Parliament and pandemonium are inseparable. Noises and adjournments are common in the highest of Indian public representatives. What was unseen and unheard till yesterday – Speaker wishing all the MPs to lose in the upcoming parliamentary elections. He has been pushed to the periphery of frustration.
Somnath Chatterjee, known for his “headmasterly” approach as Lok Sabha Speaker, was at his harshest best on Thursday, telling a section of MPs that they did not deserve a “single paisa” of public money and that he wished they were defeated in the coming elections
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Chatterjee’s outburst came as question hour was plunged into chaos by vociferous MPs across party lines demanding a hearing on diverse issues. Failing to persuade them to relent, he cursed, “I hope that all of you are defeated in the election. All of you should be defeated in the election… I hope you are identified by people.” He had to adjourn the question hour moments later. Later in the session, he threw up his hands, saying Parliament should be adjourned sine die to save people’s money. “You do not deserve one paisa out of public money.” While disruption of proceedings has been the flashpoint between the Chair and the MPs during the entire 14th Lok Sabha, often leading to unprecedented barbs and some real pearls from an angry Chatterjee, Thursday’s drama appeared to have breached his known tolerance threshold, crucially when the Lok Sabha is meeting for one last time and the 10-term MP from West Bengal would be quitting politics for good. On Thursday, MPs were more keen to make political points with their constituencies ahead of polls — BSP on the SC/ST reservation Bill, Dravidian outfits on the Tamil issue, TDP on the Satyam scam against Andhra Pradesh government. As they did not heed the Speaker, Chatterjee appeared to have used the “pox on you” rebuke to try scaring the usually superstitious tribe into retreat. “I hope the people will give their verdict properly. You have to be taught a lesson.” But, all to no avail. Over around five years as arbiter, the Speaker’s admonition of disrupting MPs has been quite a sight, training the observers’ focus more sharply on wastage of time due to adjournments and unapproved interventions. The political parties have not really agreed to the Speaker’s wishes that rules be respected and that the question hour be spared, but Chatterjee has waged a relentless battle to impose discipline. Though popular as an MP, Chatterjee has evoked strong emotions from different corners in the House after occupying the Chair. The lowest point in Chair-MP skirmishes came in August 2005 when Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee flung papers at him, accusing him of being biased against the opposition. The BJP and NDA also charged him with bias on various occasions. The Left MPs who had supported him during his confrontation with BJP, turned the `bias’ charge back on him after he defied the leadership diktat to oppose the nuclear deal. The defiance, however, have not stopped Chatterjee from venting his frustration, right from his unprecedented remark: “I am ashamed to be sitting here as the Speaker.” Since then, he has admonished rowdy MPs with observations like “bring a no-confidence motion against me if you want” while he has dotted his moments of anger with a resigned “the chair has lost its prestige” remark. On Thursday, Chatterjee said, “You are insulting the people of this country. You are not helping your cause… You are burying democracy in this country. You have already done it. Nobody bothers,” before he signed off, “I express my greatest condemnation… of your conduct. You have taken the people for a ride and you are insulting the people of this country by your abominable behaviour.”
Enough is enough Time lost lowing to interruptions in the Lok Sabha Session Actual Time lost Time lost Sitting because of interruption as % of actual time of sitting (hr:min) (hr:min) I 13.41 10.32 77% II 92.29 47.16 51% III 103.21 06.41 6% 1V 212.22 37.99 18% V 158.48 10.21 7% VI 118.49 27.33 23% VII 194.55 35.42 18% VIII 124.04 70.13 55% IX 117.13 25.34 22% X 127.04 70.13 55% XI 64.24 42.07 65% XII 91.07 20.36 23% XIII 162.09 28.30 18% XIV 96.15 15.13 16%
Times of India, 20.2.2009, p.19
This downslide of parliamentary output is disturbing to the public welfare watchers. The parliamentarians should understand their status and power before indulging in disturbing the work of the House. With such a casual approach to the governance through inadequate debates sounds death bell to the parliamentary culture.
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The Indian railways has more than 1.5 lakh hecactre of land throughout the country. It is present in every corner of the nation. Taking advantage of the pan Indian strategic presence of the railways, IGNOU has entered into an understanding for establishing its long distance classrooms. It sounds great. But the implementation should be done with minimal problems.
