Lasting Rose

The office of the prime minister (PMO) of India,  the biggest democratic country, with a population of 1.3 billion people, has at last opened an account on Twitter and  announced its decision today to join Facebook, following the old saying if you can’t beat them join them.

Dr Man Mohan Singh, a renowned economist and India’s Prime Minister believes in relentless handwork and action aimed at India’s economic growth despite its obstructive political environment and is a man of few words. He was subjected to severe criticism for the silence he maintains on controversial issues, especially the scams which have rocked his party’s second tenure in the governance of India.

Fed up with the abusive posts, morphed pictures and all sorts of twisted and contorted facts and false accusation which appear in the social web in the name of democratic freedom and criticism, Man Mohan Singh seems to have given up and taken the bold step to take the bull by the horns and use the social web to communicate and set things straight.

The timing of the move by the PMO is interesting. A junior court in India, where petitions were filed against Google, Facebook and twenty odd social media companies for breech of infringement of a law only enacted last year, making companies responsible for user content posted on their websites, had warned of a crackdown "like China" if they did not take steps to protect religious sensibilities.

However, Google and Facebook removed content from some Indian domain websites today, following a court directive warning them severe restrictive action if not complied.

Though no one really thinks that India, with its democratic credentials will go to any extent its neighbour China has gone to restrict the functioning of the social web, it looks like the carrot and stick policy of the government is at last paying off.

By joining the networks, the Prime Minister and his government is clearly showing that the Social web in India is here to stay and will be an integral part of the democratic environment likes the developed countries.

At the same time India has also sent the right signals, through its administration and judicial system that it is in no mood to tolerate and live with excessive and irresponsible use of the social web and will look forward to exerting the same level of control over the regular media, as a country with religious sensitivities and prone to violence.

In fairness to Dr Man Mohan Singh and his office, whose priority was to fire fight various political and other crisis over the last two years, having the fun of tweeting and posting updates like many other world leaders and millions of ordinary citizens is a reward long over due. 

Article first published as If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Google and Facebook. on Technorati.

India has ushered in the New Year with a desperate invitation to all foreigners to invest in its stock markets! Is there an X Factor, a real show stopper, for the Incredible India show you need to worry about?

Beset with high fiscal deficit, withdrawal of funds by foreign Institutional Investors who lost confidence in the India story and political opposition to foreign direct investment in the corporate retail sector, the government has opened the Indian stock markets to everyone who would like to invest.

While India’s underbelly, its cricket pride, is being battered around the world, it looks like its judiciary thinks it is time to play ball. The Supreme Court has ruled that the $2.2 billion claim of the Indian tax department on Vodafone for the purchase of shares from Hutchinson is illegal. It has taken the judges of the Supreme Court to see that India needs to play fair to claim its position among the G20.

No doubt, the remaining ‘five star’ communists of India and its available polit buro in Delhi, will see this as an overture by Indian judiciary, even a gross capitulation, to the American Imperialism. However its cautious secretary, Prakash Karat is likely to stay clear of any comments against the judgement as it can be construed as contempt of court in India for which he can be locked up in the infamous Tihar Jail which already holds a number of Indian politicians.

The simple answer, like in the case of China is “yes”. However if the question is, can India afford to take such extreme measures, the answer is likely to be “not really” because, simply put, India is not same as China when democratic values are concerned.

Concerned with the rising and abusive character assassination of the political leaders through morphed images and the dangers of inflammatory posts in a religiously super sensitive nation, the flash points of which the government has to strive very, very hard to keep from exploding, the Indian government and now the Indian judiciary have warned the Internet giants that they need to act.

A raging cyclone is crossing the Indian peninsula causing havoc and rain but that is no reason to miss a visit to the world’s only city with a season dedicated to music and dance. The Margazhi festival of Chennai in southern India is a unique opportunity to fill your holiday with an enchanting glimpse in to the rich culture, tradition and food of India.

Margazhi is a month in the Indian Tamil calendar covering December and January. But it is getting to be more associated with the unique carnatic music and dance festival being held in the city of Chennai since decades and evoke nostalgic and romantic feeling in many people, especially among the expatriates who wait for a whole year, yearning for an annual visit.

The best thing about the Margazhi festival is that each day is filled with many musical and dance events in several venues till late night most of which are absolute free with no tickets or entrance fees. The festival aims to promote talent and give an opportunity for the artists to perform in public attracting both professional and amateur practitioners of the arts from around the world.

If you are after a relaxing and fulfilling holiday, it is indeed great fun to hop in and listen to some invigorating music in the mid morning, spend some time on the beach or enjoy some really ethnic food, do some browsing or shopping for exotic jewellery or clothing in the afternoon and then return for more enjoyment of some exhilarating dance in the evening. You can do all of these in any order you like for several days non-stop if you wish.

The festival is in fact an amazing panorama of true Indian culture you can only remotely sense in the hype of “Incredible India”. The artistic intensity of vocal Carnatic and Hindustani music, exotic instruments and solo performances, and riveting dance performances by lone exponents and groups will leave indelible tracks on your memories to take home, unlike a normal holiday you will soon forget about.

