Quota in Premier Educational Institutions on hold
Indian Diary by Bhartendu Sood
Quota: 27% OBC (Other Backward Classes) quota in the Premier
Educational Institutions like IIMs and IITs which the Govt. had forced
from this session was stayed by the Supreme Court. The govt. received a
major set back when the apex court tuned down its review petition by
saying "You want to play the game and frame the rules later.
What we are saying is frame the rules and play the game".
While Govt. wants to extend quota benefit even to the creamy layer
i.e. who are well off amongst backwards, the Supreme Court is opposed to
labeling well off amongst OBCs as backward.
In addition, the apex court wants some authentic and reliable data
about the number of OBCs in the country and is not prepared to accept
1931 census data in view of the vast changes that have taken place in
the socio economic conditions of the people since then.
What is really funny that Govt. wants to extend reservation benefit
to the OBCs but is afraid of a headcount.
In a caste ridden society where for vast majority of the voters ,
caste affiliations take precedence over the national issues, Congress
party in its zeal to show to a decisive section of the voters that their
interest was very dear to them rushed to force quota without doing its
home work. It was bound to evoke severest condemnation by the Apex
Court who remarked that there was no need for the Centre to rush
through the quota from this year having failed to frame the rules during
the past 57 years.
(In addition to the proposed 27% OBC quota, there exists 15%
reservation for Schedule Castes,7.5% for Schedule Tribes in the Govt.
educational Institutions. Though, the constitution doesn't allow more
than 50% of the seats in the reserved category, Tamil Nadu Govt. has 70%
seats in the reserved category in the educational Institutions and State
Govt. jobs.
Not contended with this, recently it announced religious quota also
by proposing exclusive reservation package for Muslims and Christians
who are in minority. Sometime back, the present Congress Govt .in
Andhara Pradesh had also announced reservation on religious lines but it
struck down by the Court on the grounds that it was against the spirit
of the Constitution.
After IT, Satellite Launching could become a key revenue source for
India Outsourcing received a major boost when early this week India
became the fifth country after the United States, Russia, the European
consortium and China to possess the technology to conduct commercial
launches-a fast growing multibillion dollar market.
Indian space research organisation (ISRO) achieved this rare feat by
flawlessly launching its carrier rocket, the PSLV-C-8 placed a 352 Kg
Italian astronomical satellite AGILE into a 550 -km circular orbit
around 22 minutes after the lift off. India is aiming to corner major
share of $ 120 million global satellite market.
We want Criminals to be Out, but -
Time and again voice is raised in the press and at various forums to
stop the entry of charge-sheeted candidates into the election fray. But,
then our political class has come out with a very convincing argument.
They say that we also don't want persons with criminal background to
contest elections but if it is made a law then there is every
possibility that there will be a mad rush by many bloody minded members
of the rival political parties to fix and frame the candidate having
better chances of winning and we shouldn't forget that there are always
some people in judiciary ready to oblige. Meaning is very simple-
criminals will continue to hold sway.
Babu Bhai Katara is not alone
The last week's newsmaker Babub hai Katara is not the only MP
involved in human trafficking, names of three more MPs have surfaced and
incidentally all these MPs are not from BJP alone. In the meanwhile Lok
Sabha Speaker has stated that Katara would not be allowed to enter the
House till the privilege committee decides his case.
Many a skeletons have stated coming out of the proverbial cup board,
MLA of the Telengana Party is also arrested besides number of agents in
Panjab possessing fake Pass Ports. According to one estimate it is a
5000 crore industry in India.
Presenting an unedifying spectacle has become a regular feature with
our political class. Now they are in human trafficking, a couple of
months back they were caught accepting money for asking questions in
Parliament and not long ago they were found siphoning off money allotted
to them for the development of their respective constituency.
The persons who make laws and rule the country have ended up making
the general public feel contemptuous of them.
Outdated Legal System and Corrupt Police force
To describe it as outrageous will be an understatement. An affluent
youth in Mumbai who allegedly had mowed down seven workers sleeping on a
pavement by his rash driving, was let off by the local court with a fine
of Rs. five lakhs to be paid to the bereaved families and a simple
imprisonment of six months.
Why did the court charge the accused with only rash and negligence
driving and not with culpable homicide? Why did seven of the eight
witnesses turn hostile? Why were not the hostile witnesses charged with
perjury? The answer is- the rank dishonesty in police and lower Courts.
India has initiated reforms in every sector but not in legal system
and Police, simply because carrying out reforms in these areas is
inimical to the interests of our politicians who need both corrupt
police and laggardly legal system for their survival.
Hindi and Jayalalithaa
 Hindi is the main language in India spoken by about 600 million
people and understood by 1000 million, but Tamil Nadu (TN) is the one
state which always opposed the use of Hindi.
Infact the birth of DMK and AIADMK the ruling and opposition parties
in TN sprang from anti-Hindi and anti-Brahmin agitations in 1960.
The enigmatic leader of AIADMK J.Jayalalithaa who is the arch rival
of present TN State Chief Minister K. Karunanidhi, surprised every body
when during electioneering in Utter Pradesh( UP) she gave a flawless
speech in Hindi in support of the Samajwadi Party and had all the
audience spell bound.
