Friday, April 8, 2011

Anna Hazare Vis-a-Vis Swami Ramdev

Anna Hazare Vis-a-Vis Swami Ramdev: "
Like all Indians, I too support Shri Anna Hazare’s fast for eradicating corruption. But the few people around him create doubt about the true intention, which even Hazare ji may not know.

I am talking about (1) ‘Swami’ Agnivesh, a known supporter of Kashmiri separatists and Maoists, (2) Medha Patkar, notorious for blocking development projects like the Narmada Dam, and (2) Mallika Sarabai, a known Modi-baiter. Sandeep Pandey is another dubious character who is supporting HazareJi.

The media’s over-enthusiasm in giving live coverage to the event giving too much importance to Agnivesh is also suspicious. Swami Ram Dev held a historic rally at the Ram Leela Maidan in New Delhi on 27th February 2011, where more than a lakh attended. The entire media blocked out the event. Similarly, the two-day seminar held in New Delhi on 2-3 April 2011, which has formed an ‘Anti-Corruption Front’ with Swami Ram Dev as its patron, also did not find much coverage in the media.

Does this mean that an obliging media is trying to drive a wedge between Swami Ram Dev and Anna Hazareji? The Seminar was addressed by a group of people, known for fighting against corruption, like Dr. Subramaniam Swamy, S. Gurumurthy, Govindacharya, Ajit Doval, Bhure Lal, Justice J.S. Verma, Subhash Kashyap, former CJI M.N. Venkatachalliah, etc. etc. And Anna Hazare ji is being supported by an entirely different group of people with dubious characters.

Anna Hazare’s letter to the PM, where he has batted for the NAC, an extra-constitutional body with members like Harsh Mander, is also creating doubts. Is he in the grip of anti-national and anti-social NGOs?

Hazare Ji’s demand is only to enact one Lokpal Bill. Swami Ram Dev is campaigning for bringing in the entire black money stashed abroad by corrupt politicians. Why can’t Hazare Ji include this demand (nationalisation of assets kept abroad by Indians) also? Does this not serve Sonia’s purpose?

Hazareji and his group want to keep politicians away. Presuming that due to the groundswell of support to Hazareji’s fast, the govt. falls (as it happened in Egypt), what is the alternative? Does he have an alternative political set up to run the country? - as Swami Ram Dev is planning. Without that, will there not be anarchy?

It has become a fashion to say, ‘it is non-political’. This is idiocy. What is the alternative to politics? In our country, every thing, including the air you breathe, depends on politics. Without politics, there will be anarchy. What we need is good and honest politicians. Swami Ram Dev has understood this. Hence, he is forming a political party shortly, and trying to send honest people to parliament - the right decision.

Also we have seen this type of mass frenzy immediately after 26/11. But when election comes, the same people vote for the culprit. After blaming the congress government for the 26/11/2008, when election was held in April 2009, all the six parliamentary seats in Mumbai went for the congress. Similarly, In spite of being termed as the 'Rape Capital' and of misgovernance, Delhi voters elect Sheela Dixit again and again. How can you trust these people, for a change? I doubt whether many of them even vote!

Sometime back, I wrote to Swami Ram Dev complaining against ‘Swami’ Agnivesh, Medha Patkar, and Mallika Sarabai, for including them in 'India Against Corruption'. I noted their absence in the 2-day seminar which formed the 'Anti- Corruption Front' and was happy. I do not know whether IAC and ACF are complimentary to each other or competitive, although both the forums seem to be headed by Swami Ram Dev.

If at all there is a split between Hazareji and Swami Ram Dev (God forbid), which will definitely help the congress, I am with the latter. Swami Ram Dev has a clear vision and a plan. He is not running away from politics. And that is his strength. Anna Hazareji should strengthen Swami Ram Dev’s movement for Neyi Azadi and Nayi Vyavastha, and should not do anything to weaken it.

