Indian political leaders and bureaucrat

[Guest]

Just x-posting ABV's hindi speech

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Maine apna tyaagpatra mahamahim (?) rashtrapatiji ko saunp diyaa hai. Bharat duniyaa kaa sabse badaa loktantra hai. Loktantra main sadaiv jantaa ki ichchaa se sarkarein bantee aur badaltee hai. Loktantra ki yeh shakti hamare desh ke liye gaurav kaa vishay hai. Hamein ise aur majbott banana aur surakshit rakhnaa hai.

Main ap sabko dhanyavaad detaa hoon kee apne mujhe march 1998 se pradhan mantri ke roop main sevaa kerne kaa avsaar diyaa. Aapkaa samrthan aur apkaa vishwas meree sabse badee shakti hai. Jab apne hamein janaadesh diyaa thaa tab rashtra ke samne sthirtaa, sushaasan aur vikaas ki chunautiyaan thee. Ab yeh apko aur itihaas ko tay kernaa hai ki iske avej main main kyaa haasil ker payaa.

Halaaki mujhe is baat kaa santosh hai ki jis samay apne mujhe satta ki baagdor saunpi thee tabkee tulna main bharat ab aur bhe majboot aur samridh hai. Samajik aur arthik vikas ke khsetra main bharat ki pehel ne yeh sidh ker diyaa hai ki usmein ek viksit rashtra banne ki usmein purna kshamtaa aur yogyata hai.

Sankshep main bhale hee meraa dal aur gathbandhan haar gayein ho magar bharat vijayee rahaa hai.

Mitro hamaraa desh bahu dharmi, bahoo bhashee aur bahu jatiya rashtra hai fir bhee in vividhtaon ke bawajood hamaree rashtriya sanskriti prachin kaal se ektaa ke atoot dhage se gunthee hui hai. Gathbandhan sarkar chalaa ker hamnein vividhata main ektaa ki is paramparaa ko sudradh kerne ki koshish ki hai - hamne rashtriya ekta aur samajik ekjoottaa se sambandhon ko aur sudradh kiyaa hai . Hamnein bharatiya loktantra ko is roop main majboot kiyaa hai ki gathbandhan sarkarein rashtra ke sammukh chunautiyon se nipatne main sthayee aur safal ho saktee hai. Hamne  vivadit muddon ko baatchit ke jariye aur shantee tathaa paraspar sadichaa ke mahoul main suljhane per jor diyaa hai.

Aaj main vishesh roop se jammu aur kashmir ke logon ko dhanyavaad detaa hoon ki unhonein loktantra main apnee aasthaa vyakt ker aatankvadee shaktiyon ko karaaraa jawaab diyaa hai - bharatne sima paar ke aatankvaad ki chunauti se nipatne main apnee pratibadhata aur kshamtaa ko dikhayaa hai - apne padosi ke saath bharat ne aitihaasik shanti prakriyaa shuru ki hai. Yeh meree jivan paryant ichchaa rahegee ki dakshin asia , people's republic of china aur duniyaa ke anya deshon ke saath shantee sahyog aur mitrata kaa ek nayaa adhyaay shuru ker sakein .

Pyare desh vasiyon , hamnein pad se tyaagpatra diyaa hai lekin rashtra ki sevaa ki apne jimmedaari se nahin - hum chunaav harein hain - apnaa sankalp nahin. Jeet aur haar jivan kaa hissa hain jinhein main sadaiv samaan roop se dekhtaa rahaa hoon. rashtra aur jantaa ke hit main kiye jaane vale sabhee karyon main hum sadaiv sahyog kaa haath badhayenge. Apne jo sneh aur sahyog mujhe diyaa uske liye main ek baar fir se dhanyavaad detaa hoon .

Dhanyavaad,

Jai Hind !
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[Guest]

I know Reagan is not Indian politico but Arun Gupta posted this speech on BR and I really liked it. Admins can delete this if not appropriate.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ronald Reagan, urging voters to support Barry Goldwater,
addresses the nation in "A Time for Choosing,"
October 27, 1964.

I have spent most of my life as a Democrat.  I recently have seen fit to follow another course.  I believe that the issues confronting us cross party lines.  But I have an uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn't something upon which we can base our hopes for the future.

No nation in history has ever survived a tax burden that reached a third of its national income.  Today, thirty-seven cents out of every dollar earned in this country is the tax collector's share, and yet our government continues to spend 17 million dollars a day more than the government takes in.  We haven't balanced our budget twenty-eight out of the last thirty-four years.  We have raised our debt limit three times in the last twelve months, and now our national debt is one and a half times bigger than all the combined debts of all the nations of the world.

Well, I think it's time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers.

This idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man.  This is the issue of this election.  Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right.  There is only an up or down--up to man's age-old dream--the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

In this vote-harvesting time, they use terms like the "Great Society," or, as we were told a few days ago by the President, we must accept a "greater government activity in the affairs of the people."  But...the full power of centralized government--this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize.  They knew that governments don't control things.  A government can't control the economy without controlling people.  And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose.  They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy.

For three decades, we have sought to solve the problems of unemployment through government planning, and the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan.

We have so many people who can't see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion that the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one!  So they are going to solve all the problems of human misery through government and government planning.  Well, now if government planning and welfare had the answer, and they've had almost thirty years of it, shouldn't we expect government to read the score to us once in a while?  Shouldn't they be telling us about the decline each year in the number of people needing help [or] the reduction in the need for public housing?

But the reverse is true.  Each year the need grows greater, the program grows greater.  We were told four years ago that seventeen million people went to bed hungry each night.  Well, that was probably true.  They were all on a diet!  But now we are told that 9.3 million families in this country are poverty-stricken on the basis of earning less than $3,000 a year.  Welfare spending is ten times greater than the dark depths of the Depression.  We are spending 45 billion dollars on welfare.  Now, do a little arithmetic, and you will find that if we divided the 45 billion dollars up equally among those 9 million poor families, we would be able to give each family $4,600 a year, and this added to
their present income should eliminate poverty!  Direct aid to the poor, however, is running only about $600 per family.  It seems that someplace there must be some overhead.

So now we declare "war on poverty"....We are now going to solve the dropout problem, juvenile delinquency, by re-instituting something like the old CCC camps, and we are going to put our young people in camps, but again we do some arithmetic, and we find that we are going to spend each year just on room and board, for each young person that we help, $4,700 a year!  We can send them to Harvard
for $2,700!  Don't get me wrong.  I'm not suggesting that Harvard is the answer to juvenile delinquency!

Yet anytime you and I question the schemes of the do gooders, we are denounced as being against their humanitarian goals.  They say we are always "against" things, never "for" anything.  Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so!

We are for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, and to that end, we have accepted social security as a step toward meeting the problem.  But we are against those entrusted with this program when they practice deception regarding its fiscal shortcomings, when they charge that any criticism of the program means that we want to end payments to those people who depend on them for a livelihood.