Well TN leaders can afford to thrive on their anti-Hindi stance but
the fact remains that as the knowledge of English helps one to move
globally, likewise the knowledge of spoken Hindi makes the things easy
in India, Pakistan and in a few Middle East Countries. Spoken Hindi and
Urdu are very similar.
There is another dimension, either Madam Jayalalithaa has started
aspiring for some coveted position in Delhi or she has become alive to
ground realities. When now Bollywood Hindi movies are making waves
almost in all countries and India is emerging as a hub of outsourcing,
it is not a bad idea to learn Hindi-if not much let it be a smattering
Bahut nahi to Thora thora.
Telecom revolution
Every sixth Indian now has a phone not withstanding that literacy
rate is 64% and 20% population falls in the category of very poor i.e.
they earn less than Rs. 60 per day.
The gross subscriber base of the wire-line and wireless service
together touched 189.92 million in December 2006. The average revenue
per user is Rs 316.
Cricket - You need two Australian sides to make the World Cup
Competitive
 Like
two previous World Cup encounters, this final was also not competitive
and failed to rise to the expectations.
In 1999, Pakistan had received mauling in the hands of Australia, in
2003 India had met the similar fate and now it was Sri Lanka. I have
always believed that Australia is way ahead of other teams. The only way
to have a competitive final is either to allow the entry of two
Australian sides or to keep them away.
The type of dominance they showed this time was never seen in the
past. In the previous world cups they were seen struggling in number of
the preliminary matches and on many occasions their tail enders had
bailed them out. But, thanks to the superb form shown by their top order
this time, their lower half including Hussey had not to pad up for
batting. This should speak of their dominance.
My congratulations to Sri Lanka for having reached the finals! A
great achievement indeed! But if anybody feels that they are number two,
then it is simply his being emotional.
Australia is number one that is undisputed but when it comes to the
second place- Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, NZ and India are at the
same level. It all depends how the team performs on a particular day in
those set of conditions.
It is not to take away the credit from Sri Lanka for having performed
exceedingly well and having clicked as a team. Captain Mahela
Jayawardane lead very well and played the innings of his life in the
most testing situation, the best innings of this World Cup ( Gilchrist's
innings was the most scintillating one, I keep Mahela's innings above
this) The one player who looks to be a special talent is Malinga.
Sri Lanka should woo Bollywood
 Sri Lanka has a few pockets like Nuwara Eliya whose natural beauty
surpasses that of many such destinations like Shimla, Manali, Ooty,
Kodekanal, Darjeeling, Shilong, and Nanital in India, most of these
stations are on the Himalayan belt.
The tourism depth in Sri Lanka can think in terms of wooing Bollywood
to enhance its revenue through cinematic tourism. All it has to do is to
prepare audio-video cassettes of its beautiful locations and to
participate in film festivals and other programmes on film and
television to disseminate information about the countries.
Many hilly states in India are already doing it. The delegation of
the tourism depth can also call on the big movie producers like Yash
Chopra, Karan Johar and many others.
For Sri Lanka, there can't be a better place than India to market
tourism. India has a strong class of 100 million such people whose
disposable income is very high and is in look out for opportunities to
spend money. Air Lanka is already on job but it needs more push.
Bulls are back
With almost all companies coming out with impressive fourth quarterly
results, the Bombay Stock Exchange Index which had dipped to 12400 about
twenty days back has bounced back by 15% and is at 14300, but still 400
points below its peak level of 14700 it touched in middle of January.
However strong rupee which touched 41 mark against weakening dollar
is expected to dent the earnings of the companies especially in IT
sector who have bulk of their revenue from exports and other
transactions in US $.
This way in the last one month rupee has appreciated by 7% against
dollar and appreciation against other currencies is -4.10% against
pound, 3% against euro and 14% against yen. In the last one year
appreciation of rupee against dollar is 13%. This development may help
to check inflation but then exports are badly hurt.
Trillion-$ Economys
This week when Indian rupee breached 41 against US$, it became
thirteenth country in the world to have GDP more than one trillion.
India GDP which is estimated at Rs. 4,100,000 crore, has more than
doubled in the last five years.
According to one report 20 million strong NRI also hold one trillion.
However, amongst Asian countries, it is below Japan and China. USA tops
with GDP of 13.5 trillion.
Spiritual Nugget
 Last year when I was in Bhutan, I read the following lines written by
Nobel Laureate H.H. Dalai Lama, the spiritual Tibetans leader which
enthralled and uplifted me. I am reproducing here to share with our
readers.
We have now bigger house but smaller families,
Our house has a Guestroom, but fewer guests,
More convenience but less time,
We have more degrees but less sense,
More medicines but, less healthiness,
More experts but more problems,
Internet and telephone have globally joined us to the people we
haven't met, But, have locally separated from the people with whom we
passed our childhood, We have been all the way to moon and back. but,
have trouble in crossing the street to meet the neighbour.
We have become long on quantity, but, short on quality.
H.H. Dalai Lama.
"Holding on to anger is like holding on to hot coal with the intent
of throwing it at some one else, you are the one who gets burned."
Lord Buddha
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