The title of editorial for Monday's edition of TOI read , "Its bad time to be a Muslim". But as far as India is concerned, it must have been "Its bad time to be a Student from Open Category"!

What else can you think of when you see students from prestigious Colleges being subjected to atrocities, more suited for hardened Criminals? And what is their crime? That they are demanding equal opportunities for all, based on merit, irrespective of one's caste or creed. According to our politicos and self proclaimed messiah's of backward classes, this is a grave OFFENCE! Graver than multi-crore scams, corruption, scandals, riots, all of which are orchestrated by those very same politicians. Heart bleeds when you see, on one hand, Students being Lathi charged and Tear gased, while on the other hand, criminals like Lalu Prasad Yadav (He is not fit to be a politician in the first place!) getting acquited of all charges levelled against him or a corrupt person like Bangaru Laxman getting out on bail!
The irony however is the fact that, these people, most of whom haven't even completed their basic schooling and who can't even tell the difference between an IIT and an IIM are given the power of charting our future!

16,000 crore! Thats the amount of moolah that is being spent on implementing the 27% hike in the OBC quota! Imagine what can be done with that kind of cash! New universities of the calibre of DU and MU can be established! Innumberable new schools providing free primary education can be setup! Tourism can be given a boost. Defence of this country can be beefed up. Infrastructure can be given a much needed overhaul. Farmers can be given financial grants which will indirectly help in curbing their suicide rate. Scores of homeless can be provided with free accomodation. The list can go on. But for our Politicos, all these things sound trivial. For them, implementation of QUOTA is of foremost importance!

But, at the end of the day, it is for the people of this country to understand that, using the policy of Divide and Rule, these politicians are trying to create a situation of civil unrest in the nation, just to secure their vote bank! They don't care for India. Their only motive is to fill their personal cash coffers with as much wealth as they can. Giving socially oppressed an equal opportunity by providing reservations in IHL (Institutes of Higher Learning) is just an alibi for doing this.

What is needed as of now is a complete revival of our Country's political system. Though this may seem far fetched, it is certainly not impossible. Or the day isn't far when we will be counted amongst the poor African Nations!!

When SRK met Kajol against the backdrop of scenic snow-capped Swiss alps in DDLJ or when Hritik and Amisha sang duet on the banks of pristine Kiwi River in New Zealand, it made love blossom in our hearts too. Such is the impact the reel life of Bollywood can make on our real one!!

Most of the movies that are made today, are shot in various outdoor locations in countries like Switzlerland, Austria, New Zealand, Australia, US to name a few of them. The industry people say that shooting movies in exotic locations makes for a more pleasurable visual experience for the audience.

As far as EXOTIC locales are concerned, yes, they do play an important role. But why they have to be OUTDOORS? Or more precisely, why they have to be from other Countries? Why can't they find such locales right here in INDIA? Don't we have locations that are good enough to be shot in a movie? We have the wettest place on Earth at Cherrapunji as we have the arid desert of Thar in Rajasthan. We have the snow laden mountainous backdrop of Himalaya as we have the Sun kissed beaches of Goa. There is a very good anecdote that complements this situation perfectly. A Japanese couple who were visiting Switzerland, when asked by a tourism mag journalist, wether what prompted them to visit Switzerland, their reply was not that they had read about it in any dailies or magazines, but, they said that, they had seen the movie DDLJ almost 10 times (because of SRK..Of Course!!) and that they were dying to see the place where most of it was shot at. Such is the impact a Bollywood movie can have! Imagine if the same movie would have been shot at Lakhswadeep islands (which by the way has the potential of becoming the Hawaii of Asia), it would have turned the fortunes of the until-now neglected Union Territory. This is what Australia's MP Fran Bailey had to say after Salaam Namaste (Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta starrer) was shot in Victoria, Australia, "Bollywood is doing a commendable job for our tourism industry. The many aspects of Australia's unique tourism experience, including our vibrant cities, scenic vistas and unique culture that are being profiled widely by Bollywood, which is a great news for us.” It is clear that OUR movies are helping them fill THEIR cash coffers! No wonder that Australia's government has given special discounts and privileges to Indian producers who are willing to shoot their films in Australia!! To add more to the insult, nearly every heavy budget film released this year has been been shot in Foreign locations, right from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (US) to Krissh (Singapore). Even a movie with theme based on KASHMIR (Fanaa) was shot in Poland!!!