We are for aiding our allies by sharing of our material blessings with those nations which share our fundamental beliefs, but we are against doling our money government to government, creating bureaucracy, if not socialism, all over the world.  We set out to help 19 countries.  We are helping 107.  We spend $146 billion.  With that money, we brought a 2-million-dollar yacht for Haile Selassie.  We brought dress suits for Greek undertakers, extra wives for Kenya government officials.  We brought a thousand TV sets for a place where they have no electricity!  In the last six years, fifty-two nations have brought $7 billion of our gold, and all fifty-two are receiving foreign aid from this country.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size.  So government programs, once launched, never disappear.  Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us that they have a utopian solution of peace without victory.  They call this policy "accommodation."  And they say if we only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he will forget his evil ways and learn to love us.

All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers.  They say we offer simple answers to complex problems.

Alexander Hamilton said, "A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one!" Let's set the record straight.  There is no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there is only one guaranteed way you can have peace...and you can have
it in the next second...surrender!

You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery.  If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin--just in the face of this enemy?--or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs?  Should Christ have refused the cross?  Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard around the world?  The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain!  Where, then, is the road to peace?  Well, it's a simple answer after all.

You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay."  There is a point beyond which they must not advance!  This is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's "peace through strength!"

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.  We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us.  He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny.  Thank you.

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[Guest]

<b>Sonia is like Ram, says YSR</b>?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->“She acted like Lord Ram who sent Sita to the forest because somebody made a comment,” YSR said<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I know this moron is xitian but why he is twisting others religious text.
Complete reflection of missionary propoganda.

[acharya]

That is because Indian think in terms of analogy to the epics. THey are trying to twist it so that it confirms to the epic and they get brownie points.

[Guest]

<b>The 'wisdom' of Indian voter</b>

Tavleen Singh | Thursday, June 17, 2004 11:15:24 IST

Do nothing for the people and like Laloo and the Marxists you will keep winning, try to do something and like Chandrababu you will end up losing

The rains have come to Mumbai. And, I write sitting in a friend's flat that looks out on a picture postcard monsoon landscape. Grey skies,cappuccino ocean, white breakers and a solitary fishing boat, redflag hoisted, staying carefully in safe waters. The ocean is so rough that morning walkers duck for cover as huge waves smash against the shore and splash them with salt water. Mumbai's morning newspapers exult in the arrival of the rains with recipes to heighten the joys of monsoon magic. Read as these dailies are by middle-class people with roofs over their head they recommend afternoons spent curled up in front of a television set with hot bhajjis (pakodas) and chai. They proffer advice on how women can take better care of their hair and skin and how mothers can better prevent children from coming down with monsoon diseases. They ignore that of half of the people of this city who live in slum dwellings made of tin sheets, plastic and scrap to whom the monsoon means leaky roofs, disease, squalor and lost workdays. This un-magical side of the monsoon was brought sharply to my notice by someone running a project for street children who tells me that every year at this time the children he has persuaded to go to school, the girls he has saved from prostitution, the teenagers he has helped learn a skill, all disappear because it is no longer possible to live in the street. So, on this magical monsoon morning I find myself obliged to write about politics because his words remind me of a frightening political conversation I recently had in Delhi.

Laloo Yadav

A friend from the Congress Party and I were discussing the effects on governance of having in the Cabinet someone like Laloo Yadav. This was before last week's train accident, but my Congress friend was already pessimistic and gloomy. "I don't know what he will do or not do for the Railways," he said "what I do know is that his presence and the fact that he won so many seats in Bihar is making Congress people rethink their political strategy. Do nothing for the people and like Laloo you will keep winning, try to do something and like Chandrababu you will end up losing."

Unfortunately, the matter does not end there which is why I found this conversation frightening. Laloo is not the only one who wins despite taking Bihar down the road to ruin. In neighbouring West Bengal we see the even more scary spectacle of the Marxist government managing to stay in power for nearly thirty years despite doing so little for the poor that starvation deaths were reported from some districts last week. Marxist ideologues, ever ready with their talk of the 'poorest of the poor', dismissed the deaths as a localized problem. Starvation deaths may be, but poverty is not. West Bengal used to be, in that long ago time before the Marxists came, our most industrialized state. Our biggest industrialists were based there before Marxist trade unions forced them to move to Maharashtra. Even this would be fine if the Marxists had succeeded in providing ordinary Bengalis with schools, hospitals, clean drinking water but not only did this not happen but West Bengal's ranking fell from being one of India's richest states to being among today among its poorest. But, as with Laloo in Bihar the Marxists appear never to be challenged by such things as anti-incumbency.

This is being interpreted by influential politicians and political pundits in Delhi as a sign that the less you do for the people the more likelihood there is of winning power. The fair-minded in the Congress Party admit that Atal Behari Vajpayee ran a good government and did much in terms of development. Just building eleven kilometers of road a day compared to eleven kilometers a year in earlier Congress times is indication of this. But, there was more. There was a
concerted attempt to loosen government controls on private enterprise, attempts to open India to foreign investment, to new technologies and the effects could be felt - despite what you hear to the contrary - all the way down to the villages. In a village in Bihar that had never seen electricity for a single day since Independence I found mobile phones and an ISD-STD booth from which I managed to call Mumbai. There was still no electricity but there was cable TV watched with the help of tractor batteries. Satellite dishes had arrived too and although only a handful of people had televisions in their homes, there was awareness of progress and the need for change such as could not have been imagined ten years ago. But, Vajpayee was swept from power and disturbing voices in the Congress Party now mutter about the importance of doing nothing.

Talk about the poor, they say, make meaningless promises like trying to get jobs reserved in private companies for those of low caste but do nothing except promote Rahul Gandhi as the shiny, new hope and all will be well. If this political philosophy is implemented you can be sure that the country will be moving backwards ten years before we move forwards again because governance is very important if we are to move forwards. It is because successive governments have failed to do their job that we continue to be a poor country. The people, you and I, have done our bit. We have worked hard and wherever you see 'India Shining' it is in areas where government has no role to play. We have excellent private schools, excellent private companies, excellent private hospitals, excellent private television channels and this is without mentioning the phenomenal success of our IT sector. Alas, these remain pockets of excellence and prosperity because the government has failed to deliver on its side of the deal.

It clings to ancient monopolies that make it the sole producer of vital infrastructure like electricity but fails to produce enough for our needs. It is its job to produce sufficient water for drinking and irrigation but it has failed to deliver even in states like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra which sit on the ocean. Desalination plants should have been built years ago and there would have been more than enough water. But, that would require money, commitment and a desire to really do something for the people instead of merely mouthing slogans of the kind that comprise the vast bulk of the new coalition's Common Minimum Programme.

UPA Government

Sample? 'The UPA Government will give the highest investment, credit and technological priority to the continued growth of agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, floriculture, afforestation, dairying and agro-processing that will significantly add to the creation of new jobs. Oh yes? Where is the money coming from? And, how is all this going to happen without massive investments in irrigation? Which brings me back to the monsoon. It is an outrage that the vast majority of India's farmers continue to rely on the monsoon for survival. An outrage that so little has been done to ensure regular supplies of water whether the rains fail or not. But, why should governments do anything if it is Laloo Yadav of Bihar and the Marxists of Bengal who win, while Chandrababu loses Andhra. Next time someone tells you about the 'wisdom' of the Indian voter tell him to have his head examined.