For corruption in the country, the entire blame should be on Congress. Swami Ram Dev is articulating this forcefully, but Anna Hazareji does not. He seems to support the unconstitutional NAC headed by Sonia Gandhi. In a democracy, the opposition (BJP) should do what Hazareji is doing, but is not doing it for obvious reasons. Swami Ram Dev is providing the rigtht alternative under a democratic set up, which we all should support. I am sure Anna Hazareji, a true Gandhian, would understand this better than anyone else. He should be cautious about the ‘opportunists’ around him or even get rid of them, and align with Swami Ram Dev’s Bharat Swabhimaan Andolan.

Today noon, Swami Ram Dav has visited Jantar Mantar and has pledged his support to Hazareji’s fast. Still the doubts remain and the questions remain unanswered.

I now await brickbats and bouquets.

P. Deivamuthu

Editor, Hindu Voice & National Spirit
"

Shadow Warrior: Church conversions wipe out Balinese Hinduism in two villages (Blimbingsari & Palasari) in West Bali

http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2011/04/church-conversions-wipe-out-balinese.html

 

With advance apologies to Anna Hazare's supporters.. - Haindava Keralam

http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=13581

 

With advance apologies to Anna Hazare's supporters..


From Anna Hazare's letter to PM




NAC sub-committee has discussed Jan Lokpal Bill. But what does that actually mean? Will the government accept the recommendations of NAC sub-committee? So far, UPA II has shown complete contempt for even the most innocuous issues raised by NAC.




What is NAC?



The National Advisory Council of India is an advisory body set up to monitor the implementation of the UPA government's manifesto, the Common Minimum Programme(CMP). It is a brainchild of Congress party president, Sonia Gandhi. It is also informally called as UPA's Planning Commission for social agenda. On 23 March 2006, Sonia gandhi had resigned from the post of chairmanship of the NAC after Office of profit controversy. On 29 March 2010, she was back as the chairperson of NAC.

My challenge to Anna Hazare - Sandhya Jain

Dear friends

Now that Anna Hazare has revealed that he is truly batting for Sonia Gandhi and the unelected NAC to be the Uber Government of India, I have just three challenges to him and his team to show that they are serious about the issue of corruption that they are championing (or so they claim):-

1] Now that he is in Delhi and fasting before the nation, indeed the world - will he kindly demand on enquiry into the rising financial profile and corporate deals of Mr Robert Vadra, who is in the news for this mysterious ascent?

2] Will he similarly make a test case for the rise and rise of financial acumen of Mrs Supriya Sule and her marital family?

3] Will Anna himself submit an audit about his public achievements? Here I would like to tell those who don't know that Anna Hazare owes his fame to the work he did in rainwater harvesting in his village, Ralegaon Sidhi, Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra. He was then massively built up by the nascent NGO industry which has since successfully latched on to Govt Funds for everything, though under development remains the name of the game...

The state govt then gave massive funds to take the campaign ahead - and some villages did benefit by sincerely doing their own work in this regard. But what about Anna and his direct work - how many villages did he take up and what is the success rate? Has water shortage ended in rural Maharashtra? Why are there farmer suicides? These questions must be answered professionally and moral indignation does not work here, specifics do.

Warm regards

Sandhya Jain

Smt. Sandhya Jain's Detailed Article
Anna Hazare: NGOs for Governance?
http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1716

Three Questions from Nachiketa Tiwari

I really do not understand rationale underlying Anna Hazare's fast unto death. Here are somequestions:

a)On what grounds should"civil society" leaders be involved in a panel of folks who would draft the Lokpal Bill. Many of these "grass-roots workers" are two-bit players, and get dubious funding thru NGO channels of all hues and colors. A classic case is MNREGA scheme, conceived by Jean Dreze, and thru this scheme, tens of thousands of crores of rupees is being dumped into coffers of corrupt folks. And the NAC is trying to further the depth and penetration of this scheme, even though there is hard data that corruption is rampant in the implementation of this scheme. Any guesses, as to why this push for MNREGA.

