Most Influential Person of the Year

If one wants to acquaint oneself with the most influential person in any given year, the Time magazine provides an excellent clue. And this year too, it does not seem to have disappointed.

With revolutions being the order of the day, it has very rightly chosen the 'Protestor' as its person of the year. Although the word is very generic and does not allude to any one person, it could very well have been a gentleman called Mohamed Bouazizi. Indeed, he was the one whose sacrifice by way of self-immolation produced the spark that eventually engulfed continents ranging from Asia and Europe to the US and Russia. And what was he protesting for? A life of dignity and the ability to earn two square meals a day. That's it, nothing more.

It is certainly the paradox of our times that while we are supposed to live in an era of unprecedented wealth and prosperity, a mere loaf of bread sparked the kind of revolution we saw in 2011 and may even continue to see in 2012. Does anyone have an answer to this anomaly? We believe that most of it has to do with the fact that while we have grown enormously prosperous, welfare of each and every individual has not kept pace. By way of political oppression, lack of property rights and other such inhuman means, the gap between haves and have-nots has only widened over time. And with most pleas to correct the same falling on deaf ears, protests seemed to have acquired the status of the means of last resort.

The above is from "5 minute wrap-up", a news mail I receive from Equitymaster.com

It is ironical that our MPs who were just a few months backs grovelling in front of Swami Ramdeo and Anna have suddenly found their voice just because Anna was not able to carry forward his agitation because of ill health.
Suddenly, they have tossed away the Lokpal bill to the dustbin.
This is the behaviour which causes revolution.
The people have not lost interest in Anna's agitation but the inclement weather has rightly made them think twice before going out.
Our MPs are taking this as a sign of dwindling interest in Anna's agitation, have gone back to their old ways of promoting corruption.
How wrong they are going to be proved - only time will tell.