[Guest]

India Today.
THE ESTABLISHMENT

<b>The New Orbit of Power</b>
On the wreckage of a nascent right-wing establishment rises a brand new elite that draws its power from its liberal past. These Soniaites and leftists are everywhere, altering the course of governance, if not history.

By S. Prasannarajan

Now that a planetary shift has taken place in politics, the dethroned raja from Madhya Pradesh thinks his time too has come. The buzz was that Digvijay Singh was likely to be rehabilitated in the Planning Commission as deputy chairman. It did not happen. Yet, last week, there he was, as just another aspirant in the corridors of South Block, where a cabinet meeting was in progress. Journalists who sighted him assumed that he was coming out of the prime minister's durbar. They could not have been more wrong. His appointment was indeed with the man who matters. His name? No, not Manmohan Singh, but Pulak Chaterji.

Chaterji who? The joint secretary in the PMO is more than another faceless bureaucrat. Faceless he may remain, but he is Sonia Gandhi's pointsman at South Block. And Sonia Gandhi, the power behind the throne, is larger than the most important occupant of South Block. His CV gives a fair idea of why this IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre is worthy of such high profile attention: deputy secretary in the PMO when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister; a stint in the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation on Sonia's request after Rajiv's assassination; private secretary to Sonia when she was the opposition leader. A loyal servant of the dynasty.

More aptly, a representative face of the new Establishment. He is just a prominent member in an exclusive but unofficial club of men and women who are the arbiters of national destiny. They may be within or without the government, but they enjoy a special proximity to the system, which is culturally different from the ancient regime. Their power may not be direct, always. It may come from association or ideology, loyalty or utility. They are stars, some familiar, some fresh, in the brand new solar system of power whose axis is Sonia Gandhi.

They spread into every sphere of national life: politics, bureaucracy, industry, academia, entertainment and media. They reflect the attitude and ideas of the new Government; they have the privilege to alter, for better or worse, the course of governance, if not history. The most visible among them, of course, are the new Gandhians, not of the charkha-loincloth variety but designer khadi with an accent, Oxbridge with a Punjabi twang. They are the faithful, in permanent awe of the mystique of the dynasty, currently kept alive by three Gandhis-Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka.

THE OUTSIDERS

Still, Sonia's singularity has been compromised by the expediency of co-habitation politics. So there are partners, and, along with them, comes a new set of power players, from the Left, the DMK and the politicians of social justice. Suddenly, those apparatchiks who graduated from the class struggle of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, have first-hand experience of power, even if the hand belongs to someone else. And quite a bit of Bihar is bound to dominate Delhi, thanks to a steam engine called Laloo Prasad Yadav. Equally prominent will be the southern flavour, for M. Karunanidhi is the most decisive partner in the Manmohan-sorry, Sonia-Government.

And the government is run by the bureaucracy. Every politician wants his favourite babu in the right place, and the babus, with every regime change, position themselves to be at the right place. That is why some officers are more equal than others. They are the ones who become part of the power elite of the season. Like the industrialist who funds a particular brand of politics to be more powerful than what his wealth would allow him. Or, like the cultural czarina who earnestly believes that her ideological proximity to the regime makes her a chosen instrument of change. Or the professor who thinks he has now got the intellectual mandate to correct history. Or even the media maven who leaps out of his pages-or screen-to become a participant in the new system.

<b>P O L I T I C S </b>
RAHUL GANDHI, 33
POWER SON

THE BUZZ: The Congress' battering ram in Uttar Pradesh and the focal point of the young-guns strategy. Those in his inner circle are vastly outnumbered by those seeking admission. But gatecrashers, especially those who use the media to announce their proximity, are not welcome.
THE STING: Knows his mind and will not let anyone know what it is.

<b>H.S. SURJEET, 88</b>
RED RASPUTIN

THE BUZZ: He is neither a bhadralok nor an Oxbridge apparatchik, but this subaltern sardarji, one of the architects of the UPA, calls the shots.
THE STING: The CPI(M) general secretary tends to act like a PRO for the Samajwadi Party.

<b>SITARAM YECHURY, 51</b>
TELLY MARXIST

THE BUZZ: The JNU old boy is part of the CPI(M)'S think tank and its most visible face on TV.
THE STING: The youngest Politburo member is also its most powerful thanks to his close links with 10 Janpath and the prime minister.

<b>SATISH SHARMA, 57</b>
FAMILY TRUSTEE

THE BUZZ: He may be a flop politician but has been hugely success-fully in fealty to the first family.
THE STING: The haste with which Congress proposed his name for the petroleum portfolio makes it certain it wants to use it as an instrument of patronage.

A.B. BARDHAN, 79
THE HARDLINER

THE BUZZ: The CPI general secretary has twin weapons-the AITUC and his clout with the Congress.
THE STING: Tough conservative has checked rise of liberals and comrades from the heartland like Atul Anjan.

<b>DAYANIDHI MARAN 37</b>
SOUTHERN SHINE

THE BUZZ: IT minister may not be a Tamil hardliner but won't compromise on DMK interests.
THE STING: Is still new to the party his uncle and father built.

JAIRAM RAMESH, 50
THE IDEATOR

THE BUZZ: The man who hotwired Congress' victory has many friends in the UPA, from Dayanidhi Maran to Laloo. Most importantly, he has Rahul's confidence.
THE STING: His politics has subsumed his economics.

<b>AHMED PATEL, 55</b>
THE LYNCHPIN

THE BUZZ: Sonia's political secretary is a crucial link between 10 Janpath and 7 Race Course Road.
THE STING: Not inclined to lengthy political discourses, but is never economical with the truth.

M.K. STALIN, 52
DRAVIDIAN MASCOT

THE BUZZ: DMK general secretary's prospects get a leg up with his newfound proximity to the Congress.
THE STING: Not interested in games at the national level, M. Karunanidhi's heir apparent is more concerned with Tamil Nadu and becoming chief minister one day.

S. PACHAURI, 52
CARD HOLDER

THE BUZZ: The Rajya Sabha MP has got the plum personnel portfolio for steadfast loyalty to 10 Janpath.
THE STING: His stint in the Narasimha Rao cabinet is all but forgotten in talk about loyalty to the clan.

G. N. AZAD, 55
THE STILETTO

THE BUZZ: Smoothie parliamentary affairs minister who delivered Andhra Pradesh this year will have a major say in the AICC reshuffle.
THE STING: His heart is still in Kashmir and his mind set on becoming the chief minister.

SALMAN KHURSHID, 51
CLUB CLASS

THE BUZZ: In Uttar Pradesh, Sonia relies entirely on this Oxford-educated lawyer's political instincts.
THE STING: By stretching his personal biases to politics, he often goes beyond his brief.

K. NATWAR SINGH, 73
THE THOROUGHBRED

THE BUZZ: Recruited by Nehru, served under Indira and Rajiv, back with Sonia. For a foreign affairs expert, has had a great home run.
THE STING: Exudes erudition but thinks the non-existent NAM era is still relevant.

AMBIKA SONI, 62
THE FOLLOWER

THE BUZZ: Her clout in the new dispensation is not clear. She spurned the ministerial post but got an extra six years in the Rajya Sabha.
THE STING: Sonia may reward her with the Punjab chief minister's post. But when?

