Why Randomly-Selected Politicians Would Improve Democracy

At last I found something about politics at Technology Review :D

http://www.technologyreview.in/blog/arxiv/26488/

Bravo! I support the research. Random people are likely to be better than power-hungry people. Reason why Manmohan, Sonia, Rahul are better than likes of Sushma and Advani.

Related post - Meritocracy: The dream of Democracy

The anti-national Opposition

It is sad that the opposition parties don't support the government in positive measures which are not populist. I'm referring to the deregulation of petrol prices. I'm no expert in economics, but the measure seems pretty sensible to me. Like each household, government also has to manage its finances, and going high on deficits is perhaps not in national interest. (Recent happenings in Europe come to my mind.)
Subsidy should be targeted at the needy, and should not be universal. And in any case, subsidizing a precious natural resource that is running out doesn't seem to be a good idea - it's like subsidizing a bad addiction! The money saved by this can be spent on targeted but very ambitious welfare schemes like NREGA, Right to Education, upcoming Food Security Bill..

Last month I was in Korea and I asked a friend whether government subsidizes petrol there, and he looked at me curiously and said "Why should the government subsidize?". He also told me that there is a "pollution tax" that owners of diesel-operated vehicles have to pay.

Lastly, going by Vajpayee government's ways, BJP itself was likely to take this step. And now they have shut down Bharat in protest. Opportunistic.

Debt crisis pushes Europe toward economic reforms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_Sweden_an_Oil-Free_Society
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil

Anderson : what's the fuss about "letting him go"?

M.K. Rasgotra seems pretty sensible in this interview - http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article472296.ece

If Anderson wanted to come to India voluntarily, he obviously would want to go back! What's the fuss about "letting him go" that the press and opposition has created.. If he came to India after being promised safe passage, how can u think of arresting him.. And why would he come without being promised a safe passage?

Am I missing some point?

Walking With The Comrades - by Arundhati Roy

Reading Arundhati's essay in Outlook - 29 march issue. Get a copy of it.
It's shocking that this happens in the same country where I live. I wish Manmohan does something to peacefully solve this situation. I pray that all our brethren get to live a life of peace, dignity, human rights, and prosperity.
It also reminds me of a meeting with a retired IAS officer, a sincere woman, maybe 2 years ago. I had asked her about the impact of someone like Manmohan being on the top - how it has affected the administration at lower levels. She praised Manmohan for starting the administrative reforms. The only criticism she had was of the government's handling of the Maoist agitation. She said that the government treats it as a law and order problem, but it is not so - it's a social issue. Now, I also regard this as the biggest shortcoming of the Manmohan era so far - the failure to solve this crisis raging within our borders. We cannot blame Pakistan for this. Given the current situation, it is difficult to call today's India a land of culture, values, democracy, civilization. The tribals seem to be more civilized, more humane, than our government.
Thanks Arundhati for this essay.

Narayana Murthy speaks

An excerpt from Narayana Murthy's interview, that appeared in The Times Of India, Ascent - 14 October 2009, Bangalore edition :

Question: What were the challenges you faced during your entire journey and how did you overcome them?
Narayana Murthy: We faced a lot of difficulties in the beginning, because at that time, the country was a closed economy. It took two-three years and about 50 visits to Delhi to get a license to import a computer of 50,000 dollars. It would take ten days to get foreign exchange to travel abroad even for a day. It took two-three years to get a telephone connection. We went through extreme difficulties. But all of that changed, thanks to Dr Manmohan Singh and Late Narasimha Rao and their progressive strategies. It was the economic reforms of 1991 that made all this progress possible.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/TOIBG/2009/10/14/TOIBG_2009_10_14_43.pdf (~2 MB)

Something gone wrong with them..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Singh-weak-PM-campaign-targeted-at-govt-not-individual-BJP/articleshow/4576691.cms

Rajnath Singh, the president of the BJP, the party with a difference, says that the "weak PM" campaign was targeted at the Congress government, not any individual. I feel that most of the Indians have enough intelligence to see that the PM is an individual. And it has taken years for the party to clarify this? Because they have been repeating this "weak PM" slogan for years.. Now there can be the following options:

• The BJP thinks that majority of Indian voters are morons
• The current BJP leaders are the biggest morons on earth. After Vajpayee's exit, something has happened to their basic mental faculties.

They lied without any hesitation. And how glad I am that the Indians saw through their hypocrisy and lies. And they are continuing their nonsense lying after taking a severe beating. Yes, they were a party with a difference in 1998. They still are. But the "difference" is different. Now they are the most blatantly lying party. They are the party whose hypocritical campaign relied on the the stupidity of the Indian electorate. For people with some intelligence can see through such blatant hypocrisy and lies.

Satyameva Jayate

Evaluating the govt...

The major achievements:
* RTI Act: has proven crucial for transparency, fighting corruption
* NREGA: the most ambitious, sensible, sustainable poverty eradication programme in the country's history
* Nuclear Deal: India will start manufacturing & exporting nuclear equipment in few years, and get massive electricity in next decade.
* Good agricultural growth. [will add citation soon]
* Last, but the mightiest. Making India the second fastest growing major economy in the world. 9% growth is unprecedented in Indian history, at least the post-Independence history.

The cons:
* Reservation
* Neglect of internal security. The performance was on par, or maybe a little better, than NDA's.

Overall:
No govt has done more for the country. The unprecedented 9-10% growth is amazing. Keep it up, Dr Singh. Thank u so much... Strengthen the internal security, and keep up the pressure on Pakistan..