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Saturday, June 16, 2018

If Modi Assassination Plot Letter Is Fake

from the wire
----------------
If Modi Assassination Plot Letter Is Fake, Indian Democracy Is in for Dangerous Times

A two decade-long history of using false allegations, faked evidence, videos and news to manipulate public sentiment proves that the BJP will stop at nothing to ensure its return to power.
If Modi Assassination Plot Letter Is Fake, Indian Democracy Is in for Dangerous Times

If Modi remains true to form, then this is only the start of a witch hunt designed to remove rivals from the field.

The letter allegedly recovered from the house of Rona Wilson, the Delhi-based public relations secretary of the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), which details a meeting in which Maoist leaders ‘decided to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’, needs to be treated with the utmost of scepticism.

This is not only because of its suspicious convenience, for the discovery has come at a time when the BJP has lost a string of elections and by-elections to an increasingly unified, secular opposition. It is also because the letter contains virtually irrefutable evidence of having been doctored.

Holes in the narrative

Written by someone who signs off as ‘R’, it falls into two completely separate sections with not a single connecting word, reference or idea.

The first section – one single long paragraph – is a “nuts and bolts” discussion of tactics between “comrades”, where every word suggests that it is a part of a continuing conversation over day-to-day issues facing the party leadership. It contains numerous references to past meetings and decisions, to the need to provide relief to Maoist prisoners languishing in jails in Delhi, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh and to the legal strategy to be employed in their defence. It derides a key Maoist leader “Prashant’ and accuses him of foisting an “egoist agenda” upon the party that has ‘harmed its larger interests”.

It gives details of a programme formulated to defend the wheelchair-bound and 90% disabled professor of English from Delhi University, G.N. Saibaba, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, in March 2017 and to mobilise public opinion in his defence.

At the end of this paragraph, the letter switches registers and refers to a meeting that discussed the need to raise Rs 8 crore to be exchanged for the next batch of M4 rifles and 400,000 rounds of ammunition, at “the APT crossover”.

This stark jump continues in the second section, which is a grand, airy, declaration of strategic aims that is not only devoid of tactical detail, but is filled with inaccuracies.

It begins by saying that “defeating Hindu fascism has been our core agenda and a major concern for the party”. This is factually and textually wrong. The aim of the Maoists has always been “to overthrow the government of India through people’s war”. Its opponent is not specifically Hindu fascism, but any “bourgeois” government that oppresses the poor.

Second, while the first section talks about other senior party members in familiar terms, using first names like Bijoyda, Prashant, Ashok B., Amit B. Seema, Siraj and Sirohi, the second contains only one reference to a specific person. It says, “Several leaders from secret cells as well as open party organisations have raised this issue very strongly. We are working to consolidate ties with like-minded organisations, political parties, representatives of minorities across the country”. It then goes on: “Comrade Kisan, and few other senior leaders have proposed concrete steps to end Modi Raj. We are thinking along another Rajiv Gandhi type incident”.

This allegation does not contain a single specific reference, but seeks to incriminate each and every “secular” political party NGO, and human rights activist in a plot to assassinate the prime minister. But it then makes one gigantic mistake: It claims that this has been endorsed by one “Comrade Kisan”. The purported letter writer shows no awareness that Comrade Kisan is the very person whose “egoist agenda” he has derided a few lines earlier. For Kisan and Prashant are one and the same person — Prashant Bose, reportedly the second in command of the Maoist movement in the country.

Why should ‘R’ have used two different names for the same person in an internal report to a fellow Maoist leader? It could be that he had a momentary loss of memory. But it could also be that the second section was drafted by someone who did not know that Prashant and Kisan are the same person.

The letter allegedly written by a Maoist leader, which the police claim they recovered from Rona Wilson. Credit: ANI

An incriminating record

That is what makes the letter almost certainly a fake. Had this been a lone episode of its kind, it would not have been conclusive. But the BJP’s record of concocting fake videos to slander Modi’s opponents and inflate his image over the past four years makes it very likely.

