Dear Mr. Kapil Sibal

Dear Mr. Kapil Sibal

I hope you will forgive this intrusion. I do understand how difficult it is to work under a woman boss who doesn't understand that Freedom of Press is the cornerstone of our  Democracy. I understand that you are an educated well meaning man, who is forced to do mind-numbingly ridiculous things dictated by her.  We knew this the last time you were sent to meet that clown Ramakrishna Yadav (AKA Baba Ramdev) at the airport in an attempt to appease him.  And being a faithful servant of the Gandhi household you, rather reluctantly, did try to calm the situation, of course, without any effect.


Regarding the Lok Pal Bill, I clearly remember reading that you said corruption can end if existing systems are rectified. But now you say that "Objectionable" content should be removed from the internet. 


Mr. Sibal sir, Facebook, Google and Twitter are  respectable organisations that do have strong policies and terms of service in place that promptly remove objectionable content. As far as they are concerend, existing systems do work quite well, in fact much better than any of our Governments' systems. 
You are a sensible guy, I am  quite sure you did not mean to censor the internet as a whole. Your real concern was with this.

"A New York Times report on Monday that said Kapil Sibal called executives about six weeks ago and showed them a Facebook page that maligned ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi and told them it was "unacceptable"."  Times of India 

So, I do understand that the real issue is not about  pornography, terrorism, racism,  inciting religious hatred or any of those thing you want us to believe.  Sir we are stupid, but not retarded. It's obvious that you, or rather your boss, is simply  upset about people ridiculing her and her close family members. 


Mr. Sibal we are a very forgiving bunch. You should know that better than any of us. After all we did elect you and some of your buddies (who, of course, are now thankfully in prison). 


You should know very well that several concessions have been made to favour the Gandhi dynasty,  and we will gladly continue to do so.  We have already allowed Ms. Gandhi's son-in-law, who has never ever held any government office, to be exempt from security checks at airports. Which sensible country would tolerate such a thing? But we did, didn't we? So please do not think even for a moment that the people of India will object to many more such royal concessions. 


What you should have clearly stated at the press conference was the following. "You have all the freedom to criticize and ridicule anyone other than the Gandhi Family and her royal family members". 


As I mentioned to you earlier, we are a very stupid bunch with a very short attention span. The next time one of our MP's get slapped or worse if they land up in jail, we would have forgotten all about these silly things and get on with our wretched lives. You may even be able to breeze this bill  through parliament within 15 minutes without even as much as a tweet from our beloved MPs. 


After all how many of our folks even have an internet connection? How many of our MPs use the internet? I am sure you will ensure that the costs of accessing the internet will remain beyond the grasp of our "Aam Jantha", So trust me don't even worry about it.  Go ahead and do the needful. 


Thank you


Yours faithfully


Nishad Kaippally

ദേശദ്രോഹി

Baba Ramdev to declare assets, defends call to arm
s

On Wednesday, the Baba had said he would build and train an army of 11,000 men and women to fight corruption and warned the government that the next time there was police action at a protest, his supporters would be armed and would retaliate.  [Source - NDTV.com]

11,000 ആയുധ ധാരികളായ അഴിമതിക്കെതിരെ പോരാട്ടം നടത്താൻ ആഹ്വാനം ചെയ്യുകയാണു ശ്രീ രാമകൃഷ്ണ യാദവ്. 

IPC Section 117 ഇപ്രകാരം പറയുന്നു

Whoever abets the commission of an offence by the public generally or by any number or class of persons exceeding ten, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

IPC Section 141 ഇപ്രകാരം പറയുന്നു

An assembly of five or more persons is designated an "unlawful assembly", if the common object of the persons composing that assembly is-
First-To overawe by criminal force, or show of criminal force, 1[the Central or any State Government of Parliament or the Legislature of any State], or any public servant in the exercise of the lawful power of such public servant; or
Second-To resist the execution of any law, or of any legal process; or
Third-To commit any mischief or criminal trespass, or other offence; or
Fourth-By means of criminal force, or show of criminal force, to any person, to take or obtain possession of any property, or to deprive any person of the enjoyment of a right of way, or of the use of water or other incorporeal right of which he is in possession or enjoyment, or to enforce any right or supposed right; or
Fifth-By means of criminal force, or show of criminal force, to compel any person to do what he is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do what he is legally entitled to do.

