What a shame !

The Liberhan Commission which was set up by the Government of India to inquire into the circumstances leading to the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was supposed to submit its report in just 3 months.

It took 17 years to submit its report at a cost of Rs. 8 crores to the exchequer. It clearly reflects upon the functioning of the commission and unconcerned approach of the government of India. One wonders that a job which was to be completed in 3 months could be stretched to such an unthinkable long time and the government kept on extending the period.

This casts aspersions on the systems that we have in India. It also exposes the lack of vision of those running the government. Why should those responsible for whiling away the tax payers money not be held accountable? It does not mean that there was no need for it, but what is of concern is the period taken and the money spent.

Someone may ask why not now look into the circumstances leading to this delay and fix up accountability.

Adulterators deserve capital punishment

An adulteration is a crime, but still it is going on freely and fearlessly at a very large scale all over India. Be it milk and milk products, vegetables and fruits, pulses, oils and even life saving drugs etc, adulterations has been going on in full swing for a very long time. From time to time TV channels have been showing how poison is being injected into eatables but it is falling on deaf ears of the authorities. Had there been any serious effort by the government for curbing such killers, it would not have flourished at a very large scale today.

An adulterator is no less than an enemy. In olden days when the war weapons were not as modern as they are today, use of poison as a weapon was quite common. An adulterator is an enemy from within. But one wonders why the government machinery has been taking it so lightly. Does it help them to reduce the population? I can’t believe that the Police do not know what is happening in their area especially at such a large scale. The adulterators who are well organized and have a vast network, know how to keep the various agencies responsible for tightening their noose in their pockets.

It was shocking to read a news item only the other day after the news channels highlighted how adulteration was going on at a large scale in various parts of the country, that the government machinery had no arrangements to keep the samples in freezers and were buying the same now! What a shame that even after 62 years of independence, the government has paid no attention in this regard. It clearly shows a complete lack of concern by the government machinery for human values and quality of life. It is this lack of concern that has encouraged and helped the adulterators continue their killing strike. It is without an iota of doubt to say that all hands from top to bottom might being greased. Is it impossible for a government machinery to put an end to it?

Therefore, not only the adulterators but all those who connive with them and thus do not bring them to book are equally guilty of crime against the people of this country and should not be spared.

It is a common belief that hardly any sample of eatable products can stand the lab test or so to say that there is a lot of leeway there also. As it is a question of human life , the latest equipment available for testing must be imported on priority. The samples should be checked up in the presence of the owner and a senior officer. The owner should also have the freedom of getting his sample tested from another authorized lab.

Since an adulterator plays with the human lives, he is as bad as a murderer and therefore, the punishment should be death penalty. And if the Act needs to be amended, it should get top most priority.

Pedestrians’ Rights

Road rage cases are on the increase especially in Delhi. The total indiscipline by all those who use the roads including the pedestrians has created chaos on Delhi roads.

The police have failed to rein in because of the population explosion in Delhi. The population of Delhi today is approximately 1.25 crores which is more than the population of some of countries in the world. It includes people from all walks of life and from all parts of the country ranging from illiterate to highly educated lot.

While the police have also grown in numbers and have been provided with the latest gadgets and facilities, they may be feeling that such a large population needs a very large force to have a grip. But it is not true. It is not the number of police personnel which matters, but the fear of law. And it is because of the absence of fear of law that has created indiscipline on the roads.

Well, it may be argued that the law is in place; the penalties are defined and the police is deployed to maintain discipline and penalize those who violate the traffic rules. It is no denying the fact that all these things do exist but what causes fearlessness in violating the rules by a large number of road users?

I am of the opinion that the fear of the law cannot be inculcated until and unless an impression is ingrained in the minds of the people that no greasing of the palm or dropping of names will help them go scot-free for their violations. The concept of “equality before law” should not remain in the law books only, it should be implemented too. But it does not seem practical in India if past is any guidance. It is a well known fact that one daring devil police officer had once dared to penalize a violation by a VVIP vehicle and soon she was shunted out to a very remote place.

