Kerala En'GULF'ed

The recently concluded investors’ meet by name “Emerging Kerala” has shown in very clear terms the destiny of Kerala. The fact that it was inaugurated by no less than the Prime Minister of India and the determined presence of Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission during its deliberations clearly indicates the way a comparatively less developed state like Kerala is going to emerge. Almost all the projects presented during the meet have an NRI content and most of them are based in the Gulf. This is only natural given the fact that a vast majority of NRIs from Kerala are based in the Middle East. But what is worrisome is the hidden agenda involved in all the projects under proposal, namely the allotment of land on free basis or on lease for long periods. And once allotted to an entrepreneur for a particular project, the chances of recovering it (even if unutilized) are very remote. Vast tracts of precious real estate are already in private hands by clever use of this tactic.   

Ruling dispensations in Kerala in contemporary times are really under the combined might of minority sections and the role of politicians and interests representing the unorganized majority is getting marginalized every day. This is reflected even in the number of ministers from the majority community in the cabinet. The free allocation of highly priced land in Kerala assumes great importance in this context. Most of the entrepreneurs from the Gulf represent certain ‘clear’ interests and vast tracts of prime properties are getting allotted by the powers who do not reflect the majority interests. For those have been following the events, the signs and symbols which signal the interests of organized sections in Kerala are very obvious. It is indeed a God’s Own Country, but the question of “Which God” is assuming great significance. Allegiance to foreign Gods are on the ascent through India and Kerala leads this say to sure doom. Forced, coerced  and lured religious conversions have already taken its toll in Kerala.

Another ominous sign that has great significance is the overwhelming importance for industry over agriculture in a predominantly agricultural society. One of the powerful people even went to the extent of suggesting that Kerala need not try to be self-sufficient in food, because the nation is already self-sufficient. This lopsided development philosophy has already ruined many states in the country and it is bound to have serious repercussions in pre-dominantly agrarian society like in Kerala. Everyone knows why Kerala is called the God’s Own Country? It is because of its lush green landscape which is only possible because of Nature’s bountiful blessings. Already overloaded with the highest density of population in the country, Kerala does not have any real estate other than for minimum domicile, agriculture and forests. Perhaps those who are conspiring against this arrangement do not want to control their population, but convert Kerala into an industrial society for their future generations to control.

Development to Disaster – Kerala Model

Kerala Model became widely popular in UN economic circles as an ideal one for any developing state in the twenty first century. The huge appreciation and wide publicity it obtained as a desirable economic model for ideal development of human society in an atmosphere of ‘justice and fairness to all’ was mainly due to the efforts of stalwarts like Dr. Amartya Sen and Dr. K.N. Raj. In classical economics, the scenario of any state attaining the highest levels of human development with the lowest levels of per-capita income is unimaginable. And that was exactly what the state of Kerala in the Indian union achieved in isolation in 1980s and 1990s. A lot of known and unknown individual and collective efforts have gone into its making, including the vast influence of leftist ideologies in a society having easier access to education thanks to the mushrooming of Christian missionary schools. But the situation has taken a complete turn since the start of this century.

Rao’s twin social warheads of liberalization and globalization (l&g) have worked wonders with all states other than Kerala. The percentage of people who have benefitted from the goodness of unlimited market forces let lose by l&g is a minimum in Kerala. Atleast two generations of Keralites owe it to the Leftists led by Krishna Pillai, AKG and EMS to have revitalized the left side of their brains to dream of a society full of equality, justice and true secularism. People from all sections of the society listened to them and believed in their words and promises. The unbelievable surge in Kerala’s human development index was a direct outcome of the goodness thus created. But when the ideology itself has failed and its leaders have turned looters, how can the surge continue? The downturn has been equally swift and we are now left with a highly unequal and unjust society which is almost fully communalized into four equal sections – Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Communists.

