The Battle Begins!!

Three fronts are getting ready to battle against each other for the magic number of 272 as the world largest democratic nation goes for the General elections. There is nothing right in any of the three camps and that none of their so called manifesto and promises seems to be in the intention of good of the nation but are vote bank focused. The fight for seats in India is no way near to a competitive fight with any new economic policies but a fight based on caste, religion and petty issues to woo the voters.

The United Progressive Alliance received snub from both RJD and Samajwati party over the seat sharing agreement and both were going to election without any pre electoral agreement with congress though they have promised their post poll alliance commitment for a non BJP government. And congress can’t rely on Tamil nadu for repeat of its magical run in 2004 where UPA allies won all 39 seats as PMK, MDMK have defected to AIADMK camp. The announcement of Manmohan singh being the prime ministerial candidate and projection of Rahul Gandhi as the future leader may add a little advantage to their camp. The good news is the seat sharing agreement with NCP in Maharashtra, which ended the speculation that Sharad Pawar is intending to become the first Marathi PM.

With the controversial statements from Varun Gandhi the saffron front have proved themselves that their intention to form government is to spread Hindutva and to build Ram temple rather than to work for the development of our Secular India. Adding salt to the wound is the scuffle between the Party president Rajnath singh and general secretary Arun Jaitley over the appointment of Mittal for north eastern affairs of BJP and not to mention about the breakup of alliance with BJD in Orissa.

Unlike the last election, the Left front have managed to forge an alliance with some regional parties. But its members - AIADMK, JD(S), TDP, TRS and BJD have proved in the past that they could switch parties easily. And it is evident that the BSP supremo Mayawati is eyeing to become the PM with third front support. But for the Left front, there is no common ideology prevailing in the third front and the “non congress and non BJP” mantra is not going to work out for them. There would be possible realignment of many regional parties after poll and the national parties will be wooing the regional parties with promising ministerial posts. And we could see the parties in third front switching to either NDA or UPA front.

Though the odds are high for a hung assembly, let us hope that there is no repeat of 1996 poll scenario where the consecutive governments failed to produce the majority. Hope we get a government which solves the problems faced by common people, pursues an independent foreign policy, remains secular, drives our country to sustain our GDP growth rate, initiates a second green revolution and works for riding out corruption. Though it may appear as distanct dream, atleast few of the above said should be realized for the betterment of our country.

Save Pak and save the world!!!!!!!!

The attack on Sri Lankan cricket team is proving that there is something fundamentally wrong in Pakistan. It is adding further mystery to know what is actually happening in Pakistan. Though the possibility of LTTE being responsible for the attack was ruled out, there seems to be no idea of who is behind this attack. When every country refused to play in Pakistan because of security concerns, Sri Lanka made a bold decision which has turned out to be a bad decision. This incident draws comparison to the kidnapping and brutal murder of Israeli sports person in Munich Olympics in 1972.

The first victim of the attack is Pakistan cricket board, as the possibility of any cricket match in Pakistan remains so low and the effects have a chain reaction and the prospect of IPL looks bleak. With home minister P Chidambaram raising concern about the security issues as General elections are to be held in the same duration, the IPL has come out with revised schedule such that there is no match one day before or after the general election in that place. But the large scale participation of foreign players still remains a big question. This has also raised eye brows of people about the future of 2011 cricket world cup scheduled to be held in the subcontinent.

It has been hardly three weeks since the government had a peace agreement with Sufi Mohammed, spiritual leader, thereby allowing the imposition of sharia law in SWAT valley and the Taliban forces under the command of his son in law announced a cease fire. The so called reason that peace will be restored through this agreement remains illogical. There had been many peace agreements made with the Taliban earlier too, though everything ultimately failed. When we look a step further, the condition of Pakistan appears so pathetic. The democratically elected government is not able to establish control in their own territory. Instead of a long term solutions, the government is seeking short term and narrow ranged solutions and virtually surrendering to the demands of the terrorist organization operating in their own country. It remains a million dollar question about the future of girls in SWAT region as these terror groups have openly voiced against women’s education.

