India Archives - Page 2 of 14 - Voice from the rooftop

Fight against corruption must continue

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

India Against Corruption seems to have lost direction and momentum in fight against corruption. IAC wanted a Lokpal Bill. That did not happen. They wanted right to reject and right to recall. Both are unlikely to happen soon. Anna Hazare seems unable or unwilling to lead the agitation. Other members should resume the fight against corruption.

IAC members need not go on indefinite fast. They can go on chain hunger strike. Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan can fast for some hours every day. Then Shazia Ilmi, Gaurav Bakshi and Manish Sisodia can take their turn. Then some other people fast. Every day the cycle is repeated. The fight for Lokpal should be separate from fight for Lokayuktas.

Church and Better India

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Catholic Bishops of India had met in Bangalore on 1-8 February 2012 and after having reflected on â€œThe Churchâ€™s Role for a Better Indiaâ€ have given their message. They have quoted the Preamble of the Constitution, talked about Indiaâ€™s condition, what the Church has done and what the Church intends to do.

Bishops should know that the words Socialist Secular were not part of the Preamble when the Constitution was adopted on 26/11/1949. They were added by 42nd Amendment in 1976 which came into effect on 1/3/1977. Bishops should be inspired by the Bible and not the Constitution.

India and Iran

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

USA and EU want India to stop dealing with Iran. Sometime back Indiaâ€™s Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai visited USA. It is reported that American officials asked him why cannot India reduce its ties with Iran. He replied India imports oil from Iran, there are six million Indians in the Gulf region and Iran is the only land access to Afghanistan and hence difficult to stop reducing ties with Iran.

The reply should have been â€œWhy should India reduce its ties with Iran? India has its interests. Indiaâ€™s foreign policy will not be subservient to foreign policy of any other country.â€

Salman Rushdie controversy

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 made news for controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie. The festival started on 20/1/2012 and ended on 24/1/2012. Over the years Salman Rushdie had come and gone. He had attended one Jaipur Literature Festival. He had attended one seminar in Delhi. The events had passed off peacefully.

This time TV channels gave wide publicity to statements of some Muslim leaders, some clerics and some politicians. The statements began in UP where elections are going on and spread to other parts. No party wanted to offend Muslims and lose their votes. If the TV channels had ignored the statements there would have been no controversy. Once those leaders demanded Salman Rushdie should not be given a visa and it was widely telecast the controversy began. Salman Rushdie tweeted he did not need a visa to come to India. Being a Person of Indian Origin he had Indian Overseas Citizen card and could come to India anytime. If he had kept quiet the Muslim leaders would have thought he would not get a visa and stopped the protests. The Muslim leaders continued the protests and demanded he should be stopped from attending the festival. The organizers said the invitation stands. Ashok Gehlot, Rajasthanâ€™s chief minister went to Delhi. Law Minister Salman Khurshid told him Salman Rushdie cannot be stopped from coming to India. Ashok Gehlot met P. Chidambaram and returned to Rajasthan.

Decline in education

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Programme for International Standard Assessment (PISA) ratings and Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2011 have shown fall in educational standards in many Indian schools. Standard V students are unable to read Standard II books. Similar is the fall in standard in arithmetics. Mostly it is the case of government schools in rural areas. Much has been made of mid-day meal scheme in schools and it is said that the scheme has ensured almost 100% attendance. It is no use if students have mid-day meals but do not gain knowledge.

Judicial reforms

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

India needs judicial reforms. Cases drag on for years from lower courts to Sessions Courts to High Courts to Supreme Court. Adjournments and stay orders delay justice. Appeals are allowed long after the expiry of the period granted for appeal. Cases decided by arbitration are appealed in High Courts. There are various tribunals whose judgments can be appealed.

Cases of murder, rape, abduction, hijacking and such high crimes must be tried by a court having three judges and the decision should be first and last. There should be no appeal, only mercy petition in case there is punishment. Minor crimes may be tried by one judge. Civil matters may be tried by one judge or three judges depending on the amount involved and there should be no appeal.

London Olympics and boycott

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

It is unfair on the part of some former Olympians to ask present athletes to boycott London Olympics because of Dow sponsorship. Former Olympians lose nothing. The athletes have practiced for three and half years. As per one estimate 111 crore rupees are spent.

Dow continues to do business in India. There is no demand to stop Dow doing business in India. Lawyers belonging to political parties have represented Dow. IOC has said Dow will remain as sponsor.

Delhi as capital

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Some people talk of 100 years of Delhi as Indiaâ€™s capital. Delhi has been Indiaâ€™s capital at different times since 1206 when Delhi Sultanate was established. After that the sultans ruled from different parts of Delhi. Allauddin Khilji built and ruled from Siri. Ghiyasuddin Tughlak built Tughlakabad. Mohammed Bin Tughlak built Jahanpanah. For some time he ruled from Daulatabad. Feroz Shah Tughlak built Ferozabad. In 1526 Babur founded the Mughal Empire. Humayun built Din Panah. Sher Shah Suri razed it and built Sher Shahi. Akbar made Agra the capital of Mughal Empire after ruling from Fatehpur Sikri from some years. Shah Jahan shifted the capital to Delhi. He built Shahjahanabad. After Aurangzebâ€™s death the Mughal Empire declined.

Dow Row

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Dow is a sponsor of London Olympics. Some people want India to boycott London Olympics if Dow continues to be the sponsor because Dow bought Union Carbide which was responsible for Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984. IOC has said Dow is not responsible for Bhopal gas tragedy and Dow sponsorship for Olympics will continue till 2020.
India has not boycotted Olympics any time. In 1980 USA and many countries boycotted Moscow Olympics. In 1984 USSR and some countries boycotted Los Angeles Olympics. In 1976, 22 African countries boycotted Montreal Olympics.

Parliament Paralysis

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

Since 23/11/2011 Parliament is disrupted day after day. MPs do not do work. There is talk of no work, no pay for MPs. No MP has openly opposed it but opposition MPs blame government for disruption and vice versa. Some say cutting 2,000 rupees of daily allowance will not make a difference to MPs as they have other sources and resources.

There are two points. First, it is immaterial whether cutting 2,000 rupees of daily allowance makes a difference to MPs or not. Parliament did not function and they should not get daily allowance.