Three basic questions

There are people claiming that elections and change of guard will take care of everything that is wrong with the economy. All economists and business people are stating that Land Acquisition bill in the current state will cause more harm.. Why is it that their they cannot push their favorite candidate for PM to push for amendments in the bill?

Every time there is a Hindu saint/leader under the radar why does BJP comes all out supporting them? Why do they find a need to support Asaram Bapu? What was the need for Pinky Anand/Subramaniam Swamy to support him?

Every time there is a muslim arrested on terrorism charges why does Congress & SP comes all out supporting them? I was shocked when Mani Shankar Aiyar claims that he doesn't know what IM is.

Utter Craziness all around..

Syria - What should the West think before they start their new adventure

West are about start their next adventure of attacking Syria, they should think about the following before they start this

1) Syria is not a party to the Chemicals weapons convention, so is it right to attack Syria for the use of chemical weapons (even if they have done that)?

2)  Syrian government is fighting the Al-Qaeda backed internal groups. Is the West ready to side with Al-Qaeda in their new adventure?

3) How a war hating President became so interested in war mongering now? He even won a Nobel peace prize for just stating that he will stop the wars

4) What did the west achieve in the Afghanistan - They are now trying to talk to Taliban and want to hand over the power to them. These are the same guys who they wanted to throw out.

5) What did the west achieve in Iraq - Except obviously getting rid of Saddam Hussain? There is still daily bombings

6) The civilian casualties in both the above wars is more than 125 thousand. Is it really worth the effort?

7) Even if they want to go ahead with the adventure(which they claim is a 2-3 day exercise), what will they try to achieve? Bomb a few critical infrastructure like bridges & communications and maybe try to take out Assad, they will end up killing a few civilians.

8) UN has become a huge joke, no one bothers about it. Why spend money on such an organization? Every member state is forced to give money to run this organization, if there is scant regard of what it does, why have such an organization?

9) When the US and UK have scant regard of human rights as was evident in the recent case of David Miranda and Edward Snowden, what right do they have to preach others?

10) Syria produces only 0.4% of world's total oil production, is that also important? I thought with the shale gas, the dependency on crude will reduce.

Why the secrecy about the health of our leaders?

Every US presidential candidate has to release their medical records before the elections. This is done primarily to ensure that the people are confident that the President is in a healthy condition and will be able to govern the country for the full term without any issues.

We in India, don't get any information about the health of our leaders. Why is that? There are multiple rumors that go around the country about the health of our leaders. The CM of Tamil Nadu, goes to Kodanad to get treated for some ailment every often. She claims that she goes there for rest but when Advani came calling she had informed that she was under treatment in Kodanat. Why?

Stalin the former Deputy CM goes to London often for treatment. There are rumors that he is suffering from some life threatening decease.

Sonia Gandhi, the leader of UPA goes to US for treatment for what was rumored to be Cancer/pneumonia infection. No one knows what it is.

Only exception in the recent past was when PM underwent bypass and was out of action for nearly a month.

Agreed that we don't vote in presidential style elections but we also need to know whether our leaders are in good health.

Media also don't want to talk about the health of our leaders. Media generally avoids personal side of any leader but that ended when they reported about what ND Tiwari did in the governor's house.

Can we get to know our leaders health through RTI if they are not transparent about their health? I think we should.

Politics at its best - VHP 84 Kosh Yatra

The moment Amit Shah was made the UP in-charge of BJP, one thing became clear. The BJP is keen to win the maximum number of seats from UP which was essential for them to form the government at the center.

Their assumption was that they can do this only by communalizing. Immediately after his appointment Amit Shah said he wants to have the Ram Mandir built at Ayodhya. Modi clearly has a two prong strategy for the 2014 elections, he personally will talk about Development, investments, etc which will attract the middle class and Amit Shah's of the BJP will talk about mandir, 370, uniform civil code, etc which they believe will get them the Hindu votes in bulk. There is some truth to this argument also, as the best performances of BJP in UP were in the 90's when the Ram Mandir movement was very active.

Now coming to the VHP yatra, it seems that the 84 kosh parikrama is held every year in April/May and this year also it has been completed during the same time. Once their original plans were criticized VHP changed this to a padayatra. The parikrama route and the padayatra routes were also different. The padayatra route which was planned was through the sensitive muslim localities.

