Troubled Times in AP...

Back to blogging after a long time as I was having a tight schedule didn't update

too often, I'll try to update it as frequently as possible.

The latest burning issue in our beloved state AP regarding the demand for a separate

statehood for Telangana is disturbing. Deteriorating Law and Order in the state is a cause of

worry as this is usually a Peaceful and Progressive state. Vested interests of a few people and

increasing violence in the state is throwing normal life out of gear. The sad part is all this is

happening after the demise of one of the best CM (YSR) we had till date who was elected

unanimously by the people for a second term and where he won the major number of seats

from Telangana. This indicates the wish of the people of Telangana as well who showed they

preferred the exisiting position in the state and were not to keen on a separate state and they

had other major issues which they wanted sorted out.


Some groups who lost the Election, now all of a sudden want to be in the limelight and are

diverting from the real poblems faced by people and creating havoc. Where were these people

when floods recently broke out which was the worst in 100 years? So many people lost all they

had and the agitators were not even in the scene at that moment. If they were so concerned

for the people of Telangana why didn't they come out and show their solidarity then, that

would have been more genuine. If the present situation continues the state would be hit as

prospective Investors would hesitate to come and invest which would prove to be dreadful in

the long run. We seem to be lagging behind our neighbouring states in terms of development

who are ahead of us and the last thing we would want is any kind of instability or break down

of Law and Order in the state. With political equations changing leaders across different states

are going all out to woo Investors and bring about development as many state governments

which won a second consecutive term realised that development is helping them beat anti

incumbency. Im sure the people of the state wouldn't like to lag behind and waste time fighting

for people who have vested intersts in a separate state formation. Hyderabad is losing out to

Bangalore and Madras already so in terms of comparing cities even there our capital city is

losing out to the competitors. The Government also sorry to say is unable to take a tough stand

on this issue and I think this is where I feel the absence of a leader of YSR's stature is being felt.


The Government needs to realise that people badly want jobs and basic necessities and it

should look to solve those issues and ensure that we focus on developing the state and nip the

existing crisis in the bud before it bursts and then making it impossible later to control. It is in

the interests of the welfare of the state and majority of the population that the Government

needs to realise how dangerous the situation could be if it gets out of hand which seems to be

going out of control already. It still is not too late to bring back the glory of the state and we

have shown over the past 15 yrs how AP has grown as a state with two good Chief Ministers

back to back doing their bit. Instead of fighting for a separate Jai Tealangana movement or a

Jai Andhra movement or a separate Seema state, the government should understand that

people have voted them to power with a majority and they have a stable government which

can solve this issue soon and instead of waiting for orders from Delhi the AP Government

should hit right on target and continue the good work the state has achieved so far and not

allow fringe elements to ruin the prosperity of the state. Hoping things get back to normal as

soon as possible....Cheers!!!

A Budget that made the Markets think realistic and something which did not really benefit most Industrialists...

First of all a lot was expected from this budget probably like the media and the markets we also

had unrealistic expectations with everybody wanting fast track reforms and stuff probably

forgetting the current crisis which we are in the midst of.

Yes, I personally was disappointed with the Part B of the budget pertaining to the tax

proposals especially the Direct Taxes part of it.The personal income tax exemption raised by

just 10,000 was a real small amount and did not seem to make much of a difference to majority

of the taxpayers. Most of them were hoping for the tax exemption limit to be raised by 30,000

to 40,000 which would have given confidence to the people in these tough times instead it would

have been better not to have made any changes to the existing limits. One of the few things that

we could cheer about was abolishing the Fringe Benefit Tax and Commodity Transaction Tax.

Also the introduction of Goods and Services Tax(GST) from 2010 seems to be a good proposal

which is expected to bring uniformity in taxes whether it works or not would be interesting to

see. The Government's decision to substantially improve the pension of the retired defence

pensioners below officer rank is a very good move as they deserved to be rewarded for their

great services rendered for which the country is thankful to them. Focusing on Infrastructure

which is one of the most important factors in the growth of an economy is a step in the right

direction and hopefully there would be many more projects completed in the next 5 years.

Hopefully we would see more development in Rural as well as urban Infrastructure. To generate

12 million jobs per year is a positive step in the right direction and unemployment in the next 5

years would see a drastic fall if the government is able to achieve its target. Now coming to

the major issue of Disinvestment, the Finance Minister by stating that public sector enterprises

such as banks and insurance companies will remain in the public sector and will be given all

support, including capital infusion, to grow and remain competitive has taken a bold step in the

right direction and is not rushing into it and privatising some of the profit making PSU's.

