Are there any other leaders in India besides Nehru, Indira and Rajiv?

On 2nd October, we have the birthdays of twp persons, Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

While one of them are remembered, the other is forgotten.

Its not surprising.

For the Congress, there only three leaders who existed in India.

1.Jawaharlal Nehru

2.Indira Gandhi and

3. Rajiv Gandhi.

Have you notice that 90 % of everything is named after these three people as if there was nobody else in India.

One of the greatest regret that Congressmen have is that they were not able to name MNREGA after any of these leaders as probably they were not in the government.

One of the first things any new government does after assuming power in the centre is to start renaming all these projects named after the three.

The second would be to withdraw the permission given for FDI by the Congress.Any MNC coming to India under FDI should be forewarned that they will lose their permit if the government changed.

Kejriwal to announce formal entry into politics today

Twelve days after his split with Anna Hazare, activist Arvind Kejriwal will formally enter politics on Tuesday with the announcement of a political party.

Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia said the announcement will be made at a function in the Constitution Club in New Delhi on Tuesday morning.

The vision of the party, constitution and selection of members and candidates will be stated at the function, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanthi.

An internal Lokpal will also be appointed by the party to probe cases of impropriety. The name of internal Lokpal, a retired judge, will also be announced Tuesday. Ahead of the announcement, Kejriwal and Sisodia met Anna Hazare who was in the city on Monday to chalk out his future course of action with regard to an apolitical anti-corruption movement.

Hazare has been opposed to the movement turning political and parted ways with the pro-party group led by Kejriwal on September 19 after a meeting in the national capital The veteran activist had attacked the Kejriwal-led group, saying they had not responded to his questions on how to present a political alternative to the people in the fight against corruption and dubbed the path of politics as one "full of dirt".

Kejriwal earlier said they were not entering politics to acquire power as politics is yet another tool for strengthening of the anti-graft movement.

The proposed party is likely to first test its strength in the Delhi assembly polls next year, skipping this year's assembly elections in BJP-ruled Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

Earlier, the Kejriwal-led group had decided to form a preparatory committee consisting of 80-100 members, including some retired judges, to chalk out the details of formation of the party.

It was also decided that an internal Lokpal, having retired judges as its members, will be constituted to ensure internal discipline within the party. The preparatory committee, however, was not formed despite the plan of having its first meeting on August 26.

I am sure crores of Indians will be welcoming this giant step by Kejriwal and his group. This will give us a fourth alternative.

Up to now we have to select between the equally corrupt Congress and BJP with a third choice of Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Karunanidhi, Chauthala, Sharad Pawar, Raj Thakre. What a colourful choice.

Now, we must thank God for a fourth choice.

May this new party live long and flourish and give us Indians a clean government.

By the way, I have given two pictures on top.

Whom would you prefer as your PM in future?.

Will Mayawati too ditch the Congress?

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government is finding itself being squeezed and cornered from more than one direction. While Mamata Banerjee [ Images ] has begun to shop around for new allies and has threatened a no-trust vote, after parting ways with the Congress, there may be further bad news in the days ahead with Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati also likely to withdraw support from the UPA government.

Highly placed sources in the BSP disclosed that the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister has convened a meeting of her party in Lucknow on October 9, where she may announce her decision on withdrawing outside support to the government. Her reasoning is said to be based on the logic that with both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party looking down and out, an early election would work to the advantage of the BSP and the Samajwadi Party, and the bulk of the seats would be divided between these two parties. This would give her a bigger foothold to play a role in national politics.

The reasoning within the Congress is that Mulayam Singh Yadav would go with Mamata Banerjee as a tie up between the two is on the cards. To prepare for that eventuality senior leaders had approached Mayawati to become a part of the government in a bid to lend it a degree of stability, but she is learnt to have declined the offer.

With Mamata Banerjee coming to Delhi and holding a rally in the capital against Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail, she has announced that she may be looking at various options to corner the government in the winter session of Parliament and has not ruled out moving a no-confidence motion against the Dr Manmohan Singh led UPA government.

She shared the dais with the National Democratic Alliance convener Sharad Yadav and while no great significance is being attached to this as it would be difficult for her to join the NDA because of the large Muslim population in West Bengal. She is signaling a bigger role for herself at the Centre and is using that to leverage her position in West Bengal. At the same time, Mamata Banerjee is also looking at forming a bigger front on the FDI issue as well as cobbling together a future third front in time for the next general election

. Interestingly, the so far dependable Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam has also decided to bare its teeth with the party announcing that they are open to supporting Mamata Banerjee and whatever resolution she brings in Parliament against FDI in retail. Whether this includes supporting a no-confidence motion remains a distinct possibility say DMK sources even though they are at the moment clearly saying they are in the UPA.

