Opinion on Opinion Polls

Opinion polls serve as eye opener for some and root cause for lethargy for some in politics, especially during the run up to elections. The recent survey taken by some media houses with the help of some companies paste a picture that brings smile on the BJP supporters and makes the Modi supporters exult. The surveys predict a favourable atmosphere for BJP in 3 States going to the polls, with Rajasthan offering it a landslide victory, the Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh voters exude a feel that they will be sticking to the incumbent Government, Delhi appears to be heading for a hung Assembly. One opinion poll gives Congress a slight edge over others in Delhi and a lesser impact in Rajasthan with some gains in Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. But most of them state that it is BJP all over with Delhi giving an unclear mandate.

Scent of a retired Judge

Mr.Justice Markandey Katju, the Chariman of the Press Council of India, is known for his legal acumen and out spoken nature. He is famous for his open mouth comment in the open court aimed at senior counsel P.P. Rao. He has been writing many articles some of those make good sense and many of those go otherwise. Of late, Justice Katju seems to have a gross contempt for his fellow countrymen and is very much open mouthed in his criticism.

The Politics of Love and Loyalty

Contemporary politics is an idiosyncratic trade. People stay mum for allegations which would attract a tight slap in normal situations and even an attempted kill in flared up moods. An example of one such (chronic) behaviour is that of the Gandhi family, not of the Barrister from Gujarat, but of the heirs of the person to whom he lent his surname. Feroze Gandhi. There were some retorts and repartees during the times of Feroze's wife Indira and his son Rajiv. But right after Rajiv's wife Sonia Gandhi took over the family organisation i.e the Congress Party, a lot of allegations were levelled, some even make the listener think as if hurling vitriol at will were the order of the day. But not even a murmur heard against such allegations, leave alone law suits being filed.

Goebbelsian tactics of Dravidian politics!

Anti Brahmin ramblings are not new to TamilNadu. The cowards of Dravidian political parties have been resorting to attacks on Brahmins as the community is known for its tolerance of even ruthless violence. There is still a controversy going on in Srirangam, the constituency of TamilNadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalitha. A small hotel named Krishna Iyyer Cafe has been targeted by a  group still clinging to the idiotic ramblings of EV Ramasamy Naicker the founder of  Dravidar Kazhagam, a group propagating atheism. EVR Naicker is a man of controversial lifestyle.

Reforms - Do we really need them this way?

The meaning of Reform is to put an end to (an evil) by enforcing or introducing a better method or course of action. When we talk about economic reforms it is about the course correction of an already dilapidated socialist economy of our nation till 1991. 

Coal gate - Nothing to forget about

Aping the west especially USA is  the way of most of the walks of life nowadays. Even in naming a corruption charge. The Union Government's latest in the list of it's corruptions is the loss of Rs.1,86,000 crore to the exchequer, in allocating the coal mines in our nation. The CAG has come up with a clear and methodical approach is exposing the loss, which is termed as presumptive, to the exchequer. But given to understand that this loss to the exchequer has been a gain for someone, makes one sit up and ask a list of questions, which the Government feels uneasy to answer.

Applaud PM's honesty - His silence is honourable!

"Hazaron jawabo se achchi hai khamoshi meri, na jaane kitne sawalo ki aabru rakhe. (My silence is better than a thousand answers, it keeps intact the honour of innumerable questions)," The PM prefers silence when questions are asked.

Asom - Must mitigate the migrant menace

I live in my town. Someone comes from a distant place as there is no possibility for decent living there. He slowly tries to dictate my terms of life and finally attempts to control me in total. If I retaliate, some say he needs to be given a humanitarian consideration. Some threaten me that my stern stand against him will turn him violent and harm me.

Some blame me as intolerant because his way of life is different from mine. He has come to my town to make a living and I don't have anything against him unless my existence is threatened. When threatened I'm not negotiating with the trespasser as it is my home and he has to mind his behaviour.

You call me terrorist? I don't care. You call me intolerant? I'm not bothered. You call me fascist? I have gross indifference towards your attitude. You blame my attitude? I don't give it a damn!!

TESO - A cliff to cling on for the falling DMK

Off late we've been hearing a lot about TESO. Some of us might have TESO in dim distant past memories. A quick catch up about it. TESO stands for Tamil Eelam Supporters Organization, formed in 1983 with M. Karunanidhi (DMK), K.Veeramani (Dravidar Kazhagam) and Pazha. Nedumaran of Tamil Nationalist Party. This was formed to garner support for separate Eelam nation in the Sri Lankan island.

On 4 th May 1986, DMK organized the Tamil Eelam Supporters Organization Conference in Madurai. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, N.T.Rama Rao and Dr.Subramanian Swamy participated in that conference. They indeed were seemed to be bent on getting Eelam. All participants promised help to the sufferers.

Free education: A Pathway to loot in TamilNadu?

The Government's delivery of service, in other words its duty, is pathetic right from January 26,1950. With 60 years gone by, we could have improved it a lot, but sad fact is the Government machinery was functioning as a toddler during the initial 2 decades, then it turned out to be an insensitive teenager, but suddenly it is now functioning like an old man working on his own obituary! The affected people are the general public who ceaselessly express unwavering trust the Government to do something to let them be somebody in the world, as they have no other go.

Food materials rot in carelessly maintained storage, but Government would stick to the "No Free Lunch" policy. The prices of food items sky rocket, yet the Government would look at it only as a matter of taming the numbers. The cantankerous neighbors would do all the provocative acts to question the sovereignty of the nation, but the Government would sit silent in talks with them hoping for a tranquil neighborhood.

The freebies to sustain vote and hence power by Government of TamilNadu, though making the people lazy in one view, remains only in tricky words making a mockery of the system and the people who trust the Governments words, fools. The bureaucracy is well trained to give better governance but used to make the governance a farce by the political clan. The rulers promise heaven but that comes with a T&C apply caveat, which is almost concealed from the public. The argument that this is a political ploy, programmed in a never ending a loop, to make the people suffer and for the Government to then step in for their relief is debatable but with known results.

While reading through one of my friend Saravanan's blog, I found a kind of a usual event in the Government's service delivery failures, effected by the T&C caveat. The TamilNadu Government has promised free education for the first graduate child from a family. Many families have buoyed at this announcement and have taken their children to be admitted to colleges, despite college education being economically unaffordable for them. But colleges have collected fees, exorbitant from the poor man's stand point, though admitting students under the Government's free first graduate scheme.

