1) Are Gujarat and Maharashtra rival companies cause of which they can’t invite Brand Ambassadors of each other? Where is national integrity then? Why is it that two states ruled by opposite parties are considered to be opposition or rival states? Is the ruling party only identity of the state?

2) In many countries, especially European countries, Amitabh Bacchan is seen as face of India. Unofficially he is one of the Brand Ambassadors of India. Or for that matter, every Indian is a brand ambassador for India cause every Indian represents India. So can Congress decline this fact?

3) Mr Bacchan was earlier Brand Ambassador of UP. Later he became Brand Ambassador of Gujarat and there are news that he will soon accept to be the Brand Ambassador of Kerala. So where does Mr Bacchan exactly belong? Or is it just the money where he belongs? Pay me and I can be brand Ambassador for your state.. Wondering if he would have accepted offer to be brand Ambassador of Taliban ruled Afghanistan..

4) Mr Bacchan has lived in Mumbai for 41 years, can speak Marathi and is an international icon. So what prevents him from being part of a ceremony taking place in Mumbai?

5) Isn’t congress indirectly agreeing to “Gujarat = Narendra Modi” and also accepting that their presence is wiped out in Gujarat by Mr Modi when it says Amitabh is Brand Ambassador for Mr Modi and not Gujarat Sate?

6) Talking of Brand Ambassadors, Why does Gujarat have a brand ambassador who does not live in Gujrat and is not even a Gujrati? Isn’t a brand ambassador supposed to represent Gujarat in some way? Gujarat can have a better Brand Ambassador in the face of Ambanis.. What does Amitabh do anyways being a Brand Ambassador other than reading out lines scripted by the rulers? Remember the “UP me dum hai kyunki jurm yaha kam hai” campaign?

7) Is the fuss about Amitabh being Brand Ambassador of Gujarat or is it about the differences between Gandhi family and Bacchan family? Mr Bacchan was a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi and was also Member of Parliament once upon a time. Later he parted away from the friendship and got attached to Amar Singh. Is this the reason Congress has issues with Amitabh?

The process can be through E-polling booths situated at maybe the election office at different places. We can have one per constituency. The voting process can briefly understood from following diagram. {Click on image to view full size}.

Through this plan, we can maintain the secrecy of voter identity and yet allow people to vote from their current location. Election commission should take up such initiatives for voters’ convenience.

The recent Mumbai attacks have once again highlighted the need for individuals with a high level of personal integrity to provide effective leadership for our country. It is well known that across party lines, a number of individuals with criminal antecedents are given tickets to contest elections. There is little public pressure on political parties to not give tickets to such individuals. In 2004, about 20% of those who were elected to Parliament had criminal antecedents. This problem is prevalent across most political parties. This tears into the moral fabric of the country and has an impact on governance.

The ‘No Criminals’ Campaign Idea

The upcoming general elections offer citizens an opportunity to make an appeal to political parties not to give tickets to persons with criminal antecedents. The core idea therefore is to launch a nationwide campaign to enable citizens to express their opinion on this issue in a visible way.

The Campaign

The campaign will cover the whole of India. It will build on the public mood in the country to appeal to all political parties. A series of efforts, including widespread use of audio-visual media, print, internet, mobile phones, etc., will be made to reach out to a large number of people across the country. Efforts will also be made to leverage the strengths of existing groups that have done work in the area of not having people with criminal antecedents contest in elections such as the Association for Democratic Reforms, the National Election Watch, etc.

The Timeline

It is expected that general elections will be held in phases beginning in April 2009. This gives us a short window to reach out to citizens across the country.

The Desired Outcome

No political party to give tickets to people with criminal antecedents in the 2009 general elections.

For more information, kindly visit the website of No Criminal Campaign.

1) When everything was planned and smooth, and when government had accepted security to the championship earlier, how come all of sudden Home Minister realised that the championship is not secure in India; exactly the same day when Sharad Pawar indirectly suggested he won’t mind being Prime Minister?