Congress's chips are so down that even a small party from Jharkhand which has two MPs and is currently an ally of the UPA, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha of Marandi has also announced it is withdrawing support from the government.

Sources say that within the government number crunching is once again the name of the game. The last time, the prime minister's obstinate decision to go ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal led to the party and the government having to scout around for new allies. This time around the prime minister has once again pushed the party into a corner by announcing FDI in multi-brand retail under pressure from the USA and the reforms lobby, with the party and the government looking at various parties for support to add up the numbers in the event that the threatened no-confidence motion actually materializes.

The Congress party has officially said it enjoys majority support on the FDI issue but if Mayawati actually decides to dump the UPA, it may become a bit of a struggle for the government to clear the numbers as SP has already said they oppose FDI in retail.

Even as the Congress and the government have decided to mobilize support for the FDI, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi will address a joint rally at Ramlila Grounds on October 28 to educate the people on the benefits of FDI. It will seek to ally their fears that the coming of big stores would sound the death knell for the small and marginal shopkeeper and the 'kirana' store. Other rallies of this nature are also being planned even as senior leaders have been drafted to spread the word.

A senior leader said the decision was the handiwork of the prime minister and the finance minister, both of whom are big votaries of the reform process which is currently underway.

With Mamata Banerjee sounding the clarion call against the Congress party, it is likely that in the weeks ahead she may get more and more support. Even left parties which are rabidly anti-Mamata have a declared stance of being anti-FDI in retail and it would be difficult for them also to bail out the government on this issue. The Congress may look at the All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam and Navin Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal but sources say both these parties may find it difficult to support the Congress keeping in mind the state politics and the fact that they are pitted against the Congress in the state. The Congress would need to severe ties with the DMK before the AIADMK moves ahead to support the government at the Centre. Although so far there is no guarantee of it because the early polls suit the AIADMK.

According to a senior Congress leader, few political parties would want to stand up and be counted as a Congress ally in the UPA, particularly since the Congress is perceived to be a sinking ship at this stage. Along with this is also the growing perception that the Congress does not observe coalition dharma but pushes ahead its agenda irrespective of the dissent voiced by other coalition partners.

With the government having notified FDI in retail, having left itself no room for maneuver, both the party and government managers would need to work rather hard to stitch together the numbers for the coming session of Parliament.

The above has been written Renu Mittal and has come in my Rediffmail. I don't see Mayawati breaking away from the Congress. She does not want an early election in UP like the Samajwadi Party hence she will help to shore it up as long as possible

Bihar model for plantation

Patna, Oct. 1: Bihar may not have earned applause for implementation of job scheme, but the Union ministry of rural development has adopted its model of sapling plantation and asked all states to replicate it.

"A roadside plantation model, which has been implemented in Muzaffarpur wherein old, physically challenged, widows and women job card holders were employed under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in raising roadside plantation, has resulted in high success rate of the drive," stated a letter issued by the Union ministry of rural development to the states.

The letter added that the "Muzaffarpur model" had succeeded in ushering in a sense of ownership and belongingness among Van Poshaks, the MGNREGA workers engaged in tree plantation.

The man behind the Muzaffarpur model is IAS officer S.M. Raju. As the commissioner of Tirhut, Raju had ensured plantation of 96.4 lakh trees in a day ' August 30, 2009. "Till February 2012, around 2.5 crore plants in Tirhut and Saran commissionaries were planted," Raju told The Telegraph on Monday. He is at present posted as the commissioner in Munger.

"The concept of social forestry was introduced in 1976 by the national agriculture commission. However, it remained confined to the forest department, which did not have the manpower nor there was any participation of the people," he said, adding that tagging tree plantation with MGNREGA had made it user-friendly and around four families were engaged in looking after the planted trees, ensuring a greater chance of survival, without having to erect fencing around the plantation.

"It's like 'you-save-me, I-will-save-you' bond between the plant and the local population," Raju added.

The officer had given a presentation of the model at Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy National Academy for Administration, Mussoorie, in 2010 in front of officials of seven states. "It was adopted by the academy as one of the best practices," he said. "After the success of the Muzaffarpur model, it is being extensively implemented in other parts of the state. The scheme is useful particularly in the rainy season when there is very little other activities. It not only ensures 100 days of guaranteed employment, but also gives the local population a sense of pride to be a Van Poshak. In Seohar district even a dress code has been made for Van Poshaks ' a green jacket that distinguishes them from other MGNREGA workers. It gives them an identity," said Bihar's rural development minister Nitish Mishra.

He expressed happiness over the Bihar model being adopted nationwide. He said the survival of plants is far higher under this scheme.

Under social forestry even elderly people, physically challenged and women can get employment as Van Poshaks, taking care of the plants who otherwise were incapable to do conventional earth cutting works and thus unemployable.

The above is from The Telegraph.

