Patiala House: Pitching for perfect emotions

Imagine a cricket match – the winning runs need to be scored of the last ball with one wicket remaining. Akshay Kumar and Nikhil Advani find themselves in a similar state after the spate of their recent box office duds. Patiala House is akin to the last ball of their innings and they manage to scrape through with the skin of their teeth and not anywhere near in spectacular a manner as a last ball six.

Gattu, a gifted cricketer has to cut short his dream of playing for the England cricket team because of his father who is dead against his son playing for the British. How Gattu manages to break free and pursue his dream for the sake of his extended family forms the crux of the story.

The premise of the film seems a bit outdated if one were to look at it purely from the perspective of the overbearing, overindulgent, British bashing father. The format is quite linear and the viewer knows in advance what to expect at the end. However, what works in the movie’s favour is the high emotional quotient that it carries throughout.

Akshay Kumar as Gattu delivers a restrained performance while Rishi Kapoor does the exact opposite as the father. Anushka Sharma plays her part as the spunky catalyst with refreshing maturity. Rest of the supporting cast adds to the riot of colours on screen. Other technical departments do a competent job. Overall it’s a movie with its fair share of flaws yet fair enough to merit a watch.

No Strings Attached

No zing attached

The so called ‘friends with benefits’ or ‘sex friends’ has been a concept that has received a lot of press in lifestyle magazines and newspaper sections in India, but never really talked about much on the big screen. That way, Ivan Reitman’s No Strings Attached is a refreshing take on the matter as it tells the story of a busy doctor, Emma (Natalie Portman looking awesomely good!) and her TV producer friend Adam (Ashton Kutcher) who get hooked just for the physical part of it. However, the script’s raunchiness overawes its comic potential and the lack of conflicts and swift plot developments makes it a slightly boring watch. Predictable, love or something like it intervenes and throws the strictly physical relationship out of gear for our lead pair and that is where Reitman loses the cool and calculated touch he had shown with the superb Up In The Air. Portman is quite good, though obviously not Black Swan good while Kutcher plays just another version of what he’s played countless times in other rom-coms. Adam’s conflict with his dad (played by Kevin Kline) after he finds out that his ex-girlfriend is sleeping with his father is an angle that is not cut neatly enough into the story. A fairly original concept thus gets mired in the cloak of ordinariness and your search for any punch in the jokes is sure to be futile. You may still want to watch it though, in case you wanted a ‘sex friends 101’ class.

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18 Till I Die is one of my favourite songs, it's the one that sort of sums me up the best

Have you been able to take time to sightsee in India? What do you like the most about India and its people?

Of course we've done sightseeing. We first started playing in India in the early 90s and now we have a very strong following as a result. One thing that must always be said for the Indian people is that their loyalty is the best, and that is why we are back. Without a doubt, no matter where I play in the world, even in Canada and the USA, I always see sections of Indian people. I think it’s love. Back in the 90s, my band and I were the first international artistes to do a big outdoor concert in Mumbai. We are proud of this. We have always had such an overwhelming response.

Are you excited about this concert? Have the previous concerts here been special too?

Full band show! It will be complete with all the songs my fans know and love, maybe a few others for good measure. I have a Twitter page and thousands of people are asking me all the time to come to different countries, the majority of them come from India. I've just released Bare Bones, a new acoustic album, and this will be my fourth time to tour and visit India. Everyone on my team is very excited to return because on this tour we are playing in places we've not been before. I make a point of always seeing something different every time I return, this time we are going to be playing not only Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, but also Hyderabad and Pune.

What got you started on charity work and the Bryan Adams Foundation? Are there particular causes that are of special interest to you?

It was launched at the time of the Tsunami in Asia. Since that time, I’ve gotten involved in many different kinds of projects, but it is now mainly focused on education of children, as I believe it is the greatest gift you can give someone.

How closely do you work with the Foundation? Do you suggest projects or areas of interest, or simply contribute and let the board run it?

I'm very hands-on with how the Foundation is run. It's one of my great joys. As a touring musician, the more you travel, the more you see, and the more you see the more you educate yourself to the world, and with that, wanting to try and help where you can.

Will you be visiting the IIMPACT learning centres in Rajasthan, which have been given a second grant by your Foundation?

Yes, I hope to meet some of the people and the students from the learning centres on my visit.