Increased credit flow for agriculture should hopefully increase the agricultural growth rate.

An increased allocation of more than 144% for NREGA was one of the biggest positives of this

budget.Surprisingly not much emphasis was given to education and healthcare which were

expected to be the key issues to be focused on.

The big corporate honchos also praised some of the social reforms though they did not get too

many sops in their favour. As one of the top Fund Managers of a leading Asset Mgt. Co put it the

Markets expected a T20 match but the government played it like a Test match not even a One

Day International. So the budget may help in the correction of the markets in the long run. All

said and done much as people may like to criticise the FM I think it had quite a few positives

that could be taken from it and Pranab needs to be appreciated to some extent considering the

situation the world is in and laying a platform to achieve 9% growth. We should hopefully see a

good Budget in Feb that will lay the foundation for the long run and create wonders if they go on

the right track. Congress has it in them to do wonders but can they live upto it is the big

question? Cheers!!!

And The Man of the Match goes to...

THE INDIAN VOTER...Yes you read it right. The big day finally came and the Election results

were out and to everybody's surprise the average Indian voter had once again proved to the

world that he is no fool as perceived by certain sections of the Indian society.


The voter gave a sizable mandate to the Congress and UPA though not a clear majority for the

Congress. The voter voted for a stable government which most of us thought would not happen

this time but the voter has clearly indicated his choice and what he expects. The voter did not

give a clear majority to either of the national parties and gave a reasonably big oppostion to the

government as well thus proving that nobody is permanent. Mr. Advani's dream of becoming

PM did not go down well with the voters though he has had achievments but somewhere down

the line his image as a hardliner may have been one of the factors that prevented the voters

from giving him a clear mandate. Now that the junta has voted for a stable government the UPA

should not become complacent and take things lying down. They should start accelerating in

reforms such as labour reforms, rapid infrastructure, increasing FDI in sectors such as

Insurance, retail, aviation. Also spend tremendously on Education and pass the Right to

Education bill. It should also not lose focus from the key component of our economy the

agriculture sector and make sure that there is tremendous growth in agriculture which has been

on the negative side for the past few years nationally with an exception of Andhra pradesh

which showed positive growth in agriculture thanks to some of the schemes implemented by the

state government. Though people of Hyderabad expect the CM YSR to focus on the city as well

this time and gives us better roads, no power cuts and allow more investment into different

service sectors and create more jobs.


The key here is if the Government manages to do reasonably well at the Centre then this will

be the glorious phase of the India story. This is a great opportunity for the government to prove

its worth and in these tough times that is the need of the hour. All said and done the Congress

should realise if the voter has given the party alone 200+ seats it expects a lot from them and if

they fail to capitalise on this opportunity and fail to deliver then the next time the voter may

not even give them 20 seats. So Congress its either you perform or perish the voter's

expectations are clear. Let us all hope for the best and come out of this gloomy economic

scenario as soon as possible and the PM had promised last month that he would revive the

economy within 100 days. That is left to be seen whether 100 days or not atleast by this year

end people will hope Singh's magic works. Jai Manmohan and Jai Indian voter the real

"MAN OF THE MATCH". Cheers!!!

Is India really Shining and is the Aam aadmi going foward??? Will May 16th change that or will it be just another election???

Finally the D day is in a week's time with the last phase of polling still left and the nation and the

world all looking forward to the result. From the opinion polls it seems to be neck to neck

between both the national parties and heading for a fractured mandate. In these tough

economic conditions that's the last thing this nation wants. We want a stable government even if

it is a coalition to get out of this on going crisis. Nobody wants filibusters which I think is one of

the major reasons our country has faced a slow pace of development since independence. Well

this is one of the major reasons that everybody fears if a jumbo alliance government is formed

which would slower development as each ally would be blackmailing the government to fulfill

their needs.


India's growth story in the past few years has caught the attention of the world and everybody

praising it. This is something which we can be proud about but still the ground realities as we

know is not really encouraging considering the way the educated employed and the media

project it. The reality being the same common issues faced since time immemorial starting from

food, clothing, shelter, electricity, water, healthcare etc. I don't want to get into these issues in

detail as it won't be enough to put it down here. Now coming to the question Is India really

shining and is the common man going forward? Well the answer is it is a mix of both a Yes and

No. Yes, for the urban educated elite who can afford to study in good quality institutes

getting a good global exposure and manage to get decent jobs or start their own ventures.

