Good days..

I keep forgetting to log this one..

I had to go to Hyderabad at short notice recently. Anyone who has attempted it knows that getting Bangalore-Hyderabad railway reservations at short notice is an impossible task!

So I logged in not very hopeful. The journey was two weeks away. Normally, for a 2 AC ticket, I would expect this to be at WL25 or so. I was pleasantly surprised to see it at RAC1!!! Shocked, I booked. Expecting the ticket to be confirmed within a day. But it got confirmed only after a few days. Again surprised. (The only explanation to this can be that the number of genuine reservations has gone up vs people just clogging the pipe)

Bottom line is, somehow the railways ministry seems to have figured out how to clean up the brokers who tended to clog up the ticket pipe and clean the whole process. Amazing! I've been using this system since 2002 and I have never had a better experience!! EVER!

For folks who keep asking when the good days will come, there you are. It is such subtle and systemic changes that will slowly bring a better quality of life to the aam aadmi, and people who don't get it, well, will never get it I guess.

The black money issue too, people were crying themselves hoarse over it. In a few simple steps, the entire issue is laid to rest. First, notes which are older than a certain date are invalidated. Two, you are given a set amount of time to exchange them in banks for newer - and get this, not notes, but - funds deposited in your bank (white, white, white). So people who've been hoarding truckloads of cash since time immemorial will suddenly find that they either have to declare it all or sit on heaps of useless paper. Much better than begging some Swiss guys to reveal details and keep waiting for someone to have a change of heart! I'm sure something is being done in that direction too, but better act on what you can seems to be the motto.

There is now talk about real estate prices (which have only been skyrocketing) taking a nosedive since black money is going to slowly start evaporating from the market..

Bring it on guys, we are with you!

Haider - not a review

I've read a lot of reviews of the movie Haider - more than I normally read for any movie. The thread is the same. It showcases the Indian Army as a villian, is totally anti-Indian in its sentiment, not a true depiction of the Kashmir problem at all, completely ignores the Kashmiri Pundits extermination from Kashmir and so on and so forth. Yet, in one or two reviews, folks have mentioned, that all that said, they would not call for a ban of the movie since it works against freedom of expression and/or the era of censorship is so outdated.

What most people seem to have missed (especially chest-thumping anti-BJP folks) is that this movie was let release and run in halls without any kind of state intervention and censorship from the government of any sort. And that, when a man hailed as the devil himself is at the helm of affairs in the country. Either we are too pathetic and don't care about any kind of nationalistic spirit or we are a tolerable species inherently. (It is no secret, Hinduism has time and again proven to be the most tolerant of all religions) More importantly, here is a state which is not into stifling freedom of speech/expression unlike what most people predicted and proclaimed it would be!

Sadly, most missed this point.

Dude, are you mental?

(Just read about Sunanda Pushkar - most shocking!)

This morning Subhash was listening to some Prime Time News from last night about Somnath Bharti and his raid on a building suspecting prostitution.

Eventually someone asked about how there was full media presence if the raid was so spontaneous and if it was all actually staged. To which the AAP supporter's answer was stunning

"How can people who are responsible for Gujarat riots in 2002 even ask us this question?"

Dude, are you mental? How is that related to this in any way? Are you remotely suggesting that the entire Godhra riot episode was "stage-managed"?? And for what god-forsaken reason would anyone do that.

Really, I do not get people's love for Godhra 2002. And how ridiculously they infer that Modi ignores minorities based on that. My belief (which the SIT and the SC and the HC and myriad other courts and judges have ruled and ruled over and over again) is that at best Modi was caught unsuspecting as a fledgling administrator. And in spite of that he has done remarkably well bringing everyone to book, in the entire history of India, Godhra 2002 stands out as the only riot where a very high number of people have been nabbed and been given judgement for the atrocity. And in the past 12 years, it is the only state which has been riot-free (?). So what is the problem? I have seen well-read educated people make really dumb statements about the riots and him. I just don't understand.

Forget everything for a moment. If the Congress, with all its money power and muscle power and media power, and in spite of relentlessly chasing this man for 12 years, has still not been able to lay its hands on him, I think that should be proof enough that there is really nothing he is hiding. Even if there was a small iota of error, I am sure, he would have been finished by now with so much hounding.