On February 11, 2016, the Delhi police had arrested Kanhaiya Kumar, the then president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union on the charge, itself questionable, of raising anti-India slogans during a speech on the campus two days earlier. In a forensic examination carried out at the beginning of March by Truth Labs in Chennai, the video was found to have been doctored, with voices of people who had not been present at the meeting overlaid upon Kanhaiya Kumar’s at a crucial point. By then, Kanhaiya Kumar had been beaten up and humiliated by lawyers belonging to the RSS’ Adhivakta Sangh in a police station while the police stood by and watched, and spent 17 days in jail.

In June last year, when the prime minister was on a visit to the US, and had been invited to a “working dinner” by President Donald Trump, the image makers of the BJP uploaded a video of Modi’s cavalcade driving through the empty, heavily-policed streets of Washington DC to the White house with a caption claiming that this was how Modi had made the US respect a nation of 1.3 billion people. The video was later found to have been of a cavalcade of former US president Barack Obama driving through the streets of San Francisco in 2010.

Finally, two fake videos surfaced on the eve of the Gujarat assembly elections in December last year. Days before the final round of voting, a fake video began to circulate on YouTube, showing Rahul Gandhi signing his nomination papers at the party office in front of a portrait of Aurangzeb. The video had been morphed from the real footage which showed that the portrait was of Mahatma Gandhi.

Hard on its heels, on December 4, NewsX aired an ‘exclusive’ of a Facebook post which purported to show a retired “Pakistani army Director -General who served in its intelligence” – one Arshad Rafiq – declaring gleefully that ‘their man’ Ahmed Patel was soon going to become the chief minister of Gujarat. The post contained a clip of Rahul Gandhi wearing a Muslim skull cap and saying “Mubarak”. When contacted by the Indian Express, Rafiq, who once posted a photo of himself holding a cigar and telling ‘all smoking friends’ that smoking after keeping Roza (fasting during Ramzan) was a pleasure not to be denied, said that he had not written any post on Ahmed Patel, but added “Par agar Modi saheb apney shikhast ka sehra mere sar pe bandhna chah rahey hain (if Modi wants to give me credit for his defeat), he is most welcome”.

These doctored videos and posts show that the BJP will stop at nothing to ensure its return to power. But they do not reveal how far Modi, in particular, is prepared to go to maintain his grip on power. To grasp that, one needs to go back to the aftermath of the Gujarat riots of 2002, when he was the chief minister and Amit Shah was his home minister. Modi’s handling of the riots, in which a thousand Muslims were killed in a matter of days, is mired in controversy till today. But what is not in doubt is the callous ruthlessness with which he stoked Gujarati chauvinism even while the killing was going on, and claimed that the nation’s condemnation was an attack on Gujarati pride and on Hinduism.

Not only did he refrain from restraining the mobs, but he advanced the state assembly elections by four months to checkmate the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s move to remove him from the chief ministership of the state.

Having succeeded in doing this, he continued to shore up his position within the party and the nation by using the bogey of a Pakistan-aided attempt to assassinate him in revenge for Ahmedabad, to keep Gujarati chauvinism at fever pitch. One consequence of this was a carte blanche to the Gujarat police to kill Muslim suspects picked up under suspicion of malfeasance. This turned some of its elements into a killing machine: over the next four years, there were no fewer than 22 such “encounters” at least four of which were subsequently found to have had nothing whatever to do with killing Modi, or taking revenge for the 2002 riots.

It is this cynical, two decade-long, use of false allegations, faked evidence, videos and news to manipulate public sentiment that makes the current allegations against Rona Wilson and the other ‘Naxals’ arrested by the Maharashtra police in a BJP-ruled state so disturbing. The Shiv Sena journal Saamna called them ‘laughable’, but if Modi remains true to form, then this allegation could be only the beginning of a witch hunt designed to remove rivals from the field on charges of sedition, treason or waging war against the state, as a prelude to raising Hindu chauvinism to fever pitch before the 2019 general elections.

If that is indeed the plan, then Indian democracy’s most dangerous moments lie only months ahead.

prem shankar jha
----
Prem Shankar Jha is a senior journalist and author of several books.