You're the king of love songs. What inspires you to pen such soulful numbers?

18 Till I Die is one of my favourite songs, it's the one that sort of sums me up the best, I suppose. Writing music is a cathartic experience, it's fun to put together melodies and words from thoughts and fragments I've thought about. However, I usually have to go somewhere to write; somewhere I can close the door and be alone.

Do you enjoy composing the music or the lyrics more?

I love the whole process. It's the most challenging thing I can think of, to create a song from nothing, which actually is also a good song. You see, there are many songs written before you get to a good one, and unless you do it and work at it all the time, it won't happen. It's work.

What does music mean to you?

I'm inspired by the idea of creating something; it's what rules my world. That and love.

What's your ambition for 2011?

I've got music coming out in three films this year, with some of it being recorded by other artists. As far as a studio album is concerned, I think the next thing I will do is a Bare Bones 2, but we’ll see. My dream now would be to see the fairness of the business come back, because no one is getting paid fairly for music anymore, and that isn't going to be good for developing new upcoming artists or songwriters. The ISPs need to share their business with the entertainment world one day, as they have sold billions of Internet subscriptions to billions of people on the back of being able to download things for free. Young musicians today will never be able to earn a proper living, and it's an awful situation. If you were a musician today, you would have more luck making a living by programming video games than writing songs.

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Kerala is generating more solid waste than it can handle. So people who live around dumps are trapped in stench and squalor, writes K Sunilkumar

Kerala is grappling with a problem of plenty: plenty of solid waste. The major cities of the state are generating more garbage than ever before and people who live around the overflowing dumping yards are raising a stink – with good reason.

Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Thrissur and Kottayam have seen rapid urbanisation and population growth in recent years. This has led to generation of more solid waste than they can handle. Though waste management is a sensitive issue, it has not been accorded the sort of importance it merits in Kerala's development strategy. Ordinary citizens are the worst sufferers.

When a city generates an overload of solid waste, the only option available to the authorities is to make arrangements for removing garbage from the municipal limits and offload it in dumping yards located in the outskirts of the city. No thought is given to the plight of the people who live around the garbage dump.

Living around dumping yards and treatment plants in Kerala, as it would be anywhere else, is a veritable nightmare. The story is the same whether one is in Njeliyanparambu in Kozhikode district, Laloor in Thrissur, Brahmapuram in Kochi, or Vilappilsala in Thiruvananthapuram.

Njeliyanparambu, located six km from Kozhikode, is a picture of complete administrative neglect. Ask Asmabi. She can never live down the ignominy her family faced when her younger daughter got married two years ago. She says: “The stench from the waste treatment plant marred the occasion. The stink was so bad that the guests couldn't partake of the wedding feast and the groom had to keep his nose covered through the nuptial ceremony. It was so humiliating for my family.”

Marriages have become infrequent in the neighbourhood around the 18.5-acre waste treatment plant in Njeliyanparambu. The local people opt for faraway places as venues for marriage ceremonies for fear of the obnoxious stench playing spoilsport. Pretty much the same is true in other areas near the treatment plant – Cheruvannur-Nallalm, Farook and Olavanna.

Parents are reluctant to give their daughters in marriage to boys who live near the plant. The number of over-aged men still waiting for life partners is steadily increasing. Similarly, boys are averse to marrying girls from here. In many families the problem of unmarried youth is assuming serious proportions.

In the last century, Njeliyanparambu was where human excreta collected from the town was dumped. The smell was foul but the waste was bio-degradable. Later, the place was transformed into a solid waste dumping ground. In the initial years, the quantity of waste was manageable. It is no more so. Kozhikode now generates 300 tonnes of waste, including non-degradable plastic, medical waste, food waste, slaughter and fish waste, every day.

“Despite the authorities being directed to set up more treatment plants, waste continues to flow incessantly. The municipal corporation has installed a plant in the central fish market but it has yet to become operational. According to official claims, the quantity of waste has come down to 50 tonnes. That's not true. Local inhabitants have to suffer as a result of the waste that urban folk dump here,” says VP Basheer, convenor of the Njeliyanparambu Agitation Front. According to Basheer, around 175 wells and other water sources have over the years become useless due to water contamination. Cancer, skin problems and lung ailments are common in the area.
During the last monsoon, chikunguniya took on epidemic form here but the health authorities sought to conceal this. Untreated effluents from the so-called treatment plant pollutes the Chaliyar river, which is the district's main drinking water source.

