Pure Genius

The guy continues to amaze me. I am talking about Shane Warne. He managed a ragtag team of non entities last year to the IPL trophy. This year, he is severely handicapped by the absence of Shane Watson, Sohail Tanveer and last heroes like Asnodkar have not fired. The team looks on paper the weakest (including KKR, I have to say). But Rajastan Royals led by Warne are on the verge of Semi Final berth.

Yesterday was a case in point of what a leader should be. Warne picked up a severe hamstring injury in the previous match and was ruled out of the whole IPL. But hey presto! There he was. Thigh tightly strapped, not wanting to lose the one chance to take on his nemesis - Sachin Tendulkar. RR was 15 runs short after their innings, but you can never discount Warne. He weaved his magic, interspersed with some rank long hopes, got rid of Sachin and Jayasuria. Also, he pulled a dramatic victory from a hopeless position when Mumbai Indians had to score just 6 in 9 balls with 3 wickets in hand. He tossed the ball to Munaf Patel, bought the field in and won with 2 runs to spare. He was also cool as a cucumber diving to save the Malinga drive and cooly tossing it to Munaf to effect the last run out. That he was able to ensure Munaf was behind the stumps to collect the ball itself speaks highly of his captaincy, for Munaf must rank amongst the most hopeless fielder in the world, barring none, who just thinks that his responsibility ends with bowling the ball alone. The ball Warne bowled to get Sachin LBW was a gem.

The guy should have been born an Indian. He plays with his heart and is so passionate that his tarzan style cry on winning the match, with him on his knees, arms raised was a joy to behold. Ajay Jadeja, on being queried by Sonali on NDTV mentioned that Warne may not have succeeded as Australian Captain, for Aussies play with logic but Warne plays with his heart may have been wrong. I still feel that it was Australias and World Crickets misfortune not to have seen Warne Captain a Test Team. Genius have a way of adapting to the siuation.

Management students can take a leaf out of Warne while studying leadership. He is a non conformist to the core. But he motivates, backs his youngsters, spots talent and leads from the front. Who said a leader has to wear Harrods suit, pin striped tie, sit in an ivory tower?

Hilarious take on election symbols

I am not much into giving a link to other blogs. But this take on the election symbols of various political parties is hilarious. Click on the link and read on,

http://www.rameshsrivats.net/2009/05/deconstruction-of-election-symbols.html

Long live the Indian Voter

There is something fishy about UPA and its antics this last one month.

Congress, many regional parties and Left formed a ragtag coalition that ruled India for the last 5 years. That the rule was a disaster is common knowledge. The treasury was healthy when they took over with Fiscal deficity manageable and coming down at 5%. After 5 years of profligacy, the Fiscal deficit is a whopping 10% and many hare brained social sector unproductive schemes to be provided for in the coming years.

But close to the elections, the constituents of the UPA started fighting with each other (deliberatively I would say). First left broke off on nuclear deal and started bitching the Congress. Then Mulayam, Ramdoss, Lalu, Paswan and all and sundry. This was deliberate as this ensured that during the campaign, UPA as a collective entity wont have to face unpleasant questions. Everyone was pointing fingers at the other resulting in peoples attention getting diverted from the real issues like Bijli, sadak, paani and other issues like Education, health care, plight of poor people, economic downturn etc etc.

Now that we are on the last day of polling, we see all these "estranged" parties cosying up to each other to save the "SECULAR CREDENTIALS' of the country. What a despicable joke!!

The exit polls will be out by the end of the day, though they have been spectacularly wrong every single time in the past. They will predict a neck and neck race, so that people will be glued to the TV on the counting day. It is a trick to increase TRP ratings. Dont fall for it.

I have refrained from predicting the outcome of the elections. But my assessment is that BJP led NDA will definitely be at least 30-35 seats more than the original NDA excluding Left and Mulayam. My guess is that NDA will touch 200 -205 seats, and dont be surprised if Congress ends up with around 110-120 seats, down from 135 last time.

Anyway Congress have their puppy dog as the President and will use all the tricks in the trade to come back to power. And dont be surprised if all those who broke away from Congress, flock around them to share the spoils.

But something tells me that we are in for a surprise this time around.

Indian voters have always been wise and have booted out non performers every single time.

Long live the voters

Who will bell this Cat?

According to preliminary estimates, the actual cost of running the campaign by all parties in the current Lok Sabha elections has crossed the Rs 50,000 crore. The political parties have reportedly spent Rs 3000 crore on advertisement campaigns. The Election Commission's budget for the 2009 elections is Rs 1,300 crore, which includes the conduct of polls plus transportation and movement of security forces. The state governments and other government agencies have earmarked Rs 700 crore for photo identity cards, electronic voting machines and setting up polling booths.

