The Political Justice

Many a times I am confronted by a nightmarish question. In a democratic country where majority counts, if a political party or alliance with a two-third majority can do anything by just enacting a legislation, I wonder what their limit is ?

If on one fine day I invent a gadget something like a legendary magical mirror which can tell me where one is and what the person is doing or acquire the ability to predict the same with a beetle leaf and kajal, can the politicians decide that I will be a nuisance and enact a legislation to exterminate me. Or to be more practical, can they one day say Reliance is a property of the nation and not of the two brothers or can they declare an emergency and say there are going to be no elections or election commission for the next 10 years.

In case such political parties decide to enact such a law the fate of those concerned will depend on The President of the nation, secondly The Judiciary and then the World community. But with a thumbing majority, it is very doubtful that the president will be in a position to oppose anything even if he feels it is not justified. Or what if the President himself favours the bill. Now the only other option would be be to take the case to the Supreme Court. With the recent stand-off between the parliament and judiciary, it is very unlikely that justice can be expected from the judiciary. Te final option will be for the ill-fated party to voice their protest in whatever way possible and mobilise support for their cause amoung the world community.

I think we are in fact living in such an era of political correctness, be it the emergency days or the US invasion of Iraq or the more current issue of reservation based on caste for the OBCs, SCs and STs.

The dictatorial attitude of the then prime minister was well personified in the days of emergency. Every Indian citizen including the press was deprived of the basic freedoms including freedom of speech, which was justified by the then political scenario including the then President of India. But the plight of the opposition and those who decided to oppose the emergency remains un-justified. Those days will remain to be a black days in our democratic system for centuries to come.

The US invasion of Iraq is more to do with military might than political correctness. But, the point to be noted here is that even the most powerful politician needed approval and backing from the congress for his live military adventures. Anyway, there is no justification for killing thousands of innocent people who were caught unaware and for those who fought the only super-power for the sake of defending their nation. But the hind-sight is that, in more than one way it is safe and good to have a super power like America. Can you or me live in a world where Afganistan or Iraq is mightier than the rest of world?

Coming to the current issue, the reservation based on caste or religion, the UPA with their number strength (or expecting the support of the so called OBCs who are considered to be the majority in this country) is trying to snatch the very right of equality from one section of the population. Again the politicians are trying to justify it politically. What justice can they give to a candidate belonging to general category who is economically backward while it is not his mistake to have born to his parents?

Every politician must understand that there are two types of justice, one is legal/political and the other being moral. The political system in a country may legalise what they ever to do. But they should look at their inner self to check if they are morally justified. In any case, one thing for sure is "Might is Right". So, it is more important that you are mighty than being morally right. If you are mighty you can survive even if you are morally unjustified where as there is no guarantee if you are morally right and not mighty enough.

Men in Blue - The Reality Check

With the world cup matches slated to be played in West-indies, it is very logical that the men in blue get used to the West-indies playing conditions.

Before the start of matchs with West-Indies, India was the clear favourite. Four matches then, it is a different story altogether. West-indies ranked 8th in the ODI rating has won the series even before the last match is yet to be played. After the first match thou, it looked as if the Indians were on course. But with every match then West-indies were doing better and they really outplayed Indians in every aspect of the game in the last match. The Indian batting didn't work as it worked earlier. Perhaps it is a tribute to the legend Lara for this might well be his last match in his home ground. One positive point about the tour is that Shewagh and Kaif have started playing better. Let us home that Indians improve over time and will be in race for the 2007 world cup.

Life at Chepauk vs Life at Mylapore

It is about a month and half since our family have shifted from Chepauk to Dhevadi Street, Mylapore. Life is quiet different from what it was at Chepauk.

At Chepauk, it was my dad's quarter. It is about a 60 yrs old building and very spacious. We have a pleanty of place to park our vehicles. People can manage having 2/3 cars even. Also with the Chennai Press Club next door and a couple of DSPs as your neighbour, you really feel like being in the power zone. Also need to mention pleanty of free space in acers around that area that we guys used to play cricket in. It would be a dreem come true for a kid at 7th or 8th grade.
We have rented a 3 BRHK rented house here at Dhevadi Street. We are paying a sweet 11K for this house. For the locality it is in, may be, it worth the money. Dhevadi street is in heart of Mylapore about a forlong from the Kabaleeswarar temple, about a Km from Luz corner and very close to Santhome. I love to be in Kabali temple in odd hours. At peak hours(for a temple it is by evening 6.00 to 8.00), it is a pain to be in any temple in the city. More so if it happens to be an auspicious day. Being at Mylapore I will have the option of gong to the temple as and when I like to.

