Indian political leaders and bureaucrat

08-26-2006, 09:01 AM

<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/argue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='argue.gif' /> At sessionâs end, PM happy with volume of work

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 25 Tongue

rime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed satisfaction over the âamount of work done despite the turbulence and tensionâ in the Monsoon Session of Parliament which ended today.
Making a special mention of the debate on the Office-of-Profit Bill, the PM said the House had the âwisdomâ to address the long-term issues raised by the President while returning the Bill which was once passed earlier. âThe Joint Parliamentary Committee will address the concerns raised by the honourable President,â the PM hoped.

He said 16 bills were passed in the Monsoon Session and a lot of important issues discussed. âWe could take prideâ in the understanding shown by members in debating the nuclear deal, Singh added.

The PM also expressed satisfaction over the âquality of discussionâ over the Mumbai bomb blasts, terrorism and farmersâ issues. He said the passage of the Food Safety Act will lead to vast expansion of the food processing industry.

Making his customary remarks on the final day, RS chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, while expressing satisfaction over the quantum of business completed in the session, added: âMuch more could have been accomplished but for the lost opportunity due to occasional discords and disturbances. The lesson for us is to build a shared ethos of transacting business as per rules... whereby we pro-actively engage ourselves in dialogue and discussion to speedily resolve any differences or conflict that may arise on any sensitive issue.â He hoped âsenior leaders of all parties and groups will take necessary initiative in this regardâ.

Earlier in the day, a short-duration discussion on the Pathak report was aborted in the Rajya Sabha after treasury benches disrupted the proceedings. Congress members were demanding a discussion on former Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullahâs statement that the decision to release Maulana Masood Azhar and other terrorists following the hijack of IC-814 was made by senior BJP leaders, including Atal Behari Vajpayee.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said disrupting the House was not a privilege of the ruling side and hoped they would return âwith better sense in the next sessionâ.

editor@expressindia.com

09-12-2006, 08:08 PM

Rajiv Sikri to be persuaded to withdraw resignation

09-13-2006, 09:39 PM

<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/argue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='argue.gif' /> Parliamentarians or Legislatures should have only 1 power i.e. Legislation.
They should be divested of their power of executives. Right now, all they are bothered about Ministerial and Oops 'coz of their executive powers. And if they do something wrong, they regularise it thru legislative powers. I don't think Supreme Court will come in it's way if Parliamentarians or Legislators cut down their powers. If they don't do on their own, Election Commission should put up this proposal for voters and then nobody can come in it's way.
Remember, Democracy:
Govt of the PEOPLE
x People
by the PEOPLE.
Jai Hind

09-18-2006, 08:49 AM

QUOTEFanatic Haj Minister thought Railway also subsidized for him! 
9/16/2006 12:44:18 PMÂ HK
Lucknow:Uttar Pradesh Minister Haji Yaqoob Qureshi was caught allegedly travelling without proper ticket in a train last night, railway officials said today. Qureshi, who is Minister of State for Haj, was fined Rs 14,000

The Minister, who was travelling by Lucknow Mail along with some supporters in the AC-1 coach, allegedly failed to produce his ticket during a checking near Alamnagar station on the city outskirts, they said

He is the same fanatic who declared a huge bounty for killing a Danish cartoonist when controversy was raging over the drawing of Prophet Mohammadâs caricatures. This antinational also want the criminal Abu Salem to be contested in coming elections in his party!
 <!--emo& Big Grin

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

09-20-2006, 09:19 PM

<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clap.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='clap.gif' /> Puneites start on-line petition for Kalam
[ 20 Sep, 2006 2034hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

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PUNE: The Pune Nagrik Manch (PNM) has started an on-line petition to demand that President APJ Abdul Kalam's term be extended.

Over 350 people have already signed the petition that was launched earlier this month. Kalam completes his tenure in July 2007.

Speaking to TOI here on Wednesday, Sujeet Shilamkar, president of the PNM said that he launched the on-line petition because he felt that Kalam was the single man who deserved to be President. "If India is to become a super power his vision will be greatly re-quired," he said adding that through the petition the PNM also aimed at uniting all fans of Kalam.

