Here is the complete response of the pm:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/resources/article2365194.ece?homepage=true
At the first read, the statement did sound very convincing. However, on another slow read, I was of the opinion against the statement.
7. However, on August 15, 2011, the organisers refused to accept six of the conditions, including the condition that the protest fast would be limited to three days. Hence, Delhi Police informed the applicants that, since they had declined to accept some of the conditions and refused to give the undertaking to abide by all the conditions, permission would not be granted to hold the protest fast at Jai Prakash Narayan Park. Prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC were also imposed on August 15, 2011 in and around Jai Prakash Narayan Park and some other areas.
11. Our Government acknowledges the right of citizens to hold peaceful protests. In fact, Delhi Police have allowed several such protests, but in each case appropriate conditions have always been imposed and the organisers were always required to give an undertaking to abide by all the conditions. Shri Anna Hazare and his supporters would have been allowed to hold their protest fast if they had accepted the conditions under which the permission was granted and had undertaken to abide by the conditions. Since they declined to do so, Delhi Police was obliged to refuse permission to hold the protest fast.
Why was this condition imposed in the first place? If the civil society is demanding protest permissions of indefinite fast, what is the basis on which Government refused their right to do so? For me, the Government's stance is still unclear. The peaceful protests which Govt allows are by no means of the scale as this one, and one finds it difficult to comprehend, why certain conditions include strict restrictions on the grounds of time and venues? Are we going to have a law stating that indefinite protests can't be held in the country?
12. The Government wishes to stress that the issue before the nation is not whether a Lok Pal Bill is necessary or desirable. All of us in this House are agreed that a Lok Pal Bill must be passed as early as possible. The question is, who drafts the law and who makes the law? I submit that the time-honoured practice is that the Executive drafts a Bill and places it before Parliament and that Parliament debates and adopts the Bill with amendments if necessary. In the process of adoption of the Bill, there will be opportunities for Shri Anna Hazare and others to present their views to the Standing Committee to which this Bill has been referred by the Hon'ble Speaker. The Standing Committee as well as Parliament can modify the Bill if they so desire. However, I am not aware of any constitutional philosophy or principle that allows any one to question the sole prerogative of Parliament to make a law. In making a law on Lok Pal, the Government has faithfully adhered to the well-settled principles. As far as I am able to gather, Shri Anna Hazare questions these principles and claims a right to impose his Jan Lok Pal Bill upon Parliament.
Here, Mr Singh just nailed the purpose of the agitation. The Govt by law, is the one who makes law. The same was true when the tyrants ruled. The constitution allowed them to make laws and no one else. It was unlawful for a common citizen to try and refuse to accept a law. The well settled principles which Mr Singh mentions here have been very well demonstrated by the various ministers of his own Govt and hence, the civil society is trying to interfere.
13. I acknowledge that Shri Anna Hazare may be inspired by high ideals in his campaign to set up a strong and effective Lok Pal. However, the path that he has chosen to impose his draft of a Bill upon Parliament is totally misconceived and fraught with grave consequences for our Parliamentary democracy.
Can Mr. Singh, suggest another way to have an action against the law in our democracy? The Supreme Court can't comment, because law making comes under Parliament's judiciary. It is not too far back, that the Govt challenged Supreme Court for it's authority. The only way he can possibly suggest is to compete in the election, which I have tried to analyse in my previous blog entries, and I found a direct correlation between money and winning probability.
14. Our Government does not seek any confrontation with any section of the society. But when some sections of society deliberately challenge the authority of the Government and the prerogative of Parliament, it is the bounden duty of the Government to maintain peace and tranquillity. Delhi Police, as the authority charged with the responsibility, took the minimum steps necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the capital city. Inevitably, though unfortunately, it led to the arrest and subsequent release of Shri Anna Hazare and some of his supporters. I sincerely hope that the incidents of yesterday will not be repeated today or in the future.
Can Mr Singh please highlight, how was the peace in the capital city being disturbed by this? If only the venue and space was to be provided, there haven't been any incidents of violence from any section of civil society till date. There however have been serious incidents of violence from the part of Delhi Police (ref. Baba Ramdev)
15. I should also make it clear that the issue between the Government and Shri Anna Hazare is not one of different attitudes to fighting corruption. In my independence day address, I spoke at length about the need to deal effectively with corruption. I would like to assure the House that we are determined to provide a Government that is transparent, accountable and responsive at all times and determined to fight corruption. But as I said on 15 August at the Red Fort, there is no magic wand by which, in one stroke, we will get rid of menace the of corruption. We have to work simultaneously on several fronts. In my 15 August address, I have outlined some of the measures we intend to put in place to strengthen our fight against corruption. I invite all sections of this House to join hands with us to deal with the cancer of corruption.