IPC 123 ഇപ്രകാരം പറയുന്നു,

Whoever by any act, or by any illegal omission, conceals the existence of a design to wage war against the 1[Government of India], intending by such concealment to facilitate, or knowing it to be likely that such concealment will facilitate, the waging of such war, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

കൂടാതെ 120B യും ബാധകമാണു. 

ഇതനുസരിച്ചു് അനുസരിച്ച് രാമകൃഷ്ണ യാദവ് ഇന്ത്യക്കെതിരെ യുദ്ധം പ്രഖ്യാപിച്ചതിനു് ഷിക്ഷിക്കപ്പെടേണ്ടതാണു്.

  

I don't Care Who Anna Hazare is. I care about what we intend to do.

Who Anna Hazzare is, was or will become, is irrelevant to me. He could be an icon of the opposition to harp about till the end of this Parliamentary election.  He could be the next anti-Christ for all I care, but what he did is certainly commendable.

He created an awareness on the rampant corruption that has started to erode and threaten the very fabric of our nation.

There is absolutely no doubt that we the citizens of India have to address this problem if we have to qualify for the title of The Greatest Democracy on Earth.

Unfortunately Ann Hazare or any of his buddies are neither legal experts nor elected representatives of any constituency in India. As it stands the draft proposal has too many loop holes, inconsistencies and filled with questionable motives. These issues can do more harm than good in the fight against  corruption.

A body that is arbitrarily populated with hand-picked members from within civil society cannot be entrusted with the task of arresting Democratically elected members of any house of the people.

A body that has been paid by the government to do the task of investigating corruption cannot retain 10% or any portion of the funds ceased from an investigative operation as Intensive. A corruption redressal system that equates itself to the Supreme Court of  the Country should not operate like Credit Card Collection agency or Parking meter attendants.

What we have to do now is discuss the Lokpal bill in the finest detail possible by checking if they are in violation of our constitution and fundamental rights.

With all it's corrupt and unqualified members in both houses of our parliment, I still have some confidence in our law makers. The proposed bill in its present form cannot and most probably will not even pass through the first reading in Lok Sabha.  At least the bureaucracy of this nation will not allow that to happen.

Lets stop worrying about an old man in an ashram and worry about what we can do to improve this bill.

So Anna Hazare did a good thing. The old guy fasted for a few days and got the government moving their asses on something that should have been done 40 years ago. Kudos to him. Make no mistakes the man does have balls to stand up to all this corruption. Even though you are a Gandhian, I salute you sir.

And then I read this: Jan Lokpal Bill version 1.9


Whoever drafted this document  needs to be whacked in the head with a baseball bat. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that there is a need to formulate a bill to form a body of ombudsman to check the rampant corruption within our bureaucracy. When I say rampant I mean ridiculously gargantuan scales of rampant. If "rampantness" had a scale it would be blowing its springs by now.

However the spirit of the bill should be appreciated. Institutionalized Corruption within our system has reached unprecedented proportions, and our citizenry is tired of it. The mass rally in support of Anna Hazare's fast is proof of public outrage. No doubt there are errors, and flaws in the draft proposal. But that does not invalidate the need for such a bill. Yes it's a shitty bill but that does not by any way mean that we have to put up with the ongoing corruption and graft in Government and corporate offices. Having said all that, the bill is still what it is draft. Poorly written with too many arbitrary conditions, one sided and naive in its wording.  A boy scouts hand book would have better logic.

My reservations on the draft bill are the following:

Section 6
A selection committee consisting of the following shall be set up:
a.Two senior most judges of Supreme Court
b.Two senior most Chief Justices of High Courts
c.All Nobel Laureates of Indian Origind.Last three Magsaysay Award winners

(Regarding b and c) These awards are just too arbitrary criterions that have no bearing on the individuals ability to choose the right person(s) to be in this committee. And why Nobel Laureates of Indian Origin? Let's see now, I can think of only two  would qualify for this position. These Nobel laureates  may be smart but I have no Idea why these two non-Indians be part of this committe? Are we running out of  qualified Indians to do the job in India that we have to ask retired college profs to do our dirty work?