Even after 62 years of independence, the police, as far as my awareness goes, have not worked out a document defining the right of pedestrians on the roads. Even the lane system is not in place. The buses have the freedom not to follow the lane earmarked for them. An advertisement by Delhi Police “Respect Pedestrians’ Rights”
(Times of India, 30th May, 09) ,however, proves me wrong because it connotes that they are having a well defined document detailing who has the first right on the road and which vehicle has the first right to go forward or take a turn etc. And if at all it is there, what is stopping its implementation in the right earnest.

I am of the belief that a high amount of fine would not serve the purpose. The first and most important thing is the honesty of purpose. I feel that instead of increasing the amount of fines, if repeated violations are linked to the license,it would certainly bring in discipline on the roads.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India needs alive certificate

Competition has not cut much ice with the Life Insurance Corporation of India, a government of India undertaking. There is no appreciable change in the attitude of its employees towards customers.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India has recently introduced the need for 'alive certificate' to be submitted by all its customers including those having Varistha Pension Bima Yojna and New Jeevan Akshay Plan which are not life policies and do not cover any type of risk. In fact, they are just like the Fixed Deposit schemes where the customer gets a fixed percentage of interest.

Asking for 'alive certificate' every alternate year,therefore, seems illogical and ill found. LIC hold the funds and pays interest like on an FD. Presuming that the rate of interest today may be a shade higher than the prevailing market rate, but how does it justify the need for 'alive certificate' from the customers whose funds are with LIC. Banks don't ask for any alive certificate in the case of fixed deposits even if they run for years.

There is a possibility that on the death of a policy holder, his legal heir may not have immediately surrendered the policy and the interest for a month or two may have been deposited in his account, it hardly makes any difference as the same can be adjusted at the time of surrender of the policy.

As a matter of fact it is not the customers who should be asked to submit 'alive certificate', on the contrary LIC itself must prove that is alive to its customers' problems and requirements.

Air India needs a technocrat

The two national carriers-Air India and Indian Airlines, which have now been merged and are known as Air India have been headed by bureaucrats for a long time. At one time the government of India decided that any bureaucrat who wants to shift to a Public Sector will have to leave his cadre that is lien as IAS officer. But the government could not stick to its rule and had to yield because of the very strong lobby of the bureaucrats. The national airlines were very lucrative and prestigious for them and still continue to be.

There is a saying, “ Jack of all trades but master of none”. But in the case of this cadre that is IAS, an impression has been created that they are masters of all trades and jack of none. How far this impression holds good is for the people to judge. But it is beyond doubt that they have complete control of country’s reign. Therefore, they would not allow anyone else where they wish to butt in.

A technocrat as the head of Air India would have certainly succeeded in bringing back its past glory subject of course to one condition that such a technocrat is brought on the recommendations of the bureaucrats especially in the Ministry of Civil Aviation. We have seen in the past that a few eminent technocrats who took over the reigns of the national carriers had to pack up soon because they did not get the support of the bureaucracy. A peep into the past also reveals that bureaucrats have run the airlines just like a government department and not on any commercial considerations. It remained a matter of prestige for them to be the head of the national carriers.

Another most important fact that has ruined the national carrier is the government’s lack of concern for the national carriers in spite of the fact that on various occasions the government would have realized how important and the useful the national carriers were especially during the national emergencies. But the government probably did not realize the enormous contribution made by the two national carriers to the country’s economy. The flimsy decision of grounding a large number of aircraft for around nine months proved a death nail for Indian Airlines. Indecisiveness in the government is yet another cause for the national carriers’ downfall. The failure of the government machinery to take timely decision of replacing the old fleet and inducting new aircraft which was the need of the hour at that time has also been responsible for nose dive of the national carriers.

Some new aircraft have since joined the fleet and more are to come in phases. And this is the time when a technocrat either from outside or from within could give a phillip to the national carriers’ image, market share and its bottom line. But that is possible only if the government intends to do so instead of taking the easy route of washing its hands off by going for disinvestment.