Reasons for Development

In addition to the distinct influence of Communism in Kerala’s social and economic arenas, there are a couple of associated aspects that triggered the development indices in 1980s and 90s. Migration to Gulf countries in significant numbers and the vast remittance of foreign exchange was one of them. The other one was the large scale change in agricultural pattern from food crops to commercial crops. Surprisingly both the factors have been necessitated by or influenced the governments in power. Naxalism was gathering enormous clout in Kerala when the employment relief valve provided by Oil & Gas boom in the Gulf provided an alternative avenue of employment for the youth. And the pioneering land reforms by the government forced the agricultural pattern in favour of commercial crops as an easy way to avoid the land ceiling act. Both these unexpected developments had enormous impact on the social life of Kerala.

The full implications of such a paradigm shift in the social landscape of Kerala took many more decades to dawn. When we analyse these two trails in perspective, the combination of an air of progressive leftism that prevailed then and the new opportunities that opened up all of a sudden took the whole state into a totally unexpected (and undesired) direction. No doubt that there has been an undeniable elevation of social and economic status of a major section of our society within a very short span of time. The quantity and quality of services available in the educational and health sectors improved drastically in a short span of time. Sections of our society could easily walk into avenues of opportunities with the kind of money the two new sources could generate. But the best part of the development picture got over by the end of last century sooner than expected and the nightmare had started.

Reasons for Disaster

Just like the two associated reasons for development, there are some for the disaster as well. The vast employment opportunity in the Gulf was definitely a boon for the huge number of educated unemployed Keralites. But the influence of extraneous considerations started skewing the recruitment pattern very soon. The growing influence of Islam in everything (including even business) in the Gulf was the important factor that upset the growth of a healthy pattern of competition and development. Knowledge of Arabic language, which is again related to religion, was another factor that changed the recruitment pattern for the Gulf. The net result was the disproportionate opportunities available and the sudden economic bonanza for a particular section of our society. Another section of the population utilized a similar set of criterion to get most favoured status in the West. Thus two of the demographic minorities of Kerala suddenly became formidable financial powerhouses.

Another factor that upturned the developmental applecart of Kerala is the spurt in commercial crop cultivation. More and more people turned into plantations of rubber, tea etc., as an easy way to avoid losing land to the landless. It is said that the land ceiling act was sabotaged by the wealthy planters by manipulating the Communists to exclude commercial plantations from its purview. Most of the wealthy planters belonged to a particular minority community and that distorted the social landscape even further. The unorganized majority not only lost large tracts of land but also lost out in their efforts to gain employment elsewhere. Thousands and thousands of acres of food cultivation land turned overnight into plantations with rubber, coffee etc. Successive governments which went full steam with land reforms had no ready made plans for rehabilitation of those who lost their only means of livelihood. Minorities were made happy at the expense of the unorganized majority.

Several decades down the lane, the situation in Kerala state is now a complete disaster. It has become the epicenter of terrorism fuelled by Gulf money, control room for co-ordinated religious conversion through out India with the help of Western dollars and above all a completely unsafe place to live in. Roads are in shambles and infrastructure in lacking in almost all fields we can think of. Distribution of drinking water, electricity and public transport leave much to be desired. Food cultivation is minimal and all Keralites are at the mercy of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh for their daily food. Things have come to such a pass that a majority of educational institutions have minority status and even affairs of Hindu temples are controlled by a government that is dominated by non-believers and other religionists. The very same aspects that made Kerala model famous once have turned satanic - Gulf money and Commercial crops - thereby threatening to bring down the state from development to disaster. Kerala Model is now infamous and a laughing stock.

Tragedy of Political Correctness

One of the major offshoots in USA from the recent shooting incident involving a Muslim Major in an American base is the raging debate on political correctness. If we analyse the incident and the issue involved we will be surprised about the lack of such a debate in India where such terrorist incidents are of far greater dimensions and that too when it has been happening for so many decades now. Except for the last few months, it was becoming far more easy to predict serial bomb blasts in India that kills hundreds of innocent people than making weather predictions. At one point of time many of us even believed that Today’s Terrorist Toll (TTT) will become an integral part of all news bulletins like Exchange Rates and Gold Prices. But Indians have become far more disposed to pain and sufferings than our American brothers thanks to our inclusiveness and the special brand of secularism (aptly termed pseudo-secularism) that we have developed in modern India.