The bill in its present form gives the possibility for unelected non-indian citizens to be in the selection committee that chooses Chairperson and Members.

Section 12
Lokpal to be a deemed police officer:
(1) For the purposes of section 36 of Criminal Procedure Code,the Chairperson, members of Lokpal and the officers in investigation wing of Lokpal shall be deemed to be police officers
That's interesting because earlier on page 10 we read.
9. Issue of Search Warrant, etc.
(1) Where, in consequence of information in his possession, the Lokpal
may by a search warrant authorize any Police officer not below the rank of an Inspector of Police toconduct a search or carry out an inspection in accordance therewith and in particular to, -(i) enter and search any building or place where he has reason to suspect that such property,document, money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing is kept;(ii) search any person who is reasonably suspected of concealing about his person any articlefor which search should be made;(iii) break open the lock of any door, box, locker safe, almirah or other receptacle forexercising the powers conferred by sub-clause (i) where the keys thereof are not available.

So they are essentially assuming the role of Police. Which also means members of the Lokpal can arbitrarily enter any premises and cease any documents just on a hunch. Not good people, not good at all. That simply is giving too much power in the hands of individuals who are not trained in the management of law and order. And that too in a nation notorious for being corrupt.

Section 27Protection- (1) No suit, prosecution, or other legal proceedings shall lie against the Chairperson

or members or against any officer, employee, agency or person referred to in Section 14(4) in respect 

of anything which is in good faith done while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official 

duties under this Act.

(2) No proceedings of the Lokpal shall be held to be bad for want of form and except on the ground of

jurisdiction, no proceedings or decision of the Lokpal shall be liable to be challenged, reviewed, quashed 

or called in question in any court of ordinary Civil Jurisdiction.

Essentially the chairperson is untouchable. Come on people, do we really want to give so much power to one individual? That too in India !?

Perhaps the chap who wrote all this got carried away, or perhaps he was watching some re-runs of the Mahabharat episodes, or he was just plain smoking some really weird shit.

People lets remember that We the people are the ones who are so fucking corrupt that we don't even have calculators to count the number of zeros in 1,76,000, crores. How can we entrust a bunch of foreign  college professors and novelists to regulate themselves. They are not even under our jurisdiction. If shit happens they would be on the first plane back to where they came from.

We need to really work on our documentation skills. What ever checks and measures we cook up it should never, never ever be at the expense of civil liberties.

Quality of our Democracy

Gandhi park, Chalai, Trivandrum

I wrote this comment on the Facebook Page of Koyamparambath Satchidanandan
There has to be a fundamental shift in the way we Indians perceive


the Government. Our nation was gripped in servitude to some form of superiority. Be it the feudal upper castes or land lords and kings. This sense of servitude was an advantage to the foreign traders who latter saw the opportunity and became imperial occupiers. Today our nation suffers from the very same sense of servitude and submission to a distant higher authority.

The manifestation of the factor can be seen when we see how people clearly distinguish politics and politicians as an external superior entity, far removed from the lives of the general public. The fact that the entire democratic process is meant to represent the interests and goals of the people seem to be a distant concept. It is sad that the concept of "Them" and "Us" still perssist even within our democracy. It is we who elect these men and women to parliament in the first place. Centuries of unquestioned servitude to the superiors have simply blinded our vision of corruption and abuse.

Change in the form of an amendment of the Constitution is in order. It should be a constitutional crime not to vote for the parliamentary election. Those who do not partake in this democratic process should be levied extra taxes or something to that effect. I would like to draw on some ancient Platonic concept of democracy when I say this: Those with more dependants should be allotted that many number of votes as well. Since one adult individual represents the interests of several minor individuals.

The quality of our democracy varies from state to state. A large portion of our elected representatives are either corrupt, unqualified or under-qualified to effectively execute the job. Those who elect these individuals to power are also not exactly the 40% or so educated ones from our country. Hence the resulting picture at the parliament is a poor representation of our great nation. On the whole the performance of the Indian parliament ranges between mediocrity and a C-class tamil comedy. It is high time some tangible effort is made to increase the quality of our democracy by incentives and, if necessary, taxes.

