On How Our Hidden Insecurities as a Society Surfaced thanks to #ChennaiFloods

Pardon me for being cynical but this whole business of "all communities rose as one", "Muslims serving Hindus meals", "Hindus staying inside mosques", "Muslims, Christians & Hindus together fight the floods" is getting a tad too exasperating. Are we such a failed state that we have to seek not only solace but joy at such things?

I know Chennai is among the more communally peaceful places in the country, and I am every bit proud to be a Chennaite, but do you mean to say Muslims & Hindus in Mumbai would have fought with each other when faced with a disaster of such mammoth proportions? I'm amazed at our level of insecurity as a nation. It is understandable if our media does this job of hyping up trivialities (for want of a better word), but it's plain sad to see the common people hype up what is *expected* in a mature democracy, or at least in any state that aspires to be and sees itself as a major world power.

The common man on the streets might not match your level of intellectualism in drawing room debates but he is definitely high above the incredibly low standards you set for him - that he would indulge in petty faith-based fights & not help when the very question of humanity and survival has arisen. I'm saddened that you thought so lowly of him. I didn't. And I'm glad he didn't prove me wrong.

Another thing - all of you saw what all Chennai is - all these weeks. Now here's an example of what Chennai is *NOT*.

• Chennai is not the stereotype this article portrays us to be. I've faced my fair share of stereotyping by my North-Indian friends but even the most ignorant among them did not paint such a picture of us.
• I can understand that you want to flood people's homes with positivity but this article is really scraping the barrel.
• And the saddest part - the last paragraph. One of Mudhalvan's most classic dialogues was "Kadaiseela yennaiyum arasiyalvaadhiya aakkittaangaley!" (In the end, they have made me also a politician). How sad that after all the stories of heroism, valour, determination & courage transcending caste, creed, religion, sex, Rasheeda Bhagat had to make this to be yet another story of Muslims Vs the Rest!

One Hundred Days of Diplomacy

In what has been one of the most keenly observed governments in many a sub-40 lifetime, one of the standout accomplishments of the Narendra Modi government has been on the diplomatic front. Aided by an efficient Foreign Minister and an ebullient set of babus in South Block, PM Modi has shored up India's profile by some extent internationally. What is particularly noteworthy is the manner in which all diplomatic moves appear to have been thought out - giving each international visitor/host a special honour, as has been his wont.
Here's a quick recap of the hectic diplomatic calendar India's Ministry of External Affairs has followed in the past 100 days, with special mention of how each visit was special.

Country	Outgoing/Incoming	Who?	Speciality
SAARC	Incoming	All SAARC Countries	First-of-a-kind invitation to SAARC leaders for a Prime Minister's Swearing-In Ceremony Saree Diplomacy with Pakistan
Bhutan	Outgoing	Prime Minister	PM's first foreign visit after assuming office
China	Outgoing	Vice President	First visit by an Indian Vice President to China since 1994
Bangladesh	Outgoing	Foreign Minister	Foreign Minister's first stand-alone foreign visit after assuming office
Nepal	Outgoing	Prime Minister	An Indian PM's visit to Nepal after 17 years
Myanmar	Outgoing	Foreign Minister	-
Singapore	Outgoing	Foreign Minister	-
Sri Lanka	Incoming	Tamil National Alliance	A carefully-planned visit to show that the PM was his own man despite perceived closeness to certain Rajapakse-supporters in party
Vietnam	Outgoing	Foreign Minister	-
Japan	Outgoing	Prime Minister	Everything about the visit
Bahrain	Outgoing	Foreign Minister	Foreign Minister's first visit to the Gulf region
Australia	Incoming	Prime Minister	First State Guest of Modi Government
USA	Outgoing	Prime Minister	Simply the fact that the PM has consented to visit Washington DC.

Symbolism is a much abused concept in India. Its importance is either exaggerated or summarily dismissed. What Modi has done here is to treat it with the respect it deserves. What's more - whether by design or by coincidence, more-or-less all of the new government's diplomatic engagements have ensured that the other country feels special in some way at least.
And all this simply analyzing the Modi government's diplomatic activities at a very superficial level.
A map to show the countries which we have engaged with in these 100 days.

What is evident is a clear focus on the neighbourhood - an aspect of diplomacy that we appear to have ignored over the past (lost) decade. Our concerns and engagements over the past decade were all high-ticket commodities - be it the US or Russia or China. This offers another insight into Modi's line of thinking - incrementalism or attention to the smaller items. This is, by no means, meant to belittle the countries (Japan is of course no "small item"), but show our Prime Minister has got his priorities right and is aiming for the long term. We have a Prime Minister who appears to be acting with the confidence of someone who knows he has got a decade to cause significant changes to the nation's policies. This might explain why, contrary to popular expectations, he isn't rushing into big-bang reforms but is taking his time to get all the basics right. To us, systemic change is about creating new sweeping laws. To Modi, it appears to be changing the engagement and approach to administration.
Anyhow, coming back to diplomacy, the beginning has been nothing short of awesome and as they say, well-begun is half-done. Here's hoping the PM builds upon this solid foundation and establishes India's (rightful?) pre-eminence on the global stage.

The Quota system in the LokPal Bill

Thanks to the relentless tweeting of @realitycheckind, I got to know that the Lok Pal Bill that was recently passed in the Parliament has a Quota System of its own.
According to the Bill (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=101963),

• The Lokpal will consist of a Chairperson and a maximum of eight Members, of which fifty percent shall be judicial members.
• Fifty per cent of members of Lokpal shall be from amongst SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities and Women.

So now we have reservation even in the Lok Pal that mandates that 50% of the Lok Pal shall be judicial members while 50% shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities & Women. Note that the 2 50%'s arent mutually exclusive, which means there can be an overlap - which means that the same 50% can be both judicial members as well as from SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities & Women.

Important point here is that there is no stipulation that there should be ONLY 50%. So we now have the following possibilities -

1. All of the Lokpal consists of SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities & Women (out of which at least 50% are judicial members).
2. All of the Lokpal consists of judicial members (out of which at least 50% are SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities & Women).

If my understanding is right, both scenarios above are possible.
Here's the question - if the assumption is right that it requires the presence of SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities, Women members to ensure fair treatment in case the accused government servant happens to be from one of those groups, doesn't that imply that you don't have confidence in the impartiality of the other 50% (assuming the other 50% isn't from this list)
Doesn't it logically imply that members from this group need not be expected to be impartial to someone from outside this group?
Or do you mean to say that non-category members can't be trusted when the accused is from one of the categories, while category members can be, when the accused is from a general category?

The Minority Question -
We are back to square one here. What is the definition of "minority" that will be used? If the Lokpal has this composition, is the Lokayukta expected to follow something similar (I am assuming there is no compulsion, but it's anyone's guess whether the states WONT follow suit). In that case, how about states where, simply going by religious parameters, Hindus are a minority or all religions are of relatively similar population where it wouldn't be accurate to categorize one as Majority and the others are Minorities.
For eg:
Nagaland:        90% Christian, 8% Hindu & 2% Muslim
Meghalaya:      70% Christian, 13% Hindu
J&K:        67% Muslim, 30% Hindu

Oh, but this is the Communal Violence Bill all over again!

What specifically is the purpose of this quota here? Surely, we're not trying to uplift and provide opportunities to the historically suppressed communities?
How long are we going to have this quota thing going on? Isn't there some kind of closure that we can expect at some point of time in the future?
Will this quota system henceforth be templatized? What are the chances that we'll now start having agitations from communities demanding for reservation in other constitutional/statutory bodies as well?
Where are we going? Is this the right idea to communicate to our people?

Draft Communal Violence Bill - Details by Shri Arun Jaitley

[This article is taken from Shri.Arun Jaitley's blog and reproduced here for improved readability. Bullet points, formatting, etc mine.]

