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

Food Insecurity Bill

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

The government wants to bring Food Security Bill which in fact is Food Insecurity Bill. The bill is dictated by NAC which functions as super cabinet and should have no place in a democracy.

The members of NAC either do not know what happens in India or do not care. Both cases are unpardonable.

Food grains are acquired but not stored properly. They rot in godowns or outside godowns. Some godowns meant for stocking food grains stock liquor bottles. Food grains, that would have gone to people who die of starvation, rot. In Haryana food grains stored outside FCI godowns have rotten so much that they are not fit even for animal consumption and Haryana Warehouse Corporation wants to auction them at 62 paise per kg for those who want to use those rotten food grains as manure. Many starvation deaths would not have taken place if acquisition of food grains had been proper. When Supreme Court tells to distribute food grains free to prevent their getting rotten prime minister says it is not for Supreme Court to decide policy. Money is wasted on procuring food grains and food grains are wasted without proper storage and delivery.

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Acts of sedition

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Two persons made seditious speeches in Delhi on 21/10/2010 and the central government does not want to prosecute them. The excuse is they don’t want to give them publicity.

P. Chidambaram is good with excuses. Many years back when Shankaracharya of Puri made a statement that should have landed him in jail his excuse was that the Shankaracharya came perilously close to breaking the law.

The countries where rule of law prevails do what is necessary and do not hide behind excuses. Whether someone who has made seditious speech gets publicity or not is immaterial. Law has to take its course. There is equality before law. Whether the person who makes the speech is a politician, legislator or lonely figure is immaterial. People who announce reward for murdering someone don’t get arrested and that makes the target insecure. Such inaction on the part of government made M. F. Hussain give up Indian citizenship.

One speaker is from Kashmir and wants independence for Kashmir. Many young people in Kashmir want independence. If the central government is open to the idea of independence for Kashmir and is ready to let go Kashmir it should say so openly. If it is open to the idea of plebiscite in Jammu & Kashmir it must say so.

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Shunglu Committee is an eyewash

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

On 15/10/2010 Shunglu Committee was appointed to probe into Commonwealth Games corruption. It was given 90 days time. Someone said it was cover-up. The corrupt people had two months for cover-up before Commonwealth Games and now they have three months. V. K. Shunglu was a CAG. He is out of country, no idea when he will return, may be after 90 days.

On 23/10/2010 on Big Fight on NDTV 24×7 a panellist said Shunglu Committee is an eyewash. It has no powers. Under what law it is appointed? Can it question Manmohan Singh? Can it question Sonia Gandhi? This is not the time for political correctness. Money has gone all the way to the top. Money has gone to Suresh Kalmadi, Sheila Dikshit, Jaipal Reddy. Money has gone to Manmohan Singh. Money has gone to Sonia Gandhi. A junior engineer will be punished. The panellist said that.

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Barack Obama and Golden Temple

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Barack Obama is due to visit India and visit to Golden Temple proved a problem because of the headgear he was required to wear. Wearing a headscarf is asking for trouble as 18% of Americans think he is a Muslim and his wearing headscarf would have been seen by many as proof of his being a Muslim, an unacceptable risk. Baseball is not acceptable to temple authorities.

Some Americans are hostile to Barack Obama. They find fault with him for various reasons. Some blamed him for not showing emotion during BP oil well crisis. People who want emotion should see movies with emotion. Barack Obama cancelled his visits to Australia, Indonesia and some other countries to handle the crisis. When Pakistan had flood crisis Asif Ali Zardari went ahead with visits to UK and France.

http://go4quiz.com/vincent/2010/india/barack-obama-and-golden-temple/

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Article 356 for Maharashtra

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Maharashtra is a fit case for imposing President’s Rule under article 356 of the constitution.