The US has not stopped its aerial bombing in north western part of Pakistan, which clearly indicates how Pakistan is acting as a safe haven for Taliban. The so called “war on terror” is incomplete without wiping off the terror organizations from Pakistan soil. Pakistan also looks pitiable as the government itself not able to do anything and they themselves are victims of terror. The killing of Benazir Bhutto, the bombing in Marriott hotel and frequent suicide bombings in Pakistan have shown the week administration of the government. And they have never brought the actual perpetrators of these attacks behind the bars. The situation in Pakistan will not change unless some serious changes are brought in.

If Pakistan is not stable, the world most populous democratic nation is alone not going to be the lone sufferer; the militants may regroup inside Pakistan and can strike back and shatter the world peace with another 7/11 or 7/7 or 26/11.

Oops..... Where are we now!!

When given a moment to think about what is actually happening in our country, I really feel shocked that the world’s most populous democratic nation is in the grip of some communal sections that is trying to control the rest of the people. With the pub incident in Mangalore, Ram sene organization has given an open statement that they would thwart the celebration of Valentine’s Day. The Karnataka state government, though it claims itself to be protecting its people from these sorts of people, has not done anything substantial in cracking down the organization and the people accused in the pub incidents have been released out in bail. In the name of preserving the culture, one has no right to deprive other people’s right to celebrate some special days.

Another interesting fact is the statement issued by BJP that they would built temple in the place of Babri Masjid. Having done a major offence against a particular community by destroying a holy place of their worship, a loud statement like this will hurt the sentiments of the people who have been already hurt repeatedly. When the case before the court has not been resolved, it was an irresponsible statement given by a leading political party with the aim of getting votes and to woo organizations like RSS, VHP etc. The so called fundamental right to worship and right to freedom of expression will soon be out of reach for the minority people if we are headed in this direction.

Where will this lead to?

Half of Europe is finding hard to fight the bitter cold without heat as the energy supplies to major part of Europe got disrupted since jan 1 because of the feud between the erstwhile Soviet Union and its member state. Gazprom, Russia’s largest and state owned Energy Company stopped its fuel supplies to Ukraine citing the nonpayment of the bills as the reason for its cut. As Ukraine is the major transit route of fuel supply from Russia to other parts of Europe, Ukraine started siphoning off the fuel supplied across the pipes through the country. This made the Russian authorities to take the stringent action to cut the supply entirely through the Orange revolution state, though promising the increase of fuel supplies through its other networks, but neither could it deny the fact that 80% of the fuel supplied to Europe goes through Ukraine not could it mitigate the sufferings of the people who are living without the fuel supply.

With the Russia’s credibility of being a reliable supplier of fuel dipping into deep low, Czech Republic holding the current EU presidency is trying hard to reach out a solution between the two bitter rivals, who have fought on the same lines in 2006 over the price of the fuel. Russia, with the veteran Putin as the PM is standing very hard in its position to increase the price of the fuel supplied to Ukraine and their counter part is also equally standing on their firm resolution not to budge that easily as they have the support of USA and EU. With the attempts made by EU to bring forth an agreement getting failed, the two nations have not stopped accusing each other for the disruption of fuel services.

Well there is no doubt that Russia is trying to play a spoiled sport, but it was left with no other option but to go in this hard line and earning the wrath of the nations in Europe. Russia is not going to settle down for anything lesser than what it demands this time. Well let us watch out for further developments this week.

Where lies the truth!!