A draft of a proposed legislation titled "Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011" has been put in public domain. The draft Bill ostensibly appears to be a part of an endeavour to prevent and punish communal violence in the country. Though that may be the ostensible object of the proposed law its real object is to the contrary. It is a Bill which if it is ever enacted as a law will intrude into the domain of the State, damage a federal polity of India and create an imbalance in the inter-community relationship of India.
What does the Bill in effect state?
The most vital definition of the bill is of the expression 'group'.
A 'group' means a religious or linguistic minority and in a given State may include the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The bill creates a whole set of new offences in Chapter II.

• Clause 6 clarifies that the offences under this Bill are in addition to the offences under the SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Can a person be punished twice for the same offence?
•  Clause 7 prescribes that a person is said to commit sexual assault if he or she commits any of the sexual act against a person belonging to a 'group' by virtue of that person's membership of a group.
• Clause 8 prescribes that a 'hate propaganda' is an offence when a person by words oral or written or a visible representation causes hate against a 'group' or a person belonging to a 'group'.
• Clause 9 creates an offence for communal and targeted violence. Any person who singly or jointly or acting under the influence of an association engages in unlawful activity directed against a 'group' is guilty of organized communal and targeted violence.
• Clause 10 provides for punishment of a person who expends or supplies money in the furtherance or support of an offence against a 'group'.
• The offence of torture is made out under clause 12 where a public servant inflicts pain or a suffering, mental or physical, on a person belonging to a 'group'.
• Clause 13 punishes a public servant for dereliction of duty in relation to offences mentioned in this Bill.
• Clause 14 punishes public servants who control the armed forces or security forces and fails to exercise control over people in his command in order to discharge their duty effectively.
• Clause 15 expands the principle of vicarious liability. An offence is deemed to be committed by a senior person or office bearer of an association and he fails to exercise control over subordinates under his control or supervision. He is vicariously liable for an offence which is committed by some other person.
• Clause 16 renders orders of superiors as no defence for an alleged offence committed under this section.

Any communal trouble during which offences are committed is a law and order problem. Dealing with the law and order is squarely within the domain of the State Governments. In the division of powers between the Centre and the States, the Central Government has no direct authority to deal with the law and order issues; nor is it directly empowered to deal with them nor it can legislate on the subject. The Central Government's jurisdiction restricts itself to issue advisories, directions and eventually forming an opinion under Article 356 that the governance of the State can be carried on in accordance with the Constitution or not.
If the proposed Bill becomes a law, then effectively it is the Central Government which would have usurped the jurisdiction of the States and legislated on a subject squarely within the domain of the States.

India has been gradually moving towards a more amicable inter-community relationship. Even when minor communal or caste disturbances occur, there is a national mood of revulsion against them. The governments, media, the courts among other institutions rise to perform their duty. The perpetrators of communal trouble should certainly be punished. This draft Bill however proceeds on a presumption that communal trouble is created only by members of the majority community and never by a member of the minority community. Thus, offences committed by members of the majority community against members of the minority community are punishable. Identical offences committed by minority groups against the majority are not deemed to be offences at all. Thus a sexual assault is punishable under this bill and only if committed against a person belonging to a minority 'group'. A member of a majority community in a State does not fall within the purview of a 'group'. A 'hate propaganda' is an offence against minority community and not otherwise. Organised and targeted violence, hate propaganda, financial help to such persons who commit an offence, torture or dereliction of duty by public servants are all offences only if committed against a member of the minority community and not otherwise. No member of the majority community can ever be a victim. This draft law thus proceeds on an assumption which re-defines the offences in a highly discriminatory manner. No member of the minority community are to be punished under this Act for having committed the offence against the majority community. It is only a member of the majority community who is prone to commit such offences and therefore the legislative intent of this law is that since only majority community members commit these offences, culpability and punishment should only be confined to them. If implemented in a manner as provided by this Bill, it opens up a huge scope for abuse. It can incentivize members of some communities to commit such offences encouraged by the fact that they would never be charged under the Act. Terrorist groups may no longer indulge in terrorist violence. They will be incentivized to create communal riots due to a statutory assumption that members of a Jihadi group will not be punished under this law. The law makes only members of the majority community culpable.
Why should the law discriminate on the basis of a religion or caste? An offence is an offence irrespective of origin of the offender. Here is a proposed law being legislated in the 21st Century where caste and religion of an offender wipe out the culpability under this law.

Who will ensure implementation of this Act?
The bill provides for a 7-member national authority for communal harmony, justice and reparations. Of these 7 members, at least 4 of them including the Chairman and Vice Chairman shall only belong to a 'group' i.e. minority community. A similar body is intended to be created in the States. Membership of this body thus shall be on religious and caste grounds. The offenders under this law are only the members of the majority community. The enforcement of the Act will be done by a body where statutorily the members of the majority community will be in a minority. The governments will have to make available Police and other investigative agencies to this authority. This authority shall have a power to conduct investigations and enter buildings, conduct raids and searches to make inquiries into complaints and to initiate steps, record proceedings for prosecution and make its recommendations to the Governments. It shall have powers to deal with the armed forces. It has a power to send advisories to the Central and State Governments. Members of this authority shall be appointed in the case of Central Government by a collegium which shall comprise of Prime Minister, the Home Minister, and the Leader of Opposition in the house of People and a leader of each recognized political party. A similar provision is created in relation to the States. Thus, it Is the Opposition at the Centre and the States which will have a majority say in the composition of the Authority.

What are the procedures to be followed?
The procedures to be followed for investigations under this Act are extraordinary. No statement shall be recorded under section 161 of the CrPC. Victim statements shall be only under section 164 i.e. before courts. The government will have a power to intercept and block messages and telecommunications under this law. Under clause 74 of the Bill if an offence of hate propaganda is alleged against a person, a presumption of guilt shall exist unless the offender proves to the contrary. An allegation thus is equivalent to proof. Public servants under this bill under clause 67 are liable to be proceeded against without any sanction from the State. The Special Public prosecutor to conduct proceedings under this Act shall not act in aid of truth but 'in the interest of the victim'. The name and identity of the victim complainant will not be disclosed. Progress of the case will be reported by the police to the victim complainant. The occurrence of organized communal and targeted violence under this Act shall amount to an internal disturbance in a State within the meaning of Article 355 entitling the Central Government to impose President's rule.

The drafting of this Bill appears to be a handiwork of those social entrepreneurs who have learnt from the Gujarat experience of how to fix senior leaders even when they are not liable for an offence. Offences which are defined under the Bill have been deliberately left vague. Communal and targeted violence means a violence which destroys the 'secular fabric of the nation'. There can be legitimate political differences as to what constitutes secularism. The phrase secularism can be construed differently by different persons. Which definition is the judge supposed to follow?
Similarly, the creation of a hostile 'environment' may leave enough scope for a subjective decision as to what constitutes 'a hostile environment'. The inevitable consequences of such a law would be that in the event of any communal trouble the majority community would be assumed to be guilty. There would be a presumption of guilt unless otherwise proved. Only a member of the majority shall be held culpable under this law. A member of the minority shall never commit an offence of hate propaganda or a communal violence. There is a virtual statutory declaration of innocence under this law for him. The statutory authority prescribed at the Central and State level would intrinsically suffer from an institutional bias because of its membership structure based on caste and community.

I have no doubt that once this law is implemented with the intention with which it is being drafted, it will create disharmony in the inter-community relations in India. It is a law fraught with dangerous consequences. It is bound to be misused. Perhaps, that appears to be the real purpose behind its drafting. It will encourage minority communalism. The law defies the basic principles of equality and fairness. Social entrepreneurs in the National Advisory Council can be expected to draft such a dangerous and discriminatory law. One wonders how the political head of that body cleared this draft. When some persons carried on a campaign against TADA - an anti-terrorist law, the members of the UPA argued that even terrorists should be tried under the normal laws. A far more draconian law is now being proposed. The States will be watching hopelessly when the Centre goes ahead with this misadventure. Their power is being usurped. The search for communal harmony is through fairness - not through reverse discrimination.                         

