Graduate Constituency

Are you a graduate?  Heck, sure you are!  Do you know you belong to a special sub-class of electorate that is entitled to have its representation in the legislative assemblies?  I am expecting an yes here in the light of recent news of bungling in graduate constituency elections in UP.  Have you ever voted as a constituent of graduate constituency?  Have you heard about Form 18?  Do you know who are the MLCs in your state from the graduate constituency?  Has any contestant from graduate constituency ever approached you to canvass your vote?

If the answer is a big resounding NO, the question naturally arises what the hell is going on?  It looks like a relic of the medieval times that needs to be done away with.  For this relic survives today only as a massive fraud.

Instead of having a graduate constituency for voters why can't we have a percentage of seats reserved for candidates who know the real business of legislation and governance?  Wait, I know that word 'reserve' has raised your heckles.  However what I am proposing next is that this reservation be raised rapidly to exclude all others so we have only legislators that are fit for the job.

Rajiv Gandhi had once desired all MPs to be trained in the areas we mentioned.  Let us do away with the training.  Let there be a certification body for administering tests to ensure that an aspiring legislator is fit for his job and only those who clear the tests with at least 75% marks should be allowed to contest elections.  An applicant's actual academic qualifications may not matter as long as he can clear this test.

You may well argue that education or erudition is no guarantee of good character and good performance. Many of our learned ministers have shown that to be true. And so have our legislators from the graduate constituency!  However its lack is a stronger indicator of a possibility of bad or no performance and mistaking rowdyism for political action.

The question ultimately is this.  In any profession or job normally there are several rounds of elimination before you can make it.  Why should there be only one round (elections) for politicians?

What say you?  Shall we plan for opening an Academy for Budding Politicians anytime soon?

PS - To rid yourself of your ignorance of graduate constituency, read this.

Malware Affects Routers!

I came across a strange case of computer malware recently.  On my laptop many sites started downloading slowly and also flashing a message saying "Your flash player is out of date. Update it now."  If you chose to update, it will take you to a page that will tell you that it was a different build of the player that had many advantages over the original one from Adobe.  Very gentlemanly! It told you it was not the original!  It went on to say that if you were not happy with this build you could uninstall it anytime by going to such and such menu and option.  Again, very gentlemanly and disarming albeit a little too much and so a little suspicious.  It also had e-Trust logo appearing at the bottom on the right.  But this logo was just an image and was not clickable.  If you hovered your mouse pointer on the download button, the URL displayed at the bottom showed that it would download a file named setup.exe!

I closed this tab that looked fishy and gentlemanly in equal measures.  Then I went to Adobe's site to update my flash player.  Lo and behold!  It says that Chrome - the browser that I use - automatically updates the built-in flash player!  Could it be a problem with my browser?  I opened IE but the behavior of websites remained the same.

Then came the big shock!  Access to my Google services stopped.  Whenever I tried to open a sub-domain on Google, I got a message that a secure connection to the server was not possible!  Being denied access to Google services is almost as bad as being denied access to your bank accounts.  I was feeling terrible and abandoned my laptop and tried to access my Google account on my Android phone.  There too some server error message was flashed and access denied.  I tried many things including deletion of my Google account on my phone.  But then I was not allowed to add it back for the obvious reason that Google servers were not available!  I used the browser on the phone.  I could visit Google search and Google news but not specific services associated with my account and logging in was not possible for want of a secure connection.  But then I found the same messages about out-of-date flash player appearing in the browser on my phone too!  I jumped to my tab.  And it too was behaving the same way.

I googled and found many people suggesting the same things that I had tried earlier and also such extreme steps as reloading the operating system or flashing your phone to factory settings!  However I was lucky to reach a site which suggested that in such a case the malware is probably resident in the router.  This sounded logical as all the devices were affected in the same way.

So I put a pin in the hole on the router and reset it.  Next I needed the password on the router to set up the wireless.  But it had been restored to factory default.  I was glad to have a 3G data connection on my phone.  I browsed and found out the default password for my router, set up the wifi again, and presto!  everything was back to normal and the internet access speed improved too.

Now, dear readers, I am very curious to find out what kind of malware was that setup.exe and what could be the total number of malware targeting routers.  Any information on this topic will be appreciated.  And if you are innocent of such knowledge, beware of any message in your Chrome browser telling you to update your flash player!