In an attempt to safeguard one’s firm from hostile bid takeover and to increase the brand value of one’s firm, it is not uncommon to claim higher growth rate of the company than the actual rate, inflate the profit earned, understate the liabilities and the debts owed. This makes the investors to believe that firm will be a safe bet and the demand for the company’s stock increases which increases the share prices of the company, thereby increasing the company’s net value (market capitalization) and the clients rely more on such a company that leads to increase in the number of projects the firm gets. And hence the company grows in real terms and with already inflated growth rate and profits, the company tends to further inflate the same in the next fiscal year too. Here gets formed the vicious circle with the company’s growth and the inflated profits forming a complete cycle.

Nothing seems to be wrong with Satyam until the company’s surprise move to take over Maytas properties and Maytas infra. With a major shareholder rebellion, the share prices slide down to a great extent that Ramalinga Raju, then chairman of Satyam computer services limited reversed the decision. With doubts raised about the evaluation of asset values of Maytas when all the leading auditing firms deny their role in evaluating the assets, the question of corporate governance came into picture. Then begin the resignation sagas of independent directors from the Board and the percentage of holdings by the promoters came down from 8.3 % to around 3 % as the shares pledged by the promoters were sold out. Left with no other choice but to reveal the truth, former Nasscom chairman and the chairman of the company which had received the Corporate Governance Award accepted the big hole in the account books creating shockwaves across the investors’ community.

This issue is hailed in the media as India’s Enron case. The energy company filed its bankruptcy in 2001 and accepted the understated liabilities and the exaggerated profits and the company also said to have roots in Republic party.
The plot involved here is no way superficial and is getting deeper as suspicions raised about the political connection of Raju with the AP government. The Hyderabad metro project, irrigational project and other government projects undertaken by Maytas are put under lens to check the credibility, with which the projects were allotted.

A tough road lies ahead for the firm and the employees and the top level managers have to take the hardest steps to march ahead. With the government having announced three persons as Board members, an in-depth inquiry into the deep rooted fraud is to be probed. Finally Power waterhouse cooper(Pwc), Satyam’s auditor has accepted that there could have been error in its auditing report. With the future appearing too bleak for the company, a takeover bid from a well established firm, efficient board members and an energetic CEO and a good cooperation to further investigate into the Rs 7000 crore fraud are the only hopes to steer the company ahead.

Israel - Palestine!!!!!!!!!!!

With rockets pouring at the Israeli soil, the retaliatory attack against the Hamas is incomparable in its magnitude. The Islamic university is torn apart, a strongman in Hamas is assassinated and when the aerial raid is gaining momentum, the Israel government is mulling about ground attacks too. The international journalists and other international organizations have been denied entry into Gaza, well a place in our world which is facing total black out is going unnoticed with leading international players including US and UK justifying the Israel’s right to protect its area from the militants.

This is not an issue that has been created some years back but dates from 1947 when UN passed a resolution for the creation of Jewish state-Israel which led to the conflict between the Arab states and Israel, in which Israel gained a lot. Then again Israel started its aggression in the 1967, known as the SIX DAY WAR, snatching Gaza strip, West Bank, Golan heights from Egypt,Jordan and Syria respectively. Many decades have passed, yet the peace eludes the Middle East.

Let Hamas be branded as terrorist as they ruthlessly attack the innocent citizens of Israel. But one can never justify the killing of several innocent civilians in Palestine because of the aerial shelling from Israel. More than 100 deaths of civilians, including a majority of women and children, have been reported so far since Israel’s attack last week.

There won’t be any improvement in the situation unless both the sides budge. People in Palestine must realize that waging war against Israel will only worsen their situation further. Winning a war over a state which is developed than theirs by over several folds and which has the strong backing from the most developed countries of the world is an impossible event. Hamas militants can utmost kill some hundreds of Israeli people and neither their guerilla warfare nor their suicide attacks is going to daunt the country which earns its most income from its arms export. What Israel did to Palestine is an unjustifiable act, but hatred and revenge against Israeli is not going to bring peace to the Islamic nation. Though it can’t be forgiven or forgotten, war can’t provide solution to Palestinians but it just adds further woes to them. It is high time that Hamas realize this and that Israel stops their inhuman attacks on the region, which is experiencing severe humanitarian crisis for several decades.