The BJP Press Statement That Could Have Been - 1

@techrsr brought up an interesting point the other day about the BJP not having the locus of control of the Indian media with them. Now, I'm not sure how much of an electoral impact having the locus of control of Indian media will have, but it is a well-established fact that BJP is simply clueless (after all these days, yes) in handling the barrage of anti-BJP media outlets that dot the (sorry) Indian media landscape. In a sense, this is both funny & intriguing, considering one of their top-most leaders (supposedly?) has excellent contacts with most top media outlets. But that's a discussion for another day. Coming back, given this well-entrenched hostility, it becomes absolutely imperative for the BJP to tackle them strategically, *consistently*. As laymen-supporters of the BJP, apart from the occasional display of savvy, we are mostly left licking our self-inflicted wounds.
In light of the recent "Clarification" (an obvious euphemism for "Sorry [Hehe] for peddling lies" [Yes, I can almost see the sardonic grin on the editors' faces while printing out this joke of a clarification, which, by the way, is neither sincere nor well-intentioned nor truly apologetic]) issued by the Times of India group with respect to the "Modi rescues 15000" controversy, the handling of the issue by the BJP left a lot to be desired. Consider this - the clarification itself is neatly tucked into a corner of one of the deepest parts of the printed edition (Page 9 in the Mumbai & Chennai editions, Page 10 in the Bangalore edition, to name a few), so it is quite unlikely that this is going to be read by as many people as those who would've bought into the "self-orchestrated propaganda by the BJP" story, which, anyway, was the main aim of the ToI piece in the first place.
And dear BJP supporters, for how long can we keep taking cover under the "No publicity is bad publicity" logic? There is a point at which the actual "publicity" part of the publicity (good or bad) plateaus and in Modi's case, this point has long since been reached. Again, I don't know about the net impact (electoral or otherwise, but basically, to me, it is only the "electoral" bit that matters...at least for the next one year) of the "15000" ToI scandal, but here's what the BJP could have done immediately after the issue blew up which, I am sure, would have garnered them much more sympathy than what they will most likely receive now. A simple press release on the lines of -

"This in reference to the article "Modi lands in Uttarakhand, flies out with 15,000 Gujaratis" published in the Times of India. The BJP would like to categorically state that this is a totally baseless number that is being quoted and no BJP representative has been contacted in this regard. We would further like to add that Shri Narendra Modi was indeed instrumental in part of the relief work that is being carried out in Uttarakhand, however his relief efforts were not restricted to people of any particular community, region or language. Furthermore, at a time of grave crisis like this, what matters is that all effort possible be rendered to the needy across political and ideological differences and not one-upmanship based on numbers. Publishing such an article with unsubstantiated data amounts to rumour-mongering. Instead of helping focus on the relief work being carried out by all parties, this is a grossly irresponsible act of journalism by one of the country's oldest journalistic institutions. We strongly condemn this rather mischievous attempt to insinuate controversy and demand an apology by Times of India in the front page of ALL their editions, with all the clarifications stated above, failing which, we will be forced to take legal action against them."

Alas, that was not to be. With such an insincere and delayed "Clarification" by ToI, when the whole issue is more or less out of public memory, has the damage been done?
Your guess is as good as mine.

Prologue: Going by recent happenings, one can't help but begin to wonder if Shekhar Gupta was indeed right when he said that instead of setting the agenda, the BJP is walking right into Congress' trap. One of the impressive aspects about Narendra Modi so far has been his ability to set the terms of the discourse and decide the agenda. If recent events are any indication, this ability appears to be waning. It is too early to conclude, but a course correction is definitely in order.

An Open Letter to a friend

Dear friend,
Over the past 1.5 years or so, you have acted like a wave. You come close to the shore and just when one would think you're coming in, you go right back. Kind of like that epic scene in Anbe Sivam - "Chennaiya thaakkoon, Chennaiya thaakkoon apdeenu solluvaanga, aana varusha varusham Orissa'va thaandi Andhra varikkum vandhuttu apdiye thirumbi poidum."
I can remember at least 3 instances during the same period when you have permuted the words - "open mind", "accept", "unbiased point of view", "listened to both sides", etc but would end up at the same conclusion - that of Namo's purported guilt. Then you would tweet the occasional 2-3 articles about development in Gujarat riding with a [standard] disclaimer/question wondering if it was exaggerated. Then the same tone of "all this is ok...but...".

Much as I have respect for you and your rationality, I must say that when it comes to Namo, your sense of objectivity seems to be minimal at best. I can see you trying hard to take off those blinkers and view him in different light (and I credit you for that), but there seems to be some part of you that is absolutely preventing you from doing it.

All this while, I hoped/assumed all you were waiting for was the court's judgement on the issue. However, despite an overwhelming clean chit to him, your stance has barely shifted. If any, it (viewing him guilty) just seems to have strengthened.

I also hope you are cognizant of the fact that I have not once brought up any of the other riots or even mentioned "1984", even in passing.
The riots were ABSOLUTELY unjustified, there is no second question about it. Could Modi have handled the riots better - maybe, maybe not. But I think we do not have the authority to decide that. NGO's might, and I too thought they were authentic & exposed the actual situation until Teesta Setalvad came into the picture. I think it has been proved beyond doubt that she is funded, in part or whole, by vested interests with the chief aim of maligning Narendra Modi. The actual aim of "Justice for the victims" was just a bystander in her pick-up truck which has long passed its actual destination and route.

This being the case, I think it would be best to rely on the court's verdict, especially considering the SIT for the main case (Gulberg Society) was headed by an extremely competent man of impeccable integrity (RK Raghavan).

You also try to judge NaMo based on how he would've handled riots. How many people do you *know* / have *proven* they can handle riots better than him? God forbid such a situation ever arise, but in a nation that is both tolerant as well as easily inflamed, have you ever thought how much worse the riots could've been if not for whatever control was brought about? Once again, I am not claiming that the riots that happened were a best-case scenario or even an acceptable-case scenario, but how could you so overwhelmingly confidently pronounce him guilty and start finding loopholes in the Indian Penal Code which assumes a man innocent till proven guilty?

I also see you bandying about words like "did he do ALL he could", "did he WANT the riots to happen", "did he ALLOW the riots to happen" - I hope you realize the extent to which you have brought in subjectivity here, as also uncertainty and intangibility to the bigger picture. Is it possible to get into his head and ascertain the truth? And certainly, you will have no strong answers to those questions - even if there are, you would be just as justified negating the naysayers as you can the yeasayers. Why - you know very well.

To conclude, I think the best thing for us is to, like all pointless-but-polite arguments, "agree to disagree" on Namo. You are strongly opinionated that Namo is guilty and nothing he does will ever convince you otherwise. Not a clean chit from any court. Not cogent arguments from rational, well-informed folks about his effort. Not gentle proddings from friends. Not passionate arguments from fellow twitterati. Heck, I doubt if even Teesta Setalvad can convince you otherwise (just kidding). :D

It's ok man, you have an opinion, live with it. Accept it. I have mine. I'm okay with it. In fact, I'm perfectly fine with yours too (though I must confess that it did break my heart a lot initially - my failure at coaxing you into Namo :P).

