Wondering who is really a Criminal?

The recent cabinet decision to withdraw the criminal cases against the supporters of the Reddy Brothers (RBs) has left the concerned citizens confused and shocked. If you are still asking questions, the home minister Mr Acharya has the answers. Here is what he said about the decision to drop criminal cases against the supporters of the RBs. This in a way sums up the law and order situation in Karnataka.

The Farmers and the Dalits in different parts of this State have been slapped with number of criminal cases. But the pity is that the arms of justice (read as the arms Home Minister and His team) do not reach them as easily as they have reached the RBs and their supporters. Look at the paradox- the farmers have no right to protest against the land acquisition (eg Bellary for Airport, Bangalore for NICE and SEZ, Mangalore for SEZ) or against the inadequate supply of agricultural inputs (eg farmers protests against inadequate supply of fertilizers Haveri) but the supporters of RBs can even destroy a two-century old temple because it came in the way of their mining business.

How can the needs of the Farmers and the Dalits take precedence over the greed of RBs? For the farmers it may be a question of physical survival but for the BJP it is a question of political survival!

Well, it depends who is a criminal in this State and who can get the criminal cases dropped against one’s name....

But Farmers, Dalits and Minorities beware!

Gaon Chodab Nahin- Lovely Satire on the Present Development Model

Welcome to the Sick Capital of Sick State!

‘Health is wealth’ goes a popular saying. Given the present circumstances, the people of Karnataka and more specially the Bangaloreans would not hesitate to go around shouting this slogan. As in the case of money the people realize the importance of health in its absence. ‘Don’t fall sick if you are in Bangalore’ was the headline in one of the dailies. Such is the seriousness of the deteriorating health situation in the capital city.

Recently the World Health Organization declared H1N1 flu as the first pandemic of the 21^st century. The ‘daily dose’ of suspected cases of swine flu being reported in Bangalore makes the situation even more alarming. As if this was not enough some city hospitals have been served closure notices by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) for failing to set up effluent treatment plants (ETPs) in their premises!

Remember city’s health woes have deeper roots. Swine flu is only a latest entry! Chikungunya has spread its wings to many corners of the city already. There are reports that anybody who goes to a clinic with fever is said to be affected by Chikungunya. Doctors love a sick city.

The questions remain. Don’t the poor deserve better facilities in the hospitals that are supposed to cater to them? How can the ailing healthcare fight swine flu?

Is creation of additional wards for BBMP more important than providing decent healthcare? When will the government wake up to address these pressing issues?

Wealthy God and poor gods!

It has been reported that Mr Janardhan Reddy (now on JR) celebrated his birthday by donating a diamond-studded gold crown estimated to be worth Rs 450 million (45 crore) to the famous Lord Venkateshwara temple at Tirupati. What a noble gesture from a man who is said to be a great devotee of Lord Veknkateshwara and a frequent visitor to the famous place. Apart from being a minister in Karnataka, his mining operations have taken him closer to the neighboring Andhra Pradesh.

See this against the background of the now publicly known cold war between the Chief Minister of Karnataka and the ‘rich and powerful’ Bellary Reddy brothers. The dissatisfaction leading to ‘distancing’ in one state (Karnataka) and the ‘closeness’ driven donation taking place in another state (Andhra Pradesh)! Another factor is the Ministry of Environments and Forestry (MoEF) is conducting a survey of mining lease areas. Would this mean an end of ‘win-win’ situation for these two states? Yes, only Lord Venkateshwara would know it.

Speculations aside, we are bothered by some basic questions. What is the income tax department doing? Are JR and his Reddy brothers paying income tax at all? What are the sources of their income and more particularly what is the source of JR’s 45 crore gift to Lord Venkateshwara in Tirupathi? Would the Lokayukta ever get into the ‘reddy fortress’ in Bellary to expose their ill-gotten assets?

It is one thing to see the rich increasing in number and quite another to see the increase in the riches of a few. Indeed, Lord Vekateshwara would have been happier to see many gods (Human beings) becoming richer than to see the riches of just one God (Lord Venkateshwara)! How can a rich God be happy in a poor country?

Read this related article by Anand Soondas.

Is India a Flailing State??

India is a land of paradoxes! Poverty amidst plenty, high growth rates Vs poor development indicators, surplus food production Vs high starvation deaths, world famous educational institutions Vs pathetic literacy rates and this list is endless. This paradox is captured by well known economist Joan Robinson who said ‘Whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true’.

