Finally Binayak is Free; Truth wins!

Today's hearing by Supreme Court of India for granting bail to veteran social activist Dr. Binayak Sen (from tribal areas of Chhattisgarh), represents one of the very few examples that prove the age old saying -'Truth wins'. 

Questions for Problem Finders (in Jan Lokpal bill)

A variety of articles are now pointing out some serious democratic blunders in the proposed Jan Lok Pal bill by Hazare. You can read some of them below:

• At the Risk of Heresy: Why I am not Celebrating with Anna Hazare
• Why Hazare's protest is very harmful for India in long run

The Two Point War between Anna Hazare and the Govt.

'Anna refuses to bend, Govt refuses to bend', says the latest headline on HT, as the 71 years old, veteran social activist enters into fourth day of his fast-unto death. 

Anna is getting support from all corners of the country. People from all walks of life, whether they are saints, retired judges, social activists, news media channels, bloggers, actors, other intelligentsia, and regular public are shouting their support for the new age mahatma. One of my friends says that, he is Mahatma Gandhi 2.0, because his personality is clean like Mahatma Gandhi, his cause is a noble one, he is getting support from everyone, and he is using the same method of protest that Gandhi used during India's freedom struggle against British Raj...

10 things that you should know about Anna Hazare and Jan Lok Pal Bill

1. Who is Anna Hazare?

A 71 year old, son of a farmer, an ex-army man, fought 1965 Indo-Pak War and a social activist.

2. What's so special about him?

He built a village Ralegaon Siddhi in Ahamad Nagar district, Maharashtra & fought for RTI act in India!

3. So what?

Hazare joined by thousands in his fight against corruption...

The veteran social activist, Anna Hazare has upped his fight against corruption by protesting in Delhi in support of Lokpal bill. Lokpal bill is supposed to stop the corruotion by politicians at states and center. After mass scale scams like 2G and CWG, the need of having one such bill is immensely being felt like never before.                                                                        

India lives the boyhood dream, but...

So finally, the 28 year wait ends for 1.21 billion Indians, India wins its second cricket world cup! I have no doubt that team India (Indian cricket team) played like champions, although they took some time to realize that! But this post in not about how splendid Team India played, but to throw some light on other very important issues that have gone to darkness because of the shadow of this mammoth win! These issues have one thing in common: they affect the common man of this country...

To Bribe, or Not to Bribe!

I recently came across a thoughtful discussion in an online forum: Is it possible to do business in India without bribe! This has been a topic of much attraction by many groups discussions in India. 

Some of the arguments in the discussion go like these:

• "If in a Government job...what would you have done...taken a bribe or not?"
• "I've heard of honest govt officials who get sidelined and in some cases even demoted because of their integrity"
• In Sri Lanka, the culture of bribery is not as endemic - you can do business (especially if the government is not a customer) without paying any bribes at all.

Ideas to Ponder: Need to Re-look at World Corruption Perceptions Index!

_{Since 1995, Transparency International has published an annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". The organization defines corruption as "the abuse of entrusted power for private gain".}

_{Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index is the world's most credible measure of of domestic, public sector corruption. The CPI is an aggregate indicator that combines different sources of information about corruption, making it possible to compare countries.}

_{Method CPI calculation}

_{The CPI 2010 is calculated using data from 13 different surveys or assessments produced by the following 10 independent organisations:}

Most Shrewed Negotiators! (Part-2)

This post is in continuation to my earlier post (visit here). Here I will present one more example that represents the epitome of the shrewdness of Indians. 

Scene 2:

Those of you who have had privilege to travel in Indian railways would recall such experiences, specially in the general category wagon! 

Ticket Checker (TC in short): Ticket please?

Student: Sure... Take this. 

// TC evaluating the dates of ticket creation and expiry...//

TC: Well...this is five months old! 

Student: How can it be? I got it from the ticket counter in the previous station! 

//This is the hight of dishonesty! Indian students are known for extracting highest possible value out of Indian railways...and most of the time, its just extraction and no payment!//