Spineless India lose number one Test team status and the series!
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SEVEN HUNDRED EIGHT
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com
Spineless India lose number one Test team status and the series!
I am Happy that Marketing Hype for CRICKET Evaporated with Humiliating Deafeat in England amidst Fierce Class Struglee called as Globalisation Riots!
It is raining since 3rd September. No Respite. Vegetables alomst Unavailable. Daily Life alomost Paralysed. Bengal is almost on the verge of Inundated in Floods.
We have to shift soon or later.
At Home Sabita is suffering from Acute Pain in her chest. Imminent Danger.
I KNOW NOT what should be done in an Emergency for health service if needed. Simply we may NOT afford.
The Family Budget inflicted with Cash Crunch due to medical bill as we both are Diabetic. Sabita in on INSULINE.
The Job front is full of Insecurity. Nothing changed for almost Twenty years since Neo Liberal Age in Economy.
It is very hard to meet to ends together. We could NOT move elsewhere for Beter Chances! Whaere to Go? No Escaping Route!
Sabita had to quit her school teaching just after she underwent Open Heart Surgery way back in 1995.
I have to earn for susteneance.My father late Pulin Babu was a social Activist and We only INHerited Social Commitment and Activism from him!
My Only Son Excalibur Stevense is away from Home for last Six months and has not settled as yet.
It is so tense that we have to wait for the worse only if NOT Worst.
This is NOT just a personal grievance.
It is the Social Environment thanks to Economic Reforms where the affluent may start new Enterprise and earn Millions getting all the Stimulus, but majority mases, we the people have to struggle for our basic Necessities in day today life.
We are NOT Simply REPRESENTED and are subjected to be EXCLUDED as Outclassed.
The Creamy layer of the Excluded communities working in PSU and even in Govt. jobs, have to bear the burn as we see the AIR INDIA Starvation case.
It is just not the Peasantry , struck by Agrarian Crisis and Green revolution, Second green revolution, the white color Co opted people, quite well to do thanks to Reservation and quota, are SUBJECTED to suicidal atmosphere.
And the Tragedy is that we DO NOT Realise the hard Realities. So IGNORANT we are about the Suffocating System and the Merciless Hegemony Rule!
We are DISCONNECTED from HOME which lies far away in Uttarakhand. Sabita visted the place last year but I could not for years.
In Near Future , it seems to be Near Impossible.
I really KNOW NOT whether I would visit my HOME once again in this life.
I am Disconected form my village, district and state.
All the Migrant people displaced face the same PLIGHT of life.It is really very hard to get Home in these circumsatnces.
What a PROSPEROUS life we enjoy in the age of Economic Reforms!
Only Mobile Connectivity makes up for our relationship and we have the space on only Social Networking site. Otherwise, we may NOT SPEAK at all. We may NOT Talk at all.
Long before, I had quit creative writing as my NOVEL AMERICA SE SAVDHAN remained Unnoticed!Editors stopped to Publish me!
It is a VOICELESS Peaceful Nation as Neverbefore.
Only trouble is this that it is Bleeding from Top to Bottom.
Glowing Showbiz and Shopping Malls, Glittering Flyovers, Toll Highways, Multiplexes, Rising INFRASTRUCTURE, Industrialisation, Urbanisation, Metro and INTERNET may NOT be MIRROR what we assume to be. We are DEVELOPED but we are LOST and the HOLOCAUST Continues!
The Rain has left the small Vegetable vendors helpless. They may Not hold the business in these circumstances. suffering loss of some thousnads only , they may not get back to the market once again!
What waits for this lot as soon as Foreign Capital Inflow takes up the retailsector with 51 percent FDI?
The Job in organised sector GONE.
No permanent job in these days. Everyone is on Cotract, Roaming!
No Working condition at all.
Agriculture is Destroyed.
Service Sector specifically the IT Sector dependent on Outsourcing have become FISHY.
IT Coaching classes promising Placement in lacs and showcasing University afliation along with other vocational schools demanding high tution fees MUSHROOMED all over, UNREGULATED.
SIBAL Branded Knowledge Economy has killed Education as well as Knowledge. But it is creating ILLITERATE Semiliterae Armies UNEMPLOYED.
You may not engage anyone in small business or industry as you have NO Capital to compete with Foreign and Private INVESTMENT. Neither the Agrarian wokforce may get job locally in their mother language!
Entire Production System UNDERMINED in LPG Mafia Rule. It is BUILDER Promoter Raj all over.
Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor has to tear through Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra with Seven New Mega Cities and so many Industrial zones.
Five Atomic Rower Plants in Jaitapur, Maharashtra all set to Green Signal Final.
VEDANT Cairns deal struck.
Mining and Land acquisition bills set to be passed.
Banking regulation act and other financial bills are ensured to be passed with NDA support.As the Lok Sabha today approved a bill that will empower the central government to deal with the issues concerning subsidiary banks of the State Bank of India.
No one remains to acclaim how GREEN in my Valley!
PF, Pension, LIC premium, Gartuity,Bank savings everything you have, goes to the Market !
The market share of the government-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), in terms of number of policies in the country, rose to 76.92 percent in 2010-11 from 73.02 percent in the previous year.
When taking into consideration just the first year premium, LIC's market share rose to 68.70 percent in 2010-11 from 64.86 percent in 2009-10, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said Friday.
The public sector behemoth, which has government backing for all its policies, has registered growth in its market share for the second consecutive year despite increasing number of private players entering into the business.
BIRMINGHAM: A spineless India today tamely surrendered their number one status to a ruthless England as they slumped to an innings and 242-runs defeat to allow the hosts clinch the completely lop-sided four-match series by taking a 3-0 lead here.
India's nearly 20 months reign as the number one ranked Test team could not have ended in a more shambolic manner as they folded up for a paltry 244 in the second innings with an entire day to spare in what has turned out to be one of their worst overseas tours in recent history.