b) While it is OK to argue for the Lokpal bill (or argue against it), is there any shred of evidence that implementation of such a bill even in the most ideal situation will stem corruption. At the state level, we have the institution of Lokayukta. Maharashtra was perhaps the 1st state to implement this provision (1972!!). The Lokayukta is appointed by Governor after receiving inputs from High Court CJ, and Opposition leader. He has the right to inquire into the conduct of all ministers (sans CM). Typically, we have retiredjusticesof High Courts sitting in this position. However, there is little data to suggest that corruption index in Mah. is less than in other states. Similarly, the Delhi state appointed a Lokayukta in 1995. However, the CWG scam involved mega mis-appropriation of money, and the "tainted' people in this aspect hail from Mah. and Delhi.

c) Somehow I have a feeling that the "fast unto death" act of Anna is just being used to deflect focus from ongoing exposure of scams (which emerge on a daily basis). Imagine a scenario, where the govt., post some cajoling and "pressures" yields to the demand of the "fasters", and constitutes a panel of "experts" who end up drafting a half-ass Lokpal Bill. And in the scheme of things, the focus on current mega scandals, which are perhaps of the same order of magnitude as India's economy, gets lost. Who is the winner in this game?

Nachiketa Tiwari

Here is who gets to select the Lokpal members.

    5. A selection committee consisting of the following shall be set up:

    a. The Chairpersons of both Houses of Parliament
    b. Two senior most judges of Supreme Court
    c. Two senior most Chief Justices of High Courts.
    d. All Nobel Laureates of Indian Origin
    e. Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission
    f.Last two Magsaysay Award winners of Indian origin
    g. Comptroller and Auditor General of India
    h. Chief Election Commissioner
    i.Bharat Ratna Award winners
    j. After the first set of selection process, the outgoing members and Chairperson of
    Lokpal.

The adhoc ness of this list will immediately lead to its dilution. Why on earth should Nobel Prize Winners of Indian origin , who are citizens of other countries get to decide the Lokpal members ? What is great about the “last two” Magasaysay award winners (Kejriwal) ? Why not last ten ? Why not Padmasri Winners ?

Read Detailed Report
Jan Lok Pal – Caveat Emptor
http://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/jan-lok-pal-caveat-emptor/

Role of Swami Agnivesh
So far Swamy Agnivesh had only associated with Antinationals ranging from Missionary Mafia to Maoists to Terrorist Right Watch groups to Anti Indian Jhollawalla Groups. His association with this movement itself is enough to raise suspicion about the motives of the group.

Move to Undermine Swami Ramdev's Anti Corruption Movement ?
Why there was no media hype for Swami Ramdev's and Dr Subrahmanyam Swamy's struggle against corrupted. Is this current furore to dilute the war against corruption which haven't scared to question the Sonia Maino's hand in looting public wealth and to mislead the probe against blackmoney stashed abroad.   

HK's Stand
HK is not against any Anti Corruption movement , provided their intentions are honest. We should keep vigil before jumping into the fray - As we have been taken for a ride so far by many , we shouldn't let it repeat. Apologies in advance to all HK readers who support the movement whole heartedly and wish all these concerns may prove to be wrong and let the cancerous corruption rooted from bottom to higher echelons of the soceity be wiped away. Unless and untill the Soceity changes - No Bills or legislation will help us to root out this evil

Jan Lok Pal – Caveat Emptor « Reality Check India

http://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/jan-lok-pal-caveat-emptor

 

Reality Check India

Jan Lok Pal – Caveat Emptor

 

Jan Lok Pal

It pains me to see thousands of young and impressionable Indians being sold snake oil.

It is important to separate the two issues here :

  1. The Draft Jan Lokpal Bill itself.
  2. The voluntary assembly of Indians unaffiliated to any political outfit all outraged by high corruption.

The second point first. Such voluntary and spontaneous assembly of Indians is something to be proud of. This is a great event for sure.  I have highest respect for Anna Hazare which makes this post a bit difficult to write.

The real purpose of this blog post.

Top 5 reasons why I think the Draft Jan Lokpal Bill is the most hare brained piece of document ever produced.

5.   Comparison with Hong Kong ombudsman bill is incorrect

Many supporters of the Draft Jan Lok Pal Bill are quick to drop Hong Kong as a reference. This is invalid because the Hong Kong Ombudsman has 1) no powers of prosecution  2) only produces a report and submits to the Chief Executive (like our PM) 3) is appointed by politicians.

