Tuesday, January 12, 2010

All the Singh's Men



The Manmohan Singh Government had promised to achieve a lot in 100 days after coming back after already having been there during the previous five years.

It is over 200 days now and by way of the so-called ‘all-inclusive growth’ that they claim to propound, the main achievement which people see is the ‘all-inclusive’ uncontrolled inflation that spares no one and is especially hurting the poor and the middle class who continue to be at the receiving end.

Leaving aside a broader analysis of his Government’s working, it is worthwhile to list some (but not all) of the useless, the non-performers and the laggards in his Ministry. Even more important it is to list some of the Ministers whose working is not aboveboard, to put it extremely mildly.

Crown of Thorns


Starting with Manmohan Singh, he has to his credit mainly his honesty of purpose and dedication. Other than that, he has left no one in doubt that he does not have the will or the inclination to act on many issues relating to Government which he is supposed to head, without the say-so of his Party Boss. It is perhaps, this determination not to upset the apple cart driven by his Boss that keeps him from taking action against erring Ministers in the Cabinet.

Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar - useless and incompetent

At the top of the list of Ministers whose continuance is doing immense harm to the country is obviously, Sharad Pawar. His indifference and his callous approach to matters under him are too widely recognized. Amidst continuous and unrestrained rise in prices of food products, he has been inventing any number of excuses ever since his first term where he started by blaming fuel prices, rise in international prices (even if the country is self-sufficient) and a host of other excuses unrelated to his own incompetence. While repeating ad nauseum that the Government is very serious and doing everything possible (cleverly saying Government not just himself, to put the blame on the entire Government), he has very little to show for what actually he has done himself. Of course, during his term, there has been a wheat scam, a sugar scam, a rice scam and perhaps, some as-yet-not-known scams. But scams and motivated decisions have always been known to be there wherever he is involved. Knowing his past and present, there may be very few in the country, who will honestly vouch for his integrity. If he is still surviving in the Ministry, it is only because of his manipulative and arm-twisting capability vis-a-vis Singh's Party Boss.

Apart from the present dismal situation of food availability, Pawar has hardly done anything worthwhile to ensure the food security of the people for the future. In fact, due to the total lack of any purposeful actions during his term, the country is headed for a serious scarcity situation in the years to come. That is the legacy this man is going to leave for the people. He may well be voted the worst Agriculture Minister the country has had so far.

After having run out of believable explanations and excuses, he has repeated without a modicum of sense of responsibility, for the second time in as many months that only an astrologer can predict when the prices would come down. What the aam admi needs now is an astrologer not to predict when the prices would come down, but for how long would the country suffer him as a Minister.

He needs to be removed from the Ministry, whether ceremoniously or unceremoniously, but without delay. The aam admi has been waiting to say Good Riddance to him.

Praful Patel

Praful Patel

As Minister for Civil Aviation in the previous Government, he has successfully mismanaged the national carrier Air India/Indian Airlines under the tutelage of his party chief Pawar. That an airline with a globally known Brand was brought on the brink in such a short period speaks volumes for this Minister’s capabilities. And yet, he has kept on saying that Air India was always free to take decisions and at the same time blaming global recession for its woes. Those in the airlines, including the employees’ Unions, know only too well about the interference in their affairs which not only accelerated the financial losses but also the loss of market share to other airlines with whom the Minister and his Boss are known to have cozy relations. ( see also here)

Apart from the airlines debacle, favors were also granted to the GMR/GVK led Consortia running Delhi and Mumbai airports, by allowing them to recover from hapless passengers airport development fees after the contract was won by them based on the original tender conditions. An effort is also being made to favor GVK led Joint Venture for Mumbai Airport by allowing them to sell 200 acres of land, ostensibly taken for airport development earlier, to give them a windfall of over Rs, 10,000 crores. Of course, these two incidents have caught the people’s attention as they are now in public domain. Skeletons that may still be rattling underneath the Civil Aviation carpet will be known only when they spring out in future.

S M Krishna

S M Krishna

After coming out from gubernatorial hibernation, he has been favored with the External Affairs portfolio. International Relations is a sensitive issue requiring a Minister to have considerable vision and an alert mind. S M Krishna, a Fulbright scholar is performing only as half-bright and is constantly at sea and at loss of words to forcefully convey anything sensible on foreign policy. Foreign Policy has always been a weak point with India and giving such an important Ministry to a person whose mind is no longer alert and where he is totally out of depth can only further weaken India’s stature in the world. It is hardly possible to gain in stature by offering good hospitality to foreign dignitaries as is being done by Krishna.

Murli Deora

Deora

As Petroleum Minister, he has been seen to be consistently supporting and favoring a particular business group with whom he is known to have close relations. He is also the Minister who in November 2008 bypassed the Prime Minister by writing directly to the party boss about pricing of petroleum products, a subject which was under the discussion within the Government possibly also violating his Oath of Office. So much for his loyalty to his Prime Minister, who unfortunately is not able to act despite such incidents and despite the Minister having made the Government go through awkward situations in a legal dispute on gas pricing.

Mamata Banerjee

Mamata

The absentee Railway Minister who promised a White Paper on Railways during Laloo’s time, did publish the White Paper along with a Vision Document. But everyone knows that her heart and mind are set on the West Bengal Chief Minister’s seat. For all practical purposes, she is just warming the Railway Minister’s chair till the elections. Not much can be expected when most of her time is spent in her home state.