When parking space is a privilege in Mylapore, we have ample parking space thou not covered. Just have a stroll thru the street by 11.00 at night. You can see pleanty of cars parked right in the roads. By 8.00 in the morning all of them would be gone.

My dream has been to buy a plot at Mylapore and construct a house. With the land prices sky-rocketing, it looks as like it will be a dream for ever. 2400 sq ft plot cost around a crore around Dhevadi street. Only commercial builders or business men can afford it. Not a salaried guy like me. I had some plans, but for sure my job or the stock market doesn't look like helping my cause. I am racing against time and let me check how soon I can beat it, if at all.

The Road Less Travelled - Not Always Better

This blog would tend to be boring. So, don't read this unless you are ready to hear my polambals.

It was June 1998 and as a guy in final year of MCA, I attended campus interview and got selected in the first company L & T. Actually I was interested in TCS and had prepared for that. But fortunately or unfortunately TCS came later to campus. I couldn't attend as I was already selected for L & T. Infact, I was the only guy from MCA to have got selected for L & T. It was just before the Y2K year and so, L &T didn't give me project and worse kept postponing my date of joining. Thus, I lost atleast 7/8 months and I joining in 24-Jan-2004. What impression will I get about such a company. I didn't have much positive about L & T when I joined there. Neither the work was good.

By about the end of 2000, I was given an option of going to Mumbai for ERP training. I was not much interested in that and meanwhile, I got an offer from my present company. But Nobody from my batch except me wanted to give a chance at the interview even. And some of the managers whom I consulted didn't recommend me to join too. Anyway I decided to take it more for satisfying my ego. The market was good then and so I was of the opinion that I can switch out if I find it unfitting to me. The rest is history. Then came the recession and getting a job even in India became difficult for about 3 yrs until offshoring picked up by 2004.

Throughout, I had tried to take the road less travelled (or atleast that was the only option for me) and it never proved to be better. Nevertheless, I would like to travel the road less travelled as that is what I feel will make the difference (the difference what Baskar is be it good or bad).

Sensex Came Crashing

In the last few trading sessions, the market has been pathetic. It has came down by more than 2000 points. It has left the retail investors running for cover. With the Left as the major partner of the UPA government, such a highly volatile situation is uncalled for. Whom is to be blamed for this. One thing to be blamed is the FII friendly policies of the finanace ministry like no P-Note etc. The other thing is definitely abolition of long term capitcal gains tax and reduction of short term capital gains tax. This has invited more hedge funds and more traders in the market than investors. In any sence, the correction or fall is good in long-term and this is a good opportunity of value buys in the market.

Reservation & Tamil Nadu

While the idea of reservation has triggered heated agitations and debate in North India, I am not sure why South-India is so indifferent to this issue. Perhaps because South Indians especaially people in TN are so much resigned to their fate. More-over all political parties openly support reservation and nobody dares oppose it. I learn that sometime back a lawyer was also attacked for filing a writ-petition against reservation. With cut-off between the BC and OC categories narrowing very much, it is time to remove the BC category in TN and attach that to the OC category. Will any political party dare to do this. Of-course number(number of votes) count. Infact it is a good opportunity for politica parties like BJP to speak against reservation based on caste or religion. If at all, reservation should be based on other criteria like

1) Background of education (rural, sub-urban) etc
2) Financial status of the family
3) Parent's educational status etc.

Such a sort of reservation will for sure help the under-privileged irrespective of caste and creed. Further, this will also promote better education in rural areas with better infrastructure and flow of better students from urban to rural areas for want to coming into the reservation bracket. Of course, a fool proof mechanism has to be worked out for this. But the congress government is taking the easy and political way of reservation based on caste. It is very unfortunate.