2) How come Cancellation of a series or relocating it become a national shame? And if it is, what about the Riots? Aren’t they supposed to be national shame?

3) When Gujrat government says it is capable of providing security to all the matches in IPL, why were they not capable of providing security to handful of muslims in the state?

4) Are politicians like Arun Jaitley and P Chdambaram out of any topics on notional interest that they are debating on IPL?

5) If we can’t host IPL on security norms, are we really ready to host CommonWealth games coming next year?

1) Politics is about your name. The party always gives image of the person. How many of us know name of one more leader from MNS? Or how many of us know of another member of AIADMK? BSP is always Mayawati for us and RJD is Lalu.
In social media, its about your work. If you meet another guy from social media and introduce you by name, first question will be “Where do you write?” or “Oh.. you are the one who writes at xyz.com”. There are many people who are known more by their blog name and people don’t even know their real names.

2) Politics is too much about false respect. Even an 80 year old man have to bow in front of a 35 year old kid just cause he is a minister. In social media, you don’t care about age of another person. A 13 year old kid will call 50 year old man by his first name. And btw, social media does have 13 year old kids unlike politics.

1. Both were direct attacks. No planting of bombs, no hidden blasts. Just face to face. As if the terrorists are giving a message. We will hit you right on your face. What will you do?

2. Both India and Pakistan had faced many bomb blasts in the past. But hardly any was discussed at the Global level. The terrorists had to make it Global and they did it. In India by attacking the world famous hotel, and in Pakistan by attacking a foreign sports team.

3. Both attempts were aimed at making the places feel unsecure. Notice the kind of Sandbags and police behind it in Mumbai at every corner of city. Same will be situation in Lahore after the attack. The local people fear of another attack and so they don’t want to take chances. Terrorists are successful in spreading their terror.

4. Not just local. Even foreign tourists will think twice before visiting these places now. And I’m sure thats one aim th terrorists must be having in their minds.

5. Mumbai is India’s financial capital and Lahore second biggest city of Pakistan. An attempt to attack on financial importance places to disturb the economy?

6. Attacks in Mumbai took place when England team was playing in India and in Pakistan, attacks were directly on the team itself. Are they trying to prove that playing in Indian subcontinent is not safe? A way to disturb the micro-economy built around the sport?

7. India had been major destination for foreign investments. Pakistan was also slowly taking a lead in achieving foreign investments. Both the attacks have disturbed the foreign investment movement. Was it one of the purposes behind the attacks?

8. Mumbai attack received lot of blog posts, tweets, media hype dedicated to them. And people forgot about it within weaks and life got back to normal. Except for the sandbags and policemen with guns. Will Lahore people also forget within weaks?

Mumbai’s politics is basically controlled by two groups. 1st group is people who live in slums. More than 10 lakh people stay in Dharavi and other slums in Mumbai. And they are major chunk who decide next MP by their heavy vote force and easy influencibility..

And the second group is millionaires who provide chunks of money to the politicians during elections. The money that is used to influence the 1st group.

And what about the rest of Mumbai? Well, rest Mumbai is the middle part of “Slumdog Millionaire”. The Dogs. Thats how the rest of the chunk in Mumbai is considered.

Just think.. Whose problems get solved in first priority by the leaders here? Firstly its Millionaire group and then the slum group. What about the problems of remaining chunk? No.. They won’t get solved unless you upgrade yourself to the Millionaire group or degrade yourself and start living in slums.

So, that’s Mumbai for you and thats “SlumDog Millionaire” for you.. The award winning combination of Slums, Dogs and Millionaires.

