What is the connection between Kim Jong-il and Indira Gandhi? Well, no connection actually. But I thought there is some starking similarity between the two or perhaps between the two nations. Might not really make sense, but let me try and make some sense here.

1. The Father connection- Lets start with the father connection. Both had father’s who were responsible for the formation of the country. Well not exactly, but something like that. Nehru was partly/ wholly/ somewhat responsible for the division of India and creation of Pakistan. Fortunately for him he ended up ruling India. Going by similar analogy, Kim Jong-il’s father Kim-il Sung was the first ruler (leader) of the newly formed North Korea. Understandably the history of both nations and their respective formations are different. India was never a subject matter of the Cold War, while Korea was. But still this small similarity.

2. Dynastic succession – Well the second connection is the dynastic succession. Indira Gandhi, Nehru’s daughter succeeded Nehru (though not immediately) and Kim Jong-il succeeded his father. The circumstances differred however the principle of Dynastic Sucession remains. Both Indira Gandhi and Kim Jong-il ruled their respective countries with iron hand.

3. Handing over power into immature hands – Another similarity here is that of the next level of succession. Rajiv Gandhi aspired to be a commercial pilot. He was destined to take over from his mother. Power naturally came into his immature hands at the tender age of 40 (sic). How he handled this and established himself independently is altogether a different story. Kim Jong-il in the meanwhile is succeeded by his 28-something son Kim Jong-un. Power has landed into immature inexperienced hands (atleast the western media think so). How he handles this only time will tell.

4. Autocracy/ Dictatorship – The Korean leadership right from Kim-il Sung to his son Kim Jong-il have been outright autocratic. While in India it’s a altogether different case. It is a case of autocracy carefully blended into democracy. Sonia is the autocrat here. Her health is a well guarded secret, just the way Kim Jong-il’s health was. The family secret is well guarded. She has her trusted inner circle. And dont expect anyone in the ruling congress to speak out against this lady.  Too many similarities here. Let me just cut this out before Kapil Sibal or Digvijaya Singh or Manish Tiwari find out.

Our man Arnab Goswami catches the Prime Minister with his pants down on the CVC issue

We left for Bangalore by Shatabdi Express which left Chennai at 5.30 PM & reached Bangalore at around 11.15 PM. From Bangalore we boarded the Shimoga Express to Shimoga, which left Bangalore at around 11.40 PM.

We reached Shimoga early morning at around 5.30 AM. We were picked up from the station by a rowdy vehicle (Tata Sumo). From the station we drove down straight to Chikmagalur and checked into a cottage (which was some 38 Kms from Chikmagalur town). This place (Pakshikoota Homestay) is a cottage that is located in the middle of a coffee estate, as is the case with every other homestay in that area.

There are lots of places in & around Chikmagalur worth exploring viz., Hebbe falls, Mulayangiri (a hill station & a trekking destination), Kudremukh, Bababudanagiri , Kemmangundi peak, Kalhatti Falls and a few other places.  Though we couldn’t make it to all the places, we did manage to have a look at Hebbe Falls, Kemmangundi, Kalhatti Falls and a couple of other places in the adjoining area .

Next day morning we left for Shimoga and en route visited Jog Falls. Unfortunately for us, by its own standard, there was hardly any water in the falls.  Next, we thought of visiting Sahasralinga, but later decided against it and instead proceeded straight to Nittur.

Nittur, is a small village in Shimoga District situated on the backwaters of the Sharavathi River. This is quite a place and we stayed in tents (Nisarga Viharadhama). While at Nittur, we also tried our hand on kayaking (on the backwaters of Sharavathi River).  Back in the camp, we were served with some delightful food. The dining area is worth a mention as the arrangements in the dining arena was unique. Truly speaking, it was a completely different experience.

In Nittur, we were told about the sunrise from Kodachadri and why this that should not be missed.  We arranged a jeep ride up Kodachadri. We started from the Camp early in the morning at 4.30 AM and started the climb uphill in a very terrain & pitch dark conditions.  We reached Kodachadri at around 5.15 AM. Atop Kodachadri is the Moolasthana of Sri Mookambika Devi and the place where Adi Shankara is believed to have meditated.