Water pollution has rendered acres of farmland unusable for agriculture. Houses in these areas have no takers, so selling them is impossible. The Njeliyanparambu Agitation Front and other organisations have submitted many alternative projects like decentralised waste management plants to solve the problem. But their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

“Around 60 vehicles still come here carrying garbage collected by women workers from houses and hotels. A clandestine deal between the administration and vehicle contractors may be the reason for the authorities turning a blind eye,” alleges Manaf, a local resident. Njeliyanparambu is not the only area thus affected. The misery of people living near the Laloor dumping yard in Thrissur attracted public attention in the 1990s when three young men died of suffocation while cleaning a well.

In 2009, the water that seeped from the garbage heap in the trenching ground flooded nearby houses and polluted most wells in the nearby areas. In another incident, when the Orgraver machines for processing waste into manure became non-functional, the Thrissur corporation authorities set fire to the waste. The fumes engulfed the area and many residents suffered the consequences of suffocation. “Criminal negligence of the municipal corporation aggravates the problem manifold. The authorities make false promises,” says T.K. Vasu, convenor of Laloor Malineekarana Virudha Samiti.

After direct intervention of Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan and the state high court, a waste management plan was put in place. The decentralised waste treatment plan suggested by Dr Pathiyoor Gopinath, a professor of Kerala Agricultural University, was approved by the government and the high court. Land has been acquired and the funds sanctioned but the project has not taken off. Meanwhile, the corporation has seen a change of guard.

When the left was in power, UDF leaders were in the forefront of the agitation against waste dumping. Ironically, the newly elected UDF Council and its mayor are now silent on the project. “Laloor is not an important issue now,” I.P.Paul, new mayor of Thrissur, told TSI.

The solid waste treatment plant at Vilappilsala in Thiruvananthapuram is another problem area. Garbage accumulation has raised the threat of an epidemic outbreak in the densely-populated coastal areas. The Vilappil gram panchayat and the people are on the warpath against the corporation, demanding that the centralised treatment plant be closed down on grounds of environmental pollution. They want the corporation to adopt a decentralised system of solid waste management, focusing on mini treatment plants and household and community-level garbage disposal.

The situation is no different in places like Brahmapuram near Kochi, Vadavathur in Kottayam, Chelora in Kannur, Kureepuzha in Kollam and some other cities. According to Dr M.P. Parameswaran, a scientist and social activist, “The cities of Kerala generate 3000-4000 tonnes of solid waste daily.” He says the problem can be solved by setting up 3000 to 4000 small waste treatment plants across the state.

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A Political Yawner In The Making

The merger of Chiranjeevi's PRP with the Kirankumar Reddy-led Congress may prove to be successful in staving off the Opposition's bid to unsettle the government but it will surely make Andhra politics extremely boring, feels Naresh Nunna.

Vaudeville refers to a stage-variety entertainment show, featuring a series of short acts, songs, dances, acrobatics, comedy skits and animal acts; 'turnaround' denotes a film that has been abandoned by a studio; 'unbilled role' means a supporting role for a major star. Now let's put these jargons to use. In Andhra, a vaudeville-like PRP has made a 'turnaround' by merging with the Congress, confining PRP founder and megastar Chiranjeevi (Chiru) to an 'unbilled role'.

Before and during the launch of the much-hyped PRP, TSI had foreseen the possible walk-on (minor brief role) of Chiru in the political arena. The predictions were not based on wild political speculation but on psephological hypothesis. When the second daughter of Chiru eloped with her friend and got married, it was said that it was a conspiracy hatched to embarrass Chiru by Congress leaders who allegedly paid for the travel and stay of the young couple and the hefty legal fees. Chiru was then unsure about his entry into politics. Chiru made up his mind for a counter-attack with his own political outfit. A real leader would not have been impulsive and no party should have its roots in personal whims.

“A real leader should not be impulsive. It is not a film, there is no avenging hero. Despite his huge fan following, which could be equal to that of the legendary N. T. Rama Rao’s, Chiru was at receiving end, owing to his imprudent steps,” noted psephologist Ramalingam D. Vavilala.

PRP was confined to winning just 18 seats in the 294-member state Assembly in the 2009 elections. In a jolt to his personal ambitions, he was unsuccessful in his native district where he lost to a Congress lady. The actor managed a narrow win in Tirupati, one of the two seats he contested for the Assembly.