Shivraj Patil. He quit. Finally. After 7 terrorist attacks in his tenure. Or was it 8? 9 actually.. I lost the count actually. So many attacks happening in country these days..
Nothing great about he leaving actually. This was bound to happen. Only sad part is this should have been done long back. Even after the serial blasts in 2006, there were chaos to remove him. And the government did big mistake by not accepting this. And the result is so visible. The attacks are now not limited to Mumbai. It has spread wide across to Hyderabad, Ahmadabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Varanasi, Banglore, Surat, Rampur and not just that. Even tier 2 places like Parbhiani, Nanded, Malegao etc. All because of incapability of one man.
I don’t understand why I’m writing this post. I definitely have a soft corner for Shivraj Patil {hailing from same place} but then, I can’t neglect the incapability of anyone just because of some soft corner. I remember, after the Ahmadabad blasts, manan, Niraj Neeraj and myself had twitted about fear of next attack on Mumbai. We had also said that time about the high intensity of attack. And many other twitters that time had agreed to the fear. If couple of common guys can express the mentality of terrorists, why can’t a man heading the department? Is he really so incapable or just bound by the politics..?
There are discussions making rounds about if he was actually capable of handling the portfolio or was he given the post just for being loyalist to Gandhi? And if that is true, I would say this is biggest and stupidest compromise with nation’s security and lakhs of lives. And if that’s true, Sonia Gandhi is first to be blamed.
Shivraj Patil is often known as a man of soft heart and soft words. I’ve seen him at all phases of the political lifecycle. And he has never been loud enough in his actions and words. Does that soft person really best fit for the Home portfolio? Don’t we have someone strong like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was? Even L K Advani was better in role. Lot better than Shivraj Patil I must say.
Anyways, coming back to point, its good that he left finally. And I wish the next person filling in {P Chidambaram hopefully} be strong enough to fight terrorism.

Update: As I’m typing this post, news of Vilasrao Deshmukh leaving the chair is making rounds.

Last 2 days, Mumbai witnessed the massive terror. And we all are shocked looking at the live coverage of the same. All media channels are covering the terror and twitter updates are full of live updates about the terror. Amidst all this high drama, India also witnessed demise of one of its greatest sons. Former PM V. P. Singh known for championing the rights of the country’s poor, died Thursday after a long battle with illness.
The man always symbolized simplicity. He lived a simple life when he was PM. He lived a simple and silent life when he wasn’t PM. He was never in news for making fancy quotes. He was never in news for making offensive or criticising statements against political counterparts. And he was never in news for anything but the fight for poor, farmers.
And he did find a silent death for himself. Exactly the way he lived his life. There was just a small foot tip at news channels declaring death of the man. The final rituals of the man happened, again in total silence. No news channel really trying to cover it. No story about the life of the great man. Actually its not fault of the media. The media wants to cover what their audience wants to watch. In the end its all about TRP. So much so that the media did not even cover the blasts at other two location of Mumbai {Vile Parle and Mazgao}. The news channels surely know that when it comes to news, Sex and terror are two topics which sell more than anything else. And this was one of the best opportunities for Media to cash on the terror in minds of every Indian.
The night when terror started, I was looking for an advertisement on news channels. And there was not a single. Every channel was busy in building up TRP which they will use later in the times coming. The funniest part of the game was terrorist calling up India TV for an interview. I don’t really understand why in all news channels did the terrorist select India TV. I would have definitely gone for BBC or CNN. Or was it that no other channel accepted the offer to interview the terrorist and that’s why they had to reach to the biggest loser in the Indian Media.
Anyways, coming back to the main topic, let’s lead tribute to “great son of India” and a “builder of the nation” Mr V P Singh. May his soul rest in peace…!!!

Raj Thakare arrested

The day started with the big news. Even before I woke up from sleep, there was SMS on my mobile saying “Institute will remain closed. Don’t even think to come near college”. Having no clue of what happened, we switched on TV to find out that Mr. Raj Thakare has been arrested. Very brave move by Govt I must say..!! Arresting Raj Thakare within 2 days of the event has to be considered as a big move.