The UP government did the right thing (even though the last 1 year of their rule has been pathetic in terms of law and order) by banning the rally/yatra/parikrama or whatever they want to call it. They also took the VHP leaders under preventive custody.

Questions

1) Why did the VHP plan this yatra now and try to do it under the guise of a yearly event (even though it got the timing wrong)?
2) Why is the BJP silently supporting this event?


I really hope the people of this country, move away from such communalization and vote on real issues.

Rabble Rousers - Be more sensitive

Couple of things that I wanted to add on to my earlier posts

1) On the posts about killing of 5 Jawans in the Poonch sector, I had mentioned that the army should be given authority to respond to such attacks. Apparently that is already there, which is visible from the protests that Pakistan is making about their Jawans are killed by Indian firing. My question to all the opposition and Mr Goswamis of the world, why are you not talking about such things ?

2) Second is about the Madras Café movie - the government has taken the easy route of washing off their hands stating that theatres are not willing to screen the movie. I had mentioned that the High court has declined to ban the movie. However, all main stream media shouting about no release in TN for Madras Café. I was shocked at seeing that and thought I had missed something in the verdict and was checking it again. All that the high court mentioned was a movie cannot release without the censor certificate. What is news in that? Why do we twist that to state that there is no release for the movie?

Summary

1) Diplomacy should be handled deftly. I am sure the tone that we hear from the current opposition will be entirely different if they are ruling and the ruling party will behave like the current opposition. That's the sad part of our democracy.

2) The media is more interested in sleazy headlines rather than content. This is a real shame.

Madras Cafe - Again no freedom of speech?

In my short blogging life, this is the third time I am writing about lack of freedom of speech. First it was about Amina Wadud and then Thalaivaa and now Madras Café.

There are many fringe elements and some political parties which are asking for a ban on this movie and rightfully the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has rejected the request to ban this movie.

I don't know the story of the movie but what I hear is that it portrays is how LTTE killed the former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi.

Everyone is jumping and saying that the movie portrays LTTE in bad light. First of all LTTE is a banned organization under the Unlawful activities prevention act (basically the terrorist act). The ban still continues even though most activities of LTTE stopped after the killing of Prabhakaran in 2009. LTTE and Prabhakaran are charged for Rajiv Gandhi's murder in the courts here.

The usual suspects like Thirumavalavan & Vaiko want to ban the movie and even Karunanidhi wants the government to check if the movie portrays the LTTE in bad light and then take action.

Funny thing is the students have also jumped into this and want the movie to be banned.

What is wrong in portraying a terrorist organization (as per Indian government) in bad light? That's one part of the story.

John Abraham, who is the hero of the movie, has been saying that the wont give into the bullying. And he is right in saying that. He has the right to act in a movie and this movie being censored should be released.

Summary

There is nothing wrong in portraying a terrorist organization(which they are) in bad light and nothing wrong in showing that LTTE killed Rajiv Gandhi(which they did). If the fringe elements have a problem with that, then they should get the ban on LTTE revoked(which they couldn't) and retry Rajiv Gandhi's case (which they cannot).

We definitely need to protect our freedom of speech right which is being abused more and more recently.

 

David Miranda - If this is not Human Rights violation, what is?

David Miranda, the Brazilian partner of Glenn Greenwald was held at the Heathrow airport for 9 hours on Monday morning. They were on the way from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro, where they live.

Glenn Greenwald along with Laura Poitras were instrumental in getting out the Edward Snowden story.

He was detained under the schedule 7 of UK terrorist act which allows people to be detained for full 9 hours before they have to be either arrested or released. This schedule specifically applies at the Airports, ports and at other entry points into the country.

He was released after the full 9 hours which the act allows and his belongings like Mobile Phone, laptop, camera, memory sticks, DVDs and games console were taken away by the authorities.

This is a clear case of intimidation for all journalists and use of terrorist acts on friends and families of journalists who have been critical of the west on their snooping of the individuals smokes of hypocrisy. On what basis was he identified as a terrorist to use this law?

There is more to this, White house was informed in advance about the detaining of David Miranda. Not just UK, US is also equally to be blamed for this incident.