And then we read about how Zakia Jafri was "chosen" second after Teesta's first choice refused to file the petition :) And then we figure out how deep the conspiracy runs. The riots have been like an industry for many living off it and feeding off it.

Why I don't trust the AAP

One of my friends wrote "don't waste your vote in 2014" and it could not have been said any better! I see an exact repeat of what happened to Telugu Desam in 2009 because of Chiranjeevi and how that benefited the Congress, at the centre. Not to mention, how sad it was when the guy went and joined Congress!

The media of course has found the newest darling, now that Rahul Gandhi has proven beyond doubt that he cannot stop NaMo. Reluctantly they were beginning to follow NaMo and forced to cover him, when lo and behold! the Delhi electorate threw a nice alternative at them. AK, much better, much more educated, more "relate-able" arrived. And AAP was always the "flirting-with-media" types, giving them more than enough sound bytes. Every day a new story, every day a new controversy, every day a new referendum, what else can the media ask for!

But, I do not trust the AAP at all. Here is why. This post has been long in coming, more because I wanted to wait and watch and watch some more, but every further day is convincing me that my instinct might just be right. And also just to add, this distrust of Kejriwal has been even in pre-AAP days.

1) Anti-corruption plank - it has always been a) "one size fits all" solution, b) let's add one more power layer(Lokpal) to control all the existing layers, c) all politicians are corrupt, we're out to save the day kind of moral high-ground and many other unrealistic, even fanatic stands. Not practical, not workable.

2) Austerity - The UPA-2 also tried to be austere in 2009 - which resulted in a lot of "cattle class" guffaws. I read somewhere that forcing austerity upon oneself is like riding a tiger which you don't know how to dismount, you will be forced to ride on or risk being wiped out. I don't think as an ordinary citizen, I'd be bothered so much if AK lived in palatial mansions meant for the Chief Minister. They anyways have to be maintained, and won't be used for anything else. Rather than wasting many weeks looking for a new accommodation which will make everyone happy (which is not possible BTW), just get into the identified accommodation and move on, get on with the real work! But hey, how can you do that when you cursed every single person who did that before you, now you are forced to eat crow!

3) Populism - Almost all AAP's policies and promises are not just socialistic but very unrealistically so. I don't see any development based talk in any of their communication. It is all about adjusting money here and there. Save here, spend there, curb corruption here, divert funds somewhere else and in the worst case scenarios - which I think we are yet to "discover" - tax here, subsidize there. But at some point you have to start "creating" wealth and this seems to have completely missed the core think-tank of the party!

4) Penchant for drama - the less said about this the better. Too much tokeneism, drama and more theatrics in front of the media. I take an instant distrust to any public personality who courts the media so much. Anyone who does real work, justt does it and gets on. Does not go to the media every single evening with some drama or another.

5) Frequent flip-flops on everything - the biggest example does not even have to be spelt out - taking Congress support to form Delhi government and now being forced to lie low on chasing their corruption cases.

6) Referendum for everything - I firmly believe all of us should do what we are good at. I am good at my job, so I do that. I expect the leaders I vote to power to know basic governance and not come back to me to ask my advice about everything. How should we use these municipal funds, should we form a government with Congress, should we do this, should we do that, my foot! If the people have to tell you everything, what good are you getting paid for? Plus if you ask 1000 people, you will get at least 100 different opinions, and then how do you go about sorting that mess? And did you even see the latest mess - the Janata Darbar - total fiasco and ruin. That is what will happen, the sooner this party wakes up the better. And the sooner people remove those rose-tinted glasses, the better too!

7) Media projected "image" - Of course, many things are distorted in favour of AAP by the ever willing paid media so that NaMo is side-lined in the news. Anything to keep him at bay! Even if NaMo wins three successive elections in Gujarat, he is just good enough for Gujarat, not yet "evolved" to the national level. But AK just wins one election (that too did not "win" mind you, just turned up as "second largest" party, by what was a clearly undecided electorate) and he is automatically the saviour who has come to rescue India! Experience in governance can go to hell, who needs that?

Of course everyone also says, he is being scrutinized too harshly, he's just been in power for a few hours, few weeks, etc. But hey, he is the guy who set that expectation right? I will do everything in 48 hours, I will clean up everything with a broom in no time. They are all evil, I am the messiah!

