Did Team Anna jump the gun this time ?

Due to the intransigence of Team Anna and some of the regional political parties / CPI / CPM on the states Lokayuktha / autonomy aspect, Lokpal bill this time fell through the Rajyasabha, even though it just scraped thru in Lok Sabha.

Even though Team Anna and opposition are gleefully pointing fingers at UPA and Congress for not passing the Lokpal Bill, after listening to the debate it appears to be a well drafted one with good intentions. When Congress has given assurances that it will consider amendments later, Team Anna and opposition should have accepted it.

The reluctance of states to implement Lokayuktha fearing action against themselves for corruption, quoting Federalist structure and crap was just tricks played by them on the people of India. Fearful that the predicament of Yeddyurappa would befall them, they have shied away from passing the lokayuktha bill.. Implementing Lokpal without Lokayuktha at the states is useless as corruption starts at the state.

Moreover as Lokpal bill is demanded by International convention, it is mandatory for the states also to fall in line. They cannot wil;fully abstain from implementing anti corruption laws in their state. here is no way implementation of this law will affect the Federal structure of the constitution, instead it will strengthen the country with corruption free and transparent governance.

Regional parties should realise that they are into politics not for money but to serve the people. If they do not accept the anti corruption mechanism in their states, the President should be asked to promulgate such a body for the states.

Country has lost a golden chance to get Lokpal bill passed, let us now wait for March 2012..

Anna and team had exerted enough pressure on the politicians and the parliament to start a debate on corruption and sensitized the people. They deserve all the praise for this..

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Five major scams and role of politicians ..

India over the past two years has had five major scams, namely the 3G scam, Cash for votes scam, CVC scam, war widows building scam and the Common wealth Games scam.

The beneficiary in four of these five scams have been politicians, the so-called respectful elected representatives of the people, who are now raising the war cry against anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare.

Isin't it high time these reckless, senseless and selfish politicians be reined in ? Anna Hazare is ready to join hands with the corrupt Congress, the communal and opportunistic BJP or the corrupt regional parties like Samajwadi, RJD, DMK etc..

Politicians have earned for themselves the dubious distinction of the pariahs or outcastes of society .. Let us give the honest among them some chance of retrieving their honour by allowing them to help legislate a strong Lokpal bill for the country with the civil society or otherwise.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16336614

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Are you SNIOP ?

Are you Susceptible to the Negative Influence of Other People (SNIOP) ? Proposed by Zig Zigler in his book, " See you at the top "

This is how people with negative thoughts raise innocent or schemy questions that can kill your enthusiasm or a good workable idea. But if you are aware of how such people can be taken head on and avoided or their craftiness overcome, you are surely on our way to success.. some of their suggestions go this way ..

"Let's refer that idea to the long-range planning committee."

"There's the right way, and then there's your way."

"That's not the way we do things around here."

"The last guy that tried that lasted a month."

"We never did it that way before."

"You must be out of your mind."

"There's not enough time."

"Your plan is too costly."

"Let's pray about it."

"Are you kidding?"

"What's the use?"

"What's Plan B?"

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Difficult to regain lost ground ..

Politicians, judges and bureaucrats of the land feel threatened that they have lost ground to the civilian groups under the broad leadership of Anna Hazare. They understand and believe that things have come to such a pass due to their own unforgivable selfish actions in the public arena.

Broadly speaking, they have lost face and credibility in front of the public.. Very difficult now to gain back lost ground ..

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Incredible 7 year old ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhcZ6b2FSsk&feature=related

incredible 7 year old singing O Holy Night ..

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my student finishes his PhD at Cornell ..

My UG student at Goa Engg college, Pranav Bhosle today successfully defended  his thesis in Mechanical Engineering by developing a walking robot at Cornell University

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLepY1AsaRk

Cornell Ranger walks non-stop 40.5 mile ultra-marathon

The person on the right with white and black T-shirt is Pranav ..

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Justice N Santosh Hegde, former Lokayuktha Karnataka in T John College ..

It was a great occasion listening to Justice Santosh Hegde speaking to students on the occasion of the inauguration of the 2 day science fiesta of T John college of pharmacy.

When a person indulges in corruption, he loses the moral right to be a human being !! - Justice Hegde.

It was Sri Ramakrishna Hegde former Chief Minister of Karnataka ( I was a great fan of his..) around 1980-84  who initiated the post of Lokayuktha in the country for the first time.