What rights does these nations have on questioning third world countries about their human rights standards?

Why is the west cozying up to Modi?

Whenever any foreign dignitary comes to India they meet the Prime Minister, President and they also make it a point to meet the Opposition leaders. I am sure we had seen leaders meet Sonia Gandhi during the NDA rule and then LK Advani or now Sushma Swaraj/Arun Jaitley during the UPA regime.

Secondly the main purpose of the embassies in different countries is to not just give visas but to understand what is happening in those countries and report back to the head quarters. This is to ensure that they are not blind sighted when a change happens.

Till recently, for the west Modi was just a CM of a state in India. He was ruling Gujarat when the 2002 riots happened. They didn't want to be seen supporting him.

Now he is projecting himself as the next PM candidate even though is party is not willing to say so(at least till date). The UPA is definitely on the way out, which is what all opinion polls also say. The west wants to ensure that they don't have a PM who they don't know about or who they are seen as against. India is an important nation and west cannot afford to have an PM who they openly oppose.

Now a days the governments means business and to win contracts you need to have good relationship.

That is the reason why we see British calling him to UK or the Australians calling him. It is not that they have new found love for Modi.

The TV reporters who are questioning the British MPs or Australians should understand this basic fact before bungling the interview as Nidhi Razdan did in NDTV.

Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer - A Movie Review

Watched the movie Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer(AKS) yesterday. The theatre was not even 25% filled, and this was the first weekend. The director has had a 50-50% success at the box office so far. His first movie Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu was a run away hit. Who can forget that parotta comedy?

Story is about the teenage or I should say college love and the larger impact that it leaves the next generation. The hero loves the heroine in college but she treats him more as a friend. He threatens to commit suicide and she relents. They go on an outing and she gets pregnant. The parents get involved and they agree initially to get them married but there are some conditions laid out. The girls parents don't agree and in the interim the lovers decide that they don't want to get married.  And then the climax scene leaves a huge lump in your throat. There is a baby that is born and the girls parents leave the kid at an orphanage and after a couple of years try to get the heroine married of to another guy and the hero is shown flirting with another girl. Cut to show the baby who is without any footwear picking up a ball in hot sun and running and stops and cries because he couldn't bear the heat of the sand.

In terms of performances - The hero(Ramesh) unless he is related to the producer or director, not sure how he got this role. Cannot emote. Heroine(Manisha) in her second outing after Vazhakku en has done a decent job.  In terms of support cast the heroines mother played by Tulasi has done a very good job. All other parents including the much acclaimed Poornima Bhagyaraj and Jayaprakash don't have much to do. The heroines friend Jenny (not sure who the actor is) has done a very good job. She continuously opposes the relationship. Arjun (Kadhalil sodhapuvadhu eppadi fame) also does a very good job as a friend of both the hero and heroine.

Songs are good and have been a hit.

There are some scenes which are good, like where an uncle of the hero comes and wishes him on becoming an uncle and Arjun says seekaram appa kuda ayiduvan sir. Also the scene where the heroine before they fall in love advising the hero that once you get a bike any girl will fall in love and the next scene we have the hero asking his parents for a bike.

On the whole the movie is short and runs less than 2 hours and it doesn't bore you. To me personally except for a few laughs here and there and climax scene, there was not much in this movie. Much more was expected from the director (who I personally feel has not lived up to the high standards he set for himself with his first two films - Vennila kabadi kuzhu and Azhagar samiyin kudhirai).

Why can't we have proper guidelines and selection criteria for awards?

OK, the title might be generic and many would have faced this question in their lives. However, I specifically wanted to talk about the sports awards (Arjuna & Khel Ratna Awards) that are awarded every year.

Last year Rahul Dravid did not win the Khel Ratna. Guess the reason - Ravi Shastri who was the lone Cricket representative in the selection panel did not show up for the meeting. Wow, that's a great reason. Is this how much importance the awards are given?

Every year there are some sportspersons who feel left out and complain about it. We had Krishna Poonia complaining that she missed out on the Khel Ratna and some others like Manoj Kumar (boxer) who complaining about him not being considered for Arjuna awards. There were also complaints that the selection of Sodhi being biased.

Why is it that we cannot have a defined criteria for selection of awards? Why cannot it be made more transparent?

