From left to right to.....

The first duty of the press is to obtain the earliest and most correct intelligence of the events of the time, and instantly, by disclosing them, to make them the common property of the nation. The press lives by disclosures……We are bound to tell the truth as we find it, without fear of consequences…
Robert Lowe, editorial, London Times, 1851

It’s been four days since my Google alert on Trust Inc threw this very interesting piece of information. Sudheendra Kulkarni, erstwhile advisor to LK Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee and now the Chief Advisor for Observer Research Foundation, has joined Trust Inc in its corporate communications department.

Since then, not a word elsewhere, neither print nor TV or new media. Deafening silence.

LK once commented on the Indian scribe tribe. He said when asked to bend by Priya Duryodhini during Emergency, our esteemed members of the fourth estate began to crawl.

Prophetic...

"ON REVOLUTION" FROM A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE

To quote Rod Steiger's great character Juan Miranda: "I know what I am talking about when I am talking about the revolutions. The people who read the books go to the people who can't read the books, the poor people, and say, 'We have to have a change.' So, the poor people make the change, ah? And then, the people who read the books, they all sit around the big polished tables, and they talk and talk and talk and eat and eat and eat, eh? But what has happened to the poor people? They're dead! That's your revolution. Shhh... So, please, don't tell me about revolutions! And what happens afterwards? The same fucking thing starts all over again!"

THE DIMWIT SWANSONG

Thank god for the parliamentary democracy that we have. Lal Krishna Advani, stand corrected…we are better off in a parliamentary democracy.

The perils of parliamentary democracies are well documented. It’s the presidential ones that are throwing some new light on the relative safety that we have with a functioning or even a semi-functioning multi-party parliament.

Look at US of A for instance. After 8 years of a disastrous Republican presidency, it now has what some will call a semblance of democratic governance with Democrats in charge. And look at the way they have tied themselves in knots over a very commonsensical health reform.

This is what Gore Vidal says in a recent interview and you have to give him some points for this. He says America is “rotting away at a funereal pace. We’ll have a military dictatorship fairly soon, on the basis that nobody else can hold everything together. Obama would have been better off focusing on educating the American people. His problem is being over-educated. He doesn’t realise how dim-witted and ignorant his audience is. Benjamin Franklin said that the system would fail because of the corruption of the people and that happened under Bush.”

Fine, democracy is mostly a swansong before the “dim-witted”. And here’s how we’re better off. We passed the Nuclear Bill, as opposed to Americans banging their heads against the proverbial dimwit wall for health-care reforms.

At times, you have to thank the Mulayams and Amar Singhs of the world.

MAHATMA-THE “OTHER” GANDHI

Here’s how the largest selling Indian pink paper refers to Mahatama. Editorial dated Oct, 12th, 2009.

“The young Gandhi, by his conscious adoption of the garb of aam aadmi, maybe seeking to make the same statement that another Gandhi made by forsaking his lawyer’s suit in 1921 for the handspun loincloth that symbolized the masses of that time.”

Well, at least in the Newspeak, the Ghandy takeover of Gandhi is complete.

Priya Duryodhini would have applauded.

http://www.rakeshjhunjhunwala.in/

http://www.rakeshjhunjhunwala.in/

FUNNIEST INDIAN BLOG EVER....

It took me a long time to be back here and apologies for that. Been busy with bread and butter issues.

Two recent international events forced me to come back and thanks god for that.

For starters, check out the Sep 17^th TIME magazine cover featuring Glenn Beck, a Fox US show charlatan. Incase you want to know more about Glenn Beck, Google or you tube him and some of your notions about Indian TV being infantile will see a new light. He’s our Sansani guy commenting on politics (US..breathe) and draws more viewers than the other three networks combined. Now we know where from our Editor of the hour (TV) derives his inspiration from.

Secondly, after “12 years in bed with Labour”, Sun, Rupert Murdoch’s largest selling UK tabloid has decided to back Tories, in lieu of James Cameron’s support for clipping BBC’s wings and abolishing Ofcom, the British media TV regulator.

Both Sun and Fox are from Murdoch stable.

James Murdoch, by the way is in India these days and will be meeting out I&B minister soon.

Pray….