The dissolution of our democracy.

There has been an amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act
The crucial elements of this ammendment are detailed in this report.

If a suspect is caught with "weapons," the law will presume the accused is guilty; in other words the burden of proof will be shifted from the state to the accused, thereby violating one of the most essential principles of civil liberty—"innocent until proven guilty."

In short the maxim of Indian jurisprudence has been re-written to read: "Guilty until proven innocent".

The time has come for the witch-hunt. Ethical journalists, human rights activists, honest people and bloggers will all be suspects. There are few option available under this new law. Either shut up and watch our nation turn into a Police State or end up in jail. It is tragic that this was the only solution our lawmakers could think of when threatened by a few hired thugs. One billion people will be subjected to this medieval law. I seriously wonder how this could happen in this day and age.

I see the Indian democracy dissolving into insignificance. I never thought I would say this but I am forced to say this: I now wonder what a civilized state like Kerala is doing in this union of medieval numskulls.

Change we can believe in

So everything is back to the oft-dreaded perfect normalcy. The commandos have returned to their barracks. The politicians in their party offices scheming on new political offensives. The smugglers have resumed their shipments. The hawala is running in top shape. The babus are back in their municipal offices making space under their tables. The police are back to.. whatever Mumbai policemen usually do. The bereaved families are mourning in silence. And the City swings back to where it left off on 26th November.

And last but not least the everlasting sign of our nations progress: Thousands of masala TV channels and so-called news channels dishing out a combination of bullshit and sad excuses for entertainment to the masses. The people are satisfied. The sponsors are satisfied. The agencies are satisfied. The rating looks better than ever. Nothing can stop them, not even the death of a few hundred. Aaaaaah its just brilliant.

Some half backed 'geniuses' on the News Channels have equated this calamity with the one the Americans endured not so long ago. They call it "9/11". It wouldn't make much sense if we start calling it 26/11 since our months appear after the date. (Those crazy Americans change everything!). So to sound a bit cool our news anchors call the Mumbai attacks "India's 9/11". I know it's a sinister attempt to connect the two attacks to the same source.

Oh, and a reminder about that analogy to 9/11:. Right after 9/11, almost all American sitcoms and cable channels delayed new programming for weeks, to mourn their dead and to re-think the direction their nation needs to take. Such was their shock and their reaction to the events. They did not "bounce back" the next day. They did not show "resilience". And later they bounced back so hard that they landed in Afghanistan and kicked every butt in sight. For better or for worse they landed in Iraq and did some more butt kicking.

I should not be comparing our nation to the west.

But, this is not the time for us to sit before the idiot box and watch boob-shakers and bum-movers. I would urge our ardent television audience to voice your protest to them. And keep this terrible event fresh in the nations hear. If not for a year at least for a month.

So far most of the entertainment television channels have not disrupted regular programing. I can understand how this will affect those valuable ratings and sponsorships. But these are extra-ordinary times which call for extra-ordinary measures. Its natural for humans to try and forget unpleasant events and replace them with pleasant ones. This should not be the case here. The objective should not be to forget and forge ahead. We should forge ahead fueled by our spirit for change. And these memories should remain fresh in our minds. The media should keep the fire burning. Our people need constant reminding of these events in order to affect that change.

We cannot expect governments to do the right thing at their pace. Its time to question the delays and the failings of this operations. Its time to question why our intelligence and logistics failed. We cannot be satisfied with excuses as to why it took almost three days to neutralize 8 terrorists. We should not be satisfied with the resignations of a few ministers. Unfortunately we lack leaders who can inspire and lead. So let me quote Obama here. We need Change we can believe in.

There are minds in our nation that sympathize with these men who took our nation hostage for three days. Lets realize that this is the new reality we have to live with. Unless we are ready to acknowledge the real enemy there will be no solution to this menace. We have been consumed, to the point of no return, with extreme secularism that has numbed our minds into hopeless pacifism.

Unless we find the resolve and courage to stop religious extremism in our cities, villages, homes and minds, this will forever remain an escalating threat to our sovereignty.

p.s: Raj Thakkarey, Its safe man, you can come out now. Mumbai has been saved by brave Indians which also includes Biharis, Malayalees, Gujrathis, Rajasthanis and everyone else.