Once back to the Nittur camp we kayaked in the backwaters of Sharavathi River and later proceeded to Hidlumane Falls.  We then proceeded to the Mookambika temple in Kollur. From Kollur, by late afternoon we left for Shimoga station, to take the night train to Bangalore, which departed at 10.05 PM.

We reached Bangalore in the morning at around 4.30 AM and from Bangalore took the Lalbagh Express to Chennai which departed at around 6.30 AM and arrived at Chennai the same day by noon.

My advise, if not for Shimoga, Chikmagalur is a must visit place. The mountains, the coffee estates, the food and the experience in general are all the things that make the place look awesome.  Do not miss it. Go experience it.!!

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“dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power , typically involving bribery;  the action or effect of making someone or something morally depraved”

Going by the above definition, the essential ingredients of corruption is that the ‘corrupt’ person must one, be in a ‘position of power’ and two, be morally depraved to indulge himself/ herself in such corrupt act. As the old adage goes “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely”.  Being in power is inevitable but being morally depraved calls for a serious discussion.  Morality is one topic the purists hate to discuss. The first question that comes up is how does one define morality or rather who decides what morality is? As the great Bhanot says, everything is ‘subjective’.

Moving on, corruption in Independent India is as old as its history. Corruption exists at every level. Corruption existed and still exists in every single government department. Every politician or minister is corrupt, only the degree varies.  In India corruption is deep-rooted. It has become a part of the Indian culture.  Corruption is where money power goes hand in hand with muscle power. The people don’t mind it as long as their work is done and have got used to it. People are mentally prepared to adapt themselves to the corrupt world.  I do it.  Everyone does it.

The problem is that in India corruption is more a moral offence than a legal offence. There is no law to punish the corrupt (unless it is painted as a fraud or cheating). Even if it is a legal offence, the system is too weak and corrupt to punish people for that.  It is the system which is to be blamed for protecting the corrupt, but cannot do much as it is the politicians who determine the system. Our Ministers or the Lawmakers are the people who propose and pass the law. To make things worse, the law enforcement is more a slave of the lawmakers than the Law.

Corruption is something that we Indians are very familiar with, as familiar as a India-Sri Lanka cricket series. Corruption is so deep-rooted that people demand money to even do their duty. The recent case where 11 postmen in Chennai were arrested for demanding bribe as low as Rs.20 to Rs.40 from old & aged people for merely delivering the Old Age Pension (the pension amount is as paltry as Rs.400), is a clear case of how corruption is prevalent even in the lowest levels of government employees. Corruption in the RTOs and Sub-Registrar offices is also well known.

One more instance of corruption is the scam involving the Regional Passport Officer Chennai Sumathi Ravichandran, who had directed issue of passport to various people including certain religiously inclined hardliners of a particular religion after accepting bribe, thereby even jeopardizing national security.  Even the judiciary is also not a stranger to corruption and the recent controversy involving Justice P.D.Dinakaran, who allegedly benefitted financially by misusing his position to favour certain private parties, proves this point. So is the recent controversy involving the Medical Council of India (MCI) who were involved in the issue of fake degrees. In all the above cases these individuals have some sort of a political connection which helped then provide legal immunity.

That apart, the much publicized Bofors scam involving a former Prime Minister, the shameful Coffin scam involving the former Defence Minister George Fernandes, the multi-crore fodder scam involving former Bihar CM & Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the criminal usage of the Surface Transport Ministry as an agency to award road contracts by former minister T.R.Baalu etc. are all instances of our politicians’ tryst with corruption.  The spectrum scandal worth thousands of crores of rupees involving A.Raja and the corruption arising out of mining activities carried out by the Reddy Brothers in Karnataka & Shibu Soren in Jharkhand are a few more serious cases of corruption in recent times.

The latest being the scam involved in organizing the CWG, which is a widely discussed topic. The CWG Chief Suresh Kalmadi, who has been at the helm of affairs of the IOA since the last 20 odd years is a serious case of corruption, who remains unquestioned. India had bid for the Commonwealth Games 2010 in 2003 & they had a solid 6-7 years to build the stadiums and the other related infrastructure.  The Government had generously granted Rs.70,000 crores of the taxpayers money to build it. What Kalmadi did was waste 6 of those 7 years and hurry up with the arrangements in the final year. The result – sub-standard constructions, unfinished stadiums, unmet deadlines and the national pride at stake. And on the question of where the entire Rs.70,000 crores went – no answer.