<b>OTHERS</b>
M.L. FOTEDAR, 72: The Kashmiri acolyte of the original Mrs G, he has stayed loyal to Sonia.

MOHSINA KIDWAI, 72: Another inheritance from the Indira Gandhi era. Calmly bypasses Ambika Soni in her dealings with Sonia.

PRAFUL PATEL, 47: The suave civil aviation minister is a regular on both Page Three and Page One.

<b>END OF AN AURA</b>

Together, they form the new power establishment. Post-independence history explains the difference. The Congress dominated the politics of free India for four decades. And in its shadow grew a parallel empire of courtesans and panegyrists, sycophants and commissars, united by the devotion to the Gandhi-Nehru legacy. In each stage of the Congress evolution sprang up a power elite loyal to the Family. Power and privilege institutionalised it, and various shades of left-liberalism coloured its mind. The BJP in power marked the end of an aura-and a historical shift in the politics of India. It was their first tryst with power, and the inexperience showed. They didn't inherit a conservative elite. They had to create one. Before they could complete the project, history intervened, and brought an old idea back to power.

So the new establishment is not all that new, genetically at least. Doctrinaire secularism-different from the democratic tolerance of the Indians that continues to hold the nation together-may be the convenient rhetoric. But connectivity is what makes the ruling elite a state within the state. Call it the matrix of loyalty.

It is this connectivity that defines the political elite. It is the family or those who are suffering from a family fetish. Camelot is once again an active political site, and the presiding deity is the widow. The Rajiv loyalists who stood by Sonia are now realising that patience has a place in politics. So, apart from the natural heirs, Rahul and Priyanka, there is Ahmed Patel. The Gujarati Muslim was parliamentary secretary in Rajiv Gandhi's PMO in 1984. Today he has direct access to Sonia's mind.

In the galaxy of the political VIPs, the old and the new exist in perfect harmony. Against every Jairam Ramesh, there is a Mohsina Kidwai or a M.L. Fotedar. Both started off as the original Mrs G's confidants and not only survived the generational shifts in the Gandhi parivar but nurtured it, clung to it. Kidwai was Indira's most trusted lieutenant when she contested and won the Azamgarh byelection in Uttar Pradesh after the 1977 Congress wipeout. The almost infallible Fotedar was political secretary to Mrs G and saw three generations of Gandhis growing up. He serves the new Mrs G with the same commitment.

<b>I N D U S T R Y </b>
RAHUL BAJAJ, 66
VOICE POWER

THE BUZZ: The God of Gumption stayed friends with the Right but kept his door open for the Congress.
THE STING: The habitual dissenter may find it hard to resist, well, dissenting.

SURESH NEOTIA, 58
QUIET NETWORKER

THE BUZZ: Chairman of Gujarat Ambuja Ltd. Arjun Singh's nominees to the IIM-Calcutta board included his son.
THE STING: Will he go be-yond suggesting what art Sonia should invest in?

NARESH GOYAL, 55
JET PROPELLED

THE BUZZ: Knows Sharad Pawar, is friendly with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and is close to several senior Congressmen. But then the chairman of Jet Airways has always managed to know the right person at the right place.
THE STING: Shadow boxing with the Government will continue.

<b>N.R. NARAYANA MURTHY, 58</b>
Mr CONSCIENCE

THE BUZZ: The rest of the fraternity blushed, but Infosys' chief mentor spoke out publicly against Murli Manohar Joshi.
THE STING: Politicians need him more than he needs them.

<b>C U L T U R E & S O C I E T Y</b>
RAJEEV SETHI,55
CULTURE CZAR

THE BUZZ: The art impresario is in demand on the global festival circuit, with or without the Congress.
THE STING: Owes more to his talent than to the party.

ROMI CHOPRA, 60
FAMILY RETAINER

THE BUZZ: A Page Three fixture, his calling card remains his proximity to The Family. Madam relies on him heavily, from designing pamphlets to choosing saris.
THE STING: Is more odd-jobs man than strategist.

<b>OTHERS</b>
DILIP CHERIAN, 48: Post poll, makes leap from just plain PR to power PR.

RAM REHMAN, 45: Face of Sahmat, HRD's pet NGO.

KAPILA VATSYAYAN, 75: Scholar may be back, by default.

RUPIKA CHAWLA, 56: Sonia's old friend who shares an interest in art and restoration.

<b>RED STAR RISES</b>

As far as the power axis goes, Gandhi has to co-exist with Marx. The little red star over Delhi is twinkling to the delight of the orphaned ghosts of communism. H.S. Surjeet may be the ultimate dialectician of manipulative politics, but the one who is shuttling between the party office and TV studio is the virtual communist called Sitaram Yechury. On the eve of External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh's first foreign visit, to Nepal, it was Yechury who visited the minister's house with some sound advice. Before Manmohan could appoint Montek Singh Ahluwalia as Planning Commission deputy chairman, he had to get clearance from Yechury and Surjeet and agree that some Left nominees too would be accommodated. And it is the Congress that has offered a Rajya Sabha seat to Yechury, the secular, telegenic counter face to the BJP, from Andhra Pradesh. The commissar as VIP is back in vogue.

So is the bureaucrat with a family connection. The importance of being a Pulak Chaterji or a J.N. Dixit or an M.K. Narayanan cannot be over-emphasised. Take a look at the visitor's entry at the PMO and you realise how much the geography of power has shifted. More politicians come to see Chaterji than his boss, the prime minister. All the key appointments-secretaries or PSU chiefs-are okayed by him, on behalf of 10 Janpath of course.

<b>M E D I A</b>
SUMAN DUBEY, 60
THE ROCK

THE BUZZ: Sonia's confidant enjoys instant access to 10 Janpath. The Congress president trusts him implicitly knowing he will not misuse his proximity.
THE STING: As India's representative of Dow Jones, any political crisis surrounding the Government may embarrass him.

<b>SHOBHANA BHARTIA, 49</b>
MEDIA HEIRESS

THE BUZZ: <b>Vice-chairperson, Hindustan Times Ltd, inherits her Congress leanings from her father. </b>Forged her own rapport with Congress Young Turks like Madhavrao Scindia. Has friends in the BJP too.
THE STING: Adept at networking. But she will find it hard to resist using her newspaper to toe the Congress line.

<b>K. MARAN, 39</b>
SOLAR ENERGY

THE BUZZ: Sun Network's chief. With nine channels in his kitty and Union IT minister as brother, he is on the way to becoming far more powerful.
THE STING: Will push for CAS, which the UPA may put in cold storage.

GIRISH SANGHI, 49
SHEET ANCHOR

THE BUZZ: Runs Vaartha, the second-largest Telugu daily, and a Hindi daily Swatantra Vartha. Both are consistent in their attack on the TDP.
THE STING: Will Congress deliver on promises to new Rajya Sabha MP?

N. RAM, 59
WRITE ON LEFT

THE BUZZ: Editor-in-chief of The Hindu, took over the reins of the group last year. More than just an avowed sympathiser of the Left.
THE STING: Surjeet and Bardhan are bound to get more column space.

