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Showing posts from March, 2006

The right thing to do ...

"I've resigned because it's the right thing to do. Aur main Rae Bareli se election zaroor, zaroor ladoongi." No one has made as much a mockery of the Indian political system as Sonia Gandhi. Sonia has demonstrated to one and all how powerless and utterly ridiculous the Indian Democratic System can be made, provided you punch the right buttons. I salute the lady for her achievement ! While leftists and rightists both tried their best to argue to the public about the lacunae in the political system, Sonia has demonstrated the same by example; also in turn demonstrating the impotency of facts and arguments ( tark-aur-vimarsh ) in the current set up. The current case is ridiculous in more than one way. Sonia Gandhi had held many offices of profit even before she became an MP, primarily due to the distinction of being the Desh ki Bahuraani . Obviously so, otherwise how could the widow of an ex-PM survive while affording the pomp of the Gandhi family. But anyway, I digress....

MultiPowerPlex

"Refusing to hobnob with the bands of merrymakers, we lock ourselves at home, catch up on the latest blockbuster on the DVD and hope to goodness we are not disturbed. " - BRIEF CASE: Holi Nostalgia (TOI 16-03-2006) Well! That's what I too did on this Holi - finally found courage to sneak out of home in the evening to watch Taxi No 9211. Nice movie; a fresh theme and noticeable performances. I finally confess that I had misjudged John Abraham - he's not just-another-model-trying-to-become-a-hero; he's pretty good at acting too ........ Change of thought ...... Two movies back to back - Bluffmaster and Taxi No 9 2 11 have showcased Mumbai City. In fact the titles at the end of Taxi No 9211 start with the proclaimation - 'Shot Entirely In the City of Mumbai' . To that effect Indiafm's review about Taxi No 9211 was exact - and for those who do not know, the bulk of the movie is actually shot in the suburban belt of the city (to be exact its the Powai-A...

1NDIA - Part II (concluded)

Countries like India, which were not prosperous enough for development to be funded in each corner of the country, felt the pinch of the neo-capitalist economy. In prosperous nations, in spite of centralization, economic prosperity was widespread. But here, lack of resources coupled with corruption, slowed down the developmental rush of the early independence years by 1970s; the 1980s was marked by confusion in economic policies. Come the 1990s; with communism fallen, decentralization and liberalization on, a new wave of enthusiasm crept in the economy. But this all is probably happening too little and too late. The argument in favour of high-taxation for the rich is that this money would be utilized for the uplift of the poor. What has been observed on the ground however, is that it is the middle class (and not the rich) which feels the pinch of taxation, while the poor do not seem to be benefited at all. The reasons behind this phenomenon would be the topic for another write-up and I...

1NDIA - Part I of II

1NDIA , One Nation, One Billion People, One Dream, One Voice One India The OneIndia (by Reliance and now BSNL, MTNL ... and ... Airtel) campaign is another step towards equalizing (or rationalizing) the mobile tariff schemes. Another step in the direction of universalizing telecom availability! Are these simply marketing promotions or indicators towards the new ways of economic thinking that are entering our policy making corridors? By the early 1900s, the theory of free markets had firmly established itself. The rise of the United States, as a formidable economic power, ahead of Great Britain was a proof to its success. However, towards the end of the economic crisis, in the early 1920s when industrialization was in full swing in Europe and in its infancy in countries like India, communism also rose with its own philosophy of state controlled ‘factors of production’. Meanwhile the economic crisis of 1929 loomed large over the capitalist world; as a result even capitalist governments s...