When our nation has very little to celebrate as sports success outside cricket, why cannot we recognize deserving sportsmen/women?

I really wish to see a day when once the awards are announced, every one congratulates the winners and the story ends there. People who don't get the awards will get disappointed, but if we make the selection process transparent & objective everyone will be able to accept the decision made.

The Athletics World Championships - Our Dismal show continues

Anju Bobby George was the only Indian to have won a medal at the world championships. She won the bronze at the 2003 Championships in the long jump event. India sent a 15 member contingent for the World championships which is currently being held in Moscow with a hope of adding to that single medal.

Only event in 2012 Olympics (both men and women) in which we had progressed to the finals was Discuss. Vikas Gowda and Krishna Poonia both progressed to the finals but failed to finish in the medals. In the world championships we had only Vikas Gowda representing us with Krishna being injured. Vikas progressed to the finals but finished only 7th. He has been consistently finishing around that level in the Olympics/world championships. The leading throwers throw have their best performance of over 70 metres and Vikas's best is only 66m. I don't think there is more to expect from him beyond this level.

Sudha Singh the 2010 Asian Games Gold Medalists finished a lowly 23rd in a field of 29 in 3000m steeple chase event.

Walking seems to be one area where we are having more participants. We had totally 6 participants including a woman. We had 3 men participating in the 20km walk and 2 in 50km walk. The promising KT Irfan who finished 10th in the 20km race at the London Olympics was in the chasing pack till he was disqualified after 13 kms of the walk. He was placed 8th at the end of 13kms. The other two contestants Gurmeet Singh and Chandan Singh finished 33rd and 34th out of the 53 finishes.

The only thing that we expect from our athletes (who are still not at the level of winning medals) is to bring their A game to such prestigious events. We want them to meet or beat their personal bests. That's all we expect. And so far only Khushbir Kaur has beaten the national record by a whole 3 minutes (it's the different story that she finished 39th in the field of 57 finishes and was 7 minutes away from the winner).

In the 50km race we had Basant Bahadur Rana finishing 33rd and Sandeep Kumar disqualified after 30kms.

Renjith Maheswary failed to qualify for the finals of the triple jump, at least he had registered the jumps in the world championships while he failed to register even a single jump at the London Olympics. He had the same length as the last qualifier for the finals with a distance of 16.63m, he didn't qualify as the other persons best jump was in his first attempt and Renjith's was in his second attempt.

The last event that I had personally some hope of qualifying to the finals was the 4*400 relay and just came to know that we had finished 16th in a field of 17.

With this our participation in the 2013 World Championships comes to an end. Our wait for our second World championship medal continues.

Auto fare rationalization in Chennai

I have stayed for a few days in Bangalore and Hyderabad and one thing that really strikes me is the autos. Every auto I had taken charge by the metre and give back even 1 rupee change. Even if you travel in the night, they just charge the 25% premium which is also fixed.

I am sure anyone who had used Chennai autos will definitely have had bad experiences. I have been shouted at by an auto driver for giving 50 rupees for a 3 kilo meter ride. Nowadays around 15 rupees per kilo meter has become a norm.

Last time the fare was fixed was in 2007 and every auto driver rejected the fare. We were back to heckling. The charge fixed was 14 minimum and 6 for additional kilometer.

Supreme court in its ruling last December had asked the TN government to rationalize the fares by May. Nothing happened till May and again they gave the government 2 more months to fix the fares. Nothing happened and on July 22nd Government asked for 4 more weeks to fix the fares and also to ensure GPS enabled meters.

In the interim private players like Namma Auto have started their services. Namma auto gives you a receipt and they charge a minimum of 25 and 10 for every additional km. They claim that they are making a good profit. There are stories that these auto drivers are beaten up by normal auto drivers. This used to happen when the call taxis started.

The government finally took time to listen to everyone last weekend. The auto unions are asking for 30 rs minimum and 15 for every additional km.

The petrol prices have gone up nearly 50% in the period from 2007 to now. I don't think a 15 rupees per kilometer fare is acceptable to all. Even with inflation of around 10% per year we are looking at an increase to around 11 rupees per kilometer.

Summary

Having lived in Chennai for 37 years and seen what happens usually. The government will fix a fare which is lesser than what the auto unions ask and they will use that excuse to not use meters again.