When inquired upon about this controversy, people who are in the know say that the Government has offered only free tuition fees and not an all expenses paid education. The Government earlier in 2008 had conditions in reimbursing tuition fees, special fees, non-refundable compulsory fees as fixed by the Government and the examination fees to students, but had waived all those conditions it had for the free education in 2009.

With a view to encouraging students who do not have any graduate in their families so far and pursue professional education after securing admission under the single window system, the Government has decided to bear the entire tuition fee payable by these students in government and private engineering, medical, dental, agricultural, veterinary and law colleges, irrespective of their caste or income, said the Governor in his address to the State Assembly on 6th of January 2011.

The problem with the service delivery system of the Government is that the policies take a different form when implemented. What happens in the middle is the imperious attitude the bureaucrats carry through from the British Imperial ruling setup. The politicians concentrating on their Return on Investments, predominantly financially, pay little attention to such issues faced by minions.

The college under public dissent now, was seen in the news for all good reasons till recently. But the circular (circulated in Saravanan's blog post) rings alarm bells. The items mentioned in the fee structure gets one to wonder what ways one has for minting money after starting a college. A fee is charged for verification of different certificates and marks statements, Insurance premium (who took it for whom?) is charged, but whether they provide policy details is a question worth the 2G loot.

Which academic society admits people at Rs.300/- is a question for people in the know to answer. Also there is an over head other fee for Rs.10000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand only). Some say that Academic Society in colleges include Fine arts club, Debate Club, Quiz club, Microsoft campus club, IE(I) student chapter, IEEE forum, CSI forum, Reader club etc. Students from that college say that the management had itemized that other fee of Rs.10000/- as charges for campus interviews to be conducted at their final year of study.

When a college can afford to give all such academic club facilities for 300 bucks, what is reason for charging 10000 bucks for conducting campus interviews? That defies logic given to understand the sluggish hiring and plummeting recruitment through campuses. Also, insider information, unconfirmed though, say that the Government which should have paid Rs.32500/- had paid only Rs.20000/- to the college for 183 students under this scheme.

Reason cited for this under payment was financial crunch for the Government! Unbelievable, given fact that the State Government had come up with a surplus budget couple of years ago!!! The fiscal responsibility initiatives were also scuttled citing various laughable reasons, so no tough financial measures are reason for this short funding except the obvious, mismanagement.

The defenses coming in favor of the college under discussion are of known nature. They have not violated any rules. They are reputed institution. They have conducted many international technical seminars and are part of many international academic forums. Price waterhouse Coopers, the MNC audit firm was auditors for Satyam computers. Both PwC and Satyam were reputed, part of international fora, so on and so forth. Still, we had the mammoth scam for which PwC also lost its reputation for being a mute spectator/silent partner. So, reputation and membership of forums are not immunity against wrong doing.

Yet, we have to blame the Government for this mess up, since the policy was clear, but implementation was a bad mess up. This is a serious problem with Governance in India. Policies take a different form when they are implemented and the beneficiaries end up bearing the brunt. Reason? The carrying on of the imperious attitude by the bureaucracy right from the days of the Imperial rule. Bureaucracy is trained to assist in delivering better Governance, but it is used to assist the betterment of the rulers.

People are readying a petition to the State Education minister for help. This may help as it is election time and we can expect a verbal reaction from the rulers, since we have hardly seen any concrete action on any issues in the near past. We may trust the opposition parties to take the issue up, but the solution to the issue could not be guaranteed, since it may end up becoming a political tussle.

I suggested to write to Kapil Sibal, but with him inseparably entangled in the spectrum of error reporting right from CAG on 2G to CAT 2010 results, he would not be of much help. Cannot expect PM to help as he would simply reiterate his doctrine of no free lunch despite pulses rotting and the human pulses plummeting. The CM of TamilNadu may talk evoking emotion on this issue, but when it comes to action he would goof up, habitually.

We cannot trust the TN Government for clear action on this case, as we have evidences of inertia even in sensitive issues like the business of education. The Government is famous for its preference of sloth in the school fees issue. Committee after committee has been formed and decisions are deferred sine die. The Government practices the management saying "When you cannot commit on something, form a committee."

The judiciary could help, but the process is unduly time consuming. Blaming the college won't work as it is the Government which has played a kind of crossword puzzle with its promises and the sentiments of the poor people. So, what could be done in this case to get justice? Threaten with your votes as it is election time, people! Nothing else would work. Threaten the rulers with dire electoral consequences by blowing this issue up!

Jurisdiction of the judiciary

The Apex court ordered to broaden the time span of inquiry into the 2G licensing scam. It also has instructed that the CBI to report to it at regular intervals on the progress made in the inquiry. Some days ago when the CBI counsel had offered to submit the agency's team investigating the 2G matter to the monitoring of SCI, but the bench had declined that offer. Now, the Apex court had taken up the case under it's watch and has given instructions which sound like lecturing a new recruit on how to do a job.

It is not normal for the SCI to dictate modus operandi to any law enforcing agency inquiring into any serious charges. But now the court has taken up the inquiry which adds to the burden of the existing ship load of cases pending before the judiciary. This move comes as the confidence in the executive  for the petitioners and the bench as well was non-existent and eroded respectively.

When the counsel for the PIL petitioners asked for a special team to investigate the matter, the bench said that for the moment it was against constituting any special team to probe the issue and had instead decided to monitor the probe all by itself by calling for reports on the status of the probe being conducted by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

"The CBI shall, if it has already not registered a first information report (FIR) in the context of the alleged irregularities committed in the grant of licences from 2001 to 2006-07, now register a case and conduct thorough investigation. Also  probe as to how several ineligible applicants got licences in 2008 and who was responsible for the same," said the judges.

Apart from conducting a probe into the issues highlighted by the CVC and the CAG report with regards to the allotments made by Raja, the court also instructed the CBI to probe as to why the TRAI and the DoT did not take action against licensees who sold their stakes for thousands of crores and others who did not fulfil the roll-out obligations.

The petitioners had requested the court to take the assistance of one or two officers of unimpeachable integrity in monitoring the investigation being conducted by the CBI. But the bench said that it would decide on this request based on the first progress report of the CBI to be submitted on 10/2/2011, in a sealed envelope. This may leave the media in dismay for being deprived of exclusive scoops. Point to note here is that, the court has not expressed unswerving confidence on the CBI, but has given it a chance to prove its mettle. Shame on an institution which has been doing the policing job for decades, but deserving due to the recent debaucheries from impartiality by the CBI. 