Will India Survive the Onslaught of Politics

India today is at the make or break point. The politicians have misused democracy for their vested interests.

More than the country, the politicians value power and to attain or retain the power, they can go to any extent even if it bring peril for the country.

The divide and rule policy has been the very essence of attaining power. Today the country stands divided on the caste, creed and religion lines. The so called ‘Unity in Diversity’ is only a slogan now. A great wedge has been created between the Hindus and Muslims and other communities consistently over the years by the politicians to serve their own vested interests.

It would be a rare phenomenon if someone introduces himself as an Indian. The introduction starts first with caste and then with the state. The creation of various states is largely based on linguistic considerations.

Lack of equitable development of villages, cities and states has been responsible for mushrooming of a large number of regional political groups/parties. This has resulted in imbalance of the central equilibrium. No party can claim to be a true representative of the people of the country as a whole. Therefore, the multi-party or the so called coalition governments at the Centre and in various States. This has not only deprived the country of a stable government but also has created a Pandora’s Box for corruption. The Prime Minister’s chair is out for sale.

How long will this trend continue is difficult to predict. But the way conditions are being put forward by individual MPs and regional and small parties for support and the power hungry parties accept them immediately without a second thought, the country’s development and growth as one nation are certainly a victim. This combined with the divisive policies of the politicians leaves no doubt in my mind that the country’s unity is in peril.

Air India and Indian Airlines merger a blunder

Air India and Indian Airlines were created under the act of Parliament. The cut throat competition amongst the private airlines who had acquired World War II vintage aircraft and the paucity of funds with them to upgrade their fleet had virtually brought them to collapse and,therefore,the government of India had to take over.

Indian Airlines was formed by merging eight private airlines to operate on domestic sectors and Air India to operate on international sectors. Over the years Indian Airlines started operations to neighboring countries and thus became a regional airline.


With the introduction of the open sky policy, a few private airlines came into being. Indian Airlines faced a tough competition from the private airlines and started loosing its market share. Prior to the open sky policy, the airline which was operating to loss-making routes in the North-east and some other sectors due to the national and social requirements, used to cross-subsidize its losses by its operations on trunk routes which were profit making. While the operations to the loss making routes had to continue even after the competition, the airline could no longer cross-subsidize its losses through its operations on the trunk routes because of the tough competition on these routes.

The airline,therefore, expanded its operations to the neighboring countries especially in the Gulf where Air India had stopped its operations. Indian Airlines became very popular and started making profit. On the other hand, Air India who had discontinued its operations to Gulf and was facing competition on other international sectors was running into losses.

The issue of merger which was going on for almost over three decades,became a hot subject for every new minister and the new government. Committees after committees and Consultants after Consultants were appointed who finally came to the conclusion that synergy would be best suited rather than the merger. And national carriers started working in this direction.

But in our country economic/ national considerations give way to political considerations for obvious reasons. And finally what was not advised even after three decades of deliberations was done just in one stroke and thus the plus was multiplied with the minus. In such a situation anyone would imagine what the result would be. In fact the politics is not a game of immediate future, it looks far ahead. The ultimate objective probably was to hand over the national carriers to private hands.

"An old wine in new bottle" is marketing. But wouldn't old wine in an old bottle be a folly? And this folly has been committed by merging Indian Airlines, a profit making airline with good image, with Air India whose market image had gone southward. Probably, a new name to the merged entity would have assured the traveling public of a much better service.

The merger of staff of both the airlines is yet to take place. Certainly it is not going to be a smooth sailing. Indian Airlines employees are already demoralized because of their identity loss.

The first outcome of the merger has been that the Indian Airlines which used to be the leader even after the open sky policy has now been reduced to a tale with only 17% of the market share. The losses have been mounting northward after the merger. The indications of disinvestment have started appearing. It is pertinent to reiterate here that as mentioned earlier that the very motive of merger was disinvestment stands vindicated.

For the sake of transparency, it is necessary that the government puts it before the people of this country to whom it is answerable the various considerations which were the basis for merger and where they have gone wrong.