While it is true that people generally do not resent corruption and corrupt practices, there are some inspiring tales like that of Satyendra Dubey, who made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting corruption. This prompted the Whistleblowers Act, the effectiveness of which I am not very sure of. Similarly, the introduction of the RTI Act was another step taken in the positive direction to fight corruption, but it wouldn’t help much in pinning down the corrupt. For example, maybe through an RTI I can know that A.Raja has appropriated crores, but beyond that I would not be able to do anything Then there is also this interesting case of ‘Zero Rupee Note’, an initiative by a NGO to fight corruption, which is a nice initiative but is yet to pick steam. These all provide some sort of hope that together we can fight corruption.

The Government is run by a proxy PM. The Government consists of corrupt ministers. The PM is as impotent as any 75 year old is and is not able to control his ministers or his allies. The political climate prevalent in the country, the eternal curse of coalition politics, the necessity to remain in power, the authority without responsibility etc. are all factors which prevent the government from acting against corruption.  Elected representative are accountable to the public whereas selected representatives (RS members like MMS, Gill) are accountable to only a few individuals/ parties (Sonia & her Congress party).  The day the politicians realize their responsibility and accountability, corruption will gradually die its natural death. Hope I am not living in an utopian world.

PS: This is a rant. I have paid bribe but not sure whether I will continue to do so. But that doesn’t prevent me from ranting about corruption. So, please don’t ask me what I have done to prevent corruption. I have not done anything except write this silly post.

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Wow. Does Kumble mean that there is no pressure whatsoever while playing for the nation or does he seem to suggest that there is no one in the BCCI to haul up its players for non performance like the way Vijay Mallya does for his team? Wow. Really. That’s great news for Indian cricket and great words coming from one of India’s most respected captains.

Nobody (players) wants to blame the IPL for the recent debacle in the T20 ‘World Cup’. The reason for that is obvious. But one needs to analyze the reason for the debacle. Some say the IPL. Some say the IPL parties. While some say the tiredness/ fatigue among the players, but I personally feel that the players lack motivation while playing for the country.  Players are paid well and are worshipped back home, but still what makes us feel they lack motivation.

We perhaps can take a cue from the Australian team. We should analyze what motivates players like a Mitchell Johnson or a Michael Clarke or a Brad Haddin to do so well for their national team without getting lured to the riches of the IPL. We perhaps also need to understand the reason for Ricky Ponting’s total disillusionment for the IPL.  We also need to understand the Australian domestic structure, the treatment they mete out to their players at that level and their non-penchant for big names.

In India, the so called big players in the Indian team do not play domestic cricket. In other words, such players have a total disregard for domestic cricket.  They kick back the very system that brought them up.  For someone like Ishant Sharma, who has never proved himself in Ranji Trophy, the domestic cricket, till recently, was irrelevant to him. He was happy earning big bucks for KKR and took his place in the Indian team for granted.  So are few others in the current Indian team like Yusuf Pathan or Ravindra Jadeja, who have a great knack of performing for their IPL teams rather than for India.

Overall, the Indian team lacks pride. With pride comes motivation and with motivation comes performance. Once you start performing, you start winning. And winners only can become champions.  Vishwanathan Anand is a champion. Will our Indian team ever become champions? In the current scenario, I don’t think so.

“The phenomenon of ‘paid news’ goes beyond the corruption of individual journalists and media companies. It has become pervasive, structured and highly organised and in the process, is undermining democracy in India.” So finds the draft report of inquiry conducted into the phenomenon by the Press Council of India to be discussed by the full Council on April 26 in Delhi. The Hindu has obtained a copy of the report to be put up at that meeting.

The report is titled “Paid News: How corruption in the Indian media undermines Indian democracy.” It marshals a vast amount of material on the issue and is a compendium of media malpractice. It explicitly names newspapers and channels — including some of the biggest groups in the country — seen as having indulged in the “paid news” practice. The report could run into rough weather for that reason, with a few Council members reluctant about naming names. (Though it gives space and weightage to the denials of the media groups under the scanner.)

