Compulsory voting

Listening to the people on TV it is clear that this latest "astram" (arrow) from Modi's quiver has the non-BJP peoples quivering with indignation (possibly for not thinking this up themselves methinks!!).

Now coming to the proposal itself - there are quite a few countries in the world where voting is compulsary. The biggest argument AGAINST this proposal or rather the ONLY opposition is that the fundamental rights of an individual are impinged upon if they are "forced" to vote. well i consider being "forced" to pay taxes an impingment on my fundamental rights of freedom.

Now coming to why i think this is a good proposal :

1. The EC can no longer be manipulated by the powers that be wherein the all important voter list decides whether one votes or not - in spite of applying 3 times this author does not have a voter id card - ergo no vote. now under compulsory voting they will have to give me my card else they will be fined!! simple isnt it!!

2. The parties which specialise in divide and rule (caste based, minority vote bank politics etc etc) - will now have to work that bit extra to add more vote banks or work with a non-vote bank manner - now wouldn't that be nice.

3. To demolish the main argument against compulsory voting - we have the "NOTA" - DUH!- the nota can be given more teeth by - refer my earlier article on this here .

4. This will increase the learning curve in tech adoption as practical difficulties in implementing compulsory voting will need to be ironed out - for eg people in transferable jobs, people having to attend a wedding/ funeral/(fill in the excuse) in some part of the world/ country on the day of voting etc etc... all this requires a robust tech system that will allow remote voting - ERGO - we can all cast the ballot sitting at home !! (finally the people in the armed forces and NRI's can also vote - though i personaly believe these class of people shouldnt be voting as the NRI's will be benchmarking the election rhetoric with their local adopted country and in the case of the armed forces i would like them to be apolitical - it wouldnt help if people in the army start siding with the politician of the day to futhur their career in the forces)

I think the last point really scares the hell out of the babus sitting in nirvachan sadan as they would have to live without the huge budgets that they are used to, and the poor news channels - for whom the election will be a one day affair and not the 2 month jamboree it currently is. imagine a rahul kanwal and his election express and nowhere to go!!

Two Sons..Chankaya and a congress mukth bharath

Its the curious case of two sons - one Chirag Paswan who saw the benefits in going with Modi (it was he who got his father to attach the LJP onto the Modi bandwagon) and the other Aditya Tackeray who has been egging along his fathers ego by breaking up with Modi.

It is a simple theme of 2014 - go against Modi and perish. The public wants a change and they have in no uncertain terms made it clear as to who is the change they have chosen!! Ask Nitish, ask Mulayam - or simply ask the Congress. The smart money has been with Modi since December 2013 when the stock markets started betting on a Modi government and WoW, we have almost doubled from the lows of Aug 2013, when people were talking of the rupee touching 100 and the sensex sub 4000!!

No matter what the Sena may say, they are now politically irrelevant in Maharashtra politics and the best gift they can give the BJP right now is to bring down the Fadnavis government and watch the BJP get a comfortable majority on their own in the ensuing elections.

The corollory of all this is that in the event the BJP does carve out Vidarbha - they will gift Maharashtra to the Sena while they of course will rule the roost in Vidarbha.

In the grand scheme of things (Chanakya niti) this may all just be a part of the big unfolding plan for a congress mukth Bharath?

Lights, Camera, action...

Circa 1997
31st August - Princess Diana
5th September - Mother Teresa

Circa 2014
11th August - Robin Williams
16th August - Jeff Belyea

One was in the spotlight and one was the light.

In both cases the light is a bit dimmer in the world.

The uncanny pattern in the two pairs of farewell is too striking.. (5 days apart, one a public figure and the other a spiritual figure)

To my FB friend who was a shining beacon of positivity in the daily clutter of FB posts may the new sights and sounds keep your action going and the camera rolling.

https://www.facebook.com/livingatwow

Article 370 and J&K - Just asking...