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this is an article in the wire

Monday, June 11, 2018

edraac family meet

kavitha
 by krishnakumar
president kairali... kottappuram

കാൽക്കീഴിലാക്കാം പ്രകൃതിയെ എന്നത്
 മർത്യന്റെ വ്യാമോഹ ചിന്ത മാത്രം
മർത്യന്റെ മസ്തിഷ്ക  ശേഷിക്കെളുതല്ല
വിശ്വ പ്രകൃതിയെ കീഴടക്കീടുവാൻ

lhc പോലുള്ള സങ്കീണർന്ന വിദ്യയാൽ
ദൈവ കണത്തെയും  പാട്ടിലാക്കീടുവാൻ
സാധിക്കുമെന്നുള്ള ഗർവുമായിട്ടല്ലോ
സഞ്ചരിച്ചീടുന്നു ശാസ്ത്ര കുതുകികൾ

എങ്കിലും ദൃഷ്ടിക്കു ഗോചരമായുള്ള
ചിന്തയിൽ പ്രാമുഖ്യമൊട്ടും ലഭിക്കാത്ത
സൂക്ഷാനുജീവി തൻ സേവനമില്ലാതെ
സുസാധ്യമാകില്ല ജീവിതം ഭൂമിയിൽ

മാരകമാകും വിഷ പദാർത്ഥങ്ങളെ
ഭക്ഷിച്ചതിനെ വിഷമുക്തമാക്കുന്ന
ബാക്ടീരിയ എന്ന ജീവിയോടെത്രയോ
വേണം കടപ്പാട് മർത്യനു ചിന്തയിൽ

മാലിന്യ വസ്തുക്കളൊക്കെയും ഭക്ഷിച്ചു
കാഷ്ഠിച്ചു ഭൂമിയെ ഭൂയിഷ്ഠമാക്കുന്ന
മണ്ണിര തന്റെ പ്രവർത്തനമില്ലെങ്കിൽ
ഊഷര ഭൂമിയായ് തീരുമീ ഭൂതലം

കുഞ്ഞു കുസുമങ്ങൾ ഓരോന്നിലും ചെന്ന്
തേനുണ്ട് കൂടെ പരാഗണം ചെയ്യുന്ന
തേനീച്ച ഷഡ്പദജാലങ്ങൾ ഇല്ലെങ്കിൽ
ഉണ്ടാകയില്ലൊരു  കായോ ഫലങ്ങളോ

ആണവ വസ്തുക്കൾകാന്ത തരംഗങ്ങൾ
മാരകമായുള്ള  രാസ പദാർത്ഥങ്ങൾ
ഒക്കെയും സൃഷ്ടിച്ചു ദുഷ്കരമാക്കുന്നു
ജീവജാലങ്ങൾക്ക് ഭൂമിയിൽ ജീവിതം

ആഗോളതാപനം കൊണ്ടും പഠിക്കാതെ
ആർത്തലച്ചീടും സുനാമികൾ കാണാതെ
ഭൂമി തൻ മാറ് പിളർന്നു ലഭിക്കുന്നൊ--
രിന്ദനം കത്തിച്ചു മുന്നേറി ടുന്നു നാം

കുട്ടികൾ ചെറ്റു കുസൃതി കാട്ടീടുകിൽ
കാരുണ്യമോടു  ക്ഷമിക്കുമേതമ്മയും
ക്രൂരതയിത്രമേലാകുമ്പോഴാവുമോ
ഭൂമി മാതാവിന് പോലും ക്ഷമിക്കുവാൻ

ഒക്കെ ക്ഷമിക്കുമീ പുണ്യ ധരിത്രിയും
തൻ ക്ഷമയറ്റു പോയൊന്നു കയർക്കുകിൽ
ഗർവോടു സൃഷ്ടിച്ചു കാത്തവയൊക്കെയും
കൂടിയീ  നമ്മളും ഭസ്മമായ് തീർന്നിടാം

സങ്കല്പ സീമക്കുമേറെ അതീതമാം
സങ്കീർണതയാർന്ന വിശ്വ പ്രകൃതിയെ
തൊട്ടറിഞ്ഞൊട്ടതിനോടൊത്തു  ചേർന്ന്
കാലം കഴിക്കുകയാണു കാമ്യം

Sunday, June 3, 2018

petrol price.... a virtual debate

a real debate is a forlorn proposition. times are bad.
here is a virtual one. with retorts like you are a traitor,
you are against the majority, you probably are a terrorist
in the making, are blanked out to conserve space.