Any good scheme is worth emulating. While they are going about it, why can't the government plant fruit bearing leafy trees like the mango which would give the people shade as well as cash crops which could be a source of income for the people who plant the trees. They could then protest the trees also.

While we are going about it why can't we plant some edible food plants on the many roadside lakes and ponds which we see on the roadside, covered with useless weeds. These could then give food and also protect the lakes from dehydration

Which country is most advanced medically?

A doctor from France says:

"In France ,the medicine is so advanced that we cut off a man's testicles; we put them into another man, and in 6 weeks he is looking for work."

The German doctor comments:

"That's nothing, in Germany we take part of the brain out of a person; we put it into another person's head, and in 4 weeks he is looking for work."

A Russian doctor says:

"That's nothing either. In Russia we take out half of the heart from a person; we put it into another person's chest, and in 2 weeks he is looking for work."

The U.S. doctor answers immediately: "That's nothing my colleagues, you are way behind us....in the USA, about 3 years ago, we grabbed a person from Kenya with no brains, no heart, and no balls....we made him President of the United States and now....... the whole damn country is looking for work.

Sent by Prakash Bhartia

Redhead and the Prime Minister

The Prime minister was looking for a call girl.

He found three such girls in a local pub, a blonde, a brunette and a redhead.

To the blonde he said, I am the Prime Minister

Now how much would it cost me to spend some time with you?'

She replied, £200.'

To the brunette he asked the same question.

Her reply was £100.

He then asked the redhead...

Her reply was,

'Mr. Prime Minister, if you can get my skirt up as high as my taxes,

My pants as low as my wages,

Get that thing of yours as hard as the times we are living in,

And keep it rising like the price of gas,

Keep me warmer than it is in my Room and

Screw me the way you Screw our pensioners,

Then it isn't going to cost you a penny!'

Sent by Prakash Bhartia

Although the currency is is $, the above message does ring a bell for us Indians too, although the name of the prime minister has not been mentioned.

What does Sonia Gandhi and her silent PM know of the hardships face by the "Aam Aadmi". For them it is just like a slogan like the earlier one coined by her mother-in-law, Garibi Hatao.

She was not able to eliminate Garibi but was able to eliminate may Garibs who committed suicide.

Are subsidies necessary?

The word 'subsidy' has been used again and again as the root cause of India's fiscal problems. The government's populist programs have been a burden on the fiscal front. In the absence of commensurate revenue streams the fiscal balance has gone awry. So would it be wrong to say that India should simply do away with the subsidies?

Like any other question, there are two views to this one too. The first one is that of the Kelkar Committee. It suggests that the subsidies should be completely removed. The committee has suggested that the various subsidies on fuel and food grains should be removed. This can be done by hiking prices of the same by one-third till 2014-15. The hikes and subsequent elimination of subsidy can be undertaken in a phased manner to minimize the pain for the country's residents. Over time, this would help the government in maintaining healthier fiscal balances and using its money to promote growth in key areas in the country. Healthier fiscal balance combined with policy reforms would give India the boost that it needs. This in turn would help promote investment interests of the private sector as well as bring in long term foreign capital. The combined effect would be long term growth for the country.

The other view is that of the Finance Minister. As per him, in a country like ours where the number of poor is significant, subsidies cannot be done away with. In his opinion, subsidies will always remain a part and parcel of India. What is missing is a proper delivery system to ensure that the subsidy reaches the beneficiaries directly. If the process is streamlined, then the subsidies would no longer be a burden. In addition policy reforms are the key to long term growth and the government has already embarked on the path to ensure the same.

It is true that subsidies are a burden currently. It is also true that a significant number of people in the country are poor and therefore need help. But what is not true is that by keeping prices artificially depressed through subsidies the government is trying to help the poor man. All it is doing through this populist measure is to ensure that it gets enough votes to remain in power for another term. What the government needs to do is to do things in tandem. This means that it needs to get on with the policy reforms and at the same time start cutting back on the subsidies. Doing just one without the other would not help achieve the desired result. And the desired result is one we all want - India to shine in the long term.

Subsidies will always be necessary because of corruption existing at all levels in the state and central government.

What benefits are to go to the poor are stolen by the middlemen with the connivance of interacting government officials.

The government first raises the prices of petroleum products by imposing more than 60% in multiple taxes and duties and then the government says the oil companies are making losses and there are huge under recoveries.

Like coal, oil is an essential fuel. Why can't the government supply the petroleum products to the poor and for essential services by supplying it at Cost Plus basis, without imposing the multifarious taxes and duties.

Yes, for the rich, the government should charge whatever duties are reasonable. If the government just decides to get rid of the corruption monster and bring back the black money stashed away in tax havens, all problems would be solved. Oh, yes, these leeches who go by the names of MPs and MLAs should just give up the free gas and fuel which they get from the government, free of cost.