I've tried hard and long to weigh Namo on various scales. I ended up backing Narendra Modi. You ended up not. One of us is wrong. Maybe not. Time will tell. Maybe not. Until then, the best thing you could possibly do is stop trying hard to be "fair", "objective", "unbiased", etc. I know we all have heads, but we are not coins. You've tried hard enough. God (if you believe in One) will give you full marks for trying.
Amen.
:)

Taking Stock of the Present & Re-evaluating my Options for the Future

It's been one year now since I returned to India for good and I guess looking back and analyzing how the past year has been would be in order, especially considering the return to India was something of an inflection point.
At a very superficial level, the return's been a rather interesting mixture of more of the same with a lot of differences.

Sothu-pozhappu...
is obviously the most  important aspect and while I can safely say that I'm not doing something I *don't* want to be doing, I'm definitely not doing something I *want* to, at least over the long run. This is in keeping with a pompous statement I had made to one of my college teachers when I had met her a few days after returning - "I may not know what I want to do, but I definitely know what I don't want to do."

Parents...
This front has been one of the biggest fails of my return. Once the initial surprise/excitement over my return (though my parents had an idea that I would mostly be returning, I hadn't given them any details about my actual return) subsided, it was immediately replaced by disappointment that their son was no-longer an NRI. My parents aren't these super-wise or intellectual human beings who can get over a disappointment easily. It took me a long time to come to terms with the basic fact that they wanted me to, if not settle down in the US, at least spend a reasonable amount of time there. For quite some time, this attitude disgusted me, but then, I slowly realized that all this came from what they had been subject to in their life. Add to this a plethora of colleagues/acquaintances from a super-typical middle-class TamBrahm background who felt they had attained moksha now that their kids were married and settled in the US. Ok, without elaborating further and presenting the script of a sad documentary, let's just say that I realized that my parents' aspirations for me were perfectly valid, only, they didn't sit well on me, and that's currently the major point of contention at home. I'm pessimistic about a win-win result and though I want to taste success in something I have set sights on, I doubt if I have the cut-throatedness in me to see them settle for an unhappy compromise (at best) or give in to my whims (at worst). Neither do I think I have the killer instinct to finish off what I think I want to do . :P

Relationships...
have been reasonably ok, or in fact, rather good. I've made some unexpected relationships for life and built upon old ones.  On another more obvious front, without going into the details, let me just say that I have now realized I am more single than ever. :D
And though those of you who follow me on twitter might cry hoarse at my hypocrisy, I will admit that despite pseudo-regular cribs of being single and all that, I'm really not in a position to get into a relationship at this point of time. Parental pressure, however, is weighing heavily on me, and I'm not sure how much more I can hold up.

Health...
no major vyaadhis so far, but fitness is somewhere on the lower side of all my 26 years of existence. This is another regular talking-point at home - dad shouting at my lack of exercise from time to time. I still can do a lot of things, but am far from "fit". Absolutely no sports but for the occasional soft-ball cricket at work.

Financial Express...
is just about ok. No major savings from the You-Yess-Yeah, but something to call savings yes.

Ummaachi...
Quite contrary to my hopes & expectations, there has been a noticeable drop (at least from within) in my spirituality. Yes, I might still continue to do my daily prayers without fail and attend the occasional spiritual youth camp, but when it comes to the Bhakti Bhaava within, I can definitely say there was more yearning and reverence for God and/or dedication to spiritual pursuits when I lived a bachelor's life in Chicago. I don't know if this is a case of "Distance makes hearts go fonder", but there. I hope this phase is either thanks to a hectic work-schedule & pressure or is just some kind of illusion and whatever be the case, I get back to normal some time soon.

So then, where does that leave me - discontented and disenchanted to a major extent. I don't think I'd be way off the mark if I say my return to India, at least thus far, has been Fail. Then again, what followed my decision to return might have been bad, but I still stick to my decision of returning. At least the conscience is clean. :)
Coming back to life here, I seem to be existing rather than living, something that my parents seem to have noticed, unfortunately. I seem to be going through the motions. Make no mistake, I'm not exactly living a drab life sans friends, entertainment, etc, but that zing is so totally missing.
As I enter my second year here, I look forward to it with hope. It's not that things cant get worse (they can, for sure!), but there are more things that can make things better from now on, than worse. Then again, you can never be sure!

My Tete-a-tete with a Congress Functionary

My patriotism has not really been questioned much till now, but I think this post will erase any doubts anyone (including self) ever had about it. Maybe not.
However, only "patriotism" comes closest to explaining why I engaged in a lengthy (often bordering on irritating) conversation with an acquaintance who happens to be a Congress functionary on most Congress-related crap at a cousin's betrothal instead of -
a. The obvious - scouting for prospective candidates so the next such function would be mine.
b. Scouting for prospective candidates whether such functions are possible or not.
c. Scouting for prospective candidates for friend(s).
d. Scouting for prospective friends for my lady-friends and sisters.
e. Catching up with relatives.*

The said functionary actually happens to be a Golti uncle from Vizag who knows me from childhood and who is a General Secretary for the party in charge of Public Relations. Picturize a fairly well-off, smart-alec businessman-type dude in his 40's. That's him. I knew of his entry into the dark side back in 2008 itself, and we had a very brief interaction then. This discussion was not exactly very lengthy, but it's at least worth a blog post - considering it happened at my cousin's betrothal with a Raja playing Baand Baaja in the background.

Now that you have the background, let me also add (needless to say) that there's obviously a fair amount of bias against anything associated with the Congress. Still, I tried to rope in whatever bit of objectivity I could.

Why Congress

To begin with, I abruptly asked him, unable to conceal my scorn, sarcasm, glee, etc, why he joined the Congress party. He started off by saying that Congress was the oldest party around - there was obviously some amount of ridiculousness in this reply which was what made me unprepared for this kind of response. However, moving on, he recalled the "greatness" of the Congress party (with no particular instance or point) and cited that as inspiration for joining. Ya...blah.

Then I slightly got back to the function at hand and allied "responsibilities".

On Raja
After a brief interlude, we banged into each other with my dad being part of the ensemble this time. I played Narada and provoked my dad into asking him some question. (FYI, Dad's not pro-BJP by any weird stretch of imagination and often revels in screwing all political parties L, R & C. It must also be said that he reveres NaMo and has a notable anti-Congresss bias {which may or may not be thanks to me}. Quite needless to say, given the humongous amount of shit we're facing today, his hatred for Congress has reached hitherto unscaled heights) I must confess that I expected my dad to be a tad simplistic and ask something very crude (ala my "why Congress" question). Dad however asked him a quite-obvious-yet-slightly-intellectual "Why has Manmohan not removed Raja even after so much data has been unearthed?", since I'd thought he'd ask something on the lines of "Why is Cong corrupt", etc. Now began the lengthiest, irritating'est & boring'est part of the whole conversation. The uncle probably thought this was a good chance to impress the dad-son duo (Why - I have not the faintest idea) and immediately set about "demonstrating" his knowledge of the issue. He slowly led us away from the hall to the balcony where, quite typically intellectually, he brandished a cigarette (after a few minutes there, he wanted to go downstairs for a more open session when dad excused himself & returned to the hall). I will totally spare you of all that rigmarole covering the Indian constitution and allied legal parameters effectively implying (don't tell me you haven't guessed it by now) that Manmohan Singh could not, in any way, have stripped Raja of his Ministership. Since I didn't want to give him the impression that I absolutely didn't agree with him, I told him this, much to his dismay (since it was put across in a way which, I assume, wouldn't have given him an impression of me as a dumb, presumptuous, retarded, stubborn simpleton) - "I am willing to concede that maybe it wasn't criminal of MMS to have persisted with Raja, but the thing about you saying that MMS could not have removed Raja at all is ugly crap. I am sure, given another Prime Minister, it is every bit likely we would've seen the back of Raja long ago."

