Trivial Issues; debates and Media air time occupancy

Past two days in English news media, the air time and news time slots were blocked by “Gay law” amendment on Sec. 377. Celebrations and debate by celebrities shadowed most of the airtime in these channels.
I am little concerned about the media hypocrisy, when an NDTV editor anchor interviewed union law minister immediately after he resumed his office whether you would amend Sec 377. They should realize that what way these amendment affect common man, I agree may this affect 1 out of 10000 citizen of our country. These media should realize 9999 people’s issue being left out by airing all these trivial issues and debates.
I am still searching constrictive media in our country, our democracy still with out functional fourth pillar.
Hope some members of fourth pillar reading…..

Branding a Country!

I was browsing news channels in this week, they are all filled by arguments and debating how to brand Australia as “Racist-Australia”.
This seems to me a media initiative to sensitize Indian public pulling three or four isolated incidents. I feel our media is reading to much on these incidents.
Times Now

NDTV 24x7

I feel our media should play a constructive roll than provoking and sensitizing these issues, they are isolated incidents, we may have to get into root cause analysis and may be trying to correct the cultural misunderstanding than debating these incidents.
We need to put ourselves in an Australian's shoe and feel how these debates of half cooked experts hurt the positive and good Australian minds.
If baranding a country is motive our media, we may have to accept foreign media branding us as “Rapist-India”, Of course no Indian like to be called as Rapist.
The 20 year old German national’s molestation following the World Tourism Day (September 27th) has once again exposed the vulnerability of female tourists who are considered as easy targets by criminals. While the issue may be affecting the tourism industry’s revenues significantly, it has also brought out the fact that Indian policing has virtually collapsed.
Seven cases were reported in the first month of this year. A Swedish teenage was molested at a New Year's Eve party at Kochi in Kerala, while a number of tourists were also heckled. Three foreign women reported sexual harassment in Goa. Also in Goa, two British women claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the owner of a resort.
During the last few years several sexual attacks have also been reported in Rajasthan, a famous tourist destination also known as the jewel of Indian tourism. Just before Christmas, an American national was molested in Pushkar and a British journalist was raped in Udaipur. Earlier, a French woman was raped, also in Pushkar. In 2005 in Rajasthan, a German tourist was raped by an auto-rickshaw driver and his accomplice in Jodhpur. Today Rajasthan is being seen as the tourist-rape capital of India.
Crime statistics for 2006, released by the Home Ministry's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), show that 18 women are victims of crime every hour. The number of rapes a day has increased nearly 700 per cent since 1971, when such cases were first recorded by the NCRB. The number has grown from 7 to 53 rape cases per day

This expert from Center of Social research should put our media back foot before we point finger(other four fingers are pointing to us) to fellow country men.

Hope some media friends are reading…

Why Obamaconomics will fail!