A. Raja

Raja

He is a liability thrust upon the people by DMK, the coalition partner of the present Government. His suspect role in the 2G Spectrum scam that led to a huge loss estimated to be Rs. 22,000 crores to the public exchequer – the tax payer is by now known to everyone, including the Prime Minister who is intent on keeping such bad apples in the apple cart. Raja like many other Ministers in similar situations, is defending himself saying he only followed procedures and also consulted the Prime Minister, forgetting that as Minister, he is responsible to ensure that the public exchequer gets what it should and he is there not just to follow procedures.

CP Joshi

Joshi

He is a laggard whose only interest, as seen during the Lok Sabha debates was to question the opposition parties for what they did not do, rather than answering the questions put to him. He could not clarify exactly what, if anything, he was doing himself as Minister. His highly immature performance during the Lok Sabha debates does not inspire any confidence at all in his ability to do justice to his job.

Azhagiri alias Alagiri

Azhagiri

He is another liability on the people from DMK. It is not known how he can perform any of his responsibilities without communicating with the Babus and Cabinet colleagues except by sign language when he does not understand any language other than his own mother tongue. Sadly, Singh is unable to even ask him to quit because Singh does not speak in Tamil.

Sushil Kumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh

Shinde
Vilasrao


Two of the lacklustre Ministers from Maharashtra have practically nothing to show for what they have done. While Vilasrao obviously does not have to do much at the Centre where he can no longer oblige the builders and developers, Shinde is in charge of the critical power ministry. They have been carrying on with the same tardiness which is their characteristic.

Some others
Then there are the goofer-gaffers, flipper-floppers and twatter-twitters. Sincere though they may be, they are prone to land the Government in embarrassing situations from time to time.

Azad
Sibal
Jairam
Tharoor

While the above is a listing of only the Ministers, mention must be made of two others who are in similar high positions but the people are unclear about their usefulness.


Montek Singh
Narayanan

Montek Singh’s achievement as Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission is hard to evaluate as he has been largely seen commenting only on matters on which the Ministers concerned are required to speak. Narayanan’s actual contribution as the National Security Advisor also remains obscure.

The above list is naturally not exhaustive and there may be other Ministers well qualified to take the place in the backhanded Honor Roll. Readers are free to make their nominations in the Comments section.





* For a plot synopsis of the well-known movie "All the King's Men", see here.


43 Comments:

At January 12, 2010, Blogger Unknown said...

I agree with u.. It is because they are not a long term visionry...

 
At January 12, 2010, Blogger vasrao@gmail.com said...

Yes, you are right on many points but how come you forgot to mention P Chidambaram,ex- finance minister & presently our Home minister.Is he on any job ? If yes,then how come we have so many security related problems ? After messing up the finance ministry,he is heading home.

Tharoor is a frustrated chap having to work under S. M. Krishna.Kapil Sibal is good- but maybe he is too open about his ideas.

On second thoughts,only PM is good but then one is not a team .So we have to suffer all of them.

 
At January 12, 2010, Blogger Rajas Content Review said...

completely agree with you. I think for congress government this time there is too much talk and less action. However i think two guys Kapil Sibbal & Jayaram Ramesh r trying to do things....most others are cmpletely hopeless....i think smhw Mr. Singh & Mrs. Gandhi made a great intent statement which helped them win elections bt due to political compulsions they made a team which is very bad...having said that i guess this is the situation wth all parties....countries interest is the last priority here in India...I really wonder which way our country is going with more and more power hungry money hungry ministers sticking to the chair and sucking money and doing things for personal interest....be it mr. pawar or mr. patel....unfortunately we the people seem helpless as there is hardly any impactful public forum in this country to protest or make our views heard...we really need to think hw do we make a difference as public....

 
At January 12, 2010, Blogger neelesh sinha said...

I think whatever you have written about this government is true, but what can we do??? This is what we have to think on, because everyone knows most of the ministers are incompetent… but they are holding the chairs. There are so many examples like Copenhagen Summit was the latest one, best part of this summit was no one knows why we are going there except for that that it is on Global warming and all countries have to cut down the emission level that’s all.
The Indian representation at the Summit was only 34 delegates out of which 4 were the kids(who are there to sing a poem) and another 4 were the Ministers(who defiantly don’t have the knowledge of global warming) & 1 was our PM, where Bangladesh represented with over 350 delegates and Nepal with over 400 delegates. They have not participated in any discussion and have just agreed on Western countries concern without thinking about our own interest. I really wonder where we are heading towards. Fingers are crossed may be we have a better tomorrow with this bunch of ministers.

 
At January 12, 2010, Blogger Ajay Angre said...

You are correct in your analysis of this government headed by Manmohan Sing. Our Prime Minister.

I see it this way, it is off course the failure of the team leader that is the PM, but the worst is this, our PM is a non performing asset and sitting there holding the top position without accountability.

It is not as simple as it looks. It is simply political game being played by all of them with aam admi.and this nation.Prime Minister is acting merely as a puppet because, everyone is there only in this game to hold position of power for selfish gains.