No would be a convincing answer if you look at the situation of the common man who still

struggles for a basic living and does not get jobs or earnings from his crops even if he owns a

piece of land as we know the Indian farmer is born in debt, lives in debt and dies in debt. Also

the increase in the cost of living has made it that much more difficult for the common man to

survive. Successive governments have failed to improve the living conditions of the people is the

most common answer you would get from the people. This is true to a great extent but blaming

the government alone is not enough. Well, what are we as privileged people who have access to

technology and other latest things doing? It may sound boring and outdated but we could

probably help in a small way like say educate a poor child by buying books for the child and help

in enrollig the child in a decent school with access to good education. If we can help in a small

way it could make a huge difference and we can do our bit for the upliftment of our nation and

society. Many people hope that this election results would change their lives and bring some joy

and hope to them. Some say when we see young politicians we have hope and faith in them and

they will change and bring about better reforms.


Finally it all depends on what the electorate has decided and what is in store for the political

representatives. All in all I personally think most would treat this as any other ordinary

election. All that one can do is hope for change as usual but I think this election one hoping for

change is nothing wrong since in these present circumstances we need all possible support and

help from the elected representatives. Did we talk about words like change and hope? Well the

time has definitely come that we take atleast one step forward to head in that direction to

even have a glimmer of hope for change to occur.

Is IPL more important than Elections?

These days Lalit Modi is busy motivating himself to hold the second season of his brain child IPL and having frequent meetings with various top government officials scheduling and rescheduling IPL for the second season. Chidambaram on his part has done a decent job in trying to ensure that IPL goes on as usual (inspite of facing shortage of security personnel) so that the organisers don't incur huge losses. If the Indians considered IPL more important than the elections scheduled later next month then we really need to introspect as to which is of a higher priority?

Many of them would say its better to go to the stadium and watch IPL rather than go and vote for the politicians who will disappoint us as always and we say they are going to loot us as always. Well then we need to ask ourselves are we not being looted here again by going to watch IPL? The answer is a big "YES". By giving up our basic fundamental right to watch the IPL you are making few others rich who is as bad as the politicians we scold. Lalit Modi makes crores at the expense of die hard cricket fans like us who are willing to make him richer and not getting anything in return for making him richer except losing precious time and increasing his coffers. There are many cases pending against Lalit Modi(was given in detail in OUTLOOK recently) and he was also known as the Super Chief Minister of Rajasthan when Vasundhara Raje Scindia was CM due to his proximity to her and he has probably made the same amount or much more in a very short span of time which our politicians have made slowly over the years. Contrast this to our politicians for whom we go and vote on the given day agreeing to the fact that they may not deliver and make a lot of money but here you get to use your basic fundamental right and your representative from your constituency may take up your problems with the government(as he is at the voter's mercy literally our mercy since he has to decide whether he has to retain his seat in Parliament or Assembly before he comes back to the voter for the next election) and try to do something whether he does it or not? You may vote for a guy who helps in forming the next government whose support can either help make or break a government. The government which is formed post elections will do its best to ensure the economy grows, implement policies which may be favourable to us and give us tax relief, give us jobs, give us better roads etc. though finally we'd end up criticising the government for evrything because we as citizens would prefer to go and watch Dhoni, Yuvi, Gilchrist and others hitting the ball all over the ground as we believe that we are going for something which is very important in our lives.

At the end of all this what is it that we gain from sacrificing our voting right and going for IPL? The answer is obvious Lalit Modi and co become richer along with a few top cricketers. And with all this comes a cost of additional tension for the security personnel to guard the celebrities who come to play and the IPL board has ordered for bullet proof vehicles for the safety of players at the expense of the junta's contribution. Given both the cases what would you as a citizen prefer? To make a few individuals richer or get something in return which is rightfully yours either through good roads, jobs, prosperity of your nation and a better standard of living.

Inspite of all this many of them would forgo their fundamental right and go for entertainment and when the next government is formed we'd get back to doing what we love the most "Government Bashing". Well probably for once let us try change by using our fundamental right as it is not going to make a difference in our attitude as we would continue government bashing, after all thats what is the advantage of a democracy. Let it not be for the want of trying and see if it can make a real difference for a change.

So people decide whether you want the concentration of wealth to be in the hands of already wealthy people who would become wealthier directly with our money or would you like your wealth to increase which can become a reality if you choose between the two given alternatives? Does this ring bells about something called Opportunity cost??? Cheers!!!

The Positives of Tamil Nadu

Well, before I begin I would like to state that I ain't writing this since I'm a Tam Brahm...