But the slap on the face for the disgraced minister A.Raja came when his  lame duck defence of religiously following the predecessors was turned down, with the judges snapping his counsel saying the question was of violation of policy and not of following the policy as argued by him. Yet the court decided to widen the spectrum of the probe to allotments made by Raja's predecessors from 2001.

The Apex court also censured the Delhi High court for dismissing the petition seeking CBI probe into the 2G spectrum allocation case. “The High Court has committed serious error in dismissing the writ petition. Prima facie, there was sufficient material supported by documents to proceed on the allegation,” the bench observed.

Also, the Apex court has ordered the investigating agencies to probe the transfer of dual technology — CDMA and GSM, opining that while the notification for the dual technology was issued on October 19, 2007, one of the service provider was given the permission a day earlier.

The investigation will also cover huge loans by public sector banks to the beneficiary firms and if DoT officials were signatory to the licence agreements, the bench said. The bench instructed the CBI and ED to carry out investigations without being influenced by any individual, their ranks, functionaries and agencies. This instruction gains importance as the pamolein tainted CVC Thomas has earlier offered to recuse himself from teh 2G specturm license scam, when his credentials were questioned on the grounds of impeccable integrity.

The Government cannot go to the SCI now and submit that they would ensure a free and fair investigation in this case, since their commitment to free and fair investigations took a severe beating when the AG told the court that impeccable integrity could never be considered as a criteria for top jobs of Government.

The CBI might not be able to complete the probe within the agreed deadline as the ambit of the inquiry has been widened to cover the deals right from 2001. The evidences and leads for the Raja wrongs are readily available with recent documents, CVC & CAG reports and the Radia tapes, but still the CBI has to start from square one in the cases of Raja's predecessors. Also the money swindled through 2G scam was routed through hawala investment allegedly to European countries including Netherlands and to the countries in the Arab Gulf including Libya, it is known from the preliminary investigation.So, keeping track of them and trailing them would be a time consuming international policing exercise.

Also, the court has accepted the argument that there should be a nexus between the 2G beneficiaries and the realty loan scam, since most of the firms those got the 2G licenses were  realty firms and they were given exorbitant amount of loans flaunting the basic banking process followed in loans given to ordinary citizens. The basic structure of the constitution was shaken here as citizens of India were being treated differently for some illicit considerations.

The CM of TamilNadu is singing the old tune of action upon proof of guilty, which is a clear departure from his earlier stand of caste based discrimination by aggressive upper castes. The allegations of property worth hundreds of crores have been transferred to the CM's family members were refuted with reasons those fit the definition of the word unreasonable. How could the person handling the property matters of the CM's second wife get the power of attorney for property worth billions with the CM's family not even noticing it.






Well, with the SCI taking up the investigation in it's hands, we can expect not only some incisive questions to the conspirators, colluders, perpetrators and criminals but action too. But, come to think of the investigation process, we can only hope that files do not go missing in this case as in the Adarsh Housing scam.

The most boasted impeccable honesty of the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh took a dip when he, in May 2010, infamously said that he felt no further inquiry against Raja is needed as Raja himself had told him nothing wrong had happened. Now, with the Supreme Court of India taking up the job of monitoring inquiries to ensure impartiality and justice to the job, his Government has lost it's credibility. This confirms one thing. Dr. Manmohan Singh has stepped into the shoes of the late President Faqruddin Ali Ahmed stamping his approval in anything that came to him for consent. The de facto authority then was Indira Gandhi, now it is Sonia Gandhi.

The jurisdiction of the judiciary has to be widened due to the amoral attitude of the Government and the normative economist attitude of the Prime Minister. We need a Government which cares for the people and a PM who walks the talk rather than the one who doesn't even talk when a run is needed.

Quo Vadis, my dear nation?

We are witnessing disturbing trends in doing business with the judiciary of the nation. Judiciary is the last resort of justice that a common man still trusts. The Apex court of the nation strives to live up to that confidence, come to talk of the recent observations and judgments. We do have a complaint pending inquiry in the Apex court on the questionable probity of some of our former CJs. But that doesn't give anyone the authority to show disrespect, or threaten the judiciary in any manner.s

We have the Attorney General, the top law officer of the Government, making statements threatening the judiciary of questioning its integrity when questions were raised on the Government's questionable decisions. The CVC appointment which is per se non compliant with the regulations, that a person with unquestionable integrity should man that office. The CJI questioned the appointment of Mr.P.J.Thomas as CVC based on service jurisprudence. How a person, who could not even be considered for promotion, was appointed as the top officer to oversee the investigation in all the corruption cases in the nation, with judicial decision still pending on the charge sheet which blames him with criminal conspiracy, since 2002?

When the first bench of the nation's top judicial body asked the Government whether the procedure of checking for impeccable integrity was followed in this appointment, the AG retorted if the criterion of impeccable honesty and integrity in appointments to higher positions has to be followed in every case then all judicial postings would come under scrutiny. This is a clear threat to the judiciary, meaning that if the actions of Government could be questioned on the integrity grounds by the judiciary, the Government could question the actions of the judiciary on the same grounds. The question went unasked in the court room was "Does your statement include the appointment of the AG also?" But that was asked by Justice (Retd) V.R. Krishna Iyer in his article in the Hindu condemning the AG for his insinuations.


This is like talking in a political meeting challenging an opponent with embarrassing exposes whenever the opponent questions your activities. Is this the signal the Government is sending to the world that it has scant respect for the judiciary? The kind of signal sent by the Government that any sort of insinuations could be made against the nation's judiciary and still defend such insinuations as abstract legal argument shows the quality of the people manning the Government. This is not expected from a man supposedly of impeccable integrity, Dr.Manmohan Singh. Is he doing all these on his own or is he operated with a remote control? In both cases the nation doesn't deserve either an arrogant personality or a meek personality holding a powerful responsibility.

Someone has picked up the cue from the Government's action in the Supreme court and had justified their actions questioning the trustworthiness of the judiciary and making it official with the UN. It is none other than the infamous human rights activist Teesta Setalvad.


She has, in the Godhra and related cases, sent 2 letters to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which were originally addressed to the SIT chief, complaining about the poor witness protection in the Godhra cases and even contained information of how her former aide Rais Khan Pathan was bought over by the other side. The amicus curiae Harish Salve said that the SIT was disturbed over the constant airing of grievances to the international body. Of course this could put further impediments with too many institutions with different perspectives monitoring an investigation. When the top legal body of the nation monitors an investigation, another is unnecessary and too many monitoring would spoil the course of investigation.