Our PM may be very nice as a person, but we don't need a nice person to RUN this nation. We need a leader with vision to take this country forward and make good for its people, especially for the common people. And build our future like China is doing.

The failures of his governance, his cabinet ministers, their incompetence is utterly unpardonable and criminal. And let me tell you, it may look as if, it is their incompetence. It is NOT. It is their political motives that are at work for their political and personal selfish gains.

Shard Pawar is playing his games. Prafull Patel, his right hand man, is playing his political role as given by his boss. Our PM is playing his role as per the directions his boss. All of them are only following one thing in this game. That is, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. Let Aam Admi go to hell.

Vasu has rightly pointed out... What about the great ex finance minister P. Chidambaram? Is he not responsible to make a mess of our financial affairs?

We have not one, but four great Gurus from finance and Economics. Our Prime Minister,Manmohan singh, Mr Chidambaram, Mr Ahaluwalia. And yes, now Mr Pranab Mukharjee.

After having all of them with their great professional backgrounds and experiences, Is it not their failure? Or is it the bigger political game?

I think, it is nothing but a bigger political game. It is really beyond the imagination of a common man. Aam admi card is being played just to fool common janata. Look at the declarations by every elected member about his/her wealth, properties, assets? It surely gives a clear picture about where the tax payers money is going.

Today our parliament house is a millionaires Club. And rightly so. And the politicians have become Kings and their sons and daughters, prince and princesses.

I say... like the law says, even if you know about the crime and if you remain mute about it. It also is a punishable crime.

And with the same token, even our Prime Minister, however he may be innocent, nice, non corrupt, he is a part of this nexus, seeing everything mutely. People like him who are merely YES men are more dangerous. They can not rule and contribute positively. Their contribution is zero. Because they are serving the role merely of spectator, for just enjoying the power. They have nothing to offer to aam aadmi. And so, I hold him equally responsible for creating a mess, when supporting non performing, cunning, self serving politicians like Sharad Pawar, Krishna, Prafull Patel, Murli Deora, Shinde, Deshmukh,and many others, who are selling this country to leading business houses here and enjoying lots of financial benefits at our cost.

So, our PM is the first who needs to be placed in the dock. Because, principally and morally, if he is not happy with the performance of his team, he surely has the choice to sack them. And for any reasons, politically motivated or otherwise, if it is not possible for him to do so, he should quit as PM and come clean in front of common man.

But, the aam admi's misfortune is, our PM is nice as a person, good, non corrupt, but, he too is power hungry. He needs this job desperately and if so,he must please his BOSS and play the same tune with his team and masters.

So, we are the suckers.

 
At January 12, 2010, Blogger BK Chowla, said...

In my opinion there is only one man who is working---that is P Chidambaram.
Rest all are whiling away time and using public funds and enjoying life.
PM is doing only what he is allowed to. Rest is being handled from elsewhere.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger korangu said...

You have taken a lot of pains to explain the incompetency of the present UPAll Government. They all have become complecent with the death of BJP. There is neither an individual of great stature nor any oppostion to the callousness of these ministers.They know they will enjoy power for long time because there is virtually no party for which people can vote. Sharad pawar blames people for high cost of living. Such audacity!
Iam only praying to God to rescue us from these Demons. Hope Lord will hear my prayer.
K.A.Venkatraman

 
At January 13, 2010, Anonymous urmila said...

with reference to comments of neelesh "what we can do", we can tell what we think about some of these ministers starting with pawar by simply sending emails to PM and President of India.
PM can be sent comments from his website feedback form. Visit the webpage:
http://pmindia.gov.in/write.htm

president of india can be sent email at foll addy:

presidentofindia@rb.nic.in

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger Lokadhikar said...

All comments by readers are greatly appreciated.

It is only hoped that people will no longer remain silent spectators watching helplessly as the Ministers do nothing, keep wasting public money, and keep making money themselves.

As rightly pointed out by many readers above, Chidu also could be on the list. He was ommitted because the bigger mess was created by him in his previous job as FM.

It is true that whatever work he has been doing in the Home Ministry has not been so visible. But at least he appears to be better than the previous Home Minister Shivraj who was the worst Home Minister in the history of India. It may be interesting to read earlier articles related to his time at:

http://prajatantra.blogspot.com/2008/12/dance-of-demons.html
and other links in that article.

 
At January 13, 2010, Anonymous V. Laturkar said...

It is high time to whiten Pawar's
face and move him around town on a donkey.


see
http://india-awake.blogspot.com/2009/12/food-prices-and-inflation-govt.html

 
At January 13, 2010, Anonymous Anonymous said...

After going through all the comments, i find one thing in common and i agree with that. thagt is about our PM who is very sincer and honest. Unfortunately, he is sincere and "YES MAM" to the high command, and being so, is unable to take any harsh decisions on his cabiner collegues and for the country. Let us all agree that this choice of the PM was the only option Congress had, since we all know, the Congress party won the second term only because they portraied Shri MMSingh as the prime minister. probably, Mrs Gandhi was not very sure abut Shri Rahul Gandhi's ability to run and had to suggest Shri MMSingh. We all beleive in GOD and i am sure he ONLY will take care of AAM AADMI.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger kammal said...