4.  Reckless in its promise and scopeIn other words, from dismissing a case outright to cancellation to blacklisting a firm – the Lokpal has unbridled powers.  We can only  appeal to the merciful benevolence of its members.

3.  Police and court all rolled into one

It does not matter that Lokpal members are not trained to be policemen, but I invite you to read Sec 12.

We are police. We are also court.

2.  The all important selection policy

Jan Lokpal Bill is open ended and confers unlimited powers. So it goes without saying that selecting the Lok Pal Members is the single most important task.  There are no checks and balances at all in the bill that would make it idiot member proof.   In other words, if the mainstream institutions have been compromised, there is NOTHING in the bill that would prevent the Lokpal from being compromised too. 

Let me try to make it clearer.

If Indian citizens wanted to get a compromised Lok Pal off their backs  – this is what they have to do. Study hard, do great research, win a Nobel Prize or work hard on social issues and win a Magasaysay Prize. Then and only then do you get to have a say in who the Lokpal members are.  Experience has taught us that such a system is bound to fail. Very quickly such an immune and isolated group congeal around a particular social or ideological position.

Adhoc selection criteria without rhyme or reason very prone to dilution hence ruining spirit of the bill

Here is who gets to select the Lokpal members.

5. A selection committee consisting of the following shall be set up:

a. The Chairpersons of both Houses of Parliament
b. Two senior most judges of Supreme Court
c. Two senior most Chief Justices of High Courts.
d. All Nobel Laureates of Indian Origin
e. Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission
f.Last two Magsaysay Award winners of Indian origin
g. Comptroller and Auditor General of India
h. Chief Election Commissioner
i.Bharat Ratna Award winners
j. After the first set of selection process, the outgoing members and Chairperson of
Lokpal.

The adhoc ness of this list will immediately lead to its dilution. Why on earth should Nobel Prize Winners of Indian origin , who are citizens of other countries get to decide the Lokpal members ? What is great about the “last two” Magasaysay award winners (Kejriwal) ? Why not last ten ? Why not Padmasri Winners ?

These awards cannot possibly confer powers to put other people in jail.

1.  Unelected people cant dont put people in jail

I simply do not want unelected people to have the power to put other Indian citizens in jail.

What I want

Lokpal should be stripped of its prosecution powers, Lokpal members cannot have a police rank, Lokpal cannot blacklist or seize private property, cannot conduct judicial hearings.

Lokpal should promote the democratic way of addressing corruption.

  1. Highlighting exemplary work done by people like Subramanian Swamy. Who would incidentally be ineligible for Lokpal, Chandan Mitra (also ineligible), various government servants and professionals (all ineligible because you have to quit everything).
  2. Promoting the wisdom that politicizing corruption is the democratic way.  If you are corrupt we gonna vote your ass out.  No bullshit about “larger issue of systemic ingrained structural defects”.
  3. Be a true ombudsman like your Hong Kong counterpart. Time for me to turn it around. By all means accept complaints, investigate, gather evidence, and produce a report to the public and to the state. We bloggers will pick it up.

People wake up !! This one is a lemon.

Ramajois for strict anti-conversion law ; to protect innocents from forceful conversion

Ramajois for strict anti-conversion law ; to protect innocents from forceful conversion: "‘Conversion done by provocating innocents using huge foreign funds is breaking the society and the nation. Forceful conversion should be banned by making a strict law’, said former Chief Justice & former Governor Dr. Rama Jois. He was addressing the media on behalf of the delegation, which met Karnataka governor Hansraj Bharadwaj today to stress on the need of anti-conversion law in the state."

Missionaries master plan behind the controversial Poonnar Shankar film got exposed

Missionaries master plan behind the controversial Poonnar Shankar film got exposed: "from srikumar date Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 1:57 PMsubject    [breakingindia] Missionaries master plan behind the controversial Poonnar shankar film got exposed

Please do not consider it as another one anti hindu film. The primary objective of this film is to convert the 1.5 mllion Hindu (kongu vellalar community).. by misinterpreting their kula devatha story.

*Indian Express News: *

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