The lawyer for Ms.Setalvad chose to justify the airing of grievances with the UN body, which prompted the SC take serious exception and at one point the bench asked, "Will Switzerland provide you witness protection and not the Supreme Court?” When Setalvad's lawyer said that her NGO was associated with the Geneva based UNCHR, the court said irrespective of associations, the SC would not allow outside bodies to oversee what it was overseeing. Such an insensitive approach towards a sensitive matter brings into question the lawyering skills of Ms. Setalvad in the first place, which should be a worry of practicing lawyers, though.

If a lawyer chooses to dishonor the court she was approaching for justice, what is the point in still pursuing the matter with the same judiciary? She resorts to dilly-dallying when it comes to appeal against judgments not in her. She tries to paste a picture that the High Court of Gujarat is untrustworthy and she has to take the Supreme Court's order for every step in the case, but yet approaching the UN perhaps to caution the Supreme Court of an international repercussion if she feels she was not given a fair deal. This kind of manipulating the system may work with common man with little legal knowledge and no political or other powers to muster, but when dealing with the Apex judiciary of the nation manipulation means mean attitude.

The reason behind such insensitive activities is the Union Government, as it, through it's top legal representative, questioned the very integrity of the judiciary, in the veil of replying to an incisive question and tried to cover it up as discussing an abstract legal point. Suspicion about the probity and impartiality of the judiciary has been expressed openly by the AG in doing so.

The  Government has a lot of explaining to do here. Was that statement by AG reflect the view of the Government? If so, what are the steps taken to check the impeccable integrity and other ethical issues on appointments to highest offices? Or as the AG told it is not a matter of concern, would the Government take steps to amend the law suitably to the effect that impeccable integrity is not a concern for holding any high office in the nation?

The moot question in the mind of common man is "Quo Vadis, my dear nation?" My question is where are you leading the nation, Mr. Prime Minister? If you don't, Sir, please ask your Boss and let the nation know, as we the citizens trust that it would not be a classified information!

Performance Does Matter!

Good show by Nitish & Sushil would be an understatement come to talk of the landslide victory they've earned in the recently concluded assembly elections in Bihar. Surviving a lot of rug pulling, this coalition of JD(U) and BJP came to power in 2005. Laloo was a force to recon with in Bihar at that time, despite his administration being a farce and his wife working in a literal kitchen cabinet. Not only corruption charges those include the infamous fodder swindle, Bihar was left to lurch in the dark with Governmental apathy, planned subversion of the rule of law, scant respect for reasonableness, with lantern being the electoral symbol of Laloo, though.

Nitish Kumar had to start from scratch, and he had a good partner in Sushil Kumar Modi, fortunately. Their administration successfully kept away the bickering of party men and concentrated on good governance. The one good thing they have done to dispose of pending cases is pretty much corporate-like. They had a weekly review with all District Magistrates and encouraged fast-track justice. Police, which was virtually non-existent in Laloo (un)rule, was resurrected and now it is policing the state with the due spirit of the uniformed services.

Education, which was ignored in toto  during Laloo's regime, was also given a lease of life. The root cause for not sending children to school was found to be kidnappers and pathetic condition of schools. Kidnappers were dealt with sternly and infrastructure of education institutions was improved duly. They incentivized attendance by given the school going children free bi-cycle, food and money to buy uniform and books.

There was a cry earlier in 2009 that the money given for uniform and books were misused. Books had to be purchased, since parents of children without books were duly questioned by Government officials. An allegation that parents bought  substandard dress materials for uniforms and take the rest of the money for their expenses. This too was proved wrong by statistics. (Yeap, they tracked that also!)


Good roads,, non-existent for a couple of decades, were laid and transportation became physically affordable. The unnecessary freebies were scrapped. The Laloo type get-togethers were stopped. (Earlier Laloo used to take bags of wheat,  sufficient hen and goats to villages, cook them there and eat with those people during weekends. The villagers were suitably educated that they would get such a good food so long as Laloo remains in power. Laloo's paradise was such.)

But the JD(U)-BJP combine chose the growth path, of course with initial troubles of change management, but they were firm on their goal to get the state on par with others. There is another angle to this vigorously followed growth path. Nitish Kumar didn't have a caste base, nor Sushil Modi had a core Hindu base. This lack of vote bank made them understand the fact that they had to work and prove take the people's confidence to survive in politics. (Nitish had to depend on Sharad Yadav for core caste votes. Modi married a Christian lady hence could not take core Hindu support for granted.)

So, the underlying message of the mandate given to Nitish-Sushil duo in 2005 was to perform or perish. They performed and deformer Laloo perished. This stands proof for a behavioral theory discussed at length in management schools. People would innovate better and work harder when survival matters. This case also could be added to the case study bank on Managerial Behavior in management schools.

Another lesson we could gain from this victory is the handling of the bureaucracy. The man with a master brain behind the excellent execution of this growth idea is N.K. Singh a former Secretary to the Government of India. Singh was instrumental in getting things done with the bureaucracy and materializing the development dream of Bihar. Lesson learnt: Give the ideas and target. Leave the modus operandi to bureaucrats. Constantly check the progress.  Wonders will happen! Why not due development?

Broadening the Spectrum of 2G scam

There is another shocking revelation in the media, related to Telecom licensing that the Home Ministry had a mole in its internal security department, who was passing on classified information to outsiders. The further probing of this issue brings to light the beneficiaries include telecom companies who had benefited from critical information he passed on to them on the issue of number portability of mobile phones. The arrested IAS officer,  Ravi Inder Singh a Director in internal security arm of MHA, was also handling matters pertaining to BlackBerry's encoded services. A Kolkata-based businessman Vineet Kumar, who was allegedly acting as a broker on behalf of Mr.Singh, was also taken into custody.


Police submitted at the court that Mr.Singh was using four mobile phones out of which one mobile connection was on his name and rest of the three numbers were procured through fictitious identities. The officer had secreted those three mobile phones and stopped using them on November 16 after he came to know from Sanjeev Arora, a Vodafone company manager, that calls were intercepted on those phones. This manager may also be brought under the ambit of the investigation. People who have to nail the wrong doers have been doing the fundamentally wrong things.

Ravi Inder Singh is accused of having links with public persons and mediators and was misusing his official position for his personal gains. He did not stay in his official quarters but was residing in a guest house in posh Greater Kailash area of south Delhi. The investigating agency submitted before the court that Singh’s wife who is a homemaker, without any known/declared source of income, had opened an A/C in Bank of Maharashtra in which she has mentioned the guest house’s address as her residential address. Rs.21 lakhs were deposited in that account.  Who paid for this extravagance? Vineet, the broker known as businessman!