The right and wrong part of his actions is a all together different story. I won’t even gonna pass judgement on his actions. But one thing is very clear by now. The way Balasaheb used to be called as “Hindu-Hriday-Samrat”, Raj will now be called as “Marathi-Hriday-Samrat”. He has made a complete picture in the minds of Marathi people that Raj is the only leader in Maharashtra who has the care for the “Son of the Soil”.

Last time when a FIR as fired against Raj, it took almost a week to Mumbai Police to arrest him. So why are they arresting him on second day this time? Maybe the Home dept is trying to create a picture tat Police is not afraid of Raj and they won’t think twice before arresting him. Well, Aba, you have taken a risky step here. I hope you have enough backup to handle the circumstances. And if you don’t have, God Bless Maharashtra.

I’ve been looking at Mr Raj ever since he formed MNS. His ways of protesting used to be very novice and innovative in the start. I remember in Nilanga {Dist: Latur}, there was a government officer who used to come 2 hours late to work everyday. Te local MNS activists one day went to his office 1 hour after the standard time, they took the officer’s chair and put it on auction outside his office. The officer in full shame anticipated his mistake and asked for opology to the public.

Then suddenly MNS understood that these Gandhigiri ways do not work all the time. So they had no other option but end up using the violent ways. And then MNS went the same way ShivSena used to have earlier. The differenciating line between MNS and Shivsena got thinner and thinner. Today we look at Raj as Balsaheb Thakare of 60′s. Same aggression, same dedication and same love for the soil.

Its not that I’m an activist of MNS or I’ve been given something to write in favor of MNS. But I really adore their principles {though I don’t adore the ways used to express those principles}. And there is one more thing which I’ve observed *uniquely* in Raj. He is always ready to take responsibility of anything that MNS activists will do. He says “If my men did it, I did it. If they have done right, credit is to them. If they did wrong, blame is to me. I will go to jail for their wrong deeds if any”. These words of support and involvement is something that makes him a great leader.

As of today, he has an appearing in Bandra court in another 45 minutes. Let’s keep fingers crossed and hope that their won’t be any violences. God Bless Maharashtra.. God Bless Mumbai..!!!

This was the time when the masterminds like Mr. Murthy andMr. Azim Premji realised the need of taking India to the Global stage in the Information Technology wing. And they did the work fantastically. No doubt about that..

Today, India’s economy is progressing like anything. The development rate has crossed 9% and is second highest after China. If the rate continues, Indian economy will become third biggest economy of the world by 2015. I was recently in Mumbai where I read a hoarding as “Sensex crossed 16000 mark. Will 30 crore people cross Povery Line?” Everyone will have different answer and justification to this based on his/her views. My say to this is, Yes. They will cross the poverty line if they stop spending their money o liquor and prostitutes. I mean a person who earns 200 Rs per day spends 100 for liquor, 50 for prostitute and looses remaining 50 in gambling or lottery. And then shouts by the name of the government and the society. The government has created enough work for the poorest peoples. The industries are also creating lot of work. But they people don’t want to do it properly. They rather prefer to find the easy way out to avoid the work and still earn money. The people try in gambling and lottery for the easy money. And thus lose whatever they have.
Then they again shout for not having work and not having money.
The government provides hem shelter through projects like Mhada, which they rent to others and go back to slums. Then they occupy another home through same scheme, rent it again and get back for third one. And the cycle continues. They still shout for not having the shelter.
How to stop this cycle is the big question in front of our politicians. Rather why to stop this is the question. These below poverty line people are among the biggest vote banks for any politician. If they remain below the line, the politicians can show them the dream of a better tomorrow and win their votes The dreams are only to be shown and not to be fulfilled. That’s the reason why the people are never shown a way to fulfil the dreams.
This can only be stopped through the active awareness in the minds of the people who are suffering. The government has helped us enough. We couldn’t utilise the help. Now its time that we help ourselves. And in turn we will help the government.

This seems to be turned into a speech kinda material. But I’ve expressedfew of my feelings through this. More coming soon..

