The path of dodo

Dear middle class people, please do not be shocked about what happened
in Mumbai yesterday.

This is not the first time, and be assured this won't be the last time.

Since Indians are text book case of dhimmis, it is not for us to show outrage.

Our dharma is to be meek fatalist & spineless pacifist, take whatever
our neighbour dishes out and when one one cheek is injured, turn the
other cheek.

I am reasonably sure that nothing will come out of outrage and self -
righteous indignation.

Soon people to people contacts, buses across borders, and confidence
building measures will resume.

A group is judged by its intinct for survival, considering our
response to terrorist attacks if we are to be judged we can only be
judged as flocks of birds whose place faith upon safety in numbers.

Nations which do not take heed, which deniy survival instinct, do not
deserve to survive.

If Indians remain in their bubble of cross border camaraderie and
mirage of root causes do not deserve to remain under one nation. We
deserve to be subjugated and enslaved.

India is a nation of eternal Gunga dins

Category : India,Security, Politics,Civilization,
Society

Real Issue

Via rediff

Solve real issues to counter extremism: Pakistan

Damn right, the real issue here is Pakistan, let's fix the land of pure !

Disrupting harmony.....

I think terrorists have failed,

if popular wisdom is to be believed the intention of bomb blast to disrupt "communal harmony"
well it has not been disrupted as it did not disrupt in 1993 , 2003, Ayudhaya, Varanasi, Akshardham, Delhi come to think of it except Godhra (where VHP activists immolated themselves inorder to defame Pakistan*) there has never been any retaliation after a major terrorist attack.

So, you know may be the aim of the terrorist attack was to kill Indians and evoke terror.


* Will I get to write in NYT ??

Mumbai blasts @ 7/11

It is like a bad nighmare

7 blasts on Mumbai trains, 104 killed

What can Indians do, we can think later.

At present I am trying to contact my relatives, unfortunately network is busy.

I pray that everyone whom I know (in person or via blogs) and their near & dear are well

( Considering more than hundred have died, ironically my prayer for someone's well being translates into death of others, it is so wretched )

The Unhappy Sardar

It is ironical how many people just refuse to get it.

Take for example case of our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, or to be more precise infantile fascination of our middle class with dubious legacy of gentle doctor.

Let’s deconstruct the man.

First consider the myth or at any rate embellished narrative of economic liberalization.
Manmohan Singh is hailed as the architect of 1991 reform.
This is wrong, on two counts

First India reformed not because her leaders had a moment of clarity, but because World Bank made them do so.

Second, the idea of reform was not brought down by Manmohan Singhji from some mountain. In addition to being a pre-condition of the World Bank loans, there were many economists and politicians since time of Chacha Nehru who vociferously pointed out the folly of central planning and socialism. Instead they advocated adopting free market and capitalism for much needed industrial growth, that is to say reform as a prescription to “secular rate of growth” was not really unknown.

However vote bank politics and vice like grip of socialists meant that even when the follies of Nehru were realized, Indian leaders (to be precise Gandhi Dynasty) continued on the path of bankruptcy. If credit for reforms should go to anyone it should go to P. V. Narsimha Rao because it was due to his backing that bureaucrat turned politician Manmohan Singh could achieve what he did. Hence to call Manmohan Singh architect of reform is pure exaggeration.

Second, a Prime Minister is supposed to lead the country. He is also supposed to present a cogent image of government’s policy and most important he is supposed to support his ministers to the hilt in implementation of the policy. When Prime Minister fails to carry out what is expected to him, he is a failure. It is immaterial if he is a poet or surgeon or economist or noble laureate or reincarnation of Bhagwan VishnuGod.

From failing to prevent disastrous reservation policy, to tax and spend welfare schemes, to dismal state of infrastructure, to return of state interference, Manmohan is a failure without a question. His regimen reminds one of Sleepy Gowda or clueless Gujral. Last two years have seen gradual erosion of central authority, emergence of parallel power centres, ministers (of Congress and Allies) pursuing populist and divisive politics to further their narrow agenda.

And yet Manmohan Singh emerges unscathed out of this mess.
Somehow Manmohan Singh on account of his white kurtas is absolved of any blame, instead his image of a gentle academician is used to create a false and most pernicious dichotomy of a noble Manmohan Singh thwarted by villains of the story that is overambitious and cussed ministers, of Congress and allies.

