Cohabitation politics was started by NDA, where one has to live with strange bed fellows. Given the nature of our constitution, do not see a change in the forseable future, where regional parties will be dominating the corridors of power at the center. No use blaming the UPA, because NDA will have the same faith, if it had the majority. What the author did not mention was how irresponsible NDA is by not attending our nations business in parliament, instead strolling in the park and eating icecream - compared to this attitude, CPM has taken over NDA's task, and in my opinion, UPA is meeting the expectation of the people.
Our system, whether ruled by any party, will not allow the ruling party to govern the nation, as everyone is busy fire-fighting the opposition, with no time for quality governance.
India need a change, a drastic change, that is to re-draw the constitution governing political system. We are actually misusing and waisting our democratic rights, and not keeping ourselves with progress the world is witnessing. We have to ask ourselves, are we on the right track !! the answer is a big NO.
You have to give credit to Rajeev Gandhi, Sam Petroda, the finance ministers V.P. Singh, Dr. Man Mohan Singh for the economic reforms that the BJP followed.(on the political front, there were brutal murder of people eg: Ayodhya, Gujarat, killings of foreign charity administrators,thanks to the BJP). India did not shine because of the BJP. India was tarnished because of handling the issues mentioned above.(Ayodhya, Gujarat, killings of foreign charity administrators,thanks to the BJP)
Hold on buddies, once the US starts outsourcing all the work to other countries due to high cost of operations in India, then lets gauge the so called GDP and FII numbers.
In his world, NDA/UPA have absolute control of what they have achieved! I think we are giving them more credit/blame than they deserve. Government should be a facilitator. They don't run businesses or Agriculture. All they can do is remove barriers that exists in achieving growth. Giving 500 bucks to every poor will keep them poor forever. But building village infrastructure and providing opportunity for training will give them the opportunity to growth. In that respect, NDA and UPA both failed India in identifying the barriers without getting carried away by their ideaology. The clarity in governance comes from identifying such areas and grading the progress by putting a system wide tracking from the top to the bottom. I need to see a grade-sheet where ministers are given a list of tasks they need to achieve and rated after a year based on their performance. The ministers performing well should get more budgetary support and the ones doing badly need to be replaced or placed in a list where some IAS toppers are put on their tails to straighten their work culture. Also, they should publish at the end of the year, where the ministers and their departments stand. Guts... anyone!
Nice article. In 50 years, Korea became a developed country. Same with Singapore and Israel. Yet, under 50 years of Congress Party rule India remained a 3rd world country. My conclusion is simple - those who support Congress are fools. You see, many Indians are emotional and sentimental. (The main reason for the success of SRK films is his sentimental acting.) People are still voting for Congress because it brought them independence. Secondly, congress policies are anti-hindu and many muslims and christians vote for any party that is anti-hindu. Sad but true. Thirdly, congress made sure that people remained uneducated and poor. Congress projected itself as the party for the poor. So naturally congress did everything it can to make sure people remained poor because as long as they are poor they will vote for congress. Therefore it is in the interest of congress party that people remain poor. No wonder the economy is falling back on UPA rule.
You can't expect Sikh P.M, Christian SPM and CPM to care for Indian/Hindu majority interests. These are people who full of corrupt behaviour and inept track record. Unless caring BJP is voted back to power, you can't see competent road to recovery and growth.
BJP has shown itself to be a little less corrupt and inept and more caring. [In the latter years, even BJP became corrupt with islamist contaminaiton and became stagnant. That is why we need RSS or VHP to get political power for just and fair governance].
dear friend this is the first piece of sensible journalism i've come across in a long time,and i've a dismal opinion of journalism as such. are you not in a wrong profession if you are generally sesible? write some crap, be praised, be intellectual. and by any chance don't be any thing but the perfect secular intellectual. for today, nice work.
The right to information bill is now enacted into law by the UPA government.
Opaque administration and thwarting the right to information has been standard practice so far. One cannot expect to fight corruption while doing everything possible to keep the public in the dark on the true state of affairs. Till then fight against corruption is more of rhetoric and the seriousness of the earlier governments including Congress in fighting corruption is well known.
The Government despite cynical opposition of the patents law by the BJP (which was most of the time boycotting parliament rather on fivolous reasons rather than playing the role of the opposition ) and the lifting of FDI limits in civil aviation despite resistance from the left has shown its commitment to go by what is right for the country.
The recently announced Bharat Nirman (to build infrastructure and to carry potable water to all villages by 2009) does not in the least suggest an ineffective UPA government.