SASHIKALA, KALAVATI AND ENERGY SECURITY

Speech of the "Prince who waits" on Nuclear deal on 22nd Aug, 08. The genesis of Kalavati phenomenon...

Poverty is directly related to Energy security and I will explain how.

In my speech, I will explain to the hon. Member as to how poverty is directly connected to energy security. Once again, I would request everybody to give me ten minutes and to listen to me for ten minutes. That is all I ask for.

Three days ago, I went to Vidarbha and there, I met a young lady who has three sons. The young lady, Sasikala, a landless labourer, lives with Rs. 60 a day. Her husband who goes to work in a field nearby earns Rs. 90 a day and with the total earning that they make, they have put their three children in a private school. I spent an hour with these people. They live in a slum. I spoke to the sons and I spoke to the mother. The eldest son dreams of becoming a Collector, the middle son dreams of becoming an engineer and the younger son wants to do a private job. When I asked Sasikala as to whether she thinks that her children will be successful or not, she looked at me and said “Absolutely”.

As I was walking out of the House, I noticed that there was no electricity in the house. I told the children that when I was small, I used to study in the evening and how do they study. The children pointed towards a little lamp, a brass lamp that was there. They said, “We study using that lamp.” This problem of energy security reflects itself everyday with all of us; it reflects itself among the poor, like in the house of Sashikala; it reflects itself with industry; and it reflects among all Indians.

(Interruptions)…

Energy effects India; energy effects India’s growth; and energy is responsible for allowing us to grow at nine per cent and that growth is responsible for allowing us to to create programmes to help poor, like those the BJP has done, like the PMGSY; and like those the Congress has done, like the NREGP and guaranteed education.

The point that I am making here is if we do not secure our energy supply into the future, growth will stop and we will not be able to fight poverty which is something that every single Member of this House wants to do. I have said what the problem is. I would go back to Vidharba to see what the solution could possibly be. I would go to the house of another young lady called Kalawati, who had nine children.

(Interruptions)…

I would go back to Vidharba, to the house of Kalawati…

(Interruptions)

would go to the house of Kalawati. I am glad you find that funny. But Kalawati is a person whose husband committed suicide. So, I would urge you to respect her. I would take you to the house of Kalawati, which I also visited three days ago. Kalawati is a woman with nine children whose husband committed suicide three years ago. Her husband committed suicide because he was dependent on only one crop, the cotton crop. When I asked Kalawati as to why her husband committed suicide, her answer was that he was dependent on only one source of income. …

(Interrutions)…

: I asked Kalavati as to what did you do. Kalavati responded by telling me that I diversify …

(Interruptions)…

When I asked the widow lady as to how she resolves her problem, she said that instead of sowing one crop, she now sows three crops. She told me how she bought two buffaloes and now has milk as a source of income. She also told me, most importantly, that she dug a little pond which she fills with water and uses as an insurance policy when it does not rain. So, the answer to our energy problem lie in…

(Interruptions)…

I spoke to two poor families. One of them was called Mrs. Kala…

(Interruptions)…

Mrs. Kala said that she had diversified her income sources and she has used that to stabilize her family and bring up her nine children.

Sir, at the very least, nuclear energy is going to act like Mrs. Kala’s pond and it is going to act as an insurance policy for this country in times of need. At its maximum, nuclear energy is going to act like Mrs. Kala’s main crop.

So, the problem is that the way our nuclear industry is positioned today, it is going to do neither. It is neither going to act as an insurance policy nor is it going to act or have the potential to act as a fundamental source of energy. And, the reason it is not going to do so is because the hands of our scientists, the hands of our establishment are tied; they are tied because they do not have fuel on one hand, and on the other hand they do not have investment and technology.

Sir, I am very proud to say that our Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singhji has recognized both the problem and a potential solution. But it would be unfair of me not to accept that Shri Vajpayee also saw the problem and also, in his time, worked on the solution…

(Interruptions)…

Now, I have stated and all of us know that there is a problem with regard to our energy security in this country, and that we need to think about it in the long term. It is a problem that all of us need to solve working together.

As I said, senior leaders have also established that the way forward is diversification and reliance on more than one source of energy, a balanced portfolio that includes nuclear, hydrocarbon, solar and wind among others.