Granted that ELM has shed even any pretense of neutrality and joined the court of 10 Janpath, but when the breakdown of governance is apparent to all, shouldn’t the leadership of Manmohan Singh and what is more the man himself should be put under scanner ? Shouldn’t the question be if the governance is rotten what does it say about Manmohan Singh. If blame for failure is to be put anywhere it should not be on individual ministers, it should be on Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.

Sooner the Indian middle class comes out of self induced delusions, the better it will be for India.

The Danger WIthin

[Ref]

In earlier post I had commented that western civilization doesn't face any outside challenge. While terrorism poses a serious threat to western nations, western civilization can easily tide over it. The more serious challenge to west emanates within.

Related to this Cynical Nerd and Jaffna had posted on tensions within existing European nations.
I do not think even the formation of new nations is any danger to Europe because it doesn't change the nature of civilization.

Simply put the problem the west faces is decay and disintegration of civilization. A civilization is justified by the primary instincts of humanity.These instincts are survival and growth. Therefore even the most fundamental and bedrock principles are to be judged in light of accordance with these instincts.It is here that Europe flounders because it is unanchored from these instincts in a rapidly changing world.

Modern Europe upholds freedom as its value. The notion of freedom is a result of historical period which began with crusades and rediscovering of Greek roots and culminated in enlightenment.

When European philosopher's acclaimed freedom as the most cherished value of a civilization, they meant it as a mean the goal being enlightenment and self realization. The intellectuals believed that a society where one can speak without fear of oppression by authority and in which person could tolerate contrary view points would be a break from a violent history and a man will be able to pursue self –improvement without any dread. Yet freedom was never mean as unlimited license

However Europe has lost sight of it. Freedom has become an end in itself; it has been mistaken to mean permissiveness. Europeans have elevated fascination with individualism to fetish. There is no attempt to evaluate except in terms of keeping the individual unencumbered with social responsibility.As the sense of social identity disappears, so is the culture and with it any ability to even contemplate the expression of civilization.Dismantling of social bonds has meant that family as a social unit, and marriage as social institution are increasingly under strain.

This translates into falling birth rate in Europe. In almost all the European nations the birth rate has fallen below the replacement level. Traditionally children were considered as social safety nets, however welfare state has meant that there is no incentive to start a family.
Further traditional faith has upheld family as an institution. However with the decline of faith, the sanctity of family is gone.

There is another effect, since many decades Europe allowed immigration from Turkey and North Africa. No attempt was meant to provide incentives to immigrants to assimilate within European society, instead ghettos were allowed to form in European cities. Segregation borne out of indifference has meant that as the population of immigrants who are from completely different culture increases, Europeans find their future increasingly uncertain. The tendency to tolerate what is not out of wishy washy utopian idealism and a sense of shallow self indulgence has resulted in rise of radicalism among immigrant community, which challenge traditional European values.

Various incidents in past few years have clearly demonstrated the result of European short sightedness. As demography of Europe change and the prospect of transformation of Europe into Eurabia look more and more real, there is a need for Europe to rediscover their roots and heritage, and insist that immigrants accept those values, this is only path to her redemption.

Freedom and Employment

Dr Venugopal director of AIIMS and a renowned doctor has been sacked from the post by Dr Ramadoss.

Commenting on this GB said that his dismissal is a suppression of right of speech. [link]

I do not quite agree with his view.

Government could have been accused of suppression, if Venugopal had criticized as a private citizen, however the relationship between him and government was that of a employee and employer.

To give an analogy suppose a GM in a private concern criticizes his superior in media, if the company terminates him it will be perfectly justified. The reason for this is any employee is bound by the contract of employment and hence his right of free speech is proscribed while at employer's time and on issues concerning employer.

As GB later clarified he makes a distinction between a person employed in private sector and public sector. While there is not very well defined way to draw a line between the role of person as a private citizen and that of a employee, a employee in private sector or public sector is bound by the terms of employment. [link]

This is not to say there can not be other grounds to raise question dismissal of Venugopal.
As per media reports the issue of dismissal was not in agenda of meeting and further there was no voting (the issue decided by voice vote) . If the procedures has not been followed there is a chance that judiciary can give relief to Dr Venugopal. [link]
Therefore while it may be violation of procedures it is not suppression of free speech