In this interesting article Lant Pritchett introduces a new category to refer to India, namely, ‘flailing state’, by which he means “a nation-state where the head, that is, the elite institutions at the national (and in some states) level remain sound and functional but this head is no longer reliably connected via nerves and sinews to its own limbs”.

He refers to the rampant absenteeism, indifference, incompetence, corruption in police, tax collection, education, health, power and water supply- in nearly every routine service!

What shall we say about the move to increase the number of elite institutions like IIMs, IITs in India? Would this bridge the gap between the head and the limbs or would it lead to further alienation of the limbs from the head?

Socio-capitalism as the Latest Economic Mantra

Gone are the times of extremes, or so it seems! Today, there are not many takers for 'either or' positions specially when it comes to say, ‘science and religion’, ‘state and market’ and ‘capitalism and socialism’. For example, the movie ‘Angels and Demons’ speaks of coexistence between science and religion and states that they are not enemies. Here is an interesting essay on the movie.

Today, with the financial crisis there is an increasing skepticism about the infallibility of the ‘invisible hand’, namely, market economy, read capitalism. With many of the high profile capitalist enterprises claiming bankruptcy, the capitalism is in troubled waters. Interestingly, General Motors becomes 'only' the 99th American company to go under!

In such a scenario its goodbye for any talks on exclusive capitalism or exclusive socialism and welcome to ‘socio-capitalism’ or ‘capito-socialism’. R Jagannathan of DNA says that socio-capitalism is an idea whose time has come. 

What do the fundamentalist groups of capitalists and socialists say? 

Fallacies About Voter Turnout

As we know, post elections many theories emerged to explain the voting patterns and voter turnout. But all these theories failed to hold water says Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar in his article on the fallacies about voter turnout.   

Birthday and the Birthday Message....

It is ‘birthday’ time for the ruling party in Karnataka as it completes one year. And we find the government blowing its own trumpet, well almost as a team (though seven ministers were missing)! Though there are contrasting views on the ‘why’ of this celebration, the more important question is about the cost of this celebration. Does the government really care for the taxpayers’ money? Would the citizens ever come to know the total expenditure incurred on this celebration?

The Chief Minister and his team should know that the people will judge a government not on the basis of its promises but on the basis of its performance. The BJP government headed by Mr B S Yeddyurappa did make a lot of promises. But an assessment of its performance reveals many unpleasant things like church attacks, pub attack and sporadic incidents of communal violence and these are not the kind things any government will be proud of.

Even if we excuse the government for all its failures of one year, however grave the mistake by the government and however difficult to excuse the government for it, the uncertainty remains whether such unpleasant events would recur or would such unpleasant events disappear and pave the way for a better and peaceful Karnataka? Would the remaining years too turn out to be equally futile? Would the government, in future too, be found celebrating its achievements which weren’t there?

Mr Chief Minister you have said that the people have given you a birthday gift in the form of 19 loksabha seats. What is going to be your gift to the people of Karnataka for the next four years? Remember not to spend the taxpayers’ money for redundant and needless practices like ‘anniversary celebrations’, ‘gangajal distribution’ or ‘pilgrimage subsidy’ but for nobler causes like healthcare, education, poverty alleviation and employment generation.

Celebrating the Release of the Prisoner of Conscience…

When Dr Binayak Sen was still in prison, noted film maker Anand Patwardhan wrote an article describing Dr Binayak Sen as the prisoner of conscience. Given the circumstances that led to his arrest it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him so. It has been a week since his release and all over the world the human rights activists are elated that the two year old ordeal has ended for this man who worked for no hidden agenda other than the agenda of peace.

This country is not unknown for illegal arrests of citizens who dared to speak against the state. As admitted by Dr Sen himself there are hundreds of such heroic souls languishing in the corners of jails throughout the world. The gross human rights violations, perpetrated by the State, would have gone unnoticed but for these noble men and women who risked their lives to expose such abuses.

Dr Sen has repeatedly said that he is not a Naxal sympathizer. In an interview which he gave while he was still in jail, he makes it clear that he doesn’t endorse violence whether by the State or the Naxals. Again in another interview which he gave after his release from the jail, he says that he was targeted by the State government primarily for criticizing the Salwa Judum and encounter deaths. A clear mismatch between the crime and punishment!

Indeed Dr Sen’s release is a victory to the organizations that speak out against the human rights violations perpetrated by the state but it remains to be seen whether this would put an end to state’s excesses in the name of putting an end to Naxalism!