But, Sir, it is not enough to identify a problem and a potential solution. The magic of what Shri Manmohan Singhji is doing is that within the problem, he has identified an opportunity that is significantly larger than the problem itself. The opportunity our Prime Minister has identified is based on a simple fact. It is based on the fact that over the next 30-40 years, two countries are going to use the largest bulk of new energy that comes on line. These countries – China and India – have the ability to define the way the world’s energy moves.

Sir, what I am suggesting is that instead of looking at our energy problem as a problem, we start to look at our energy usage as an opportunity. Like a big buyer who goes to any market, we have the ability to shape the global energy industry, and energy is like no other industry in the world. Energy, as I said earlier, is used everywhere, in everything and in every aspect of economic and social life. Energy has destroyed nations and it has built nations.

Our old opponent, the British, grew to their prominence because they control coal. The United States today controls hydrocarbons. It has a large emphasis on hydrocarbons, and we all know how powerful they are. What I am suggesting is that we start to think like a big country, like a powerful country. Instead of worrying about how the world will impact us, we start worrying about how we will impact the world.

Many years ago, this country embarked on a path which many people did not believe in. We developed an industry called, IT industry and the telecom industry. Very few people believed at that time that India would ever play a major role in this industry. Very few people believed that the computer would have anything to do with empowering the poor and with changing the way this country worked. Yet, today all of us together see the impact of the computer. We see the revolutionary impact that IT and communications has had on this country, and it is important that we do not forget this. It is important that we do not forget this because I believe we are at the cross roads, very similar to the cross roads we were at when the decision on IT was to be made.

The decision here is not about three per cent energy or seven per cent energy. It is not about India’s usage of nuclear energy. If we look at the big picture here, it is about whether India can become a global power in a type of energy that is going to be very important in the future. We all know the problems caused by hydrocarbons. We know about pollution.

Earlier, one of the Members asked me to point out what is the connection between energy and poverty. We know the link between us depending on hydrocarbons and prices in India today. Sir, when we think about energy, when we think about nuclear energy, we must think about the poorest in the country. Contrary to what most people believed, when we thought about IT in this country, we were thinking about the poor in this country. It is something that is hard to cross because it is counterintuitive. But one must not underestimate the connections between industry, between energy and between the poor.

Sir, I have taken a lot of time. So, I do not want to go on for ever. But I want to make one last submission. I am very happy this House is now listening to.

The difference between a powerful country and a country that is not powerful and does not have a similar impact on the world stage is that the powerful country thinks about how it will impact the world. The country that is not so powerful thinks about how the world will impact it. , it does not matter which Government runs this country. Many Governments will run this country in the future. But it does matter how we think about our position in the world. What is important is that we stop worrying about how the world will impact us, we stop being scared about how the world will impact us and we step out and worry about how we will impact the world.

Sir, as I said earlier, I speak today not as a Congress person or a Congressman but as an Indian. I would like to say two other things before I conclude. The first is that we are all building this country together. We might have different views about how this country should be built. We might have different opinions on what we should do. But essentially we sit in this room together and we have to solve our problems together. This is what differentiates us and this is what gives us our true power that any voice can be heard in this room, that any voice can disrupt any other voice in this room. I am being serious. It is uncomfortable for me. But I am very proud of it that every voice can be heard in this country.

I would like to conclude by saying two things. The first thing is that we must never, ever let fear be our guide. We must never take decisions based on the fear of the unknown or what is going to happen if we act. We must only act with one rule and that is courage. The second thing I would like to say is that we are a country of a billion people; 70 per cent of us are young. I am old for this country; I am much above the average age. It is important to realise that this country is brimming with confidence and brimming with self-belief. Another point we must never forget when we take decisions as leaders in this country is that we have to believe in that, in our people and we have to have confidence in what we are capable of doing. We have to have confidence in what they are doing.

I think these are guides not only for Congress leaders, these are guides for every single Indian that when you do act, whoever you are, whatever opinion you have, act with courage and act with confidence. With that, together, we can change this country and impact the world.

To conclude, I would like to support our hon. Prime Minister and like to say that he has shown tremendous courage and confidence in the Indian people and I would also like to say and I say this as a youngster from this Party and as a youngster from that Party and all those other Parties that it does not matter what happens here today. What matters is that we start working together and we together try to solve the problems of this country.

I would like to support the motion of the hon. Prime Minister. Thank you very much