the latter was on the
side of the aggressor. It is my firm belief that in dubbing Rama,
Krishna , and Arjuna as guilty of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a
total ignorance of the springs of human action.

In more recent history, it was the heroic fight put up by Chhatrapati
Shivaji that first checked and eventually destroyed the Muslim tyranny
in India . It was absolutely essentially for Shivaji to overpower and
kill an aggressive Afzal Khan, failing which he would have lost his
own life. In condemning history's towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana
Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has
merely exposed his self-conceit. He was, paradoxical as it may appear
a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the
name of truth and non-violence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji, and the
Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen for ever
for the freedom they brought to them.

The accumulating provocation of thirty-two years, culminating in his
last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the
existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately. Gandhi
had done very well in South Africa to uphold the rights and well-being
of the Indian community there. But when he finally returned to India
he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was to be the
final judge of what was right or wrong. If the country wanted his
leadership, it had to accept his infallibility; if it did not, he
would stand aloof from the Congress and carry on his own way.

Against such an attitude there can be no halfway house. Either
Congress had to surrender its will to his and had to be content with
playing second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality,
metaphysics and primitive vision, or it had to carry on without him.

He alone was the Judge of everyone and every thing; he was the master
brain guiding the civil disobedience movement; no other could know the
technique of that movement. He alone knew when to begin and when to
withdraw it. The movement might succeed or fail, it might bring untold
disaster, and political reverses but that could make no difference to
the Mahatma's infallibility. 'A Satyagrahi can never fail' was his
formula for declaring his own infallibility and nobody except himself
knew what a Satyagrahi is. Thus, the Mahatma became the judge and jury
in his own cause. These childish insanities and obstinacies, coupled
with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty
character made Gandhi formidable and irresistible.

Many people thought that his politics were irrational but they had
either to withdraw from the Congress or place their intelligence at
his feet to do with as he liked. In a position of such absolute
irresponsibility Gandhi was guilty of blunder after blunder, failure
after failure, disaster after disaster. Gandhi's pro-Muslim policy is
blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national
language of India . It is quite obvious that Hindi has the most prior
claim to be accepted as the premier language. In the beginning of his
career in India , Gandhi gave a great impetus to Hindi but as he found
that the Muslims did not like it, he became a champion of what is
called Hindustani.. Everybody in India knows that there is no language
called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has no vocabulary. It is a
mere dialect, it is spoken, but not written. It is a bastard tongue
and cross-breed between Hindi and Urdu, and not even the Mahatma's
sophistry could make it popular. But in his desire to please the
Muslims he insisted that Hindustani alone should be the national
language of India . His blind followers, of course, supported him and
the so-called hybrid language began to be used. The charm and purity
of the Hindi language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims. All
his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus.
From August 1946 onwards the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the
Hindus. The then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, though distressed at what was happening, would not use
his powers under the Government of India Act of 1935 to prevent the rape, murder and arson. The
Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with some retaliation by the Hindus. The
Interim Government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League member's right
from its inception, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which
hey were a part, the greater was Gandhi's infatuation for them. Lord Wavell had to resign as he
could not bring about a settlement and he was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten. King Log was
followed by King Stork. The Congress which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism
secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the bayonet and abjectly surrendered to
Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian territory became foreign land to us from
August 15, 1947.

Lord Mount batten came to be described in Congress circles as the
greatest Viceroy and Governor-General this country ever had. The
official date for handing over power was fixed for June 30, 1948, but
Mount batten with his ruthless surgery gave us a gift of vivisected
India ten months in advance. This is what Gandhi had achieved after
thirty years of undisputed dictatorship and this is what Congress
party calls 'freedom' and 'peaceful transfer of power'. The
Hindu-Muslim unity bubble was finally burst and the state
was established with the consent of Nehru and his crowd and they have
called 'freedom won by them with sacrifice' - whose sacrifice? When
top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore
the country - which we consider a deity of worship - my mind was
filled with direful anger.

One of the conditions imposed by Gandhi for his breaking of the fast
unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by the Hindu
refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent
attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and
censure the Pakistan Government or the Muslims concerned. Gandhi was
shrewd enough to know that while undertaking a fast unto death, had he
imposed for its break some condition on the Muslims in Pakistan ,
there would have been found hardly any Muslims who could have shown
some grief if the fast had ended in his death. It was for this reason
that he purposely avoided imposing any condition on the Muslims. He
was fully aware of from the experience that Jinnah was not at all
perturbed or influenced by his fast and the Muslim League hardly
attached any value to the inner voice of Gandhi. Gandhi is being
referred to as the Father of the Nation.

But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty in as much as he
has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the
partitioning of it. I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his
duty.

He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan . His inner-voice, his
spiritual power and his doctrine of non-violence of which so much is
made of, all crumbled before Jinnah's iron will, and proved to be
powerless. Briefly speaking, I thought to myself and foresaw I shall
be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people
would be nothing but hatred and that I shall have lost my entire
honor, even more valuable than my life, if I were to kill Gandhiji.
But at the same time I felt that the Indian politics in the absence of
Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and
would be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be
totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of
Pakistan . People may even call me and dub me as devoid of any sense
or foolish, but the nation would be free to follow the course founded
on the reason which I consider to be necessary for sound
nation-building.

After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision
in the matter, but I did not speak about it to anyone whatsoever. I
took courage in both my hands and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji on
30th January 1948, on the prayer-grounds of Birla House. I do say that
my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought
rack and ruin and destruction to millions of Hindus. There was no
legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book and
for this reason I fired those fatal shots. I bear no ill will towards
anyone individually but I do say that I had no respect for the present
government owing to their policy which was unfairly favorable towards
the Muslims. But at the same time I could clearly see that the policy
was entirely due to the presence of Gandhi.

I have to say with great regret that Primes Minister Nehru quite
forgets that his preachings and deeds are at times at variances with
each other when he talks about India as a secular state in season and
out of season, because it is significant to note that Nehru has played
a leading role in the establishment of the theocratic state of
Pakistan, and his job was made easier by Gandhi's persistent policy of
appeasement towards the Muslims. I now stand before the court to
accept the full share of my responsibility for what I have done and
the judge would, of course, pass against me such orders of sentence as
may be considered proper. But I would like to add that I do not desire
any mercy to be shown to me, nor do I wish that anyone else should beg
for mercy on my behalf. My confidence about the moral side of my
action has not been shaken even by the criticism leveled against it on
all sides. I have no doubt that honest writers of history will weighs
my act and find the true value thereof some day in future.

JAI HIND

Regards,

N

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