Shilamkar said that people have responded enthusiastically to the petition in such a short time. Besides signing the petition some of the APJ fans have also explained why they were supporting the demand. "It shows the popularity and charisma of Kalam," he added.

Says Tarakant Prakash, "He is the youth icon of India so let's take inspiration from him". Lokendra felt that Kalam was a real patri-otic soul and very much needed for the nation. "India will shine in his extended tenure," said another fan.

Madhukar Mazire has said that nobody else can make India a super power and we need a strong person like APJ. "Indians need Kalam for another term. He is simply a great motivator for building a solid India," remarked Raj Kumar Santoshi while signing the petition.

Many of those like Veeraraghavan who have signed the petition have pointed out that Kalam was the best ever president that India has had. "Let more souls be ignited", he said. Milind Patil has commented that Kalam was the most suitable person to maintain the dignity of the post while Pravin Prajapati has gone a step ahead and said, "This is the first time that India has got a powerful man who is suitable for the post".

Pratik Modi has certified that there is not a single person in India who can replace Kalam.

09-23-2006, 09:44 PM

Initially I thought I was rather late to reply to this posting, however on a second thought I guess I am at the right time and at the right place.

First, as a matter of record, Congress did not loose in Rajasthan due to repeating tickets to veteran sitting MLAs. Congress lost in Rajasthan due to Ashok Gehlot the then CM. The reasons must be debated for future governance, but later. . . ..

And as of your âtechno-savvy young bridge with their mobiles, notepads and laptops . . .. in designer jeansâ and specifically of Mr. Gajendra Singh, first time MLA from Nagaur in Rajasthan, was given the charge of Energy Department. So much so for modern thinking and expertise, the Rajasthan Energy Board has slipped from number 2 position to number 12, among Energy Boards in India within exactly 3 years.

Usha Punia, another first time MLA, who according to you âwaxes eloquently in English . .Bristling with energyâ has been able to create a communal divide on the same side of the religion, never ever witness in that district.

QUOTE(Mudy @ Dec 16 2003, 01:49 AM)BJP MLAs get techno-savvy 
The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) may be a saffron party proclaiming allegiance to temples and sadhus, but its members are just as hi-tech as anyone else you can find on the political firmament.

Nowhere is this more visible than in Rajasthan politics, where the generational change is bringing forth a breath of fresh air into the corridors of power.

They may be representing some of the most arid or backward regions in the country, but are comfortable with mobiles, notepads and laptops. Eager to play a decisive role in the state politics as well as project a people friendly, no-nonsense persona of their own, many have discarded the 'silly dhoti kurta or pajama' for clean cut safari suits and designer jeans.

Most of the 53 first time MLAs of the BJP's team of 120 elected legislative members are in their forties.

Despite their vastly different backgrounds, most of the young path breakers wish to break the stereotype notions about politicians, which Gajendra Singh, first time BJP MLA from Nagaur, sums up as a desire for making a change for the better. Says Gajendra, "I have studied in the best of universities and I just felt that life is just not leisure. Good people have to come out into politics otherwise politics is never going to improve." 
In spite of his qualifications, Gajendra opines in chaste Hindi just as another first time BJP Jat MLA from Mundwa, Usha Punia waxes eloquently in English. Bristling with energy as well as facts and figures of her area, Usha feels nothing has been done for the last 50 years and she stepped into the political arena "since I wanted to do something for women and children". 

Seeing the young brigade, it would not be wrong to conclude that while the BJP was able to carve a victory with young faces, the Congress lost the assembly elections because it gave tickets to most of its veteran, sitting MLAs.