Also, Singh is said to have had the pleasure of being entertained with the fair brigade in lieu of his 'services'.

Well, the RIM (Blackberry company) had distanced itself from this man. The tainted officer is expected to speak a lot to the Police, which might spell trouble for many of the corporate and political behemoths. The slapping factor here is that the companies involved are telecom businesses, and the information leaked were of importance to telecom. Would there be a link between this and the Spectrum-gate? We may find some, in the course of free & fair investigation.

There is another scam that hit the heads and headlines couple of days ago. The LIC HF, PNB and other institutions have been involved in a millions of rupees worth (estimated at Rs 42750 cr) cash for loans offer from the realty corporations. Some top officials of the involved financial institutions and banks were arrested, with a promise of more to come.

Here we need to look at it in a multi-dimensional way.

• The Spectrum licenses were given away at throw away prices to realty firms, overlooking the telecom firms. Mediatrixes were involved in this case.
• The telecom companies have been beneficiaries of Ravi Inder Singh's secrets for sex and cash scam. A mediator was involved in this case.
• The corporate home loan for cash scam involved realty firms and a firm Money Matters Financial Services Ltd. acting as mediator. 

Given these three scams have a couple of dimensions in common like middlemen, realty and telecom sectors (not obviously though), the investigative agencies should try to ascertain whether there are any connections between these three separate looking scams, to find out a probably mammoth plot to loot the public money. Nothing could be ruled out now. Investigating the possible inter-relation of these scams would not cause any harm as the basic thumb rule of any criminal investigation is "Disbelieve the obvious". The obvious picture is that these three are separate scandals.

A shrewd investigation would bring out all the hidden truths, provided we don't have any extra-constitutional meanderings as in the case of Bofors fame Q, to get away kinsmen and loyal partners in crime .

People who are trained and paid to ensure right doings, do all the wrongs for some extra bucks and greedy f**ks. This raises questions not on the training system of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy, but on the basic moral lessons right from elementary schools. We don't have moral educators, aka grand parents, at home nowadays thanks to the nuclear family system. We are so concerned about the good marks shown in school report cards, than good marks made in the society. Unless we shed the ambivalence towards morality, we have to live with such highly educated criminals at the high offices of the nation. Vande Matharam!

Spectrum-Gate: What now?

Finally, after prolonged inertia and attempted goof ups under the cover of cover ups by the UPA, the 2G spectrum allocation scam is officially out in the public. The minister concerned A.Raja maintains his claim of innocence, audaciously though, despite being neck deep in the flowing proofs of his wrong doings. He claims to have taken the PM, a man known for his honesty, integrity and probity through, inter alia, his frugal lifestyle, on board on whatever he did in the process of awarding the 2G license. This strengthens the suspicions raised by whistle blowers and opinion builders those include Dr. Subramanian Swamy, Mr. Rajeev Nambiar and others.

Dr.Swamy had written to the PMO on this issue and there had been delays even in replying to his letter. Rajeev Chandrasekar, entrepreneur-politician-MP, had also written to the PMO, but PMO resorted to inertia in this case also. The opposition parties have now raised a high decibel cry and stalled the Parliament, but initially they were either not aware of the grandi pecunia involved or were busy with other political activities. The AIADMK was the only political party to raise voices right from the day of the inking of spectrum deal. The nation's principal opposition party the BJP too had joined the chorus later, effectively vociferous though.

To start with, in 2007, the DoT has issued guidelines for the auction of 2G Spectrum. But within months, Raja had ruled out auction in the 2G spectrum. The reason he cited was that a favorable level playing field for the existing GSM players would be created through auction. If he was so interested in an evenly leveled playing field for all players, he should have ensured in the first place that all the bidding players were competent in the game they were expressing interest to play.

The Unitech Group of companies and Allianz Infratech, to name a couple, were realty companies as stated in their MOA and AOA. Hence they could not be awarded licenses for any telecom related businesses. So, they should have got approval from the Ministry of Company Affairs  and the Company Law Board to change the AOA and get new nomenclature to be eligible for participating in the telecom license auction. Though no auction was held, these companies should have done the aforesaid to be eligible to apply for licenses under the infamous movie ticket method of first-come-first-served basis.

These companies are said to have been veils for the real beneficiaries. The real beneficiaries are believed to have been Raja's cronies in his party (should have been said the other way round), the businessmen having dubious trade history who were so closely connected to the first family of DMK. The licenses were awarded at 1/10th of the prevailing market value, the process followed was illegible, the modus operandi smacked undue haste. The licensees sold parts of those contracts to another company for a higher price, which in turn sold that stake to another company, thus weaving a web of legit looking business transactions.

Raja had told in 2007 when he ruled out auction that the Government has the annual license fee for its revenue. So, was he hinting at that time that he was going to give away these licenses for stanza (not even a song!)? Well, he dragged the PM into this by stating that the PM had suggested the revenue from annual fee logic to give away these licenses without auction. The PM had not responded to this till now. This adds fuel to the suspicion that the PM has allowed this to happen whatever be the reasons attributed to the palpable inertia.

The corporates who tried to bring this loot to light were silenced by the minister, as evident from one of the bidders S-Tel was silenced with daring threats from A.Raja. The reason S-Tel went to court might not have been to expose the corruption or to get the dealings clean, but Raja 'advising' them to keep quiet triggers the 'trillion Rupees' question that why Raja was afraid of facing them in the court, if everything went by the letter and the spirit of the law book.

Contrary to the popular belief money has not been looted from the national exchequer in this case. The money that has to come to the national exchequer has been routed through illegal means, inter alia, to the coffers of vested interests who rule a part of the nation. The vested interests and their mouth pieces brush this trillion rupee scam as non-existent. Their argument is that the CAG report says the loss to the national exchequer is notional and not real, so the said scam is imaginary, fanciful and conceptual. They'll have to look for absolute nitwits to take this argument.

In investment jargon notional means "The value of a derivative's underlying assets at the spot price. In the case of an options or futures contract, this is the number of units of an asset underlying the contract, multiplied by the spot price of the asset."

http://www.investorwords.com/5930/notional_value.html#ixzz15ic2mxas

 

What was the spot price of the spectrum when it was given away? Going by the S-Tel bid we can have a safe bet of Rs.6000 crores, yet negotiable for further hike as per prevailing market value. But that license was given away for Rs.1600 crores to an unknown, ineligible, incompetent bidder, who simply sold part of that license for a higher price. What was the quid pro quo in giving away a diamond mine for peanuts? Ignorance? Impossible with the advises, cautions and suggestions given by the PM, the TRAI, the FM and the secretaries of the ministry. Habitual swindling is the root cause for this mammoth scam.

