THE 'SAVE KERALA' INITIATIVE

THE 'SAVE KERALA' INITIATIVE
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Thendi-Thendi - Indian Prime-Time League

Thendi-Thendi, the new Indian Prime Time League, is my brainchild and there are so many teams vying for the top spot already, it looks like. This year's edition will have 8 teams and I invite bids for the same, along with suggested team names. Seriously, looks like the Premier League 20-20 edition is turning into a tightly contested "Thendi-Thendi" match, with all the exchanges of love and affection on television, twitter and internet. The chap who started it didnt probably think it will boomerang and burn his own chair. Anyway, the point is, without the concerted efforts of the people behind it, Team IPL Kerala would never have materialized. That Kerala won over the "high" and "mighty" others is obviously a shock and matter of jealousy for many. So kudos to our MP and we simply need to stand behind him as United Kerala.

IPL itself is a money spinner and crores are spent, exchanged, transacted on several aspects of the sport. The teams were picked in a closed envelope bidding. So where is the question of power, beyond that of the council and league heads? Are they worried the power is leaking out? As the MP rightly said, mainstream cricket has been so far been a fort of power, money and charm, and cornered and abused by a select few. We have all heard how team members get selected and how much our netas fought for getting into the councils. Take a look at who governs these cricket councils and its evident.

Getting a team for Kerala was a hard fought battle, it looks like obviously, and what is wrong with a person passionate about cricket coordinating the efforts? If the team went to another state, would we have ever heard of these issues, irrespective of the people and money involved? It is so unfair to target the MP who probably worked with the best of intentions. If money was the intention, he is smart enough to do it better and much differently! It is heartening to see the party is going to stand behind him, and take on the powerful coterie.

Bringing up a person's personal life or saying his proxy friend, who is a person of the opposite sex adding to their convenience, benefitted sweat equity (and how in the world did this 70 crore figure come!?, and is it not natural that anyone who floats and executes an idea will obviously be a shareholder) is shortsighted, and typically the usual cheap politics and the convoluted mindset of our frustrated lot. And the fact that the person is a female and good looking must be good fuel. But then, does this mean all the friends of ministers should stay away from anything worthwhile, profitable or beneficial? Are we then going to examine all the friends of the owners of all the other teams? Are we sure we wont find any other ministers or politicians? If yes, then we should probably examine the mighty cricket council itself and the people who operate it. Where do all the billions go every year?

And most importantly, we should then extend this suddenly discovered and conveniently adopted concept of transparency and corruptionless governance, by both our politicians and the media, to mainstream politics as well. Will we be able to examine all our politicians and their friends, and the way deals are done in this country?

If yes, then we can say the match is won. By the people of India.

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Sunday, June 21, 2009

Kerala This Week, Ver 4.01, 2009

Imagine this. If you look at most of the project announcements in Kerala, you can see a pattern. First build a hype around a project (of course, most of them are genuine and much needed for the state to progress) and then assign a consultant to study the feasibility for a few hundred crores. Then form an governmental agency, which sounds like FINKLE, KINRA, TINKA, DINKA, KELTA, ALKEL, VIZ, BIZ, KRIPPLE, etc., to co-ordinate the project with the contracting companies. The agency in all likelihood is powered by a politician and includes his pals in the board, usually with a dummy to head it. The agency then issues a few press releases and ads on the project along with tenders.

A site of several hundred acres is identified for the project (despite the fact that there is not enough land in Kerala!!). What we dont know is that before the site is announced publicly, the friends and benamis buy the land in and around all these areas. Afterwards the project is announced and a company is awarded the contract, possibly after a few rounds of kickbacks. The prices of the land around the site gets inflated, but people think it is a lottery, and buy the land thinking that once the project materializes, the land will be an asset for them. The project then gets tangled in several legal, political, and environmental messes since nobody cares about it anymore.

Some years ago, it was announced with much hoohaa, with our ministers and local leaders rampaging to get in front of the camera, that the 35th national games will be held in Trivandrum. Hundreds of crores of rupees were announced as "funds" to prepare for the cities (mainly the capital city) and towns for the event. A few weeks ago, the consultants who came for evaluating the states preparedness got a taste of the state of our state. A consultant fell from the roof of the capital's prized indoor stadium and died instantly while inspecting it. As for the other stadiums, most of them are used for party meetings and sangams, which is the biggest activity in our state. But that doesnt stop our comedians from announcing bigger dreams and siphoning off more funds.

When our present rulers came into power, the first thing they did was release hundreds of friendly murderers, goons and thieves from jails all over the state. Now that they have done their job well and people are literally looted and beaten up, and the next elections are coming soon, the de-nerved (right from the spine) police has been asked to bring them back home, as if to show they have done such a wonderful job of it all. Little wonder then if the jails are saying "We are Full". But little do they know that we know who the real thieves are. Isnt that why our people coined the phrase "kallan kappalil" (translates almost into "thieves are in power in Kerala").