<b>KEEPING FAITH</b>

The foreign policy of a government is the international expression of its national interest. One of the real achievements of the A.B. Vajpayee government was that it got out of the mindset of third worldism and reached out to the brash new world after the Berlin Wall. For, even as history played havoc with the old stereotypes of bipolarity, the cold war continued to rage in the mind of the Indian establishment. The last regime's engagement with America was a historic beginning. The new policy wonk in the South Block is of Nehruvian vintage. J.N. Dixit, the new national security adviser, is so diplomatically familiar with the Gandhis that his post-retirement assignment looks like homecoming. He joined the Congress three years ago when the party was wallowing in defeatism. Today he has been rewarded. Another old face at the new PMO is M.K. Narayanan. As IB chief he was Rajiv's favourite. Post-retirement he has been advising Sonia on internal security matters. These new VIPs ensure continuity. The cartographers of future are the custodians of the Gandhi legacy.

More conspicuous, perhaps, is the continuity of business and politics. A few kilometres from Connaught Place in Delhi is the palatial Birla House where Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi spent the final days of his life. Jamnalal Bajaj was as much a businessman as a friend of Gandhi and in that sense a member of the inner circle. Today it is an N.R. Narayana Murthy or a Rahul Bajaj. The tech tycoon had openly opposed Murli Manohar Joshi's anti-elitist IIM policy. Bajaj has never been defensive about his support-mostly financial-to the Congress.

Still, businessmen try hard not to be too obvious about their affiliations. Like Naresh Goyal, a party hopper. Through the past 10 years three different regimes have come and gone but Goyal continues to fly high because of his uncanny knack of creating all-weather friends. In a partially privatised economy, the politician is indispensable to the industrialist. So the friends of Sonia in the board rooms are bound to make themselves more visible.

As visible as the left-liberal academics, who are at home with the comrades. The most easily identifiable Indian intellectual is secular, left and liberal. For years, under the Congress patronage, he dominated the academia. Talk nationalism to the average left-liberal historian and you are likely to be branded the enemy of civilisation. After a brief right wing interval that gave him nothing but the horror of Gujarat, he is back at work-at home. So Mushirul Hasan is a very important academic, and other friendly historians are being re-employed as history cleansers.

And there is, as with every government and in every democracy, a friendly media. India may not have a media as ideologically polarised as Britain's. Here ideology is as important as old loyalty. Take Suman Dubey of Dow Jones. He is perhaps Sonia's most trusted friend. Defying the Congress culture, he doesn't parade his privilege. After the election victory, as Sonia was going through her to-be-or-not-to-be crisis, the one constant presence at 10 Janpath was Dubey. But this VIP, despite being very visible, remains inaccessible to the gossip columns.

There is no such precaution in the culture or society circuit, where friends are made as ruthlessly as they are brushed aside. No one knows exactly what Sonia thinks about anyone-and talking about the odd evening with her is a sure precursor to being abandoned forthwith. The bylanes of Delhi society are littered with the corpses of those who spoke too soon, or too much.

<b>P O W E R P A I R S </b>
PRIYANKA VADRA, 32, AND ROBERT VADRA, 34
TWIN TOWERS

THE BUZZ: Politically savvy and flamboyant, she earned her spurs by single-handedly winning her mother's campaign. He is less flashy but vital to the comfort level of both his wife and brother-in-law.
THE STING: She speaks only when she wants to make a spectacle. He doesn't speak at all.

<b>PRAKASH KARAT, 56, AND BRINDA KARAT, 55</b>
COMRADES IN ARMS

THE BUZZ: He is the CPI(M) ideologue who gave finishing touches to the CMP. She is the champion of the Women's Reservation Bill.
THE STING: He is the party man. She resigned from the Central Committee alleging gender discrimination.

<b>PRANNOY ROY, 54, AND RADHIKA ROY, 54</b>
24/7 COUPLE

THE BUZZ: The couple went out on a limb using the NDTV to take on the BJP government on Gujarat. Hitched their wagon firmly to the Congress camp.
THE STING: With the Congress in power, the Roys will find it difficult to be fashionably critical of the Government's decisions.

<b>MONTEK S. AHLUWALIA, 60, AND ISHER JUDGE AHLUWALIA, 58</b>
PM's PEOPLE

THE BUZZ: Their re-entry into Delhi's power circle was certain the day Manmohan became prime minister.
THE STING: As deputy chairperson of Planning Commission, he will be a permanent invitee to Cabinet, but will have his task cut out.

<b>R.P. GOENKA, 74, SANJIV GOENKA, 43</b>
EASTERN COMFORT

THE BUZZ: A trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, the senior Goenka's association with the Gandhi family is decades old.
THE STING: Father has access to 10 Janpath. Will it benefit the son?

<b>B U R E A U C R A C Y</b>

J.N. DIXIT, 70
PRIME TIME MAN

THE BUZZ: Known as Viceroy in Sri Lanka, the former foreign secretary strengthened his ties with the Congress by joining it in 2003.
THE STING: The NSA may have to do a lot of "damage-control" on foreign affairs.

RONEN SEN, 60
WHITE KNIGHT

THE BUZZ: He was Rajiv Gandhi's key joint secretary. Will now serve in the US after a dream run in the UK, Russia and Germany.
THE STING: After a couple of bypass surgeries, Ronen is not exactly fighting fit.

PULAK CHATERJI, 53
THE GO-BETWEEN

THE BUZZ: Sonia Gandhi's former private secretary is now the most powerful joint secretary in Manmohan Singh's office.
THE STING: Can forget his coffee breaks and driving holidays. Is now very much in the limelight.

KAMALESH SHARMA, 63
LONDON CALLING

THE BUZZ: Brother-in-law of Suman Dubey, this former career diplomat will grace India House in London.
THE STING: Will compete for social space among the diaspora with the other party light Pavan Verma.

<b>KANWAL SIBAL, 60</b>
BACK IN FAVOUR

THE BUZZ: Brother of Kapil Sibal, this articulate former foreign secretary will get a taste of Moscow. Fell foul of BJP politics and was denied an extension.
THE STING: Will not back off on Pak, US.

M.K. NARAYANAN, 70
THE OLD FOX

THE BUZZ: Rajiv Gandhi's all-time favourite bureaucrat, he has been used by governments as an authority on internal security.
THE STING: In these days of intense public and media scrutiny, Narayanan is a low-profile oddity. Silent, but gets his work done.

OTHERS
SUDEEP BANNERJEE, 54: Additional secretary in the HRD Ministry, he prefers academics from JNU to those from Jhandewalan.

<b>NAVIN CHAWLA, 59</b>: I&B secretary. Sanjay Gandhi's chum, never quite became a Rajiv pal. His wife is someone Sonia is comfortable with.

<b>A C A D E M I C S</b>
M.V. RAJEEV GOWDA, 40
THE PROFESSOR

THE BUZZ: Rahul favourite, the IIM-Bangalore don with a postdoctorate from Berkeley will soon head an institute that teaches management to Congress. There the twain shall meet.
THE STING: He is still in the party's second rung, behind Jairam Ramesh and Kapil Sibal.

<b>M. HASAN, 54</b>
THE FAITHFUL

THE BUZZ: What a surprise. One of the first appointments made by UPA was his posting as Jamia Millia Islamia VC.
THE STING: Will be flooded with requests to head various committees.