 

While delving into the details a lot of shocking revelations about this loot come in our way. Those information question the very basis of the ground the Prime Minister stands before the world. Honesty. The common man can say "I don't care Ram or Ravan rules as long as I get my meals three squares a day" and live on. But the ruler should not brush aside untenable happenings in his territory with this infamous "Don't care" attitude of the Aam Aadmi. Honest people must lament and honest leaders like Dr.Manmohan Singh should act. 

There are reports now that Ratan Tata wanted Telecom out of Dayanithi Maran's reach. Anyone would wish so as we have seen how Maran threatened TATAs during his tenure as telecom minister during UPA-I. Before targeting Tata for taking the unfair route to check unfair people out, we need to ask an important question. Why are mediators allowed to influence the decisions of the Prime Minister right from setting up his administrative team? Given fact that the PM represents the first family of the Congress in the Government, can't the K-family and the S-family sit, talk and get things done?



Evidences have come out now to suggest strongly that the K-family was not comfortable with Dayanithi Maran getting key responsibilities in the UPA-II. There are conversations reported in the media now believed to have been taken place between two mediatrixes of the Congress and the DMK. (http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/tell-me-what-should-i-tell-them)
This is now getting confirmed with the DMK distancing itself from Maran's acts during his tenure as Telecom Minister in UPA-I, while still having Raja standing  by him in public. This further proves that the immediate K-family wanted to cement its hold by keeping even the sons and siblings of his late lamented 'conscience' at comfortable distance. Family feud is not the topic I choose to discuss here, but the family loot. 

The regional political rivalry between the AIADMK and the DMK is cited as the reason for the former's stringent stand  on this issue. If such reasons have to be attributed to the raised voice of the opposition parties, what reasons would be attributed to the silenced voices of the affected and the preferred silences of the friends and beneficiaries.


Given to understand that anybody with enough money can influence the Government's decision at any level and to any extent leads us to question the trustworthiness of this Government. How are we to trust such people with the security of the nation? What would be the fate of the nation if 'anything' could be done with the money power? Q-branches may not worry because they have South American bananas to live in. The worry now is about the people who are born and brought up in this nation and nowhere to go? What are the answers we have to give the generations to come when we teach them to be truthful and practice the right opposite?


Now the ruling coalition refuses to setup a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the scam. Legal experts and parliamentarians assert that JPC was successful in the past two decades to bring out the truth in many scams. The argument that the Public Accounts Committee would look into the scam and the CAG report is deliberate procrastination to get the guilty off the parliamentary inquiry.

The PAC would look into the accounts of the previous years and thus would do only a post mortem analysis of the scam. The PAC inquiring into the spectrum-gate would take years unless it is given a special mandate to inquire the current CAG report, keeping the regular business pending. It would be better in the interest of timely justice to have a JPC set up. Otherwise the guilty would either flee or would successfully tamper with the evidences to get off the hook.

There is a management adage "When you cannot commit on something, form a committee." The Government is not in a position now to commit on anything in this issue as there is chaos in the modus operandi of the spectrum-gate. So, better form a Joint Parliamentary Committee, Mr. PM. I trust Dr.Manmohan Singh, as he is still an honest man at heart in this head-to-foot corrupt UPA. TINEA factor works for him very well. *TINEA => There Is No Effective Alternative.

Times of India insults Hinduism

There was an article in Times of India stating that incest is rampant in Haryana and predominantly the Hindu community is involved in it. They have even quoted some examples from Mahabharatha and Rig Veda that incest was traditional in Hindu culture. Here is the link. http://t.co/U45bz0X  The tenor of the article was of that only Haryana is infested with incest and some comments from some 'cultured' people say that North Indian men are sex maniacs. 

I seriously doubt the credentials of those 'cultured' commentators. Any perversion would take place and grow only when the mind is left idle to fend with any kind of thought. No community fosters perversion, nor they encourage such ideas. Stray incidents are given a boost and a bad picture is pasted about the Hindu community.

Careful checks through the net by Hindu people revealed that parts of article were just a carbon copy of a Pakistani forum (http://www.paklinks.com/gs/religion-and-scripture/40836-incest-hinduism-exposed.html). The 'author' of this article Sukhbir Siwach has picked up paragraphs from the said pakistani forum which insinuates about incest in Hindu culture. 

The copier (not worth addressed to as a writer/author) Sukhbir Siwach in his zeal to say something sensational has insulted the culture of the nation, misinterpreted the epics and vedas of the Hindu culture. This too has not come from his 'education' nor 'knowledge', but from just copying and pasting from an enemy nation's cyber forum. 

This is a blatant transgression of the basic norms of journalism. ToI editors should have checked the veracity of the claims in the article before publishing it, but they have not done that which is a result of either irresponsibility on their part or deliberate designs of the media house to insult the cultural face of the nation, Hinduism. ToI should apologize to the nation for subscribing to enemy views and insulting the Hindus. Legal action should also be taken if they still try to getaway with the crime committed. 

I do have couple of questions regarding this article. If this is part of the much lamented and detested paid journalism, who is paying for such insinuations? Since it is picked up from pakistani forum we have strong reasons to believe that ISI may have the copier in it's payroll. But going by the basic rule of any criminal investigation and disbelieving the obvious we have enough reasons to trust that it is the design of secular lobby which has a never quenchable hungry of insulting the Hindu people to uphold their designs and policies.

Be it the design of ISI or the secular lobby, it has to be nipped off with putting pressure by all legal and moral means on such evil minded journalists and secular-veiled media houses.

Inducing to Education or sustaining vote bank?

It is appalling that the Government of TamilNadu in its zeal to woo the so-called minority community has chosen to alienate the poor of the Hindu community. Irrespective of their economic status the students of Government and Government recognized schools and colleges are handed out money for paying tuition fees and covering expenses for their books and other stationery. This is not done by any missionaries nor by any jehadi outfits, but by the "Secular" Government of TamilNadu. It is in toeing line with the PM of India announcing that only moslems have the first right on the nation's resources, citing Sachar, Mishra and other committee reports.

The Center has nodded for some "exclusively for minority" concessions and the State Government has without any formal announcement started doing the above said service to the minorities. The Government has no Constitutional justification for this as it violates most of the fundamental rights given by the Constitution, The right to Education, The Right to Equality and The right to freedom from exploitation. The students of the majority community are denied their right to be equally treated with any other citizen as they are discriminated. Their right to have a fair and decent education is being questioned on the economic status of their parents, as some of the students are given subsidy by the Government whereas it is the duty of the Government to ensure every citizen gets a fair and decent education. The right to freedom from exploitation of the majority community is violated as they are being sidestepped, subjected to bigotry by this chauvinistic act of the Government of TamilNadu.