कुछ चुनावी दोहे

जो मैं ऐसा जानता टिकट न मिलिहै मोय,
क्यों मैं फिरता दौड़ता, रहता तान के सोय।

साईं बहुमत देहु मोहि अबकी देहु जिताय,
सत्ता सुख मैं भोग लूं, भाड़ में जनता जाय।

भाजप, कांग्रेस दोऊ खड़े काके लागूँ पाय।
दोनों में अंतर नहीं आपने दियो बताय।

मंत्री हुआ तो क्या हुआ ज्यों सलमान खुर्शीद,
मुंह से बचन यों फूटते ज्यों घोड़े की लीद।

सीना चौड़ा चाहिए जो चाहो यूपी में सीट,
FB पर कुछ भी कहो, कुछ भी कर लो ट्वीट।

वोटर हुआ तो क्या हुआ नोट पे देता वोट।
नेता को क्या बोलता तेरे मन में खोट।

भैया नेता के किये कबहूँ न होय विकास,
उनको रेवड़ी बांटता जो हैं खासम-ख़ास।

Has our democracy turned into an oligarchy?

Our current political class has realized that they rule the country together.  The division into ruling party, coalition members, outside supporters, and opposition is just a matter of detail and share in the exploits of power. 

With this tacit understanding their focus is on keeping entry barriers high so the group can remain intact.  This is done by raising election expenditure to absurdly high levels and then spending even beyond these limits.  Why bother: It will be made good!

The other focus point is to ensure that no one is able to challenge them or throw them out for their licentious behavior befitting oligarchs.  And this is why they stand firmly together when it comes to institutions like Lokpal that can do so.  It is indeed surprising in the utmost that this glaringly plain truth is not appreciated by public at large.

Such blindness is fostered amongst electorate by covering their eyes with blindfolds of religion, region, caste, class and what have you.

Throw away these blindfolds before you lose vision altogether.  See things for what they are and change them if you can.

I do not support Kejariwal .......

Many derogatory findings about Kejariwal are surfacing on the net.  Without going into the question of truth let me say that there is no person on earth who can call himself an angel.  We need checks and balances only because weaknesses are so human.

And thus I say that I do not support Kejariwal - the man - but his demand for creating a credible and vibrant bulwark against rampant corruption.  In fact I will support the most detestable person in the country if he stood fully and truly committed to the idea.

The extent to which the political class is opposed to the idea (don't let their pronouncements fool you) is evident from the fact that today it is possible for Modi to turn the current wave in his favor into a hurricane by declaring his support for a strong Lokpal, but he won't do it.  It was possible for Congress to redeem itself by supporting a credible Lokpal, but they opted for a Jokepal instead.  Why, for God's sake, why?

Then there are some amongst us who say let Modi come first, Lokpal can come next.  Absolutely wrong!  Let Lokpal come first and then a strong leader like Modi can do a lot of good.  If Modi comes first, credible Lokpal will never come.  And without checks and balances strong headed leaders like Modi may do more damage than good.

So I do not support Kejariwal but I would support ANYONE who can give this country a credible Lokpal and save us from ourselves.

Advantages of corruption

Recent deliberations at a conclave have brought out some enlightening facts about corruption as an economic activity and the damages that doing away with corruption may bring about.  I have much pleasure in placing the same before you:

• Though the fact can never be established for obvious want of data, corruption is the biggest industry in the country, that is, one with the highest turnover.
• There are ancillary industries that will be nearly wiped out if there were no corruption.  These include:
• Police
• Legal profession
• Judiciary
• It will severely damage the film industry where most themes have two central characters, one corrupt and the other who ultimately wins over him.
• Hospitality industry at the top end and luxury products at the top end too will suffer a severe setback because of an erosion in demand.
• FATF (Financial Action Task Force) will have to be dismantled and all software providers for generating Cash Transactions Report (CRR) and Suspicious Transactions Report (STR) will go out of business.
• People may lose all interest in politics and have to be conscripted for legislative positions.  If this happens the science of psephology will be lost to the world.  Lack of rallies will render thousands jobless.
• Discussions on the FB during election season, if at all there is one, will become absolutely dull and drab.
• Lack of corruption will mean everyone working according to rules.  Today this is considered a form of striking work!
• Swiss banks may face closure.
• As everyone turns holy, the phrase "holier than thou" will go out of circulation.
• There will be no need for a party like AAP.
• No one will ever know what is a Lokpal or what it is supposed to do!

This list is only illustrative and not exhaustive.

In the light of the aforesaid an appeal is made to AAP and its followers to do a rethink on their stand against corruption.

Issued in public interest.

Why do I support Kejariwal?

