Author: Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Vincent Augustine D'Souza is a blogger, author, novelist, and quiz master. He writes on politics, economy, corruption, terrorism, current events, sports/games and many more topics on his blog Voice From The Rooftop (http://voicefromtherooftop.com). He has written four novels — King, Pope, Dream and Trump. They are available in ebook format. His major non-fiction work is English Konkani Dictionary (https://englishkonkanidictionary.com). He has also written Model Constitution for India and Model Constitution for United States of America. His quizzes appear on his quiz site Go 4 Quiz (https://go4quiz.com). Amazon Page: https://amazon.com/author/vincentdsouza Gumroad Page: https://gumroad.com/vincentdsouza

Too much cricket

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

There is the story of a man who killed the goose that laid golden eggs. Similar is the case with BCCI.

Recent ODI series in India against England witnessed large number of empty seats in Hyderabad, Delhi, Mohali, Bombay and Calcutta. There was drop in television viewing. The law of diminishing returns was at work. Within six months of World Cup interest in cricket had declined. During World Cup there were long queues for tickets for matches played by India and in some cases there was lathi charge. For the past four years there have been Tests, ODIs and T20s one after the other and people were bound to lose interest at some point.

USA and ISI

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

For long India said ISI was behind terrorist activities in India. USA was quiet. For some years Afghanistan said ISI was behind terrorist activities in Afghanistan. That included Indian Embassy. USA was quiet. When American Embassy was attacked USA spoke. Americans wanted Pakistan to take action against Haqqani group, veritable arm of ISI, or they will act on their own.

Gang of Four

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Gang of Four originally meant Jiang Qing, Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan who were powerful during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) in China. Anna Hazare spoke of Gang of Four in UPA government without mentioning names. One of them is P. Chidambaram. Second is likely to be Kapil Sibal. Who are the other two? Some talk of Digvijay Singh and Manish Tewari but they are not ministers.

Firecrackers and Pollution

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Firecrackers cause air pollution and noise pollution. When firecrackers burst day and night over a month the damage is great.

Firecrackers are meant to be burst during joyous occasions. They are burst during marriages, feasts, when countries win matches and during the opening ceremonies of sports events. Candidates who win elections to Parliament or Legislative Assembly burst firecrackers.

Defence purchases

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

India should have been self-sufficient in all respects of defence. USA, UK, Russia and France sell weapons. In India many years and thousands of crores of rupees were spent on developing main battle tank and light combat aircraft. There was talk of allowing private sector to manufacture what is required for defence but nothing seems to have happened. May be imports are a lucrative way to get bribes, commissions and kickbacks. Foreign companies may be allowed to manufacture warplanes, warships, arms and ammunition in India and India should buy only what is made in India.

CAG and 2G

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

CAG is a constitutional authority. He is not a servant of the government of the day. If he finds any subordinate not doing his job properly he has the right to overrule him. In judiciary there are various courts but the decision of the Supreme Court is final. It can overrule High Court or other courts. High Court can overrule Sessions Court. In Supreme Court judges on the same bench disagree and judgments are by majority. There is nothing strange about CAG overruling DG.

Sheila Dikshit and CG scam

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Why is it that Sheila Dikshit continues as chief minister when there were three occasions when she should have quit? Did she threaten that she would not go down alone but take Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi with her? Did she bribe or threaten BJP members or other politicians? What did she do to silence TV channels about her?

Occupy Wall Street

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

For long Americans witnessed scenes of demonstrations in Arab countries and talked of Arab Spring. Now they witness scenes of demonstrations in their own country and they can talk of American Autumn. There is protest against corporate greed and bail outs. Billions of dollars were given in bail outs and officials responsible for losses got millions of dollars in bonuses. Unemployment is high in USA. Officially it is close to 10%. The unemployed are not ready to put up with a system that rewards failures.

Poverty alleviation

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

There is a debate about poverty line in India. NAC members have attacked Planning Commission. The debate is mainly about Rs.32 as poverty line in cities.

The definition of poverty changes according to place and time. Poverty can be absolute or relative. Absolute poverty may be removed but relative poverty will be there.

Vatican and Barabbas

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Vatican officials oppose death penalty in disregard to church tradition. That has influence on other bishops. One official went so far as to say people who want death penalty for murder are like those who shouted â€œKill him.â€ about Jesus in front of Pilate. The official could not have been more wrong.