It's all so easy to blame government. You have no clue on what causes the prices to rise. And like BJP, absolutely no clue on how to fix it.

Rather than shouting, it will help if you study, analyze the reasons for price rise, and see the response of government in that light(interest rate changes, import/export changes). Also keep in mind the severe global financial crisis of recent past, dealing with which requires a different policy on liquidity and interest rates.

A nice perspective - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Weve-Come-A-Long-Way/articleshow/5396276.cms - this appeared as main editorial article in Times of India.

The people who just yell at the government are either new to politics and economics, and don't know how the condition of india has changed from the 50s-70s-90s-2009.. or for some reason, biased against congress.. Of course there are problems in running a country as vast as india, and constructive criticism is very much required(and in fact, very much lacking today because of a lack of understanding people in opposition).. From an unbiased view, India has never had a better time, having seen 8-9% growth over last 5 years, having weathered the financial crisis much better than other nations..

I don't think there is anyone comparable to Dr.Singh in terms of his contributions and vision for India. In 2009, Indians rightly returned Congress to power, making Manmohan the only PM since Nehru to be returned to power after completing a full term.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger kammal said...

"The average Indian's per capita income has risen from around Rs 1,300 per month in 1999-2000 to over Rs 3,000 per month today. Adjusting for the rise in the level of prices, this means the average Indian's real purchasing power is more than 60 per cent higher today compared to 10 years ago."

- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Weve-Come-A-Long-Way/articleshow/5396276.cms - the main editorial article in Times Of India previous year end.

If you still don't understand, read the above quote carefully a few times more.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger Ajay Angre said...

The long and the short of this story is... we have politicians with thick skin and lead by Dr Manmohan singh, who is good to be a college professor than a man running this country. Unfortunately, good people like Dr Manmohan Singh also forget about principles and morals when it comes to political positions.

We as a nation did see in the past leaders like Dr Rajendra Prasad, Valabhbhai Patel, Yashwantrao Chowhan, late Prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri who all had national characters and interest of the nation as supreme above all.

I personally feel, media is playing a villain's role in all this by promoting wrong people. Media does not display professional integrity and I am not surprised, is purchasable commodity today.

The reason I am saying this is because, not that in one billion population, we do not have visionary people. I see Narendra Modi, CM of Gujrath as, able and capable administrator. A visionary who has ideas to find solutions to our problems. And solve them with setting deadlines.

But, it is unfortunate that the media and the ruling class can not digest his super performance in developmental works and progress that he has shown. Of course, Congress will never like such an efficient administrator. So, he is always painted and projected as a monster, Hitler and criminal. Yes, there is a lobby who have their vested interests which will work against good, clean, non corrupt, capable politicians like Narendra Modi.

The classic example to prove this point is of our honorable ex President, Dr A.B.J Kalalm who is our pride and having him in the office of President of India was a great sense of pride for every Indian. I still remember, when the leading daily took a survey at that time when his term got over and Congress came into power at the center, over 75% Indians endorsed his name for his second term as President. But, he was not good for Congress interests and as it has been happening for the past sixty years, congress wanted a Rubber Stamp. And got it.

We know, many good administrators who have changed things dramatically for good results and one of them is T.N.Sheshan, the Ex Election commissioner, who I would call a pioneer of changes in Election code of conducts. He was a man who gave a respectful position to Election Commissioner and the office. Till then, it was another rubber Stamp in use by Congress.

There are many like him I know who were good administrators but could not stay in this corrupt system and either got victimized or thrown out.This corrupt political system created by these politicians at all levels works well for self serving politicians and therefore good people can not get entry so easily.

Read this article here
http://u-said-it-right.blogspot.com/2007/12/some-words-of-caution-for-worlds.html

some words of caution for the world's largest democracy-INDIA.
By Dr Larry Diamond, professor of political science and sociology at Standford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

He is one of the world's leading figures on democracy, foreign aid and democratic governance.His in depth political analysis on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal is just apt from what we see today in all these countries.

We do have good people who are visionaries with ideas to solve our problems but not in d right place. The wrong people have crowded the top and are ruling us.

The sooner we understand this, better it is for us or else, it wont take long for our country to become a place for goonda raj, ike our neighbors have created one with the same political games.

No rule of law prevails and the politicians rule like the kings. We have already started seeing small kingdoms in pockets in some of our states where the rule is of criminals.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger Dr. VIDYUT KATAGADE said...

Couldn't have agreed more with the posting here. Does one need to say it in different set of words?

 
At January 13, 2010, Anonymous K. Minakshi said...

news4u has given a good analysis, even if a bit long.

regretfully, i dont agree fully with comments by Kammal.Although in theory there can be many reasons for inflation, there is no doubt in anyone's mind, after analysing all the factors that it is primarily pawar who is responsible. no use blaming states etc. when the prices are high across the country resulting from mismanagement of his ministry.

There is no point comparing what was there in the past. People want to have a better present than the past and better future than the present.

those who have been elected in Govt. have the resp. to find solutions not we. otherwise, let them give up their offices.

all the general comments about global economy etc. are not relevant becuz we are talking of specifics where govt. has messed up. such excuses are offered only by pawar and others in govt.

 
At January 13, 2010, Anonymous Basudeb Sen said...