A question has been asked as to why do I support Kejariwal.  Kejariwal does not have the gift of the gab, he cannot make a good repartee, can make tactical mistakes and also does not speak English fluently.  The reason is pretty simple.  Human beings can exist only in societies and societies need infrastructure to exist.  And all that we value as wealth is possible only through this group existence.  Individually and without collaboration it would be impossible to generate the kind of wealth that organized societies generate.  Towards this end, the physical infrastructure, of course, is important.  But even more important is the infrastructure of ideas and practices that decide the interpersonal relationships and sharing of the fruits of such collaborative living. In fact, it is this infrastructure that also decides the kinds of fruits that the collaborative existence would like to generate.

Many of the things that we see as a vice today were programmed into us by nature as means to survival.  Greed, anger, lust all fall under this category of survival tools that are not really needed today, not with the intensity that is hardwired into us.  Take the example of the hardwired liking for fat and sugar in the human race.  It was a tool for survival when the chances of having to go without food were pretty high.  But today we have to consciously and deliberately fight off this craving.  Those who do not do so turn obese and sick and become non-productive and a burden on the society.

Because of such ingrained greed, given the opportunity and a large enough temptation any human being is likely to succumb to take away more than his fare share.  It seems to me that apart from this ingrained greed, we also have a squirrel programmed inside us.  This squirrel wants to take all the fruits not merely to indulge its hunger but also to salt it away so others cannot reach it even if they are starving.  As the productivity of the society increases so does the size of the common wealth and it tempts many who devise devious means to start squirreling it away.  It is a sick behavior like that of an obese person who likes to stuff himself with all the food that he does not need and also wants his refrigerator to be overflowing all the time.  But then as we said it is all very human.  And we have to have means to fight off this natural tendency.

The point I am trying to make is that the infrastructure that a society needs to build before it builds any other is one that can check this greed that is bad for the society and also for the greedy individual.  It was just NOT possible to do so in a monarchy or an oligarchy.  But it is definitely possible to do so in a democracy and it must be done as the very first thing.  Our squirrels in the form of clever politicians have realized that if somehow they can thwart this infrastructure, they can enjoy undue power and wealth as in an oligarchy or monarchy while shouting from the rooftops that it is a democracy!  And they have successfully thwarted it for over six decades.

And hence if a politician says that his first priority is to build this infrastructure and that everything else can wait, he makes the most sense and must be supported at ALL COSTS.  For the cost of not doing so is humongous, terrible, horrendous and excruciating.  We have already tasted the fruits of being without this infrastructure.

Kejariwal is just an ordinary man and probably a below-average politician.  In fact there are only ordinary men on this planet and those who claim to be otherwise are either conceited or cheats. Some may have stronger brains and some may be more brawny, but they can take advantage of this endowment only because they are enabled by the society. Kejariwal matters not because of any great traits or personal qualities but because of his contribution in bringing about awareness of the costs of not building this foremost infrastructure and his stated position to give it priority above everything else.

All other parties and leaders including BJP and Modi, notwithstanding what they say, are committed to thwarting this infrastructure for as long as they can.  Make no mistakes on this count.  

If AAP were not there, I might vote for Modi.  But if AAP is there, all right thinking people must vote for it.

The institution of Lokpal is not against enterprise, entrepreneurship or markets.  It is against abuse of power by big bad squirrels amongst us. And it must be created and created right before doing anything else.

How is this scam going unnoticed?

We all keep reading about massive recruitment of teachers by the government.  Then they hire Shiksha-Mitras (SMs) to assist them.  Though the SMs are not but the teachers are very handsomely paid.  Apart from their salaries a lot of money must be getting spent on school infrastructure and the fraud-ridden midday meal scheme.

While billions are getting spent on this presumably noble mission, what is the picture at the ground level?  I find from my personal interactions that even those at the lowest economic rung, like household help, rickshaw pullers, and street vendors do not want to send their children to such government schools.  They pay through their nose for schooling their children in private schools of dubious quality.

Sting operations by TV channels have exposed the astonishingly reprehensible quality of education given in these schools and the extremely poor caliber of teachers hired at high salaries.  I know teachers who visit the school only once or twice a month and pay protection money to functionaries in education department.

The billions going down the drain into the pockets of the corrupt could be much better utilized by providing a direct cash transfer to deserving people who could use it to pay the fees of private schools which are seen to be far superior to the government ones.

The hordes of teachers and SMs could be trained as plumbers, electricians and carpenters.  There is a real dearth of such professionals in the society.

In case it is not found feasible to dismantle this hoax of government schools, it must be made mandatory for all those whose draw salaries from the central or state government to school their children only in a government school at their place of posting.