I just can't comphrehend the reason for doing this. Are these Bollywood people ASHAMED of shooting in India? Do they think that shooting in US or Singapore will make the film more popular? When Mother Nature has provided us with such diversity in climate and terrain right here in India, why go scouting over for them the World over?

Bollywood, has now ballooned into a professionally driven industry with personal worth of more than 2875 Million $. It ranks first in the World in terms of the number of movies that are churned out from it every year . As far as viewership is concerned, with an estimated viewing population of 5 Billion, it far surpasses the Hollywood. This clearly proves the fact that Bollywood movies have the capacity of promoting India like no other mediums can ever have. They have the power to revive our Tourism industry, which by now is in complete shambles, thus indirectly boosting the Nation's Economy!

Wake up Bollywood, Mother India is calling!!

Its pathetic to the see the Indian government debating wether to ban Cola manufacturing units for the high pesticide residues present in them as proved by the CSE. Its like the Indian government has run out of all other issues and this is the only thing left to do.

If pesticide content is the only reason for considering this ban, then the government must first ban TEA. Tea contains 1,87,300 times the water contained in the colas. Hypothetically, even if the Cola companies increase thier pesticide content 30 times the present amount, I can still drink 62oo bottles of Cola and have less pesticide content in my body than I would have by drinking a single Cup of TEA. Even apple contains 1,54,120 times the pesticide content, Milk contains 7140 times the pesticide content. So all this brouhaha created on the pesticide content in the Colas is nothing but Hogwash!! They can be called one of the safest drinks available, certainly not NUTRITOUS, but safest and pure for sure!

The recent ban Colas implemented by Kerela government is nothing but another of its innumerable tactics of garnering cheap votes. How can you ban Colas while sale of Cigarettes and Liquor is permitted? Ain't Right of Selecting what to Drink allowed in Democracy? Who is the government to decide what should we drink? People have to understand this and not fall for it...or else they are sure to be taken for a ride....!!

The newspapers nowadays are filled with news mentioning the Oil-For-Food scandal and how Natvar Singh alone is being made a scapegoat as being the sole beneficiary of this scam. But what exactly is this Oil-For-Food scam?

The United Nations first conceived the Oil-For-Food programme as a means for providing humanitarian aid to the war stricken people of Iraq. But it was subverted by Saddam Hussein regime and modified to prop up the Iraqi Dicatator. He siphoned off allegedly 10 Billion $ in Oil Smuggling and systematic theivery by demanding illegal payoffs from Companies buying Iraqi Oil and all this kept happening right under the noses of UN bureaucrats. The gross mis-management and incompetencies on the part of UN officials and their possible complicity with the Iraqi Regime resulted in one of the biggest Scandals in the annals of UN history.

In April 2004, the General Secretary of UN, Kofi Annan announced the formation of an Independent High Level Inquiry Commission headed by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to investigate the scam. This committee came to be known as the Volcker Committee.

So now the question that comes to your mind is, where does Congress and Natvar Singh fit in this whole picture?
The Volcker Committee named Natwar Singh and Congress party as the beneficiaries of this scam. Natwar Singh got the Iraqis to sell them oil at well below the International price. This oil was then resold to a Swiss firm Masefield AG and the beneficiaries of this cheap oil made a handsome profit in this whole deal. But in those days the Congress was not in power and Natwar was out of office, so this whole deal was allegedly implemented by his Son Jagat Singh at his father's behest. But the R.S Pathak Inquiry Authority (Indian Version of the Volcker Committee) exonerated the Congress party of all the charges and indicted Natwar Singh alone.

So what do we gain from all this?? NOTHING. Few months of investigation, few more enquiry commissions and few Court Orders later, Natwar Singh will again be a free man. Free to do whatever he wishes to, free to contest and win elections and free, to again become the External Affairs Minster of this country. This is how it has going on for all this years and it ain't gonna cease anytime sooner!! After all, Yeh hai India, ....meri jaan!!!