“It is not a debacle for a new entrant. It was wrongly perceived to be disastrous since the expectations were high. Though PRP won only 18 seats, its contestants came second in 34 Assembly constituencies. Garnering 17 per cent of the total votes, PRP played a key role in deciding the fate of 65 seats,” Vavilala added.

According to political analyst and senior journalist Ashok Tankasala, Chiranjeevi is an unfazed romanticist, a wrong man in the political paradise.

“The romanticist generally has strong likes and dislikes, irrespective of logic. With all his emotions and fancies, he dreams, imagines, sometimes they are utopian. The flip side of the romanticist is that he is aware of no reality, no rationale, and no logic,” Tankasala told TSI.

If Chiru had been a romanticist in the classic sense of the term, he could have learnt a lesson from the outcome of 2009 elections. It was the first time that his romanticism was faced with the hardcore reality outside. But, the election results did not change the man. An over-ambitious Chiru failed to generate a sense of confidence among its people. During the days of preparation, his discussions with the intellectual gentry merely resembled his sittings with film directors.

“Chiranjeevi tried to fill the voids within, being formed by more than three decades of ignorance - an ignorance of reality,” political commentator Sanjiva Reddy said. Juxtaposing the icons of Gandhi, Mother Teresa with Phule and Ambedkar led to further confusion. In fact, his party's slogan was also very filmy: 'preme lakshyam, seve margam (Love is the destiny and service the only means.' He started disappointing his followers at the very first meeting at Tirupati when he read out a prepared speech.

Chiru became a virtual non-entity in state politics and Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's sudden demise changed the political equations in Andhra Pradesh. The Congress high command started experimenting with the veteran K. Rosaiah. Now, a new guinea pig in the shape of Kirankumar Reddy is being used with the sole aim of ending ‘YSRisation’ of the state Congress. This gradually isolated Jagan and ensured his exit from party. The issue of a separate Telangana state also jolted state politics. There were serious doubts about the survivability of the government.

“Appointing Srikrishna Committee to study the feasibility of a Telangana state was the first move of the Congress high command. The Telangana ferment was pacified for time being,” Reddy said. Referring to the allurement of Chiranjeevi by the Congress, senior political analyst Prakash Tadi said that the Congress clinched an instant victory with the merger of PRP as ''victories in politics are (must be) immediate and momentary''.

“Individually speaking Chiru is a weak politician. The present CM, Kirankumar Reddy is a constituency-level leader. But, the strategic combination of these two feather-weight champions marked a remarkable victory over the two gigantic figures of Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy and N. Chandrababu Naidu,” he told TSI.

Naidu dare not go for a no-confidence motion against the present government as it could become ‘counter-productive’. Jagan, who bragged that the government is running at his mercy, is now in a fix as he is uncertain of his strength, after the merger. Some MLAs in the Jagan camp are gradually distancing themselves from YSR's son and are reiterating their loyalties to the high command.

By roping in Chiranjeevi, the Congress, which has 155 MLAs, is now confident of facing a trial of strength in the Assembly. But Chiru's romanticism won't go away. After coming out of 10 Janpath, he said his party merged with the Congress to fight more fiercely for social justice. Since his feeble shoulders could not bring about any change, he decided to take the support of the more muscular Congress. Chiru's romanticism may turn Andhra politics into another yawner (a boring film).

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Scenes from Taj, Mumbai... And why Pakistan Remains a Rogue State

DIALOGUE WITH THE DIABOLICAL

Even the most unspeakable of horrors start fading away from memories as new horrors gatecrash their way into news outlets. Of course, when it comes to Indians, the art of finessing memories - particularly if they have the capacity to tear open old scars and reveal festering wounds - has been perfected into ingrained habit. Denial, interspersed with intermittent bouts of faux nationalism and chauvinism, has become second nature for us. Denial has become the armour we use to shield ourselves from realities that could scorch our psyche. Worse, platitudes have become the placebo we consume in generous doses to pat ourselves on our backs and claim that the diseases that haunt and torment us have been vanquished by the platitudes and placebos.