Another sector suffering from similar massive corruption is health.  Here too it will help to make it mandatory for all government employees and legislators to avail services only at a government hospital in their area.  The government instead has chosen to fly its officers and ministers overseas for treatment!!!  Will they ever get ashamed of themselves?

Ragging Kejariwal - India Today Conclave

Just finished watching a program on Aaj-Tak where Kejariwal was grilled by an audience consisting of journos and industrialists.  I don't know for sure but it must be the conclave for which he was flown to Delhi by India Today group.  I joined the program midway where a journalist was reading out a piece of bad poetry ridiculing Kejariwal's dress sense and his persistent cough and calling him a fugitive who ran away from private sector to public sector to politics and then away from power.  It was pathetic, outrageous, disgusting and clearly the act of a person whose motive was not journalism but some ulterior one.

Kejariwal did not respond and it must have given a lot of satisfaction to this man who was an epitome of people living off the fat of this country and holding the common man in contempt and having no qualms about snubbing him.  Kejariwal could have given an equally acerbic response but did not do so.  And he has won my heart by doing so.  It shows that he is not yet a typical politician who has a witty response ready for all criticism, imagined or genuine.  It shows that he has not yet imbibed the art of snobbery that helps one distance himself from Aam Aadmi and remains as vulnerable as an Aam-Aadmi.  It shows that he is a really simple minded person who is vulnerable to such unethical and unscrupulous barbs from unethical sharp shooters.  It shows that he is a person who is constantly focused on his purpose and not busy inventing clever cliches and responses.  Kejariwal, I stand with you more firmly than ever.

Coming to this sharp shooter's comments, here are my observations.  Nothing could be in worse taste than ridiculing a person for dressing like a common man.  And one who calls Kejariwal a fugitive must be someone whose upbringing tells him to stick to exploits of power at all costs and come what may.  Must be a person who would lick the feet of those who can do him a favor and kick at those who are either not in a position to do so or would not do so.  I wonder if he would have the guts to read out such sickening poetry to a RaGa or a NaMo or a Sonia or a Mulayam or a Lalu et al.

Can we not understand the simple fact that providing sops was not AAPs goal even though they have done so for the simple tactical reason that those who stood for change do not get weaned and swept away by the pied pipers of the establishment.  Their goal can ONLY be achieved by creating the anti-corruption infrastructure in the form of a credible Lokpal and NO OTHER MEANS.  And hence the decision to quit after this move was defeated was the ONLY CORRECT RESPONSE.  In fact if AAP had decided to stick to power that would be suspicious indeed.

As regards his constant movement and not sticking to anything including power, a sane person would see it as the sign of a vibrant intellect that is constant alive to its environment and committed to his purpose.  Sticking to a plum position in government like a corrupt-to-the-bone rishwatkhor, or to a post (खूंटा) like a buffalo or a seat of power like one of our sickening leaders is becoming of only a decadent, corrupt and obnoxious person and not a visionary or a revolutionary like Kejariwal.  Movement alone is the sign of life.

Journalists would do well to expel the person who read out this poetry from their profession.

Require full disclosure from practising professionals.

There is a lot of emphasis being put on disclosures by commercial organizations for the purpose of complete transparency, and rightly so.  A consumer who has to choose from organizations providing same services or products must be empowered to choose the best organization and must be able to base his decision on facts.  Regulators in many sectors have recognized this and are putting regulations in place for making such disclosures compulsory.

However such disclosure is conspicuously missing in the case of various professionals that provide services to individuals.  Such professionals include doctors, architects, lawyers etcetera.  Some of them merely hang a copy of their degree and a copy of their registration with the concerned professional body which give minimal information about the holder.  And one wouldn't be surprised if even these are not on display.

One of the many problems bogging down the country can be termed as apathy, or at best, indifference towards merit and quality.  Thus you can get admission to a professional course on the basis of merit, or on the basis of entitlements attaching to your caste, or on the basis of your parents' capacity to bankroll your way into a college.  The numbers in the latter two categories put together may outnumber those in the first category, namely, merit.

When these people set up their practice, a client has no way of knowing the stream through which they entered the college and got the degree / certificate that enables them to practice.  Customers often make a guess based on the surname of the practitioner which is absolutely wrong and erroneous.  It is quite possible that a person with a surname that indicates entitlement may have come through the general category purely on the basis of his merit.  Similarly it is quite possible that a person bearing a surname that doesn't indicate an entitlement may have muscled his way into the college through money power.  Also there may be clients who have strong convictions about entitlements and would only like to avail the services of one who made it through entitlement.

