Girish's Blog

I have stopped reading newspapers in as much detail as I used to earlier and I have completely stopped watching news channels on TV. What is reported is not news – in the print media what you read is sensationalism in the garb of ‘news’ – on TV it is more about TRP and advertising revenue – with 3-4 day old news still being shown as ‘breaking new’!! You open any newspaper it will have news of some scam or the other, rape, murder, land grab, corruption in the local body, suicide, police high handedness, etc – day in day out it is the same with a different set of characters! Good news is hardly ever published. There is plenty of good work being done by unknown local people in the interiors of the country, selflessly and without expectation, but this is not newsworthy as it does not SELL! Take a case In point – the current news being flogged to death – MS Dhoni and conflict of interest via his business connections. He is a director in 12 companies shout the headlines! Most of these c...

I have been reading and watching with deep consternation the repeated assaults on the innocent public by terrorists who are out to kill for whatever cause they support. Terrorists basically are brain-washed robots who have been suckered into an ideology and are used by their controllers to achieve their so called ambitions. That may be a bit simplistic as some of the terrorists are in it for the money and the adrenaline high it gives, but killing people randomly is too cowardly an act to be justified or condoned. Where is the connection between terror and corruption you may well ask! After Mumbai was held spell bound by the antics of the half dozen terrorists from across the border that attacked VT and the Taj and Oberoi hotels, the Maharashtra Government immediately ordered 28 high speed patrol boats for the coast guard at a cost of Rs. 250 crores over and above 20 boats allotted by the Central Government of a total sanction for 58 boats. Of these boats as of date only 8 boats are o...

Manish Tiwari on 13 June 2011 said, “Our democracy faces its peril from the unelected and the unelectable….” Pranab Mukherjee labels Anna Hazare a tyrant! Used to politics of mudslinging, the Congressmen have persistently indulged in accusing Team Anna Hazare to deflect public focus from the Lokpal debate. With the earlier allegations like the fabricated CD and plot registration against Bhushans falling flat, they now want the people to believe that Anna Hazare is working for BJP/SS and not for the masses. Only the corrupt, not the democracy, should feel threatened by these mass movements. Democracy is the people, not the Government. And let it be understood by the arrogant in positions of power that democracy is not their personal domain or a ‘members-only club’ where no ‘unelected’ citizens would have any right to play a role. If that were so, shall we assume that Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose and the entire galaxy of our freedom fighters got away with their sins and, given his p...

Post the unprecedented people support to crusader Anna Hazare where the yuppies, puppies, rich, poor, middle class and the entire spectrum of Indian society came together to give a resounding “NO” to corruption, we slowly and surely have the political class and so called opinion makers trying to queer the pitch on the necessity of the Jan Lokpal bill. First, we have politicians and so called intellectuals trying to read too much into the statement made by Anna on the development in Gujarat and Bihar. We have the Sarabhai’s shouting about how human rights have been trampled and there is no development in Gujarat. Looks like the big industry houses are stupid to commit Rs. 15 lakh crore in the vibrant Gujarat summit held this January. This caused so much concern that the UPA Government has let the income tax goons loose on the Gujarat government asking for details of proposed investments. Is the income tax department within its rights to ask for such information? That is a separate ques...

It has been widely reported in the press that one Mohammad Ali, a lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim (India's most wanted), runs the Mumbai docks like his personal fiefdom and not a leaf moves without his knowledge. Government sources have been cited in the press as having reported a hawala transfer of Rs. 120 crores from Mohammad Ali to Dawood - it is pertinent to note that Government sources are aware of such huge transfers but they do not/cannot block such transfers. If criminal transfer of funds of such huge denominations are noted and nothing is done by the authorities, is it wrong to conclude that the politician-bureaucrat-police-criminal nexus is alive and thriving?!!? What should be done to break this nexus - as the stakes involved are huge and the money mind boggling. Elections require huge funds - and these funds are raised by politicians through businessmen by generating black money. The best way to bypass this rot would be to have a transparent fund raising system for politic...