The school children of the majority community are being mocked by the student of the so-called minority community that only those worship their God would get money. This is another means of inducing religious conversion, but this could also be categorized as subtle imposing of other religion on Hindus, which puts under constant threat their right to freedom of religion. The atheists in Government of TN have no respect for nature, culture and people. They have reduced Chennai from a beautiful city to a crowded ugly settlement but made money from the encroachments made. How can we expect these money minded politicians to ensure equality among citizens? They need power to make money and they do what it takes to get to power.

MK and his atheists followers (who would go to temple with families and then criticize the same God they worshiped) would not do justice unless the majority unite as a vote bank. They would do all the possible tricks and gimmicks to get the people's attention away from such discriminatory and dangerous practices, but the Hindus shall wake up to the reality.  Come on folks. Arise..... be awake and stop not until the atrocities against us are stopped.

Honesty, really saves faces?

Today's news conference of the PM was like a guided tour. There were no incisive questions asked. PM chose to blabber away questions on Naxals, Aksai Chin- PoK, caste census and the likes. The only honest admission was that the Government could have performed better. With the prices sky rocketing and the FM unmindful of it, the economist PM is still hopeful of getting the inflation under control by December. (Note: He has not mentioned the year.) He did not bring in justifications for his prediction of 8.5% growth this fiscal, whereas he chose not give any specific numbers for the inflation.

He echoed the general view of the public that corruption is the problem with our nation, but treaded the traditional politicians' path of rubbishing evident corruption in Telecom 2G case. He said that Raja had given his explanation in the public and also the issue was discussed in the Parliament. Well, he added that Raja had just followed TRAI guidelines and had implemented the prevailing policy, whereas the fact is that the TRAI guidelines of "let the market decide the price" have been flaunted without a business justification. Mr. Honesty! you've lost your most boasted ground here. 

While welcoming the differences of opinion in the Cabinet as a mark of thriving democracy, Dr.Singh chose to display the democratic principle by contradicting his own Foreign affairs minister. Krishna was buoyant of a growing trust between the neighbours, but Dr.Singh told that there was a trust deficit between the neighbours. On a question of taking back PoK and Aksai-Chin , the PM said that talks have not come to that level of getting to solutions. So, keep jaw-jaw and when the jaw pains take rest and start again!!!

There was a stupid question on whose advise was more suitable for him, Sonia Gandhi or Mrs. Gursharan Kaur. PM could have rubbished this question and asked for something on important issues, but he chose to answer that saying advises from both are valuable as they both advise on different issues. One is political Boss he could not think of relegating down, and the other is provider of  his rozi roti whom he could not afford to lose. He also reiterated that there was not an iota of difference between him and Sonia. Could he have a difference and continue as PM? But was this question necessary in his first national press conference where there are more serious issues to be discussed? Or did the media think this is more important than any burning national issues?

He said that the party was not undermining him, on the same vein he said that he was willing to step down if the party chooses a suitable person for his job (read Rahul Gandhi aka Raul Vinci). He also reiterated that Rahul was qualified enough to hold a post in the Union Cabinet. That was true in letter and spirit. We have Alagiri holding a Cabinet post and absconding from Parliament for the entire session, whose only qualification is that he is his M.K's son. Comparing to such colleagues, his preference to Rahul is justifiable!!

He has said that the Naxalism was not under estimated by him or his Government. But then, Mr.PM, why so many policemen have been sacrificed at altar of naxals, when this could have been nipped in the bud? He said that he has been saying for the past three years that Naxalism remains the biggest internal security challenge facing our country. Well, have you taken any actions to root that out Mr.PM? Have you atleast got a person who could war-war instead of jaw-jaw in the war field? The limited mandate and the like jargons would not suffice to fight the terror your Government version 1 allowed to grow and version 2 lurches in fighting. 

He treaded the expected line of procrastination in the Afzal Guru case. Let the law of the land take its own course. This is none different from his former boss Narasimha Rao's near inertia and allowing problems to solve by themselves in any way. The Parliament attack was an attack on the core of Indian democracy. But we'd still consider the guilty in that case on par with other rogues and rascals waiting the gallows. Are you trying to emphasize equality atleast on this front, Mr PM?

On Telengana, he said that there was no agreement to create new states. Then why did your Home Minister promise a separate state then back tracked? Was it a ploy to stop KCR from becoming another Potti Sriramulu? Did your Government lie to get KCR to end his fast?

The journalists from Tamilnadu chose to keep silent on the state issues and issues related to the state's sentiments. No question on Sethu Samudram. No question on the pitiful status of SriLankan Tamils, while Rajapakse has strengthened his hold in that country. Rajapakse is known for his anti-Tamil agenda. There are conflicting reports about the status of the internally displaced people. But we're keeping mum. The state leadership has nothing to gain from the SriLankan tamil issue now as there is no imminent election in the state. But you too journalists? 

Well, it was a mandatory exercise to reiterate that the PM is the de-jure boss of the Government to ensure smooth sailing of the workings of the de-facto boss. That was done as planned without a hitch. Seems that the center has taken lessons from the alliance partner M.K of TN in conducting guided press conferences. Well learning for the ruling lot, but the people are still suffering.... well, who cares as long as they vote whenever they are told to?

Manmohan Singh is a man of honesty and that was why he was chosen to lead UPA Government, overlooking all other political stalwarts in the Congress. We have an old saying about honesty. “Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” Manmohan Singh is an honest man. No one would dispute that. But is he a man of integrity? Can he give the same answers to his conscience?

more at: http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/wont-retire-but-happy-to-make-way-for-younger-leadership-pm-27534.php?cp

Opposition and Ideology

The BJP has sent shock waves through the political circles by expelling its most senior leader and a foreign policy expert, Jaswant Singh. The reasoning and timing stinks indeed. Reason being authoring a book, the title of which appears to question the basic beliefs of the party. Has anyone in the party come up with a strong reason to reject the book and the author? NOPE. A reason in the true sense of the word was not given for expelling Jaswant Singh. The talks of the political leaders are purely echoing the press opinion of the book.