Accordingly all such professionals must be made to clearly, unambiguously and conspicuously display at their workplace the basis of their admission as well as their scores / grades.  This is the data on which a client can base his decision rationally.

I don't know if current regulations require this.  What we all know for sure is that this is not being done.  I propose that this be made mandatory.  Also there should be penalties for not doing so.

Our motto should be to promote innate merit, to cultivate merit wherever it can be and gradually discourage entitlement and money power as means of getting into a profession.

This seems to be happening through the social media where clients can share their experiences and rate a professional.  But the disclosures will help accelerate this process for newcomers for whom such data doesn't exist.

Dualism vs Non-dualism in Indian Politics

Sant Aapeshwar began his discourse, "Election after election and forever we have been hoping to figure out who is the all-good Brahma and who is the deceitful Maya.  And we have failed miserably each time.  And the surprise of surprises is this - we fail even after we switch our belief about who is who.  Many call this switching of belief anti-incumbency factor. An even bigger surprise is that after each anti-incumbency movement we emerge divided as ever and our miseries stronger than ever."  He paused and took a deep breath.

"O noble saint, is there a way out for us?", asked a haggard looking voter (HLV).  "There definitely is.  But then you have to walk the path of knowledge.", replied the Sant.  He continued, "Unless you realize that your misery arises from the false knowledge, Avidya, there is no hope for you.  What is this Avidya?  It is the belief that you have a choice and that the choice is between a good and an evil.  It is the belief that there is a duality at work and that both good and evil are vying for your vote.  It is the belief that you can make the right choice and this right choice will make your miseries go away."

"Noble saint, you confuse me.  Yes there is a duality.  If it were not there why would there be a need to vote?  It would not matter who won the contest.", blurted out the HLV.

"Dear one, have you not noticed that there are some who have realized the futility of voting and don't have any urge to vote.  And has who-emerges-the-winner really made any difference?  Don't you see the obvious?  There is no choice.  The power-holders and aspirants, the winner and the loser, are all the same.  There is no duality and there is little advantage in choosing one over the other."  Thus spake the Sant.

"Revered Sant, are you telling us to resign ourselves to these circumstances?  And are you telling us to refrain from casting our vote?", inquired the HLV.

The Sant smiled and spoke thus, "On the contrary, once the non-dualism in the present system has been comprehended, your task begins!  Once you realize that the system is evil and Maya alone, your search for the good, for the absolute Brahma starts.  But until you do that the system will persistently create a delusion of duality and egg you on for casting your vote.  For it is your vote and your vote alone that keeps this system alive."

"Learned one! if duality is a mere delusion from whence will this good Brahma arise?", asked the HLV.

"O seeker, open your eyes and look at me.  Don't you still see the arising that will soon cast away the Maya and the miseries wrought by it?", said the Sant.

"Forgive me o lord!  but how do I know that it is not the non-dual system desperately churning our more images to keep the delusion going for as long as possible.  How do I know if this is truly another option and not just a proliferation of the non-dual system?", questioned the bewildered HLV.

"You doomed ignorant fellow!", hissed the Sant, his eyes glowing with both pity and anger, "If you fail to recognize this alternative that has so graciously presented itself to you, you will be doomed forever.  Take this leap of faith or else learn to live with your miseries which will only grow exponentially."

The Sant calmed down and said in a loving voice, "To help you in your quest here are the questionnaires generated by me.  Pose these to the apparently many but essentially monolithic non-dual system and watch them dissolve away."

With this final utterance, the Sant closed his eyes and started to think of answers to the questionnaire sent to him by his one time follower who had grown disenchanted for reasons that the Sant saw as pure delusions but the questioner saw as edifying.

Let us hope that the truth shines out and prevails.

Satyamev Jayate!

एक चुनावी गीत

आयो-आयो चुनावी त्यौहार, नेता गावन लगे।
लगे करने चुनावी प्रचार, वादे लुभावन लगे।
सुशासन कहे कोई, कहे कोई भ्रष्टाचार, ढपली बजावन लगे। 

बाहुबली सब हुए तैयार, गन लहरावन लगे।
कांग्रेसियों के ऐसे सरदार, सब घबरावन लगे।
भारत माता तुम करो बेड़ा पार जो नेता डुबावन लगे।
वोटर सब के सभी हैं तैयार, देश बचावन लगे।

बोलो भारत माता की जय, गणतंत्र की जय, चुनाव आयोग की जय; बोलो भाई सब वोटर्स की जय।