Jan Lokpal : A Hawkeye Prediction

          "Rulers see through spies,

           as cows through smell,

           Brahmans through scriptures and

           rest of the people through their normal eyes."

          The words of Kautilya, the Indian philosopher of the third century BC finds more meaning now, if not then. It is highly difficult to pass a day without confronting the golden word 'Jan Lokpal'. This may be mainly attributed to the so called hype created by the 'Peoples Revolution' or the controversies surrounding the 'Bhushans' or the unstoppable VIP inflow into Tihar. But many a time we feel that the fire ignited by Anna Hazare is glowing down in its intensity

         

         There is no denying the fact that the Lokpal bill is the need of the hour; owing to our inadequate systems to handle the magnitude of the corruption observed in the recent past. The CBI has powers but is not independent (of its political masters). The CVC is independent, but it does not have sufficient powers or resources. Besides, the CVC is just an advisory body and has no powers to register a criminal case. The revolution by Anna Hazare was a great crowd puller, amply supported by the media . The story of how the government conceded all the demands of Hazare within four days of his fast must make anyone wonder whether the idiom of public protest and the character of democracy in India have transformed abruptly ( Not to forget Irom Sharmila, who has been on fast for the past 10 years demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act). But, can the Lokpal alone stop the corruption?

         

          The demand for a Jan Lokpal bill will only tackle one part of the problem of corruption. It is designed to create an effective institution to check the supply of corruption and to create disincentives for corruption. The bigger part essentially requires the policy change of the corporate margins. But, the Jan Lokpal bill is highly mis-understood by the  public.The Lokpal has no judicial powers. It has the powers of investigation and initiating prosecution. The judgement will be always given by ordinary courts. Also, it will never create a superpower which will not be accountable to anybody, because the orders will be reviewable in the higher judiciary, the Lokpal is mandated to function with full transparency and finally members of the Lokpal are accountable to the Supreme court and can be removed by a five member bench.

          But. the bone of contention is not the movement or the bill. At present, its all about the smooth flow of the working of the Drafting committee. Soon after the first meeting of the JDC, a CD containing some very unsavoury bits of conversation between Mr. Mulayam Singh and Mr. Shanti Bhushan blew up in the public's face. This was followed by other accusations of undervaluation of a property for payment of stamp duty and the allotment of unusually large prime plots worth several crores in Noida. 

          A section of the society now claims that its highly outrageous that a committee meant to draft a bill demanding "unimpeachable integrity" and demonstrable resolve to fight corruption should itself consists of persons who are yet to clear  themselves of the charges levelled at them damaging their professional integrity.There is lot of substance in this argument and also the author cannot digest the idea that the duo, knew each and every punctuation mark of the bill, and therefore their presence is an absolute must. How long does it take for an experienced and knowledgeable lawyer to grip the provisions of the bill. Is the bill that complex that a Fali Nariman or Soli Sorabji may find it difficult to comprehend.

         

         A viper crushed beneath your foot but left alive, will rear up and bite you with a double dose of venom. An enemy of the anti-corruption movement (be it anybody) that is left around is like a half dead viper that you nurse back to health. Time makes the venom grow stronger.The author's appeal to Anna Hazare is that the process has started , lets complete it without giving time to the vipers in and around the society to attack back with double vengeance. The normal eye-view says that its neither the 'pro-Bhushans' nor the 'anti-Bhushans' argument that is important; the need of the hour is that of a strong Jan Lokpal bill or else the Hawk eye predicts that, the means is going to become the end yet another time!!

Time for India to move to the First Quadrant : BRICS @ Hainan

          Harold Lasky on the basis of the political attributes divides the society into four. If, the X axis shows a scale of pessimism to optimism, Y axis shows a scale of satisfaction to dissatisfaction, then the whole of the population gets divided into four;

1. PROGRESSIVE - Satisfied & Optimistic

2. CONSERVATIVE - Satisfied but Pessimistic

3. RADICALS - Optimistic but highly Dissatisfied

4. REACTIONARY - Pessimistic & highly Dissatisfied.

          The Quadrant classification which reminds the author of the school day Trigonometry classes (All Silver Tea Cups!!) can very well be extrapolated to the Indian foreign stand in the recent past. Many a times we have seen India taking all the stands except the progressive one. This notion was once again stamped in the recent BRICS summit on the southern island of Hainan in China.

          Inevitably, the BRICS ought to have discussed their relationships with the rest of the world. But, such summits' which eyes for sectoral cooperation; is by any margin a big surprise for the common man for the simple reason that these so called emerging powers are also the toppers in the world external debt charts and by no doubt has the US & Eurozone as the major consumers of the emerging market exports. And. here comes the economic dilemma; What will happen if the 'Protectionism' gains the momentum; in the event the BRICS may feel the heat in the western market.

          The hanging up of Doha issues certainly underlines the very notion that the developing nations are not being taken seriously till now in the World Economic Order. In this context the BRICS meet ought to have determined, how as a lobby, it could manoeuvre its members and the rest of the developing world into a multi-lateral trading system and a smoother financial order.

          In this situation, India had the golden opportunity to support ways of regulating the financial setup. The country could always boast of its success in staving off the worst effects of the Global financial meltdown and for the western countries now facing the hangover of the debt crisis. If India could have taken up the teacher's role then BRICS was a perfect classroom for the western economies. But ironically, the author feels that India once again felt the 'starting trouble'; thwarting the golden opportunity of moving up the spiral to the first quadrant, i.e, from the conservative, radical and reactionary stand to a Progressive one!!