Here is what Mr Singh said on How to fight corruption:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/prime-ministers-speech-on-indias-65th-independence-day-126632
None of the statements, he has made is a definitive statement, except a strong Lokpal Bill. The only point which he points out is a strong judiciary. I am afraid, that although Mr Singh spoke at length in his Parliamentary speech, there was nothing in his speech, which laid any hope of reduction in corruption.
16. With respect to the events of yesterday, I will only say that a functional democracy must allow multiple voices to be heard. But differences of opinion must be resolved thorough dialogue and consensus. Those who believe that their voice and their voice alone represents the will of 1.2 billion people should reflect deeply on that position. They must allow the elected representatives of the people in Parliament to do the job that they were elected for.
For this section, all I can say is "Democracy without eduction is Randomness".. The present Parliamentary structure, I am afraid, doesn't really mean representative of people, since most of the uneducated people are ill informed about candidates, and votes for money system rules the country. (ref. my prev entry on the blog)
17. India is an emerging economy. We are now emerging as one of the important players on the world stage. There are many forces that would not like to see India realize its true place in the Comity of Nations. We must not play into their hands. We must not create an environment in which our economic progress is hijacked by internal dissension. We must keep our mind focused on the need to push ahead with economic progress for the upliftment of the 'aam aadmi'.
And once again, the rest of the world is bad, and we need to support the 'aam aadmi' who travels in a local at 45, eats at a village for the first time after 45.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Politics and Money
Well, every body I know of, has sometime in his life, cursed the politicians of being corrupt. I just came across a video, which says, we have about 11,00,00,00,00,000 INR stashed in Tax Heavens. Oops. Sorry. Three more zeroes. It is 110,00,00,00,00,00,000.
Now, here I want you to meet Mr A, who owns a billion rupees, which I believe is the normal for a powerful enough politician.
(I come across this number by approximating the ~10k as the number of MPs, Ministers at State Level, rich politicians in India. Accounting for the rich IPS, IAS, etc, we can safely take that number to be 1 lakh politicians + IAS/IPS. This accounts to roughly 110 crore Rupees per person, with a very high standard deviation, and the rich guys (remember ICC chairmanship, free TVs, etc) in all possibilities have more than 10k crores each. (You might be more interested in people with more than 1000 crores, but for the purpose of raising doubt, a 100 crore suffices for me)
Now, the only other people in India, with that sort of wealth are either having their firms listed under NSE Nifty 50/MidCap Index and/or are cricketers/ BollyWood stars. Business use money as the measurement of their success, entertainers do associate what they earn with their excellence and one can understand that more money is the equivalent of success to each of them,
but what does Mr A do, with a billion Rupees? He can't drive sports cars, he lives in Government bungalow, his foreign trips are sponsored by the Government, he can't date super models. What use can one think of INR 100 crore, which is possible for our dear Mr A? In fact he is rather hated for the wealth he has amassed and he knows that damn well. Still, he can't help but plunder wealth, rob the nations of millions, and somehow, not feel guilty about it.
Well, our Mr A doesn't gain pleasure from any of the worldly pleasure mentioned below, in fact, he goes for one of the least understood and most important pleasures, the one which Joker identified in the Dark Knight - he's like a dog which is running after a car, what does he do, if he somehow catches hold of the car! -
The answer is pretty much simple, run after another car. So, what does Mr A do when he comes to power? Run after another election.. Yeap, that's right, all the money which we are looted of, most of it is for the sake of next election and next.. That's all a politician is spending all his time for, plotting day and night, creating complicated strategies, to win this high stakes game of election!
Now coming back to our question, what would Mr A do with all his money?
The first thing he would do is to buy local mafia off. That is one of the most necessary investment he has to make in this game. This is important for every politician, since murdering the opponent off is the safest way to win the game. So each politician has to ensure that the opponent doesn't get any advantage on this front. If you can't kill the opponent, kill his important man. If even this is not possible, capture toll booths. Also, they are pretty handful if you want to protect your important men. Police can't do that by themselves, because, once again, they can be bought off. So, step 1, target local gundas.
The next advantage of infinite money, buy votes off. Where there is group (eg Best Bus Drivers, Factory Union), there is a union leader, and where there is a union leader, there is an upcoming politician, Mr Aprime. Mr Aprime wants to become as powerful as Mr A, but doesn't have the resources to do so. So, Mr A provides him with a handful of money, so that Mr Aprime can realize his dream, in exchange for Mr Aprime helping our Mr A realize his dream.
The third thing, buy babas off. Yeap, if a baba puts his hand on Mr A, he gets all his devotees. Now, why do babas require money? Because, they too, want to expand their influence. The best way to increase their influence? Build more Ashrams, temples, buy TV shows to get more following. You help babas, babas help you!
