Inquilab Zindabad

A One-legged old man trying to get a glimpse of ANNA HAZARE

Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Many a times in my childhood when I needed motivation, my grandmother would illume optimism through various stories where a grisly era ruled by devils came to an end when god exorcised the earth off them. Our Hindu mythology is deluged with such stories; they tell us how every oppression is repressed by the Divinity. But this time, they do not give any relief when India is daunted by devil of corruption. Although, the BJP led opposition leaves no chance to square off the government on corruption, yet there seem bleak chances of the devil being subjugated.

Corruption is no new word in the lexicon of Indian politics, time and again we have seen political parties creating brouhaha over CAG reports and media revelations but none of them really appealed for reforms to prevent such irregularities. Haunted by the spectre of corruption, nation has gone through some ghastful phases including national emergency. Jai Prakash Narain effectively projected Indira as a tyrant and ran an anti-Indira juggernaut all over the country. Consequently, the congress party lost its throne and Indira was ousted of the parliament and her residence.

But today India beseeches its JP, to not only revolt against the perpetrators but also to find a permanent solution to the problem. The allegations on the government are gross and opposition finds no way out other than resisting the proceedings of the parliament in demand of a JPC probe. While the government continually dismisses its demand in the pretext of the ongoing probe by various agencies including the PAC headed by Murli Manohar Joshi, a BJP leader, all that is going on is exchange of words and shooting questions on one another.

Wonder! What is the reason that no political party has had the audacity to put forward a proposal to whet out the sword against corruption? Why there has been no debate so far, to hasten the investigation and judicial process against the crooks? And why there has been no law passed that could ensure the independence and viability of the investigation agencies?

The BJP which consistently profess itself of being the flag bearers in the march against corruption gets subdued by its own chief minister facing almost similar charges in the state of Karnataka. However, its tenure in the centre had also not been spick and span. The leaders who beguile as reformist now, had earlier condoned its ministers allegedly involved in embezzlements. Not to forget the Tehelka expose in which the then defence minister George Fernandes and other members of his Samata Party were allegedly benefited by the swinging of arms deal. Although George Fernandes had resigned from his post, but later on was given a clean chit and reinstated in the same port folio.

Stung by the back to back Tehelka operations which revealed BJP president Bangaru Laxman receiving bribe and also those which inferred 2002 Gujrat Riots of being connived by the state government, the BJP came down heavily on the enterprise and practically ruined it by framing severe charges on the editor-in-chief and its financial backers.

Today, when we bid farewell to year 2010 we look back at it not only as a year when many scams were divulged but also a year when the Indian democratic system was proved impotent in combating corruption. This year has witnessed inefficiency of a central government to take strict actions against its tainted minister, a national party which was restrained by its chief minister from taking action against him and also the influence of corporate houses in politics and media. There was also an instance this year, when the Supreme Court had remarked at the discrepancies in Allahabad high court.

Significantly, it has been a year when the government, opposition, judiciary and the media have been at the receiving end of allegations and brickbats related to the unscrupulousness and ineffectiveness. The Common Indian on the other hand stands helpless in situation where he has to choose between devil and the deep blue sea....

An article by Gaurav Tripathi produced in general interest of public by GAAP

"Self before Service" - Corruption in indian Army

OP Vijay, OP Meghdoot, Indo-Pak War 1971 - These examples brag a lot of the valour, wisdom, guts and glory of the Indian Armed Forces and the Indian Army specifically. But this is only one side of the coin, the other side flips the entire image of the organization.

The recent revelations in the Adarsh Housing Society scam is not a singular incident where the top brass of Army are found indulged in, but this may be the only one where two former Chiefs are alleged to be the beneficiaries.

Prior to this there have been number of cases where officers, as senior as Corps Commanders and Army Commanders were found guilty by Court of Inquiries and were subsequently court-marshaled. In fact, there have been more than 600* court marshals since 2001. In many of these, senior officers of rank Maj Gen and above were penalized. Not only this, but the year 2006 alone witnessed more than 105* court marshal cases. The charges in these cases varied from rape and murder to severe embezzlement.

In one such cases Maj Gen AK Lal was dismissed on 12 Sept 2008 after found guilty of sexually assaulting a junior lady officer. And also, in a recent case Lt Gen AK Nanda, the Engineer-in Chief of the Army was forced to resign this year following the allegations against him for sexually assaulting his junior officer's wife. However, Nanda is yet not found guilty in the initial probe, but he has become the senior most officer of Indian Army to face such charges.

Numerous cases of corruption have further smeared the reputation of the coveted organization. Various scams like Sukhna land scam, dry rations scam, frozen meat scam and liquor scam have tarnished the dignified uniform.