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Bharatvarsh · 09-23-2006, 10:47 PM

QUOTEUsha Punia, another first time MLA, who according to you âwaxes eloquently in English . .Bristling with energyâ has been able to create a communal divide on the same side of the religion, never ever witness in that district.
How can Usha Punia create a communal divide when the Quran itself says the following:
QUOTESura 9:5Â "And when the sacred months are passed, kill those who join other gods with God wherever ye shall find them; and seize them, besiege them, and lay wait for them with every kind of ambush: but if they shall convert, and observe prayer, and pay the obligatory alms, then let them go their way, for God is gracious, merciful.

http://contenderministries.org/islam/jihadinquran.php
Now the Quran is not some kind of ordinary book, it is a revelation sent by God himself according to Muslims and it is applicable for all times to come, if the Quran itself asks Muslims to kill Hindus then how can anyone create a communal divide, at the most they can make the divide more wider.

Jaipur_1 I really wish to know what your take is on that verse from the Quran, are you saying that you know better than Allah himself to claim that Puria is dividing people when Allah the most merciful had already done so over a thousand years ago.

09-23-2006, 10:57 PM

I said Usha Punia and family was infusing drift on the âsame side of religionâ. I said she is creating communal divide within Hindu communities.

I âdid notâ say she is creating communal divide between Hindu and Muslim.

I refuse to be divided on religion by you in this nation

Bharatvarsh · 09-23-2006, 11:17 PM

QUOTEI refuse to be divided on religion by you in this nation
Well actually it's not by me, it's by Allah, according to Allah you are a kaffir fit to be halal meat, so don't shout at me if you are too impotent to face the truth, we heard all these worn out slogans from pre partition days, we saw how greatly Congress performed then, claimed that we weren't going to be divided on religion and that we were all brothers until the last minute and at the last minute threw the Hindus and Sikhs to Muslim wolves in Pakistan while top Congress leaders (with the exception of Sardar Patel and some others) were drinking and partying with millions getting slaughtered in Pakistan.

The problem is Jai, people like you live in a make believe world and refuse to face facts, instead of sermonising why don't you tell me what your take on the above verse from the Quran is?

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 09-24-2006, 10:42 AM by Bodhi.)

JaiP, Welcome to the board. Hope you would enjoy posting here and sharing your thoughts with other members.

QUOTE(JaiP @ Sep 23 2006, 01:27 PM)I said she is creating communal divide within Hindu communities.
[right][snapback]57800[/snapback][/right]

That is a quite a charge against her, if true. Please elaborate on what she is doing to divide Hindus. Also provide some proofs (e.g. links from news papers etc)

QUOTE(JaiP @ Sep 23 2006, 01:27 PM)I refuse to be divided on religion by you in this nation
[right][snapback]57800[/snapback][/right]

Do you mind sharing your own opinion/interpretation about Bharatvarsh's quotation of Holy Quran. Or do you think what Holy Quran preaches is not relevant for a united Indian soceity? These questions are real, can not be shooed away.

Bharatvarsh · 09-25-2006, 02:38 AM

Bodhi did you seriously expect worthies like him to answer the question, when cornered the secularvadis have some favourite tactics of theirs (run away) or sidetrack the issue into sermonising.

09-25-2006, 09:18 PM

I am disappointed. <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' />

10-09-2006, 07:29 AM

BSP founder Kanshi Ram passes awayQUOTEFounder of Bahujan Samaj Party, Kanshi Ram, died in New Delhi early Monday morning due to complications arising out of multiple ailments he had been suffering for quite some time.
Ram, 74, died at 12:30 am at his official residence, party sources said.

Ram, who has been suffering of mulitple ailments like stroke, diabetes and hypertension, was virtually bed-ridden for more than two years.


End of Mayawati era.

10-17-2006, 05:20 AM

QUOTEÂ For Govt, IAS, IPS and a Harvard MBA donât mix
Shishir GuptaPosted online: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 0000 hrs
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 16: In the absence of a clear-cut policy on deputation of civil servants to the private sector, some of the finest bureaucrats either walk away for higher education or quit service. And the Government can do little other than mark them absent âunauthorized.â

So two of four bureaucrats who have done their MBA from Harvard are now working with multi-national companies on âunauthorized absenceâ from the Indian government and the third has already quit the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). This only leaves Srivatsa Krishna, the topper of 1994 Civil Services Exam and the first serving IAS officer to get the Harvard MBA degree, as the only one who is pursuing a career with the World Bankâs strategies and infrastructure division with âpermissionâ from New Delhi.

