Thinking aloud

In a world that thrives on symbolism and hollow words the danger of tokenism replacing real effort is very much on the rise. The Nobel Peace Prize being given to the US President Obama has sparked off a debate in the contemporary world, and rightly so. Obama rightly recognised the award “as a call to action” rather than as a reward for past accomplishments. Still, I think such prestigious and globally acclaimed awards need to be conferred for past accomplishments and not as a motivational prize. The absence of a phenomenon known as The Mahatma among the list of awardees speaks volumes about the relevance and logic of Nobel Peace Prize. For, most of the time an award is a decoration for the recipient and only rarely it is the other way around.

October 2 nd is a day when the nation remembers the Great Mahatma. Year after year various functions are held across the country, speeches are made and the lack of Gandhian values on contemporary world is lamented with strong words. Like all Indians, I too learned about Gandhiji when I was in school. But I got a better glimpse of the phenomenon called the Mahatma several years later, when I had the opportunity to read his autobiography, ‘My Experiments with Truth’. At this point of time, Gandhiji’s ideals and teachings are very much relevant. Perhaps the most basic of them all, that of being accountable in public life is the one that needs to be rejuvenated if India and the world at large is to progress. The way I understand it, Bapu’s idea of being accountable is not the mere’ resignation owning moral responsibility’ when something goes wrong (which in itself is so rare these days). It is more about owning up responsibility, taking corrective actions with well laid out targets ...

The situation that BJP is in at this point of time can only be described as a BIG MESS. But I am not surprised that things came to such a dismal state. Once the party failed to find an alternative to take over as the opposition leader from Advani, it was clear that something will give way sooner or later. But, the Jaswant saga came as a shock. While the way he was expelled leaves a lot to be desired as far as party democracy is concerned, I believe it was high time the party started taking discipline seriously. Remember the days when BJP used to be a ‘party with a difference’. Having said so, the party cannot be seen to have different yardsticks for different people. No, I am not talking about the old Jinna episode triggered by Advani himself. I am talking about the sudden rush of messiahs and repentant old men from in and around the party. I understand there is a generation of party men who were in line for the top jobs after Vajpayee-Advani era. Now that it is clear that none of ...

Every year from January to April we witness the government departments flooding the money allocated to them in the annual plan outlay down the drain, with very little to show for it. Especially in the last three months of very financial year, these mandarins manage to spend more than 60% of what the total allocation. Needless to say, this smacks of criminal negligence on the part of officers who are supposed to implement different projects in a time bound manner all through the year. As for the ministers, we know very well they are not really capable of doing much other than making atrocious and often indecent comments at the slightest provocation and wasting public money on decorating the ministerial bungalows. There are some good ministers in the cabinet, but they are the exceptions rather than the rule. Then from May to August-September, we have the grand spectacle of the Government, so called socio-religious organizations and other managements and the officials playing with the ...

The happenings in God’s own country are frustrating to say the least. Life seems to be going around in circles while the rest of the world marches ahead. The frustrating part is that the mistery keeps repeating in at periodic intervals and brings with it a fresh bout of shameful play act from the clueless rulers, officials and the unfortunate common man including myself. The immediate provocation for such an observation is the fever epidemic that is on the rampage for almost a month in northern parts of Kerala, and especially in Kozhikode. As the doctors keep diagnosing it as pneumonia, chikenguniya, dengue, malaria and all sorts of myriad varieties of fever, the common man has nowhere to turn for help. This has been a recurring incident for the last 4-5 years in Kerala. Each year different parts of the state are devastated by epidemic fever, claiming the lives of hundreds of hapless victims. The health minister and the ministry keeps coming up with fresh statistics and is seen as b...

As the nation salutes our jawans and officers on the 10 th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas, we need to once again take a close look at our own priorities and civic life. From failing to queue up at the polling booths on Election Day to jumping the queue whenever we happen to be in one, we have our own surreptitious and indigenous ways of surviving in this great nation. We are an diverse bunch of citizens with a remarkably short memory and high emotional quotient (that soar to dizzying heights when a cricket match is on television). We have a government which seemed reluctant to join in the celebrations and which just about did what was obligatory and nothing more. We have a media which turns this into another sensationalised drama with the all knowing politicians throwing punches at each other and looking like complete idiots in the process. Still, somewhere amidst all the chaos, we still manage to preserve the memories and nurture the emotion that keeps the phenomenon called Ind...

Past week has once again demonstrated how redundant and sidelined the Indian Parliament has become in the Indian administration. Even in UPA’s first term, parliament was repeatedly bypassed in important national issues and we even had a bunch of bills being passed without any discussion under the pretext of non-co-operative opposition. Sadly none among the UPA’s think-tank seems to have ever heard of the concept of inclusive decision making. The victory that gave UPA a second term should have made the government more sensitive and responsible while dealing with vital issues, especially those related to defence and foreign matters. Instead, all that we have is a government that cannot seem to make up its mind on such issues and which keeps taking u-turn arbitrarily every now and then. Even when the parliament is in session, the government doesn’t deem it necessary or desirable to make use of the opportunity to clarify its stand and thereby keep the nation informed. This time the UPA ha...