-- you have a justification for petrol tax , don't you ?
== yes for certain . we use it to build India .
-- toilets to be specific ?
== and roads and gas connections to the poor.

-- well taken. are you sure it is not for the rafale deal ?
== you should know that most of petrol tax is a cess
meant for a specific purpose.
-- great. then what goes to finance the rafale deal
and the like ?
== ( blanked out )

-- i presume it is the general tax.
== not a great discovery . but you still deserve a pat.
for coming to your senses.
-- can i presume that this general tax money can't be
used for development projects ?
== not enough . india needs much more.
-- true. but think of the savings if the rafale price
which was fixed thru year long negotiations
had not been upped 3 fold during a
week long visit .
== (blanked out )

-- or if demonetisation loss was estimated properly
before the midnight strike ?
or if the great bank defaulters had been chased
more effectively inside the country ?
== (blanked out ) (blanked out )

-- isn't it a little strange that we get to know how a cess
is spent and not the tax money ? and every question
is rebuffed with answers like secrets of the state or
not in public interest .
== (blanked out )

-- thank you . a final question . if petrol tax is further
raised to say 200% , your justification as above
would still hold good . would you like to keep it or change it ?

( sorry folks i didn't ask this final question . this is just for
you and me )

mathai
03 jun 2018

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

neat neat exams

an old facebook post . likely to be read again . prompted probably by latest performance. which is not in public domain yet .
------------------------
neat exam...

Isn't there something called sense of proportion . if you start making rules to prevent all those exceptional accidents it is not adminstration . It is not even common sense. It is in fact escapism. The easy way out. Shirking responsibility . 

The examiner should have used his common sense . he should have decided that a metal hook in the bra or in the undergarment is not  a copying gadget. Or  a hidden bomb. That is called sense of duty. Not just blindly following a rule , any rule , without trying to understand what it is meant for. Despicable , to say the least. 


To those who try to justify it, just one question . if the girl for whom the scanner beeped was sent in with the bra or the undergarment what would have happened in the worst case. If the heavens  fall we should be able to support it on our shoulders . and that is what goes into the definition of human beings. The minimum requirement.


And a word to those who excel in framing rules to plug all the conceivable loop holes. You are sir at your silliest best. You have probably not heard of the risk- restriction trade of. You have to decide where to draw the line. Simply bringing in restrictions to ward of 100% of the risks .... is not risk management. It is not management at all. It is just a matching game which school kids enjoy playing.

Monday, May 7, 2018

the write off debate

write off or balance sheet cleaning ?

an old post in facebook . reproduced here as the issue is still relevant and live.

---------------
i tried for an open debate on write off versus balance sheet cleaning. as usual no takers. not even one entry. i am convinced that face book is no place for serious discussions. for the 7th or 8th time
.
here is my view again. the debate post is reproduced in the end.


1. loan waiver.
this is the ultimate. the loan is written off. the borrower is duly informed. no more recovery steps. the adjustment need not always be from accumulated profit or net worth. govt can also foot the bill.

2. write off.
the loan liability is set off in bank's books by adjusting provision.
which is nothing but accumulated profit or portion of net worth renamed for this purpose. borrower is not absolved and hence not informed. recovery steps continue. whatever is recovered goes directly to the profit of the bank. not even routed thru the borrowal account. ( this however needs to be confirmed. i am not that sure. ). loan liability will appear in credit rating sites like cibil as the adjustment is done in bank's books only.

3. balance sheet cleaning.
frankly i don't know if it is any different from write off as above.
i am sure the confusion will be maintained at any cost. as this probably is the easiest tool to mislead public on huge bad loans and their imminent write off.


i repeat my earlier suggestion. balance sheet of banks should compulsorily declare these write offs  (  in the form of notes as they are off balance sheet items ) and carry it forward to the next balance sheet to reflect the accumulated position.