I happen to read a Wall Street Journal article on Obama’s economic policies and his recent Tax policy on off-shoring jobs to Bangalore, I wonder, how American economic adviser failed to appraise him Competitive advantage of economies.
President Obama revealed Monday that he's half a supply-sider. If only someone could explain to him the other half. We have a tax code, the President said, "that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York." That sounds like a great argument for lowering taxes on the guy creating jobs in Buffalo. Alas, that's not what he has in mind.
Set aside that India is a poor example to make Mr. Obama's point, since its corporate tax rate on foreign-owned companies can be as high as 55%. The President's argument is that U.S. tax-deferral rules make it more expensive for American companies to reinvest overseas profits at home than abroad. This, he claims, creates a perverse incentive for companies to "ship jobs overseas" and reduces investment and job creation in the U.S.
He's right, except that his proposals would only compound the problem. His plan would limit the tax deferral on income earned abroad by tightening the rules, limiting allowable deductions and restricting eligibility for foreign-tax credits. This "solution" is antigrowth, job-destroying, protectionist and unlikely to raise the tax revenue Mr. Obama predicts. Other than that . . .
The current tax-deferral system is a clumsy attempt to deal with the fact that most other countries don't tax their companies' overseas profits. A German firm doing business in Ireland, say, pays no German income tax on its Irish profits, but it does pay Ireland's corporate income tax at its 12.5% rate. The U.S. company competing with that German business in Ireland, by contrast, pays Ireland the same 12.5% on its profits -- and it then pays Uncle Sam up to 35%, minus a credit for what it paid the Irish. And because almost everyone else's corporate tax rates are lower than America's (see nearby table), U.S. companies end up paying higher taxes than their international competitors.
Congress long ago created the corporate tax deferral to compensate for this competitive disadvantage. Under deferral, a company doesn't have to pay the U.S. corporate rate until it repatriates its earnings. It can retain them overseas or reinvest them abroad with no penalty. But if it brings them home or pays them as dividends, the tax bill comes due.
The German company faces no such quandary. It pays the Irish tax, and it's free to invest that money in Ireland or Germany or anywhere else. This territorial tax system, embraced by most of the world, eliminates the perverse incentive to hold money abroad that America's deferral system creates. Adopting a territorial system would be the most obvious and simplest way to eliminate the distortion that tax deferral creates. Alternatively, Mr. Obama could lower the U.S. corporate tax rate to a level that is internationally competitive.
Yes, we know: Few major U.S. companies pay 35% of their profits in taxes because of the foreign tax-deferral and other deductions, credits and loopholes. But that's precisely why Mr. Obama should want to take the better path to corporate tax reform by reducing the rate and removing loopholes. America now has the worst of both worlds -- a high statutory rate and a tax code so riddled with complexity that it is both expensive to administer and inefficient at collecting revenue. And yet Mr. Obama's proposal to limit deferral only layers on the complexity.
In promoting its new global tax raid, the White House fingered the Netherlands, which it lumped with Ireland and Bermuda as "small, low-tax countries" that supposedly account for an outsize share of reported foreign profits of U.S. firms. The Dutch corporate tax rate is 25.5% -- which isn't even all that low by current European standards. And the U.S. is the largest foreign investor in that "small, low-tax country," according to the Dutch Embassy. Perhaps reducing American investment there and slamming the Netherlands as a tax haven is Mr. Obama's way of reaching out to friends and allies.
But the Netherlands won't be the only country hurt. The explicit goal of this plan is to reduce the incentive for U.S. companies to invest abroad, which Mr. Obama derisively calls "shipping jobs overseas." Foreign companies may relish the loss of U.S. corporate competitiveness that his proposal will bring in the short term. But in the long term, reducing U.S. investment globally will hurt everyone. And that investment is a two-way street -- the Netherlands is also the fourth-largest foreign investor in the U.S.
Some of Mr. Obama's advisers understand all this, but then their real goal isn't tax reform or U.S. competitiveness. It's a revenue grab, one made easier by the fact that overseas tax "avoidance" is easily demagogued. To that political end, Mr. Obama conflates tax deferral with the offshoring of jobs -- hence the sly reference to Bangalore, India. With trillions of dollars of new spending, the White House and Treasury are desperate for new tax sources to pay for it all.
But even as a revenue raiser, this is likely to fail. Fewer companies will keep their headquarters in the U.S., especially small or mid-sized firms that can slip away without becoming a political target. Those companies that can't flee will sooner or later demand relief from Congress, which will be happy to create even more loopholes.
If Mr. Obama's proposal has a silver lining, it is that he has embraced the principle that tax rates matter to investment decisions. If his new and short-sighted proposal becomes law, he and all Americans will discover just how much
The above article clearly explains how US will loose its competitiveness if its stops off shoring, I would add from Indian example.
During late 1970s when Janatha party took over power and shut Indian door to MNCs, hoping that being swadesi would boost Indian economy. But our socialist went wrong when they could achieve only Hindu rate of growth and country was pushed to stage of mortgage its gold reserve to meet its current account commitments. It was 1991 when India corrected its mistake by breaking its protectionist shell and country could join the league of fast growing nations...
Hope some progressive Americans agree with my views,
“ It is human to commit mistakes, fools do not learn from mistakes, common men learn from their mistakes and Intelligent men learn from other’s mistakes”
Time will tell us where do we place Mr. Obama...

Public healthcare in India

I was triggered by a news report in CNNIBN today about present state of public healthcare systems in India to explore more on health care system. It was pathetic to see the conditions of nation’s Institutes like AIIMS and Safdharjung etc. and this clip explains everything

It was very sad to see the entire state of public health care system despite repeated reports and alerts given by independent studies, following report from PWC explains everything,
India’s healthcare infrastructure has not kept pace with the economy’s growth. The physical infrastructure is woefully inadequate to meet today’s healthcare demands, much less tomorrow’s. While India has several centers of excellence in healthcare delivery, these facilities are limited in their ability to drive healthcare standards because of the poor condition of the infrastructure in the vast majority of the country. Of the 15,393 hospitals in India in 2002, roughly two-thirds were public. After years of under-funding, most public health facilities provide only basic care. With a few exceptions, such as the All India Institute of Medical Studies (AIIMS), public health facilities are inefficient, inadequately managed and staffed, and have poorly maintained medical equipment. The number of public health facilities also is inadequate. For instance, India needs 74,150 community health centers per million population but has less than half that number. In addition, at least 11 Indian states do not have laboratories for testing drugs, and more than half of existing laboratories are not properly equipped or staffed.
This whole affair was let to the private players over the years and private parties made health care unaffordable to for 80% of Aam Aadhmies. Incidentally for past 5 years we had well qualified man for job (first time in recent history India had MBBS doctor as Union Health Minister) but this man spent entire tenure in settling score with Dr. Venugopal of AIIMS or making juicy statement against film stars smoking in Screen.
Hope few voters listen and give their best to these politicians….