After conceding a mammoth first innings lead 486, the Indians had to bat out of their skins to save the game but the famed batting line-up fell like a pack of cards yet again to give the hosts their second successive victory within four days.
James Anderson was the pick of the English bowlers as he ripped through the top order to finish with figures of four for 85 while Stuart Broad (2/28) and Graeme Swann (2/88) chipped in to provide the finishing touches to the emphatic victory.
The worst defeat for India till now is by an innings and 336 runs against the West Indies in Kolkata in 1958 and the hapless visitors managed to avoid that ignominy.
Gasping at 130 for seven at one stage, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (74 not out) and Praveen Kumar (40 off 18 balls) unleashed some lusty strokes during their 75-run eighth-wicket partnership to provide some entertainment and delay the inevitable.
Sachin Tendulkar (40) was the only other batsman who managed to score some runs in the second innings before being tragically run our while most of the others played poorly on an Edgbaston track which certainly was not unplayable.
LS passes subsidiary banks bill, gives more power to Centre
The Lok Sabha today approved a bill that will empower the central government to deal with the issues concerning subsidiary banks of the State Bank of India.The Lower House passed the State Bank of India(Subsidiary Banks) Amendment Bill with voice vote after Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena assured that government does not intend to privatise the state-owned banks.
The Left Parties, however, staged a walk out as the Minister moved the bill for passage.
The bill, according to Meena, will confer powers on the central bank to approve authorised capital of the SBI subsidiary banks in consultation with the Reserve Bank.
Earlier such powers were exercised by the RBI. The situation changed after the central government took over the equity of the SBI held by the central bank.
The central government, following the amendment, will also have powers over to approve other activities of the subsidiary banks like appointment of managing directors, preferential allotment of shares, issuance of bonus among others.
Allaying apprehensions of the members that government was paving the way for the privatisation of the state-owned banks, Meena said, "this bill is not about privatisation...(government) does not intend to privatise PSU banks".
The initiatives, he said, will improve the functioning of the subsidiary banks of SBI.
On consolidation in the banking sector, Meena said, neither the government nor the RBI has issued any directive in this regard.
Since the nationalisation of banks in 1969, Meena said 35 bank mergers have taken place in the country involving public and private sector banks.
Out of 35 mergers, he said, 25 private banks were merged with public sector banks, two state-owned banks were merged with PSU banks and eight private sector banks were taken over by other private sector banks.
The mergers of two subsidiary banks with the SBI, the Minister said, have benefited the employees.
On rising non-performing assets (NPAs), the Minister said, the government and the Reserve Bank have given directive to the banks to take all steps to reduce them.
Factors like global crisis and bad monsoon, he said were responsible for rising NPAs in the banking sector in the last two years. Gross NPAs of the banks was less than 3% of their assets, he said.
Earlier, Nishikant Dubey (BJP) supported the bill but asked the government to introspect and rethink over the economic and financial policies.
He alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia were formulating the policies by just seeing books, which was "disastrous" for India.
There is a perception that the model of reforms was increasing poverty, he said.
Among others who spoke were B Mahtab (BJD), Shailendra Kumar (SP), Prabodh Panda (CPI), Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD), A Sampath (CPM), Mangani Lal Mandal (JDU) and Prasanta
Kumar Majumdar (RSP).
13 AUG, 2011, 06.25PM IST, PTI
No more tax-free zones in country: Pranab
SILIGURI: Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today said there would be no more tax-free zones in the country.Tax-free zone status in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand was being withdrawn gradually following opposition by different states, Mukherjee said.
Renewal of tax free zone status of Sikkim, which would expire in 2017, would be reviewed on the basis of the socio-economic conditions of the state at that time, he told reporters here.
Mukherjee said that instead of tax free zone, the Centre was considering creating special economic zones in backward districts.
In reply to another question, he said, "India cannot remain unaffected by the negative trend in the global market and it is a reality."
13 AUG, 2011, 06.19AM IST, PRABHA JAGANNATHAN,ET BUREAU
Food security law to pressure prices for those without ration cards
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NEW DELHI: A proposed food security law could raise prices for those without ration cards, particularly in times of drought, as the government will have to buy more grain from the mandi to meet its statutory requirements, according to the commission that helps set minimum farm-product prices.
"In a drought year, the possibility of which cannot be ruled out every three years, there will be definite risk in terms of both supply and prices. Apart from operational problems of delivery, the cost of delivery will also go up substantially given the higher input prices for grain warranted now," Ashok Gulati, chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, said here on Monday.
A pickup in food prices would add to inflationary pressures at a time when the central bank has raised interest rates 11 times since mid-March 2010.
Gulati said the government grain buffer size has to be doubled to 10 million tonnes to meet the demand generated by the proposed National Food Security Act and other welfare schemes.
Business of Brands
Officer's Choice, McDowell's & Celebration top global liquor chart
The Indian liquor market is forecast to grow into the world's second largest by 2013 behind China, pushing Russia to third spot.
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- Mahindra engages in 'movement marketing'
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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/food-security-law-to-pressure-prices-for-those-without-ration-cards/articleshow/9586489.cms
Anna Hazare says UPA's misgovernance led US to interfere in India's internal matters
Social activist Anna Hazare on Saturday accused the government of betraying the nation's trust, and said if he had known the government would cheat he wouldn't have called off his fast in April.
Addressing a press conference ahead of his fast from Aug 16, Hazare said because of the government's misgovernance, the US got the opportunity to pass remarks on the country's internal matters.
Hazare said had he known the government would "cheat" them, he would not have called off his fast in April when he went without food for almost five days - a move that forced the government to agree on a strong Lokpal bill against corruption.
"We did not know that we will be cheated. If we had known then, we would have told the government to agree to all our demands or the fast will not be broken. But we trusted the government and it cheated us," Hazare said at a press conference.
The activist expressed his anger against the restrictions put up by Delhi Police for his hunger strike - allowing him to hold it for just three days at a park in central Delhi.