In a democracy, being politically correct is far more important for politicians to attract votes in elections. Each and every politician is important in a democracy and capturing power to rule is the foremost goal of political parties. Each political party has a declared objective, but it is hardly of any use when it comes to electoral battles. Hypocrisy is the hallmark of parties and politicians in any democracy and political correctness is the height of hypocrisy. For example, no Indian politician will dare say candidly that religious conversion is nothing but silent terrorism. He or she knows for sure that electoral victory is lost forever if it is said so. The highly powerful organized religious outfits will ensure that such a honest politician never sees the state assembly or central parliament. Thus political correctness is such a treacherous and harmful attribute that runs in all democracies. To reflect its negative quality more markedly it should have been termed as political ‘corruptness’ rather than political correctness.

Political Corruptness

Most of the politicians and autocratic rulers are ultimately concerned only about their own seats. Getting more support than their equally adharmic competitors, capturing and clinging on to power by any means have become the sole intention of those who come to rule. Irrespective of the size and scale, this is the actual situation in any country where elections are held. They always tend to side with their support available enbloc just like the organized religious minorities in India and America irrespective of whatever misdeeds they indulge in. Be it miniscule groups planting bombs and killing innocents under the name of Jihad or religious poachers attempting subversion by demographic conversions, the rulers always tend to side with them because of the solid support base they can command. Politicians in a democracy always forget the fact that enbloc votes are assured from such groups only because of the lack of democracy within them. But only those who can appear politically correct can be assured of victory in today’s elections, especially in democracies having universal adult franchise.

Anything truly correct must pass the acid test of being fair, just and sustainable. This is exactly what is covered under the term of dharma in Sanatana Dharma. Being dharmic is to be associated only with fair, just and sustainable deeds and words. If we can accept such a correct definition for correctness, the correct stand in politics must always be one in support of dharma. Repeating untruth in order not to offend the few who are always offending us and not taking stands that can nurture the positive elements in a society are definitely not part of dharma or correctness. Politicians who go on to become rulers in a democracy must be siding with dharmic forces if their ultimate intention is betterment of society, nation and the whole world. Unfortunately that is not always the case. The real tragedy in all democracies is that political correctness has become an unavoidable pre-requisite for attaining leadership.

Dharmic Politics

Unquestioned political correctness is the single most reason for the fast degeneration of democracy into a not-so-preferred option for governance. If the essence of democracy is rule according to majority will it must support and nurture the dharmic aspirations of the majority. This should always be the case, irrespective of whether it is to the like or dislike of those in minority. Present day phenomena of majority will always yielding to the more organized unjust demands of those in minority may be political correctness but morally adharmic. Electoral systems in most functioning democracies are failing to come up with ideas to defeat the organized might of those in minority wanting to impose their unreasonable demands. Instead of ensuring a rule according to majority will, democracies have become majority rule according to minority will. Practicing dharma in politics is the only way to bring back the losing legitimacy for democratic governments.

Beauty of dharma lies in its applicability in each and every aspect of our life. If something is dharmic it means it is the best option. In politics too it is the best option to rekindle the spirit of democracy that is inbuilt in every human being. Being dharmic in political activities means the words and deeds are for the betterment of society. Those which are required are sustained and those which are blocking our dharmic progress are to be destroyed. This principle of dharma is equally applicable in the case of concepts and individuals. Kauravas and their organized unjust activities were equally adharmic for the betterment of human society at that time and both were eliminated without any other consideration. It is time for considering the same option in the case of democracy and politics as it is practiced today.