Were it not for the ticker tape parade of scams marching through the news channels, our secular, muscular and even avuncular anchors and TV pundits would have been frothing at the mouth about the necessity and importance of continuing talks and dialogues with a diabolical establishment in Pakistan. Despite the mushrooming of scams that make this UPA government heartless and heartbroken at the same time, there have been enough stories in the media about how India and Pakistan have agreed to resume the dialogue between a blind elephant and a psychopath on a home run. Pundits have pontificated that talks must go on; even if they do not yield any results. Is that what doctors tell the cancer patient whose journey towards a funeral pyre or a graveyard is gathering momentum - medication must go on? Of course, in the case of cancer, we know that miracles have occurred even when all seemed lost.

But we must ask: is it right to transplant that kind of touching hope and faith to the vortex of Indo-Pak relations? That too when the only establishment that matters in Pakistan is utterly convinced that its policy of imposing a thousand bleeding cuts on India multiplied manifold is a geopolitical strategy of historical retribution that seems to be successful? As we-the members of the editorial team-watched the exclusive footage of the Taj Hotel on 26/11 obtained from a nodal national Intelligence agency and often cringed with horror, we relived those days of shock, horror, revulsion and rage. During some moments of the CCTV footage, we were simply transfixed by the cold bloodedly psychopathic swagger of the killers who alternated between acting like school bullies and monsters on a rampage.

These often disturbing visuals obtained for the first time from the agency are not meant to titillate; nor are they meant for the horror freaks who get their voyeuristic kicks from gore. They are meant to provoke us into asking and debating that question that we in India can never wish away? Is there any point in talking to the rulers of a nation who are bent upon haunting and tormenting us like an incurable disease? How do you hold a dialogue with a rogue state, no matter how many touching tales you hear about ordinary citizens of Pakistan welcoming Indian visitors with open arms and hearts? Is Pakistan continuing to be a rogue state because India is historically condemned with the tag of being a soft state?

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The possibility of Musharraf's early return to Pakistan recedes as FIA lists him as an accused in Benazir Bhutto's assassination

Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf seems to be in hot waters after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday “accused” him in the murder of Benazir Bhutto. His government was blamed by a UN panel as early as April 2010 for failing to provide adequate security to Benazir. The panel alleged intelligence agencies and other officials hampered investigations and impeded “an unfettered search for the truth.”

According to press reports, the FIA counsel, Chaudhry Zulfikar Ali, submitted that the court would be requested to declare Musharraf a proclaimed offender if he fails to appear before it. The counsel said Musharraf’s name was included in the investigation report in the light of what the two police officials, Aziz and Shehzad, told investigators. The counsel claimed that both police officials were complying with Musharraf’s orders.

Earlier, Aziz, in his statement, claimed that the order to change Benazir's security in-charge was given by Musharraf and the crime scene was washed on his orders soon after the incident.

A case is already pending in Balochistan High Court against Musharraf for brutally killing Baloch leader and former governor of the impoverished province Nawab Akbar Bugti.

Disgraced at home for imposing emergency and harassing Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Musharraf is facing a tough time despite some good work he did - taking steps for women empowerment, playing a vital role in the “war of terror,” taking steps to curb religious extremism and building a huge road network in Tharparkar, bordering the Great Indian Desert.

But his misadventure over Kargil and the Lal Masjid episode in Islamabad which eminent American scholar Prof. Stephen Cohen says was conducted at the behest of the Chinese government brought him a bad name.

Pakistan’s top defence analyst and scholar, Dr. Hasan Askari-Rizvi, however, sees the “accusations” against Musharraf in a different manner. “The only significance of the accusations in the court of law is that he is now directly blamed for the incident but we don’t know ultimately his conviction will take place,” he told TSI.

Were there any chances Musharraf would return home? Rizvi said: “I think this decision has made the possibility of his early return remote.”

According to press reports, official sources close to the investigations said a Joint Investigation Team of FIA had tagged statements of former intelligence bureau chief Ijaz Shah and former director-general of the crisis management cell of the Ministry of Interior Brig (retd) Javaid Iqbal Cheema with the report.

They said the investigators had attached an email sent by Musharraf to Bhutto saying that her security depended on the nature of her relations with him. The email is being considered as a threat to Bhutto. The investigators have also submitted a letter written by Bhutto to Mark Siegal, a foreign journalist, saying she felt threatened by Musharraf, former Punjab Governor Pervaiz Ellahi and Ijaz Shah.