What makes it even more interesting is the availability of really ethnic food at many venues during the season, which is normally served only in private homely functions,

thanks to the month of Margazhi, considered inauspicious for marriages and other functions. For connoisseurs, this wonderful treat for the palette is an added attraction of the festival pampering all of your senses.

If you seriously want a rejuvenating break and don’t know how to get that well deserved tranquilising change away from your world, then Margazhi in Chennai may be what you may be looking for.  

Article first published in Technorati as http://technorati.com/lifestyle/travel/article/while-its-raining-cats-and-dogs/

At last everyone can take a sigh of relief; democracy is safe, at least for now. The much debated Lokpal Bill has been literally, in fact actually torn up in the Indian Parliament! The Lokpal Bill was put to sleep at midnight.

Despite all the flak she is taking for her seemingly flip flop attitude to her coalition partnership of the UPA government, Mamta Banerjee, the maverick of Indian politics, must be credited with saving democracy in India this time around.

Barely noticed by the world, yesterday was an important day for democracy!

The world’s biggest democracy, which came under the threat of being usurped by populist and anarchists, aided by the frustrations of an urban middle class and hyped by eyeballs hungry media, showed the first signs of its inherent parliamentary strength and democratic will to fight back. After the cool breeze of Arab Spring, the tabling of the Lokpal bill in the Indian parliament turned out to be a respite for democracy shaken by the tremors of a harsh Indian summer!

The politics of wrangling and bickering in the US and Europe is frustrating. The consolation is that the politicians don’t have a clue how to tackle the sinking economy and it is difficult to judge who is right. However the politics of obstruction which has led to contraction of growth in India, which till a year back maintained an impressive  rate, despite the banking crisis of 2008, is mind boggling.

“The industrial production saw a staggering decline in October, with a negative growth of 5.1 percent in output mainly owing to huge fall in manufacturing and mining sectors.”

Wal-Mart, which symbolise capitalistic enslavement for the Indians, seems to be dividing India, world’s largest democracy, in the middle even as the Indian government is bravely defending its decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Retail, a reform which opens a market worth billions of dollars the world’s major chains are desperate to enter.

The controversy is based on the perceived pros of the move, strongly supported by the government in need of urgent foreign investment to cover its budget deficit and maintain the growth rate of the country and the cons, put forth by an opportunistic and  motley combine of communists, communal parties and the women chief ministers of three states with over 30% of India’s population, who have no clue of the complexities of the issue or particular reason other than their bloated egos to object the move, claiming the government is only fooling people.

"To give an impression that FDI in retail will solve all problems like inflation, price rise and unemployment... whosoever is saying this is fooling people that FDI will get millions of jobs. It cannot happen."

INDIA is supposed to be the biggest democracy in the world with its population of 1.3 billion people and an elected government.  Its IT industry which needs logical thinking minds at its core which thrives on the work force of millions of highly educated young Indians is the biggest in the world with a turn over of USD 20 Billion.

Why is it then people, who have no track record of generating national wealth of even one rupee, are able to hold India to ransom by the farce of self denial of food? A farce    India should be truly ashamed of because pathetic emaciated human carcasses nearly dying of hunger stalk the busy streets of its cities, completely ignored by its speeding upward class.

Mahatma Gandhi invented fasting as a tool to fight against a cause; to send the British occupiers back home. He knew that he can get  millions of hungry people to realise fasting can kill the only leader  they have to stand up to the British and they have no choice but to stand behind him. But even he discovered its limitation when it took several days of fasting before a national indebtedness towards him for getting rid of the British, just about worked to stop the sparring Hindus and Muslims and bring about a feeble truce. 

But none of the  declarations to fast which have been recently made in fast succession, including the latest one by the Gujarat Chief Minister Modi seemed to be worthy of a death by  food deprivation, in a country where people die of hunger as a routine and least of all worthy of causes like the one stated by Modi.

"The mission is to unite, not divide. Gujarat is my family, the six crore Gujaratis' happiness and grief, dreams and aspirations is mine”

What makes the farce  of fasts even more despicable is the fact that they are merely motivated by easy publicity abetted by topic hungry media who is willing to put up any story as long as they get the eye balls and ratings and conducted with exorbitant five star comforts and security to get maximum footage for the event.

But the real danger seems to the creeping in of hidden fascist elements in the whole process. Gandhi’s  fast had not even a remote semblance to the fascist elements  which seem to be the driving force behind  the fasting farce of post Gandhi era.

Whether it is an ex military truck driver who runs a village through its own court where whipping by an army belt may be the right punishment or a physical Guru who is an epitome of manly strength and wants to build an army of armed supports but had to be whisked away from Police in a woman’s garb by women or a chief minister who had to be reminded by the country’s prime minister that he can’t act Like A Nero in a burring Rome, it looks like there are serious and disturbing fascist strains in the veins of the  proponents of modern fasting In India.

The definition fascism include:

It may be worthwhile to examine   which of these characteristics fit each of them

Article first published as The Big Indian Fascist Farce of Fasting. on Technorati.