The recent efforts as part of the G-4 to gain representation to the UNSC and the innovative moves by Mani Shankar Aiyar to deal with the growing energy needs (as petroleum minister) have been noteworthy
RE:Positive achievements
by Gauzbig on May 29, 2005 10:45 AM Permalink
HK: Firstly, on the claim of misuse of Governors, the Governor did the right thing in Goa, Jharkhand and Bihar.If you hold a contrary view show me where the UPA has misused the office of governor. Since you want my response here are Srinivas's points and my response:
c)our PM tries to make peace with the opposition his own party stops him and then they say the opposition should apologise, what a way to deal with opposition
Comment:government is not responsible for petulant opposition behaviour.
d.) Lalu's, the jewel crown, antics are too well known. Comment: Be specific.Dont know what is being referred to.
e.) Musharaf did NOT acknowledge on anything and still talks tough,. Musharraf had much high regard to vajiapee. Musharraf did talk the language of terrirism under NDA rule too!
Comment: Whats the point being made ? Refute my comments in response to Jagga
f.) You talk of RSS, the communists are running havoc and if i show you factual areas where they have suppressed facts you will be shcoked
Comment: Be specific.
g.) Repeal of POTA is a shame Comment: Demeaning to comment
h & i) Minorityism etc Comment:False allegation no need to comment
RE:Positive achievements
by Gauzbig on May 29, 2005 11:29 AM Permalink
Kaushik Das:
You say that India is in line for a UN position because it is a nuclear power.
Firstly, make no mistake about it. India went nuclear in the mid seventies under Indira Gandhi.
It was already a nuclear power when the rag-tag NDA coalition came to power. Incidentally, the Defence Minister of the supra-nationalist NDA opposed the nuclear implosion in the seventies as a fraud on the poor in India!
THE NDA IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR INDIA BECOMING A NUCLEAR STATE. THIER SOLE ACHIEVEMENT IS GOADING PAKISTAN INTO OVERT NUCLEAR CAPABILITY.
Incidentally if possessing nuclear capabilities is the sole criteria for UN permanent membership then countries like Japan (which is deadly opposed to nuclear proliferation) and Germany will have no chance in hell, how come they are in the running without nuclear weapons ??
Also by that twisted logic that nuclear capabilities drive UN security council membership Pakistan should also be in the reckoning ? Huh ?!? Am I missing something?
RE:Positive achievements
by HK on May 27, 2005 07:58 AM Permalink
Gauzbig
u didnt reply to the point c,d,e,f,g,h and i part of srinivas' points.
about ur explanation of point "a". If the NDA did something, the UPA gets the right to do the similar. So how does it make the UPA better than the NDA ?
RE:Positive achievements
by Kaushik Das on May 27, 2005 12:53 PM Permalink
What about the red-tape? who introduced that? You are arguing as if red-tape was a part of NDA's agenda and congress is the one reversing that. Get your facts correct and base your opinions on them. India has become a contender for security council simply because it became a nuclear power under the NDA. What exactly has MS aiyar done so great? By this time, we should have been researching solar energy and other renewable forms of energy. What has congress done so many years? Buy oil from the terrorist saudis?
UPA government of Mamohan Singh
by Gauzbig on May 25, 2005 08:57 AM Permalink
Srinivas, to comment on the first two points you raised.
a) You accuse the UPA of using the governors:Without getting into what the NDA attempted to achieve through the governor(before they were slowed down by the President and rapped on the knuckles by Parliament) what did you expect the governor to do in GOA ? Tolerate physical eviction of a legislator who was sitting quietly in his seat (all this beamed on television) and not allowing him to exercise his vote on a confidence motion and thereby conjuring a sham 'victory' for the Parikkar government? Tolerate horse trading and splitting of parties in Bihar and Jharkhand?
b) Bharat Nirman is way beyond what the NDA could remotely conceptualise. So, claiming credit for Bharat Nirman and suggesting it is one of the NDA projects with another name is baseless. Show we where the NDA, and in which project and by what name the NDA had covered all the proposals that are embodied in the Bharat Nirman proposal. Claiming otherwise is disingenous and even the NDA has been unwilling to go to the extent of staging a political heist (and appropriating Bharat Nirman as its own.
RE:Positive achievements - Gauzbig
by Srinivas on May 24, 2005 05:55 PM Permalink
Gauzbig, we also know how the UPA a.) used governors and tried to ensure no opposition government is formed anywhere b.) Bharat Nirman: changing a name does not mean what NDA started can be said to be an idea of UPA. For your info GOlden Quadrilateral has more or less come to a standstill - this is shocking c.) our PM tries to make peace with the opposition his own party stops him and then they say the opposition should apologise, what a way to deal with opposition d.) Lalu's, the jewel crown, antics are too well known e.) Musharaf did NOT acknowledge on anything and still talks tough,. Musharraf had much high regard to vajiapee. Musharraf did talk the language of terrirism under NDA rule too! f.) You talk of RSS, the communists are running havoc and if i show you factual areas where they have suppressed facts you will be shcoked g.) Repeal of POTA is a shame h.) Minorityism is what UPA does and that is the secula nature - Paswan wants a muslim CM and hence is secula. BJP has more muslim MLAs but they are communcal i.) Look at the sychophancy that is rampant in congress any person with self-esteem would be ashamed
RE:Positive achievements
by Kaushik Das on May 27, 2005 12:59 PM Permalink
That chap was not sitting quietly in government. Also, I am from Bihar. Want to know what state it is in and how much could have been avoided if NDA had actually succeeded in evicting Laloo at that time itself. Instead, the present government, then in opposition, supported and continues to support his misrule in Bihar. Don't compare that with Goa or Jharkhand. Well, the NDA was ACTUALLY trying to construct INDIA, not another saudi arabia/pakistan as you would want. Look at the achievments in the communications sector. Look at finance, business, FDI, the comfort that foreign companies showed in doing business in India in spite of having opposing factions in its hold (like mayawati, mamta, etc.).
