A rare show of unity for a common cause For " Jallikattu"

A sea of humanity gathered on Marina sands facing Bay of Bengal for a week seeking the revival of Jallikattu, a part of annual Pongal (harvest) festival in Tamil Nadu which stands banned by the orders of the Supreme Court of India since 2014 looking to the objection raised by an NGO called PETA on the ground of cruelty to the Bulls. 

The people of Tamil Nadu feel that have been wrongly prevented from pursuing the bull-taming sport linked to their way of living and Tamil culture and customs . The ordinance promulgated by the Governor of Tamil Badu on January 22 has allowed the sport but the agitating young crowd is insisting on a permanent remedy only. The state police is now engaged in clearing the marina grounds with an argument that the people have already enjoyed freedom in demonstration of their grievance and succeeded in their demand with the timely action of the state government. 

Right now (8.00AM on January 23, 2017) a crowd of about 1000 youths are standing near the sea waves and the police is trying to evacuate them.

As a former civil servant I would urge the people to respect the moves of the state government and its machinery and call off their agitation for a few weeks. They may wait and watch the activities of executive and judiciary for sometime and take further follow up action in the near future if necessary.

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Jallikattu

A bull-taming game/ exercise of the teens during Pongal Festival in Tamil Nadu has become a talk of the millions in the state right now - everyone from elderly to children, students from schools and colleges, politicians from all political parties, cine  celebrities and artists, traders and businessmen - all have come on the streets supporting the cause of Jallikattu and demanding the ban on PETA. 

The problem is, a traditional and cultural event associated with the annual harvest festival of Tamils has not been properly understood by a section of the PETA and not properly presented to the highest court of the land.

The agitation is not likely to be suppressed like any law and order problem. It has now touched the hearts of every Tamil citizen. It is for the Central government and Supreme Court to find a solution as early as possible and honour the sentiments of the local people.

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57 debtors account for Rs. 85000 crore loan default, says S.C

The Supreme Court finally got a secret cover containing the names of big defaulters of bank loans from Reserve Bank of India. The rich class surviving on borrowed public money through banks, enjoying a royal life in a poor country like India has succeeded in hiding their heinous crime of usurping public money in concrete jungles scattered all over India like dreaded dacoits in a jungle of yesteryears. There is hardly a difference between the two classes. White collar thieves and green collared dacoits!

What a security, safety and financial secret to protect their honour and name! Basically it is to save their skins and sins. Let the Apex Court come heavily on them and expose their deeds in the name of growth in the capitalistic economy! Contrast this to a hapless defaulters/ farmer committing suicide unable to bear the torture of bankers under the garb of loan recovery!

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NITI AAYOG with a new work plan

According to Union Finance Secretary Ratan P. Watal, NITI Aayog, the government's policy think tank, is working on a sector-based medium term planning framework.

The new framework would replace five-year plans, the last (the 12th five year plan) of which is set to end in 2016-17.

As indicated in the Budget Speech of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, from the next financial year, the plan and non-plan distinction will be done away with for expenditure classification. A good step indeed!

One would wish to emphasise here that some economist take up an analytical study of the former Planning Commission and its utility since its inception vis a vis the expenses incurred in terms of money and time (manpower) resources till date.

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'Backlog can be cleared only with more judges' said the former Chief Justice of India Mr Tirath Singh Thakur.

I would go a step further and plead before the higher judiciary that the pendency can be brought down both by the existing judges and the advocates ( both the Bench and the Bar)  if they are willing to take the following measures: 

Release all the under trials forthwith the moment they have stayed in prison for a period more than the maximum punishment provided for the crime they have allegedly committed.

2) Dismiss all the appeals and special leave petitions filed after the time limit prescribed under the law unless satisfactorily justified with convincing reasons - whether by the State or others at the motion hearing stage itself.

3) No early hearing of petitions unless any emergency situation warrants it.

4) A time limit to be prescribed for hearing the final arguments and the number of hearings per case to be fixed in a practical way.

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Double Standards at the top?

"When (former coal secretary) HC Gupta can be prosecuted for being the boss, then why can't the then PM (Manmohan Singh) the super boss, be prosecuted?" 

-  JLD YAVATMAL ENERGY PVT LTD (accused in coal block case)

Presumptions:

Manmohan Singh was honest coal minister/ prime minister.

HC Gupta was dead-honest bureaucrat/ coal secretary.

Indian judiciary and law enforcement agency have charge -sheeted Gupta and not Manmohan Singh for the same decision at the top level. Sheer double standard in action!