All in all, I fear the worst - that Congress will gain a lucky hand in 2014, thanks to AAP. And that would be such an unmitigated disaster for the country. I do not understand how anyone can vote Congress or any party joining hands with the Congress (like the AAP did for the Delhi power) into power in 2014. But many of my educated and knowledgeable friends seem to be more than willing to throw their weight behind this party. Maybe I am missing something big-time, I am not sure.

But, I think, the 2014 victory will be all the more deserved for BJP if they manage to garner it in-spite of all of these. So more power to them and more support from me for sure!

Finally, Aadhar has no Aadhar

Yesterday I read a most welcome news about an SC ruling on Aadhar cards and how they should not be made mandatory for public services. Finally!

The Aadhar card in my opinion is the most polished scam of UPA to date. Giving it the face of one of the honchos of Indian IT, it attempted to pass off an impossible data mining effort with little to no effort made to understand long or short term implications.

My reluctance to apply for yet another form of ID proof (read data selling method) was only strengthened, when the government, in conjuntion with the ceiling imposed on the subsidized LPG cylinders also decided to make everyone pay the non-subsidized amount first and then force them to link bank accounts to Aadhar card so cash transfer for the subsidy amount can be made. So where I used to pay 400 for the first 9 cylinders, I now have to pay 1000, and then give them my Aadhar card and bank details so that they can remit the 600 back to me. This is like the age-old complication of showing your nose, not directly but by winding your hand around your head and trying to touch it. Not for me! I wondered why more people did not protest against this added complication to an already complicated bureaucracy.

Also, when I heard about how data was forcibly being made public even where applicants chose to keep data private - something was fishy, there are any number of people willing to buy personal data and I was not about to hand some more to the UPA government.

So there, I did not apply for it, in spite of massive nudging from my government, drives at office for enrollment, nagging and pestering emails from banks to link accounts etc. Of course it helped that our gas connection was in my father in law's account and he already had an Aadhar card, in case they made it compulsory in Karnataka like they did in AP (thanks to the CONgress government there)!

I am relieved and have renewed faith in our SC now.

Finally! The run to 2014 is on!

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The BJP declared its PM candidate yesterday, and it was a much-awaited news!

Many thoughts on this so penning them here in no particular order:

I wish all folks who can, will go out and vote at least in this election. If there was a time this country needed all it's citizens to rally around for it, it is this elections. Much more than the post-emergency election. UPA-3 will be an unmitigated disaster for us.

I have seen some reactions on FB comparing the euphoria in the country to that of when Obama got elected (and boy, has he turned out to be such a disappointment, worse than Bush I think). There is a danger of too much expectation from NaMo, yes, I am scared for him that he wont be able to deliver overnight or all alone, but given two or even one stable term, I am sure, the processes will improve significantly. And the country can hope to get out of the rut.

I have new found respect for Rajnath Singh and RSS (yeah you can go right ahead and call me a Hindutva stooge, I am a proud Hindu and there is no two ways about it). How he has managed to shake up BJP ranks, bring in discipline and show acute political acumen, he deserves the same respect (if not more) as Modi.

Finally, a conversation on Facebook - so anyone who wants to comment on a) LK Advani being side-lined by Modi (boy, do I hate that stance, people make it sound like some coup in what has been a perfectly democratic internal election, a model, the Congress would do well to follow, but no, people seem to want to see the BJP as the family fiefdom of someone or another and that someone is LK Advani for now!!) or b) Gujarat's "fake-progress-claims" or c) lament about "we are sad there is no political future for this country" without actually proposing a solution, will do well to reserve their comments. You already know my thoughts below. I hope my friends on FB do not mind :)

BJP announces Modi, finally!

    XXX and 9 others like this.

    RC At last!!

    SD Baap re! no!

    RR What is LK Advani's actual problem with Narendra Modi?

    ME SD- you don't sound happy?:)

    ME RR- Advani is the reason BJP has gone to the dogs in many states. He is so obsessed with being the one man face of BJP that he killed any budding leadership in BJP's ranks. Except till Modi came by, this is one guy's stronghold he could not touch in his turf state, so, naturally, it pains him.

    ME RC uncle, yeah!!