The southern most state in South India which is many times misunderstood for many reasons and looked down upon by people from the rest of the country. This state which speaks the language which is one of the oldest in the world and probably the oldest in India has achieved a lot over centuries. This state supposed to be highly conservative and orthodox is progressive in its own way and is a model for many other states in India. Since thousands of years this state has grown, evolved and matured into one of the most progressive and finest states in modern India and "Yes" I feel proud to say that my roots are from this state though I'm a Hyderabadi for all practical purposes and am proud to be a Hyderabadi as well. The heritage of TN is also well maintained.


Now coming to some of the facts about this state, if one looks back at the history of this state its always been a center for learning and education. The proof of this is visible in Tamil literature which has many great scholars in literary work as well as other areas such as Science & technology, Economics, Political Analysts etc. When one reads the accomplishments by the Chola dynasty it is intersting to note that even in those days they were very advanced and far ahead of their times and the proof of the pudding is in their literary works and construction of temples which are present all over the world with their remarkable engineering skills. Famous Chola emperors such as Raja Raja Chola and Rajendra Chola played a crucial role in the spread of Tamil culture and literature and took it far and wide. There were many other dynasties which came later who also played a role in development and upliftment of the society.
If one looks at this state today you get many mixed reactions and feelings about this state and Madras(oops Chennai) in particular. Many people in India are of the opinion that this state is backward and people are underdeveloped since they wear dhotis and lungis and that it is a very unfriendly state and a state which doesn't speak Hindi (but they do speak good English) and does not have good looking babes(a complaint by our generation). Well the reality is something entirely different, if one wants to find a big state in India having a balanced development this is probably one state where people can look to. The literacy rate is preety high and is among one of the top most literate states next to Kerala and West Bengal. Tamil Nadu isn't just Madras alone which many people think its only Madras. There is much more to this state it is home to many top educational institutions, industries, agriculture, ( you don't hear of too many farmers committing suicide in TN when compared to other states in India), automobile manufacturing, textiles,etc. If one takes a ride across the length and breadth of this state on your way you would find so many towns and villages which have good facilities and you would find education centres easily along with flourishing commercial activities. To name a few other places in TN which are reasonably well developed and contributes to the growth and development of the state one should probably visit Coimbatore, Salem, Erode, Tirupur, Namakkal, Madurai, Trichy, Thanjavur, Cudalore, Tirunelveli, and the surrounding villages of some of these towns you would find plenty of self employed people who have been able to give a better living to their families and have contributed to a significant amount of prosperity to the state and nation. I guess people should once cover major parts of the state to get a glimpse of what it is all about and clear many misconceptions. If one looks at the progressive attitude of people let me tell you it is one of the few states in India which gives equal opportunities to men, women, children to achieve something substantial in life. If one talks about opportunities given to women this state is one of the few states which has women working as bus drivers, conductors, social workers, petrol pump employees, CM, MPs, police stations separate and many more facilities. Not to mention safety levels in this state is by and large pretty safe to live in and has a good law and order except for stray incidents which may occur once in a while. It is also not prone to communal trouble.

One of the major reasons this state has grown a lot and achieved a lot is due to access to education for the masses. Agreed, there are loopholes but which state doesn't have??? So the next time if you come across a person(guy or gal) who seems to be smart(may or may not be good looking) and if you wonder which part of the country they belong to, then don't be surprised if the answer is TAMIL NADU.

For outsiders who want to visit the state just visit the place normally as you would visit a new place and don't go with a mental block that the place aint going to be good, you could well be in for a pleasant surprise!!!

Inspite of all this I feel this state has never got it's due credit. It's high time it gets some!!!

Talibanisation in India...

The new hot favourite thing in some states in India, girls should not be allowed to go to pubs or hold their boyfriend's hand in public. Yeah, if this is the case then why the hell do we go shouting the world's largest democracy and all that. These fringe elements who are right winged, extremist and religious fundamentalists trying to show they are one up over Taliban. Come on people do we expect India to progress in this direction. Here again I don't mean to say that if a person goes to a pub or a mall its a sign of progress. The question here is the freedom of an individual which is being supressed by a few elements who can't bear to see youngsters enjoying themselves and who probably feel bad that they don't have trendy spouses or partners and envy others who have them. Now these pseudo nationalists who claim to be preservers of Indian culture may not even know the 'I' of Indian culture. In a recent case one of the colleges had organised a play making it the modern version of Ramayana and there was nothing offensive or vulgar about it but these pseudo preservers went to that college and created mayhem there saying its an insult to Lord Ram and stuff like that. Im sure these guys do not even know the 'R' of Ramayana and simply want to show that they do good for people and care about people. These same set of morons again claim they are preservers of Hinduism and once again very sure these guys do not know the 'H' of Hinduism which is one of the oldest, tolerant and progressive religion. This religion never deprives anyone of their freedom and never teaches one to hate the people of other religions or nationality.