India and USA are considered as the biggest and strongest democracies in the world. No wonder that the tragedy of political correctness has taken its biggest toll in these two countries. If it is difficult in USA to get Congress approval for send more troops to crush Jihadi terrorism, it is far more difficult in India to get any law passed in Indian parliament for a complete ban on religious conversion by coercion or a uniform civil code. Both the issues are destroying the very basis of these secular nations, but the will of the majority is unable to do anything because of the pressure on elected representatives to appear politically correct to those holding minority opinion. A totally wrong notion is preventing the duly elected and authorized setup from doing what it is supposed to do. The only way for genuine democracy to flourish is by arranging a deep burial for the abhorrent concept of political correctness.

Suicidal Secularism

Rulers of any state would like to keep many things undefined. It is one of the proven ways to perpetuate their reign by offering different interpretations at different times for the same provisions even in a written document. When written and approved in 1950, Indian Constitution was one of the best written documents with all its provisions and omissions well deliberated and concluded. But almost all the subsequent amendments have made it ambiguous and dangerous to the majority in the country. Perhaps no other democratic country had so many amendments to its written constitution in the first fifty years of existence. Dirty minds and short-sightedness of some of our so-called national leaders are reflected in the attempted and achieved amendments to Indian constitution. But for a vigilant few in Indian parliament much more damage would have been done by now.

If the religious divide of India in 1947 and the Aryan Migration Theory (AMT) can be ‘credited’ to the cunning Christian mind of the looting British in retreat, the onus of all subsequent drama of distorting our constitution lies squarely with our own political leaders. Complete neglect of Sanskrit and a virtual ban of any governmental involvement in anything related to study of Hindu scriptures was the much highlighted achievement of the first governments in India immediately after liberation from the British. The policy thrust still continues - anything and everything related to Hindu must be discouraged and discriminated against. The guiding principle of almost all successive governments in Liberated India remains the same – that any encouragement for Hinduism or studying its scriptures will only result in bringing back ‘untouchability’, ‘sati system’ and loss of scientific temper of the society. It was the pet theory of the architect of our nation and its damage (perhaps unintended) has been devastating.

Deliberately Undefined

One of the most damaging features that has been manipulated into the round hole of our constitution is the square peg of undefined secularism. A simple search for the word on the net would yield its most common definition as “the assertion that governmental practices or institutions should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs”. Now close your eyes and search with your independent conscience whether any of our ‘governmental practices or institutions’ follow this principle. Almost all our major temples are under government control, we have several wakf boards and all the government policies are segregated religion-wise or community-wise or caste-wise. Even after 60 years of existence we have made no attempt to evolve a common civil code or even common education system irrespective of the religious beliefs. Yet the dirty politicians would prefer to have the word in our constitution so that all their sectarian and vote-bank politics can carry on without any hindrance.

The real history of India is well known to everyone by now. Even after one thousand years of various onslaughts it is still illuminating the world with ancient wisdom and continues to be perhaps the only guiding light towards a better world. But the plurality of its culture accommodating all religions and all types of people is a stark reality. It cannot be ignored or wished away by anyone whatever be their arguments. The simple reason is that we are dealing with human lives and not inanimate materials which can be rooted out and shifted elsewhere. But at the same time, the identity of India as a sovereign nation cannot be compromised at all. To reflect this in all Indians, the primary requirement is a declaration that our nationality comes first followed by our regional or religious backgrounds. The undefined Secularism that is making a mockery of our ‘Indianess’ is the biggest hurdle in this process. India needs to encourage a common system of social laws and education that is cent percent enforceable on all Indians.

Dangerously Ambiguous

Indians are always proud to announce that Indian Secularism is qualitatively different from its Western counterpart. While the State must insulate itself and ignore religions in the West, it is equal respect for all religions in the Indian context. It sounds perfectly logical to have such noble and lofty attitude towards religions in the land of Santana Dharma. Religions are so much intrinsically involved in our daily lives that ignoring them for carrying out just some of our official duties alone does not sound practical and logical. Equality for all religions is a perfect concept and it should be so irrespective of the number of followers each one of them has. But it is this graciousness of the majority community that is paving the way for its own destruction.