<b>P. PATNAIK, 59</b>
MARX MAN

THE BUZZ: One of the brightest stars of JNU. The brain Prakash Karat and S. Yechury depend on.
THE STING: Patnaik's influence on economic policies can be profound. But it may be too indirect.

<b>K.N. PANIKKAR, 68</b>
THE DETOXIFIER

THE BUZZ: <b>The VC of Kerala's Sree Sankaracharya University has more than an idea of how to sweep ICHR clean.</b>
THE STING: Will rush more often to the AKG Bhavan than the HRD Ministry.

<b>ARJUN SENGUPTA, 70</b>
WORLD CLASS

THE BUZZ: Founder of the Marx Club when he was reader at the Delhi School of Economics, the frequent-flier professor has been executive director of the IMF and member secretary of the Planning Commission.
THE STING: What exactly will he do?

BIBEK DEBROY, 49
EVERYMAN ECONOMIST

THE BUZZ: Sought by the finance minister, prime minister and Mrs G. The Debroy discourse on world trade and law will echo in many anterooms.
THE STING: Can give elbow power to reforms, especially in law, provided the bureaucracy lets him.

<b>OTHERS</b>
J.S. GREWAL, 76: Director of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, another pro-changer.

S. SETTAR, 68: The former ICHR chairman is on the panel to review NCERT textbooks.

<b>NEW BAND, BRAND</b>

But even as the smart set gets used to not snorting on demand at ministerial one-liners and declines polite conversation about chat shows on invisible channels, it has to brush up on its knowledge of either art or the Blessed Mother Teresa (or preferably both). For, traditionally Congress governments have best understood cultural patronage. Not for them the mofussil academics and shloka-reciting scholars whom the BJP so fancied. Having created institutions like the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and Indian Council of Cultural Relations, the new elite has every intention of reclaiming the symbols of their cultural advance over the aggressive usurpers.

Expect to see the return of defenders of the faith in these institutions. At a more superficial level, though, it remains a game of what is in, who is out. As the usual suspects of the past six years blend into the background, guest lists across town are changing at the speed of SMS. From housewarmings to birthdays, the Congress' rising stars are suddenly the new must-invitees. And since Congress is a party that also knows how to party, the Doon School brigade has been revived, with talk of Sunday brunches at Romi Chopra's home. Remember, though, as in every ruling establishment, there is nothing called free brunch.

For the rest of the country, as the airwaves, seminar rooms, op-ed pages and chat shows are certain to be colonised by the new VIPs, it is time to get familiar with the reflected glow of the Sonia age-and its brand managers.

-with Shankkar Aiyar, Kaveree Bamzai, Indrani Bagchi,
Priya Sahgal and bureau reports

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Two Bihar DMs transferred from their posts </b>
IANS / Patna
Two Bihar bureaucrats, who took on powerful Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MPs Mohammed Shahabuddin and Sadhu Yadav, were Thursday transferred from their posts as district magistrates.
 
<b>Siwan District Magistrate C.K. Anil</b>, who has been on a collision course with Shahabuddin, has been moved as secretary of the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB).

<b>Governor Buta Singh also shifted Gopalganj district magistrate K.K. Pathak, who had ordered Sadhu Yadav not to enter the area during the February assembly polls to ward off trouble.</b>

"The move has been on the cards for the last few days. It was expected," said a senior official.

It has been a neat shuffle.

Anil, who has been on leave for the last two weeks, replaces Brajesh Malhotra as secretary of BSEB. Malhotra is the new district magistrate of Gopalganj.

Pathak takes over as vice-chairperson of the Patna Regional Development Authority (PRDA), replacing Santosh Kumar Mall who is now the new Siwan district magistrate.

Both Anil and Pathak hit the headlines in February this year when they stopped Shahabuddin and Sadhu Yadav respectively from entering their areas. Anil even banned Shahabuddin's entry into Siwan for six months and later conducted raids on his ancestral home.

<b>Anil had described Shahabuddin, who faces 40 criminal cases including murder, as a habitual offender.</b>

<b>As for Pathak, he demolished a boundary wall put up by Sadhu Yadav on a government land illegally.</b>

Sources said Anil had applied for deputation to Maharashtra a year ago and his request was likely to be acceded to. The state government has already cleared a similar move for his wife, Indian Police Service officer Shobha Ohatkar.

Sources said Pathak wanted to leave Gopalganj on health grounds.
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[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Governors' dharma </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
The conference of Governors, with the President of India presiding, was supposed to evolve into a brain-storming exercise where ideas would be exchanged by participants to make gubernatorial responsibilities more in tune with current realities.

However, over the years the conference of Governors had been reduced to a farce where politically correct platitudinous statements would be made by occupants of Raj Bhavans and the President of the Republic, each participant exerting to please - and not hurt - the sensitivities of the Government of the day. President APJ Abdul Kalam has tried to rescue this important event by breaking with the tradition set by his predecessors of treating it as an opportunity to genuflect to political masters.

In a blunt message to Governors who had gathered for this year's conference, President Kalam has asked them to stop functioning as political agents of the party ruling at the Centre. He has eloquently described the primary responsibility of Governors as rising "above day-to-day politics" and overriding political "compulsions" emanating from the Union Government. In normal circumstances, President Kalam's comments could be construed as nothing more than stating the obvious; after all, Governors are expected to be neither involved in mundane politics, nor capitulate in the face of political compulsions. But these are not normal times and ever since the UPA Government came to power last summer, the Congress has been influencing gubernatorial decisions with disastrous consequences for India's federal and democratic polity. The party has not had to exert too hard to achieve its goal of converting Raj Bhavans into extension counters of its headquarters. Most of the Governors, till recently active Congress politicians, are more than eager to do the bidding of their party 'high command' in Delhi.

The most glaring political manipulation of gubernatorial powers was witnessed earlier this year when the BJP Government in Goa was removed with the help of a Governor who showed no qualms about carrying out the instructions of his political bosses in Delhi. This was followed by the astounding decision of the Governor of Jharkhand to invite, as instructed by the Congress 'high command', those who had clearly lost the Assembly election to form the State Government. The latest instance of gubernatorial mischief is the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly as an expedient means to prevent the formation of a non-Congress Government. True, President Kalam stopped the farce in Jharkhand by summoning the Governor and forcing the Union Government to undo the damage inflicted on our polity by the undeserving person occupying the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi.

But he cannot be expected to play a leading role on each occasion of misuse and abuse of gubernatorial powers. If Governors are to sincerely "preserve the light of dharma", as advised by the President, then they should be individuals with identities larger than that of party factotums. Unfortunately, that is not the situation, not least because the Congress has nothing but contempt for institutions of the state.