Now if a girl wants to go to a pub to enjoy herself with friends(includes boys as well) and dance and maybe even get sloshed it is the individual's wish and they know that they are responsible for their own behaviour then why on earth are these pseudo preservers of religion, culture bothered what an individual does legally. Nobody has given the right to all these so called senas the authority to represent the religion or country. I probably think these elements really feel miserable that in their days when they were young they never had pubs and malls and couldn't hangout with girls and when they see today's youngsters they feel insecure and deprive people their right to freedom as they could not maybe enjoy themselves so much as today's youngsters do. Now if these guys are given authority and power India will be heading back to stone age, next they will say stop girls from going to schools, colleges and work as they come face to face with men and they are likely to be harmed, then they will say bring back Sati so that after the husband's death that they have no right to live and should not remarry and all this rot stuff. Today a construction of a place of worship is not the top priority for most people as people want the basic needs like food clothing shelter and jobs for survival. People in this country are free to practice whichever religion they want and people can keep religion in their respective homes and do what they want nobody is stopping them. You will find that Obama won the elections not by making religion the central issue but focused on the more important issues which would improve people's living. I still say Religion should be thrown out of politics and if a politician is found trying to woo voters through religion they should be banned from contesting elections for life. Vote for those who help in improving your standard of living, healthcare, generate jobs and not try to turn you against your neighbour who could be your friend or brother who belongs to a different caste or religion. Of late people in this country who speak about secularism are being called names such as sickular,pseudo secularists by the supporters of these religious fanatics who can't bear to see people of two different religions close together. I probably think Inter caste and Inter religious marrriages should take place more to teach these people a lesson and show that nobody can stop the people and deprive them of their basic rights and choices they make.
We have shown the world that as a democracy and secular nation for the last 60 yrs we have survived grown and developed but if these fringe elements come to power then get ready to become like both our neighbouring countries where there is no order, no peace and only chaos. It is very important that today we people especially our generation prevent such rabid elements from gaining power (by rabid elements I mean fanatics across all religions) and destroying the real culture and heritage of this nation. Make sure you are not heading towards becoming a Talibanised nation!!!

Indo US relation under Obama need not be speculated so much...

A lot is being speculated about the Indo US relationship in future after Obama taking over. Though no certain trend can be seen,but I personally think we need not worry so much considering that many in the the political and bureaucratic circles feel that the relationship under Bush was better and Obama may not give India the same importance. Firstly Obama has a huge task cut out in front of him to bring back the US economy on track and bring it out of this mess. Second the issue of Outsourcing haunting many in India Inc. here again I think they are worrying more than they should considering that companies won't wind up overnite and leave as there are many contracts for future for 5 yrs and more and it would still work out cheaper for the Multinational cos to outsource stuff to India even if they are taxed more for outsourcing.

Now coming to the main issue the future relation between the two countries if we go back to the time since JFK was Prez it was always the Democrats when in power who kinda acknowledged India and maintained some diplomatic relations, where u had Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton coming to India after the hostile relationship between both the countries when Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bush Senior who were all mind you Republicans were in power and not to forget Nixon sending the Seventh fleet to the Indian Ocean where India was to almost capture Lahore in the 71 war and we had to retreat. Agreed even under Democrats rule Clinton imposing sanctions on India after conducting Pokhran tests and signing of CTBT which India refused, it was under Clinton's regime where we had plenty of Indians going to the US either to study or work as more doors were opened. Agreed, inspite of all this we still didn't have the best of relations with the US then till Bush came and the signing of the nuke deal gave many the impression that this was the best period of relations between both the nations. If we look at the times then and the times today things have changed a lot in the world right from issues like terrorism to economic and political changes. Looking at the circumstances today USA can't afford to ignore India either politically or economically since India has gained prominent significance along with China in the last decade and in times of this crisis where the economies have been effected globally both India and US can't afford to strain diplomatic ties with each other and it looks unlikely that the relations would be strained.

All in all I think the media is wasting time trying to speculate more than necessary with the half baked knowledge they have and aint looking at it from a logical view. Poor guys maybe need more TRP's.... :-)