"We have been telling the government about the Aug 16 fast since April...about a month and half back we told them again about the fast and asked them for a protest site and gave them options. I have written so many letters to the prime minister," Hazare said.
Refusing to agree with Delhi Police which has asked him to sign an undertaking that the fast will end in three days, he said: "We don't agree with the restrictions of the police. The fast will happen."
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday, Hazare commented on the furore created over a US State Department official's call for "restraint" in dealing with the fast.
He said: "It's regretful that because of your misgovernance, US got the opportunity to interfere and pass remarks on the country's internal matters."
"We hope that the prime minister will respond to my letter," he told media persons.
The social activists want the government to include in the official draft legislation the provisions of their Jan Lokpal bill, that put the prime minister and higher judiciary within the ambit of an ombudsman. The government version of the bill, introduced in parliament, does not include these provisions.
Rage against capitalism; the working class fights back -
Statement by CPGB-ML, 9 August 2011
http://cpgb-ml.org/index.php?secName=statements&subName=display&statementId=42
The riots that broke out in Tottenham, north London, on the night of Saturday 6 August, and again over subsequent nights, spreading first to communities across London, and then to cities around the country, represent the spontaneous anger of broad sections of working people, particularly the poorest and most oppressed, at police violence, racism and the increasingly intolerable burden of the capitalist crisis that they are being forced to carry, not only through cuts but also through high unemployment and dead-end jobs.
Until now the British working class had been relatively quiescent in the face of increasing police repression and worsening living conditions and social provision, but the events of the past few days have changed all that and shown once more the fighting spirit of the British proletariat. Young working-class people in particular have shown that they are not prepared to lie down indefinitely while they are kicked like a dog by the lickspittles of the British ruling class.
The immediate catalyst for the riots was the police shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of three, who was killed by police in the early evening of Thursday 4 August in the Tottenham Hale area as he was on his way home to the nearby Broadwater Farm estate by minicab.
Mark's killing was reportedly part of a planned police operation, forming part of Operation Trident, which is supposedly directed at 'gun crime' in the African Caribbean community, and was carried out by CO19, a specialist firearms unit.
As is generally the case in instances where a member of the public is killed by the police, initial reports emanating from the police are contradictory and untrustworthy. The police will naturally seek to cover their tracks and, in best mafia style, cover for one another. The bourgeois press can also be expected to play its part. The ongoing News International scandal has shone a light on the corrupt relationship between the police and the media, who are both, at the end of the day, servants of the same billionaire masters.
We have seen such police lies and cover-ups again and again, from Blair Peach through to more recent cases, such as those of Jean Charles de Menezes, Ian Tomlinson, Kingsley Burrel and Smiley Culture. As a result, families of the bereaved in particular, and working-class communities in general, know that they cannot rely on the police for truth or for justice. They are learning that they need to organise and fight back.
In the case of Mark Duggan, the police initially claimed that one of their officers only escaped serious injury because his radio got in the way of a bullet. However, on 8 August, the Guardian reported that initial ballistics tests have shown that this bullet was police issue. Far from there having been an exchange of fire, latest reports suggest that the only non-police issue firearm found anywhere near the scene was concealed in a sock and therefore not in any way ready for use.
In response, Mark's family and friends called a peaceful vigil outside the local police station on Saturday 6 August. Whole families and young children joined the protest, with homemade placards, shouting, "No justice, no peace."
Frustration mounted as police continued to refuse any dialogue with protestors or to provide Mark's family with any explanation as to how he came to be killed. Stafford Scott, a long-time community organiser in the area, commented:
"If a senior police officer had come to speak to us, we would have left. We arrived at 5pm; we had planned a one-hour silent protest. We were there until 9pm. Police were absolutely culpable. Had they been more responsive when we arrived at the police station, asking for a senior officer to talk with the family, we would have left the vicinity before the unrest started. It is unforgivable [that] police refused dialogue."
It further appears that the first night of rioting was sparked by the brutal police beating, with shields and batons, of a 16-year-old girl taking part in the protest. The Guardian reported:
"'They beat her with a baton, and then the crowd started shouting "run, run", and there was a hail of missiles,' said Anthony Johnson, 39. 'She had been saying: "We want answers, come and speak to us."'
"Laurence Bailey, who was in a nearby church, described seeing the girl throw a leaflet and what may have been a stone at police.
"Bailey said the girl was then 'pounded by 15 riot shields'. 'She went down on the floor but once she managed to get up she was hit again before being half-dragged away by her friend,' he said."
It was following this vicious assault on a teenage girl that groups of young men reportedly started to attack police cars.
The Guardian described the composition of the rioters on the first night in Tottenham as follows:
"The make-up of the rioters was racially mixed. Most were men or boys, some apparently as young as 10.
"But families and other local residents, including some from Tottenham's hasidic jewish community, also gathered to watch and jeer at police."
A teenage woman who had been a friend of Mark Duggan's told a reporter from Socialist Worker:
"When I saw jewish people out tonight too I was happy. I thought, 'It's not just us'. They gave bread out to us. It isn't just kids out tonight. It's everyone."
Whilst the shooting of Mark Duggan provoked the initial protests in Tottenham, the subsequent riots reflect the hatred felt towards the police in black, working-class and poor communities throughout London and up and down the country, as well as the anger and despair engendered by grinding poverty.
They are a spontaneous protest against deaths at the hands of the police, stop and search, which is running at record levels, poor educational and health provision, poor and overcrowded housing, lack of amenities (in the borough of Haringey where Tottenham is located, eight out of a total of 13 youth clubs were closed just last week) and unemployment (Haringey has one vacancy for every 54 jobseekers).
Predictably, much is made of the acts of looting that are an inevitable feature of such spontaneous outbursts. However, they should not be allowed to detract from the main character of the events, namely a justified revolt against police killings and repression, racism and poverty.