Though history may be about to be written, with India getting its first woman president, it seems as if Pratibha Patil was a backup choice, a second thought for the UPA.
Girija Vyas disagreed with this saying that though India has had to wait for a long time to get a woman President, the women of the country are happy that they are finally getting their place in the sun.
Neerja Choudhary says “It is like Dr Kalam’s candidature which came at the last minute. Pratibha Patil is certainly a second choice, but something that all the allies of the Congress, including the Left, found difficult to go against.”
CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief, Rajdeep Sardesai said that there were three reasons why Pratibha Patil was being made the President of India: first that she is a woman, second being that she was from Maharashtra – which has never had a President, a Vice President or a Prime Minister, and thirdly because she is married to a Shekhawati, and would be now able to take on NDA’s choice for the President’s post, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
He added that the entire argument being made by the Left parties who were opposed to Shivraj Patil and to Sushil Kumar Shinde was the fact that they did not have stature. “Does Pratibha Patil really have that stature? Is it enough to have just a woman candidate? Questions are now started to be raised on that count. She was certainly a politically correct choice, but is Pratibha Patil the kind of person who should be the President of India?” Rajdeep Sardesai wanted to know.
He wondered if she was simply being given the throne because she is a Congress loyalist.

Does Patil Have Political Stature?

Pratibha Patil was a member of the Lok Sabha till 1996, then she disappeared from the scene completely and reappeared after eight years, when she became the Governor of Rajasthan in 2004. She does have a strong background in social work, but that was all that she had to back her up.
The question was whether a strong background in social work was good enough to get her the post of the country’s President?
To this Nikhil Wagle said, “I am happy that after 40 years, a woman is heading for the Rashtrapati Bhawan, but Pratibha Patil definitely does not have the stature that a President of a nation like India is required to have. Pratibha Patil does not represent the fight of women in India. She represents the traditional women of India. It’s unfortunate that she does not inculcate the values of the modern, present-day woman.”
Aswini K Ray agreed saying that there was a certain symbolic pride in the fact that a woman is becoming the President of India. “The President’s post is intended to be less political. In this case one is not unhappy because it could have been much worse, one is also happy that she is a woman.”
He, however, added that Patil did not have political stature because if she did, she would have had as many political opponents as a hig profile politician encounters. “It’s almost been a qualification for her not to have a political stature for she comes to the fore by the process of elimination,” he said.

Can Patil Live Upto Expectations?

Aswini K Ray said that he did not really think Pratibha Patil’s being a woman had anything to do with her being made the President of India.
Rajdeep Sardesai added his two bits saying, “I think it’s important to recognise who Pratibha Patil is succeeding. President APJ Abdul Kalam redefined the Indian presidency and reinvented it for the 21st Century Indian. He was a people’s president and the question that should be asked here is, ‘can Pratibha Patil step into his shoes’?”
He said that 65 per cent of India was under the age of 35 and their yearings are very different now. He wanted to know whether Pratibha Patil could really represent that part of India?
“Unfortunately, our politicians will not be able to answer these questions for they take politically correct and politically expedient choices,” he added.
He said that there was an element of tokenism and symbolism, but the question was whether Pratibha Patil could be anything more than that or not.
“Unfortunately, Indian politics has always looked for a shortcut. Instead of genuinely empowering Indian women, we look for tokens and symbols. Perhaps Pratibha Patil will only end up as that. However, she has got a historic opportunity and she can use it over the next six years, much in the manner of how President Kalam did and she can actually work for women’s empowerment. That’s what she should do and then I will say that, ‘yes, India is truly ready for a woman President’.”
Nikhil Wagle said that Pratibha Patil had to mould herself to the Rashtrapati Bhawan. “She has to forget her past and work towards leading the nation,” he said.
He also felt that Pratibha Patil could take on the male-dominated society of India. “I think that she can take the mantle from President Kalam and work towards inspiring all the women in the country.”

SMS Poll by CNN
Is India ready for a woman President?

Yes: 49 per cent
No: 51 per cent