I wish I see a day when the auto drivers in Chennai do not fleece and don't ask any questions or bargain when they start the ride. Maybe with more propagation of the private players we will get to see such a day.

Skull Cap - Symbolism or there is more to it?

It has almost been 2 years since Narendra Modi refused to wear the skull cap which was offered in a Sadhbhavana fast. Even today it has been quoted as a sign that he is not secular because he refused to wear the skull cap.

Shivraj Singh Chauhan another BJP CM, who is consciously positioning himself as an alternative PM candidate without saying so explicitly, wore a skull cap last week. There were quotes from people asking Modi to learn from Shivraj Chauhan. Does Shivraj Singh Chauhan become secular because he wore a skull cap? 

I strongly oppose Modi's views on many things but is wearing the skull cap or not the only criteria to identify whether someone is secular or not?

There are religions which propose nirvana, should people attain nirvana to prove that they are secular?

Summary

Every religion should co-exist and I don't think someone has to do what others do to show that he/she is secular.

Secularism means that I don't discriminate anyone based on caste/religion  and definitely not that I do what other religion does.

Where is Thalaivaa?

Available in the pirated CD stores around Chennai.. That's the sad state of affairs for this latest Vijay starrer which was supposed to released for Ramzan over last weekend.

Alas, we don't have a release and the poor movie going public have been subjected to 555.. Not that I am a fan of Vijay's movies but I would have watched that movie than watching Bharath with his steroid induced 6 packs. Or there is SRK and his mocking of Tamil language in the latest movie, a definite NO.

Oppressed Students Revolutionary Force, a completely unknown entity has sent threats to theatres against the release of the movie. Claiming that they were representing the SRM college whose owners were the distributors of this movie. If you have a axe to grind with the SRM College owners then go protest outside their colleges. Why in theatres?

What was a police doing when such threats come to theatres? I don't think that's the only reason for the film not getting released. When a politician gets an threat don't we increase their security? Like what the CM mentioned during the Vishwaroopam episode, don't we have enough cops to provide security for all theaters?

Then there were talks about movie not getting entertainment tax waiver, which was cited as the reason for the delay. This is the most bizarre thing that government is controlling in this state. What business does some bureaucrats have in deciding whether a movie gets an entertainment tax waiver or not? Earlier some great movies like Gandhi got entertainment tax waiver to get more general public watch the movies. The tickets were cheaper for those movies which had tax waiver. Then it was changed to all movies with Tamil titles will get tax waiver by the DMK regime. This was done to enable spread of the language. Now this has been changed to only movies with Tamil titles, U certificate and which really spread Tamil culture will get tax waiver. Our bureaucrats decide whether a movie spreads Tamil culture. Don't we have better usage of the official machinery than this?

Vijay released a statement that the movie has nothing to do with politics. Why did he do that? Did someone say that the movie has been stalled because it is a way of him expressing his intentions to get into politics or about his policies? Everyone in the state knows that he and his father think that he can be the next CM, why would anyone want to stop a movie because of that?

Jayalalitha, the CM had consciously decided to not meet Vijay and his father to show that she has nothing to do with this. Has she really done that?

Now there is also a case filed by grandson of SS Kandasamy, who claims that his father and grand father are shown in bad light in this movie.

Summary

The cops should have found out who really is behind the threat, the so called Oppressed students revolutionary force. And ensure that they are put in place. No one should get away with issuing bomb threats.

I might agree with Jayalalitha's approach of not getting involved directly, but she should ensure that the police are not keeping quiet.

This is not the first time this is happening in the recent past. We should ensure that this does not become a practice.

I personally believe this is real abuse of power. Don't really know who is abusing.

Movie a movie, and I am sure like most Vijay movies this will also bomb. Why give it unnecessary publicity?

On a lighter note : Maybe the movie heard the Thalaivaa song from Chennai Express and got offended and decided not to release :)

Food Security Bill & The Objections

The Indian Government has tabled the Food Security Bill in the parliament this week. The Bill entitles the following

1) 75% of Rural population & 50% of urban population will get 5kg at a price of Rs 3/kg for Rice, Rs 2/kg for wheat and 1/kg for coarse grains
2) Also entails free meals for pregnant/lactating women till 6 months after the delivery through the anganwadis and also a financial support of 6000 Rs for maternity support
3) Also entails free meals for children from the age of 6 months to 14 years either through the anganwadis or Mid day meal programs in schools.