You may find this post also interesting സഹകരണ മതേതരത്വം എന്ന പുതിയ ഗോഷ്ടി

ചൈന ഒളിമ്പിക്സിനു ആദിത്യമരുളുന്നു

China Hosts the Olympics

അമേരിക്കന്‍ മലയാളി (?)

അമേരിക്കന്‍ തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ് തകര്‍ത്ത് നടക്കുന്നുണ്ടല്ലോ. അമേരിക്കന്‍ തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ് അമേരിക്കകാരുടെ വിഷയമല്ലെ. ശരിയാണു്. അമേരിക്കകാരുടെ സ്വന്തം വിഷയം തന്നെ.

എനിക്ക് ചില ചോദ്യങ്ങള്‍ അപ്പോഴും മനസ്സില്‍ ബാക്കി.

വിദേശ പൌരത്വം സ്വീകരിച്ച മലയാളികള്‍ മലയളത്തില്‍ ബ്ലോഗ് എഴുതുന്നുണ്ടോ?

ഉണ്ടെങ്കില്‍ അവരില്‍ നിന്നും അവരുടെ അനുഭവങ്ങള്‍ (നാട്ടില്‍ 2nd Show കഴിഞ്ഞ വയല്‍ വരമ്പത്തുള്ള കരിക്ക് മോഷ്ടിച്ചതും, "മൂവാണ്ടന്‍ മാവിന്റെ മാങ്ങ തൊലിച്ചതും" അല്ല !) പുതുമയേറിയ അനുഭവങ്ങള്‍ കേള്‍ക്കാന്‍ നമുക്ക് താല്പര്യമില്ലെ?

അമേരിക്കയിലും ഇല്ലെ അമേരിക്കന്‍ പൌരത്വം സ്വീകരിച്ച മലയാളികള്‍? കാണും അല്ലെ? ഒന്നോ രണ്ടോ ബ്ലോഗുകള്‍ ഒഴികെ ഈ വിഷയം മറ്റെങ്ങും ചര്‍ച്ച ചെയ്ത് കണ്ടില്ല. അവര്‍ അവരുടെ രാഷ്ട്രീയ നിലപാടുകള്‍ കേരളത്തിലെ ജനങ്ങളുമായി പങ്കുവെച്ചിരുന്നു എങ്കില്‍ എത്ര നന്നായിരുന്നു എന്ന് ഞാന്‍ പലപ്പോഴും ചിന്തിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്. അമേരിക്കന്‍ രാഷ്ട്രീയത്തില്‍ മലയാളികള്‍ സജ്ജീവമായി പ്രവര്‍ത്തിക്കുന്നില്ലെ? ഉണ്ടെന്നാണു് ഞാനറിഞ്ഞത്. പക്ഷെ അതുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട വിവരങ്ങള്‍ ഒന്നും മലയാളത്തില്‍ ബ്ലോഗില്‍ എഴുതുന്നില്ലായിരിക്കും.
ദൈനംദിന കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ കൈകാര്യം ചെയ്യാന്‍ മലയാളം അനുയോജ്യമല്ല എന്നൊരു ധാരണ ഉണ്ടായിരിക്കാം. പള്ളിപ്പാട്ടും, ബൈബിളും മാത്രം വായിക്കാനുള്ള ഭാഷ ആയിരിക്കാം. മലയാളം വളരെ അപര്യാപ്തമായ ഭാഷയാണു് എന്നൊരു ധാരണ ഉണ്ടായിരിക്കാം.
എന്നാല്‍ "ചന്ദ്രനില്‍ പോലും മലബാറി ചായ വില്കുന്നുണ്ടല്ലോ" എന്ന പ്രപഞ്ച സത്യം ഞാന്‍ ഓര്‍ത്തു. പക്ഷെ മലബാറി ചന്ദ്രനില്‍ പോയാല്‍ അവന്‍ അവിടുത്തെ മണ്ണില്‍ അലിഞ്ഞുപോകും. മലയാളം ഓര്‍മ്മകളുടെ ഭാഗം മാത്രമായി തീരും. A vestige of nostalgia. A language of memoirs on the verge of extinction.