-----------------
my earlier post
calling for debate
----------
This write off issue is getting into muddy waters . even my close friends , experts themselves , say technical adjustment or cleaning the balance sheet is different. Let's start a discussion. 1. Define loan waiver ,write off and cleaning of balance sheet . 2. Establish the linkage if any and determine the chronological order , that is , what comes first and what follows 3. Discuss the impact of each on the bank. 4. Discuss the impact of each on the borrower .

let's debate.

 Before signing off I put the following suggestion too for debate. Balance sheet of banks should compulsorily have a note specifying the details of loans waived, written off and cleaned in the last 5 years.

Thursday, March 22, 2018

women's day suggestions

women's day suggestions. consolidated.

7. No threat is any threat. So if anyone tries to blackmail you ask him to get lost.
6. wear your confidence. stay confident and show it too.
5. socialise and make it a habit. thus increase your support among good people .
4. let us reintroduce rustic justice system. avoid courts. a small village committee will do .
3. let them mingle. familiarity breeds respect. help our boys and girls be friends early enough.
2. keep up a running dialogue. encourage children to share everything with parents.
1. make our girls brave. do not instill fear in them when they are children .

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

തെറ്റിന്റെ കുറ്റമാണെല്ലാം

തെറ്റിന്റെ കുറ്റമാണെല്ലാം
ശരി എപ്പോഴും ശരി തന്നെ
ശരി കൂടെ ഉണ്ടെങ്കിൽ പിന്നെ
ഒന്നുമേ ചെയ്യേണ്ടതില്ല
ചെയ്യുന്നതൊക്കെയും തെറ്റ്
ശരി മാറി ദൂരേക്ക് നിൽക്കും
തെറ്റിന്റെ കുറ്റമാണെല്ലാം
ഈ ലോകം ഇങ്ങനെ ആകാൻ

ഇല്ലായിരുന്നു തെറ്റെങ്കിൽ
ഒന്നുമുണ്ടാകുമായിരുന്നില്ല
ഈ ലോകമേ ഇല്ല പിന്നെ
ഇല്ലാതെ പോകും ശരിയും
ശരിയാണ് തെറ്റിന്റെ തെറ്റ്
എന്നൊക്കെ വേണേൽ പറയാം
ഒന്ന് തിരിഞ്ഞു മറിഞ്ഞാൽ
തെറ്റും ശരിഎന്ന് കാണാം

ശരിയുടെ കൂടെ പിറന്നു
ആരുമില്ലാതെ വളർന്നു
ഒറ്റയ്ക്ക് നിന്നു പൊരുതി
ഒപ്പത്തിനൊപ്പവും എത്തി
എങ്കിലും എന്തോ കുറവ്
തെറ്റിന്റെ ഭാഗമായുണ്ട്
എല്ലാം ശരിയായി തീരും
കാലവും മാറുക അല്ലെ

എപ്പോഴും ദൂരേക്ക് മാറും
ശരിയെ എനിക്കിഷ്ടമല്ല
കൂടെ നടക്കുന്ന തെറ്റ്
എത്രയോ ഭേദമാണിഷ്ടാ

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

U P election wonder ... an old post

modi jee pulled it off . 80% plus. unbelievable ? yes. for all . till a few hours back.

but it is a reality now. no use disbelieving. better to assimilate. and try to analyse. 

the facts first. 80% plus seats in the assembly election. similar number in the parliament elections two years back. so it is a solid foundation . no passing wave or anti incumbency as many of us would like to deceive ourselves. fact number two. no communal divide. muslims voted hindus as their MLAs . and probably vice versa at least in a few cases. those the dalits sent to the assembly are definitely not all dalits . if there was any divide ever it is surely something else . not communal. fact number three. no communal card. election campaign was a near wonder. in spite of the sure fire lure , the communal card was never played up. except may be a few instances like the kasab comment. which is more a play with words than an attempt to incite communal feelings. fact number four . no violence worth the name. the entire election process was almost devoid of violence. which again is unbelievable given the history of elections in the country and in U P .

all these in spite of the fact that demonetisation was an unqualified failure .

so let us start the dissection . last in first out. demon was indeed a failure . some knew it for certain. many had suspicion. a lot more people didn't bother. but almost every one thought it was time for such actions. impatience of waiting for too long was palpable. failure didn't bother them . after all it is rare that they see success . in personal life or in the public domain. but what they despised most is probably the tendency to use the risk of failure as an excuse for inaction .