According to the Department of Personnel records, Harvard Business graduates Rita Singh, a 1997 batch IAS officer, and Anubhav, a 2000 batch IPS officer, are both said to be on âunauthorised absenceââ from the government. Singh works with Deloitte Consulting in New York and Anubhav with Google. Abhijit Ghosh is said to have resigned from the IFS to pursue a career with McKinsey in Atlanta.

Wharton MBA Deepak Tayal who works with Bank of America has been issued a show-cause. Vivek Kulkarni, 1979 batch IAS, quit the service to start Brickworks India. Amit Jain, a 1991 Sikkim cadre IAS officer, faces the same âunauthorised absenceâ against his name on the IAS Civil list on the DoPT website. Jain works with International Finance Corporation of the World Bank. 

While civil services rule in the United Kingdom allow five-year private deputation for bureaucrats and vice-versa to promote âcross-fertilisationâ of ideas, Indian babudom is still locked in the past.

Even if Indian civil servants get selected to top-notch MBA schools on their own initiative, New Delhi is harsh on deputation to private sector and only clears names on case-to-case basis under rule 6.2.2 of the All India Services Rules.

As of now the Secretary, Department of Personnel, clears private-sector deputation in consultation with the State Government if involved. However, with a large number of applications for such deputations landing up with the Centre, there is a proposal for setting up a three-member committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary for final clearance. This proposal is lying with the Prime Ministerâs Office and is expected to be cleared soon.

However, some bureaucrats have been lucky in getting permission. Rajkamal, a Chhattisgarh IAS officer, worked with full permission with McKinsey and so did Manmeet Narang, a Madhya Pradesh IPS officer, with Dell. Both these bureaucrats have done MBAs from Indian School of Business.

London Business School MBA Sanjeev Kaushik, a 1992 batch IAS officer, is working with Lehman Brothers with the permission of the Kerala government. Duke MBA K R K Rao is shown on a study leave by the DoPT website and is working with Circuit City this summer.

The private-sector deputation has also led to a tug-of-war between states and the Centre as states argue that being the cadre- controlling authority, they should have the final say. However, the Centre cites All India Services rules to push its case as the last word on the subject.
shishir.gupta@expressindia.com

**acharya** · 10-17-2006, 08:13 AM

http://www.india-seminar.com/2004/539/539%...n%20chandra.htm
Elections as auctions
QUOTEThe more competitive an election, therefore, the more such voters from these groups are likely to benefit. But no matter how competitive it is, a democracy that does not guarantee access to a minimal set of entitlements for its most vulnerable citizens has malfunctioned in a serious way.

Paradoxically, however, this malfunction may well be the reason for the survival of democracy in India. When survival goods are allotted by the political market rather than as entitlements, voters who need these goods have no option but to participate.

http://assets.cambridge.org/052181/4529/sa...521814529ws.pdf
Why ethnic parties succeed.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald...04/br4.asp
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/0...42400070800.htm

http://yale.edu/ycias/ocvprogram/licep/1...handra.pdf
Strategic voting

http://yale.edu/ycias/ocvprogram/licep/5/c...ndra-laitin.pdf
Frame work for identity change


Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in India. By Kanchan Chandra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 368p. $80.00.

In the post-9/11 world where the âclash of civilizationsâ has moved beyond classroom debates to the public realm, it is refreshing, and challenging, to see a study that does not give ethnicity an easy ride. The title of this book is slightly misleading, though, because even while it concedes that appeals for political support on the basis of ethnic categories based on ârace, caste, tribe or religionâ (p. 2) are frequently made, sometimes with considerable success, it asserts that such tactics do not always succeed. When they do, it is not necessarily because of their putative appeal to sentiments but, instead, because both ethnic candidates and their supporters, rather than being swayed by appeals to their nonrational selves, are actually driven by sophisticated calculations of expected gain. Their utility calculus takes the size of the ultimate prize as well as the probability of winning it into account when they choose to align themselves with one set of politicians as opposed to another. Kanchan Chandra's parsimonious and general model explains why ethic parties in India, riding on Hindu or, for that matter, Tamil nationalism, succeed in some contexts but not in others.