If one were to see the deed of ascension by Maharaj Hari Singh (ref http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/documents/instrument_of_accession.html ) read with "the Government of India Act 1935 (repealed 1998)"  AND "indian independence act 1947" and read article 370 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_370 )  read with the constitution of J&K ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Jammu_and_Kashmir ) would someone care to explain a couple of points:

1. The deed of ascension draws its validity from two acts - the act of 1935 and 1947 cited above - the 1935 act was repealed without any reference to continuity of any agreement that may have validity on that day of repealing
2. The deed was signed with the King wanting to retain his freedom on local issues while he was more than happy to hand over the defence of the realm etc etc to the Government of India as per the deed
3. When the king died Or before that when the act that abolished monarchy in India ALSO called the constitution of India was enacted WHAT happened to the status of the personal rights in the deed of ascension of JandK in favour of the erstwhile King?
4. The architect of our constitution Mr Ambedkar was against the inclusion of Article 370 as this proposal, would be a treacherous thing against the interests of India and he, as the Law Minister of India, will never do it.
5. On the 17th of November 1956, the constituent assembly of JandK passed the constitution of JandK where clause 3 and 4 ratify and confirm the ascension and also confirm the territory of JandK- hence the demand of Pakistan (why the UN security council is even playing ball only they will now) to have a plebiscite is at best laughable.

Keeping all the above in mind my question is:
1. Whats the validity of the personal rights retained by the king in the deed of ascension when the king was no longer a king after 1950? - Dont these rights automatically cease?

note: the issues of ascension is a one time act BUT the rights of the king are a continuing right which was surreptitiously and to quote Ambedkar "treacherously" worked into the Indian constitution by Nehru for playing vote bank politics?

Now for some legal trivia on article 370:(ref indiatoday.in article)
1. According to the Constitution of India, Article 370 provides temporary provisions to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, granting it special autonomy.
2. The article says that the provisions of Article 238, which was omitted from the Constitution in 1956 when Indian states were reorganised, shall not apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
3. Dr BR Ambedkar, the principal drafter of the Indian Constitution, had refused to draft Article 370.
4. In 1949, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had directed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah to consult Ambedkar (then law minister) to prepare the draft of a suitable article to be included in the Constitution.
5. Article 370 was eventually drafted by Gopalaswami Ayyangar AND not Ambedkar
6. Ayyangar was a minister without portfolio in the first Union Cabinet of India. He was also a former Diwan to Maharajah Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir
7. Article 370 is drafted in Amendment of the Constitution section, in Part XXI, under Temporary and Transitional Provisions.
8. The original draft explained "the Government of the State means the person for the time being recognised by the President as the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers for the time being in office under the Maharaja's Proclamation dated the fifth day of March, 1948."
9. On November 15, 1952, it was changed to "the Government of the State means the person for the time being recognised by the President on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly of the State as the Sadr-i-Riyasat (now Governor) of Jammu and Kashmir, acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers of the State for the time being in office."
10. Under Article 370 the Indian Parliament cannot increase or reduce the borders of the state.

Based on the above it is clear the mischief that was played by Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah to continue the special status of JandK as a kind of mini switzerland where possibly Nehru and his ilk could accumulate their ill gotten wealth? Also remember that Nehru was a signatory to the Bretton woods agreement which has left India and the world with colonial ruling institutions (with tax free status) - namely the IMF, World Bank and the IFC. (well thats another blog by itself for another day)

Politics of hate

The indian poltical scene has been so vitiated by the divisive politics practiced by the Congress in the past 6 decades that the fine line between anger and hate no longer exists.

The current comment by the BJP election convener of UP, Amit shah that the riot victims of muzaffarnagar should take revenge at the hustings is one where the line can be drawn depending on your political affiliation. Now lets look at the said statement which has drawn the combined ire of all the political parties oppossed to the BJP
.
"This not just another election. This is the time to avenge the insult meted out to our community. This election will be a reply to those who have been ill treating our mothers and sisters,"

The above is just a response to the divisive politics where the hindu vote has been split in the lines of caste and the non-hindu vote is consolidated with the tag of "secular" and "communal" by the Congress/SP/Left etc etc.

The interesting thing is that news anchors themselves have been stating that when Muzaffarnagar goes to vote it will be the time to exact revenge against the political establishment for allowing the riots. Pray do tell me  how will the people "exact their revenge" - by voting or using the French alternative of the guillotine ?

Elections 2014 has been well designed by Modi and that is something not palatable to non-BJP parties as they realise very late in the day that they have been outsmarted by a chaiwallah!!

Law is supreme where stupidity and greed go hand in hand

The threat of a class action suit by techies of silicon valley against companies like google, apple, intel etc etc has got these companies scrambling for settlements. The issue is the "No poaching policy" (NPP) informally agreed to between these companies. The complainants are arguing that the NPP has reduced their earning capacity.

