Friday, December 31, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 09, 2010
THE SORROW OF BANARAS
The Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the attacks. For the uninitiated Indian Mujahideen is a amalgamation of SIMI and LeT combined to give a local colour to the Anti Indian movement of certain foreign hands. Over the years IM has emerged as the one of the most lethal Anti Indian forces operating within our country. IM has claimed responsibility for this devastating attack. The attack was also highly calibrated to cause maximum damage with the blast taking place at the dusk Aarti ritual in the banks of the Ganges which draws a lot of visitors. It is not the first time Banaras is attacked. But the attack also shows the internal dynamics of our great country that has not seen any communal out breaks. It is the truth common man is fed up of this blood letting.
THE CHALLENGES FOR OUR SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT
The repeated attacks on India brings out a troubling question weather our security establishment is equipped to handle such exigences. For one, our establishments has not been successful in containing repeated bomb attacks on our country. The moot question is weather we have learned from our previous experiences and taken corrective action?
After 2 years of the Mumbai attacks, we are still to equip our main forces, 51 Special Action Group, National Security Guards with proper equipments. A report recently in an Indian Magazine exposed serious lapses in procurement of necessary gear for our main strike forces for Anti Terrorists Attacks. It is time we woke up from our slumber and take necessary readdresses to seriously correct the anomalies that has plagued our establishment. We ought to learn a ting or two from the United States which has succeeded in preventing an repetitive attacks on it's soil. Intelligence gathering ought to be strengthened with more assets deployed in the field and it is time to seriously rethink our strategy to contain and liquidate any terrorist threats to our country. It is time to take necessary redressal actions lest the future will never forgive us for our slumber.
OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS TO THE LITTLE ONE WHO HAS LOST HER LIFE IN THE BOMB ATTACK AT BANARAS.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
MALAPPURAM LIQUOR TRAGEDY- KERALA ON A TICKING TIME BOMB
Kerala can claim effectively claim to be the liquor capital of India. Malayalee's obsession with liquor is proven by the quantitative increase the amount of liquor that is sold through legal out lets that has around 400% increase every year. But that figure is just the tip of the ice berg. It is estimated that what is sold through legal out lets contributes just just a fraction of liquor consumption in Kerala. The major chunk are those country made liquor like toddy which is cheap and easily available in country side. Such type of liquor is the favorite of the labourers particularly from other states.
INDIAN MADE FOREIGN LIQUOR (IMFL)
Indian Made Foreign Liquor are those foreign liquor like whiskey and rum that is made and marketed by Indian companies. They are of high quality subjected to strict and stringent quality inspection.In Kerala, they are sold through Kerala State Bivarages Corporation outlets.
COUNTRY LIQUOR
Country liquor are quite a favorite especially with labour class.In Kerala, the most popular is the Toddy or called Kallu. It is an brew extraction from either coconut or palm which is subjected to some process before it is fermented and make it alcoholic. It is such liquor that is used by the labour and lower class rampantly. Now there are strict guidelines to brew toddy. But in most cases, such rules are flaunted. The worst form of contamination is the addition of methane spirit. Methane spirit though cheap is not edible and will cause illness including blinding a person or death.
Kerala has witnessed a um teem liquor tragedies. But it seems we have not learned our lesson. Each time there is a tragedy, the media goes to over hype. There are investigation and recommendations. Then after some days all is forgotten until the next tragedy strikes us. Why is that we do not learn from our previous mistakes and avoid such tragedy from happening? The most to blame is the serious government apathy. Even after a disaster the Government takes only non serious steps mainly to eye wash the public.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
We need to make a serious assessment as to what is wrong with the system? Corrective steps need to be taken. There should be serious and concerted effort to cap the smuggling of methane alcohol from other states. People need to be educated about the implications of taking spurious alcohol. It is always better to spread awareness as to the dangers of alcoholism and educate people on ways to give up drinking. But that as some say is rather an Utopian idea as studies has shown that even the best awareness program has failed to pursue the people to give up alcohol. So the best that can be done is to educate people on the evils of drinking spurious alcohol. Effective steps need to be taken to check the quality of liquor that is being sold. Stringent laws need also to be made to make the guilty punishable and the establishment more accountable. Then only we will be able to avert another catastrophy like the one that has happened in Kerala so many times that is unfolding in Malappuram now. Let us pray for all that are effected.
