Ever since some
lady in Gujarat created a thousand demat accounts for herself and messed around speculating in securities, agencies doing demat have been strict demanding address, identity , and PAN card proofs.
Turns out that an old , prestgious, private religious trust ,
Ganpati Panchayatam Sansthan, of Sangli , (erstwhile royal Patwardhan family) has got PAN cards issued in the names of the various deities. The NSDL has refused to open demat accounts for Lord Ganesh, Chintamaneshwardev, Chintamaneshwaridevi, Suryanarayandev and Laxminarayandev.
Courts have earlier allowed holdings in demat accounts for deities, and this matter is now in court.
Given the vast number of old deities in Pune with a very public face, stay tuned for address and identity proofs demanded from Khunya Murlidhar, PatryaMaruti, Jilbya Maruti, Hatti Ganpati, and an NSDL litigating with all of them.
God help NSDL!
The Committee (Salaries and Allowances of MPs) has
considered the issue of providing virtually free 3G facility provided by MTNL/BSNL to MPs.
It has also recommended a hike in the monthly salary of MPs from Rs 16,000 to Rs 80,001. The government is likely to introduce a bill regarding it in the Monsoon session of Parliament.
Meanwhile, no arrests in the Mumbai train blasts case. Rajesh Jha who suffered explosive shrapnel in his spinal column has left him 83 per cent handicapped. Despite pain and problems, he studied and stood first in the Mumbai University in M.Com examination.Corrective surgery will cost him a prohibitive 16 lakhs, which he does not have.
Mahesh Dwivedi lost hearing in the left ear in the blasts, is denied compensation (classified as 30% handicapped!) and has lost his job.
100% shame for MP's....
While the Golden Quadrilateral happens, Bihar has
discovered roads.
Madhav Singh, 82, lives in Alwalpur village, 12 kilometres outside Patna. Till 3 years ago, he walked 3 kilometres to catch a bus for Patna. In the monsoon, he waded chest deep through water , and crossed the flooded Punpun river by boat, to catch the bus. Today thanks to the new government's schemes, there is a pucca motorable road to his doorstep.
In 2005 , funds earmarked for roads were Rs.594.73 crore, while what was used was only Rs.263.23 crore. All the while, Lalu kept promising roads as smooth as Hema Malini's cheeks. Today, outlay and expenditure are evenly matched at Rs.3045.65 and Rs.3045.03, respectively.
Amazingly, in the past four years alone, the state has laid over 25 percent of the road network added since independence
Ordinary mortals struggling with paperwork , forms and permissions at least know why they are doing what they are doing.
Udai Narain Chowdhary, speaker of the Bihar Assembly,
went as a delegate on the Parliament Speaker's trip to Swaziland, Africa. Parliament Speaker, Meira Kumar, daughter of late Jagjivan Ram, is a former diplomat , and carried with her a photo of her father with the Swaziland King's grandfather, as a gesture of respect and friendship.
Chowdhary was alarmed to notice that he had arrived in Swaziland instead of Switzerland, which is why he had used his clout to find a place on the trip, in the first place. Meira Kumar told him this was the Switzerland of Africa...
Do politicians look at what they sign ? Visa forms ? Laws ? Cheques ?
A schoolboy would have been failed for this.....
Reading these reports from Kerala in the past few days, it is evident that special efforts are being made to boost the tourism industry in the state.
The pilot project of
The Coconut Trail, an initiative of the Coconut Development Board (CDB), is being launched in Kerala this year.
The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation
has announced special family tour packages for Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs).
The Kerala Tourism Ministry has tied up with the World Malayalee Council (WMC)
to organise a "Discover Kerala" initiative, under which efforts would be made to familiarise delegates from the UAE with Kerala's tourism potentials.
At the same time we read-
The ruling LDF-sponsored dawn-to-dusk strike in Kerala on Saturday effectively closed down the state for a day.
Wonder how the boost in tourism will take place with strikes paralysing normal life in the state regularly.
Twenty fifth of June 1975 was the darkest day in the history of this country.
I don’t know how many readers here remember that awful period.
I remember, I have seen it and felt it.
Congress party lead by Mrs Indira Gandhi declared internal emergency in the country after a decision of the Allahabad High Court against her.
Most of the opposition leaders were jailed; Press was not allowed to function, freedom of speech was taken away, some close to congress took undue advantage of the situation and exploited it to the maximum.
A lot of institutions succumbed to pressure.
Famous saying goes—they were asked to crawl but part the media bent backwards.
The party in the last 35 yrs has not apologised to the nation, but the people gave a fitting reply to congress in the next elections.
I hope and wish that such a step is not taken again by any political party in India.