Moreover, it is capitalist society itself that flaunts its luxury goods at the poor, sending out a message that you are scarcely human if you don't possess a flatscreen plasma TV and the latest designer labels, while at the same time depriving masses of people of jobs, or paying wages too miserly to enable these goods to be bought.
Meanwhile, some 'looters' have been reported as making off with such essentials as toilet rolls and disposable nappies. Others have kept their focus clearly on symbols of state repression. The Guardian reported:
"A group of young men emerged from Haringey and Enfield magistrates court wielding hammers.
"They had shunned the temptation of the looted stores to break seven windows in the courthouse. It is a place some rioters presumably visited in the past; others are likely to be summoned in the near future."
Of course, politicians from all the bourgeois parties have rushed to condemn the protestors as criminals and have promised nothing but increased and more brutal repression. Hundreds have already been arrested. Yet it is the worthies of the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour parties who, in the service of the British capitalist class, are the real criminals, presiding over class war at home and imperialist war abroad.
It is important to note that the black Labour MPs have been no less vociferous than any others in branding their constituents as criminals and calling for increased police repression, including not only Tottenham MP David Lammy but also Hackney's Diane Abbott, darling of much of the 'left' and erstwhile heroine of the opportunist 'Black Section' movement in the Labour party.
These parasitic scoundrels owe their petty positions and place precisely to the earlier struggles of the black communities they now openly despise. This is a salient reminder that what is at issue is not a race-based struggle that can in the end only benefit a thin layer of opportunists who seek to jump aboard the bandwagon, but a struggle against racism and capitalism in which all working people, whatever their skin colour, have a stake and should play their part.
Another darling of the left, Ken Livingstone, has made much of his own record of increasing police numbers while he was in office as Mayor of London, and has no doubt endeared himself greatly to senior Met officers by using the unrest in London as an excuse to demand that the government ditch its planned cuts to the police force.
Events of recent days have shown once again that poor working-class communities know fully well that the police are not a neutral or benign body dedicated to serving the community and helping old ladies across the street, but a ruthless gang of thugs dedicated to violently upholding the rule of the rich. To put it in Marxist terms, they are a special body of (increasingly) armed men, whose job is to enforce the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
The young people on the streets are also learning a lesson that the capitalist class would very much rather they quickly forget. Namely, that if enough people rise up simultaneously and in enough places, there is not much the ruling class can do to stop them, since the police and others who make up the forces of the state are actually very few in numbers compared to the masses of the working class.
The crucial lesson that the working class urgently needs to learn is that the real source of their misery and frustration is the capitalist system of production. This system is kept in place by the hirelings of a handful of billionaires, who grow richer by the hour while pressing down hard on those who work to create those riches. As economic crisis threatens the billionaires' profits, they are pressing even harder, reducing to a minimum and below not only workers' wages, but also the social benefits they need, while being quite unable to provide work for millions more people who need a decent job.
Communists support and defend the oppressed when they rise up, but we have seen massive uprisings before, generally in the same communities as current events, for example in 1981 and 1985. But so long as capitalism remains in place, it continues inexorably to impoverish the working class; and overthrowing capitalism is impossible without conscious organisation for that purpose, for which trustworthy proletarian leadership is required. So long as capitalism remains in place, the real gains of workers' struggles, however magnificent, are transient and reversible - precisely why the events of previous years are being repeated today.
Communities certainly need to form themselves into self-defensive bodies to resist the police and other agents of bourgeois repression. But above all the working class needs its own general staff, which can lead not only in defensive struggles but also in the struggle to overthrow the increasingly criminal rule of the bourgeois class of heartless billionaires whose system treats the millions of working-class people as vermin.
This general staff can only be a communist party, guided by the science of Marxism Leninism: the accumulated wisdom of more than a century and a half of struggle by the working people of the whole world. The CPGB-ML is fighting to build such a party and welcomes class-conscious people to join its ranks. With your help, we can organise to enable the working class to seize power and build a new society where it is the interests of working-class people that will determine what we build and how we live, rather than the requirements of the rich to make profits.
See also:
Cuts and lay-offs as the crisis rolls on (Proletarian, August 2011)
Death of reggae star smiley culture (Proletarian, June 2011)
Worsening economic crisis sees violent repression escalate (Proletarian, June 2011)
The Battle of Stokes Croft (Proletarian, June 2011)
Industry matters: How the TUC 'leads' the proletariat - by the nose (Proletarian, April 2011)
Students lead the way with Millbank occupation (Proletarian, December 2010)
No justice for the Gaza protestors (Proletarian, August 2010)
From Blair Peach to Ian Tomlinson, the state continues to get away with murder (Proletarian, June 2010)
Police are watching you! (Proletarian, December 2009)
British state-sponsored thugs in uniform: Licensed to kill (Lalkar, May 2009)
Jean Charles de Menezes: police shoot-to-kill policy remains unchallenged (Proletarian, February 2009)
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editor@cpgb-ml.org
India following calibrated approach to CAC: Govt
The government today said it is following a calibrated approach to achieve capital account convertibility (CAC) as hastening the process could expose Indian economy to financial instability.
"India is following a calibrated approach to capital account convertibility. The capital account is being liberalised in stages, in line with developmental requirements, keeping in view domestic and global economic situation," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
"Premature introduction of full capital account convertibility could expose the economy to increased surge and reversal of capital flows that would have implications for exchange rates, stock and real estate markets and price stability," he said.
Besides, he said that liberalisation of external commercial borrowing policy could increase external debt burden that would strain balance of payment and could expose Indian corporates to balance sheet pressures during financial crisis.
Hastening the process of CAC therefore would have macroeconomic and financial stability implications, he said.
In separate reply, Meena said several steps have been taken to prevent dirty money or black money from flowing into the stock markets.
For instance, the payments for transactions in the stock markets are made through banking channel, he said, adding banks and other financial intermediaries are also required to ensure compliance with the customer due diligence norms as required under Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.