University teachers are well protected in every aspect after the 6th Pay Commission hikes. Without any demands on performance the pay commission had increased their salaries many times. Now comes the government rider for performance. Seethalakshmi writes in The Times of India (182.2009.p.17) performance appraisal of professors and college principals? If the University Grants Commission (UGC) has its way, for the first time, lakhs of professors and principals in the 400-odd universities across the country will face evaluation. The UGC proposal includes compulsory stay on campus for five hours every day, 30 weeks of actual teaching (six working days), minimum six hours research per week and performance assessment. The vacation period too has been cut from 10 weeks a year to eight weeks. The UGC’s draft notification on ‘revision of pay scales, minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers in universities/colleges and other measures for maintenance of standards 2009’stipuates that everyone – from associate professors to principals – in all colleges/universities will come under the newly introduced Performace Apraisal Scoring System (PASS) and Academic Performance Indicator (API), UGC sources said the regulation would be finalized in March after receiving feedback from universities and teacher associations. Simply put, they will be evaluated on various criteria. For instance, a professor who excels in developing new technologies for teaching and satisfies the required number of hours for teaching will get 150 points, while 200 points has been earmarked for student mentoring, professional activities (being a member of board or committee) will earn him/her 50 points. And then there are points for familiarity with up-to-date teaching material too. To ensure that the best get into teaching, direct recruitment will be only through merit and the vice-chancellors themselves will head selection committees. On its part, the UGC will draw up a national subject expert bank and colleges/universities must include the expert while appointing a professor. “The idea is not aimed at policing the education system but to bring in quality in our higher education system. Universities can develop a weightage formula. But UGC will seek a compliance report every year from the universities on the performance. We have sought feedback from the stakeholders, “UGC sources told TOI. Predictably, university teachers are not happy, with UGC diktat. Said B.G. Bhaskara, treasurer of FEDCUTA in Karnaaka. “There are too many conditions, especially for recruitments at the college level. They are not practical. Some measures like performance indicators are needed but why is the teaching community targeted? Didn’t state and central government employees too benefit from the 6th Central Pay Commission?” Generally the government jobs are considered to be easy going ones. Without work and productivity government staff can expect to get their pay every month. With such a heavy hike in their salaries it is anticipated from them to give better results. Otherwise even public sympathy for the government staff will get eroded. Then all the strikes and demands for better pay packages and benefits will go unnoticed. For everyone’s benefit now the public servants in teaching should start delivering. No excuse of underpay and lack of government attention to their welfare should be given.
Money matters in human relationships. Few can be exceptions to this universal practice. The global economic melt down tests the love capacity of people. When the money flow is affected, jobs are cut and purchasing power is down, one can feel the heat in day to day lives. Not only his smile is missing but the real charm of life is gone. The person is pushed to the extreme of frustration. He feels empty without income and enough money to spend. Suddenly all his friends are deserting and girl friend dumped him. Love is boiling in the extreme financial climate. Very few candlelight dinners, spa tours, beach swims and exotic vacations. Romantic relationships are getting dumped and switched for the lack of money.
Diamond shining, Gucci flashing Bollywood heroines walked with pomp and show into the Indian Premier Leauge (IPL) auction venue. Preity Zinta, Juhi Chawla and Shilpa Shetty are the star attractions in Goa. Along with the beauty ladies industrialists paraded their wealth. Blackberrys, Bentleys, Mercs and no doubt unstoppable flow of money brought IPL once again into the limelight. In this game war superstition was not staying back. Preity Zinta wore her lucky red every time she came to the bidding process. Raj Kundra sponsored his girl friend Shilpa the bid amount as valentine’s day gift. All those entered for auction were cross fingered and waiting for the luck at the end.
Private schools want freedom in deciding fees. It should be given if there is sincerity in delivering services to the public. But most of the schools are money milking machines. The over commercialization of education leaves less to desire. Human capital is the biggest source for the success of economy and society. It should be developed without compromising. Any efforts by private or public to water down the quality of education and making education unreachable for the average India should be ended immediately. It seems all the noise by the private schools about the government interference in fee decision is farce. 
