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.
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 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.
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?
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.
Petrol price has gone up once again. There is no good reason for the hike. It is a myth that oil marketing companies decide the hike. When there were elections in four states and one union territory petrol price did not go up. The hike happened after voting was over. That time LPG price also went up.
There was a time when BJP claimed it had discipline and was a party with a difference. Later on the differences among members became public knowledge and people referred to it as party with differences. As years passed BJP started to resemble Congress.
Like Congress, BJP does not have inner-party democracy. Decisions are imposed from above. Leaders in Delhi decide who should be chief minister or leader of opposition in Legislative Assembly. That is like Congress high command. MLAs defying central leadership, as happened in Karnataka, is an exception.
BJP did not associate with Gandhi except for a time when it talked of Gandhian socialism which was soon abandoned. BJP leaders were not known to fast. Raj Ghat was not a place where one expected BJP members to be present. That changed when BJP members had one day fast at Raj Ghat. Sushma Swaraj dancing to a song led to a controversy. She claimed it was a patriotic song.
Ram Jethmalani has consistently contradicted BJP’s stand. He had quit BJP and contested against Atal Behari Vajpayee. BJP took him back and made him a Rajya Sabha member. He continued in his ways. He took up cases against BJP governments or policies. He appeared for Binayak Sen against Chhattisgarh government. BJP wants death penalty for terrorists. He takes up their cases. BJP accuses UPA of corruption in 2G spectrum allocation. He took up Kanimozhi’s case. Now in cash-for-votes case he has taken the defence of Amar Singh and has argued that the money might have come from BJP. Instead of taking disciplinary action BJP is quiet with the lame excuse that he is expressing his client’s views. BJP’s statements on terror and corruption sound hollow. BJP seems to be consumed with death wish.
Nowadays there has been lot of talk impeachment of Justice Soumitra Sen. It is wrong to talk of impeachment of a High Court Judge. A High Court Judge is removed, not impeached.
The constitution of India provides for the impeachment of President and removal of Vice President, Deputy Chairman of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of the People (Lok Sabha), Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Chief Election Commissioner, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Legislative Assembly, Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council, Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts and members of Public Service Commissions. Attorney General and Governors hold office during the pleasure of the President. Advocate General holds office during the pleasure of the Governor.
Tamil Nadu is a fit case for imposition of President’s Rule as it is not run as per constitution and its Legislative Assembly passed a resolution asking for mercy to criminals whose petitions had been rejected by the President. Omar Abdullah was right in questioning whether the reaction would have been as muted if Jammu & Kashmir had passed a similar resolution in favour of Afzal Guru. In that case BJP and many other parties would have gone ballistic. There is hypocrisy in Tamil Nadu. Some years back Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly had passed a resolution favouring death penalty for the criminals. Parties headed by Karunanidhi and Vaiko were part of NDA which rejected mercy petitions. Ram Jethmalani was member of BJP and did not oppose death penalty then. Madras High Court should not have entertained the petitions and stayed the executions for eight weeks and when that happened Supreme Court should have intervened and vacated the stay. If waiting for death penalty is cruel why extend it by eight weeks? That shows the falsehood of the claim that waiting for death penalty is cruel and an excuse to get death penalty commuted to life imprisonment. What happens in India puts banana republics to shame and there should be a new phrase to describe India.