Congress and dynasty

India's oldest political party, the Congress, still continues to function as a monarchy. Regretful indeed was the moment, when the Prime Minister of the country while campaigning for a scion of the Nehru family, called him the "future of UP". That an individual whose accomplishments in life are based solely on merit would fall prey to the archaic ideology of dynasty politics is hard to swallow. Most definitely while the words were spoken by Dr. Manmohan Singh, they would have been ideated by the Nehru family itself. Rahul Gandhi, the "future" so to speak, has delivered only one address(from a prepared text) in the parliament, after being elected 3 years ago. Newsweek further insults India's functioning democracy, by addressing Mr. Gandhi as "India's Crown Prince". It would do well for the top leaders of Congress to rethink it's ideas about the leadership it constantly bestows upon the Nehru family. The message it sends out to it's party men is anything but democratic.

The Indo-US nuclear deal

India continues to negotiate with the US on the much publicized deal on civilian nuclear cooperation. India's energy needs are real and keeping in mind that our energy requirements are going to increase more than 10-fold in the next four decades we have to develop reliable sources of energy. Nuclear energy is relatively cleaner than other modes of power generation, and with global-warming-related-climate-change already announcing it's arrival, it is imperative on our part to keep in mind environmental factors when we chart out our path towards progress.

If India is to secure the deal, and it has to while maintaining it's autonomy, it will become the first country to secure nuclear cooperation with the US while being a non-signatory to the NPT. The negotiations are however fraught with political land mines, and if we aren't careful enough we may end up sacrificing more than we bargained for. Out of the many, a single case in question would be the "right-of return" policy being dictated by the US, which claims that :
"....the U.S. draft states cooperation will cease if either country feels a situation has arisen which jeopardizes its supreme national interest. In such a situation, there will be a period of consultation between the two sides, followed by the termination of ongoing cooperation. Finally, India will be required to return imported equipment and material — including its nuclear fuel stockpile."

This clause is nothing short of a leash, India could jeopardize US interests by an action as significant as conducting nuclear tests to something as extraneous as forging stronger ties with China. America loves controlling the foreign policies of other countries, especially those with strategic importance. It's records in the middle east and in eastern Europe confirm the same.

The current deal necessitates India's cooperation in "containing and constraining" Iran. Much against our will we were forced to vote against Iran in the UN when sanctions were declared against it, we should not put ourselves in the same position again. India's relations with Iran or any other country should be based on our past history (through 5000 years of civilization many people have migrated from the middle east into our country to call it home) and on our national interests. We should make sure we do not leave our foreign policy open to influence by a hegemonistic America, that would weaken India's claim to being a true global leader in the near future.

Further reading :
Article on The Hindu
Hyde Act analysis

The Indian MP - Master of Perjury

I am filled with an absolute disgust for the political class that currently occupy the seats of power in the country. The word "politician" is today synonymous with scams, scandal, abuse of power and every other immoral activity possible. It is not surprising that a recent nation wide survey by Outlook, revealed that 76% of the respondents felt that Indian politicians had given democracy a bad name.
This popular sentiment was further reinforced when a Member of Parliament(MP), a BJP legislator called Babubhai Katara, was arrested on Wednesday, Apr 18 while trying to smuggle a lady and a boy to Canada, on the passports of his wife and son. The lady is supposed to have paid Rs. 30 lakh to the legislator. Even worse, he has a past history of smuggling people out of the country, it's just that his luck ran out this time. It is a blatant abuse of the diplomatic passports that have been issued to him and his family. The BJP has dropped him like a hot potato, an expulsion seems guaranteed. But don't be mistaken, the party's actions have more to do with saving it's face, than with a high moral standing. If they had to expel him, they should have done so much earlier, when cases of loot, murder and election fraud were filed against him.
When legislators take their seat for the first time they are required to take an oath, which goes:
"I, .., having been elected (or nominated) a member of the Council of States do swear in the name of God, I solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter."
Either our MPs have realized the truth about God or they have no respect for the nation's constitution and her people, for the oath that they take is null and void.

Why Americans think India is important

I found this article on the American Foreign Policy Research Institute(www.fpri.org) website. Its an excellent article exploring Indo-American relations. But what struck me was the the author's explanation of six terms in our preamble, 'We, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC ....................'

Its slightly lengthy, but fills one with pride, in the vision of our nation founders to safeguard the interests of our people, and consequently in our potential to become a great nation.

http://www.fpri.org/footnotes/113.200606.embree.indiaimportant.html

Reservation woes

The Supreme Court has stayed the the government's bill providing OBC sections with 27% reservation in premier institutions like the IITs and IIMs. The union government in response has declared it's commitment to social justice and that there will be no compromise. The words ring hollow. Karunanidhi cries that the verdict is shocking, and goes on to declare a state wide bundh. He declared it a success as well, most definitely succeeded in affecting the state's economy for a day, not to mention the undue trouble caused to over 10 lakh commuters using the public transport.
The Supreme Court decision is apt and does indeed question the government's standing on this issue. Some notable quotes from the verdict which slam the government:

"Nowhere else in the world is there competition to assert backwardness and then to claim we are more backward than you. This truth was recognised as an unhappy and disturbing situation and such situation was noted by this court as a stark reality in Indra Sawhney's case [Mandal case]."

"It has also to be noted that nowhere else in the world do castes, classes or communities queue up for the sake of gaining backward status."

"the reservation policy cannot be and should not be intended to be permanent or perpetuate backwardness."

"Equality of opportunity depends not only on absence of disabilities but on presence of abilities"

It is true that we have a serious issue at hand, and that being the backward classes(SC/ST and OBCs) are yet to become an integral part of our society, and in fact still continue to be marginalised. It's a shame that our HRD minister, Arjun Singh, comes up with further reservation policies to address this issue. The government has no clear solution, and the reservation card is just a move in the game of vote-bank politics. What is the point in reserving an IIT seat for an individual, when the government has ignored his basic education? The quality of education provided at government schools throughout the country is outright pathetic, students remain ill-equipped to compete with their counterparts studying in private schools. The students for whom these seats are reserved for will never seat them, instead the financially affluent among the backward classes(being able to send their children to private schools) will remain the sole benefactors.
The solution is 2-pronged, we first need to improve our government schools. The issue of improving the conditions of lower castes is invariably linked to their poverty. The government has to ensure quality primary and secondary education to the poor. That itself will put them on par with the general category of students. Second, reservation at educational institutes should be based on the financial situation of applicants. A visible time-limit will have to be set, to discontinue the reservation mechanism.
But our politicians remain more bothered about retaining power than inking innovative solutions to the problems that the country faces. So this may not be the last that we hear of the reservation issue, I am sure it will be dragged into the nation's view again, and our shameless politicians will milk the issue to the very last drop.