[Socializing break]

Escape from Recession
Uncle'gaaru had, by now, probably realized I hadn't bought any of his hard-peddled "imported from phoreyn" goods and resorted to some tried-and-tested-product. Congress & age-old product? Yes, Nehru it was. He started off with asking me about the effect of recession in the US (he knows I'm a US-return). I knew he was preparing himself to land a KO-punch - that India was not affected by the recession because of Jawaharlal Nehru's "policies". Somewhere, I cut him and said something which made him ask me what I thought of Nehru. In being blunt, I tried to be as decent as I could.
Which is when we came to a rather interesting juncture. When he told me that many years ago, he held the same opinion as me, I refused to believe him. And then he brought the name "Babri" when I almost started J-w-J. However, I could not proceed since I had to redress his misconception about his earlier self being similar to my current self.
When I brought in Sardar Patel's name as well, he pointedly asked me - "I can see that your mind is parallelly working when I'm saying something. Why dont you allow me to finish what I'm saying first?" I was definitely at least slightly impressed by his relatively correct judgement of my mind's parallel processing. When he said one more thing against the Sardar, I simply asked him - "Uncle, I appreciate Nehru chacha's contribution and will definitely not write him off as completely useless to the nation, but just asking, do you know who the 3 members (specifically the third and most under-rated, under-acknowledged, under-appreciated member) of India's famed Triumvirate were. Much to my chagrin, he asked me to tell who they were, with the air of someone who knows his facts. Ha! This you-tell-I-tell game went on for about 4 passes after which he deftly changed the topic. I, of course, did not miss the point - though there is a statistical possibility that he did know, in all likelihood, he simply didn't know.

Now then, when it was getting obvious for both of us who was really making sense, though, I sadly had to leave for an obviously more important duty*. And though I tried to engage/humour him for a bit after dinner, it wasn't to be.

Advice for Congress: This uncle, though not-at-all convincing for a slightly-informed-BJP-supporter, would definitely have appeared convincing (to some extent at least) for a neutral, not-so-informed citizen. Plus, he didn't make an ass of himself. Sincerely I tell you, he will do a better job than Manish Tewari.

And then, for the moment of the day: I went to tell him bye and thank him for a definitely engaging discussion. It was his turn to dine then, and he, with a lot of warmth, patted me on my back and said that he'd always known I'd grow up to be a really "big" man and that he had given me 100/100 when I was in my 7th standard itself to which, I, rather (genuinely) humbly, told him that I did not consider myself big enough to grade him.

Laughing heartily, he further added - "You're one of the smartest young chaps around. You must definitely meet Rahul <...induced pause for dramatic effect...> Rahul Gandhi."

I died.

*I did not sacrifice food. Food happens to be one of the standout components of any TamBrahm function (including death ceremonies).

The Curious Phenomenon that is Hindu Liberalism

While choosing a title, I was deciding between Liberal Hinduism & Hindu Liberalism. I'm not trying to indulge in bombastic word-play here, but you must understand both terms because both are in relevance today.
Liberal Hinduism, though fast replacing the more orthodox moorings of the "religion" per se (in heavy contrast to Islam which seems to be getting more radical by the day, the most recent case being that of this Kerala girl) is far from being the malaise, which Hindu Liberalism undoubtedly is.

I am not sure about the origins of this current version of Hindu Liberalism. Agreed, one of the main facets of Hinduism has been its liberal & flexible nature which has, in a way, contributed to its continued evolution and relevance even after (the British-historians-dated) 3000 years, but I have a feeling we have slightly gotten confused between "liberal" and "flexible".

The problem with the contemporary liberal (non Internet-) Hindu's understanding of Liberalism is that, to ensure "Live & Let Live", he ends up following "Let live irrespective of whether you are let" - this dire compulsion to acknowledge, accept, appreciate and most importantly, accommodate alien cultures without the realization that such cultures are potentially detrimental to local culture (for starters) and are eventually destructive for all non-adherents. Not surprisingly, all this seems to have clouded the Hindu Liberal's vision of what exactly is happening at ground-level. And this feeling now seems to have created an invisible phobia towards one's native (Hindu) culture. This is especially visible in urban societies wherein Christians & (more often) Muslims do not seem to have any problems in accepting and admitting their religion while Hindus will take that extra effort to avoid that acknowledgement (let alone proclamation). Any Hindu who makes no qualms about his religion culture is, oftentimes, mistaken for an over-orthodox, possibly partially-backward fundamentalist. You see, stereotypes are always in vogue and the stereotype of the Hindu bigot (ala Saffron terror) is the flavour of the season, promoted chiefly by Hindu liberals. Things have reached such a stage that a reasonably religious Hindu risks projecting a stereotype (mostly negative) of himself while depicting (as opposed to flaunting, projecting and hollering) his religious side - this, not in the United States or Europe in front of non-Hindus, but in India, specifically urban India, in front of fellow-Hindus (but "liberal").

There is another pernicious characteristic that is not necessarily a characteristic of the Hindu Liberal, but one that is widely prevalent among the non-stereotypical-Internet-Hindu populace - which is a marked indifference towards Hindu causes. By "Hindu causes", I refer more to the inherent local culture than Hinduism the religion. Hundreds before me have milked the Babri Ayodhya cow by now and I dont want to do any more damage to her, but I hope you understand where I'm getting at.

I have no statistical backing, but I will go ahead and say this - the ratio of the number of indifferent urban Hindus to the number of urban Hindus is way higher than that for Christians & Muslims.

In a similar statistical-but-not-backed-by-data vein, amongst all communities of the world, Hinduism is probably the community with the highest number of self-proclaimed adherents (no prizes for guessing that these "adherents" are liberal ones) who derive pleasure in making fun of (their-community)-related issues, especially issues of contention, often insensitively. There might be non-Muslims/atheists that make fun of Islam-related issues, but you wont find too many theist Muslims taking (often unfair) digs at their own religion. Similar is the case with Christianity. The Hindu Liberal, however, is always drawn towards Hinduism when it comes to ridiculing & mocking.

Hindu-turned-atheists are the cream of the lot. I'd probably have to write a separate piece on them, if I ventured to describe their characteristics. But one stunning aspect is how Hindu liberals/Hindu-turned-atheists often lose their sense of objectivity and tend to focus chiefly on Hindu-related issues, when it comes to taking a dig or pulling a leg (for starters).

Anyway, to each his own, and the liberal Hindu inside me, however small, also reminds me that Hindu liberals have every right to not be objective, and mock/criticize/deride Hindu customs/issues alone. Besides, mockery isn't really a big deal....ok so it is, but the bigger deal is the mindless and often poorly-reasoned support for anti-Hindu elements and vehement opposition to Hindu causes.
Classic examples of Hindu Liberals today are: Sagarika Ghose, Ramachandra Guha, Malini Parthasarathy (assuming she is not an atheist). I would've loved to add one Islamic-attire Dutt to the mix of things, but since she makes me wonder if the next step after "Hindu Liberal" is "Islamic radical", I leave her out.
Liberal Hindus, however, are fewer in number (not surprisingly) - Amitabh Bachchan and Anupam Kher, to name two.

Sometimes, in a slightly Inception'esque display of emotion, I feel a strange sense of pity-filled remorse, when I feel pissed & irritated with them. Men before me who have tried to decode them, have come and gone but they, rather depressingly, endure and it only appears as if they're here to stay.

There is, however, an unexpected, positive fallout of the fact that their voices are getting increasingly shriller. It means that more people can hear their nonsense. And despite the fact that we Indians, though endowed with reasonably exceptional brains, exhibit a serious dearth of logical thinking, especially on emotional issues, the Hindu liberal's logic-lessness is so resounding, it is sometimes what's exactly required to wake up the sleeping rationalist in you.