SEBI registered intermediaries such as Mutual Funds, Depository Participants, Stock Brokers etc follow the Know Your Client (KYC) guidelines laid down by SEBI when customers are registered, he said.
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Death of Indian cricket. What went wrong?
The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated...it is finished when it surrenders – Benjamin Jeremy Ben Stein, Actor
- 67%33%
Four months after hitting the roof with a World Cup triumph, Indian cricket has hit a new low. It is a dramatic collapse. The team has been smashed out in England in what should rank as the worst ever test series performance. What went wrong and who is responsible for the death of Indian cricket?
Rewind: 1999 tour of Australia - India were hammered 3-0 in a completely one-sided series after which even one batsman admitted behind closed doors, 'we just couldn't see the ball'. Twelve years later, something very similar has hit Indian cricket. The big difference is that 1999 was a completely different scenario when the team depended on a single individual, Sachin Tendulkar. But, in 2011 it is a team filled with the richest stars in the world of cricket. And they come up with a rank poor performance.
Like Ben Stein said, it is never wrong to lose or to come second best but it is a shame if it comes without a fight. The very essence of sport gets killed when there is no fight put up by one side. I remember messaging my dear friend this evening about the hunger to see a fight put up. But, what I saw in the end ensured I wouldn't feel hungry myself for the next couple of days as I try hard to digest the disaster.
Two hours after the team crash-landed at Edgbaston, the reality that Indian cricket has met its fate is starting to sink in. It looks very gloomy, doesn't it?
Before we look at where we could move from here on, just a bit of time to look at the five simple reasons why we capitulated so badly:
Reason No.1 - Not once in excess of 300 - India has played six innings in the 3 test matches so far and has lost 60 wickets for an aggregate of just 1461 runs. The average score per inning has been 243 and the best score was 288 at Trent Bridge. Compare this with England, who have amassed 2218 runs for the loss of just 41 wickets. This makes it an incredible average score of 444 for England. Don't forget India had two of the highest run-getters in world cricket.
Reason No.2 - Fishing technique's back- 'Back to the 90s' is the best way to describe the way India has batted in this series. All batsmen excluding Rahul Dravid were guilty of fishing outside the off-stump. Under Gary Kirsten, India had gotten rid of that nasty habit but is it a case of old habits die hard? Even Sachin Tendulkar was guilty of doing that quite often. There is a serious need to go back to the coaching classes for Indian team. And what about tailenders? I really cannot remember when was the last time a team had nearly five number elevens in a playing XI. Like Geoffrey Boycott uses the word often, 'rooobish'.
Reason No.3 - Generosity in pursuit of spirit of cricket award - Recalling Ian Bell was a move keeping in line with the spirit of the game but it also exposed the soft side of the team. When two top sides clash, the need of the hour is to play cricket with heightened intensity and stay hard at the opposition. Instead, Indian team decided to be extra generous on a 'naive' Ian Bell and that moment completely reversed the Trent Bridge test.
Something similar happened on the fourth day of the Edgbaston test, when Rahul Dravid was given out caught behind. Dravid had the UDRS to go to but what made him nod his head in approval of an edge that never was there, only he would be able to tell us. England, on the other hand has been merciless. They have played hard cricket right through. Even when Sreesanth was batting in the midsession on the final day, Kevin Pietersen deliberately didn't stop the last ball four hit by Dhoni just to keep Sree on strike. Now, who cares about spirit of cricket? Its cricket gentlemen, not any diplomatic row!
Reason No.4 - Toothless bowling attack - Any side that gives away 700-plus runs on a two-paced pitch should rank as one of the worst bowling attacks in the world. Indian 'superstar' bowlers were so ordinary that I couldn't help feeling the likes of Kyle Jarvis, Bryan Vitori and Chris Mpofu of Zimbabwe's new-look side would have bowled a lot better. Ever since Zaheer Khan pulled himself out due to a poorly managed body, the other bowlers almost decided they wouldn't be able to take 20 wickets to win matches. Body language was woeful and most bowlers forgot the basics. Although Praveen Kumar doesn't have half as much potential as the likes of Ishant and Sreesanth, he showed why heart is sometimes bigger than mind in sport.
English bowlers on the other hand were in a different planet altogether. Stuart Broad was the best example of a bowler who knew exactly what to do on such wickets. You normally expect a Bresnan or Anderson to pitch it up but history doesn't exhibit similar promise from Broad. But, wasn't he a revelation? Sourav Ganguly sarcastically pointed on the final day of Edgbaston test on air when he said, "If you are Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth watching from the dressing room, you should know this is the way to bowl".
Reason No.5 - IPL-4 - The ugly effects of T20 cricket, especially IPL clearly showed on this Indian team. The likes of Jamie Anderson and Graeme Swann went unsold at the IPL auctions in January whereas Indian superstars were busy with their bank accounts. At what cost? And yes, players want rest after each tour and talk about burnout.
This should rank as the worst overseas performance by an Indian outfit in a long time. There are many questions that would need immediate answers.
What led to this? Who should take the responsibility? Where is the planning in Indian cricket?
Should tryst with democracy end?
Comment: Has the time come for India's tryst with democracy to either end or change?
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As India celebrates her 63rd Independence Day and has become a mature `senior citizen', has the time come to rethink on the way the nation is being governed? Has democracy lost its sheen, its soul, its meaning and its very purpose? Has the DNA of the form of governance been so distorted and mutilated that the nation is no longer a democracy in the true sense?
The fist course correction to Indian democracy was tried out during the Emergency in 1975. But the timing was mistake, the purpose a bigger mistake and the way it was implanted the biggest. It was done to save Indira Gandhi from being dethroned, not the nation. Well, the dark days of democracy are history now. But we are now faced with bigger threats to democracy.
Here are the threats:
Electables and Unelectables
Very few honest and upright persons can ever enter the portals of the Parliament as an elected member. If one wants to become an MP, he or she will need the following `qualifications': a criminal record, a huge bank balance (preferably black money), family backing or backing of religious communities.
