Thanks to Sanjay for alerting me to this article in gfiles.com. It is shocking to say the least. Pl read the excerpts and share widely. Excerpts from The daylight rape of the public interest:
*** Excerpts begin ***
gfiles prayerfully brings to the Supreme Court’s attention..the inside story of how a national resource…has been systematically emasculated..(and) how, as part of a larger conspiracy, prime land worth Rs 98,000 crore belonging to the Government of India was gifted for profit to a consortium of vested interests in the name of “airport development”.
This …

Dear All: I came across these four links in the last 30 hours – and they made my weekend (not). Together, they read like a sad – very sad – commentary on the state of affairs. You either have to be totally lacking in integrity to be blind to this level of circumstantial evidence – or completely compromised (yourself) and hence unable to do anything about it.
I will leave you to guess on which side Hon PM, Sh MMS falls. Read on. The first excerpt from More murky twists to …

Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this guest post by Sh Krishen Kak titled, “Yatha Raja, Tatha Prashasan”. The article was originally published in VijayVaani earlier this week. Following a suggestion by Sh Krishen-ji, I am also reproducing below some of the comments on this post from VijayVaani. Read on (emphasis mine).
*** Yatha Raja, Tatha Prashasan  by Krishen Kak ***
Each year, for about a month, I volunteer with an NGO that coaches candidates for the UPSC’s civil services interviews (officially, “personality tests”).
Each candidate, for interaction with subject …

Dear All, I am reproducing below some excerpts from a fascinating article that was forwarded to me last week by Sachin. It is deeply thought-provoking and raises a number of disturbing questions…
Please read and comment…The original article in full is here
*** CAUTION: Long Post ***
*** Excerpts from “Is India a Flailing State?” by Lant Pritchett ***
…The novel (Q&A on which Slumdog Millionaire is based, by Vikas Swarup) opens with the hero having won the game  show but is being beaten by the police in a Mumbai police station as the …

More than two years ago, in a post dealing with politics and corruption, I wrote:
This is a subject with such rich pickings (pun unintended)…that I am seriously considering a series on “How to earn Rs XYZ crores in X years” focused on politicians (- feel free to write in with tips and information).
That post was about earning Rs 10 crores+ a year (give or take a few)…so my eyes naturally popped when I read this bit from Shantanu Guha Ray’s “The Rise and Fall of King Koda” in the lastest …

… as in paying “taxes” to “militants”… or is it “protection money”?

If you ever wondered how bad the situation is in the North-East, look no further.  Courtesy this news-report by Rahul Karmakar (HT)*: Ministers Too Pay Tax to Militants in North-East (emphasis mine):
It’s out in the open. Ministers in the Northeast do pay `taxes’ to militants. A top leader of a faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland has claimed while drawing a line between extortion and levies imposed by underground `governments’.
…”Yes, we collect taxes and there’s nothing illegal …

At the monthly meeting of our political discussion group in London last week, we talked about “Corruption in India“…
While browsing around the net for more information on this topic, I stumbled on the transcripts of a dozen slides on “Managing Police Integrity – The Hong Kong Experience“. Unfortunately I could not locate the actual slides but the transcript makes the following points:
Given the complexity of the problem the HKP (Hong Kong Police) adopted a holistic four-pronged approach to address the issue of police integrity. The prongs are :
(a) Education and …

This is a true life experience of Shabbir Merchant, who heads ValueLead Consulting a in Bengalore. When Shabbir narrated this incident to his friends, they suggested he write it down and email it to his friends and acquaintances.
Friends of his emailed it to their friends, in turn and that is how I first heard about this. Here is a “Glimmer of Hope” in Shabbir’s own words:
*** Glimmer of Hope ***
…here goes an interesting experience of interacting with an IPS officer, who made me see a Glimmer of Hope, amidst the …

Satyendra Dubey, Manjunath and now Yogendra Pandey…
As I read the news about investigation into Yogendra Pandey’s death yesterday, I wondered where does the trail of death end?
Last week (18th June) Yogendra Pandey, an engineer responsible for road-works in Bihar was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Sitamarhi collectorate premises.
On 25th Jun, the government of Bihar finally recommended the case to centre for a CBI enquiry. Indian Express reported that “…the police term the death (of Sh. Pandey) a suicide even as the second autopsy and forensic sciences reports …

On the cover of Sanjeev Sabhlok’s first book, “Breaking Free of Nehru” is a short quote by Gurcharan Das. He says: “It must be read by every Indian”.
I cannot agree more.
Whether or not you agree with the crisp, bordering on the combative, title of the book, I guarantee you will find it thought-provoking and disturbing.
“Breaking Free of Nehru” can best be summarised as an “Ode to Freedom”. The book is heavily influenced by the liberal philosophy of thought, by thinkers such as Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman and makes …