Now my question is "Where did the parties get Rs 50,000 Crore to spend on the election?" . Corporates are not allowed legally in India to donate to Parties. None of these parties have any sort of base or subscriptions that they can collect to fill their coffers. So obviously, the enitre money has to be black money, got from pliant industrialists, kickbacks from various deals and simple old fashioned corruption. If you and me were to build a house worth 40 lakhs, IT department will ask for the source. Why are they silent on the political parties source of income, as people who have funded these parties will claim their pound of flesh after the elections, to the detriment of the common man in the long run. Who will bell this cat?

Electoral Amendments Required 2

Continuing my previous post on electoral and parliamentary reforms,

It is imperative that each MP be asked to maintain a formal office in his constituency and be available at least 7 days in a month to enable those who have voted him to power to meet him and give ideas and suggestions for improving the overall life in the constituency. Initially, people will come forward with only grievances, but over a period of time this shall become a forum for peoples participation in the development agenda for the constituency. In the modern age where technology runs roost, even if the MP cannot be physically present for these meetings for some reason (though I cannot understand why he cant be in his home constituency 7 days a month), he can still interact with his voters through video conferencing. Government can bear the expenses for maintaining official MP offices in each constituency. It will be worth it.

The most ridiculous thing of the elections is that it is spread over 45 days. In an era of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), which was expected to expedite the voting and counting process, we have the hilarious situation of people having to wait for eons to know who has been elected. The elections have to be held all over India on a single day - period full stop. There should not be any other discussions on this. So many things can change in this dynamic world over 45 days. Remember when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated half way through the 1991 elections. It created a sympathy wave which resulted in Congress coming back to power. This is unfair. The ostnable reason that Central forces have to be deployed for elections to ensure free and fair polling do not hold water. Not all constituencies are sensitive. In fact majority of the constituencies are peaceful. EC can identify those sensitive constituencies and deploy para military or even the Army to ensure orderly polling. Also, EC and the Supreme Court can set up fast track courts to punish those individuals and parties indulging in Electoral malpractices. They have to give exeplary punishment that will serve as a deterrant to those who capture booths or terrorise voters.

The next one is a little more controversial. The upper house- Rajya Sabha- has to be dissolved. Most of the States, who had similiar arrangements, Legislative Councils - have long since disbanded these Councils. Why not Rajya Sabha? It serves only as a tool to push in cronies of the political parties bosses and today more of a backdoor entry into the parliament for those who have been rejected by the people or those who are afraid to face the people. We had the ridiculous situation of the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and the Home Minister (for the most part) of the current Government taking the Rajya Sabha route. And that is 4 out of the top 5 ministers. This is absurd. It came to such a situation that the PM couldnt be censured in the Loksabha for breach of priviliege in the Nuclear Deal as 'he was not a member of the Lok Sabha'. How can one ensure accountability if the Lok Sabha cannot even query a Minister? Rajya Sabha has to go. I am aware that there are nominated members of the Rajya Sabha from different fields like Education, business, sports, arts etc, though their performance has been patchy to say the least. They can be accommodated as independant consultants for various parliamentary committees dealing with subjects of their areas of competence. Till Rajya Sabha is disbanded, a legislation can be brought saying those who are members of Rajya Sabha has to resign PRIOR to filing nominations for the Lok Sabha elections, and those who have failed in the elections for Lok Sabha SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED INTO THE RAJYA SABHA DURING THE TENURE OF THAT LOK SABHA..................to be contd...........

Electoral Amendments Required 1

That our electoral system requires an overhaul has commonly agreed upon. While the focus is on a major overhaul, which is not likely to happen in the current political scenario, there are minor, yet important changes that can be made without much ado. Let us try and discuss a few of them,

No Candidate should be allowed to contest in more than one constituency at a time. The current practice of candidates standing in multiple constituencies, winning in both, and then resigning from one of them leading to a needless bye election is a criminal waste of money. Why should we , the tax payers, have to pay for the insecurities of the politicians? The Election commission can easily modify the requirements on the eligibility criteria that ensures a candidate standing in only one constituency.

The parliaments tenure can be reduced to 4 years, instead of the current 5. Today, an MP or an MLA knows that he doesnt have to go back to the people for 5 long years and has absolutely no accountability. Having a referendum at the end of 2 years with an option on recall the MP/MLA will keep them on their toes.......................... to be continued

Broad based discussion

My earlier post on Srirams flaws had received some very enlightening comments from Dr.Manish.

Thank you Sir.

I need to make a clarification here. It was never my intention to demean Sri Rama. All I pointed out was a couple of minor flaws in an otherwise impeccable character. That, in fact, adds to the beauty of the charectarisation of Sri Raman.

Most of our epics have undergone changes over the centuries. In fact it is even possible that there could multiple authors over a few centuries. This is more noticeable in Mahabharatha.

Sri Raman is the nearest one can have to an ideal man.

One of my main grouse against how our epics are taught is that a student is not allowed to question. This should not be the case. My raising the point about Sri Ramans minor flaws encouraged the good Doctor to counter my view point. A health debate is the need of our society. It is through interaction that one broadens ones outlook.

I wish I get meaningful inputs in the comments section from my readers.

Blogging will be sporadic for a few days as I am pre occupied otherwise.