Rizvi also rejected that Musharraf can be compared with Chilean military dictator Pinochet although in all likelihood he will stay abroad under one pretext or the other. Ironically, he didn’t shy away from stating that Pakistani soldiers were being paid in dollars for killing the Taliban.

Since the Americans are very keen to eradicate terrorism from Pakistan and so far provided a hefty sum of $15 billion in military aid, the menace continues to strike civilian population. Reports also indicate pilferage.

A report published in Los Angeles Times revealed that American auditors were astonished to find millions of dollars were “spent” by Pakistan Army on a “radar” when al-Qaeda has no aeroplanes.

Mutahir Ahmed, professor at the University of Karachi and an expert on Afghanistan, said: “The so-called deal between the present PPP government and General (retired) Musharraf has now been fully exposed.” He said, “Independent analysts had long been wondering whether Musharraf was involved in Bhutto’s murder. If he is convicted, it will have far reaching implications in Pakistan as well as the entire region.” The opinion is divided among analysts.

Tauseef Ahmed Khan, a political analyst and professor of mass communication at Karachi’s Federal Urdu University, has something else to say. “There was a strong public opinion that Musharraf was involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The UN report too hinted at such involvement but transfer of power to President Asif Ali Zardari was made with the conditionality that no general, including General (retired) Musharraf, will be implicated in any case,” he said.

He further said that though there were no chances that Musharraf will return home, there was a possibility that FIA will withdraw the case.

His argument seems to carry weight. According to press reports, minutes after it was announced that the team investigating the assassination of Benazir Bhutto had named Pervez Musharraf as an accused in the case, some quarters started mounting pressures to get the name of the former military dictator removed.

Pakistan’s leading English daily Dawn reported that FIA’s joint investigative team, headed by senior police officer Khalid Qureshi, did not intentionally inform Interior Minister Rahman Malik and FIA Chief Waseem Ahmed that they were going to put Musharraf’s name in the list of accused to ensure that there is no political interference in the high-profile case. “It is shocking for me. I don’t know why they did not inform me? I might issue these officers show cause notices for doing this," Rehman Malik is reported to have said.

With 34 years of direct military rule in Pakistan, the statement of Rehman Malik should not be astonishing. It is symptomatic of the weaknesses of the democratic government despite its vast vote bank.

One may recall that Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was forced to withdraw the decision when an attempt was made to put Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) under the umbrella of Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

PPP founding chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged after a kangaroo court implicated him on dubious charges. Similarly, General Yahya Khan and his henchmen indulged in genocide in former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) that ultimately led to the break-up of Pakistan but no general was tried in a court of law. Similarly, even the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Prime Minister Gilani find it difficult to convict the top brass from security agencies involved in kidnapping of thousands people in Balochistan.

Democracy in Pakistan is fragile. Even though the Americans, after supporting dictatorial regimes in Pakistan, have opted to support a civilian government even if it is tainted, shadows of the worst military dictator in the chequered 63-year-old history of Pakistan hovers over the people head and is ready to devour them.

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Deregulation of the sector has led to crony capitalism and cost the national exchequer a fortune

The rapid expansion of mobile telephony in India has been accompanied by a series of scandals that have caused huge losses to the exch-equer. The scams have been largely a consequence of poor regulatory oversight and deliberate manipu-lation of policies and norms to favour select corporate entities. The most brazen of these scandals pertain to the questionable manner in which a finite national resource – electromagnetic spectrum used for mobile communications – was priced and allocated by the DoT under the now-disgraced former Union telecom minister A. Raja. According to CAG, the loss to the government may be as much as Rs 1,76,000 crore, making it the largest-ever scandal of its kind.

But this was hardly the first scandal since the government gave up its monopoly over the telecommunications sector in 1994. While this sector’s growth is often attributed to the posi-tive impact of deregulation, the other side of the coin is the crony capitalism that has been manifest in the manner in which the government applied its rules and guidelines, often in an arbitrary and opaque manner, to ensure that the playing field was far from level. Recommendations of the TRAI have been selectively interpreted and at times, ignored or manipulated.

In August 1996, the CBI registered an FIR against former minister of telecommunications Sukh Ram, after recovering Rs 3.62 crore from his residences in Delhi and Mandi. The large seizure of cash made it to the Guinness Book for the wrong reasons. Thirteen years later in 2009, a special CBI court sentenced him to three years of rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty of “being part of a criminal conspiracy to defraud the exchequer”. The former minister remained behind bars for barely a month before obtaining bail.