Basically the law claims to address the following

1) Right to food for targeted households
2) Provide nutritional support for Pregnant/lactating women
3) Provide nutritional support for children

What are the objections that people have raised?

1) Some states like Tamil Nadu already provide rice at much cheaper price and they are complaining that this act will take that away.

Response : This is a myth. The act will only reduce the subsidiary burden of the state and pass it on to the center.

2) Some states where more people have moved to urban areas complain that their current food supply entitlement from the center will go down

Response : Partially true. Even though there were oral promises provided by the central government there is nothing in the act as it is tabled in the parliament.

3) Some states are complaining that this act takes away the federal structure

Response : This is a myth. The people who will receive the benefits under this act are to be identified by the state government. As in lot other central programs like MGNREGA, etc. the state governments will be implementer of this act

4) Some states are complaining that this is not universal and they already have a universal PDS.

Response : This is partially true. However, this does take away a huge subsidiary burden from the state government and pass it to the central government. This money can be used for various other social benefit programs.

5) Some intellectuals are complaining that 5kg per person is not enough and they want this to be increased to 7 kg.

Response : These entitlement of 5kg per person is more than enough as calorific requirements of individuals.

6) This does not address the mal nutrition issues

Response : This is true except in the case of Pregnant women and children upto 14 who are covered through free meals. Rice and wheat does not address mal nutrition concerns. We need to add proteins and iron to address those concerns. However, there is an ulterior motive of winning the elections which this will deliver as in the case of NTR winning his last election or Karunanidhi winning the 2006 elections.

7) PDS is already leaking and that's not the right way to deliver the subsidized food.

Response : Completely agree. Every time you don't buy anything at the ration shop, the staff there take away your entitlements and sell it black market. Probably an aadhar linked PDS with biometric authentication will ensure only such things don't happen in future.

Summary

We do not need such a large entitlement program to address mal nutrition. We do not have 67% of our population suffering from mal nutrition. And rice and wheat alone will not address mal nutrition. People will have more money now to buy milk/pulses etc. which they were using to buy rice/wheat. End of the day the state cannot provide everything at a subsidy.

I like the second and 3rd part of the acts which ensures free meals to Pregnant women and kids between 6 months and 14 years.

All the states are given 6 to 12 months to implement this act from the time it is passed in the parliament. Will that give enough time for the benefits to trickle down and the Congress government to use it? I doubt.

Killing of 5 Indian Army Jawans in the Poonch Sector

We had a firing incident this morning and 5 Indian Army jawans were killed. This is the 57th ceasefire violation in the year 2013. This happened around 400 metres inside Indian territory.

The army spokesperson this morning mentioned this morning that our Army patrol was attacked by the Pakistan Border Action Team along with 20 terrorists and in the ensuing firefight 5 army jawans were martyred.

The Defence minister in the parliament mentioned that the firing was done by 20 terrorists along with people dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms.

India has called the Pakistan High Commissioner and India lodged strong protest.

The opposition leader said the country and the army had to undergo the humiliation because of the weak and indecisive government at the center.

Questions

1) These are highly protected areas and how did so many terrorists cross the LOC and get into the Indian side without support of Pakistan border forces ?

2) Why does the Defence Minster say that it was people dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms and not Pakistan Army? Was this done to show Pakistan Army in good stead? Why was that important? Is this to ensure that the supposedly planned talks at secretary level in September happens?

3) How did the terrorists and Army get into the Indian territory and go unnoticed?

4)  Doesn't BJP remember that within few months of the Lahore declaration, Kargil happened and that Parliament attack happened during their regime? So does that mean that they were weak and indecisive?

5) Do we have to politicize everything in the country? From the Uttarakhand tragedy to this one, why doesn't our opposition parties behave so cheap. I am not blaming the current opposition party alone, this applies to every party which is/has been in the opposition.