    SD DH- No i'm not. I have my reasons to oppose the BJP and NaMo in particular. That said I don't trust the congress at all! Oh, and I don't think even NaMo presents a viable opposing figure!

    ME SD I guess you are happy you won't be voting:) Seems like you won't have much to choose from;)

    VA Advani and also I guess to some extent Jaitley ...

    SD I am not comfortable with the Hindutva shit that BJP used to peddle. And I don't buy Modi's medicine as well, Gujarat has always been a wealthy and upwardly mobile state.

    ME SD I don't support everything that BJP has done either but there is simply no one else I trust in today's politics. And we desperately need a pillar to lean on, upa has left us on the streets. Who would you be rather voting for? Lok Satta? They will gain one or two seats and rest will be business as usual, look at what happened to Kukatpally/AP. Or maybe I should vote for some party like SP? We can all go to the dogs then. The question is not whom do you not like but who will you vote for?

    VA Its only improved big time atleast Infra.. I was in Gujarat back when i was doing engg. i.e. Keshubhai Patel`s tenure (1993-97)... The roads were pathetic and I mean it... Last year X-mas break i went again and we toured almost entire Gujarat i.e. AHD - Dwarka- Somnath- Diu- AHD by road.. and they are comparable to US express ways.. lot of activity around using Non-conventional energy... AUTO base is being shifted from Pune to North Gujarat.. I certainly fore see him as progressive leader.. leave aside religious views.. i do not see that in any other leader as of now though.. .

    ME Also, India used to always be a prosperous nation (this is a proven fact, not Hindutva shit peddled by folks) so the same logic of Gujarat might even work;)

    SD No way would I vote for Cong, they have looted the country. Lok Satta is not viable, especially not if I even say BJP int viable I don't know, I am definitely sad that there are SO MANY political parties and none strong enough to bring Cong down!

    ME VA Kudos man!! We need more such facts!!:) not the bs that our media peddles:)

    VA Unfortunately.. ours being parliamentary form of democracy one needs to be associated with party form majority unlike in US were its presidential form of democracy.. so he needs to be part of group to make 273 number

    ME SD exactly my point, so rather than waste my vote by being a spoilsport whining about how no one is good, I am picking the least worse of the choices I have, BJP. And the fact that the man NaMo inspires patriotism in me like no politician has so far, makes it a lot more attractive to me!! I say anyone who helps BJP win this time will be contributing big time to the betterment of this nation from the squalid depths it has fallen to, a great act of patriotism and I'm not going to miss this chance!!

    RR We were in ahmedabad in 2012, when we lost power early in the morning 4 am or so. My dad called the electricity board hotline, and it was fixed by 5 am, and I didn't even have to wake up from the discomfort

    ME :)

    VM With CONG scams all over the place; their recent AP division politics..etc...Lets give a Chance 2 BJP with New Leader( of course with hung & support of local state parties) & Lets hope for some Change.

    VA @Rekha: true.. AEC (Ahd Elec Comp) is class apart...

I am tired!!

Of the current Congr'ass' rule. And the fact that I am helping fund it:(

I am tired of the taxes I pay going into various drains in the name of Gandhi family schemes. The rupee has never seen such a free fall before and the only thing these politicians are worried about is Food Security Bill. At the height of making a mockery of democracy, the lady at the top makes a speech, then smartly avoids all backlash by complaining of "cold, fever and uneasiness" and promptly goes and sleeps in an ICU, of course the bill of which is again footed by, yeah, you guessed it, my tax money :(

Every day, I sincerely hope the coming LS polls see all citizens awakening out of their stupor and going to the polling booths to boot out the current regime, of course, provided my tax money is not used to rig the polls :(

Very despondent, this morning.

Please vote!

A while ago, a reader had commented that rather than voting and later claiming "I voted, did you?", it might be more useful to at least let the readers of this blog know any information upfront on upcoming polls, electoral lists etc.

