On 5/3/2011 DMK passed a resolution asking its ministers in central government to quit. DMK will have no alliance with Congress and will give issue-based support to UPA.
Congress-DMK alliance was doomed when Rahul Gandhi went to Tamil Nadu, addressed Congress leaders, and said one of you will be the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu. The die was cast. Bargaining for seats was a ploy by Congress to end the alliance.
After the government of Orissa surrendered to the demands of Maoists for release of a collector and an engineer BJD MP Jay Panda said the government acted with maturity. Maturity is a word overused and misused by journalists and politicians. Surrender is not maturity.
The state government abdicated its responsibility when it agreed to negotiate with criminals and accepted their demands. This makes mockery of the rule of law.
India should have a policy of no negotiations with criminals whether they are terrorists, abductors, kidnappers, hijackers, pirates or Maoists. The policy should be followed by central and state governments. The policy should be irrespective of who the hostage is. The hostage may be a minister’s daughter, engineer, doctor, collector, truck driver or someone else. It does not matter whether there is one hostage or there are many hostages. When the policy of no negotiations is declared and followed there will be no pressure on any government.
Since December 1989 when Rubiya Sayeed was abducted and five terrorists were released there have been many cases when India has surrendered to criminals and released prisoners or paid ransom. In recent years Maoists have abducted many people and state governments have released prisoners. The abductions continue.
In December 1999 a hijacked plane was allowed to take off from Amritsar and go to Kandahar. Three terrorists were released who caused many deaths later on.
There are people who say PDS does not work and cash transfers is the way. Some give example of Bihar where it is said to be 92% effective.
If PDS does not work it should be scrapped. That does not mean people should be given cash. When it is said 92% effective it means 8% ineffective which can become 80% or more. Fictitious accounts can be opened. There is swindling in NREGA and complaints are not investigated. One person in Uttar Pradesh who got an award for his work in NREGA returned it as his complaints were not investigated and swindling continued. Whether the swindling in NREGA is 5% and in road transport 50% as Chidambaram said in Davos or more is a matter of debate.
India is in need of a new constitution. The problems faced by India are plenty and they cannot be solved by amendments. 1) India should be a federation. The boundaries of states must be fixed after considering all demands for new states and border disputes. At present there are demands for Telangana, Gorkhaland, Harit Pradesh,…
Telangana is back in news. TRS, BJP and CPI want statehood for Telangana. Congress is divided. TDP, PRP and CPM are opposed to statehood for Telangana. Many times politicians make promises they do not intend to keep. They have to pay the price. Congress had promised statehood for Telangana in 2004 and 2009. In Telangana…
Praful Patel is an economic traitor. As civil aviation minister his actions have led Air India to loss and disaster. There was Indian Airlines. Praful Patel changed its name to Indian. That did not make any difference for better. Then Indian Airlines was merged with Air India. The merger was supposed to save money. Things…
Now we know Home Secretary of India authorised tapping of Nira Radia’s telephones as she was said to be a spy for a foreign intelligence agency who built a business empire of 300 crore rupees in nine years. Nira Radia tapes have revealed interesting conversations. Kamal Nath gets 15% of contracts. Praful Patel destroyed the…
Shivraj Singh Chouhan suggested abolition of Rajya Sabha and later in face of opposition retracted. It was a good suggestion. Shivraj Singh Chouhan referred to businessmen buying votes to become Rajya Sabha members and mentioned Vijay Mallya. That put BJP in an embarrassing position because BJP had supported Vijay Mallya. The constitution refers to Council…
On 23/11/2010 I read “Beware the single brush” by Pratap Bhanu Mehta in The Indian Express. The article had a sentence “Tapes of conversations between journalists and various lobbyists have been put online and some publications have carried stories on these conversations.” I did not know who were the journalists or lobbyists. On 26/11/2010 at…