Political hyper-activism of Indian media

If we happen to see major news channels during these days, we could realize they are playing spoil sport or deep frying the issues which are least and trivial to progressive society. May be this fourth pillar wants to show it’s mighty by putting petty issues to inefficient politicians’ mouth and paint the picture they wish to.
Media could have played constructive role during election campaign of politicians, could have reviewed the performance of politicians and the parties. This could have helped their viewers to take informed decisions. I assume this should be role of fourth pillar of our democracy. Incidentally Dr. Manmohan singh rightly pointed this in an interview to a news channel on response to a question why personalities being attacked in this election do we run out of issues, Mr Singh precisely returned this to that editor said this media which selectively picks these speeches added that he had compared performance of UPA and NDA in the same speech and at end he had criticized Mr Advani, PM in waiting. It is the media which 99% of speech and picked the last part of the speech.
Instead 90% time slot occupied by discussing and debating Varun Gandhi, Lalu’s remark, Amar singh spat with Mulayam singh, Sanjay dutt remarks and Karunanidhi on LTTE, Viko remark on LTTE etc…and other 10% on dissecting IPL,
As requested by former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam media should have done performance appraisal and wealth creation of these candidates and parties, This might have contributed a lot in our nation building processes.
Hope some of my Media friends are reading this….

I found Mr. Right for my Constituency

The Man,
Mr Sarath Babu, Founder & CEO of Foodking Catering, from helping his mother sell idlis on Chennai’s streets to the top echelons of academia with an enrolment in chemical engineering at BITS Pilani and IIM-A, and now as the steward of his Food King Catering business, Sarath has come a long way.
His humility perhaps made him reject several high-brow offers from MNCs after his MBA. That, in a way, was the genesis of Food King Catering—with a paltry Rs 2,000 seed money. Today, his food business spans six locations with Rs 9-crore turnover to boot and set to clock Rs 20 crore by year-end. For 28 year old Sarath, his mother, who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai and worked as an ayah, is a pillar of strength. A mother of 5 children, she earned to get her son, Sarath an education at BITS Pillani in Chemical Engineering.
During his graduation there, he managed the college canteen as he had a natural inclination and knack for food. He then worked in a software company for 3 years post which he went to IIM Ahmedabad and studied Industrial Training. It is during this time in year 2000 that he went to Bihar and came across a report that stated 30% of Indians are under the poverty line. This was an eye opener for Sarath who then decided to set up Food King. With Rs. 2000 as initial capital and one employee he set up Food king in the same year. Through Food King he desires to give quality employment to the poor.
In the next 5 years he wants Food King to be a source of employment for 50,000 people by opening 400-500 branches all over the countries. As of now there are 250 people in his company but the plans are big. Despite all his success, he is a simple man at heart and continues to live in a hut. He maintains that his inspiration is and will always be his mother
His mother sold idlis from the family’s modest house on Bajanai Koil Street in Madipakkam to send him to school.
The 30-year-old youth later walked through the portals of two premier educational institutions, set up his own venture with just Rs. 2,000 as capital and now heads the firm that employs more than 200 people across five cities. he took another bold step which, in his own words, was to reach out to jobless youth.
The Mission,
He formally announced his decision to contest as an independent candidate from the South Chennai Lok Sabha constituency. “It was during the Mumbai terror attacks that I took the decision to plunge into electoral politics in order to reach out to more people across society,” he said. Mr. Sarath Babu said it was time for “all of us to not just aspire for developmental politics, but witness it for real.” “We need educated and selfless youth to drive this country to the next developmental phase. “Youth with dynamic personalities should come forward with courage and get into active politics,” he said.
Asked how he planned to reach out to the more than 11 lakh voters during elections, he replied that he had been speaking to several thousand people in the past three to four months and that he would make good use of technology, by remaining in contact with his voters through the internet and mobile phone. A number of his friends from school and college, including those from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, were with him to support him during campaigning.

At last good things started happening, I found a man I looked for in my constituency. Let us support him and make politics a proffessional activity,
Runinig a country need professional skills, I remmeber Jaagore campaign "ye Desh ko chellaneka kaam, ashaan nehi"
Hope some of my fellow constituency are reading...

Commitment to clean Indian Politics!

This election is witnessing many positive activism in India, many campaigns sponsored by non profit organizations and corporate world, They are pointed towards increasing active public participation in nation building processes.
Good, I hope active participation of celebrities and bureaucrats would translate into large participation of constructive forces of democracy. I am impressed by the media spending of these agencies at these difficult times (economic uncertainties), they are putting their best effort and sincerity to achieve their goal.





Let us participate more and more to clean Indian politics, let us pledge to vote and make our neighbours, family member and friends to vote for “right person for right cause!”

Hope I find “right” person in my constituency…