The gravity of such cases can be realized when there were allegations that the then COAS, Gen Deepak Kapoor had been soft on Lt Gen Awadhesh Prakash , who was found guilty in the Sukhna Land Scam. Prakash was the Chief's military secretary when he was found guilty of allowing a private institution to purchase 70 acres of land, which belonged to the military. Not only Prakash, but Lt Gen Rath who had to take charge of deputy army chief was also indicted in the scam and also, when the COI recommended these officers to be sacked, Gen Kapoor recommended just an administrative action against them. Finally the defence minister, Antony had to step in and write a letter to the chief asking for their court marshal.

Kapoor was further put on the receiving end, when this Adarsh Society scam was unveiled. Fingers were also raised at another former army chief NC Vij when he was also found of possessing a flat at the Adarsh Cooperative housing society. However, Kapoor has also been alleged of possessing assets disproportionate to his income by Trinamool Congress MP, Ambika Banerjee. In her letter to the defence minister, Banerjee notified that properties owned by Deepak Kapoor include a flat in Dwarka Sector 29, three flats in Gurgaon Sector 23, one flat in Gurgaon Sector 42/44, a flat in Gurgaon Phase 3 and a house in Lokhandwala in Mumbai.

Besides these, Army has been tainted many a times by its superior officers. There is no dearth of scandals and scams revealed or concealed within the organization. One of the scams was deliberately kept under the veil when Lt Gen HS Panag, Army Commander, Northern Command was transferred to take charge as Commander of Central Command in the mid of his two year tenure. Panag, as commander in northern command was said to receive an anonymous letter apprising him of a scam in purchasing of tents worth Rs 16 crore* using special financial powers of Area Commander. Following this Panag ordered to stop the future promotions of Maj Gen Malhotra of Ordnance Corps after a COI found him guilty of siphoning off Rs 1.6 crore*. Consequently Panag had his transfer orders on the table.

In such an organization where the Commanders are morally corrupt, the junior officers and men are continuously striving for the dignity of the force. As per the statistics illustrated in the recent cases, the officers indulged in the discrepancies are of the rank of Brigadier and above, but there is no doubt that this vicious cycle of committing and protecting the misappropriations would soon grip the the juniors too. Also, in spite of the success gained in various ops and exercises, the malfunctions of the higher echelons have starkly affected the morale of troops.

Therefore, when we talk about vying with the strong Chinese army, the capabilities of our highly venerated Indian Army are fogged behind the mist of corruption.









An article by Gaurav Tripathi produced in general interest of public by G.A.A.P
*statistics not verified and based upon news articles published in various daily newspapers.

India's most endangered species of the Day: Babubhai Katara

Babubhai Katara, member of Parliament (BJP) from Dahod was arrested by Delhi Police, for human trafficking a 38-year-old Paramjeet Kaur and a 14-year-old boy Amarjeet to Toronto on his wife's and son's passport, at Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi on April 18, 2007.

THE CANCER OF INDIAN SOCIETY

Remember this man....!!!! Yeah you are right he is Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind of one of the greatest forgery scam of Indian history after Harshad Mehta.

The smile on this man's face even under police custody depicts that Telgi had been having great contacts with people in and out of the country. The telgi scam had its ripples widespread in the Indian society. Many great personalities including the Police Commissioner of Mumbai were mired after the crash of this million rupees scam.

It would not be wrong if we say that Telgi is known as the STAMP OF CORRUPTION in the Indian society.

However it is not the only case where scams like these have been brought out infront of the people of India. There are numerous cases of divulged and also some unrevealed scam that had been or have been running in the country. Corruption has beseiged the Indian society from all corners.It has now become the Cancer of Indian society. And to cure this cancer it is very important to know its genesis.

Way back in 1940-50, when our constitution was under process it was thought to adopt the trade policies of the then Soviet Union. Hence, the economy of India became a socialist inspired economy.

In such scenario the industrial development was hindered as it required a large number of approvals from the government authorities. In order to set up an industry one had to satisfy around 80 different government agencies. These agencies were headed mainly by politicians and beaurocrats. This set-up was then called as the License Raj or the Permit raj under which the setting up of the business, its area of operation and even the output was decided by the government agencies.

Under such a system, the government representatives right from the poltical and beaurocratic heads to the third grade government employee became overpowered to decide the fate of a business. Hence the License Raj gave rise to the biggest problem of India- The RED-TAPISM...

However the Permit Raj was opposed in its initial stage by statesman and also the Last Governor General of India, Chakravarthi Rajgopalachari. He opined that this kind of permit system has a potential to generate corruption and also he wrote in his paper , "I want the corruptions of the Permit Raj to go... I want the officials appointed to administer laws and policies to be free from pressures of the bosses of the ruling party and gradually restored back to the standards of fearless honesty which they once maintained..."