The suggestion was a good one, and so, here you go. Please make sure if you are a resident of Karnataka, to enrol yourself to vote in the upcoming Assembly elections. Here is a link with the details:

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/4640-voter-and-rolls-rampant-deletions-in-bangalore-voter-rolls

We verified our presence and are (hopefully, if no one deletes going forward) all set :)

Heartening

I wish more people would stop petty thinking, bickering, power-mongering and focus on real development for once - like this one:

NEPRA had a turnover of Rs 40 lakh in 2012 and expects to close the 2013-14 fiscal year with Rs 12 crore turnover. Working with the NEPRA model, an average five-member ragpicker family can earn up to Rs 9,000 per month. This amount stands in stark contrast to Rs 50 per day that most unorganised ragpickers manage.

Durbar

Finally finished reading "Durbar" - Tavleen Singh's book.

The only thought I had before and after reading it was - how did the sycophantic government let anyone publish this. Not that the book was insulting to anyone, but it laid bare a lot of inside realities which are hardly flattering to the dynasty.

All in all a great read. Exposed me to a lot of those little details which went into history before during and after emergency - when I was not even born yet.

My thought for this book is that it should be made a part of all curriculum in schools as a non-detailed text book for everyone to know why we are where we are and how to avoid these pitfalls. Else, generation after generation - we will continue to suffer the same evils. But this is never going to happen - we all know that! So instead, I encourage everyone to read it if you can get your hands on a copy.

Gujarat results

I can empathize with Chidambaram. He seems to have been in the same frame of mind as I was before the elections - I had not expected the Congress to win more than 20-30 seats in these elections. When I saw that they won 60+, I was actually disappointed - so much so that it tainted the happiness I derived from NaMo's win! I was wondering which set of people this is, that is still voting for Congress after all the debacles. But that is besides the point. So when PC saw the results, I am sure he was so happy (I would be if I were in Congress, given my state of mind and expectations!) that he can be forgiven to declare a win for Congress!!

26/11

I've always had a grouse about this - I am just happy that the SC has also agreed:

Thanks to Ravinar for sharing!

What a waste!

Literally. Please take a moment to read about Bangalore's trash woes and BBMPs impotence and arrogance as a civic body here.

And they are also going to raise the garbage cess this year. How sad!

For the past four days, garbage has been piling up in front of homes, on streets, everywhere. Everywhere I drive, I see the trash collecting and mounting in heaps. This is pretty much the only thing BBMP has done about the stay issued WRT Mavallipura - we cannot dump, so we stop collecting. Or at least it looks like that. How pathetic can it get!

Heartening

A top cop in BMTF "dares" to charge-sheet officials in BBMP. It is widely covered/reported online (I do not read papers, so I confess I do not know if it was also repeated in print media). Then he is transferred out of BMTF to another position. Again this is widely covered by the online media (same disclaimer above re print media). I feel happy. At least a percentage of the Indian population gets to know what murky games are played behind public service departments, police etc. It is like watching a movie. I am glad for social/online media. For more details, please follow Rajvir Sharma's story here. You can also follow other related articles in the same magazine.

I think social media is working in a big way to enlighten anyone with an internet access and a will to know what is going on. I login to Facebook primarily to gather bits and pieces of all kinds of information. My Reader gives me a lot more news than if I scrolled through the whole tome of ToI junk. And more often than not, it is not "fed" to me. People express opinions freely and I have the choice of drawing my own conclusion based on what is being written by various folks. I trust a few sites more than the rest and some times even blindly align with their opinion if it "feels" right.

It is heartening to see this.

But on the other hand is Sibal and the gang, trying to gag it all out. Hopefully they do not succeed. [-o<

And the NE violence->Mumbai violence->Bangalore/Chennai exodus->Lucknow violence story gets murkier by the hour..

Glad

Writing a political opinion after a while.

I am glad that the whole IAC team has decided to bring the thing to a logical conclusion. Political involvement. This is something I have been hoping for. The dawn of sense on these folks. Or maybe they knew it from the start but wanted to get some adrenalin pumping with the fasts and the protests. Pre-entry publicity for the political party (which may or may not see the light of the day). I am not sure. Either ways, I am happy. No more painful embarrassments from this quarter. And not to mention - no more uncalled-for mud-slinging against the very rare able administrators we already have (ohh, how useless was that!! It is almost like the ruling government paid them to do it!)

Why people fail to realize that imposing another dinosaur law on the already heavy and obese laws is just going to create another arena for more bribe giving and taking is quite beyond me. It will just raise the stakes higher (10 crores to a judge for bail, 100 crores to the Lokpal for looking the other way).