The telecom licensing system initiated by Sukh Ram eventually had to be scrapped and replaced by a revenue-sharing arrangement in July 1999 by the NDA government. His Cabinet took this decision barely five days before the Election Commission formally announced the dates of the general elections that were conducted in September-October that year. The decision was questioned by then President K. R. Narayanan. The BJP argued that it was necessary to go ahead immediately with the introduction of a revenue-sharing system for private telecom operators to prevent firms from going bankrupt. Its political opponents, on the other hand, alleged that the decision was aimed at benefiting a few operators at public expense.

The removal of Jagmohan from the post of communications minister in 1998 was reportedly a consequence of his refusal to toe the line of the group in the NDA government that favoured revenue-sharing over licensing. Another former telecom minister, the late Pramod Mahajan, was accused of assisting one company (Reliance Infocomm) to become a nationwide operator offering “full mobility” in its cellular phone operations, instead of providing “limited mobility” through a wireless in local loop (WLL) system, without paying the full licence fee – though the actual decision in this regard was implemented when Arun Shourie became communications minister. This decision of DoT was also questioned by TRAI and resulted in a loss to the exchequer that was estimated to be in the region of Rs 1,100 crore – although Shourie claims that TRAI was consulted and its views considered.

While the most recent undervaluation and misallocation of spectrum is part of an earlier series of scandals, the sheer scale of the scam is unprecedented. The CAG (in its report tabled in Parliament on November 16, 2010) pointed out that there were three clear dimensions to the scam. First, DoT, led by Raja, not only under-priced second generation (2G) spectrum but also allotted it in an arbitrary and unfair manner using a first-come-first-served process and by bringing forward the cut-off date for receipt of applications for letters of intent. Secondly, a few companies (including Reliance and Tata Teleservices) gained because they were allowed to use two competing technologies – GSM and CDMA technology - using the same licence. Thirdly, DoT allowed certain companies (including Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Bharti, Vodafone and Idea) to use more spectrum than what their licences specified.

Thus, the total “presumptive” losses incurred by the country’s exchequer could range between Rs 66,000 crore and Rs 1,76,000 crore, the CAG argued. The attempt by the current minister for communications Kapil Sibal to trash the findings of the CAG and claim that there was actually no loss to the government has not convinced too many (barring, of course, a few loyal Congress supporters). Most have perceived his remarks as an attempt to protect Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is being accused of maintaining a stony silence for three years although he was aware what was going on.The political fallout of the ugly underbelly of the Great Indian Telecom Revolution is still being played out.

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Isle submerges in Ganga, displaced bereft of basic rights

Soil erosion in the Ganges in Panchanandapur area under Kaliachak II block has rendered thousands of people homeless during the last two decades. Most of these homeless people have also lost their voter identity cards and other important documents along with other belongings to the floods. So, at present they are not only homeless, they are bereft of their basic rights as Indian and state citizens. Many of them have applied for their names to be included in the voter list for Hamirpur Char with the District Electoral Officer of Malda.

The raging river has gobbled up a large portion of once buzzing Hamirpur. The land had surfaced about three decades back and people started moving to the 'Char' in large numbers in the hope of tilling the fertile land. The increased agricultural activities and digging of ponds resulted in the river invading the land soon and by mid-1990s the entire isle had been drowned.

Sanjoy Basak, an executive body member of the Ganga Bhangon Protirodh Action Nagarik Committee (GBPANC) says, “People live in an endless nightmare in Panchanandapur and adjoining areas including Bhutnir Char. There is neither a school around, nor a health centre.”

Panchanandapur is adjoining to Jharkhand. While the river eats into one side, the land comes up on the other bank. Those displaced have settled there to save their lives, but cannot claim their rights as the state is not bothered about the happenings. Also, Jharkhand lays claims on the reclaimed piece of land. In this way, West Bengal has been losing large chunks of its land to Jharkhand, Bihar and Bangladesh every year. Kedarnath Mandal, vice-president of GBPANC, says, “The river has taken our voter ID cards with our belongings. Now, neither WB nor Jharkhand accepts us as its citizens.”