Monday, September 06, 2010
PAKISTANI CRICKET SCANDAL- DECLINE OF A GAMING SUPER POWER
Cricket is again in the news for all the wrong reason. Another corruption scandal has rocked the gentle man's game. After the IPL fiasco, now it is the Pakistani cricket team that is in the muddle.
I still vividly remember the first time live cricket was broadcast in India. That was the Benson and Hedges Cup. It was the time when TV was just becoming popular in India. Before those times, I used to observe the ardent followers of the game get hooked into the radio. It had an old world charm to it as listening from the radio would let your imagination run wild and you would picturise the game in your mind. Then the TV got introduced. I still remember getting up at $ Am in the morning to watch the game live from Australia. I like most from my generation was a avid fan of the game religiously following the game and idolizing the greats of the game like Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. Then as time went by, new sports channels like Prime Sports and ESPN made their appearance. Cricket became over exposed and the money flow to the game shot up dramatically. Cricket became the milking cow with big businesses queuing with lots of money in way of sponsorships. With the advent of modern day cricket, players started having attitudes and the game lost it's charm. There was a gradual decay with several match fixing scandals rocking the game.
PAKISTANI CRICKET TEAM
In my youth, the Pakistani Cricket Team had perhaps one of the best players in the world, the likes of Imran Khan ruled the roost. They were a hard team to play by, tough to say the least. They had universal fan following for this mighty team.But gradually several scandals and allegations including ball tampering started coming out against the team. It is the hall mark of gradual decay in tone with the decay in the game. Now with the latest scandal, the decay is absolute complete. It is humiliating to hear that the players involve themselves in match fixing. What is happening to the Pakistani cricket?
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
What can be done to correct the anomaly? First and for most there should be an introspection within the Pakistani Cricket Establishment. Nobody can help Pakistani team but themselves. There should be a shake up and new and stringent guidelines ought to be put in place.There should be better checks in place to closely monitor any foul play. If any player is found guilty, he ought to be barred from cricket setting an example for others. Pakistan is living in a state of self denial. If they continue this downward spiral, a time will come when this will eat like a termite into the very fabric of the society. This is a wake up call for Pakistan. Let them correct themselves before it becomes too late.
Friday, August 20, 2010
HAPPY ONAM
WISHING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A HAPPY AND A PROSPEROUS ONAM. THE CELEBRATION OF PROSPERITY AND PLENTY, MAY YOU BE BLESSED WITH ALL THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE AND MAY HAPPINESS FLOW AND FILL YOUR HOME AND YOUR HEARTS AND THE HEARS OF YOUR FRIENDS AND LOVED ONES. HAPPY ONAM
MANOJ
MANOJ
Monday, July 05, 2010
HARTAL, BANDH- WHO IS THE LOSER AND WHO GAINS????????????????
Dear friends,
I am back again after a long time.. A lot of things had happened since my last posting. The naxal attacks has increased in ruthlessness and naxals has become the greatest security threat to India. The left has been beaten out of Bengal and they are on the verge of the same fate in Kerala.
But what concerns me most and has prompted me to write this blog is the frequency of hartals and bandhs that is taking place in India especially in Kerala.
Hartal is a form of civil disobedience movement. The word has it's origin in Gujarathi which was imbibed by the great Mahatma as an effective tool of civil and mass disobedience movement and an effective protest.
BANDHS (REFER WIKIPEDIA)
Bandhs in hindi means closed. It is perhaps the most feared form of protest where in a political party call for protest and it is expected that the public will comply, in most cases forcibly complied.
The most affected are the states of West Bengal and Kerala which is ruled by the left parties which has seen the maximum number of hartals and bandhs. In Kerala, the Honorable High Court had banned bandhs. The political parties being ingenious re branded bandhs as hartals and this form continues unabated.
In a bandh or hartal, the most affected is the common man, the very person whom these parties claim to represent and whose interest they claim to protect. For eg, take Vijayan. He is engaged in the sale of vegetables by taking the same in push carts from house to house in a town in Kerala. He is the only bread winner for a family of which includes his aged mother, wife and three children. Now he gets his lively hood and income from the day to day sale. If he does not go to work for a day, his entire family goes hungry. Or Palani, an immigrant worker who is engaged in manual laborer engaged in daily wages. These countless unrecognized faces are the most affected by these forms of protests.