Abdul Qadeer Khan the well-know nuclear secrets peddler of Pakistan is totally free now. After five years of house arrest under the pressure from USA administration, then President Prevez Mushraff kept him inside. Khan seems to have sold nuclear bomb components and its formula to Iran, North Korea and other rogue states. He also had clandestine relations with the top leadership of Al Qaeda. No one knows the logic behind the release of notorious nuclear proliferators. It sounds death bells to the south Asian security in particular and world in general. A.Q. Khan should be tried by the international court and punished for the violation of international order on nuclear weapons. K. Subrahmanyam writes in The Times of India (9.2.2009, p.16) “Khan was a nuclear spy who was able to obtain the centrifuge technology and the list of contractors from Dutch facilities and transfer them to Pakistan. According to the former Dutch prime minister, Rudd Lubbers, Khan was detained twice by Dutch authorities, once in the 1970s and again in the 1980s. On both occasions he was let off after the CIA intervened. In late 1980s, Richard Barlow, a assembled its nuclear weapon in transgression of the Pressler Amendment. At that stage, Pakistan was not taken to task but instead Barlow was punished for a wrong analysis; he had to fight for two decades to clear his name. The connection between Khan and the CIA is a mystery just as the American permissiveness about China conducting a nuclear test on behalf of Pakistan on May 26, 1990. This has now been confirmed by Thomas Reed and Danny Stillman of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in a recent book. In the 1950s, Ethel and Julius Roosenberg were executed for their help to the Soviet Union in the development of nuclear weapons. Alan Nunn May and Klaus Fuchs were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for what would today be called nuclear proliferation activity. They all acted out of ideological allegiances just as Khan claimed that his proliferation was to Islamic states out of good faith. Khan’s case is unique in that he had played an active role both in inward proliferation into Pakistan and outward proliferation from Pakistan. Khan being freed under an agreement with the Zardari government raises several issues. Benazir Bhutto in an interview in the US before her return to Pakistan had promised that if she became prime minister she would permit both Washington and the International Atomic Energy Agency to have access to Khan. In an interview she had disclosed details about the Pakistani nuclear enrichment technology exchange with North Korean missile technology. Now Benazir’s husband, as president of Pakistan has entered into an agreement to set Khan free. Given the past American tolerance of Pakistani proliferation and Khan’s activities, is the Obama administration a party to the present arrangement previous US administrations were? What kind of message will this send to Iran and other countries? Asif Zardari and General Ashfaq Kayani were in a position to continue the Musharraf-Bush humanitarian and health grounds. But they have choosen to free him on the basis of a mutual agreement which blows up the credibility of the earlier arrangement by indicating that Khan has things to disclose which could embarrass Pakistan. In a sense, Khan emerges as a hero whose proliferation was sanctioned. This is a defiance of the international community by Pakistan. It will mean that Khan cannot be blamed since he acted with the approval of past Pakistani regimes and the world is in no position to pressure the present Pakistani government as the international community needs their help. The way in which the Khan case is going to be handled will give a clear indication of whether the civilian government in Pakistan wants to break with the past. The chances are the Zardari government will opt for continuing past policies as it have done in respect of permissiveness towards jihadis. The timing of this agreement and the court order is also significant. It comes in the wake of nuclear saber-rattling by sections of Pakistanis following the 26/11 Mumbai attack. It also comes on the eve of the visit of US special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, to Pakistan. Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal had been the subject of wide coverage in the US media in recent weeks. This may be Pakistan’s way of reminding the international community, ahead of the donor nations’ meeting, that it cannot be allowed to fail and that Islamabad is capable of taking a defiant stand. The US is in a position similar to early 1980s. It was prepared to sacrifice its non proliferation policy to enlist Pakistani support for the mujahideen campaign against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Now it may have to sacrifice its missile defence and NATO expansion policies to have logistics facilities via Russia and Central Asia to deal with the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The slap in the face for Americans implied in freeing Khan via a secret agreement makes it all the more imperative for US to make every effort to secure the Russian and Central Asian routes to complete their task in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region. Under these circumstances it is not advisable to let A.Q. Khan roam freely. The deadly network of Al Qaeda, ISI, A.Q. Khan and the nuclear black marketers can damage the world peace. The window dressing to Khan issue does not augur well. All the governments especially USA, India and Pakistan should end his hidden death blow permanently.
Rulers leaving their throne to live with beloved are part of the historical folklore. In the recent times only Chander Mohan the former Haryana deputy Chief Minister did the age-old act. For the sake of his extra legal love – Anuradha Bali, Mohan deserted his first wife Seema and children. More than a month he disappeared from his government duty and family responsibility. It seems that Chande Mohan and Anuradha converted into Islam. Thus they got a new identity – Chand Mohammad and Fiza. In the dargah town of Ajmer both of them got married according to the Islamic customs. Islam provides such liberty to divorce the first wife and get married ample number of times. This kind of act was staged by Dharmendra and Hemamalini and Kishore Kumar and Madhubala. 