India’s peculiar brand of secularism stands out on one aspect – that all religions enjoy the same status but followers of some are ‘more equal’ than others. That is the only way we can explain the special privileges enjoyed by the so-called minorities. Proponents of vote-bank politics who vehemently argue for perpetuation of these rights must accept the simple logic that a minority set can exist only if there is a majority set in any system. In the context of Indian nation, who is such a majority? None according to the supporters of Indian brand secularism and Hindus according to its opponents. But when everyone knows that Hindu religion itself is divided into so many sub-sets and so also the Muslims and Christians, what is the logic of justifying special privileges for some of the sets. This ambiguity can go away only when the term secularism is defined in Indian constitution.

In the absence of such a clear and unambiguous definition for secularism in Indian constitution the social status of Hindus will continue to decline. All sorts of organised groups under the guise of minorities will continue to enjoy special privileges for their educational institutions, religious schools and personal laws. Their own organizations are garnering millions and now the shortsighted vote-mongers in the government are spending millions of money for their development. The majority who will languish without the protection of any such privileges or even basic rights will whither away in not so distant future. ‘Indianess’ of India is being systematically destroyed by the deliberate negligence of our own elected leaders. We must define very specifically what is secularism in Indian context or do away with that suicidal synonym once for all. And that needs to be done immediately if India is to survive as one single democratic entity forever.

True Minorities of India

Though typical of the Western mindset of first knowingly committing sins for their own short term selfish ends followed by repentance after ages, the recent scenes from Australian parliament of their new Prime Minister apologizing to Australia’s indigenous population was a highly symbolic act. A similar apology is long overdue from the British to the Indian people for their atrocities and plunder during 200 years of loot, but is yet to happen. The Australian apology makes sense within India too. Adivasis - the descendents of original tribes of India who decided not to change their lifestyle with the times - are facing very high discrimination and neglect in a modern democratic India. The socio-economic status of Adivasis in India is pathetic and all other Indians are equally responsible for their horrific conditions. In every sense, Adivasis happen to be the minority community in our society and they alone should qualify to enjoy all protection as the minorities in a democratic secular country like India.

A recent news item about an Adivasi tribe settled in the forest suburbs of the capital city of Kerala, one of the most socially developed states in India, is enough to highlight the levels of misery they have fallen to. A visiting journalist noticed an incomprehensible reluctance among all house owners while stating their most difficult concerns. He was expecting lack of food or clothing or sanitation facilities in response. But to our greatest horror we can hear lack of burial ground as the answer. Due to lack of land, the dead are buried within the ramshackle houses and there are already a few such burials inside each house. Only those of us with no conscience at all can listen to such truthful statements without any pain inside. Some of them went on to say that as soon a member falls sick the whole family starts worrying about the lack of space in their overcrowded burial hut cum house. It is a shame that we are unable to find a solution to the land problem of these original owners of our entire land.

Nature’s Children

Adivasis, as their name suggests, are the confirmed descendents of the original dwellers of this land. While most of our forefathers moved out of the forests, the Adivasis stayed on thanks to their insatiable love for Mother Nature. They are Nature’s children and should have the first preference in any land distribution exercise. The case of Adivasis of India is not exactly like the aborigines of Australia. In Australia it was foreigners who deprived the aborigines of their land, while in India it is the rest of Indians who are doing so. Adivasis are reluctant and resistant to change and those who wield power are unwilling to protect them as the real minorities. Many a time they are patronized by the dominant communities only for their own selfish requirements. Adivasis are used as disposable instruments in the land grabbing game played out by the rival migrant communities in many parts of India.