Comment # 131:
@Ashwin, I agree, let us wait for 15 months (not 5 yrs) to see how Raul really is as a politician cause I feel that will the the time when he will be installed in the front end of the government.
I find your selection of words, to describe Raul, very funny and more NDTV/CNNIBN type when you say “Rahul has been media shy and more measured when he is asked to give instant comments on issues…”
That is the hypocrisy I hate most! Different yardsticks for different people?
Comment by …

As I was clearing my backlog of articles from past few weeks, I chanced upon this interview of Digvijay Singh by Karan Thapar.
Read the excerpts against the backdrop of events leading up to the elections and the 2009 mandate to Congress (I)…and you will see why I chose the title of the post.
*** Excerpts from Devil’s Advocate: Digvijay on what if Cong loses ***
Karan Thapar: The revelation that your government has withdrawn the red corner notice against the Bofors scam accused Ottavio Quattrocchi, is an embarrassment. What justification you can …

Start the weekend with this provocative piece by Atany Dey. A brief excerpt from Whistling in the Dark about the Future:
Gurcharan Das writes in the Times of India (10th May) that “The Future Belongs to India.” That’s his argument which I suppose he made in a debate in London on the proposition that “the future belongs to India, not China.” I understand perfectly the need for such an argument because I too feel a lot of distress when I compare what China has achieved relative to India and have to …

Anil Bairwal of ADR released their “Updated Analysis of Lok Sabha MPs” – Criminal, Financial,Educational Background yesterday in which I found this nugget of information:

Total number of crorepati MPs in the present Lok Sabha – 300

I realise being a crorepati is no big deal in India today (e.g. read India home to fastest growing number of millionaires) but still…
Sadly, ADR’s report reveals in spite of all the talk about “change” and clean, value-based politics, the BJP has the maximum number of MPs having criminal cases against them – 43 (out …

Start this weekend with P Sainath at his best on Celeb crusades & the death of politics. A very brief excerpt:
The Lok Sabha constituencies of Mumbai averaged over 60 per cent voting between 1957 and 1977….
The barrage of celebrity propaganda to “get out there to vote” had an impact in Mumbai. Voting fell by 6 per cent….In Mumbai, voting was 41.41 per cent this time around as compared to 47.15 per cent in 2004.
Corporate media’s cutest efforts failed to arrest a decline in voting percentage. Nor did corporate-sponsored events and NGO …

Connect the dots.
…The Interpol has removed the red-corner notice issued against Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman who is being sought in India  for criminal charges for acting as a conduit for bribes in the Bofors scandal…The 12-year-long Interpol red corner notice…has been withdrawn by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
This comes just three weeks before the Congress-led UPA government’s term ends. [ News dt 28th Apr '09 ]
Next,
…The Supreme Court on Monday (27th) asked the Special Investigation Team to probe a complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi that he and …

This post was prompted by a question posed by Suresh in an email to me a few weeks ago. Suresh wrote:
I think Arun Gawali is a CONVICTED criminal, albeit he has possibly an appeal in process. Are such criminals permitted to contest elections in  India?
…grateful for explanation.
Suresh’s email had a link to this news-report: Arun Gawli to contest LS polls from North Central Mumbai
Now, as far as I know, the law relating to criminals standing for elections is clear. No “convicted” criminal can contest an election [I believe this is …

*** Excerpts from “Richest politicians“ by Shankkar Aiyar ***
…Entering public life is now an investment of time and effort for dividends to be earned from political entrepreneurship. A joint study by INDIA TODAY and EmpoweringIndia.org (an initiative of the Liberty Institute) of the reported assets of our elected representatives reveals a startling contrast between the rulers and the ruled.
In a country where over 77 per cent of the populace, or an estimated 836 million people, earn an income of Rs 20 per day and over 300 million are living below the poverty …

As I read about Sanjay Dutt’s rousing welcome in Lucknow, I was remined of a brief email exchange with Dnyanesh from some days back. Dnyanesh asked me my thoughts on what should be the selection criteria for candidates contesting elections for Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies. I shared some ideas with him (below) but I don’t think these are either complete or the best.
I would like everyone’s inputs and suggestions on this…
My initial thoughts are:
Candidates must be able to satisfy the following criteria at the very least:

Financially solvent
Above 21 years …

Many of you would remember Empowering India – a website that I mentioned on this blog a few days back.
While in India last month, I had a chat with Kirti, who manages this initiative along with Barun. Kirti told me about the great work that they are doing in terms of “compiling information on all electoral candidates to help citizens make informed choices when they vote and make the electoral representatives accountable”
As you can imagine, this is a huge task…and they need help…and our involvement.
Kirti specifically asked for help in terms …