Umashankar, IAS Officer's Letter to the SC/ST Commission

Disclaimer: This is an Email Forward I got just now. I have no proof that this is true, but since it appears to be, I thought it is essential for us, the general public to know.
The State Government of TN might have reinstated him, but I doubt we've heard the last of this man. Don't be surprised if a couple of months down the line, his family perishes in a "road-accident on their way to a relative's marriage in Tuticorin".

Before the National Commission for SC/ST, New Delhi

From
C.Umashankar IAS., (1990 batch)
No.33 Balakrishnan Road,
D1, Ashok Swasthi Apts., 3rd  Floor,
Valmiki Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur,
Chennai 41.  Tel: 044-42020423 Mob: 94443-00123

To
Chairman,
National Commission for Scheduled Castes,
Lok Nayak Bhawan, Khan Market,
New Delhi - 110003
Fax: 91-11-24632298   Email: chairman-ncsc@nic.in

Complaint filed by C.Umashankar IAS., against the State of Tamil Nadu

I was selected for appointment as an IAS Officer by the Union Public Service Commission against SC quota and allotted to Tamil Nadu cadre during 1990. I joined the Service on 20th August 1990.


I state that during 1995  I was working as Additional Collector, (Development) and Project officer, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Madurai. There was misuse of funds allotted for construction of Cremation Sheds for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes under Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY). I refused to obey the illegal order of the then District Collector, Madurai Mr.P.R.Sampath IAS., to award the contract to a private contractor. A pubic interest litigation came to be filed in the Madras High Court. I filed an affidavit in the said writ petition narrating the true facts. (Annexure A[i]).


A Division Bench of Madras High Court, accepting the affidavit filed by me ordered a CBI enquiry in WP No.15929/1995. (Annexure B[ii]). The real accused in the scam are yet to be punished.


During 1996, the DMK was voted to power. The Government appointed me as Joint Vigilance Commissioner to peruse the files pertaining to high level corruption. I submitted several reports including 1) South India Shipping Corporation Share disinvestment scam (loss of Rs.200 crores) 2) Granite quarry lease scam (loss of about Rs.1000 crores) 3) Allotment of plots and houses of Tamil Nadu housing Board to fictitious persons (loss not estimated) 4) Purchase of 45000 TV antennas and boosters without following tender procedure and without ascertaining the actual need  5) Leasing of 20 acres of Coimbatore Medical College lands to Star hotel, club etc., in the name of women and child development at throwaway lease rent  6) Fraudulent grant of Patta for 7106 acres forest land in Megamalai forest village, Madurai/Theni district to one family etc.


I indicted several senior IAS officers including the ex Chief Secretary Mr.N.Narayanan IAS., Thiru.C.Ramachandran IAS., Dr.S.Narayan IAS., Thiru.Debandranath Sarangi IAS., former Chief Minister, Ministers and others.


To my dismay I found that no worth while action was taken against highly influential officials who were deeply involved in the corruption. I therefore requested the Government to relieve me from the post of Joint Vigilance Commissioner.


During February 1999 I was appointed as District Collector, Tiruvarur. I introduced e-governance in the district administration. This was the first of its kind in the whole of India. Tiruvarur was rated 20 years ahead of rest of India by leading News Paper – Times of India (Annexure C[iii]). The English weekly, THE WEEK, in its millennium  edition chose me as the Bureaucrat from all over India who can make the life of Indians better in the new millennium (Annexure D [iv])


I submit that in the next general election, the DMK was defeated and the AIADMK came to power. I was sidelined and appointed as Commissioner for Disciplinary proceedings, an ex-cadre post.


The DMK was voted to power again in May, 2006. I was appointed as Managing Director of ELCOT, a state owned company. I introduced total transparency in the matter of award of contracts by introducing e-tender and also by introduction of a new method of tender evaluation by the bidding contractors themselves.  I also introduced the use of large scale free and open source software in Government offices during this period.


While I was working in ELCOT, twice I was called by Tmt.Rajathi Ammal,  wife of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to her office at Alwarpet. I should have refused to meet her. However, by way of courtesy I met her in her office. She attempted to influence me to award contract to her men in the matter of purchase of 45000 fishermen wireless sets. I told her that only through e-tender contracts are finalised and I should not be disturbed.


I state that ELCOT along with another private limited company by name New Era Technologies Limited, controlled by one Thiagaraja Chettiar floated a joint venture company named ELNET Technologies Limited. The share of ELCOT  in the new company is 26%. The share of New Era Technologies Limited is 24% and the remainder shares were subscribed by the public. This Joint venture company ELNET floated a 100% subsidiary company named  ETL Infrastructure Private Limited with intention of floating an Information Technology Park cum Special Economic Zone at Pallikaranai, Chennai. The company owns 26 acres of land which had been given IT Special Economic Zone status by the Government of India. The company built 1.8 million square feet IT building in this IT- Park cum SEZ. The total value of the asset is more than Rs.700 crores. The said company mysteriously disappeared from the control of ELNET and ELCOT obviously with the connivance of former Chairman
of ELCOT and political  heavy weights. In my capacity as Managing Director, I was also the Chairman of ELNET. I wanted to probe the circumstances in which the ELCOT and ELNET lost control of ETL Infrastructure Limited. I circulated a special resolution to be moved in the Annual General Body meeting of the share holders of ELNET for removal of Unnamali Thiagarajan W/o Thigagraja Chettiar from the office of Managing Director of ELNET (Annexure-E[v]). The Annual General Body meeting of the shareholders of ELNET was to be held on 30th July 2008.


I also sent special reports to the Government regarding the scam namely the mysterious disappearance of ETL Infrastructure Limited worth more than Rs.700 crores (Annexure-F[vi]).  I wanted a probe in the role of Mr.Vivek Harinarayanan IAS., and Dr.C.Chandramouli IAS.,


I state while I was physically verifying and searching the records pertaining to the mysterious disappearance of ETL Infrastructure Limited in ELNET's office on 28th July 2008, I received an order of transfer removing me from the post of MD, ELCOT and posting me as Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation Limited (TIIC) (Annexure G[vii]). I have reason to believe that it was a fraudulent transfer. The order of transfer was passed adverse to public interest and to help the said Thiagaraja Chettiar. It is perceived that Mr.M.K.Alagiri, Union Minister was responsible for my abrupt transfer from ELCOT.


While I was working in the TIIC, there was a feud between Maran brothers who own the Sun TV group of Television network and the family of Dr.Kalaignar Karunanidhi, the Hon'ble Chief Minster of Tamil Nadu. The feud between Maran brothers who have become very powerful and one of the richest in the country and M.K.Alagiri, the elder son of the Chief Minster was well known. The burning of Dinakaran News Paper office at Madurai and hurling of petrol bomb and death of 3 innocent persons in the murderous attack is also well known.


I state that the Hon'ble Chief Minister called me and ordered me to take assignment as Managing Director of Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited. I told the Hon'ble Chief Minister that I would not be able to work under Dr.Chandramouli IAS., against whom I had submitted a report on the mysterious disappearance of ETL Infrastructure limited and also pledging of ELCOT's Joint Venture company – ELNET to secure Rs.81 crore loan for the mysteriously disappeared company namely ETL Infrastructure Limited. Dr.Chandramouli IAS., was transferred from the post of Information Technology Secretary cum Chairman of Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited and in his place Mr.P.W.C.Davidar IAS., was appointed. My appointment as MD, Arasu Cable TV corporation was notified simultaneously on 30th October 2008. (Annexure-H[viii])


I assumed office as MD, Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited, a Government owned company on 3rd November 2008.