Children have future only if the mother has one. When greedy men are hell bound to grab land at any cost, there is very little that can be done to the forest lands which mothers the Adivasis. And if the whole effort is in an organized manner by organized communities, Adivasis have very little chances of survival. There has been a steady decline in the population of Adivasis since our liberation from British in 1947. As far as Adivasis are concerned, the liberation has been meaningless because only the colour of rulers have changed. Greedy migrant invaders from within India are not only grabbing their lands but destroying their livelihood as well. There are enough reasons to believe that the organized migrant communities have long term agenda and some of them are playing the game at the behest of their international masters.

Nobody’s People

Reason for the present condition of Adivasis in our country is so very obvious. Those without a collective identity are nobodies in an ocean of one billion in contemporary India. Collective bargaining (and blackmailing) becomes the only method of getting what is legitimately due (and more than that) in an unfair system. Universal franchise in a democracy is meaningful only if all beneficiaries are minimum educated to utilise the systems. Each Adivasi in India has a theoretical vote, but most of them do not know how to use and utilize the system to get what is legitimately theirs. Regular political parties and politicians ignore them because they know for sure that Adivasis do not know how to utilize opportunities in a democracy. And it is decades before any crafty politician will rise from Adivasi ranks to demand their legitimate due.

If the current trend continues, days are not far when we have to struggle to find an Adivasi community in India. Just like forest lands and wild animals, Adivasis are also losing out to the clever manipulative skills of modern Indians. These communities are resolute in displacing Adivasis from their lands. One visit to the northern districts of Kerala is enough to learn about this. The migrants have captured everything and their symbols now dominate the landscape of geography, economics and politics of these erstwhile Adivasi areas. The loud voices of looters resonate in lawmaking chambers and not the feeble cries of the looted. The poor and innocent Adivasis have lost their lands to the peanut monies and liquor offered by the clever and manipulative migrants. All that they can expect now is an apology and that too after a few decades.

In a modern secular democratic country like India, the minority status must go to those communities that are socially and economically backward and are also less in numbers. Co-existence of secularism and religious minorities does not make any sense and logic. It is a contradiction in every sense of the term. All citizens are equal irrespective of religion, colour and race – that is the true essence of a socialist democracy. But in India today we find each and every religion and caste clamoring for ‘minority’ or ‘backward’ status. Our politics of short sightedness is encouraging such a tendency which is what keep India undeveloped and underdeveloped forever. Adivasis of India are the lone legitimate minority communities and drastic land reforms are long overdue for giving back their legitimate lands.

Historic Opportunities

Life is a voyage and we come face to face with our destiny at least a few times during its course. This is true for individuals and even for nations. Liberated India had a few such occasions during the last 60 years. In 1947, we had the best opportunity to start on a clean slate with genuine secularism, essential socialism and progressive nationalism. But we missed the bus completely and boarded the wrong ones of pseudo-secularism, non-alignment and what not. Then we had another opportunity during 1980s when a government came to power with two-third majority in parliament and a youthful leader at the very top. We goofed again with retrograde legislations and blundering peace accords. The price we paid for all those blunders have been heavy so far. If only we had utilised those historic opportunities properly, India would have been among the top five nations in every sense by now.

After a long gap, the year 2007 looks promising for the Indian nation with several historic opportunities once again. At least three unrelated developments in the last few weeks have sounded the bugle for the leaders to wake up. Two of them have come from the court rooms in India and another interesting one has come from the cricket fields of distant lands. But those who sound the bugle are not the ones who can fight and win the battle. It is up to the leaders and laymen to act and convert the opportunity into victories. And that is not an easy task. Leaders must demonstrate their vision and political platforms must provide adequate backing to generate the required political and legislative momentum for taking tough but correct decisions. If we need to reverse our direction in certain wrong ‘comforts’ we are used to, it should be done with full understanding. Decisions must be taken after as much consultation as possible but once taken it must be enforced with force if needed. A little pain now will only lead us to prosperity and happiness in the days to come.