Can History be a Yardstick in Politics: Power Equation in Kerala

         "History does nothing, it possesses no wealth, it wages no battles. It is man, real, living man who does all that, who possesses and fights; 'history' is not as it were, a person apart, using man as a means to achieve its own aims; history is nothing but the activity of man pursuing his aims".......Marx, The Holy Family, Chapter 6 (1846). There is no better option than to quote Marx while initiating an analysis on Kerala politics.The result would have been predictable if the assembly elections in Kerala were held couple of months before. But, it would be a political blunder of the highest order, supporting the history of the Kerala politics or so called trend which has been generous enough to give alternate chances to both the coalition fronts one after another, which is perhaps clearly understood by UDF if not, the ruling front.

          State is witnessing a fierce political battle this time. The Congress is pulling out their finest strategies to rejuvenate the momentum which they had during the local body elections and previously in the Lok Sabha elections. While the moves of LDF reflects their intent to rewrite the history by getting back into power. In 2001 assembly elections, the UDF secured one of the finest victories by winning 99 seats in the 140 member assembly house. In 2006, the coin got flipped, it was the LDF's turn to return back to power by exactly the same margin. The trend was proved to be correct once again, when in 2009 Lok Sabha elections the UDF secured 16 out of 20 seats. This was further supported by the results of the Panchayat-Municipal elections in 2010 October in which UDF pulled out 60% of the total seats.

          UDF is moving ahead with the strategy of "Development" and has also listed out an action scheme for faster industrialization and employment generation (a joke in itself!!). But, the front is once again caught up in the old  dogma of seat sharing. With several LDF fractions shifting their allegiance and the unrest within the party, every alternate seat has become a point of discussion in the internal meetings. the bargain being mainly anchored by Kerala Congress (Mani). The 'staunch support' of ideologically bigger but numerically smaller allies like Janadhipatya Samrakshana Samiti (JSS), Janatha Dal (Democratic) again add on to the saga. But, there is no doubt that over the years the front has gained enough maturity in tackling the issue of seat sharing, there are much bigger concerns for UDF now. Sentencing the former UDF minister R. Balakrishna Pillai for one year rigorous imprisonment for corruption, has effectively pulled the mass support out of the UDF camp. Problems don't end there for UDF; the Kozhikode ice cream parlour scandal adds on to the adversities of the UDF campaign.

          The BJP with the intent to fight yet another time, in and around half a dozen seats will make it act as a perfect spoiler this time and may cause damages for both the left and the right (only if we don't see any last minute defection!!). But, the author sees a good chance of BJP pulling out more than 8% of votes this time.

          LDF started off again with its usual strategy of V. S Achuthanandan's candidature issue and is believing on repeating the same magic of previous assembly elections. The LDF will project the doubling of procurement price of paddy and revitalizing the PDS. Also the budgetary promise to deposit Rs 10,000/- in the name of every child born to BPL families and half that amount for APL children as education scholarship has been one of the innovative steps the state has seen in the recent past. But, the decision of not extending the retirement age of govt. employees , absence of collective responsibility and the repetition of the candidature issue of V.S may backfire the whole move.

          But the fact remains that the oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them. LDF is still not able to maintain a good relationship with powerful denominations of Christaian and Muslim community. The whole election result may depend on the chemistry both the coalition has synthesized with the lion share of the Kerala population- the Middle class!! While Malampuzha , Puthupally and Pala will see one-sided elections, all eyes will be focused on Vengara, Kottayam legislative battles.

          While Marx was a perpetual antagonist of history and trends, his followers in Kerala at least join ideologically with Marx this time, if not others, that they will reverse the trend. As sun will shine in the morning of 13nth April, a lot of permutations and combinations carried out will also depend upon how many out of the 2.28 core voters will go and cast their votes ( Not to forget the inconveniences caused by the unscientific and irrational re-design of the constituencies). 

Cricket - A New Dimension of India Inc.

     It has been past 28years since the dome of horizon of cricket fever has arisen in our country. There is no denying the fact that cricket was a respectable sport well before the event of 1983 world cup. The world cup marked the institutionalization of cricket into a religion. TV sets got priority in the consumers list very soon and it hardly took any time across the nation, to get into every household. 

   

    The scenario strengthened time and again when over the years we came very closer to the worldcup. But, it was denied since 1983, the reasons being plenty; from terrific spells of Imran Khan to unexpected batting from Aravinda Desilva and from there the Australian army being the cynosure which took up the monopoly, when rest of the teams were demoted to meagre spectators. It took years to negotiate the Australian hegemony and finally we have the cup (whether original or duplicate doesn't matter!!).

     Viewing the big screen in a crowded Metropolitan Mall Gurgaon was really an electrifying  experience, thanks to Karthik, Loki and Ram . In fact, it was much superior than watching the same in any isolated living room.The Indian start was 'shaky' when we lost the top guns but the gut feeling of the author that it being 'Dhoni-day' proved out to be perfect ( Not to neglect, its the Dhoni's fav. team Srilanka on the other side!!). Dhoni has a rare combination of Intelligence & Luck in equal proprtions. The best point is that the whole script was written by the youg turks and not the senior veterans; a good sign for future cricket.

    

     The celebrations after the victory were simply awesome. People getting on top of trucks dancing, Indian flags all over, guys and girls dancing and enjoying the success; first in the lifetime of many.It was absolutely true that history lags behind the history makers.I have never seen India united to this extent, across the nation. Strambolian atmosphere across the country.

     Team India has shown that this is the change which we wish to see in ourselves.There are a lot of things which we can learn from this victory; a forward looking strategy, coherent ideology, a vision of future society. If we are able to stick to these, then there is no doubt that the entire universe will conspire to sail us through to our destinations, gradually reducing the gap between India and Bharat (Did somebody say Inclusive Growth!!).......Lets take it forward!!!