In that event then non-compete clauses keep prices high - so shouldnt consumers file a class action suit against all companies that have this in their various contracts for refund and damages?

When we are at this the very idea of patents/ copyrights is again non-competitive and hence to be sued till the cows come home!!

Whatever the reasoning it is obvious that the counsel of these tech giants is either incompetent OR is corrupt in the sense they have scared the companies sufficiently to bring them to the settlement table all in the quest of some fat fees!! If there is a real "threat" of this going to court then it doesnt talk too well of the quality of the Judges IF there is a feeling that they will even consider admitting such a case in court.

Now coming back to these "employees" - if you think you are worth more than the already bloated salaries that you are getting - go and set up your own company and get what you rightfully deserve.

The news article can be accessed here at http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/tech-firms-may-find-no-poaching-pacts-costly/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Auction - the real "Raja" of Spectrum

With the much awaited spectrum auction over and the winner announced - it is interesting to note a few points.

1. The govt. to prove the CAG and SC wrong made all its attempts in keeping this auction as least represented as possible. The number of bidders was less than 12 WHEREAS back in 2007-08 when the 2G scam happened, there were more than a 100 applicants !
2. The PE of Bharti at a price of 575/- back then 92007-08) was over a 100 whereas today it is at a PE of only 20 at a price of 300/- ERGO the CAG loss estimate has to be reduced by 80% which will give us a figure of 35200 crores. WE got 61000crores+ ie a premium of 75% on the loss figure of the CAG !!

Just imagine if the same number of bidders were there and more importantly all the BIG foreign companies which lined up in 2008 BUT missing now (etisalat, etc) were also present?

Also consider that back in 2007-08 telecom was still in its nascent stage of growth - people were willing to pay a premium to capture the market BUT today with near saturation levels it is more about RETAINING your base rather than getting more subscribers!!

If all the above is considered and properly accounted for EVEN the figure of 176000/- crores (USD 40Bn) estimated by the CAG will pale in comparision!!

So much for a Zero loss MrSibal.

FAA downgrades Indian Aviation Safety - Some facts (Nannygate continues?)

Looks like the US still smarting under Nannygate. They went after the visas of IT companies, They went after the Pharma companies - Now they have downgraded Indian Aviation's safety ranking.

Now let us look at some facts:

	India		US		remarks
Legislation	9		8		out of 10
organisation	6		10		out of 10
licensing	9		9		out of 10
operations	9		9		out of 10
air worthiness	9		10		out of 10
accident investigation	8		8		out of 10
air navigation services	6		8		out of 10
aerodromes	9		10		out of 10
percent	81.25		90
based on icao audit till	21st dec 2012		19th nov 2007		no info on audits & followups beyond this date
number of safety incidents	520		3180
fatal accidents	159		1375
accidents/incidents	0.305769231		0.432389937		strike rate
fatalities	3105		14372
population	1250000000		330000000
fatalities as % of pop'n	0.0002484		0.004355152
probabilty score	0.000305723		0.004839057
rationalise by 10000	3.057230769		48.39057239

1. There is a 16 times more probability of dying in an air accident in the US than in India

2. For every safety incident there is a 43% strike rate in the US as opposed to a 30% in India for conversion into a fatal accident (and to think that our famous flying coffins - the MIG's are also included in this database -take them out and this conversion rate will drop rather sharply)

So what is the yardstick for the 81% to India and 90% to the US?

The after-Math (Devyani - US spat) AND 150th anniversary of Vivekananda

All actions between countries are for a benefit that accrues at the end of the said action.

Let us now list out the benefits of the action taken by the US when they unceremoniously arrested an Indian Diplomat:

1. All extra privileges given by India Unilateraly to US diplomats withdrawn - Math - India 1 - US - 0
2. All US diplomats in India now made to give accounts on their spouses status of employment/ otherwise with respect to Visa - India 1 - US - 0
3. All commercial establishments in the US embassy premises under scrutiny - India 1 - US - 0
4. the Diplomat who helped the maids family removal to the US returned back to the US - India 1 - US - 0
5. US ambassador cancels holiday trip to Nepal as all extra benefits have been withdrawn - India 1 - US - 0
6. Local Indians discover they have a spine - India 120billion - US - 0

For point 6 alone one is happy as this episode has kindled an outrage resulting in self belief and faith - the kind vivekananda talked about BUT people never understood UNTIL this sad episode happened.