The Congress has accused Gandhian Anna Hazare as being an `unelectable' voice. Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari went on record to say that Hazare is "unelectable" and "if this democracy faces its greatest peril from someone, it is from the tyranny of the unelected and the unelectable".
Can honest and upright men like Anna Hazare, Abdul Kalam, NR Narayana Murthy or Kiran Bedi get elected? Does that mean that they do not fit into the framework of a truly democratic polity?
The answer lies here: In the present Parliament, 300 are billionaires and 180 millionaires. over 150 MPs face criminal charges with over 70 of them facing serious charges ranging from murder to rape and kidnapping to cheating.
Add to this people like Mayawati who wants Rs 22 crore to refurbish her mansion in Lucknow; the Bellary brothers who flouted every rule to mint money in crores through illegal mining and irreversibly change the very ecology of the town; and, till recently, they were `honourable' ministers in the Yeddyurappa cabinet in Karnataka. Sons of a poor constable, the Reddy brothers used to `helihop' from Bellary to Bangalore for a dine-out. And there is A Raja, Kanimozhi, Kalmadi, Lalu, Jagan and the like whose main job was to make money by flouting laws. And, they are all law-makers!
On the unelectables, all that the Congress has to do is to jog its memory. Even Mahatma Gandhi's candidate was once an `unelectable' man. In 1939, Gandhiji put up Pattabhi Sitaramaiah as his candidate for the Congress presidentship. He lost to Subhash Chandra Bose and a crestfallen Gandhiji had said that Sitaramaiah's defeat was his (Gandhiji's) defeat. The Congress made it so difficult for Bose to function that he had to resign a few months later.
In post Independent era, Morarji Desai was defeated in a Legislative Assembly election. That was in 1952. But the Congress made an `unelectable' Desai as the Chief Minister of Bombay.
Then, in 1991 an unelected leader went on to become the Prime Minster. Narasimha Rao was not an MP, but the Congress made him the PM.
To a little contemporary history. In 1998, Sonia Gandhi was neither a member of the Congress Working Committee nor an MP. But the Congress made her the president of the party after nudging out veteran Sitaram Kesri.
If the Congress feels that Anna is unelectable, the BJP has an answer: that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too is unelectable. He made a backdoor entry through Assam by becoming a Rajya Sabha member from that state. This was in violation of a rule that stated that to become a Rajya Sabha member, the candidate must be a resident of that state. The law was thrown out to accommodate Singh. His brush with hardcore politics came only once when he contested for a Lok Sabha seat in 1999 and lost.
If honest and upright men cannot become law-makers and instead, criminals, billionaires and millionaires are entrusted with the task of making laws, how can democracy ever work?
Ineffective leadership
We seem to be living in a moment in history where the country is leaderless and rudderless. There is no effective leadership, resulting in large scale corruption and a paralysis in decision making. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may be an honest and upright man, but he is presiding over one of the most corrupt governments and does not have control over his ministers.
Prime Minister's honesty and integrity have never been on the debating table or questioned. On these grounds he has been well above the watermarks of doubt; but his silence has not been so. Here are some occasions when Manmohan Singh could have acted in time, but never did, and it was the nation that lost:
2G Spectrum scam
It took over a year for the Prime Minister to act; it took over a year for the CBI to wake up. Had it not been for a PIL in the Supreme Court, the scam would have dragged on and on. Why did Singh not act when the then Telecom minister A Raja refused to listen? Why did the PM not act when Raja ignored Cabinet colleagues and asked them to keep off the Spectrum turf?
Niira Radia Tapes
How come the Prime Minister was not aware of the fact that private conversations were being secretly taped? Such acts are allowed only for national security. Even if they were taped, who leaked it to the media and why? The conversations were taped by a government agency and the tapes were in the possession of this agency. How come the tapes were leaked and what was the motive?
CWG scam
For months, all the dirt on Commonwealth Games was out in the open. The stink too was there for everyone to `smell' and squirm. But for the best part, the PM adopted the three wise monkey strategy with a twist in the tale: see-no-scam, hear-no-scam, tell-no-scam. Why did the PM not step in early and stem the rot? He appointed an overseeing committee only after the mess had spun out of control.
Black Money
Why is the government dragging its feet on bringing back black money stashed in banks abroad? As an economist Singh must have acted on this first. On price rise and inflation too the government has failed.
A family profession
Politics has become a family profession. Starting from the Abdullah and Gandhi families in the north to the MIM in Hyderabad and the DMK & Sons Pvt Ltd in Tamil Nadu, politics is becoming a hereditary family profession. Wives, sons, grandsons, daughters and nephews seem to have politics in their DNA and automatically become law-makers.
How can politics be inherited? Then why not automatically include the son of a cricketer in the Indian cricket team, the son of a vice-chancellor the next VC or the son of a surgeon a doctor who can perform operations?
For becoming a doctor or build bridges or roads or teach in colleges, one has to have the necessary background and years of experience; but to run a country, there is no need for any experience; just a family certificate would do.
An intolerable nation
India is increasingly becoming intolerable. Politicians tend to be experts in either fishing in troubled waters or creating trouble. We cannot make a serious movie on reservation; we cannot tolerate outsiders in Mumbai; in some states, love marriages are a taboo and the only punishment is murder that is `legalised' by panchayats.
In view of all this, is it not time to either end our tryst with democracy or correct the way democracy works? Why not we hand over the country to a group of enlightened citizens and mandate the group to put the nation on the right tracks?
Obama to do bus trip to 'connect' with ordinary Americans
Washington: US President Barack Obama embarks on a three-day bus trip Monday to "connect with ordinary Americans" as he talks job creation at small towns across the Midwest.
While Republicans have accused Obama of mixing policy with politics by barnstorming in the battleground region ahead of the 2012 elections, White House say it was a chance for the president to hit the reset button and connect with ordinary Americans after the political logjam over raising the nation's debt ceiling.