So let us not even get into the scams and prosecution imbroglios, fast spreading dengue/ chikungunya/ flu fevers in Kerala, and other such routine stuff. More interesting was to note that the monsoon has hit Kerala, and to coincide with it, the KSEB started maintenance work of its power generators in Idukki, the PWD and road authorities announced road repair and new road works, the inland waterway committee is meeting (not sure for what), the union leaders have agreed to let farmers use machines to reap whats left of the harvest, temporarily (until the floods pass and the next harvest) and someone said theres an airstrip being considered in munnar, kottayam, kollam, thrissur, wayanad, and tiruvalla. All international.

Let us see what happens after the rain.

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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Capital Punishment

When it comes to being DOC, the capital city goes all the way to make sure there is no other contender. From dirty, violent politics to crude behavior, the city has gained a notorious name for itself, which refuses to be shaken off by the decent minority folks living in the city, who actually love the place (although maybe not really the people who co-inhabitate it!). The grapevine has it that things have sunk to such an extent that girls are now reluctant to marry guys from the city. And that the women in the city are praying for some reason to leave the place. So lets take a tour of the city and find out what is wrong with this beautiful city.

The biggest, and most obvious, problem is that it looks almost like all the criminals and goons of the malayali world have moved to the city to do what they do best, under the pretext of politics. As a result, the number of scumbags, thieves, and rowdies outnumber the civil and law abiding citizens, and the amount of negativity in the air is tremendous and depressing.

The situation is so bad that even the police force is now stunted and weakened, thanks to our "politicians" who support these criminals. So any murderer and thief, who has a local committee member or khadi-clad party worker to appear for his sake in front of the cops, has an assured escape - without any FIR or records. Over the years, this trend has become so big that today police stations are attacked and police are beaten up in case they dare to utter anything related to the word justice or law.

This politician-criminal nexus has spilt over to the streets as well, and the average guy you see in the city is emboldened by a similar notion. That results in a heightened level of aggression. You dare not challenge a roughian on the road, violating traffic rules and putting your and every other persons life in danger. Lest he abuses you and is ready to even slap the odd traffic cop who inadvertently is still in the scene. So dont get overtly upset by lane-jumping motorists, or the majority of drivers who park their vehicles wherever they want, even if it is the middle of the road, or the rampaging KSRTC driver (remember he is wearing khaki too), or the saffron-flag flaunting autorickshaw guy (beware!). No questions to be asked.

The spill doesnt end there. It has been there long enough to rot the education system in the capital, with even schools now being transformed to power hubs of party politics, with all the student wings of these parties forming their youth outfit crap. There is no focus on the education or the syllabus. The state board itself is rotting, and no match to CBSE or ICSE.

As a result, there is a growing number of unemployed youth since majority of these students ultimately find it difficult to match up to the quality and standards of students from other cities and states. The smarter ones leave the state itself for higher education, and usually never want to return. But this is exactly the need of the politicians, so that they have a greater workforce, ready to throw stones and chant slogans.

Which then leads to the stunted growth of the city and state since no industry or even agriculture thrives under these circumstances, with no constructive human workforce or healthy environment. The odd factory or institution that still manages to brave the government red tape and unfavorable state of affairs ultimately faces the challenges of a corrupt system and political parties out to suck their blood in the name of funds and crazy systems such as "nokku kooli".

Ultimately the city is left behind with nothing really, except a lot of ugly posters, frightful arches, and unsightly flexboards of politicians and parties (apparently the city corporation has supposedly banned all these, but obviously lost their balls since its their own party and leaders flouting the law) and daily demonstrations and marches. Of course, there is the 10 meter underpass and the widest road in the city (since decades, which is just a 4 lane road of around 2kilometers), and the Vizhinjam port (under discussion and "study" since 1974), the first technopark since 1994 (the first one with labour union as well, marking its own path to downfall), an international airport (only namesake, at least, so far), and many such bloated images to hide under

Well, it is time to make it known that the people of the city dont really care about all the trash and stink our politicians (what undignified clowns, really!) and their bloody workers are so obsessed with. We just want a clean and civil city which allows us to work in peace, earn our livelihood, educate our children for a better tomorrow, and enjoy the peace and beauty God has given us.

Let us make sure we vote. And make sure we vote only for the educated, civilized, dignified and competent people, who would really want to imrpove the state. If we dont have them, let the educated people get ready to enter politics and take reigns.

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Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Kerala This Week Ver 3.01, 2008

If you let it rot long enough, the stench will finally get to you. That is a lesson Kerala is learning, slowly, surely, and on a daily basis. The latest example is that - well, its actually today's example - a hardline, loyal party man had to finally call the spade from within his party, a spade, (and another spade, a monkey) giving the PB pre-poll jitters and sending the usually nagging lot to a huddle.

Whether it is due to his well-known rivalry against his arch rival within the party or a prelude to his almost certain exit with the image of a clean leader or actual respect for the constitution, the man stood up to refuse to politicize (and downplay) the charges of corruption levelled by the CBI against the communist party general secretary which includes siphoning off hundreds of crores of rupees in the pretext of getting us elecrticity and even a cancer therapy center. In any case, this single act requires appreciation, and kudos to the man for showing that he has a conscience (perhaps he discovered it a bit too late, or even searches for it selectively), but its something most of the other leaders, irrespective of the camp, appear to have lost forever.