QUOTEEthnic Bargains, Group Instability, and Social Choice Theory
KANCHAN CHANDRA

This article makes two arguments: first, it argues that theories connecting ethnic group mobilization with democratic bargaining are based, often unwittingly, on primordialist assumptions that bias them toward overestimating the intractability of ethnic group demands. Second, it proposes a synthesis of constructivist approaches to ethnic identity and social choice theory to show how we who study ethnic mobilization might build theories that rely on the more realistic and more powerful assumption of instability in ethnic group boundaries and preferences. It illustrates the promise of this approach through a study of the language bargain struck in India's constituent assembly between 1947 and 1949.

http://www.aasianst.org/absts/1998abst/sasia/s-toc.htm

http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/politics/facu...ndra/as2000.pdf
Elite Incorporation in Multiethnic soceities

**acharya** · 10-17-2006, 09:07 AM

http://www.india-seminar.com/2004/539/539%...n%20chandra.htm
Elections as auctions
QUOTEThe more competitive an election, therefore, the more such voters from these groups are likely to benefit. But no matter how competitive it is, a democracy that does not guarantee access to a minimal set of entitlements for its most vulnerable citizens has malfunctioned in a serious way.

Paradoxically, however, this malfunction may well be the reason for the survival of democracy in India. When survival goods are allotted by the political market rather than as entitlements, voters who need these goods have no option but to participate.

http://assets.cambridge.org/052181/4529/sa...521814529ws.pdf
Why ethnic parties succeed.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald...04/br4.asp
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/0...42400070800.htm

http://yale.edu/ycias/ocvprogram/licep/1...handra.pdf
Strategic voting

http://yale.edu/ycias/ocvprogram/licep/5/c...ndra-laitin.pdf
Frame work for identity change


Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in India. By Kanchan Chandra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 368p. $80.00.

In the post-9/11 world where the âclash of civilizationsâ has moved beyond classroom debates to the public realm, it is refreshing, and challenging, to see a study that does not give ethnicity an easy ride. The title of this book is slightly misleading, though, because even while it concedes that appeals for political support on the basis of ethnic categories based on ârace, caste, tribe or religionâ (p. 2) are frequently made, sometimes with considerable success, it asserts that such tactics do not always succeed. When they do, it is not necessarily because of their putative appeal to sentiments but, instead, because both ethnic candidates and their supporters, rather than being swayed by appeals to their nonrational selves, are actually driven by sophisticated calculations of expected gain. Their utility calculus takes the size of the ultimate prize as well as the probability of winning it into account when they choose to align themselves with one set of politicians as opposed to another. Kanchan Chandra's parsimonious and general model explains why ethic parties in India, riding on Hindu or, for that matter, Tamil nationalism, succeed in some contexts but not in others.

QUOTEEthnic Bargains, Group Instability, and Social Choice Theory
KANCHAN CHANDRA

This article makes two arguments: first, it argues that theories connecting ethnic group mobilization with democratic bargaining are based, often unwittingly, on primordialist assumptions that bias them toward overestimating the intractability of ethnic group demands. Second, it proposes a synthesis of constructivist approaches to ethnic identity and social choice theory to show how we who study ethnic mobilization might build theories that rely on the more realistic and more powerful assumption of instability in ethnic group boundaries and preferences. It illustrates the promise of this approach through a study of the language bargain struck in India's constituent assembly between 1947 and 1949.

http://www.aasianst.org/absts/1998abst/sasia/s-toc.htm

http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/politics/facu...ndra/as2000.pdf
Elite Incorporation in Multiethnic soceities

http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/1452/Weiner.pdf
http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/sep/23us2.htm