I found that Sumangali Cable TV, controlled by Maran brothers was indulging in large scale destruction of Optic fibre cable infrastructure of Arasu Cable TV Corporation. Sumangali Cable Vision was determined to ensure that their monopoly was maintained by all means. I brought to the notice of the Government the criminal acts committed by the Sumangali Cable Vision Limited and the involvement of Pongalur Palanichamy, a Minister in the State Cabinet in helping Sumangali Cable TV who destroyed the property of the Government company. I sent several reports including the proposals for arrest of Maran brothers under the preventive detention laws and for action under the penal laws. (Annexure I  [ix] – 21 pages)


I state that there was a settlement of the dispute between the Maran brothers and the family of Dr.Kalignar Karunanidhi. As an officer of the All India Service I pursued my job in right earnest and wanted the Maran brothers to be punished and Sumangali Cable TV to be nationalised (Annexure J[x])


I state that I was shunted out of Arasu Cable TV Corporation and posted as Commissioner of Small Savings, an ex cadre post. The Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited is now almost dead.


I state that the Hon'ble Chief Minister and the Maran brothers became vengeful against me and wanted to disturb me.


While I was working in TIIC I sent an intimation to the State Government under Rule 4 (2)(b) of the All India Service (Conduct) Rules 1968 stating that my wife Suryakala M.Com., BL., was employed in Tessolve Inc. Chennai branch as HR Executive. She was working in that company from 1-4-2008 to 31-12-2008. Her gross salary was Rs.25,000 per month.


I state that the State Government which was determined to throttle me at the behest of the Maran brothers issued a charge memo apropos my wife joining service in Tessolve Inc. The Charge Memo was issued to prevent empanelment of my name in the cadre of Joint Secretary to Government of India. Because of this, I have been denied Joint Secretary empanelment during this year. I have been denied even a car loan and allotment of housing plot by the Government of Tamil Nadu.


I filed OA No.79 of 2010 on the file of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chennai and obtained stay against the Charge Memo on 16th January 2010 (Annexure- K[xi]).


I received a communication from the Chief Secretary to Government  (Annexure- L[xii]) regarding my movable and immovable assets. I sent a reply dated 28-10-2009 (Annexure-M[xiii] ).


On 6-5-2010 a Deputy Superintendent of Police called me over phone and sought an appointment for conducting enquiries regarding my alleged assets disproportionate to my known sources of income. When I asked him under what authority he was asking me to answer his queries, he said he was so authorised by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption. This led to my filing WP No.12274 of 2010  on the file of the High Court. (Annexure-N[xiv] ). The Hon'ble High Court was pleased to admit the writ petition and grant stay.


I also filed WP No.15946 of 2010 (Annexure-O[xv]) questioning the Manual of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption under which the officers of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption, namely police officers conduct enquiries against All India Service officers de-hors the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure. It is my case that the State Government is free to institute any disciplinary proceedings against me in accordance with the provisions of the All India Service Act, Public Servants Enquiries Act, the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure and the State Government is not competent to conduct any enquiry against me without registering a case against me by the due process of law. The writ petition is pending adjudication.


I state that the Government of Tamil Nadu have passed G.O Ms No. 670, Public (Special. A) department, dated 21-7-2010, suspending me from the service pending enquiry to scrutinise the genuineness of the Scheduled Caste community certificate produced by me. (Annexure-P [xvi])


I state that the Government have also issued a press note on 23-7-2010 intimating to the press the cause of my suspension. I state that the law relating to caste certificates is settled. It is only the Committee which can go into the question of caste certificate.


I submit that I submitted the community certificate to the Union Public Service Commission. When the results of the All India Services examination was published  by the UPSC, my name was withheld and placed in the provisional category pending verification of the community certificate. The certificate was duly verified and thereafter the result was published.


I submit that the Government have not taken any action against the corrupt bureaucrats. The state Government is targeting me because I have been honest and sincere.


The State Government have caused a publication in the New Indian Express dated 25-7-2010 titled “Umashaknar Did produce false community certificate”, stating that I have produced a false certificate. The news paper report is engineered by the State Government, the Maran brothers and the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption of Tamil Nadu (Annexure-Q[xvii]).


I state that in WP No.15946 of 2010 I have alleged that one Mr.Ram Mohan Rao IAS was found in possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income to the extent of several crores of rupees. The amount is said to be about Rs.81 crores. The Government is protecting him. The Government is protecting all corrupt officials and making use of them. The Government does not want officers like me to serve the public.


I state that I am not claiming any special right. I can be charge sheeted under the All India Services Act, Public Servants Enquiries Act , the Prevention of Corruption Act or under the penal laws if the Government have credible information and materials against me. The Government, through the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption have started a smearing campaign against me by planting false stories as if I have produced a false certificate. I have come to know that the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is insisting that an FIR should be filed against me. The State Government headed by the present Chief Minister is intolerant and vindictive against me because I recommended penal action against Maran brothers and made public the scam in ETL Infrastructure where the hands of Mr.M.K.Alagiri, a Central Minster of the DMK party is involved. Thus the State power is being misused against me.


I therefore request the Commission to protect me from illegal harassment by the Tamil Nadu Government, the Chief Minister's family and the powerful Maran brothers  who are closely related to the Chief Minister.


Please ensure that enquiry, if any, regarding my caste certificate is conducted by the Central Vigilance Commission or CBI or any other Central agency not under the control of the State Government.


Appropriate action may be initiated to allow me to work under the Central Government or any of the agency of the Central Government not under the control of the  Government of Tamil Nadu.


I also request you to ensure proper security to me and my family through Central Security forces.


Dated the 26th July 2010 at Chennai.

C.Umashankar IAS., (RR 1990)
Chennai
e-mail: umashankarc@gmail.com


[i]    ) Annexure A – Affidavit filed before the Madras High Court in what is known as “Cremation Sheds Scam”
[ii]       Annexure B  - Judgement in Cremation Sheds Scam in WP No. 15929/95 dated 27th February 1996.
[iii]     Annexure C – Web report on Tiruvarur e-governance
[iv]     Annexure D -  THE WEEK, in its millennium  edition 2000, declaring me the
  man of the next  millennium from among the bureaucrats of India.
[v]     Annexure E – Draft Special Resolution for removal of Tmt.Unnamalai Thiagarajan from the post of Managing Director of ELNET.
[vi]  Annexure F – Report to Government and the Board of ELCOT regarding the ETL Infrastructure scam.
[vii]  Annexure G -  Transfer orders to Mr.C.Umashankar IAS from ELCOT to TIIC.
[viii] Annexure-H G.O Rt. No. 4394 Public (Special A) Department, dated 30-10-2008, notifying transfers  and postings of Mr.PWC Davidar IAS., Dr.Chandramouli IAS., C.Umashakar IAS., etc.
[ix]  Annexure I (21 pages) – Letters and reports sent to Government on illegal OFC cable cutting and other related reports.
[x]   Annexure J – Proposal submitted to Government for nationalisation of Sumangali Cable Vision Limited dated 7th January 2010.
[xi]  Annexure K – OA No.79 of 2010 filed before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Madras bench.
[xii]  Annexure L – Letter from the Chief Secretary to Government seeking my asset details. .
[xiii] Annexure-M – Letter to Chief Secretary dated 30th October 2009 in response to the letter from Government seeking my asset details.
[xiv] Annexure-N  Writ application in WP No. 12274 of 2010.
[xv] Annexure- O  Writ application in WP No.15946 of 2010
[xvi] Annexure- P  G.O Ms No. 670, Public (Special. A) department, dated 21-7-2010, suspending me from the service pending enquiry
[xvii] Annexure-Q News clipping titled “Umashankar did produce false community certificate” in the New Indian Express dated 25th July 2010

On being Unclear if we are Nuclear

(Originally written on Sept 23, 2009 - during the height of the controversy, but remained in my drafts)
I am almost nobody to comment on whether India should or should not test a nuclear bomb. All I want is for India to be a nation which conclusively, correctly possesses a nuclear bomb so as have minimum credible deterrence. Now, however, I see that with Dr.Santhanam's claim, half the scientific community and most of the country thinks we dont possess an actual proper nuke. Unfortunately, since this has been made public, now other nations (most notably Pakistan and China) know.
Given the conditions of the Civilian Nuke Deal with the US, I understand there is no way we can even think about testing a nuclear bomb now, let alone actually test it. I would not have been really worried if, as Dr.Santhanam claims, our nuke test was indeed a "fizzle", but none of those outside the Indian scientific community/government knew of it. At least, we would, on paper, still have minimum credible deterrence. Now, it is apparent that we don’t, going by even one informed voice of dissent.