The Governor of Karnataka has even told that if the CM Sadananda Gowda recommends Justice Hegde's name for the post of Lokayuktha a second time, he will clear the file in a minute's time.. !!

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US Business schools on Indian shores ..?

Recently Harvard Business School and Wharton have put up notices and ads in magazines announcing their short-term courses being offered in Mumbai and other cities in India during 2012.

Another news reported the Dean of University of Viriginia ( http://www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba-ranking) no. 4 in 2011 global MBA rankings. ahead of Harvard Business School, was in Mumbai and talking to HR heads of Tata Motors and Mahindra exploring avenues of employment for their graduates in India.

Times are changing ..

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Arvind Eye hospital, TED speech ..

The change a single person has done to society, Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy ..

"When we grow in spiritual consciousness, we identify ourselves with all that is in the world, so there is no exploitation. It is ourselves we are helping, it is ourselves we are healing ..".

http://blog.seva.ca/2010/11/11/ted-talk-on-aravind-how-low-cost-eye-care-can-be-world-class/

It is a pity that modern society lacks this connect with the poor man, a part of the society .. This is the reason why we aspire to be super rich inspite of seeing the poor in the society. Why some among us tend to be corrupt. We lose that connect with the society.

Aravind Eye Hospital Madurai and Social entrepreneurship ..

a great great contribution to humanity by Dr Venkatapathy, a retired eye surgeon of govt of Tamil Nadu. I read somewhere that it is the only medical institute in India where medical interns from Johns Hopkins and Harvard Medical School come for one year internships..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e7v3BI0zFQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L045HMoHjS0

The gift of eye sight is indeed a great gift .. God blass soul of Dr Venkatapathy in Heaven ..

Two weeks back when I could motivate students and faculty of T John College Bangalore to do a Free eye camp with Narayana Netralaya through NSS, we had 300 eye screenings, 56 surgeries for cataract done and 150 spectacles were distributed. All done for FREE , including travel, food, stay and SURGERY for the residents of Subash Nagar , a slum area in Begur in the Bangalore city..

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FDI in retail, how it benefits the poor ..

65% of Indian population earn a living by working on the farms, food crops or cash crops. It could be their own farms or as labourers on others' farms.

The whole ruckus on FDI in retail sector relates to the food sector considered as an essential area and which has direct implication on the wholesale price index. Other segments like apparel, footwear, cosmetics and toiletries can be neglected for the time being.

15-20% of our population are the traders who buy from the primary sources and sell to the customers / big retail chains. It is here that the costs of the food grains / cash crops goes up by at least 15 - 20% of costs given the margins / costs of transportation / costs of storage etc. Every link in this supply chain takes its cut ranging from 3 - 5 % before they deliver to their end customer. Finally before the end customer buys the items off the shelf, he will end up paying for the cuts to all the players in the chain which sees the prices jacked up , even by a conservative estimate by about 30%, at the extreme it may even go upto 60%.

When big single brand and multi-brand retailers enter the market this unnecessary cost addition but resulting in no value addition to the final customer, can be distributed between fewer players starting from the retailer himself right upto the farmer.

The farmer will end up getting at least on the minimum an increase of about 20-30% prices on his produce. Consider that about 40% of the Indian population, ie about 500 million people will benefit, either through better prices for their produce or higher wages for their efforts on the farm, this is going to be a pro-farmer action set to chage the rural landscape for ever and put a lid on the urban migration and poor living standards.

Why are politicians opposing this pro farmer action of the govt ? Is it because the votes and moolah come from the trader community, on which most of our political parties are dependent to a greater extent ? and not the poor farmer ?? Nobody wants to farmer to prosper ..

Let the political parties think more openly and care for the farmer and not for the cost incurring, no-value-giving middlemen who like a parasite would like to consume the entire agri-supply chain.

When FDI comes in the agri-supply chain, which accounts for at least 50% of the $ 400 billion retail market in the country, it is going to benefit the nation in terms of setting up excellent infrastructure all along from the farmer to the retail warehouses, in terms of transportation and storage, reduce the time it takes for produce to reach the retailers shelves across the country, reduce the wastage  which otherwise is the greatest bane of the agri supply chain amounting to almost 40% of the total quantity and equally in terms of value, bringing down the end customer's spending on food items and thus reigning in inflation !

Are the politicians not ready to rein in corruption by middlemen and inflation of the common m?

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Mullaperiyar song by my neices ..

A good attempt for a social cause by twins ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5I0_lQnnh0&sns=fb

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