It is really hard to forget the painful past that Palestine has experienced over the years. But if the people of Japan had the hatred and the attitude to revenge US for their dropping of atomic bomb, Japan wouldn’t have become the world second largest economy. And not to forget that half the Jammu and Kashmir has been occupied by Pakistan and China, though there is an option to attack back those foreign forces to withdraw from the region which is recognized to be a part of our country, we refuse to do so.

If we chose to take this bitter pill today to forget what had happened in the past over the decades, the next generation of people in the Middle East can lead a peaceful life forever and ever; else never in the future can peace be restored in this region which has remained as battle zone for years. I could still recollect the photo showing a Palestinian woman weeping when the Israeli troops forced their own Israeli people to evacuate from Gaza strip in 2005 when Aerial Sharon, then Israeli PM ordered forced evacuation from Gaza strip. It shows the courtesy in the heart of the People to feel sad even for those people from their bitter archrival nation. Let the International community realize that the value of life of a common man in Palestine is as much higher as that of a person from any other part of the world and help both the warring state to settle out their differences and to bring an everlasting peace to the region.

PAK crumbling under pressure

The tension between the two nuclear weapon states which have fought four wars with each other is escalating day by day. Even though both the sides are refuting the claim that they are getting ready for the war, the relationship between them is at the worst and both the nations seem to be equiping themselves for the war.

It makes no logic when Pakistan claims that the name of the terrorist captured by India is not in the national registered list and hence he is not a Pakistani. With a population of more than 160 million people, when the list consists of only 60 million people, there is more possibility that the terrorist name would have been in the majority of those whose names were not registered. When the father of the captured terrorist claims that his son is being captured by India, what else is needed to confirm the identity of the terrorist?

US bombings in the Pakistan region near to Afghanistan border, which is suspected to be the place for many Taliban hideouts, have increased in the past two months. With intense pressure on Pakistan, Pakistan is trying to divert the attention of the international community by all possible ways. First with accusation that the president received a hoax call from an Indian minister and then making of false statements that Indian planes intruded into Pakistan region, which the President himself clarified as unintentional “technical error” and later associating India with the bomb blast in Lahore, which proved futile when a Taliban organization in Pakistan claimed responsibility for that blast. All the steps which Pakistan took to divert the attention backfired ultimately, thereby creating further pressure on them.

Pakistan sports secretary made a statement that India is not a safe place to stay and refused to give permission to the Pakistan squash team to tour India which is seen as a revenge for India’s decision to cancel its cricket tour to Pakistan. He cited the Mumbai blasts as the reason for such a decision. If he feels Pakistan players can’t be safe in India because of terrorist attacks in India which is carried out by Pakistan (the whole world believes so), then is it not that their safety in Pakistan(from where the terrorists originate) itself is a big question. Logically speaking, those players may feel safe in India than in Pakistan.

There is no denying fact that Pakistan is also a victim of terror. Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and frequent bomb blasts there give us enough evidence that Pakistan administration’s inability to control the stateless factors operating in their country. But neither the mere statements “we Pakistan people are committed to wipe out the terrorist from our ground” nor the house arresting of Jamaat-ud-dawa’s chief going to bear any fruits unless Pakistan really walks the talk.

Just expressing sympathy for India is not going to help; the international community must put intense pressure on Pakistan to take concrete steps and to produce appreciable results in its so called war on terror. External affairs ministry’s advice not to travel to Pakistan and the verbal accusations on both the sides add fuel to the fire. Only positive note is the continuation of the Lahore Delhi bus services and the exchange of goods across Loc amidst tensions.

Pakistan’s proxy war on India is not going to end unless they are pushed to act. When US have the right to attack Afghanistan when Taliban refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden, why not India follows the same step when Pakistan refuses to hand over the suspects to India? Well, we are not aggressors of war and we look forward for a diplomatic solution though such solution seems to elude.