The parties get steady form of hands for their jobs from youths who come from under privileged families. For them these parties becomes their support group and they are brain washed early on in impressionable age. They are the main force through the diktat of political parties are enforced
After freedom, we have come a long way. During hartal or a bandh, the main form of protest is to attack a government institution or a government property. What we ought to realize is that these are public properties and if one is destroyed, we the common man are the losers.
It is time we changed our outlook towards these protest methods. What ought to be recognized is that people close shops and establishments not because they concur with these parties but because they fear for the reprisals. An effective method to counter such hooliganism ought to be devised after effective consultation with all the forces involved and a consensus arrived at. it is time there was a change and let this be the time for a new beginning. Otherwise time will never forgive us for our acts.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
IPL-INDIAN CRICKET GATE
Indian Premier League, Indian Cricket's cash cow. Power play, manipulation by the powers to be, drugs, romance, sex.The plot has all the trappings of a block buster movie. But this is real life and spun around the most popular game of all time in India, Cricket.
I still distinctly remember the 80's when cricket took it's root in Indian psyche. It was with the advent of TV. The first televised event was the Benson & Hedges World Cup . I still distinctively remember getting up early in the morning just to watch the one day series. That was the beginning of the evolution of cricket to be the unofficial national game with religious following through out India. When television became popular, the advertisements started increasing and brands from Potato chip makers to Detergent makers flocked to get a pie of this Jamboree/ Extravaganza that we call cricket. 80's was also the hay day on Indian cricket with such icons like Gavaskar and Kapil Dev making their presence felt.
By the 90's, cricket became a true cash cow spinning out Millions of Dollar$. The players became one of the most paid professionals in India. But such evolution came at the cost of other sports which diminished in popularity and were relegated to secondary position, seen only by dedicated fans with out much media hype or following. But controversy was to follow including charges of match fixing which brought bad light to this iconic game.
Then was the advent of the IPL, the league that made BCCI the reachest cricketing body in the world with a unique pattern of 20 limited over matches. which assured fast paced matches. The franchisee was divided into 8 teams, each owned by either powerful corporates or a group of investors. The ownership came at a cost with bidding going up to millions of dollars, taking the value of the game to whole new level unheard off in Indian sporting history. Celebrates from film stars to business tycoons wanted a slice of the glamor and bought out one team or the other as it was the most happening thing to do. But controversy had dogged the IPL from day-1 with confrontation with government in more than one occasion. The man Lalit Modi became the face of India cricket. But nobody wanted to upset the cart. Defying even the a direct plea by the home minister, Modi took IPL to South Africa.
Now come 2010, the palace built on the house of cards started crumbling. Controversy erupted when Modi decided to take on Sasi Tharoor who had just bought the new Cochin team on issue of ownership. But little did Modi realize that he was biting off more than he can chew. With this erupted a volcano which brought the skeletons out of the closet, things were said in public that were never meant to be, dirty linen washed in public. Now it has reached a stage where the existence of IPL is in doubt.
THINGS TO DO TO MAKE THE SHOW CLEAN
It is time to set the house in order. The government ought to make a through investigation through it's agencies and bring out the truth desisting from being buckled under the influence of interested parties. The IPL and all those involved are bound to answer to questions as to what happened to the millions of dollars collected through the IPL. If they have done anything wrong, then they ought to be made answerable in the eyes of law. IPL ought to be rejuvenated under a new committee with deeply committed and involved cricketers to save the league. Some sanity ought to be brought to the IPL. Ownership pattern and holding need to be made public. Owners need to be made aware that the teams that they hold are not their private property. Money laundering and gaming including betting need to be curbed with effective policing and checks. The government also need to promote other games and sufficient funds and resources. It is time to bring out some sanity and order to the game of cricket and save the game from natural death where it seems to be headed.
REMEMBER CRICKET MIGHT BE A GAME. BUT IT IS NOT BEYOND OR ABOVE LAW AS SOME OFFICIALS THINK THEMSELVES TO BE.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Featured Post
-
Boeing P8I of The Indian Navy ( Source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- Indian Navy) Source- The Diplomat Author- Ankit Panda On ... -
Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- NASA Source- Eurasia Review Author- David C. DeFrieze Space is a contested, congest...