It is also sad to see Dr.Kalam's name being unnecessarily dragged into this and tarnished. Unfortunately, I cannot sympathize with him either, given that Dr.Iyengar's & Dr.Santhanam's statements about his incapacity to not comment on the issue because of his not being a nuclear physicist are spot on, irrespective of their words about the actual nuclear test.

All I can do now is sit back and hope/pray that one of the following happens -
1. The dispute is settled after a thorough & intensive investigation and Dr.Santhanam is convincingly proved false and everyone in BARC assures us that we do, indeed, possess a nuclear weapon.
2. If Dr.Santhanam is proved right, we should go ahead and test again until we are sufficiently satisfied about the capacity of the bomb. In this case, I have no idea what will happen to the Indo-US Nuclear deal and the slew of sanctions which will obviously follow.
3. Even if the test was indeed a fizzle, the government should settle for a behind-the-doors agreement with Dr.Santhanam, asking him to come out and state that he was wrong in his claims and that he has now, after seeing NEW information, been sufficiently satisfied with the capability of the bomb. This should obviously not be so naive that he merely retracts his words. Whatever, the international community (mainly China & Pakistan) should be convinced that we are a nuclear power, basically, to attain minimum credible deterrence.

Obviously, most preferable is 2 and least preferable is 3. The worst thing to happen, of course, would be the persistence of the current stalemate, where the government just issues a few rebuttals here and there, the media publishes them, then conveniently goes on to the next controversial tweet by Shashi Tharoor or another gang-rape of a mother in Mumbai or (the media's favourite bunny) the investigation into Modi's role in the Godhra riots. And I will not be surprised if this last thing happens, it isn't beyond India.

Until such time, however, I will just have to sit back and whine like this. I am, after all, an insignificant face in the crowd, just another ordinary Indian citizen.

Manmohan Singh - Son of Fortune, Destiny's Child, etc.

Let me, at the outset, make it clear to you that I am "just another stupid common man", no detailed analyst or well-informed commentator of Indian politics. What follows is simply an opinion based on my perception of facts.

I became political at the turn of the millennium, when I was about 16 years of age. Until then, politics, to me, was mainly about Congress at the national level and a Dirty Mudslinging-filled Kennel at the state level (I'm from Tamil Nadu). As far as politicians were concerned, the few names that popped up in my mind were Nehru & 3 Gandhi's - "Mahatma", Indira & Rajiv (the 3rd chiefly due to my mom who, like most women of her generation, fell to the dimpled charms of the bloke) by default, and also Sardar Patel, Rajaji, (more by accident than by design, or simply my ignorance) mostly that's it. When the then-new government came to power, I don't really remember how I felt immediately then. Over the 5 years though, I became more aware of "GOVERNment" in the real sense, and (at the risk of sounding cliched) definitely did feel something (good) roughly on the lines of Cultural Nationalism. By the end of the five years, I probably moved from politically-{ignorant+not-at-all-passionate} to {somewhat-informed+quite-passionate}.

I am a passionate Hindu (a more appropriate term would be Sanatana Dharmi, but I digress), but more than that, I believe in & desire national progress that is uniform & not tilted... plus a fluidity of power (I would like to say the former and latter are related, but I digress once again). Hence, though it did definitely make me happy to see a Hindu-friendly party in power at the center, what captured my imagination more was the administration and simply, a feel-good factor that emanated from Delhi and permeated to all corners of the country. I must, at this point, add that since I was nonexistent physically and/or mentally during any of the prior regimes, it is not really fair for me to comment on the governance or mis-governance that existed pre-1999 (However, a cursory reading of the actual history of India post independence coupled with the state of affairs of the country around 2000 despite the fact that a single party had held power for most part of the 50+ years until then should be a clear-enough indicator of what transpired all those years when that party was in power).
Anyhow, this post is not about any of the parties or any of the government(s) (though they are very much relevant & play quite a significant part).

This article is about Manmohan Singh, India's Prime Minister of today.

Ennatha Solla (Sigh)

Couldn't resist it, had to jump the bandwagon of thousands all over the world, even if that risks my blog being (wrongly) stereo-typed by hyper-creative souls.
Like most, nothing much to say. I look up to the skies...hoping...praying, hoping against hope.
PS: I had to change the template specifically to display this sad table. :(

Date	Incident	No. Of people dead	No. Of people injured	Organisation suspected to be responsible/Claiming responsibility	Status of the Case
March 12th, 1993	Bombay bombings	257	1,400	Islamic organisations based in pakisthan, Dawood Ibrahim	Verdict given, Prime accused still at large
February 14th, 1998	Coimbatore bombings	46	200	Al Umma	Verdict given
October 1st, 2001	Attack on Jammu and Kashmire assembly complex	35	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
December 13th, 2001	Attack on parliament	7	---	J-e-M	Verdict given, Afzal guru yet to be hanged
September 24th, 2002	Attack on Akshardham temple, Gujrat	31	79	Islamic organisations based in Pakisthan	Unknown
March 13th, 2003	A terrorist bomb attack on a commuter train in Mumbai	11	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
May 14th, 2003	Terrorists attack an army camp near Jammu	30	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
August 25th, 2003	Simultaneous car bombs in Mumbai. It is the last in a series of 5 bombings in the city in a period of 8 months starting 6th December, 2002	52	150	L-e-T	Unknown
August 14th, 2004	Assam bombings	16 ( mostly school children )	---	ULFA	Unknown
July 5th, 2005	Shri Ram Janmabhoomi attack in Ayodhya	6 ( including 5 CRPF personnel )	Unknown	L-e-T	Unknown
October 29th, 2005	Delhi bombings, 2 days before Diwali	70	210	L-e-T	Unknown
March 7th, 2006	Varanasi attacks	21	101	L-e-T	Unknown
July 11th, 2006	Searial blasts in Mumbai`s 7 suburban trains during evening rush hour	209	700	L-e-T, SIMI	Unknown
September 8th, 2006	Malegaon bombings	37	125	SIMI initially, Lt.Col Purohit Prasad is recently named prime accused by MH-ATS	Unknown
May 18th, 2007	Bombing at Mecca masjid, Hyderabad	13	50	Foreign elements	Unknown
August 25th, 2007	Hyderabad serial blasts	42	---	HuJI	Unknown
May 13th, 2008	Jaipur bombings	63	216	Indian Mujahideen	Unknown
July 25th, 2008	Bangalore bombings	2	20	SIMI	Arrests made
July 26th, 2008	Ahmedabad bombings	29	110	L-e-T/HuJI	Arrests made
September 13th, 2008	Serial bombings in Delhi`s markets	21	110	Indian Mujahideen	Unknown
September 27th, 2008	Twin blasts in Delhi flower market	1	17	Unknown	Unknown
September 29th, 2008	Maharashtra and Gujrat bomb blasts (Malegaon,Modasa)	10	80	Sadhvi Pragnya Singh	Unknown
October 1st, 2008	Agartala bombings	4	100	HuJI	Unknown
October 21st, 2008	Imphal bombings	17	40	PREPAK	Unknown
October 30th, 2008	Assam bombings	84	470	ULFA	Unknown
November 26th, 2008	Coordinated terror attack in Mumbai	155+	327+	Unknown	CURRENT EVENT