Will Be Back

I agree that I have been away from my blog a bit too long, some MONTHS to be precise.

If blogs could forgive and forget, I would not mind apologizing .. :P

But as they cannot, all I can do to compensate is to come back soon.

MTC

CWG Fiasco

As expected, CWG are over and so is the hue and cry over the scam. During the CWG, Kalmadi was no less than a national villain for all of us. Everywhere and on every channel, there was just him and his deeds. But, down the line, we Indians were somewhere sure that all this is till the Games are on and after that this would be dead. We are right again !!!! Forget the decision or outcome of the enquiry, we dont even get to hear about the CWG now.

Like salmon fish, in this country, scams are there for two reasons: Fill the pockets of our politicians and to die their own death.

The way entire episode was dealt with and the way it has died out, there is less doubt that the people on the top posts were involved.

No wonder, we may see India hosting Olympics also !!!!!!

Homecoming

Taking a leave after about a year. Fifteen days straight.

Enjoying like hell.

MTC

Rarest Of The Rare

Verdict in Priyadarshini Mattoo's case is out. Her killer gets a LIFE TERM and not a death sentence. I am really bothered by the Rarest of the Rare doctrine. Earlier the principle was that in most of the murder cases, the punishment was Death Sentence and in rarest of the rare cases was it a Life Term.

In Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab, the doctrine of the rarest of the rare was brought into existence which provided that now the bench mark would be a Life Term and only in rarest of the rare cases would there be a Death Sentence and because of this mostly all the convicts get away with a Life Term which gets reduced to 14 years or 20 years at times and before even having the sentence executed, their mercy petitions keep on lying on the President's desk for years at times. I am not sympathizing with the convicts by saying this.

I dont think that bringing in the Rarest of the Rare doctrine has served any purpose whatsoever. Crime rate, if not gone up, has not come down also.

Laws of a country are made to serve the practical purpose. They are not ornamental. The death sentence, if not anything else, at least has a fear which life term does not.

This was just a synopsis. I will be coming with more on this point.

MTC

To Be Or Not To Be

So, welcome another controversy in the CWG mess .. The Prince of Wales is coming down to open the Games instead of the Queen and the Indian Govt., at the 11th hour, is crazy and "sentimental" about the national pride for it wants the President of India to open the Games rather than the Prince.

Fair enough in the normal parlance, alright, but keeping in mind the CWG, I feel it is a move to divert the attention of the body politic from the mess the Government has made of the Games in general.

They are crying because in the present scenario, the Prince would open the Games and the President would stand beside him. There are a few things which are to be kept in mind in order to understand the whole thing. First of all, Indian Government knew this in advance. They didn't do a thing about that and are raising this issue now when there is not even a week left to officially open the Games. It would lead to nothing but would add more muck to already existing - Nothing but a diplomatic mess.

Secondly, I agree that it would be nice that the President opens the Games but we also have to understand the structure of the Commonwealth as an organization. Indian Government, and also the Indian people, are saying that letting the Prince open the Games is an indication of the colonial past, we are now about half a century ahead of the past and are well democratic and what not. The answer to this is that you cannot blow hot and cold in the same breath. The very existence of the Commonwealth is a relic of the colonial rule as all the members are former colonies and the Head of the Commonwealth is, by default, the Monarch of Great Britain or any appointed member of the Royal family -- Duke of Edinburgh was the Head of Commonwealth at a point of time and may be even now, I am not sure. By being a member of the Commonwealth, we are laden by ourselves with the memories of our past. If we are so particular about our independent existence and our sovereignty, it is better that we distance ourselves from the Commonwealth and cease to be a member. The day we do so, we are entitled to claim the authority of our President as of right. But till we are the members of Commonwealth, its better we stick to its protocol.

Thirdly, it is being said that if the Queen were coming, it would have been a different thing but now, as the Prince is coming, it is better we let our President do the needful and we should be strong enough to let our thoughts out. We should understand the capacity in which the Prince is coming and would be opening the CWG. He is coming as the REPRESENTATIVE OF THE QUEEN and would be reading the QUEEN'S MESSAGE !!! He is NOT opening the Games as the Prince of Wales, for God's Sake !!!! Technically, the representative has the similar status and the authority as the original incumbent. Its better that we understand the finer nuances rather than getting into small trifles.

Lastly, I was listening in a TV talk that if it were for the Queen to do the honors, WHY DID SHE NOT COME ?!? Did she have anything more important than to open the CWG ? Well, it is again a minor one as it is the tradition of the Royal families that every year, the events to come up are designated to various member of the royal household depending upon their seniority (The Prince of Wales is the senior most after the Monarch and his / her spouse, anyway) as the Monarch cannot attend each and every one of them. We should remember that Princess Elizabeth (Now Queen Elizabeth II) represented her father a number of times as his representative. And if, at all, we are concerned as to why the Queen did not come, it can be best answered by our Commonwealth Committee and their evident management of the CWG !!!