While some of the party folks downplayed the corruption charges, most others childishly said its a conspiracy, blaming the central government and oppossition. Sadly, even some of the ministers criticized the CBI and said they will "deal with it politically", rather than legally. This is perhaps the saddest response any state can get, and even more painful is the fact that it reflects the state of Kerala today. If the people holding the highest positions of the government, supposed to uphold the constitution and ensure justice, respond this way, it is not suprising that the people of Kerala get no justice. It should not suprise us then why party workers rampage private and public property without second thought, party goons beat up police publicly, political leaders release criminals from jails by threatening cops. All this while the state rots.

If the UDF were in power today, and if these charges were against a member of the UDF or Congress, then all hell would have broken loose and the LDF party workers would have ensured that the government fell. But fortunately, or unfortunately, the UDF leaders appear to be less violent and are using the situation more as ammunition for the forthcoming elections. And rightfully so.

After hartal tourism and responsible tourism, now its the turn of paddy-field tourism. Students from Virginia, USA, landed in Kerala for a hands-on experience of traditional cultivation in the paddy fields of Kerala. May be a good idea, just in case we need people to work in our farms since all our hard working farmers are on the verge of suicide and the other lot are busy with party work. But if you are a party man and you have crores of money to invest, then we have better options such as entertainment parks, resorts, and even a "health and recreation center". The CPI-M, after "the successful launch of an amusement park in Kannur", under the banner of the Perinthalmanna Co-operative Health and Recreation Centre, is opening a Rs.40 crore center in 6.5 acres of land.

It also looks like the soothsayer's prediction of doomsday is finally nearing. It appears that the global economic crisis is forcing back Keralites from across the world back home, in hordes, even as the great professor is still working on the math, with some good help from the Planning Commission to make the numbers. While the people in Kerala are themselves struggling for even basics like water (the infamous Japan Bank for International Co-operation drinking water project has ensured that theres plenty of water on the roads from broken pipelines, but none for drinking still!), electricity (increasing power tarrifs and incessant power cuts and its not even summer), and making ends meet, wonder what is in store for us in the coming years.

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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

God's Own Terrorists?

On Christmas eve, the capital (not just for governance, but also the ugliest of events and wiliest of people) of Kerala witnessed a brutal incident, which again passed off as yet another "routine" event in the records of our skewed system. "Party workers" (allegedly from the ruling party) attacked the only Cafe Coffee Day outlet in the city, demolishing the property, injuring both the innocent workers and the hapless customers, and also damaging cars parked outside.

Local press, including leading dailies, underplayed the incident saying it was a retaliation (as if in agreement that the license to police the state is given to the political parties, and not the police) to an accident near the outlet, involving a couple of alleged frequent customers of the outlet, who were racing ("illegally"!!) their cars (or ?bikes) on the adjacent Kowdiar road (which is the only road in the city without potholes and has two lanes - one lane is used for parking and the other for traffic by the law-oblivious population of the city, aided by the jawless, understaffed traffic police - and hence celebrated as the "model road" for Kerala).

Whatever the incident or the "provocation", it is this kind of freehand given to the thugs with political backing that is the biggest hindrance to a civilized and peaceful society in Kerala. It is so enraging to read about goons destroying property and beating up civilians when they fancy. One wonders if the police has even a little bit of shame left when they walk around in their khakis. Ofcourse, our leaders have none of it. It was reported that while these goons were on the rampage, the police who arrived in a jeep were mere onlookers. The goons after completing their "job" even hung around for a round of slogan-chanting before marching away as a group. And all this while, the police just looked on, and later reported that no case was registered since "both parties had no complaint". It is sad that the police has been brought down to such a level by our rulers. One wonders how brave and honest officers can function in such a system.

These incidents are no different from the Mumbai incidents if you think deep enough. And it is this kind of laxity in policing and governance that ultimately cultivates terrorists and criminals. Kerala has reached a stage where any thug or criminal with political backing can do whatever he wishes to do. Police will just watch like a bunch of ball-less people in uniform. In Kerala, it is not the courts or the police that enforce the law these days, but political "party workers" who force injustice, for their vested interests and selfish gains.

The above incident is surely not an isolated event, but just another "routine", daily instance of absolute lawlessness and selfish political mastermind. Doesn't it stink with shame to be a part of this culture and political system? We cry in fury and agitation over terrorists and lack of security and intelligence, but isnt it so obvious that the system we have created is not even able to provide a safe and secure environment in our daily lives? Do we need people to die to wake up and cry foul? If we are threatened every day by our own people (or are they not ours?), and if we cannot have order and system within our own societies, why do we mourn our martyrs and celebrate our commandoes from Mumbai and Kashmir? If our government and police cannot protect our lives and property, and enforce a civil society (even after we shamelessly claim to be 100% literate), why are we shocked to read about riots and killings in Kandhamal and Gujarat, or terrorists striking at will? Its all the same and the result of 100% irresponsible governance.

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