In every decision taken at the government or other levels there would be beneficiaries - direct or indirect although the top men may be honest. Crooks (actual beneficiaries) get away with no punishments. That is Indian system of governance. Who and how to set right such a rotten system? - is the moot point at the moment.(August 30, 2016)

Growth Story

FDIs have grown as per the expectation. Liberalisation in ceiling-caps in sectoral investments too has been ensured. Subsidies have been properly estimated in terms of requirements in different fields of economic and social activities and accordingly regulated for delivery mechanism through Aadhaar cards. GST has been attempted and implemented with Herculean efforts. But ease of doing business is still a far cry in the scheme of things obtaining at the moment in the country. As a former civil servant who had closely watched and participated in the delivery mechanism at the state level and the levels below than that I can vouchsafe for the fact that things are still not smooth and satisfactory for the people to get anything from the state authorities. There is a lot of leakage of revenue and expenditure during implementation of schemes and projects by the government machinery. Ease of doing business is as tough or tortuous in Indian states as one could imagine. This experience of mine is being duly endorsed by an expert called Richard Rossow,  a senior fellow in U.S. India Policy Studies Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) (Times of India, September 7, 2016).

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Clueless System & Foolish People!

One should admire "the Hindu" for publishing this pathetic news of an Indian citizen on the first page of its edition dated November 7, 2016 instead of covering the childhood and adulthood love of a retired judge of the Apex Court openly expressing his deep love and passion towards an actress turned politician and now the head of a state government or than that of an actor couple divorcing within one year of their marriage.

This episode exposes the hollow nature of a governmental system and the foolish action of the individuals involved in it:

Hyderabad, the capital city of a progressive state (as commended by the World Bank and the Ministry of Policy Promotion of the Government of India for its number-one position in the country for ease of doing business and investor friendly atmosphere) and its neighbourhood has been a witness to this episode. 

It appears the Telengana State has been very unsuccessful in looking after the leprosy couples in the state so far.

The husband Ramulu or the people collecting money for the ambulance and the last rites in her native village as also the police involved could have easily buried or cremated the body in a place near the site where they found him with his deceased wife's body instead of transporting it to the village only for the sake of burying. In all probability the villagers would have even opposed the burial in the allotted burial ground looking to the nature of disease they were suffering from.

System sometime or individuals many a time forget to follow a practical solution to an issue at hand!

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State Poll funding

The Election Commission maintains the full state funding of polls would make sense only in tandem with reforms to decriminalise politics, inner party democracy, electoral finance reform, audit mechanisms and stricter implementation of anti-graft laws.

The Law Commission too has reservations on the efficacy of state funding at this juncture,

It is only a strong leader like Narendra Modi who can bring about changes in this regard. One is sure he would do something in this regard sooner or later. We wish him good luck

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All India Services

Indian Administrative Service- the members of this service at the state level are good and efficient in conducting elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies only.

Indian Police Service-  the members are mostly deployed in VIP duties and rarely take initiative to gain the faith of the common man.

Indian Forest Service- the members have totally failed to protect the forest cover in this country.

They are called All India Services for name sake only because they are not constantly monitored, guided and protected by the Union Government. About 90-95 percent of their strength are being controlled and effectively made pliable by the heads of governments in each state. They are puppets in the hands of state politicians. They have lost their independence for acting in public interest. Almost the entire crowd are in the service of the ruling parties with some of their members working very closely with chief ministers as their glorified personal staff/servants serving  their personal interests with those of their own. 

These services can either be wound up and state services streamlined and strengthened for public service. Alternatively one can think of creating a Superior Civil service who can gain confidence of the people like the higher judiciary and not kept under the control of chief ministers so that they can execute the work fearlessly and effectively in the interest of the nation. Their recruitment, training, promotion and deployment can be ensured by an independent agency like UPSC.

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SC backs Madras HC order quashing TN appointments

January 31, 2016:  --- 11 TNPSC. (Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission) members were appointed.

December 22, 2016: -- Madras High Court quashed their appointment alleging that some of them were unqualified and proper procedure was not followed.

January 9, 2017:  -- Supreme Court of India upheld the order of Madras High Court and observed that the manner in which the state used its prerogative to make the appointments was "nothing but arbitrary, with no due deliberation". 

Such an arbitrary act was a normal phenomenon of state government working under the leadership of former chief minister J.Jayalalithaa. No official or non official had the guts to 

point out the correct procedure before the CM.

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Drought-hit Tamil Nadu

The state received 168.4 mm since October 1, a deficit of 62 percent compared to the season's average of 441 mm. The situation this year is even worse than 1974 (60 percent). Weather experts noted the the state had experienced a drought in 1974 and 1938. But a drought has not been officially declared this year so far.

As per the report the state has recorded the worst rainfall this year after 1876. 40 farmers have died in a district in Cauvery delta region so far. Daily 5-6 farmers are dying as reported in the media. Farmers Associations are up in arms seeking intervention both from Central and state governments.

Drinking water scarcity in an acute form is a certainty in the ensuing months unless rain gods change their routine formula and bring rains for the state.

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India

India

& its

Constitutional Constituents

The Legislative

The Executive &

The Judiciary

The legislature utilises less of it time on creative works but wastes much of its energy and resource for animal behaviour.

The executive looks after its own interests at the cost of public expense and forgets its commitment to the common man.

The judiciary expresses its inability to control litigations and dispenses a costly justice to the citizens of this country.

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