We need the entry to politics and power to be made simple. I should not have to be stinking rich (in all probability this already means I am corrupt) to even be able to afford a contest. That day, the country will make a U-turn. Till then, we are all deluding ourselves that something miraculous will happen.

I've always lamented the lack of one person or party to vote for. That is the opportunity creation I am hoping for. When we have better leaders, things will change, surely and steadily (and faster than you can think). I also hope it will inspire and motivate our so called educated, middle class, upper middle class folks to get off the couch and go cast a vote (because now, there is no excuse for apathy, there is at least one guy/gal who deserves to be voted to power!)

And the lesser the government meddles in people's business, the faster it will help the country prosper. Archaic British Raj license rules, extorting people in the names of various taxes and cesses etc. - the whole thing needs to be over-hauled. There was a joke in my lunch gang recently when I told them I don't understand why I need to pay an education cess proportional to the tax I have paid for the year, on top of the said already-paid tax. And a colleague joked, that it is a cess I am paying for being an educated person. That is the state of affairs literally in the place.

Bottom-line is - we need to do away with the fat. Trim the junk. Keep things simple. Let people behave in their best interests (we are humans, we all do that expertly and naturally). Encourage activities that bring in prosperity. Stop meddling. Stop fining. Stop handing out sops. And many more.

Shantanu says it very well. I will just be rambling if I write anymore. Go read it if you do not already do so :)

The Emergency

So none of the mainstream media guys had the spine to cover Emergency - the darkest chapter in the history of India as this generation knows it. Yesterday was when it was imposed in 1975 - 37 years ago.

We deserve the lot we get anyways.

Here is one of the articles I liked - I want to ask all my blog followers to go follow this guy - he exposes the media lies like no one else.

Sangma Slaps Karan The Tool Thapar

There is an ad in TV which goes "Bhai itna sannata kyon hai" (Why is it so quiet here).

I am reminded of it. 

Comments again

Once again there were comments on the previous post which triggered a rather longish response from me -

Anonymous said...

I am not sure how different the MLC elections are but people are vexed with elections in general and I don't think that situation will change until you give them an option to scratch their vote as opposed to picking the best of the worst. Bottomline: people believe that they will reap the same no matter what they sow.

Thu Jun 14, 11:04:00 PM IST

Anonymous said...

Not widely publicized !!! How to get registered was not mentioned anywhere

Fri Jun 15, 12:58:00 AM IST

DivSu said...

@Anonymous - I do not buy the absurd argument about scratching the vote or the null vote or whatever else one chooses to call it. What would you achieve by it? A re-election spending few more crores? And who will stand in that re-election? Some other guy with enough muscle - then again you will go scratch your vote - then what? Another election and .. you can see how absurd that argument is? Or maybe you want to be ruled by the President in the absence of a clear leader - have fun being ruled by Pratibha Patil. And are you saying that the 80% graduates in Bangalore who did not get out to vote on Sunday, read through manifestos of everyone and decided no one was worth it? I beg to differ. There was one guy at least who was worth taking the trouble to vote for and now we've lost that chance too. Today when I came to work on a bad road with no water at home, I felt I am paying for the indifference of those 80% people who just will not care. I do not understand this attitude - people are willing to go shout slogans in an anti-corruption rally and feel good (and jingoistic) about it, but the same people are not willing to make a difference when they actually can (I am sorry, all that sloganeering did not make an inch of difference to the corrupt system today). People have to realize, exercising the vote is the only step you can actually take which will make any difference. If you cannot find anyone good, go to vote at least to keep the worst guy out. Hopefully some day you will have an actual good guy to vote for.

@Anonymous2 - If I could figure it out, so could you :) You just need to keep your eyes and ears open for information :) In this day and age of connectivity, I find that hard to buy from anyone who uses the internet for at least a few hours everyday.

The election

We voted in the MLC election this past Sunday. Turns out only 20% of Bangalore's graduates voted. 20% - what a pathetic turn out. This contest was for the Bangalore graduates constituency. We had a huge drive in the campus with people setting up booths to collect registration forms etc. Yet, I barely see the "spotted index fingers". Why? I have no idea.

We truly do deserve the political class we are suffering today. We hardly bother to go and vote - and then expect some miracle to happen and some revolution to sweep us off our feet.