It was a very bad period for India, but we survived
Today is the 35th anniversary of internal anniversary
let us CHANGE INDIA for INDIA OF TOMORROW
The state of Andhra Pradesh got Rs 6,500 crore in 2009-10 to implement the
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), and will reportedly get Rs 10,000 crore for this financial year. An average rural family, employed under this scheme receives Rs. 6,000/- to 10,00/- a month.
This has had an unintended side effect: a record rise in the consumption of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) among poor rural families, all thanks to the unprecedented sums of money that the scheme placed in their hands.This was reflected in the record bids made by the politico-realtor lobby for the two-year liquor licences across AP, last week.
In the auction for 6,596 liquor outlets, it was the rural districts like Mahbubnagar and Anantapur — considered backward and from where people migrated for work, but now beneficiaries of NREGS — which witnessed huge jumps from the previous bids.
A great and ancient culture is how we describe ourselves. A land of milk and honey, a tolerant society which absorbed every invader and a spiritual atmosphere that pervades every nook and corner....
Is this from a tourist brochure or from a leaf of the famed Huen Tsang, the famed Chinese traveller . All this seems at wide contrast to what we believe is reality today in our society and country.
Tolerance seems to have been blown away by the westerlies. Love is just a four letter word and harmony the name we give a music album. We seem to be a bunch of highly competitive and unscrupulous people who worship Goddess Mammon.
Increasingly, a nation at odds, a nation at war with itself. Let wiser counsel prevail and sanity be restored. This is a call of duty for all of us.
Milk and cash is
looted at night from a stall run by Achal Rane, a handicapped lady on the Mumbai Suburban Central Railway Kanjurmarg Station, and she is made to travel 4 stations away to the GRP police to register her FIR, as there is no money for offices at these other stations.
Meanwhile, Ashok Chavan, Maharashtra CM,
takes off shortly, with senior officials, on a one-week 3-nation tour to study city infrastructure in LA, Singapore and Malyasia, to aid in the Mumbai Monorail project.
There appears to be money available for wasting. We have several renowned transportation experts here, and what works in LA may not work in Mumbai. The police still don't have adequate weapons, bullet-proof jackets, and even offices.
Our rulers excel at ignoring recommendations , rejecting reports, and expending funds....
Meanwhile, Achal Rane has no income...
Believe it or not, but Bihar is well and truly in the 21st century.
Remember those 'ancient' times when political leaders used to go on 'pad yatras' to connect with ordinary people? And, later 'rath yatras', with politicians travelling in air conditioned vehicles dressed up a chariots?
An Independent MLA from Bihar, that rich state that's been laid waste by its politicians, is making a giant leap. He is planning to undertake a yatra of all the panchayats of the state in, yes,
a helicopter, the modern 'pushp vimaan'.
His aerial yatra will take all of six months and will, naturally, cost a bomb, to meet which the MLA says he has sold his land for Rs 3-4 crores.
Good way to tour the state to avoid seeing poverty, deprivation, exploitation and death en route. And doing anything about it.
For a couple of bucks Mutalik, head of the alleged Ram Sene would sell his soul.
The whole exercise seems so contrived that it looks completely stage managed. Consider the players in this drama that is being played out, ostensibly to shock the country and raise the war cry against "saffron vandalism".
Tehelka, a failed at "whatever he has done" organisation has pompously proclaimed themselves as upholders of truth. Hindustan Times, supposedly, at the forefront of fair journalism, but in reality the worst offender. Third is Mutalik the self crowned of Hindu interests, a splinter group of unemployed and idle youths, funded by vested interests.
These three crooks get together and reach an agreement on doing a stage managed sting operation. Even the script seems to be written by HT-Tehelka.
Is this not blatant misuse of power of media to sway people with cooked up stories?
Much has been said on Lalit Modi and his alleged shenanigans. Trial by media convinced many of his mea-culpa.
It is astonishing that the powers slept for three years and woke up only when the moneys involved appeard sufficiently attractive to invite political meddling.
Much of the allegations do not cut ice and the effort smacks of sheer opportunism.
Let us not forget that IPL is a rare Indian idea that's a "runaway success". The white man is shouting "sour grapes".
Holding the second edition in South Africa was a master stroke and created goodwill that a hundred years of staid diplomacy would'nt. All this when the GOI would not assure adequate security.
We have succeeded, once again, in scuttling a brilliant effort at revolutionising sports in India. Would it be a blessing in disguise if LM now takes up hockey or football.
Is there something else beyond the obvious?
Govt has created a record of sorts today by arresting three senior officers.
It seems that no civil service in India which is free of corruption.
Take a look-----------
IFS, INDIAN FOREIGN SERVICE---MADHURI GUPTA.
IAS, INDIAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE---O. RAVI.
IPS, INDIAN POLICE SERVICE---R S SHARMA.
Does anyone know as to where are we heading towards?
