Arrest Warrant against Mukesh Ambani

Arrest Warrant against Mukesh Ambani!

Of all the things, a consumer court in Kerala has put out an arrest warrant against Mukesh Ambani. He is to be produced in court on the 15 Feb 2012.

The arrest warrant is because his company - Reliance Infocomm - failed to honour the penalty imposed on it. The Thirissur Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum had in 2010 asked Reliance Infocomm to pay the complainant, M. Joseph, Rs. 24000 and interest for five years.

The petitioner approached the court once again in March 2011, when the company failed to give him his awarded compensation for more than one year.

Serious Allegations of Senior Ministers - S. M. Krishna and P. Chidambaram

More cases against senior ministers in the Government of India is putting the government in compromising situation. 

The present UPA-Government at the centre is already in a storm, especially after the way it has gone out of the way to victimize and punish those who are fight for strong anti-corruption and anti-black-money measures.

An FIR has been filed against S. M. Krishna, the external affairs minister of India, while P. Chidambaram is in the dock after Subramanian Swamy has been allowed by the CBI court to prove his claim of the current Home Minister and the then Finance Minister's involvement in the 2G scam.

A case has been registered in Karnataka against S. M. Krishna over the illegal mining during the period when he was Chief Minister.

The music being faced by P. Chidambaram is multi-faceted. It is alleged that he was an equal partner in the crime that A. Raja allegedly committed in the allotment of 2G spectrum. 

Subramanian Swamy has also move the Supreme Court in which he has sought to a probe into the role of P. Chidambaram. Letters have also surfaced, from the finance ministry, that have raised doubts over the role of the then Finance Minister. 

In a separate case, a court in Tamil Nadu is hearing a petition that has challenged P. Chidambaram election to the Lok Sabha in 2009.

The other high profile politicians who are facing criminal proceedings and/or investigations include Sukh Ram, A. Raja, Dayanidhi Maran, Narendra Modi, B. S. Yeddyurappa, Madhu Koda

Intentions behind the censorship controversy of Kapil Sibal

I seriously doubt Kapil Sibal's intentions in wanting to censor the content on social networking sites.

I feel, the government wants to try and control backlash from the people when Anna Hazare launches his next round of protest against the government on the issue of Jan-Lokpal.

After all, it appears that the standing committee will be presenting a draft that will go against he "sentiment of the parliament" that had accepted in principle the points raised by Anna Hazare and his Jan Lokpal Bill. I feel, that he thinks a controversy of this kind will distract the people frequenting these sites.

We shall know the truth by this time tomorrow, when Abhishek Singhvi will have presented the report of the standing committee before the house.

Arrogance v/s Humility

Today, arrogance has become a way of life, isn't it.

When I was young my parents used to teach me that...

• One must be polite and humble. 
• There is no harm in accepting an error, as long as we learn from it and do not repeat it.
• We were taught not to back-answer our elders.

But, today I find these teachings are very much out of vogue. People who live on these principles are considered fools. Sometimes it is out right humiliating when a no-good youngster who does not even know what he is talking of - tries to arrogantly show off how much or must I say how little he/she knows.

The same also applies the other way round; it applies to the elders too.

Today, I feel folks are ashamed of saying they made a mistake. They are ashamed of admitting that someone smaller than them - it could be in age or it could be in stature - knows better than they themselves do.

I am sound a little old fashioned, but, I sometimes loose my temper when I see things going out of hand.

Where has all the humility gone?

Dharam Devanand

Dharam Dev Anand, the legendary film star of Bollywood, better known as Devanand passed away today on 04-12-2011. Born on 26 September 1923, he was 88 years old.

He died due to heart attack at a hospital in London.

Some of his noteworthy films include... Afsar, Humsafar, Kalapani, Guide, Hum Dono, Jewel Thief.

The death of this versatile artist - Actor, Director, Producer - marks the end of an era in India's film world.

May his soul rest in peace.

Capitalism!! The Profit Culture

After the fall of the communists in the 80s, there was nobody to question America's capitalist philosophy. Everybody was convinced that the American way of dealing with life and managing economics was the best. But now after almost 25 years we are forced to reconsider.

The financial crisis that the world is in has proven that capitalism has its own downside. 

Superpowers - countries that were believed to be infallible - are feeling the heat. The great union that brought the European countries together under one umbrella (European Union) is on the verge of collapsing. They are desperately looking for a way out. 

People are out on the streets protesting against the corporate culture. They are complaining that billions and trillions of dollars have been spent in trying to save the very entities and policies that responsible for the crisis, especially when corporate honchos are still getting the huge paychecks and fat bonuses.

People are protesting against the stock markets that has given rise to the profit culture. They are accusing corporate managements of compromising the social fabric that binds the masses together in order the present good earnings. This insensitive and irresponsible behavior of the corporates has made the rich even richer and the poor even poorer.

The world will have to learn someday - that extreme of anything is bad. 

Extreme communism was not good. The fall of USSR has demonstrated this. 

Even extreme capitalism is also bad. The current global financial crisis has proven this. 

A healthy midway path has to be drawn. Something that can filter out the bad things and adapt the good things from both philosophies.

Sarpanch of Ralegan Siddhi to meet Rahul Gandhi - Something went wrong!

Positive signs were emerging during the course of the week when news got out that Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary of Congress Party wanted to meet the Sarpanch of Ralegan Siddhi, but then something once again went wrong. Apparently the Congress has once again shown that it cannot be trusted.

It seemed that it was the beginning of a new era. It appeared that, Rahul Gandhi the General Secretary of the Congress party had taken initiative and the air was being cleared for more fruitful talks on the Lokpal Bill. After all so much mistrust has crept in between the Congress-led rulers of India and Team Anna over the last few months.

But, then something went awlfully wrong. When Jaisingh Mapari, the Sarpanch of Ralegan Siddhi, reached Delhi, he was denied the change to meet Rahul Gandhi. The whole thing once again ended in a big fiasco.

A Congress MP P. T. Thomas who had apparently got the whole act together simply apologized saying that there was some communication gap.

“We feel cheated. Mr. Thomas was in constant touch with us till we reached New Delhi. But after that he told us that he hadn’t promised anything. Today we were told by Rahul Gandhi’s office that there was no appointment. Mr. Thomas has misled us. We never wanted to meet Rahul Gandhi. It was Mr. Thomas who took the initiative after visiting Ralegan Siddhi in August.” said Jaisingh Mapari

On the other hand, P. T. Thomas is saying that the “I told them to send me a letter in this regard, and that I would forward it to Mr. Gandhi’s office. When I received their letter and sent it to Mr. Gandhi, I was told that a meeting will be scheduled at the soonest possible time. However, there was a communication gap and my PA came under the impression that a meeting would be scheduled on October 18, and he informed Mr. Mapari. It is a case of miscommunication and I apologise for it.”

Faced with the two conflicting versions and given the track record of how the Congress has back-tracked on some many issues in the past some time - I feel that I am inclined to believe Jaisingh Mapari's version.

It is surprising how the Congress is managing such goof-ups with such regularity..