6) The LOC is fenced and electrified and connected to sensors/thermal imaging devices. Then how did the infiltration go unnoticed? For that matter how does all infiltrations go unnoticed when we have the electrified sensors with all those high tech devices to track any movements

Summary

It is high time we restart our covert operations wing under the RAW which was shut down by IK Gujral.

We should also retaliate strongly whenever such ceasefire violations happen from the Pakistan side. However, the response should be restricted to that region alone. No one wants a full fledged war. That is what will ensure these such incidents are stopped.

Lastly - Arnab Goswami is back with his favorite topic of discussion in his Newshour show with his favorite guest Mahroof Raza. :)

Parvez Rasool - Great chance to give him the Indian cap - Missed

Parvez Rasool the 24 year old Kashmiri cricketer was selected for the Indian team that toured the Zimbabwe.

He was the first Kashmiri cricketer to have been selected for the Indian team. This was a great moment for Jammu & Kashmir cricket which had not produced any great sports persons. (there was Mithun Manhas who plays for Delhi and also in IPL). Parvez was the only guy who plays for Kashmir and was picked for the Indian team.

He played couple of matches for Pune Warriors in this year's IPL. What I made out of him was that he was ok, didn't see anything great. Being a spinner in India, you need have variations to be selected. In the limited chances he got in IPL, he didn't exhibit many variations..

It was rumored that it was more of a tokenism to select him. Whatever be the reason for selecting him, the opponents for the last series, Zimbabwe, was the best team to test out all our bench strength. With line with that thought the selection panel had also rested many senior players.

The team did a good thing in giving good opportunities to Amit Mishra, Shami Mohamed & Jayadev Unadkat,  Pujara, Vinay Kumar & Mohit Sharma who all got at least 2 matches. The only person who was in the touring party who didn't get a game was Parvez Rasool.

Parvez Rasool not being selected to play even a single match against Zimbabwe only strengthens the rumor that his selection to the 15 was more tokenism.

Virat Kohli has defended his decision that he couldn't drop a guy like Jadeja (who is today the No 1 ODI bowler.. what a shame.. that's a topic for another day).. When the selectors could rest guys like Dhoni, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar & Ashwin for the entire series, why was it difficult to rest Jadeja for a game or two?

If I was in the Virat Kohli's position, I would have definitely taken the tokenism to the next level and have played him in one match at least. Even if had bowled pathetically we wouldn't have lost the match.

Now coming to side part of the whole story... On Saturday when the match was just starting.. there were a series of tweets from the J&K CM asking BCCI whether they had to take him all the way to Zimbabwe to demoralize him and that it would have been cheaper to do it in India...

Great to see that a CM is supporting his state cricketer but on what basis was he saying that Parvez was demoralized? Agreed that Parvez would have been disappointed that he didn't get a chance to play a single match but he should gain experience from the process.

The CM should have probably not used terms like demoralized...

From 13+ to diluted 13 - Feeling cheated

When the war was going on in Sri Lanka, I used to support the Sri Lankan government for taking on the LTTE... After all they had killed a former PM of India... Even though this was the monster that India created it had gone way out of control and had to be taken out...

During the time of war there were various interviews that the President gave to the Hindu newspaper.. In all those he had promised to go beyond the 13th amendment and implement what he termed as 13+.... where he said he will devolve more power to the provincial councils...

We were all so naïve to believe what he had said... Even though some fringe elements in the Tamil society in India were shouting from the roof tops asking India to stop the way and the famous fast undo death between breakfast and lunch of the CM the war went onto the logical end...

There are estimates of thousands of civilians were killed and the 11 year old kid of Prabhakaran was killed in cold blood.. More war crime news, videos and allegations keep coming up.. some people said there will be some civilians who get killed during the war.. agreed but if the number that are coming out is really true then its really bad...

There are people who are still not moved out of the camps and are living in pathetic conditions in the camps..

There are now news that more Sinhalese are being migrated into the North and eastern territory which is a Chinese strategy followed in Tibet and other areas were they moved Han Chinese.. This is to ensure that there are no more revolutions...

China card is played very well by Rajapaksa to ensure they shut India's protests... I am surprised that India does not have any other card up its sleeve to tackle the China card..

Then comes this news about the dilution of 13th amendment and that Land and Police powers will not be devolved to the provincial councils.. From 13+ to a diluted 13th amendment and we end up feeling cheated...