A very nice assessment of the Singh Cabinet. Composition is beautiful and cogent. Unfortunately akll this is in vain and widow's crying in the so-called Indian democracy of ovwerwheming State. Even after 60 years Indians, even the educated are suffering from illusion and ignoring to accept the reality:
1. Ministers in democracy are more likely to be incompetent, corrupt, intellectually poor and expensive burden to the nation than otherwise. So, why expect something that has a very low probability of occurence. Rather, think how to convince he Indian people that India does not need more than 10 ministers and no one canbe made a minister without the following: (a) 75% percentile score in the Common Admission Test conducted by IIMs for management students,(b)a passcertificate of physical and mental fitness test for working with agility for 20 hours a day at a stretch for 3o days and for 330 days a year, and (c)a minimum performance rating of AA by three independent rating agencies based on evaluation of past performance and current performance done every year.
2. Governments cannot control inflation or unemployment irrespective of whatever power that the citizens may have vested in them. We should stop believing that Governments can control inflation or unemployment or poverty. There is no scientific basis of the magical power you believe the governments have. Rather, expect governments to minimize its expenditure, expect thenm to target absolute reduction in administrative and other revenue expenditure (except flood/ draught/ natural calamity relief expenditure). Expect governments not to own any company like Air India or banks or manufacturing or service establishments. Educate people that Government and politicians cannot really help the country except in the area of internal and external security and providing infrastructure like roads, bridges, etc. The more the citizens expectthe Govt. to provide them with economic services, more will be corruption, inefficiency, wastage, uncertainty, poverty, oppression, economic repression,. Ecopnomies grow not because of the Government but despite or inspite of governments all over the World.
Basudeb Sen

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger Ajay Angre said...

Mr Kammal's comments with all due respect are not the popular view and sentiments of many. Common man is not interested in the figures you are throwing at him. He is interested in end results.

For information sake, just the last week, two prominent economists, one of them Lord Desai from UK, were invited by the leading news channel, for their views on food prices going way up.

Both the economists were very clear and gave reasons why this government has failed to control food prices. They blamed the wrong policies of this government squarely and also stated further that, it is the creation of these politicians who have messed it up grossly. Both of them also said, it was just a matter of making a change in the policy to correct things and bring the situation under control.

As regards to Lord Desai, he is a prominent economists with international repute and he gave his frank, honest and professional view.

The other economists too was of the same views and very candidly explained the policy failures of this government. The best part is, they just did not criticize the policies of this government, but also explained what policies should have been in place to avoid this disaster.

We have every reason to believe both the economists views and take their opinions seriously as both are not from opposition side nor political personalities.

This has become a fashion in Indian politics not to accept responsibility and keep passing the buck to someone else. By throwing some figures to impress people, the common man is taken for granted.

The common man does not understand what is inflation, per capita income and 8-9 % growth. What has he got to do with these figures?

When he goes to market, and he has to buy sugar for Rs40 p kg, tomatoes for 30 Rs kg, Onions for 35 Rs kg and Tur Daal for 120 Rs Kg??? He knows... something is terribly wrong.

If the minister is not competent to handle his portfolio to deliver satisfactory results, he should quit and not give reasons for his failures.

There are others who have better solutions to deal with the situation. Step down if you can not perform is the our message to PM and his Team of incompetent ministry.

We are saying this because behind all this is a bigger political game, and we understand this well.

Please do not try to insult our intelligence.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger kammal said...

@news4u
the numbers of growth and per capita income have everything to do with the common man. It is many many common men whose income has risen significantly in the last few years, as reflected in the national per capita income. Schemes like NREGA have helped, so has the strong agricultural growth of the first 4 years of UPA1. The prices have risen, but still, less compared to the increase in per capita income. So the purchasing power of the common man has indeed risen in the last 5 years, 10 years.
It's good that economists discuss this on TV. (I prefer newspapers to news channels. News channels are more sensational than sensible, on any matter.). But you still don't say what policies of the government have caused this hike in prices, and what the govt can do to help people in this regard.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger kick-da-scoundrels said...

kammal seems to be defending the indefensible.

dishing out statistics like the govt. doesnt help fill the stomach.

people are only concerned with ground reality which is that the govt. has miserably failed in containing prices and is trying to shirk responsbility.

they think they have no accountability and people can go to hell.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger kammal said...

@kick-da-scoundrels
Amid all the noise, i fail to read a single argument on what the government can and should do in this matter. Government does not own farms, does not do trading of sugar, does not own shops! Government has taken certain measures that are in its hand, like removing import duty, banning certain exports, etc. Of course, anyone can come up with suggestions, but they have to be feasible, shouldn't hurt economic growth, shouldn't make india a government-controlled communist economy.

It will be difficult for India to produce better leaders than Dr.Singh and Sonia Gandhi. I'm sure they do, and will continue to do what is in their hands, to solve these problems. But we have to realise that the government does not have any magic wand. If there is a clear solution to the problem that the government isn't implementing, I'm absolutely ready to re-think my pro-govt stance. Let me know if this is the case.

Abt "fill the stomach", most people aren't going hungry because of the price rise. Through PDS, government provides food grains, sugar, etc at significantly lower prices to poor families, and the PDS prices don't increase with the market. (Again, we know there have been problems with PDS since decades, mostly related to local level corruption, the ongoing UID card project should address those).