Manmohan Singh was considered just a decent economist. His handling of negotiations with the shrewd Gen Musharaf and coming out without blemish was no flash in the pan when we see his performance in economic diplomacy with Japan, Russia, US and China. Even his detractors will acknowledge the fine work done in the international arena.
Handling of tragedy caused by the Tsunami has drawn India international acclaim.
The firm stand taken by PM in support of the Election commission stands out against an attempt to drag the EC to the supreme court by the NDA since they were unwilling to respect the EC's judgement on the ability to conduct free and fair elections in Gujarat.
The PM was unwilling to bait the SC even on a prima facie incorrect directive to the Jharkhand assembly on how it should conduct its affairs. Institutions the pillars of democratic India have been supported by Mr Singh.
VAT one of the few pieces of decent legislation moved by NDA and which can help reduce fiscal deficit and prevent tax evasion was taken to its logical conclusion, only to find not the hated Marxists but the Pseudo nationalists refusing to implement it as part of thier 'good governance'
Foreign affairs so far well handled by - Sh.Manmohan Singh
by Gauzbig on May 23, 2005 09:04 PM Permalink
Musharaf has acknowledged India's firm stance against redrawing borders and is willing to work with the soft borders approach (where by borders cease to be a bone of division and contention). Concept of soft borders mooted by PM has been radical in foreign affairs i.e linking Kahmiris and removing barriers for people to people contact(This has never been part of NDA focus).Innovative solution to vexed issue of travel documents worked!
Musharraf is willing to recognise India under UPA is a secular dispensation (de facto and de jure) and hence attempting to solve the Kashmir issue on communal lines with this Government is a non starter.No need to remind anyone about attempts by 'responsible' parties (including fighting last elections on the basis of dividing J&K on communal lines)
Musharaf has acknowledged that violence cannot end the continuing strife in Kashmir. He has expressed commitment to dialogue and willingness to join India in curbing extremism in the valley. How far this will succeed however remains to be seen.
Musharaf has forced (Mirwaiz) and his faction of the moderate Hurriyat towards the negotiating table and openly reprimanded hardliners(a good begining)
RE:Positive achievements of Manmohan Singh
by Gauzbig on May 29, 2005 12:06 PM Permalink
We did not have soft borders. We had nuclear weapons. We had a process of border fencing that was being carried out. We stationed the army on the border. Did all of this stop Kargil or terrorism or did it even reduce it ?
The imposter Sardar Patel hot air balloon talked of hot pursuit....When it came to the infiltrators in Kargil, responsible for the loss of so many Indian lives and crores of Rupees, the hot pursuit men looked the other way as the infiltrators walked back.
The point is soft or hard borders or even the equivalent of a Berlin wall will not bring about peace with hair brained policies.
So then, the question is what are the policies that are followed by the UPA together with the soft borders that are wrong? Pl point them out.
I say the attempts to encourage people to people contact through the Kashmir bus is a good beginning. Prove me wrong !
RE:Positive achievements of Manmohan Singh
by Kaushik Das on May 27, 2005 12:41 PM Permalink
He has become a stooge of the US. He needed to take a firm stand to save himself from embarassment in the EC issue. The NDA castigated the EC at the time because Mr. Lyngdoh thought that the situation in Kashmir, the most insecure state of India, was good enough for elections while that in Gujarat, the most secure state in India (except for terrorosts and fightmongers), wasn't. So, you see, calling a spade a spade is not wrong or bad.
RE:Positive achievements of Manmohan Singh
by Mahesh Jagga on May 23, 2005 04:48 PM Permalink
Can you please remind me as to what did Manmohan negotiate with Musharraf?
He accepted Kashmir as an issue to be resolved and forgot terrorism?
RE:Positive achievements of Manmohan Singh
by Kaushik Das on May 27, 2005 12:46 PM Permalink
Do you understand what risks SOFT-BORDERS carry? Especially when we are not able to control terrorism with hard borders themselves? What is hurriyat? Their only claim to fame is terrorism. So, for a common man, hurriyat = terrorists. So, obviously, musharraf is doing his best to push terrorists to the frontline to divide India. Is that a success or failure of manmohan?