If the rot has to be checked, and dignity restored to the Governor's office, then political parties across the board have to agree to depoliticise Raj Bhavans. Till such time this happens, Governors will continue to act as agents of the ruling party. And, misuse of gubernatorial powers shall continue to blotch our image as a functioning democracy.
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[Guest]

Indian Administration

K.P.S. Gill says it as it is:

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Asked to write about the Gujarat riots of 2002 by an European magazine, I was groping for images to convey the abject and inexcusable failure of the police to an audience not familiar with the functioning of the Indian police and the context they operate in. It was at this juncture I came across the photograph published on the front page of The Indian Express on July 2, of a joint commissioner of police—his name deserves to be reiterated here for his “exemplary” conduct, K. Kumaraswamy—riding on the shoulders of a constable in Vadodara, his trousers rolled up, appearing the more arrogant in dark glasses, looking smug and comfortable as the man carrying him wades through flood waters. Had he been carrying the constable, I would have commended him highly. An officer is meant to take care of his men. As it stands, he has disgraced his rank, uniform and service.

This image graphically reflects the utter collapse, not only of the Gujarat Police, but of the entire national administration, and is a slap in the face of the complete administrative echelon, right from the PM down to the lowliest babu. It is evident our system is now creating a race of “palanquin commanders”, indolent men, utterly enslaved by the privileges of rank, but equally incapable of meeting the challenges of their sworn duty. We have a police leadership afraid of getting its trousers wet; that treats its men as mules; and that has become soft, unwilling to get its hands dirty, unable to face adverse situations. And the problem extends to the top administrative hierarchy across the country. This is why, in crisis after crisis, the public complains about administrative failure, a failure located squarely at the leadership level, for the rank and file of our forces remain unreservedly willing to do their utmost and put their lives at risk. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<img src='http://www.indianexpress.com/ieimages/specials/topimage050702.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

[Guest]

Pioneer -18July
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Chawla as EC: Monstrous folly </b>
A Surya Prakash
<b>IAS officers told the Shah Commission of Enquiry that Mr Navin Chawla, then secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, wanted them to detain persons under the dreaded MISA without examining the grounds of detention and to later 'fabricate' the evidence.</b> The Superintendent of Tihar Jail said that Mr Chawla wanted construction of cells with asbestos roofs to 'bake' certain persons and to throw some 'troublesome detenus' (read opponents of the Emergency) into the lunatics' cell.

Armed with this evidence and the testimony of many others including the then Lt Governor of Delhi, the Shah Commission, which inquired into the excesses during the Emergency, indicted Mr Chawla for having been 'authoritarian and callous' and for gross misuse of power "in cynical disregard of the welfare of citizens". Further, it declared that he was "unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others".

Meet Mr Navin Chawla, a member of Sanjay Gandhi's extra-constitutional cabal, which snuffed out democracy and constitutionalism between June, 1975 and March, 1977. <b>Some weeks ago, the President, as the readers may be aware, was 'pleased' to appoint him as a member of Election Commission of India! For all those who have lived through that nightmare called the Emergency, the appointment of Mr Navin Chawla, a man completely at odds with democracy itself, as an Election Commissioner, constitutes a terrible folly that needs to be quickly undone.</b>

The Shah Commission Report provides ample evidence of Mr Chawla's cynical disregard of basic constitutional values. The Second Interim Report, submitted in April, 1978, dealt extensively with the ruthless manner in which some officers like him (he was Secretary to the Lt Governor of Delhi) misused their powers. Here is a brief summary: Additional District Magistrates Mr P Ghosh and Ms Meenakshi Dutta Ghosh (ADMs) told the commission that in a large number of cases, the grounds of detention were furnished to them after they issued detention orders. Mr P Ghosh said that Mr Navin Chawla had summoned him along with Mr GC Srivastava (another ADM) and told them 'to fabricate the grounds'. After a few days he was again summoned by Mr Chawla and was told that the Lt Governor "would not hesitate to put even senior IAS officers behind the bars under MISA if he found them lacking in cooperation in the matter of MISA detentions". Mr Srivastava told the commission that he was asked by Mr Navin Chawla to issue as many as 100 to 150 orders per month. "It is evident," the commission said that whether an individual should be detained under MISA or not was not left to the detaining authorities "but was decided by Shri Bhinder or by Shri Navin Chawla or Shri Bajwa".

However, even more disturbing was <b>the evidence of Mr Chawla's gestapo-style operations. The commission found that a special sub-committee had been constituted "to interrogate certain persons who had tendered apology for their past political activities".</b> This sub-committee included a psychiatrist. The commission said the purpose of this interrogation, conducted in jail, was to ascertain the genuineness of the political conversion of these persons. Ms Chandra, Special Secretary, Home, Delhi Government, told the commission that this special sub-committee was Mr Chawla's idea. "...one wonders if this was an attempt at political indoctrination of the opponents of the emergency regime," the commission observed.

The Shah Commission obtained clinching evidence of the extra-constitutional power wielded by Mr Chawla at that time. The then Lt Governor, Mr Krishan Chand, admitted that his Secretary had enormous powers when it came to throwing people in jail. He told the commission that whatever Mr Chawla said in regard to detentions was accepted. Further, <b>"Shri Krishan Chand has also said that the PM had handed over the running of Delhi to Shri Sanjay Gandhi and four-five officers who were close to Shri Gandhi used to receive direct orders from him. He has admitted that whenever some 'instructions' were given to him by Shri Navin Chawla, he took them to be emanating from Shri Sanjay Gandhi."</b>

This is an extraordinary confession by the man who was Delhi's Lt Governor during the Emergency. <b>He admitted that he received 'instructions' from his Secretary, Mr Navin Chawla!</b>

We now come to the most damning piece of evidence against Mr Chawla. Mr Batra, the Superintendent of Tihar Jail, told the commission that CBI and intelligence officials freely visited the jail and met the detenus on the orders of Mr Chawla. The commission observed that "though Shri Navin Chawla had no position in the jail hierarchy, he was exercising extra statutory control in jail matters. The Jail Superintendent told the commission that Mr Chawla had suggested the construction of some cells with asbestos roofs to 'bake' certain persons. A proposal to this effect was also processed but given up eventually due to certain technical reasons. Further, Mr Chawla had on one occasion suggested that certain troublesome detenus 'should be kept with the lunatics'."

Mr Chawla claimed that the Lt Governor had given him this task. The Lt Governor, however, denied having made Mr Chawla responsible for Tihar Jail in any manner.

Based on the oral and documentary evidence obtained by it, the commission delivered the following indictment:<b> "It is clear on the evidence that S/Shri PS Bhinder, KS Bajwa and Navin Chawla exercised enormous powers during the Emergency because they had easy access to the then prime minister's house. </b>Having acquired that power, they used it without considering whether the exercise was moral or immoral, legal or illegal. The commission is of the opinion that though the involvement of these officers may vary slightly in degree, their approach to the problems of the period relating to the citizens was authoritarian and callous. They grossly misused their position and abused their powers in cynical disregard of the welfare of citizens and in the process rendered themselves unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others. In their relish for power they completely subverted the normal channels of command and administrative procedure." At another point the commission said, <b>"tyrants sprouted at all levels overnight - tyrants whose claim to authority was largely based on their proximity to power".</b>

The Union Government informed Parliament on May 15, 1978, in its 'Memorandum of Action Taken' that it had "accepted the findings, observations and recommendations of the commission". <b>Since the Union Government 'accepted' the recommendations of the commission and told Parliament so, how can Mr Navin Chawla, who is "authoritarian and callous" and "unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play" become, of all things, an Election Commissioner?</b>