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger Ajay Angre said...

I am truly surprised with the comments of Mr Kammal. He believes that whatever is done by the PM, his team of ministers and Sonia Gandhi is good enough and anything better could not have been done. And he is also trying to convince others to believe it.

Well, That I respect his right to believe and hold his personal opinions on such a belief. But we would rather listen to views of experts like lord Desai who being the economist of world repute.He does not play any politics nor he is involved in Indian politics.

As regards to News Channel interview of Two prominent economists I refereed to, who openly criticized the policies of this government. And respectable Lord Desai is one among them who says so. We can take his views seriously. It looks like you are a loyal congressman and therefore defending the failures of this government and their policies. Whereas, we are not attached to any party and thus do not have to take anyone's side nor do we have to explain.

You claim, you trust print media more than the electronic media. But that is not the point we are discussing. I am talking about Lord Desai and few other prominent economists who hold government policies and lack of vision responsible for this failure.

Why are they talking against this government?

If you wish to know what their views are and do they really feel the policies were wrong, or what best options could and should have been applied in making policy decisions, I request Mr Kammal, you need to keep your mind open and listen to them and their views. I think they hold high positions in finance field and surely know what they are talking.

 
At January 13, 2010, Anonymous Mastaram said...

kammal arguments dont make sense.
what he is is that govt. cannot do anything.

so why are they there?????????

in very few countries the govt runs farms. does it mean that they have not to control inflation?

the arguments are hollow and sound like typical congressi talk!

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger kammal said...

@news4you
Sure, I'll try to find Lord Desai's opinion on internet (I don't own a TV!). As far as reputation as an economist is concerned, Dr.Singh has one of the best reputations worldwide, and has received immense praise from most quarters(including TIME, Obama, Forbes, the world is flat) for his role in indian economic reforms of 1990s, and the high economic growth of India in his tenure as PM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygqBE3JJLnE
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1909616-2,00.html

I was quite supportive of Vajpayee govt too, except on Gujarat riots and other communal things. Luckily, India has 4th consecutive government with PMs of very good intention and character(two terms of Vajpayee + two terms of Dr.Singh).

 
At January 13, 2010, Anonymous sm said...

just hope they will not waste the five years in just talking and promising

 
At January 13, 2010, Anonymous Madhurika Dutta said...

i find that some readers' comments are focused on discussing that singh is good economist.

it is irrelevant if a person is a renowned economist or not. when you judge the performance of govt. you have to judge how they perform. it is also futile to compare with performance of other governments. when other governments come to power, they can also expect to be criticized if they dont deliver. you cant offset one govt.'s failure with another's.

we need to keep to the point.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger Randhir Singh Suman said...

sub janta virodhi hay.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger Ajay Angre said...

No offense meant to anyone Mr Kammal. I respect your personal views and opinions which you are entitled to.

I do respect Dr Manmohan Singh's professional capabilities and competence too. Accepted, He too is one acclaimed economist in the world. But if a person of his status is sitting in a position to lead the nation and because of the corrupt politicians in his team and corrupt system, if he can not deliver results, what is the use of such a person ?

It is a fact that many issues have gone out of control only because of our policies and lack of vision.

Just yesterday, i was watching a report on TV by the leading news channel on the same issue of prices skyrocketing.

An expert in the interview said, in the last 4/5 years, this government did not plan storage facilities good enough to store food grains of huge quantities like 40/45 million tons. And with the result, some 25 million tons of stock had to be stored in a open place for rats, mice to eat and rot in open.

We all know this is done on purpose so that the middle men can loot the stocks and share the booty with all involved including politicians.

Now please tell me, why couldn't we think and plan well in advance of storage facility good enough to stock our grains?

Isn't this a mismanagement? Isn't this a non performance and irresponsible act on the part of the minister and ministry and the government which is headed by Dr Manmohan Singh?

Again, same is the story of sugar. The Minister Shard Pawar is inventing one new excuse everyday to blame Sugar selling at Rs 48 a kg today? And just today's newspaper headline says, Govt allowing import of refined sugar at 0% duty till Dec 2010 to ease strain.

The bigger question is...Why so late action? Why was there not the emergency plans in place and policy corrections made when he said this year sugar production was less?

You know Sharad Pawar is called a sugar king and the sugar lobby is directly under his control from Maharashtra? And he is the Agri Minister in the Manmohan Singh's cabinet?

So what does all this indicate? Are we living hand to mouth? Are we not planning ahead? Is the present government not competent to foresee problems ahead?

Again, what about hoarding? What is the minister doing about it?
He says in the press, hoarding also is responsible for prices shooting up? One day he says Mayawati's policies are responsible for sugar prices going up? one day he says global recession, one day, not good enough rains? one day Droughts? He keeps giving all excuses everyday.

But the fact is, green veges, grains, milk, eggs, sugar, oil, all food prices have shot up.

We are asking, just what is happening? who is working? And who is making profits? And if Dr Manmohan Singh is heading this Government, he surely has to take the responsibility and answer this nation.

Mr Kammal, since you made a passing remark about good governance by Atalbihari Bajpai, I sincerely appreciate that and agree with your sentiments.