It is not for students to tell what should be the syllabus. A student tells the university to withdraw a book from the curriculum and vice chancellor obliges within 24 hours using emergency powers which were not used before. The chief minister justifies the withdrawal saying the book contains abusive language. His party’s spokesperson says “It may be his personal opinion but it was not the Chief Minister who ordered the withdrawal of the book. It was not the government’s decision. Mumbai University is autonomous. If anybody is aggrieved by the decision of Mumbai University, they can always take it up with the Senate or the Syndicate or the appropriate forum.”

http://go4quiz.com/vincent/2010/india/article-356-for-maharashtra/ ?

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Opinion Polls

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Elections in Bihar are going on and Election Commission (EC) wants ban on opinion polls. It has written a letter to Law Ministry to bring out and ordinance banning opinion polls. EC thinks it can dictate terms to Law Ministry. It is for Law Ministry to decide whether it is subservient to EC.

http://go4quiz.com/vincent/2010/india/election-commission-opinion-polls/

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Fall of Lalit Modi

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Lalit Modi is wanted. He built up IPL and got lot of money for BCCI. All was well till he tweeted about Kochi IPL franchise and put Shashi Tharoor in trouble. BJP wanted Shashi Tharoor out from cabinet. Shashi Tharoor being a Congress member had to resign. If he had been a member of DMK or NCP it could have been different.
Congress would have its revenge. There was pressure on BCCI. BCCI suspended Lalit Modi. Lalit Modi was defiant. He did not quit. Court cases followed. BCCI reconstituted IPL Governing Council and Lalit Modi was out of IPL and BCCI.
Continue Reading: http://go4quiz.com/vincent/2010/india/fall-of-lalit-modi/ ?

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After Commonwealth Games

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Delhi Commonwealth Games are over. Congratulations to athletes who won medals. Condolences to athletes who did not win.

Now the following needs to be done.

India should quit Commonwealth.

There should be investigation into corruption in 70,000 crore rupees spent for Commonwealth Games. There are reports that CAG, CBI, CVC, ED, IT department and some committees will investigate the corruption. We have to wait and see what happens. The proof of pudding is in eating. It is said that CPWD, PWD, DDA and MCD are not co-operating with CVC. CVC himself is under cloud for corruption. BJP had opposed his appointment and boycotted his swearing-in. In stamp paper scam the amount came down from 37,000 crore rupees to 3,000 crore rupees. The investigation had come across names of politicians who made money from the scam. Nothing happened to them. Most investigations end up in cover-ups.
Continue Reading: http://go4quiz.com/vincent/2010/india/after-commonwealth-games/ ?

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Karnataka vote of confidence

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

On 11/10/2010 Karnataka Legislative Assembly witnessed some unusual scenes and BJP government survived. Congress and JD(S) screamed murder of democracy.

The Speaker had disqualified 11 BJP and 5 independent MLAs before the vote. He did what a Congress Speaker had done in Maharashtra some years back when Shiv Sena had support of some Congress MLAs. That time the Speaker had disqualified the Congress MLAs who were to vote with Shiv Sena. Now for Congress to claim BJP acted unconstitutionally does not make sense. Congress must remember the role its Speakers like Shivraj Patil, Madhukarrao Chowdhury, Pratapsingh Rane have played. What is sauce for goose is sauce for gander. However the Speaker disqualifying 5 independent MLAs is not justified though V. S. Acharya said that Supreme Court in its judgment in 2005 said independent MLAs could be disqualified.

Read More: http://go4quiz.com/vincent/2010/india/karnataka-vote-of-confidence/ ?

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Death penalty in all cases of murder

Posted on by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Judgments in cases of Priyadarshini Mattoo and Pratibha have raised questions about what is a rarest of rare case. Supreme Court in 1980 restricted death penalty to rarest of rare cases. It usurped the function of legislature.

The government must act and bring a law that makes death penalty mandatory in all cases of murder, attempted murder, abduction, hijacking, kidnapping and other such high crimes.

In Priyadarshini’s cases the criminal had committed house breaking, rape and murder. High Court had awarded death penalty. Supreme Court reduced it life imprisonment. As Adiya Nath Kaul said on CNN-IBN on 8/10/2010 life sentence in India is a joke. He gave the example of Manu Sharma.

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