Mr Ninan's article makes grim reading. In the days of our Maharajas, they held sway over their subjects but they were also responsible for the welfare and well being of their subjects. Our present day rulers have been democratised, they have an almost absolute sway while in power but their tenure is short lived. The only way they can continue in office is by spending huge amounts of money in all kinds of elections.With the number of states, districts, towns and cities, and now even Gram Panchayats getting into electoral politics.The process and the conduct of elections has become an industry. The time has come to form a seperate Ministry of Elections. The amount of money exchanging hands is truly astronomical. The amount of money spent by our politicians, the political parties must be a very large percentage of the GDP. The expenses incurred on elections demands a special machinery to collect the sums. Most elections funded by the political parties is not adequate and the candidate has to also shug in his own money. Obviously, the candidates have to prepare their budgets on a regular basis and tap their local influences for money. Gone are the days when people voluntarily donated money. These days businessmen find ingenuous methods to finance political patronage. Most of these businesses are fronts to milk the taxpayer's money under one sheme or the other and they are promoted by the politicians who see it as an extensions to their Elections Industry. This is nothing sur
The political system in india requires thorough overhaul. 1.The Election Commission should conduct entrance exams to all aspiring political candidates on the lines of the Civil Services administered in different specialities so that there is a pool of knowledgeable candidates in each ministerial cadre to whom political parties should further give tickets on the lines of a campus interview. 2.These candidates must be provided transparent funding by political parties and the state so that the basic minimum expenditure is met for canvassing. 3. Elections should be fought on the Candidates past record at serving people, His Future plans for the constituency in which he is contesting, His plans for the core industrial sectors in which he has been qualified by the EC, His integity in public life and academic records. Money power, liquor,Sarees,should not be allowed to enter the scenario and will not enter if the stakes are not high if one loses. 4.To ensure that corruption does not creep into the minds of elected candidates, the punishment for being caught redhanded/convicted in court should be capital punishment. It is possible that these measures will never be implemented in our lifetime because the present system ensures that the present generation of unscrupulous politicians themselves are the ones with the choice of regulating themselves, so we cannot expect the Political mafia to kill the golden goose,only military rule for some period will change the rules for future P
Among the most corrupt you would find Deve(Dozing) Gowda & his brood, Bangarappa & family from Karnataka, Tantrum Thailavi Jayalalitha & companion Sasikala, Karunanidhi(Senile) & family from Tamil Nadu, Mulayam & company from UP, Lalu & khandaan from Bihar, Prakash Badal & son Sukhbir from Punjab, Bhajan, Devi & all LALS from Haryana, Sharad Pawar, T Balu, Rane, Manohar Joshi from Maharashtra and so on. Irrespective of a rich or poor state, these parasitic politicians have enriched themselves over the years milking the system. The only way is for people to educate themselves and vote out these scum irrespective of caste, creed or religious affiliations. But do we as common folk have that spirit to do it? We want our reservations, our children even if not bright enough to become Drs, Engrs, etc. Everybody wants their people to have Government jobs and influence, their sons to get DOWRY, grab a berth on a full train, influence in the municipality, so on and so forth! There is a need to adhere to a value of ethics and morality and only then can we change this sorry situation
RE:Change??
by ravi prakash on Apr 09, 2008 02:36 PM Permalink
Dear Sir, The list of corrupt politicians is very large but the list of people named by you are the prominent ones. You have missed out the Remote Controllers of the front politicians, they run entire political parties according to their whim and fancy. Behind every venal politician lies a remote controller whose power is unchallenged and who perpetuates his control over the Govt whichever rules. Their appetite is voracious.
He is shame, hw is he controlling economy of India. All Dow jones, nikkei, hang seng are going for their peaks, but see India down adn down only. What nonsense is this. Earlier they ssay global factors but what now. This is totally corrupt Chidambaram who is playing with people money. Kick him out.
They collect haftas from Police, and almost all the departments, They eat away all the budgets allocated for the poor, They need 40-50% of any project in the state. These bloody suckers end of the get a family like Pramod Mahajan's where a son and a brother killed their father and brother. Pramod died while buring most of his wealth in Swiss accounts. Why these greedy politicians are still following the same. These are bugs creeped into the system and spoiled the system completely.
We need a pesticide to kill all these bugs get rid of all the curruption from this country.
RE:Crooks
by viswanatha seshadri on Apr 07, 2008 10:46 AM Permalink
SHUQ on pramod mahajan: I thought Pramod Mahajan got killed bec he refused to use his political connections to benefit his brother in any way. More like Modi and mahatma gandhi. You are trying black-paint a rare good-example politician. Your intentions are suspect.
AP has the richest politicians, none of whom come from a humble background(except NTR who was a school teacher before he became a actor, lived in a simple house even during his heydays of filmdom). They don't understand the plight of poor or middle class, which is why we see 1000's of farmers committing suicide every year. Politics is the biggest business in AP, which is why a state with great potential has been misled by crooks who have no regard for common man. Even Chiranjeevi lives in a Royal Palace in banjara hills, and his entering into politics will not make any difference whatsoever to common man. YSR and Naidu held CM post only to rob 1000's of crores from common man.
Recently a new newspaper was released in AP by a heir to the throne. I was sitting in an office in SR Nagar. The agent of this paper walked in - he directly said the space for the ad for the office is reserved and he should give the cheque for a said amount as this paper belongs to the ruling party. What a way to force a contribution ?
What a shame - even though i am a telengana reddy, the two reddy rags and one totally subservient TV Channel [maybe they became # 1 channel by dubious means] make me bow my head in shame for absolutely crass journalism.
Corruption takes on different meanings. The recent sacking of MJ Akbar and Khushwant Singhs Article in Outlook damning these papers was telling....
We need 'good gangsters' for controlling politicians by way of threatening their life. The situation is such that Gandhian Way these Politician speak while act exactely reverse. They can come on track only if they find that their life will be at stake if they act this way.