We remember, during his tenure, we never experienced prices shooting up? Sugar and oil being hoarded? In fact, even the property prices had come down to its realistic levels. Can a common man think of buying a house today ? It gives me an impression that it is a bigger game of politicians, builders,
bureaucrats, underworld, and few leading business houses like Ambanis who are running this nation and looting in day light. We are seeing only the tip of the iceberg.

We, as common people are deeply concerned about this nexus and rightly so. We have the right to question... What is happening? Who is taking us for a ride?

This is a bigger question we are asking Dr Manmohan Singh, our Prime Minister today.

 
At January 13, 2010, Blogger Ajay Angre said...

I agree with Madhurika Dutta. Very correctly said. Let us talk of good governance by the present leader and let us talk of performance. All other things are irrelevant.

Like if you are fighting an enemy like Hitler, you need a person like Churchill in place as the strategist. The point is... is the right person in the right place?

That would be the right thinking.

 
At January 13, 2010, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Only a partial listing. Sonia Gandhi (of course the PM is her man, not vice versa) is sadly not on the list.

I advocate a scenario far more drastic, however. This list must include ALL MPs, MLAs, that "got themselves elected" in the last 30 years. Banish them for life to Andaman with their chidren, grandchildren and great grandchildren and affiliated spouses/kin. Let us have a new principle based Republic (not to be confused with Democracy, mind you), that Chanakya would be proud of. Let us develop leaders not give leadership to a loser... Every Mura's son, however "lowly of birth", can govern, if his name is Chandragupta. But let us not forget, a Mayawati is not that Mura's offspring!
These people will sell our country, nay, their mothers and wives and daughters.

As for the "Nehru" blood -that was never patriotic (Yes, that includes the first PM), Under a special treatment, every person in that family including any infants must immediately be deported to Andaman.

 
At January 14, 2010, Blogger Chirag K. Shah said...

I very good and original article....The best solution for all this is to make Narendra Modi the leader of Country with all the portfolio with him
1) Agriculture (12% agri growth)

2) Civil Aviation (Turnaround PSU's . of Gujarat)

3)External Affairs( Healthy relations with Russia, Isreal, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Kenya, Sri Lanka, UK, Netherlands, Uganda,Indonesia, Malaysia so on )

4)Petroleum Minister-(Made Gujarat Petro Capital of India)

5)Railway Minister (BRTS won award in Washington D.C. today)

6)Telecom Minister (Tata, Bharti, Reliance heads wants India to learn from him )

7)Power Minister (The only STATE in India to give 24 hrs Electricity in the Country)

8) Industry Minister (Well do i even need to comment on this)

9)Environment Minister(Tidal, Hydro, Solar, Wind, Gas everything is here...Worlds biggest Solar Plant is being set up in Gujarat)

10) Law Minister (By 2011 there will be no pending cases in Gujarat....Thanks to Evening Courts, More working hrs and less Vacation for Judges).

11) Can any one compare be compared with this visionary leader?

 
At January 14, 2010, Anonymous Concerned Aam Admi said...

chirag
appreciate your sentiments.

but the subject under discussion is the corruption and incompetence in the present govt. and the first priority for ppl is to see that these corrupt and incompetent ppl are thrown out.

ppl must direct their views in the right direction and for this the least that can be done is to write to the President and PM and also to the media. at least let them know that ppl arenot fools anymore and wont tolerate ppl like pawar and others.

 
At January 14, 2010, Blogger kick-da-scoundrels said...

Anonymous
You are rigfht about Sonia Gandhi who is the fountainhead of the ills.

but what we are discussing is the govt. headed by singh. if he wants to take instructions from the lady who is not in govt.it is a big black mark for him.

 
At January 14, 2010, Blogger Chirag K. Shah said...

Hello Aam Aadmi like me..

You are talking about throwing these ministers...But whom do you think you will replace with.....

If Sharad Pawar is removed his daughter S. Pawar will be made Minister..You have already seen what happened with R. R. Patil in Maharashtra.....It is slap on the face on People...

Again regarding your idea about writing to President.....

Do you know why Pratibha Patil was made President?

It was these People like Sharad Pawar who made him coz they wanted a rubber stamp..Why did they din't re-elected Dr. Kalam (he did not contested as he din't wanted chaos over it) or Infy Mentor Mr. Murthy who was interested to run for the post.

 
At January 14, 2010, Anonymous Manju said...

chirag
ppl ony want good government.

if ministers are bad, ppl must ask them to be kicked out. it is not the ppl's problem who will be appointed in their place. it is the PM's problem.

ultimately, if the govt. does not perform,naturally ppl will kick them out completely.

president is the constitutional head and it is immaterial whether pratibha is there or anyone. ppl must tell what they think.

dont keep on thinking too much and do nothing.by now you might have easily sent the emails.

 
At January 14, 2010, Anonymous James De Souza said...

brilliant analysis!.

my compliments.

 
At January 14, 2010, Blogger Chirag K. Shah said...

Hi Manju

Well in mid 2005, i and my friends used to sign online petition seeking ouster of ministers like Paswan, Lalo Prasad, Sharad Pawar, Shivraj Patil and so on for the reason that they are doing nothing concrete for the future...Just carrying out signatory work in office..What happened?