The “lack of consensus” over naming names also extends to the report’s reflection of the views of journalists’ unions which have called for strengthening the Working Journalists Act. The unions assert that the contract system of employment now in vogue undermines the independence of the journalist and the primacy of the editor. The Delhi Union of Journalists even informed the Council that “selected journalists had been targeted by managements of media companies for not acquiescing with such malpractices”.

Interestingly, many prominent politicians and public figures either deposed before the inquiry panel or made written submissions to it. Others also handed the panel their statements on the subject elsewhere. Across the spectrum, points out the report, even politicians normally loath to antagonise the media have complained bitterly about what many of them see as little more than extortion. A Sub-Committee of the Press Council, comprising Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and K. Srinivas Reddy, conducted the inquiry. Their report quotes opposition leader Sushma Swaraj’s statement that the “paid news” menace had “started out as an aberration, went on to become a disease and is now an epidemic”.

The report speaks of the “deception or fraud” that paid news entails as having three levels. First: “the reader of the publication or the viewer of the television programme is deceived into believing that what is essentially an advertisement is in fact, independently produced news content.” Second: “By not officially declaring the expenditure incurred on planting “paid news” items, the candidate standing for election violates the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, which are meant to be enforced by the Election Commission of India under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.” And third: “by not accounting for the money received from candidates, the concerned media company or its representatives are violating the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 as well as the Income Tax Act, 1961, among other laws.”

The report notes the “huge amount of circumstantial evidence that has been painstakingly gathered by a few well-meaning journalists, unions of journalists, other individuals and organisations together with the testimonies of the politicians and journalists who have deposed before the Press Council of India.” And says this “goes a very long way in establishing the fact that the pernicious practice of paid news has become widespread across media (both print and electronic, English and non-English languages) in different parts of the country. Interestingly, this phenomenon appears to be less pervasive in states (such as Kerala or Tamil Nadu) where the media is clearly divided along political lines.”

The report traces the emergence of the paid news phenomenon over years and phases including such forms of space selling as MediaNet and Private Treaties. “In pursuing its quest for profits,” it says, “it can be argued that certain media organizations have sacrificed good journalistic practices and ethical norms”. What began as individual or one one-off transgressions, it points out, became institutionalised over the years. “Private Treaties” involve deals where corporates pay media companies in shares for advertising, plus other, favourable treatment. The “Private Treaties” have also disturbed the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) which, as early as July 2009, wrote to the Chairman of the Press Council of India, Justice G.N. Ray, that such strategies “may give rise to conflict of interest and may, therefore, result in dilution of the independence of [the] press vis-à-vis the nature and content of the news/editorials relating to such companies”. SEBI “felt that such brand building strategies of media groups, without appropriate and adequate disclosures, may not be in the interest of investors and financial markets as the same would impede in them taking a fair and well-informed decision”.

The “Private Treaties” structure lost its sheen when the stock market crash of 2008 saw those shares acquired from corporates plummet in value. However, the media companies were still to be assessed for tax purposes at the old values prevailing at the time of such contracts. “Paid news” was one way out of this trouble. Since all the transactions were illegal and off the account books, it benefitted both media owners and politicians.

The report explores several ways to curb the menace of “paid news”. It seeks a far more pro-active role from the Election Commission for instance. It calls on the ECI to set up “a special cell to receive complaints about ‘paid news’ in the run up to the polls. Where a prima facie case is established, it calls on the ECI to initiate action against offenders.

It asks that the ECI nominate independent journalists or public figures to help monitor the phenomenon during elections. It calls upon media organisations to desist from having their correspondents “double up as agents collecting advertisements for their organisations and receiving a commission on that revenue”, instead of regular salaries, retainers or stipends.

The report also calls for giving regulatory bodies like the Press Council more teeth. It further appeals to media organisations to adopt a number of principles that would curb “paid news”. However, it recognises that self-regulation and civil society oversight, while welcome and useful, can tackle the problem “only to an extent”. There would have to be effective use of existing laws to “apprehend those indulging in practices that are tantamount to committing a fraud on the public”.

“nikhilnarayanan #FakingNews Suhel Seth says he has no opinion on Eyjafjallajökull eruption. @fakingnews“

“fakingnews Rakhi Sawant says she won’t expose now.http://bit.ly/9Rf9qA WTF! Then will she act and dance now? NOOOOO!”