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2122/sto...05000507600.htm
http://kellogg.nd.edu/events/pastconf/india.shtml
http://countrystudies.us/india/108.htm
http://www.indianchild.com/congress_party_india.htm
http://www.virginia.edu/soasia/newslette..._view.html

Societies and Military Power: India and Its Armies (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) (Hardcover)
by Stephen Peter Rosen

http://www.photius.com/countries/india/soc..._societ~82.html
http://www.crisisstates.com/download/india/gupta.pdf
http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwpol/Hankla%20-%20B...dia%20Paper.pdf

http://www.gandhiserve.org/sale/library_bo...l_congress.html
http://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/teaching/ug/r...sts/210/210.pdf
http://www.suedasien.net/laender/indien/st...politik/inc.htm

http://inic.utexas.edu/asnic/hardgrave/cv.html

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/sumit.htm
http://assets.cambridge.org/052180/1443/sa...521801443ws.pdf

QUOTEThe Indian paradox: essays in Indian politics

Contents

List of Tables

Preface

Editor's Preface

I. NATION BUILDING AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS

1. The Indian Paradox: Violent Social Conflict and Democratic Policies

2. India's Minorities: Who are they? What do they Want?

3. Institution Building in India

II. CHANGING PUBUC POLICIES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES

4. Capitalist Agriculture and Rural Well-Being

5. The Political Economy of Industrial Growth

6. The Political Consequences, of Preferential Policies: India in Comparative Perspective

III. ELECTORAL POLITICS

7. Party Politics and Electoral Behavior: From Independence to the 1980s

8. The 1971 Elections; India's Changing Party System

9. The 1980 Elections; Continuities and Discontinuities in Indian Politics

IV STALEMATES. CRISES AND ATTEMPTED REFORMS

10. India in the Mid-Seventies: A Political System in Transition

11. Rajiv Gandhi: A Mid-Term Assessment

12. Maintaining India's Democratic Institutions

Citations

Index
This stimulating volume explores a major paradox in Indian politics â the apparent contradiction between the high level of political violence and the country's success in sustaining a democratic political system.

Written over the past sixteen years or so and up-dated for the present volume, the essays in this volume provide a veritable four de horizon of the turbulent post-Nehru period in India's political history. Myron Weiner discusses some of the central issues of Indian politics and chronicles important changes and continuities in the relationship between ideas and interests as well as in institutional structures and political practice. In doing so, he provides not only a sense of the overall state of India's democratic polity but also some idea of its various strengths and weaknesses as it continues to cope with the classical problem of post-colonial regimes; namely, how to carry through the task of socio-economic transformation and nation and state building while sustaining an open and competitive framework. This is, in fact, the larger question the present volume seeks to address through an exploration of the problems of ethnicity, economic growth and equity, supplemented by a critical assessment of India's democracy and some of its central institutions.

A major theme is the interplay between the violent struggles among India's linguistic groups, religious, caste and tribal communities and the country's political institutions. The politics of group identity are and will remain as central an element in Indian political life as the debates over economic policy. Paradoxically, many government policies intended to ameliorate conflicts among groups and to improve their status or standard of living, have actually served to intensify group identities and conflicts.

In analysing the constraints on change in India, the author considers how the centralization of the Congress party has both eroded the federal system and weakened the Congress party itself, and how policies adopted by Indira Gandhi shaped institutions and interests that now limit Rajiv Gandhfs capacity to pursue political reform and economic liberalization. Myron Weiner also documents how the decline of the Congress organization and the weakening of the federal structure has made the'task of managing group conflicts more difficult.

Myron Weiner's contribution to the study of Indian politics has been considerable. His earlier writings on different aspects of the Indian polity are highly valued as 'benchmark' works. The present collection is, therefore, likely to elicit great interest not only among academics in the field but also among journalists and policy-makers.