Even the part of the land resurfaced on West Bengal side is being snatched away from the raiyats by the state government. According to Sub section 12 of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955, if submerged land is back in 20 years, the ownership would remain intact. But the Act has been amended to: “Any land gained by gradual accession to a holding, whether from the recess of a river or of the sea, shall vest in the State Government and the raiyat who owns the holding shall not be entitled to retain such land. as an accretion thereto.”

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Female mill workers fear exploitation during night shifts

The Madras High Court order lifting a ban on employing women for night shifts in spinning mills has generated much debate. The mill owners argue that if women can be employed for night shifts in call centres and BPOs, why can't they be employed in spinning mills?

There was a ban on making female employees work in night shifts in the mills by the central government's labour department. It was challenged in the Madras High Court by the spinning mill owners' association from Dindigul region of Tamil Nadu. In 2002, the high court had issued an order lifting the ban by the central government's labour department that disallowed women from working in night shifts at spinning mills. Then, Tamil Nadu government intervened in the case and challenged the court's decision. But finally the court favoured the mill owners.

“We haven't got a single woman as the Chief Justice of India even after six decades of Independence. In such a case how will you justify employing women in night shifts at spinning mills where a lot of physical labour is involved. The court order will lead to the exploitation of working class women,” says Balabharathi, a CPI(M) MLA. She adds, “When a labourer is employed for the night shift, he/she must be paid double wages, but that does not happen. Besides, most of the cases of violence against women occur during the night, so forcing women to work in night shifts will not be a good step.”

Working in night shifts creates extra stress. “A normal human being needs a good night's sleep, especially between 2am and 5am which is the time for metabolic update for our body to recreate energy,” says Dr. Shalini, a leading psychiatrist. Venkatesan, a member of the Dindigul region mill owners' association argues, “When women work in night shifts at call centers, police stations, and BPOs, why can't they work in spinning mills? Women demand equal rights, so they shouldn't be shying away from working as hard as men do.”

What many fear is that those who go to work in the spinning mills are women from the lower strata of the society who are more vulnerable and prone to being subjected to exploitation. Their case cannot be compared to educated, empowered women employed in software firms and call centres.

“At present the issue is about women's security at night. If the system is regulated and women are given protection there is nothing wrong in working in night shifts. But some other matters like proper wages and rest must also be taken care of,” says Vanathi, an advocate and a BJP functionary.

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India wary of Beijing infiltrating the Buddhist monasteries

The China-monastery nexus

In 1997, the then Chief Secretary of Sikkim, Sreedhar Rao, in a letter to the then Cabinet Secretary TSR Subrahmaniam observed that the Himalayan region, be it Ladakh or Arunachal Pradesh, was under the pervasive influence of the Tibetan lamas. With the aim of increasing its influence in these monasteries, the Chinese have been infiltrating them secretly. Rao had talked about at least 11 Buddhist monasteries whose chief lamas enjoyed Chinese support. He had specified the increasing Chinese influence in Rumtek, the seat of the Kagyu sect of the Tibetan Buddhism. He who controls Rumtek also controls more than 500 Kagyu monasteries worldwide. These monastries are flush with funds.

The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan type of Buddhism has always been at loggerheads with China. But since the Tibet movement largely revolves around the Dalai Lama, the question is who will call the shots after him? If, god forbid, the Dalai Lama is no more, then the monks entrusted with the responsibility of verifying his reincarnation designate will decide the future course of the Tibetan Buddhist movement.

In the backdrop of the recent raid on the monastery in Dharamshala and the questioning of the Karmapa, is also the Indian nervousness over what it fears could have been a move to set up Buddhist centres along the China border, as has been successfully happening along the Indo-Nepal border. Intelligence agencies and the experts have voiced their concerns about China trying to control Tibetan movement in India. The Chinese agents planted in monasteries and high positions would do in the Indian Himalayas what Beijing had done in Nepal.

All along the Indo-Nepal border, the Chinese have opened 17 “China study centres” that ostensibly teach Chinese culture and language. But their main aim is suspected to be to establish a long-term Chinese influence in Nepal that could hurt Indian interests.

Logically, such centres should have been along the Sino-Nepal border and more so around the centres of population like Pokhara and Kathmandu. But interestingly they are along the Indo-Nepal border. It is not limited to these study centres in Nepal as the Indian agencies are monitoring around 30 Chinese firms which have set up base in Nepal and may be involved in spying on India.

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