Last but not the least, advertisement! Flood the streets with your posters, pamphlets.
Now, if we want to ensure that politicians don't loot our money, we need to make sure that the criteria for winning elections is not money! Ideally, the criteria for winning election, as an IITian puts it, should be your resume, stating what have you done, and what you are capable of doing, displayed side by side for all the candidates.
If I am a tribesman leaving in some remote corner of MP, I decide to vote for the name which I have heard the most. If that is not my criteria, I would go by the recommendation of the local seth, whose richness, means a greater chance for me to get a loan from him. The leader with most number of pamphlets, has a greater chance of getting my vote, because, I feel better reading his name than that of his opponent. Last but not the least, I don't mind somebody buying me off some booz (read desi katta) and at least have one day of peace. I really don't know what's the difference between our Mr A and the other Mr B. So, my first recommendation for elections: No advertising allowed! Unless you dedicate each banner/poster/pamphlet to equal part for each of you and your opponents, you can't post a pamphlet/poster.
What is the other thing, which should help secure better elections? People < "10th class pass" not allowed to vote! Now, this is a huge restriction, and it is debatable! But, consider this, every person in the country is 8th class pass since birth, and doesn't even have to go to school, to do that. 8th class passing certificate is like ration card, you go to school for some time, get the certificate, and whoa! This law should be even more stringent to the extent that only people with >60% in 12th standard (standardized across state boards) should be allowed to vote.
This might(should?) sound ridiculous, but the truth is, even if you are uneducated and are capable of making absolute sense of every decision you make, there are people who are of equal qualification as you, and hurting you and your country by over numbering you in an election. So, you can decide to trade off your voting rights, to get the better decision. The advantage of having only 12th class, 60% people voting in the election, is that they would require a statistically impossible amount of money to win the votes by bribe, and hence, winning by bribing is gone. This would also diminish the impact of babas and influential figures on the elections, since uneducated people in a large number, are far more susceptible to union leaders and religious leaders, than educated people in a large number.
The 10th class pass is just a suggestive measure, it can be decided on a per scale basis, like 5th standard pass can vote for Panchayat elections, while 8th class can vote for Nagar Palika and so on, so that the average income per month * number of people exceeds the expected amount of black money that can possibly be made out of the post, without being brought to law, and the number of people in consideration still remain large for statistical purposes!
The third suggestion, which I would want to make, is to reduce the relative power of local gundas. If they have to bully me around, they come up with lathis, hockeys, knives, etc. If they have a gun, I have a gun, and my neighbours have a gun, I think, most of the country would be a far safer place than it is now. Also, the rules of self defence, in the country should be taught to the children before 10th standard! This might back fire in some cases, with the usage of gun helping some villains escape away, but if I intend to kill somebody innocent, might as well do it with a knife, than with a gun. It should be a safer country, where everybody is equally powerful, than one, where 10 big blokes can overpower 10 civilians.
I am pretty much sure, none of these rules will ever come to force, for uneducated people won't understand statistics, election commission won't understand the significance of tipping points, and most of the people won't think positive of the concept of relative power. So, for now, all I am hoping for Anna Hazare to go forward, and do everything that looks probable!
Now, here I want you to meet Mr A, who owns a billion rupees, which I believe is the normal for a powerful enough politician.
(I come across this number by approximating the ~10k as the number of MPs, Ministers at State Level, rich politicians in India. Accounting for the rich IPS, IAS, etc, we can safely take that number to be 1 lakh politicians + IAS/IPS. This accounts to roughly 110 crore Rupees per person, with a very high standard deviation, and the rich guys (remember ICC chairmanship, free TVs, etc) in all possibilities have more than 10k crores each. (You might be more interested in people with more than 1000 crores, but for the purpose of raising doubt, a 100 crore suffices for me)
Now, the only other people in India, with that sort of wealth are either having their firms listed under NSE Nifty 50/MidCap Index and/or are cricketers/ BollyWood stars. Business use money as the measurement of their success, entertainers do associate what they earn with their excellence and one can understand that more money is the equivalent of success to each of them,
but what does Mr A do, with a billion Rupees? He can't drive sports cars, he lives in Government bungalow, his foreign trips are sponsored by the Government, he can't date super models. What use can one think of INR 100 crore, which is possible for our dear Mr A? In fact he is rather hated for the wealth he has amassed and he knows that damn well. Still, he can't help but plunder wealth, rob the nations of millions, and somehow, not feel guilty about it.