Eventually, the Permit Raj caused the great slump in the Indian Economy and the country had no choice but to undergo a major economic reform. Dr. Manmohan Singh carried out these reforms and made the economy stable once again but it was too late... the corrution had already spread its roots deep in the society. The License Raj had now taken a new avatar- "The Mafia Raj".

According to a study in year 2005, more than 50% of people in India had first hand bribe experience or of influencing the government officials to get a job done. The Mafia Raj today has got a solid support of the government officials and politicians which help these mafia to occupy tenders and contracts from the government agencies.

The same study says that the truckers pay annually $5 billion as bribe.... In bihar only, more than 80% of subsidized food aid to poor is stolen. Thence, the cases like these have made India the least efficient economy and it lies way behind the countries like Phillipines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore in the race of development.

Notwithstanding such aghasting statistics India has got a great cpacity to annihiliate corruption from its system. A 2006 study places India at 70th position among the states where efforts were made for reducing corruption.

There are various steps taken by the officials and also the common man to uproot this problem.

The major antidote to corruption was discovered when the Right to Information Act came into being. By the efficient use of this act the people of India can know about the factors impeding the process and consequently annihiliate them. The act can also be used for unveiling inglorious activities prevailing in the system.

The computerization of several offices has also proved to be a measure to prevent corruption and red-tapism. Digitalization of paper records and softwares preventing any alteration in them, also the use of smart cards for registration and licensing has limited the activities of middleman and Babus in the government organizations.

Besides these steps by the government it is very important thath we, the people of India take greater interest in wiping out the problem completely. The incidents like in the cases of Jessica Lal murder and Satyendra Dubey murder where the people have actively participated in the protest, the government had no choice but to do justice to the victims.

Also the whistle blowers of the society play a larger role and along with that the private sector's intiative to create awareness among the masses have proven to be fruitful. The campaign 'Jaago Re' by the Tata Tea group is an exemplar to be followed.

So inspite of sitting in some paan or tea shops and lamenting the corrupt officials we can stand up and take initiative.

In the end we should never forget that, TOGETHER WE CAN AND WE WILL MAKE A DIFFRENCE....

An Article by Gaurav Tripathi produced in general interest of the public by G.A.A.P

Celebrity of the day - Abdul Nazar Madani

He needs no introduction. It is all on you to decide what to comment.

Kill your daughters!!

If you think that things are going better,

have a look at it once again.

I am always against Dowry like most of you. There were times when people used to marry just for dowry, and remarry for more dowry. Thats what Indian marriages were defined - "Deal, or No Deal". This is what dowry is for me-

-- Barter System, where female goes to new home by paying money.

-- Best source of Income, a quick money.

-- One of the ways to death, don't pay if you want your daughter to die.

-- A way to keep your daughter happy by the in-laws.

-- Best differentiator, thats what defines an Indian marriage.

-- A source of entertainment for the neighbors, see the magic in no-dowry marriages.

I feel proud to read or watch instances where the females has done something against the dowry system. Many have rejected the marriage proposal, many have killed their husbands, many have killed themselves, and many have escalated the issue to higher authorities. This is what is happening in some of the Urban areas, but what about rural areas?

I know that this post will be read just as an post. Some of you may vomit your comments, and thats over. I am a not a bragger, but I can never think that ways. Our ancestors might have made these rituals in some different aspect, but we are taking it this way.

If you cannot do anything about this, then start killing your daughters when they are in womb.

Come ahead or go back, but move; as we want to have a clear differentiation between losers and initiators.

Knowing Kashmir...

1)75 SECURITY PERSONNEL,91 CIVILIANS killed in 708 incidents in the year 2008 which include incidents like Malegaon bomb blasts, Mumbai attack & other attacks on CRPF group camps..

2)34 security personnel, 20 civilians killed in year 2010 upto June 30.

After the 26/11 Mumbai attacks Pakistan had faced ire throught the world for sheltering the commanders of various terrorist groups. The terrorist groups had also been dormant with the international intelligence agencies keeping them under their vigil.

Hence the Pakistani agency ISI had no choice but playing diplomatic inorder to keep the troubles for India alive. The recent violence in Kashmir is an illustration of the same. ISI's support to the sepratists and a total debacle of the administration has generated the ongoing revolution in kashmir which is proving to be a tough task to handle for the centre. The picture above depicts the graveness of the situation, that even the women have moved forward to join the protest.