If our public understood the structure and nuances of the Organization, I am sure these minor questions would not have arisen at the verge of the opening of the CWG. They may think of me as devoid of national pride, but that is not the case. Along with my national pride, I would prefer and would request my fellow countrymen to give other its due share as well.

So, before being carried away, it is better to understand the structures rather than crying foul for no reason or, at least, when we have bigger reasons in front of us.

Animals And Humans

Today my cousin posted a video of dogs. No doubt, they were adorable as usual. But, when I reached the end of that video, it gave rise to a question in my mind. This video was promoting the adoption of an animal from a local pet shelter and the question in my mind was WHETHER WE HUMANS DESERVE THE TRUE LOVE OF THESE POOR BEINGS ?!?

They love us without wishing anything in return and we just dump them out because, one fine morning, WE MAY NOT WANT THEM OR THEY MAY BE PROVING TO BE A LIABILITY !!!!

Such buggers need to think that this animal is loving you truly without even knowing who you are. Even your own son may despise you once you grow old but this animal would be there with you even when you are on your funeral pyre. I am not talking about dogs but every animal for that reason.

And if not for any other reason, to be curt, RESPECT them just because animals are far more superior than humans. Just walking on two feet does not make us better. Even a monkey can walk on two feet but when it comes to solidarity between their group, even they are better than us. When it comes to labour, even a donkey can leave us miles behind. We cannot sense the love of dear ones and animals can sense the earthquakes coming and they migrate. Every individual animal has a quality which we humans would continue to say -- WE DON'T HAVE !!!

They might say that humans are better because we have got DEVELOPED MIND !!!! Considering the condition which we have made of our earth and nature, it is an answer in itself, I need not comment on that !!

MTC

MPs' Raise In Salary

So in the last few days we have seen a rare sight of our parliamentarians getting together unanimously for a particular cause, does not matter if it were only for their RISE IN SALARY AND EMOLUMENTS !!! C'mon countrymen, you are not going to see this sight for any other cause whatsoever so hail the occasion rather than cribbing over it.

Country is bound to face the humiliation at the international level because of the Commonwealth mess, in Leh-Ladakh the situations are bad, armed forces men are returning their medals because of your policies, Mayawati refuses to implement Right to Education Act because SHE HAS NO MONEY, she also refuses to compensate the victims of stampede in Pratapgarh because of money issues, Bhopal gas victims get only few thousands in compensation...a small list of issues of lesser importance, I suppose. Despite all this, we never saw even a fruitful debate on any of these issues, much less a full house. There was a proposal years back to make death sentence the punishment for the crime of rape. I didn't hear of that proposal seeing the light of day.

But the moment the proposal is passed for raising the salaries of the MPs..VOILA !!! It is passed the same day, will be implemented in the same session and also with retrospective effect !!!

I know that once a person is a politician, he/she is completely selfish, but he/she can be shameless and insensitive to such an extent that I came to know only now. They know that the load on the tax payer for this act of theirs would be upwards of Rs 100 Crore per annum. This is in the wake of rising inflation and constant increase in the number of people living below the poverty line.

Had this Rs 100 Crore (for one year) been utilized for any of the aforesaid causes, the people would have happily accepted your raise probably in the next session. MPs give reference of the service to the people. They know that the public is disgusted by this act of theirs. But to justify their cause, they come up with all the silly reasons - Naveen Jindal cites the expenses and the staff the MP has to maintain. He talks about a research person which an MP has to maintain. Has anyone ever heard of any research conducted by Mr. Jindal ?? Ravi Shankar Prasad cites, among other expenses, the marriages the MP has to attend during the marriage season and the money he has to give there. Don't you think MPs that you are getting a bit overboard in order to justify this disgusting act of yours?

Rather than bestowing this on yourself, it would be better if you deserve this by your deeds but neither have you done this in the past 60 years nor would you ever. You are right when you say that there are still some MPs who are very poor and who don't live the life of luxury cited by the people. Sohail Seth, in reply to this, says that they were not asked to become the MPs. They knew what they were about to get. But I do not agree with this view. If we despise the poor MPs like this, in future, we have no right to claim for an honest MP because an honest person can never be rich !!!! I would rather say that those poor MPs, along with the people of the country, are the victims of the Jungle Raj of our Regular MPs.

Guys, public is watching !!! Your biggest mistake is that you think the public is a sheep which can be made to move in any direction. But you are wrong. Be afraid of the future.

MTC