<b>Mr Chawla's appointment as EC is, therefore, a monstrous blunder.</b> The EC has the responsibility to not only conduct elections but also to protect political pluralism and deepen democracy. Therefore, an abiding commitment to democracy and the core values of our Constitution is a fundamental qualification for an Election Commissioner. Given the findings of the Shah Commission, how is one to believe that Mr Chawla will hold the scales even? <b>To elevate such a person to the office of Election Commissioner is the ultimate insult one can heap on the Constitution. The sooner this monstrous error is corrected, the better.</b>

In conclusion one must refer to yet another telling observation of the Shah Commission. It said: "A calculated effort was made to place persons in vital positions who were willing to further the interests of the centre of power in gross violation of established norms and practices." Are we now going to revisit that nightmare? Who proposed to make Mr Chawla an Election Commissioner? How committed is the promoter of this idea to democracy? Was the President, Mr APJ Abdul Kalam, informed of Mr Chawla's antecedents when the file was put before him? Mr Kalam must exert his moral authority on the Government and get it to undo the mischief. India's constitutional well-being cannot and should not be sacrificed for the sake of a partisan, undemocratic careerist.
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[Guest]

69 doctors to keep a governor fit

Eight cardiologists, three neurosurgeons, a cardiac surgeon, four orthopaedic surgeons, six ophthalmic surgeons, two gynaecologists, seven physicians, two paediatricians, plastic surgeons, gastroenterologists, cancer surgeons, dental surgeons, ENT surgeons, urologists, nephrologists,dermatologists...the list is unending. Believe it or not, this is the vast and impressive panel of doctors that has been appointed to serve <b>governor S M Krishna and his staff</b>.

[Guest]

<b>RJD MP Shahabuddin arrested in New Delhi</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Elusive RJD MP from Bihar Syed Shahabuddin, wanted in more than 30 cases of crime including the kidnapping and suspected killings of two CPI(ML) activists in his home district Siwan, was arrested from his official residence on Saturday in a dramatic manner.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<b>Union Minister Jaiprakash Yadav decides to quit</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Union Minister of State for Water Resources Jaiprakash Narain Yadav has decided to resign.

Yadav, evading arrest on charges of "illegal" release of his brother Vijay Prakash from police custody in Jamui in Bihar, will be sending his resignation shortly, official sources said on Saturday.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Two leaders from UPA government.

[Guest]

Pat from Modi proves costly

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->IAS officers of the 1972 batch figure on the list of those to be empanelled as full-fledged secretaries to the Government of India.

Surprisingly, one name missing among the 36 civil servants is that of Pramod Kumar Misra, an outstanding officer by all accounts belonging to the Gujarat cadre.

Misra, presently posted as member-secretary of the National Capital Region Board under the Union urban development ministry, is considered the most deserving among his Gujarat cadre batch mates, having been given eight consecutive outstanding entries in his annual confidential record by superiors.

His omission is widely ascribed to the mistaken belief that he was close to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, because the latter had praised his performance during his last stint with the state government.

While some of his batch mates who quietly networked with the Modi regime in Gandhinagar and the BJP-led NDA government in Delhi figure in the list drawn up by the UPA government, it is unfair on Misra, who has consciously avoided cultivating politicians of all hues throughout his career.

<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<b>Indians losing faith in Govt</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->This small survey carries a big message. About 1,000 Indians were quizzed as part of a global survey of public trust; the total respondents worldwide were 20,791. The message: public trust levels in national governments, private companies and voluntary organisations are on the decline.

And the cash-for-questions scandal has nothing to do with it.

Rather, the survey by the World Economic Forum suggests Indians still trust their government a lot.<b> More than they trust private companies (foreign or national), the United Nations or even voluntary organisations</b>. And a lot more than most of the 19 countries covered under the survey, including the USA, Germany and Great Britain.

But that trust is falling -- as in the rest of the world. In fact, the survey says public trust in the government has suffered its biggest fall in India since 2001, when the forum started tracking trust levels.

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Last year, the Indian government scored 55 points on the trust barometer. This year, the net trust rating (percentage trust minus percentage distrust) barely crossed 40.</span> [UPA govt. (Con-gress and commies are in power]

The surprising part of the survey conducted between June and August this year is that governments have the voluntary sector for company.

Non-governmental organisations -- trust leaders for the past four years -- too have been falling from grace. And how. Trust levels in NGOs came crashing down to 25 points this year (from last year's high of 62).<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

Indians loosing trust in Govt, means India is moving in the right direction. Who in their right minds would trust the Governmney. This trust has to be earned...every day.

[acharya]

It shows that Indians cannot be brainwashed with media reports and psy ops

[Guest]

When ground reality and media contradicts each other, it creates distrust.
Print media are towing govt. and other media are showing something else. It had created lot of confusing and mistrust.
Govt key players are involved in scandal with foreign govt and one of the player herself is foreigner will remind British occupation.

[Guest]

<b>Seven more MPs caught taking bribes on camera</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->

In this season of scandals, another one has been dug up by a private TV channel. The MPs exposed belong to the BJP, Congress, BSP and Samajwadi Party.

Christened ‘Operation Chakravyuh’, the sting operation was carried out by Star News in tandem with the Detective Intelligence Guild to “investigate corruption in allotting the MPs’ Local Area Development Funds (MPLADs)”. Star said the operation was under way for six months.

The MPs who have been caught accepting commission for allotting work out of the MPLAD  funds include former Goa Chief Minister Churchill Alemao (Cong) and former Union ministers Sakshi Maharaj (Rashtriya Kranti Dal) and Faggan Singh Kulaste (BJP).

The other accused are: CP Singh, Ram Swaroop Koli (both BJP), Parasnath Yadav (SP) and Isam Singh (BSP). Barring Maharaj and Isam Singh, who sit in the Rajya Sabha, the rest are members of the Lower House.
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They should also kick out criminal ministers from cabinet and Parliament.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Dec 20 2005, 07:57 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Dec 20 2005, 07:57 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Seven more MPs caught taking bribes on camera</b><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->

In this season of scandals, another one has been dug up by a private TV channel. The MPs exposed belong to the BJP, Congress, BSP and Samajwadi Party.

Christened ‘Operation Chakravyuh’, the sting operation was carried out by Star News in tandem with the Detective Intelligence Guild to “investigate corruption in allotting the MPs’ Local Area Development Funds (MPLADs)”. Star said the operation was under way for six months.

The MPs who have been caught accepting commission for allotting work out of the MPLAD  funds include former Goa Chief Minister Churchill Alemao (Cong) and former Union ministers Sakshi Maharaj (Rashtriya Kranti Dal) and Faggan Singh Kulaste (BJP).

The other accused are: CP Singh, Ram Swaroop Koli (both BJP), Parasnath Yadav (SP) and Isam Singh (BSP). Barring Maharaj and Isam Singh, who sit in the Rajya Sabha, the rest are members of the Lower House.
.............<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

They should also kick out criminal ministers from cabinet and Parliament.
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Who will be left to rule or rip off then?

The whole system stinks.

Legacy of licence raj and Nehruvian policy.

Babu aur Neta maalmaal
Desh hua kangaal.

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