TamilNAdu CM, M.Karunandihi's statement of pulling out support from the NDA goverment if the 27% quotas for OBC are not implemented at one go are nothing but a vivid example of DMK's selfish motives.
At time when the V.Moily commitee had approved of implementing the quotas in staggered manner, here comes DMK with a threat directly aimed at maligning PM Manmohan Singh. Karunanidhi specifically stated in his comments that he got elected because of his promise of implementing the quota. I say, why can't these politicians promise people something more important?
Tamilnadu is a land of varied beauty. It has got some of the best temples in India.
Some of the oldest like the Brihasdiswara temple which is about 1200 years old and which is also on the UNESCO's World Heritage List is located in TN. TN has a coastline which spans nearly 1000 kms. Some of the very finest and exotic beaches are located in TN. Why not do something to market this untapped potential of this State? Why not do something to improve tourism? It is ultimately going to result in creating number of jobs for the unemployed irrespective of whichever caste or creed one belongs to! Why do these politicians think that implementing reservation in National Level Institutes is the ONLY way in which people from Backward Category can progress?
Where was Karunanidhi's DMK when Tsunami struck TN? Weren't RESERVED Category people affected then? If he projects himself as the so called messiah of the backward masses, why didn't he implement projects for the affected?
No doubt that People from TN are some of the most educated and talented among the lot, but when people like Karunanidhi get elected by promising QUOTAS or by distributing FREE COLOUR TV's that too at the cost of the exchequer, don't u think thats its time for you to WAKE UP?

The article on SEZ bubble by Swaminathan Aiyar in the Sunday Times truly highlights the plight which excessive increase in the number of SEZ's can cause. The mere mention of the size and volume of the moolah involved in this SEZ business can make mind dwindle!!

Lets take the case of RIL (Reliance Industries). RIL is planning a mega city project at Maha Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. For those who don't know, Maha Mumbai spans over 6000 acres and is sandwiched between the districts of Khopat, Raigad and Thane. They plan to develop a city complete with all the amenities one can think of. Schools, Shops, Malls, Banks all within the Zone itself. The makers even boast that, once functional, it will be so self-sufficeint that people won't have the reason to leave the zone for any reason. The total investement in this zone is pegged at around a whooping Rs 7500 Crores! And to say, this is just a tiny slice of the entire SEZ pie. There are whole slew of new SEZ's cropping all over India.

So, You must be thinking that, All this is supposed to be a good news, Where's the problem? To answer that one must first know what SEZ's are?

An SEZ or a Special Economic Zone is a geographical region where the Economic laws are different from the economic laws for the rest of the country. Most of the SEZ's will be converted into small IT parks which is almost certainly viable. But the same cannot be said about the real estate developments. The real estate developers will be more than happy to have laid their hands on such a large chunk of land from the state governments at low prices. When major realtors start flocking these regions, the real estate price is bound to go northwards. This is where the problem kicks in. The primary purpose of relaxing the economic laws in this regions which are otherwise so stringent for the rest of the country is to primarily attract FDI's and promote exports, not just to merely increase the real estate price! SEZ's in India are established to double up as EPZ's or Export Processing Zones. But what is the gaurantee that Export Units will flock to these zones once they are completed. What if they don't? What if the developers fail to attract them? All those huge amount of money spent on developing the infrastructure will go down the drain. THe SEZ bubble will burst and spell nothing but DOOM for small time share holders, bondholders, banks which until now are excited by the real estate prices and are investing heavily in the SEZ companies.

So to cut long story short, One must study carefully before investing. Better be safe than Sorry!!!

I think the clearance of the bill which says Women judges will try rape cases is a landmark initiative. I think it will encourage the victims and their families to step forward and approach court in the hope that a women judge can be more understanding and show sensitivity in the procedure rather than an all male jury.
The statisitcs related to the rape cases in India are truly mind boggling. According to the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) , atleast 1 women is raped in India in 29 minutes!!! Nearly 60,000 cases are pending trial in the courts all over the country and we are not even speaking of the innumerable cases that go unreported!!
The reason for this prevailing condition is more than obivious. The social stigma attached with cases involving RAPE, the social ostracism, loss of face, back lash from the oppressor and to relive the trauma again in front of the Male judge is more than enough to unnerve any one. And how many instances of a case, in which a rape victim has got justice, have you heard? The occurences are few and far between. Many a times the accussed is left to go scot free. Its the victim who is made to feel responsible for the atrocities commited on her. Where is the justice in that?
A women judge is free of prejudices and can create an atmosphere of deterrence and safety in which the victim can feel free to express herself, thereby granting her the opportunity of getting a speedy ,apt and a well deserved Justice!!