"Democrats, independents and Republicans expect to see their president of the United States outside of Washington, DC, out from behind the podium, spending time talking to the American people in their communities," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday.
Without a direction mention of Republicans, Obama this week blamed the Congress for the bitterness that led to an eleventh-hour debt limit agreement, and Earnest said the president was expecting to hear more anger on the road.
"The president does anticipate that he'll detect a little frustration about the dysfunction in Congress, and the strident position of some in Congress to put their partisan affiliation ahead of the country," he said.
Obama will be travelling to Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, three states he won in 2008 but that saw Republican gains last year. He needs to win them again states next year to return to the White House for a second term.
"I anticipate that there will be some people who are supporters of the president, who voted for him last time, who will have some questions for him about the compromises that he was willing to make," Earnest said.
"But that is something that the president believes is an important part of leadership ... moving off our maximalist positions and demonstrating a willingness to compromise."
US diplomat regrets her 'dirty, dark' remark
Chennai: A diplomat at the US consulate here Saturday expressed her deep regrets over her remark - "I became dirty and dark, like a Tamilian" - that has stirred a major controversy.
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Vice Consul of the US Consulate Maureen Chao made the remark at a function Friday at SRM University, around 40 km from here.
The US Consulate has also termed her comment as inappropriate.
However, students and officials of the university maintain there was nothing racial about the US official's remark.
In a statement put up on its website, the US Consulate said: "Yesterday (Friday) at a Study Abroad Orientation Program at SRM University, Vice Consul Maureen Chao gave a speech describing positive memories from her own study abroad experiences in India 23 years ago."
"During the speech, Ms. Chao made an inappropriate comment. Ms. Chao deeply regrets if her unfortunate remarks offended anyone, as that was certainly not her intent."
Chao, while narrating her experience in India in 1989 when she came to the country on a semester programme, spoke about her 72-hour train journey from New Delhi to Orissa.
She had the audience in splits while recalling her experience in exchanging her lower berth in the train compartment for an upper berth with a fellow passenger.
Chao said when she came out of the train after the journey, her skin got dusty and dirty and, after a pause, added that "I became dirty and dark, like a Tamilian", landing herself into an avoidable controversy.
While non-Tamil students at the SRM University applauded her remarks, many others were upset.
"As Secretary Clinton recently noted, the US-India partnership is based on our shared values of democracy, liberty, and respect for religious and cultural diversity. The US Consulate in Chennai and the US Mission in India are committed to upholding these shared values," said the consulate statement.
Officials and students at SRM University, however, are blaming the media for making a mountain out of a mole hill.
"The US official was narrating her own travel experience. After 72 hours of journey, she said, she was dark like a Tamilian. I am also a Tamilian and I am dark, it is a fact of life. The remark was meant to be jovial," M. Ponnavaikko, vice chancellor of SRM University, told IANS.
"Everybody at the auditorium felt that it was meant to be a jovial comment. It is a normal student behaviour to applaud if one group is commented upon," T.V. Gopal, dean, International Relations, told IANS.
"The US official meant that remark as a joke and not to be taken seriously and be hurt. However, as a diplomat it was inappropriate on her part to make such a remark," a Tamilian student told IANS, preferring anonymity.
Another engineering student, declining to be named, told IANS: "I am also a Tamilian. It was a jovial comment and not to be taken seriously. It is wrong on the part of the media to give racial colour to such remarks and blow it up."
"Certainly there is nothing racial about the official's comment. Students did hoot when she made that remark. But that is normal student behaviour," a student from north India told IANS, on condition of anonymity.
Government has cheated us: Anna Hazare
New Delhi: Social activist Anna Hazare Saturday accused the government of betraying the nation's trust, and said if he had known the government would cheat he wouldn't have called off his fast in April.
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Addressing a press conference ahead of his fast from Aug 16, Hazare said because of the government's misgovernance, the US got the opportunity to pass remarks on the country's internal matters.
Hazare said had he known the government would "cheat" them, he would not have called off his fast in April when he went without food for almost five days - a move that forced the government to agree on a strong Lokpal bill against corruption.
"We did not know that we will be cheated. If we had known then, we would have told the government to agree to all our demands or the fast will not be broken. But we trusted the government and it cheated us," Hazare said at a press conference.
The activist expressed his anger against the restrictions put up by Delhi Police for his hunger strike - allowing him to hold it for just three days at a park in central Delhi.
"We have been telling the government about the Aug 16 fast since April...about a month and half back we told them again about the fast and asked them for a protest site and gave them options. I have written so many letters to the prime minister," Hazare said.
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Anna seeks PM's intervention on police curbs
Refusing to agree with Delhi Police which has asked him to sign an undertaking that the fast will end in three days, he said: "We don't agree with the restrictions of the police. The fast will happen."
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday, Hazare commented on the furore created over a US State Department official's call for "restraint" in dealing with the fast.
He said: "It's regretful that because of your misgovernance, US got the opportunity to interfere and pass remarks on the country's internal matters."
"We hope that the prime minister will respond to my letter," he told media persons.
The social activists want the government to include in the official draft legislation the provisions of their Jan Lokpal bill that put the prime minister and higher judiciary within the ambit of an ombudsman. The government version of the bill, introduced in parliament, does not include these provisions.
Source: IANS
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No trade-off between growth, inflation, says RBI
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is accused of hurting growth by a spree of policy rate increases, on Friday said economic expansion may be slower due to the tight monetary policy in the short term, but there was no question of a long term trade-off between the two.
New Delhi: "There may be a short-term trade off, growth may be little slower as a result of the tight monetary policy, compared to what it would have been otherwise...but I don't think there is any question of a long-term trade off and that is what the long term picture shows -- that a sustained period of high growth is typically correlated with sustained period of low inflation," said RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn.
He defended the RBI's stand of aggressive rate rises, saying inflation would have spiralled out of control if left unchecked. He said the central bank had favoured controlling inflation over maintaining growth.