The learned opinion is that the people who manned the "Chintan Bhaitak" (Introspection Session) had appeared not to have read the book, not even the synopsis nor a review. Singh argues that the Congress' top duo during the partition period are more responsible for the cut off than the often demonized Jinnah. This is a fact and that puts the BJP stand for decades that the Gandhi-Nehru duo were responsible for the ruins of nation and the spirit of the democratic system. History has scores of evidences that Nehru had often strong tongued Gandhi in getting things in his way. So, why throw out a man who comes out with a very supportive arguement for the party's stand?

The bottom line of this episode is that Singh has no political strong grounds to stand. He has raised reasonable questions that has put the top brass of the BJP in much inconvenience, by challenging their ego. So they threw him out, as simple as that. Every decision by the BJP brass from 2004 general elections were based on over confidence than on a perfect analysis of reality. Bharath Udai bombed as it painted a double coated rosy picture of the economy, while the plight of the common man was highlighted by the Congress. The fruits of the prudent economic decisions were in the stage nearing fruition at that moment, though.

The party lacked the will to go for the kill as they could have easily snubbed the financially futile Congress in 2004 by some tough politicking. They also lacked the skill to counter the Congress' charges of "Aam Aadmi" being ignored. BJP had some excellent minds those could convince even a staunch opponent to support their ideas. But the way they had conducted business from 2004 makes it very clear that the previous successes had gone into the heads of the party heads. They were over confident and had lost. They could not come to terms with the loss and were strenuously objecting even the negligible errors 0f the UPA Government thus getting an image of Communists who oppose everything for sake of opposing.

The current introspection session has had done no effective introspection on the pathetic performance of the party in the recently concluded elections. The leaders seem to live in an elevated world insulated with their own perceptions that they could not face the ground reality. The leaders have taken stances those defy common social etiquette. A person who was with the team of leaders for 30+ years was simply asked to keep away over the telephone. If a leader of this stature is treated in such an uncivil manner, what would be the fate of the common cadre who tends to question the decisions of the leadership on common man's logic? Only if the leaders show respect for the cadres they could command respect in the society.

It makes one who looks for an alternate to the GOP flinch with the developments in the BJP. Once it happened between the then law minister Ram Jethmalani, and the secretary of Dept of Law, Justice and Company affairs that they both got into a public spat and it was the then PM Vajpayee gave them strictures that usage of terms like Alice in Wonderland in official communication was much below the reputation of the personalities and the positions involved. They both went silent and solved their differences in a different way. But now the party management is termed as Alice in Blunderland, Humpty Dumpty, Jack Sprat etc and none comes forward to advise people involved on the necessity of subtleties in public communication.

This shows the entire party is in chaos. Things go haywire and no one comes forward to control. Those who have come to terms with the prevailing situation have been ridiculed. Those who have asked for streamlining party operations have been sidelined. The basic marketing concept that the same market strategy would not work for every market has been forgotten by the party "strategists" and the issues of the previous century are still hoisted with heavy clamour. People could not come to terms with temple building repeatedly showcased as nation building while the urgent issues of economic, national and social importance were not addressed. Either build the temple come what may, or leave it off and move on with nation building.

The bottom line is that the party still suffers from its historic blunders. It still fights over history and forgets the current affairs. Those who live and fight for the past can never be trusted with future building. Be it Jinnah, Nehru or the British that had divided the nation, now we have cut throat enemies across the border who still take pride in killing people on this side of the LoC.

Instead of fighting for who is responsible for the past, the party should come up with ideas on how to shape up the future of the nation keeping in mind every aspect of security in mind. Let us keep the discussion of the past mistakes for free time and take up the task of making the future.

We shall not give room for another generation to discuss who goofed up in early 2000s as we discuss now on who mess up in early 1900s. Nation needs a strong and vibrant opposition party which tracks the current issues and thinks for the better future. Anyone in the BJP ready to listen? There is a deafening noise over there within the BJP top brass. Who will make them to calm down and think properly? RSS? They can, but will they? Effectively? Hey Ram..... This should not become the last words of the party which was grown upon the same Name.

Unlocking of Lockerbie criminal - Compassion for what?

“Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.” - William Shakespeare.
We see tears, shrill and whine over Scottish justice minister's decision to free Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the criminal convicted of bombing the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie killing 272 people, on compassionate grounds. This leaves every sane mind with a question whether we need the provision in the laws to release criminals of such a grave nature on compassionate grounds. Megrahi was accorded a hero's welcome in Libya, as if he has done something extraordinarily good for his nation or for the world and had been jailed for a cause. Criminals who have the potential to be symbolized for recruits and trainees at the terror camps don't deserve to be released on any grounds.

Megrahi had killed people who hadn't chosen to die over the skies of Lockerbie. The people were common men women and children, who were going home or away from home for reasons personal, business and intimate. They were not allowed to live a life of their choice. They were killed at the behest of Col.Gadhaffi, by Megrahi and gang, to show to the world that they are someone that the world has to be afraid of. Releasing him on compassionate grounds is not what justice is, be it the system of whichever country. Earl Warren rightly said,"It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive".

The argument supporting his release is not based on strong legal or judicial grounds. People argue that the American bombers of Iranian civilian airplane were not punished, so none should question the release of Megrahi. American bombing of civilian aircraft is a different case. People concerned should have approached the International Court of Justice or the UNO for dealing with that crime. It is not wise to compare two crimes and justify one. Crime is a crime and it deserves punishment through a thorough legal system.

Megrahi killed people and that is a fact. If terrorists wanted to show “compassion” they wouldn’t have become terrorists. Therefore showing compassion to them is criminal. The abettor of the Pan Am attack is terminally ill and would like to die in peace. Let him do it in the confines of a prison cell. If that Megrahi had repented for the killings he had abetted and took part in, and atleast felt bad for the common people whom he killed under the orders of one who wanted to frighten someone else for some reason the dead were not allowed to comment or even think upon, then his release on compassionate grounds to have him a death at the place of his choice would have some credibility. Peace has nothing to do with the place you live, it is a state of mind.

If people have the maturity to live life peacefully with a calm mind, even petty crimes would not happen. Until then, we need to have mercy only for the victims and not for criminals, especially towards such brainwashed people who take pride in killing in the name GOD in a form they worship. Megrahi should not have been released. Scotsmen have erred in judgment. This is a costly error. This has already cost 272 human lives and may cost more because of the agony and angst.

Englishmen are accused of having vested trade interests in this crime of release. If that is proved we have to hail Sir. Winston Churchill for telling the truth about the mentality of his people so publicly. He said,“The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.” Englishmen seem to be strong now and Americans are weaker. If this release is based on compassion, is it a compassion for justice or compassion for commerce?