Well, our Mr A doesn't gain pleasure from any of the worldly pleasure mentioned below, in fact, he goes for one of the least understood and most important pleasures, the one which Joker identified in the Dark Knight - he's like a dog which is running after a car, what does he do, if he somehow catches hold of the car! -
The answer is pretty much simple, run after another car. So, what does Mr A do when he comes to power? Run after another election.. Yeap, that's right, all the money which we are looted of, most of it is for the sake of next election and next.. That's all a politician is spending all his time for, plotting day and night, creating complicated strategies, to win this high stakes game of election!
Now coming back to our question, what would Mr A do with all his money?
The first thing he would do is to buy local mafia off. That is one of the most necessary investment he has to make in this game. This is important for every politician, since murdering the opponent off is the safest way to win the game. So each politician has to ensure that the opponent doesn't get any advantage on this front. If you can't kill the opponent, kill his important man. If even this is not possible, capture toll booths. Also, they are pretty handful if you want to protect your important men. Police can't do that by themselves, because, once again, they can be bought off. So, step 1, target local gundas.
The next advantage of infinite money, buy votes off. Where there is group (eg Best Bus Drivers, Factory Union), there is a union leader, and where there is a union leader, there is an upcoming politician, Mr Aprime. Mr Aprime wants to become as powerful as Mr A, but doesn't have the resources to do so. So, Mr A provides him with a handful of money, so that Mr Aprime can realize his dream, in exchange for Mr Aprime helping our Mr A realize his dream.
The third thing, buy babas off. Yeap, if a baba puts his hand on Mr A, he gets all his devotees. Now, why do babas require money? Because, they too, want to expand their influence. The best way to increase their influence? Build more Ashrams, temples, buy TV shows to get more following. You help babas, babas help you!
Last but not the least, advertisement! Flood the streets with your posters, pamphlets.
Now, if we want to ensure that politicians don't loot our money, we need to make sure that the criteria for winning elections is not money! Ideally, the criteria for winning election, as an IITian puts it, should be your resume, stating what have you done, and what you are capable of doing, displayed side by side for all the candidates.
If I am a tribesman leaving in some remote corner of MP, I decide to vote for the name which I have heard the most. If that is not my criteria, I would go by the recommendation of the local seth, whose richness, means a greater chance for me to get a loan from him. The leader with most number of pamphlets, has a greater chance of getting my vote, because, I feel better reading his name than that of his opponent. Last but not the least, I don't mind somebody buying me off some booz (read desi katta) and at least have one day of peace. I really don't know what's the difference between our Mr A and the other Mr B. So, my first recommendation for elections: No advertising allowed! Unless you dedicate each banner/poster/pamphlet to equal part for each of you and your opponents, you can't post a pamphlet/poster.
What is the other thing, which should help secure better elections? People < "10th class pass" not allowed to vote! Now, this is a huge restriction, and it is debatable! But, consider this, every person in the country is 8th class pass since birth, and doesn't even have to go to school, to do that. 8th class passing certificate is like ration card, you go to school for some time, get the certificate, and whoa! This law should be even more stringent to the extent that only people with >60% in 12th standard (standardized across state boards) should be allowed to vote.
This might(should?) sound ridiculous, but the truth is, even if you are uneducated and are capable of making absolute sense of every decision you make, there are people who are of equal qualification as you, and hurting you and your country by over numbering you in an election. So, you can decide to trade off your voting rights, to get the better decision. The advantage of having only 12th class, 60% people voting in the election, is that they would require a statistically impossible amount of money to win the votes by bribe, and hence, winning by bribing is gone. This would also diminish the impact of babas and influential figures on the elections, since uneducated people in a large number, are far more susceptible to union leaders and religious leaders, than educated people in a large number.
The 10th class pass is just a suggestive measure, it can be decided on a per scale basis, like 5th standard pass can vote for Panchayat elections, while 8th class can vote for Nagar Palika and so on, so that the average income per month * number of people exceeds the expected amount of black money that can possibly be made out of the post, without being brought to law, and the number of people in consideration still remain large for statistical purposes!
The third suggestion, which I would want to make, is to reduce the relative power of local gundas. If they have to bully me around, they come up with lathis, hockeys, knives, etc. If they have a gun, I have a gun, and my neighbours have a gun, I think, most of the country would be a far safer place than it is now. Also, the rules of self defence, in the country should be taught to the children before 10th standard! This might back fire in some cases, with the usage of gun helping some villains escape away, but if I intend to kill somebody innocent, might as well do it with a knife, than with a gun. It should be a safer country, where everybody is equally powerful, than one, where 10 big blokes can overpower 10 civilians.
I am pretty much sure, none of these rules will ever come to force, for uneducated people won't understand statistics, election commission won't understand the significance of tipping points, and most of the people won't think positive of the concept of relative power. So, for now, all I am hoping for Anna Hazare to go forward, and do everything that looks probable!
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