QUOTEComparative Political Studies, Vol. 39, No. 8, 996-1018 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0010414005282392
Â© 2006 SAGE PublicationsÂ

Comparing Nations and States
Human Rights and Democracy in India
Caroline Beer

University of Vermont, Burlington

Neil J. Mitchell

University of Aberdeen, Scotland

Democracy and the protection of human rights generally go together, but not in India. India is an outlier in the cross-national research that aims to explain human rights performance. Using state-level subnational data and drawing on the approaches pioneered at the cross-national level, the authors examine the reasons for the outlier status. Their findings suggest that the aggregate whole-nation human rights and democracy scores misrepresent the political experience of much of India. The authors find that participation, political parties, and the level and nature of opposition threat help us understand the incidence of human rights violations within India.

10-17-2006, 09:46 AM

Lot of articles/paper after NDA came into power and nuclear test.
Looks like they want to break India into pieces. Current Dalit agenda and coversion are part of scheme.

**acharya** · 10-17-2006, 09:51 AM

QUOTE(Mudy @ Oct 16 2006, 04:16 PM)Lot of articles/paper after NDA came into power and nuclear test.
Looks like they want to break India into pieces. Current Dalit agenda and coversion are part of scheme.
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HOW DID YOU FIGURE THIS OUT!
WHICH ARTICLE GIVES IT AWAY

10-17-2006, 10:06 AM

QUOTEhttp://yale.edu/ycias/ocvprogram/licep/1/chandra/chandra.pdf
Strategic voting
http://www.suedasien.net/laender/indien/st...politik/inc.htm
http://kellogg.nd.edu/events/pastconf/india.shtml
........

If you see flow.

Now Chandra paper will fail because there are atleast 8-9 parties who are looking for lower caste votes. Lower caste votes will divide.

10-18-2006, 05:45 AM

Ministers' foreign jaunts run up gigantic billQUOTEEvery time the prime minister goes abroad, it costs the exchequer Rs 40 lakh (Rs 4 million) per day, on average. India paid Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) a day for the prime minister's Mauritius visit and over Rs 75 lakh (RS 7.5 million) a day when he was in Washington.

These calculations are based on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visits abroad between June 2004 and 2006. His 16 visits abroad, spread over 63 days, cost the exchequer more than Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million). Business Standard's information is based on a Right to Information query put to the Cabinet secretariat.

Singh is believed to be a reluctant traveller and his tours abroad are more spartan than those of his predecessors.

More remarkable are the odysseys undertaken by his ministerial colleagues. The details of their travels in these two years give a glimpse of this.

Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal spent over 100 days abroad during this period, making 26 visits to over two dozen countries, including the US (eight times), France (twice), Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Iceland, and Mexico.

Although the Right To Information Act could not persuade his ministry to part with information about the expenses incurred, there is no doubt the most peripatetic of his ministers is Kumari Selja, minister of state (independent charge) for housing and urban poverty alleviation.

In two years as minister, she made seven visits and covered 13 countries, including the UK, Spain, Italy, Brazil and Canada. Although Selja's officials provided details of just the airfare, this amounted to over Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.5 million).

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar made 11 visits abroad but four of these trips were sponsored by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The expenses incurred on the remaining seven include Rs 846,000 on a visit to Brazil during July 5-8 2005 and Rs 630,000 on a visit to Argentina during July 28-30 2005.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel made 10 visits abroad, mostly to the UK and the US. Minister for Health and Family Welfare Anbumani Ramadoss also made 10 foreign trips, mostly to the US and Switzerland. His deputy, Minister of State Panakab Laxmi, went abroad four times.

There is no lack of justifications for these trips. One of them is that they had to submit to the rigors of living out of a suitcase in the service of India as they were participants in seminars and conferences, invited by their counterparts in other countries. The health ministry said Ramadoss' visit to China in November last year was to study "reproductive health".

Most of the ministries chose not to furnish the information about the ministers' foreign visits. The ones that did would not provide details of the expenditure, arguing that it was under the Cabinet secretariat.

Ironically, it was the Cabinet secretariat to which the application under the Right To Information Act was submitted. It, in turn, forwarded it to different ministries.

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