"Even if inflation is caused by factors like food, crude oil or other bottlenecks in the economy, it is the central bank's explicit mandate to manage inflation, and not the Planning Commission's or the agriculture ministry's," he said at an economic policy conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
RBI has raised key policy rates 11 times since March 2010 -- the repo rate is now eight per cent and the reverse repo is seven per cent. Food inflation stood at 9.90 per cent for the week ended July 30.
RBI issues operational guidelines for financial inclusion
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday issued operational guidelines for the implementation of a transfer system for servicing low-value accounts and extending banking infrastructure to under-served low income areas.
The regulator asked banks to follow the 'one district-many banks-one leader bank' model in villages in which the designated bank under the financial inclusion plan and the fund-transfer system varied.
According to guidelines, the state government shall designate the leader bank, in consultation with RBI's regional office and the state-level bankers' committee. The leader bank would secure funds from the state government and arrange to transfer funds through inter-bank transfer to other banks.
Weekly review: Sensex tumbles amid global tremors
Renewed fears of another recession hitting US, following S&P's downgrade, dragged the markets last week. The Sensex lost 466 points or 2.6% to 16,839.
Renewed fears of another recession hitting US, following S&P's downgrade, dragged the markets last week. The Sensex lost 466 points or 2.6% to 16,839.
Mumbai: Credit rating agency, S&P, downgraded US from its perfect AAA to AA+ on August 5, leading to fears about the strength of the economy as investors tried to stay away from risky assets. The lurking fears of a worsening crisis in Europe only exacerbated the jitters.
Foreign Institutional Investors turned sellers and sold shares worth Rs 2,727.6 crore in the week till Thursday.
The markets witnessed heavy selling on the first two days, with realty, IT and metals doing the bulk of the damage. The Sensex slipped to a low of 16,432 on Tuesday. Wednesday saw the markets reverse its six-day lossing streak with the Sensex touching a high of 17,256. Auto stocks rose, with IT staging a smart recovery.
However, markets once again fell on Thursday and Friday as as investors remained cautious over murky global outlook and expectations that the Reserve Bank of India would continue to hike rates after better than expected industrial output data. The Sensex and Nifty finally ended down 2.6% in the week.
Broader markets outperformed the benchmark. BSE mid-cap index slipped 1% to 6,513 while the small-cap index dropped 2.4% to 7,620.
In other news, the Industrial output data for June was reported at 8.8%, higher than expected at 5.5%, which flagged concerns that the RBI would hike rates by another 25 bps in September as growth in the short-term remained sturdy. The IIP data was much higher than 5.9% reported in May. Nomura in a research note said, "IIP jumped, due to a sharp rebound in capital goods production. Excluding capital goods, industrial output growth weakened further."
Food inflation for the week ended July 30 accelerated to 9.9% from 8.04% for the week ended July 23, highest in four months. High food inflation dampened hopes of a pause in the rate tightening cycle.
Among sectoral indices BSE auto index was the only gainer - up 2.6% at 8,534. Auto stocks rose in spite of data showing that the domestic passenger car sales has declined by 16% to 133,747 units in July, 2011, from 158,767 units in the same month last year. On the other hand, two-wheeler sales increased by 13% to 1,056,906 units last month from 938,514 units in July, 2010.
IT was the biggest loser from the sectoral pack - down 8% in the week at 5,004. US downgrade hit IT stocks the most as the country is the biggest market for the software service providers.
Heavyweights, TCS and Infosys were the biggest IT losers - down 9% each during the week. HCL Technologies, Patni Computers, Wipro and MphasiS shed 7-8% each. The sole gainer in the pack was Core Projects - up 1.8% at Rs 298.
Metal and realty stocks took a beating with the indices dropping 4-5% each.
Metal losers included Tata Steel, Jindal Saw, Hindalco and Bhushan Steel - all of which declined 6-11% each. In the realty pack, Anant Raj Industries, Peninsula Land, Indiabulls Real Estate, Sobha Developers and D B Realty led losses. Sensex stocks - DLF and Unitech dropped 4% and 1.3%, respectively.
Tata Power was the biggest loser among Sensex stocks - down nearly 12% at Rs 1,088. Reports suggest that the company could be hit by higher payout for coal from its Indonesian mines.
Other big losers included Tata Motors - down 10% at Rs 801 after the company reported a marginal rise in Q1 net profit at 1,999.62 crore. Following this, CLSA has downgraded the stock to under-perform from outperform, with a revised target price of 790. The counter has clocked a volume of 3,28,000 shares so far.
However, another from the auto pack - Mahindra & Mahindra soared 13% during the week to Rs 740. Hero Honda, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto gained 4-6% each.
Other gainers in the Sensex included NTPC, Jaiprakash Association, ONGC and ITC.
Source: Business Standard
| National Issues and Speeches |  |
| Subject: "The burning problem of the Mulnivasi Bahujan and the need to create nationwide Movement". We are going to transform the slogan, 'Freedom in a Rupee' into a mass movement. This shall be a People's Campaign. -Mr. Waman Meshram 'Addressing the people gathered in the convention in the inauguration session, Mr. Waman Meshram said in his presidential speech, "It was decided to generate about one corer and one lakh rupees for the creation of nationwide movement. But you have generated only 35 lakh rupees. On one hand I want to thank you for this. But on the other hand I want to warn you that there are those people who have cores of unaccounted black money. If you want to fight with such people who have corers of rupees, then this war cannot be won by only contributing a few lakh rupees. Though I thank you for contributing this much but I want to warn you that with these resources we cannot run our movement. Therefore from 16th April to the end of September we shall organize programmes in about 100 centers covering 500 districts in which you will have to contribute a minimum of 1 lakh to a maximum of 5 lakhes rupees to compensate for this backlog. Accordingly we have made a plan and we shall try to implement it. http://www.mulnivasibamcef.org/pages/page3b.asp |
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