Reservation & Minorities

It is quite common in democracies to find the Parliament and Executive getting restless over the impediments put up by Judiciary during their sincere attempts to accelerate progress and development through unconventional (and often unconstitutional) fast tracks. But we in India have witnessed exactly the opposite in the last few weeks. Indian judiciary has offered historic opportunities for the nation to change for the better in two very important aspects of our social regime viz. reservations and minorities. While Supreme Court stayed the controversial 27% OBC reservations bill, Allahabad High Court has observed that any religious community with more than 18% of the population cannot be considered as a religious minority. Both are extremely controversial subjects in India and most of the real intellectuals keep away from it for fear of getting branded. But it is high time the patriotic Indians from all walks of life got together and used this opportunity for building a better Bharat by 2025 AD.

Those who are used to the convenience of irrational and illegitimate reservation policies so far are the real trouble makers. Their nuisance is compounded further by the proponents of vote-bank politics found in all mainstream political parties. It is a totally distorted notion that is spread by ‘reservation-maniacs’ that all those who are criticising the current reservation policies are dead against social justice and all forms of reservation. It is hard to imagine any Indian who has no sympathies for the socially and economically backward classes. We have suffered and struggled so much under foreign occupation and various forms of internal discrimination that reserving a part of our limited resources to the deserving few has become part of our culture itself. But is it rational for reservation to be eternal and unconditional? Shouldn’t there be a clear time frame to uplift all those who are currently backward? An all powerful commission must go into all aspects of backwardness in the country and put together a plan for time-bound reservation policy. It should be a comprehensive one-time reservation policy and all forms of caste and religious reservations must come to a complete full stop within a time frame. Thereafter all reservations must be based only on economic criterion.

The question of minorities is even more intriguing in India. While we are treating all religions as equal, as it should be, we are treating those who are following different religions differently. Some are majority and some as minorities. In twenty first century it is ridiculous for a secular state to treat its citizens differently on the basis or religion and caste. The concepts of secularism and minorities, now in use in India, are its Western versions and definitely not applicable for a country like India where followers of all types of religions and cults are available. Number of followers of various religions is ever varying and there are millions of people who are comfortable with multiple beliefs or beliefs of their own. Without going into the logic and wisdom of the Allahabad High Court, any rational and secular citizen of the country will hail the judgement. We can only hope that a majority of such people will also succeed in doing away with the concepts of majority-minority and caste reservations in our country soon.

Healthier Games

India’s well ‘deserved’ loss in the World Cup is yet another meaningful opportunity for the nation. Cricket of today is no more a game. It is an industry or a business with all its unethical undercurrents and manipulations unbefitting a sport. The alleged murder of a coach symbolises the sad state of this game more than anything else. Killing a teacher for failing in examination highlights the immoral depth to which a set of students can fall into. Millions of man-hours are wasted every day on cricketing industry and millions of black money is also generated by the mafia. The very nature of one-day cricket is such that there is absolutely no weightage for the health and stamina of players. All that matters is luck, manipulation and weather. A simple comparison of the competitive parameters of the players in games like cricket, football and hockey is enough to rule out cricket as a healthy game for a healthy nation. Cricket can never return to its ‘test’ days and the politicians will never get out of the lucrative cricketing grounds. It is time we abandoned this game and returned to hockey and football. Again the government can do this easily if the leaders have the will.

Most of such debates about the well being of our nation end up diffidently under the long shadow of calibre and integrity of politicians who lead us. One of liberated India’s biggest problems is the proliferation of career politicians. While it is true that no democracy can thrive without the tribe of politicians, it is equally true that we can avoid (or discourage) the growth of those who consider politics as a means of living. It is time that we got over the sight of handicapped political leeches (living on public money) deciding the fate of a youthful and vibrant democratic nation of more than one billion. As our founding fathers envisaged, the nation should be ruled by the elected youthful leaders (in Lok Sabha) and not the nominated oldies (in Rajya Sabha). True democracy is all about representation and only those who can get elected on the strength of a transparent manifesto should govern and decide our destiny. Historic opportunities come rarely and there is no excuse for those who miss it for any reason.