Tsk..makes me sad.

Narendra Modi on Gujarat's development

From 7000 crore deficit to revenue surplus without raising any taxes!! in 11 years.

I am amazed that a politician can rattle off so many data points so effortlessly - with as much in depth analysis as any professional. Very rare. And he has such confidence - at one point he says - what we have achieved I can bet no one can break this record in this sector for the next 10 years - if anyone does, that will be Gujarat.

Must go through for everyone :

Some highlights
1- Three pronged approach - agriculture, industry and service sector - development in all of them without focus on just one.
2- Inclusive of NRIs - says, I am not accountable to just voting Indians, I am accountable to the non-voting Indians as well - even though your passport colour might have changed ;) So here is the  hisaab.
3- Only two rivers - Narmada and Tapi - agriculture revenues up 11% - in spite of registan (desert) on one side and Pakistan on the other. Nice poetic lines too.
4- Cultivable land - 108 lakh hectares to 145 lakh hectares
5- Milk production up by 68% (Delhi cannot drink tea without Gujarat sending milk ;) )
6- Banana production - 16.93 ton per hectare world average vs 54.76 ton per hectare in Gujarat. Similarly for onions and potatoes. World's first sugar-free potato using tissue culture. (for diabetics)
7- Industrial development only on non-cultivable land. Non polluting industries given priority.
8- Gujarat moving towards becoming Asia's automobile hub.
9- Only four governments in the world, Gujarat being one of them, have their own climate change department.
10- 24x7, 365 days - always on electricity
11- 18000 villages connected through conferencing equipment.
12- Use of technology at toll gates - same road - Maharashtra makes 500 crores less since they do it manually.
13- Gujarat was never a tourist destination - this I have also seen examples of (that famous Amitabh ad;) - tourism sector grown by 16% (national average 10%) - from never being known as a tourist spot.
14- Lifeline services akin to 911 (911 costs USD 100 per person, Gujarat's similar service costs 50c per person)
15- 40% of all deliveries in hospitals to 98% of all deliveries.
16- Sanitary works - 46 out of 56 lakh households never had toilets - now 54 lakh households have them - working towards finishing them in the other 2 lakhs households. Improves quality of life.
17- School dropouts come down to 2%. New infrastructure developed for schools.
18- Ahmedabad was one of the world's more polluted cities. Today it is one of the three most non-polluted cities. (can we get data on this somewhere?)
19- Those famous solar panels !! 600 MW solar energy nationalized. Solar panels on top of canals (again famous in Facebook images) - also save evaporation of water from canal (1KM canal stretch saves 1 crore litre water per year) - solar panels also generate more power since the underbelly is cool due to water. Ingenious.
20- Not going to stop with this. 16000 km stretch of ocean - will utilize this to the maximum.
21- Zero-defect manufacturing - next goal.
22- Value added agriculture. Sell raw or processed/finished by-products - whichever maximizes income.
23- Senior citizens whose kids are not around - government should be around for them.
24- Skill development programmes for youth - only way to compete with China. Make youth employable - 65000 new youth were employed.
25- All of these, in an extremely peaceful environment. With zero bundhs and labour unrests.
26 - Done more than its share of responsibility towards development of India.

Show the world what a development model should look like! :)

What is not there to love?

Telangana - a shame

Some months ago I wrote this post on Telangana.

Months later, I had stopped following the news and anything related to this "agitation" since it was becoming more and more of a joke. I knew that everytime KCR went on a fast, he'd take a (few) crore(s) to stop the tamasha. Well, I said, no point.

But what happened on Tuesday was a shame. The tank bund is one of the symbols of Hyderabad and what happened there because a few adrenalin pumped "protestors" didn't know what else to do, is probably a worse mockery of this country's petty political climate than Rabri Devi getting sworn in as CM for the first time (at that time I thought that was the biggest joke made of the country but we have had far worse scandals since then).

So the folks who thought that a separate Telangana was a good idea (at least the sensible ones) still think so? Do we really trust KCR so much to protect the interests of the Telangana people? I would be surprised if I heard a yes :( To me, it is just a stunt to create another CM position in the country and all the cabinet that goes with it so we can have a few more scams. Sad, but true.