How and when, if at all, will we become a corruption free country?
Can we, the common man, do nothing?
Transport Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday that in the current fiscal year, India will build only 12/13 km of road per day, in place of the target of 20 km per day.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that building infrastructure will be crucial for India to achieve a growth rate of 10 percent in the next few years.One wonders how India will be able to build up this infrastructure when so many km of built roads are regularly being dug up.
June 2009-
The Maoists and their tribal supporters dug up roads.... to prevent the security forces from advancing.Sept. 2009-
the PSBJC supporters have reverted to their earlier method of protesting — digging up roads and felling trees across them . It seems to be an exercise in futility, building roads only to have them dug up!
Eight archers from Naswadi, tribal region in Gujarat, wanted to attend the Archery Nationals in Guwahati, Assam, prior to the CWG Games. All eight are below the poverty line, some of them orphans, and their parents took loans on interest, broke lifelong savings and sold their only houses to raise air fare from Ahmedabad to Guwahati. At the most , it may earn someone a place in the National team. But they certainly play for regional and national pride.
In the meanwhile , shameless IPL/BCCI are spending outrageously flying everywhere, daughters of ministers are ordering charters, others lay out $370 million to buy a team, $750,000 to buy a player and Rs 1 lakh for a catch in each match. They spend officially on cheerleaders, and have official IPL parties.
Guess which news never made Page 1? And which did .
Amidst all the bursting and breaking IPL corruption saga, Lalit Modi gets on to the stage, at the
IPL Awards om 23rd April, and says "
“Seventeen years ago, I had a dream. I want to thank everyone for allowing me to fulfill it,”.
What dream ? Of using a wonderful game, to buy and sell cricketers like cauliflowers, auctioning them ? Making a mockery of business ethics ? Of using his purposefully developed political clout to break rules and acquire assets ? Of introducing a totally unnecessary glamour aspect into cricket, using half clad girls, and parties for the players late at night ? Or was it a dream of acquiring riches untold through IPL, which allowed him to decide who could own teams ?
The Women's Bill stagnates . And Politicians are busy extracting their pound of dough from IPL.
The
leechi may soon be seen in a new avatar as two private companies are keen to use the fruit - that grows in abundance in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district -
to produce wine.
Last year ICAR director Mangala Ram had impressed upon Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that the state could increase its revenue by using the 'shahi leechi' variety of the fruit, largely grown in Muzaffarpur, for making wine.
Impressed by the proposal, the state government decided to set up plants in Muzaffarpur for this purpose.
Wine from the fruit would help leechi farmers as they would not be forced to sell leechis at throwaway prices.
About 70% of India's leechis are grown in and around Muzaffarpur and the number of farmers cultivating it has grown in the last decade. The numbers may soon hit a new 'high'!
Modi has been fired up like a rocket and soon we shall see the sparks.
Lalit Modi has promised to disclose the ownership details of all teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL), as a nasty and escalating row opens with a bang between him and minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor over the Kochi franchise puts the spotlight on confidential contracts and snowballs into a major political controversy. Such a disclosure has the potential to open a can of worms as it has been widely speculated that several political bigwigs and cricket board functionaries are silent investors in IPL franchises.
Of course we have Tharoor and his latest paramour on the sides for the media circus but if all go well then the nation shall get to know the rich owners of the various IPL teams.
We shall finally feast our eyes on not just our rich Ambani / the liquor baron /the bollywood stars, but the khadi wearing, people loving, people serving lot.
Although I may never watch an IPL game, let me offer my thanks to IPL Cochin team.
Yes we shall wait gleefully and would love to know why Sonia is distancing from Tharoor and why the BJP is demanding his resignation.
Source:
Economic Times
The Commonwealth Games will be held in New Delhi in Oct 2010. The cost of constructing the venues for the Games has already gone up 250 per cent, from Rs 1,000 crore to over 2,400 crore. And the final accounting has not been completed as yet.
Now, the Chairman of the
CWG has spent Rs 29.29 lakhs on snacks , during the 57 meetings that have been held so far. That amounts to Rs 51,385.96 spent on eating and drinking during every meeting. Assuming there are 50 members in the committee and 50 extra assisting , it is mind boggling to realise that they have been busy eating on an average Rs 500 worth of stuff, each, in each meeting.
Meanwhile, athletes in camps across India, continue to crib about inadequate facilities, unacceptable food and water, and careless and intimidating management.
The nation should weap since this was foretold yet no action was taken instead we are busy fixing the match of Sania!
Why is that our nation takes interest only if it is a terrorist attack?
Have we not lost more lives to the naxals?
Aren't the lives of our policemen and others valuable?
I think it is time Maoists are shown the door. They don't want talks since they seem to have an agenda of their own. Stop them before they sacrifice more tribals for their cause.
