Back on Track

I am happy yet I am not content. We have a much stronger coalition in the centre. We have a cabinet that is best qualified ever to make changes for the better.

Why am I still concerned?

The Things I Dread…

OK We are will into election season. While some of us have already chosen, many of us are weighing the options. This election may well set the tone for the composition of future governments for a long time to come. In this scenario, I dread four things.

I am Proud to be an Indian

The past week has been depressing mainly because we don’t seem to have a good hold of the situation and there does not seem to be any concrete progress in the investigations. But today is different. The Hindu Magazine section has produced a few marvels restoring my pride and faith in the system.

We Want Transparency!

One week later, the government is still playing cat and mouse. They say that ISI is involved and we have strong evidence pointing to that. On the other hand, there is a conspiracy theory floating around that there were 25 terrorists and many got away. Now they are saying that the list of 20 demanded from Pakistan by India does not include the already pursued terrorists.

What is happening? Can we, the people of India, have some information about what is happening to us. I understand there may be case for a national security in disclosing this information. But the government needs to realize that the Pakistani media and Indian media are blowing this out of proportion and disillusioning the public. That leads to more anger and more unrest. This may possibly inflame the hindu extremists in India and other anti-social elements in Pakistan. Don’t let this anger breed. Communicate with us, the people and include us in the process of investigation.

Talk About Terrorism

As a nation, we are scar(r)ed. Our politicians don’t seem to have the required capabilities to uphold the nation’s security. One week since the attacks and we haven’t seen a single picture of the 9 killed terrorists. We have not seen a conclusive story on how the attacks unfolded. There has been no solicitation of help from the general public in solving the case. There has been no recognition of the NSG commandos who fought bravely and relentlessly against hardened and murderous terrorists.

A Lesson In (From) History

A few months ago, I picked up this book called “The Corporation That Changed The World” by Nick Robins. I just finished it. It is a very interesting read into corporate history. I have to confess here that my knowledge of history is quite poor. I used to hate the subject in high school (I wonder why!).

Disclaimer done, I liked this book for its candid analysis of East India Company and the way it plundered India. It also explains in detail the interplay between the Company, the British Crown and the several wars it was involved in. Does it sound all too familiar? After 350 years, we still haven’t changed. We now have interplay between oil companies, US Government and the several wars it is involved in or supports.

Let’s Pray for a Majority

Work took me away from blogging and India. But I am back now. So here comes my first post since Obama and the US made history. There have been some thoughts lingering in my mind about our own upcoming elections.

I know Indians believe in coalition governments. They perceive such coalitions to have built-in checks and balances to avoid any one party from hijacking public policies and investments. But do we ever realize what we give up to put this check and balance in place?

Armament for a Democracy

I am attempting here to provide links to documents and other resources for registering yourself to vote. I request friends who follow this blog to let me know about docs/links/resources I may have missed. I want this to serve as a place where a person expecting to register can find all the information he needs. I do not aim to substitute other information portals. Instead, I hope this will serve as a sort of ready reckoner.

• Voting Registration form – This is the form you need to submit to be included in the electoral roll. As soon as you are in the roll, you can vote using any photo ID for identification
• Election Commission of India – The source of it all
• When I registered myself, the toughest part was to figure out which area I am supposed to register under. If you know how to easily figure this out, please drop me a line and I will include it here.
• Jagore.com – A portal by Janaagraha for more information and myths about voting in India

You would need the following documents for registering

• Age proof (can be passport, birth certificate, X certificate, XII certificate)
• Residence proof (I think you can give lease agreement or BSNL bill or electricity bill)

Please help me keep this post updated and accurate. Send in your comments.

Mirror, Mirror

Mirror, Mirror, tell me,
Will we have the right man?
Will we have the right party?

I hope we do not have to rely on mirrors and apparitions for too long to tell us who is going to be the frontrunner in Congress and the BJP? My reasoning for this goes as follows.

But before I reason away, I would like to thank the feisty SunnySide, who has debated some opinions out of me. I thought these debates were too important to be sidelined in a comment box. Hence I am posting them here. Did I thank SunnySide?

I do hope we have a defining majority in the parliament next year. This would help the next government focus on development plans be it towards bridging the economical divide or towards achieving millennium development goals or preparing India to host Olympics in the 20’s as we all envied during the Beijing Olympics.

But this majority in the parliament seems improbable at the moment with the leadership plan of both parties being unclear. I would feel more comfortable voting for a party if I know who will be the PM once they come to power. With the third front looming large, it may force the mainstream national parties to make their choice of leaders loud and clear right now.

Let us see how this evolves over the next few months. I am very confident about our young blood – likes of Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah. I am very confident that India will see more educated and informed people at the helm as we roll on.

Two Things You MUST Know! Now!

Ok, that’s a tough title but we do have a pressing matter in hand. Have you registered to vote? Well, you should. And it is very easy. I did it myself a few months ago. It was quite an easy process.