Ever since 1948, the people of Kashmir have insisted on being a seperate sovereign state. This feelings of the Kashmiris was vocalized by Sheikh Abdulllah who was inturn detained in southern India for 12 years by Nehru. This added to the agony of Kashmiris and Nehru had to released Sheikh and deport him to Islamabad.

Unfortunately when Abdullah was in the midst of talks with Gen Ayub Khan, Nehru died. Later on India-Pak had few wars which resulted in no solution of the prevailing problem. Subsequently, the Shimla Agreement came into existence where the Cease Fire Line was declared as the Line of Control. This later on proved to be India' s first diplomatic failure as in Pakistan started pressurising India to declare LC as the international border. Which India kept denying till date.

On the other hand the political leaders of kashmir demanded India to go back to the terms of accession of 1948 where India's role was limited just to Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communications. The sly Pakistan henceforth conspirated few leaders to initiate a revolution in Kashmir.

As a result of which the secular movement in Kashmir took an Islamic edge and the Kashmiri pandits were expelled out of the state. The second debacle of Indian administration came in when the elections of 1987 were rigged on Indian side. This influenced the youths of Kashmir to pickup weapons. And thus insurgency was born.

Several other incidents like formation of All Hurriyat Conference and the stand by Saiyed Ali Shah Gilani added fuel to fire.

However the people of Kashmir seeing no resolution to the issue even with weapons, decided to give India another chance and came back to ballot from bullet. They started participating in elections and in the last assembly elections they turned out in as great as 60%. India being complacent did not realized that its ignorance towards Kashmir could again lead to violence.

No major development projects were initialised by the centre government & Kasmir remained to be a hard-bitten underdevloped state. The state leaders like Farooq Abdullah also lost their faith amongst the Kashmiris as they became more intersted in holding power and cabinet seats.

The dejected Kashmiris now see no savior but the separists like JKLF and leaders like Gilani who are favored by Pakistan.

The violence & killings by the security forces have now agonised the commoners there so much that even kids and women have joined the stone pelting protests in valley.

The incompetent state and central governments seek no solution but imposing curfew in the valley. This has now convinced the citizens that both governments are anti development in Kashmir and resulted in the incidents like shoe throwing on the CM.

The problem may have shifted from the front page headlines to brief stories in the Indian newspapers but its a fact that its more severe than how its being handled.

The statements of the Centre like first cease violence, then talk and of the seperatist to first solve the prob and then stop violence is certainly leading nowhere. Its a first hen or first egg riddle for the problem now and the straight benefit going to Pakistan which has inflicted violence without any terror attacks.

The cause of such complications in this problem is nothing but the inefficiency and laxity shown by the centre and state government so far, right from 1948.

WAKE UP

People of india wake up.... See wt J&K govt is doing... Atrocities and violence will develop hatred vengeance among the people of KASHMIR... Whats happening there today is no difrnt dn wt hpnd in d early 90s n developd insurgency... KASHMIR is a global issue now & ths kind of unwarranted acts of police in J&k will catlyse the growth of insurgency which is said to be diminished... Solultion is in BON HOMIE nt in BOMBs

VANDE MATRAM

Vande Matram- Hail the mother India.

'MOTHER', thats wt we call our country... In all relations of the world,, MOTHER is the closest and the purest of them all.

Then what is the reason that the 'nephews' of Uncle Sam are more committed than the great 'sons' of Mother India.

A mother sacrifices all her comforts and luxuries for the well being of his son.. but wt does the son give her in return?

Arguement or no arguement- we all owe alot to Mother India..

Right from our childhood we all are taught to respect the Tricolor.. To hold it straight, up and never to let it touch the ground. A public interest litigation by Naveen Jindal even allowed us to hoist it in our houses and buildings other than the government offices...

But what such litigations worth when we are constantly burying the soul of the Tricolor deep into the ground. How?- I ll tell you..

You want driving License?- get it through the middleman.. its easier and quicker.

Want a new plot?- Just bury the officials with load of currency, the plot would b nominated to you.

A new telephone Connection?- No problem, provided you pay the clerks for there booze.

No need to get a special connection to run your business and factories... Five hundred bucks evrytime the lineman comes.. & ur business will run smoothly..

Dont want to pay for all this?- Not a problem again.. just have relations with an influential personality of the city, all your jobs would be taken care of..

Come on brothers, we all know that it harms nobody else, but us..

Its we who suffer when roastering is done & we lament the electricity board.

When your file does not move up in the Govt offices, we blame the system.

When the station officer demands money to lodge a FIR we moan the corruption.

But guys what is the system build up of???
Its us... our own men are there in the administration.. They take because we give.... Hence to improve the system first improve yourself..

Wake up brothers, lets do something for our mother...

VANDE MATRAM