Nothing.....Instead of mailing and hoping for results and getting despair, i have started to comment on Blogs and vent my disappointment, for the only reason because Media except NDTV are biased and this is also been shown in a new movie Rann....

 
At January 14, 2010, Blogger Ajay Angre said...

My dear friends... don't live under illusions and in the dream world.

If you all remember after 26/11, that exposed our government's incompetence to apprehend serious situation on national security, common people came on the road to protest about Government's failures... and then Home minister R.R. Patil was removed from the post.

Who is now the Home Minister? The same man who failed to see things. Doesn't that tell you, how insensitive this government is?

Same was the case with then Home Minister at the center Shivraj Patil. Who's incompetence resulted in 26/11 disaster. But the latest news reports say, he is still in and around Congress and likely to hold Governer's post in some state.

Again the Ex CM of Maharashtra who displayed shameless act just after 26/11, angered people and he was removed from the CM's post. But later he was given ministerial birth in the center.

So what does this all convey?
Is't this government insensitive and cares damn about public sentiments?

Your signature campaigns, your grievances and protests to President and PM will go to dustbins. The President and PM both are mere puppets sitting their as heads.

Writing here and there in the Blogs also will have no effect. But that does not mean we should keep quiet and not register our protest. WE MUST.

This movement is to mobilize more and more people to create awareness about the non performance and failures of this government. This is a campaign we must carry continuously and make sure that more and more join this campaign and voice their views.

Collectively if we do it, YES it is possible. The power of people can do it. No one should underestimate it.

Like when thousands gathered after 26/11 on the roads of Gateway of India to give message to this government... Enough is Enough. The united power of common people was felt. No political leader was leading that rally and no one was entertained in that rally. It was spontaneous.

It was an anger by common people to express their disgust against the insensitive, incompetent government and Politicians that sent shivers.

Finally, when common people revolt and decide to come on the road, that is a writing on the wall for the government.

That says... we are ready to take you head on! And that message must go.

 
At January 14, 2010, Anonymous dont.take.it.lying.down said...

good article. especially the use of title of the article and the plot of the film "All the King's Men" how similar they are!

news4u
exactly

thats why ppl must keep on expressing their views, including to the constitutional authorities without feeling that it wil go to dustbins.
ppl MUST keep using all democratic means to show their feelings. at least we will have the satisfaction that we did not keep quiet.

 
At January 18, 2010, Blogger jeevan said...

You are correct in your analysis of this government headed by Manmohan Sing. Our Prime Minister.

 
At January 18, 2010, Blogger Ajay Angre said...

Performance of the past by Dr Manmohan Singh's government:

1-Ruchika lost her life at 14 because of one corrupt DGP. Her family got justice after 19 years. It is as good as justice denied.

Is'nt this a result of corrupt police force?

2- Rs 5 crores so far spent on one terrorist Ajamal Kasab who was red handed caught killing people.He killed about 60/70 innocent people, Three very senior officers and one police officer Umbale Who braved to pin him down. He pumped in bullets right in his body.

Why tax payers money is spent on terrorists like Ajmal Kasab? Is'nt it a criminal waste of public funds???


3-HC says Sell sugar factories'assets owned by 10 politicians who have failed to pay huge bank loans. (Report in media dt Jan 15,10)

What does Sharad Pawar has to say about this??? All of these are Sugar cooperatives owned by politicians.

4- In the Sukna Land Deal scam, four Army Generals indicted. (Report in media dt Jan 15/10)

Even the Army is now involved in corrupt practices.( so far that we know of) Corruption at this level??

5- Attacks on social activists. Like Nayana Kathpalia. Murder of RTI activists Satish Shetty. Notice slapped on State Police by HC (Media report Jan 15/10)

Are we safe in this country?

6- Our present Home Minister R.R.Patil says in the media, Land mafia back in action. (Media Report on Jan 15/10)

R.R Patil was a Home Minister before and is now too. Mr patil, surely this mafia has not raised head just one fine morning. it has come into the system over a period of time. What has been your Home Ministry doing??

Have you been after Bar Girls only?

7- Ex Home minister Shivraj Patil becomes Governor of Punjab.

Congress has been using incompetents at different postings just to please few as a part of political favoritism.

8- CASH at judges's door (News in the media dt Jan 15/10)

Is our judicial system also become corrupt??

These are only few stories listed here appeared in the recent media. Many many more you see everyday in the morning news.

If our political system is corrupt. Our justice system can not give justice in time. Our intelligence is corrupt. Our educational institutions and medical centers are corrupt.Our police is corrupt.

How do we explain all this? PM

If common people have to come on the road in protest asking for justice... what have we gained in the last 60 years?

We can not fulfill our basic necessities like food water electricity and roof over head?

What are we bragging about 9/10% growth? Our GDP? Our Per capita income? Blah, blah blah...

Let us stop fooling around and get to the serious business of governance. If we don't see performance with results, we are not interested in excuses.

We want CHANGE.

 
At January 18, 2010, Blogger kick-da-scoundrels said...

news4u
yes and yes to all.

madame is able to survive only becuz she is okay with corruption.

 
At January 18, 2010, Anonymous Anonymous said...

one gone (narayanan)

more to go.

keep up the good work.

 

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