“fakingnews Lalit Modi’s follower count on twitter has increased recently. All IT people are now following him #IPL“

“rameshsrivats #AfterIPLisNationalized Mayawati will ensure that it is run by some guy called Dalit Modi.”

“fakingnews #AfterIPLisNationalized franchisee not opting for any UP city will be declared anti-dalit”

“majorbuttretd What I learn phrom Yindian bolitics. If you want money, dont ask to give it to girlphriend (sunanda). Make it into a garland & wear it (mayawati)”

“sumeetjoshi @i_r_squared @fakingnews Hey @priyankachopra advetises for Nokia and tweets from Blackberry?”

“Pintu had a habit of eating nails off his hands. His parents took him to Baba Ramdev for treatment. Now Pintu can eat nails off his feet too”

“Videocon may buy Kings XI Punjab. What signal did they pick?”

“Next time u feel hungry, walk into an ICICI Bank & fill up a form for savings a/c with fake b’dday (on the same day) http://bit.ly/bqltPa“

“Dare to think beyond KKR” if Arindam Chaudhuri had an #IPLteam http://bit.ly/aSb91K (via @gkhamba)”

(to be updated….)

The Indian Premier League is an ingeniously conceived and spectacularly executed show. It features genuine sporting skills along with elements of the burlesque. Now into its third edition, it has acquired not just a mass following but also new cohorts of fans among those who did not know they would love cricket lite. But success has brought a stiff price: serious questions about the league’s integrity and internal governance. As controversies engulf the IPL’s Kochi franchise, acts of impropriety and wrongdoing are becoming evident at more than one level by more than one party. Suave Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor is Casualty No. 1 — for his so-called mentoring of the Kerala franchise. It is now established that with the stated aim of giving young people in Kerala, his home-State, a cricket team to cheer for, Mr. Tharoor sought to use the power and influence arising out of his public office improperly — in the interests of a business consortium that won the bid, Rendezvous Sports World. Although Mr. Tharoor is not a shareholder in Rendezvous, his close friend Sunanda Pushkar was given substantial ‘sweat equity’ in the consortium for no immediately apparent reason. Mr. Tharoor’s undue interest in helping a commercial enterprise exploit the IPL boom, prior to the bidding and also subsequently, is a prima facie case of ministerial misconduct. The Prime Minister must ask him to step down from his ministerial post immediately, pending an investigation into his conduct.

According to IPL chairman Lalit Modi, the Minister called him with a request not to make public the list of shareholders of the consortium. Mr. Tharoor admits he contacted Mr. Modi on the matter, although his version of the nature of his interest is quite different. The Franchise Agreement does have a confidentiality clause, which prohibits disclosure of the agreement, other than as might be required under the law, without the prior written agreement of both parties (the consortium and the IPL arm of the Board of Control for Cricket in India). But there is no justification for the existence of such a clause in the first place. The IPL draws heavily on public resources, not only for security purposes, but also in terms of tax exemptions and tariff concessions. There is an undeniable public interest in requiring consortiums bidding huge amounts for cricket franchises to disclose to the public their funding sources and shareholding particulars. However, Mr. Tharoor is not the only one in the dock in this murky affair. A Kochi consortium co-owner has alleged that Mr. Modi offered the owners $50 million as a ‘bribe’ to withdraw from the bid after they had won it. The IPL Chairman has strenuously denied this. Actually, the original invitation to tender for ascertaining the two new franchises was cancelled after BCCI president Shashank Manohar found that stiff clauses involving binding financial obligations were included without the IPL governing council’s approval. The subsequent tender invitation dropped the clause requiring the bidders to demonstrate a net worth of $ 1 billion and to pay an advance guarantee of $ 100 million. Evidently, within the IPL, there are serious conflicts of interest and vested interests lobbying for, and acting clandestinely on behalf of, big business and powerful politicians. The league owes its success to millions of cricket fans across the country and, to some extent, abroad. The time has certainly come for the BCCI as well as government authorities to look into the nature and size of the amounts flowing into the IPL, and ensure greater transparency and accountability on the part of both the organisers and the franchisees.