now rest of the facts. the only common point is that there was a massive polarisation . on what lines or terms is not clear. rich versus poor ? no.  had it been the case the communist parties should have got at least a thousand votes in total.  middle class consolidation ? difficult. as they are the most unlikely class to stick together.

the third option . probably we have all along been misreading the people. to feed our own prejudices. to serve our own partisan ends. we have been keeping the people in this imaginary mould which we have designed for them. we have been feeding them opium. of the dalit minority mix. to keep them in slumber. and someone has woken them up all . in one big shout. and they went directly to the voting booths. electorate in UP and erstwhile UP made it very clear thru the ballot . and that way made themselves role models for the rest of the country . who enjoyed calling UP undeveloped , communal , violent , uneducated and what not .

here is a personal experience before signing off. i was in lucknow for a few years. we visited varanasi a few times with family. the great temple indeed was an experience. much bigger in size than the guruvayoor temple in kerala. same air of divine grace if not more.
we went to the mosque deep inside the temple complex too . with police guarding the entire route. we went in and out just like any other tourist. none raised an eyebrow . neither the muslims nor the hindus. and i belong to neither of the group.
coming out of the temple complex we went to a few shops outside. almost the entire circumference of the circular temple complex is occupied by thousands of shops . dealing in pan to sweets to curios. i had known that these shops are all run by muslims. i talked to a shop keeper. i asked the old gentle man ' how come you are all muslims around this famous hindu temple here ? don't you feel any threat ? aren't you aware of the great tension ? '

he looked at me with unconcealed anger . his answer which is reproduced below with which i sign off may give some clue to the questions we discussed in this article.

' i am sure you are not from this part of the country . it is aliens like you who create all the troubles. we have no such problem. get out of here. quick . before the people get wind of your evil designs and react. '

Thursday, March 1, 2018

നമ്മൾ സഹിക്കുന്ന വികൃതികൾ 2017

this is an old post of mar 2017
the mindset however remains same if not hardened further
hence this repost
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നമ്മൾ സഹിക്കുന്ന വികൃതികൾ
abort ചെയ്യാൻ സുപ്രീം കോർട്ട് അനുവദിച്ചില്ലെന്ന്. 24 ആഴ്ച ( അതോ 26 ഓ ) ആയിപ്പോയി . 20 നു മുൻപേ നിയമം അനുവദിക്കുന്നുള്ളൂ . അത് കൊണ്ട് പ്രസവിക്കണം down syndrome ഉള്ള കുട്ടിയെ . വളർത്തണം . ഇതെല്ലാം ചെയ്തേ പറ്റൂ . ഇതാണ് ഞങ്ങളുടെ ഓർഡർ .
പിന്നെ ഒരു ആശ്വാസത്തിന് ചില കാര്യങ്ങൾ കൂടി പറഞ്ഞേക്കാം എന്ന് സുപ്രീം കോർട്ട് . 1 . നിങ്ങളുടെ ജീവന് ഹാനിയൊന്നും ഇല്ലല്ലോ 2 . down syndrome ഉള്ള സാധ്യത ആണ് കാണുന്നത് എന്നല്ലാതെ തീർച്ചയാണെന്നു മെഡിക്കൽ റിപ്പോർട്ടിൽ ഇല്ലല്ലോ .
എങ്ങനെ വളർത്തണം എന്ന് ചോദിച്ചു ഒരു ഹർജി കൂടി ഫയൽ ചെയ്താലോ . ഇതിപ്പോൾ ഡൌൺ സിൻഡ്രോമിന് മാത്രം ആക്കേണ്ട . ഏതു വൈകല്യം ആയാലും 20 ആഴ്ച കഴിഞ്ഞു പോയാൽ പ്രസവിച്ചു വളർത്തിയെ പറ്റൂ . ചിലപ്പോൾ എഴുന്നേറ്റു നിൽക്കാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞെന്നു വരില്ല . കിടന്ന കിടപ്പിൽ പരിചരിക്കേണ്ടി വരും . മിക്കപ്പോഴും ബുദ്ധി മാന്ദ്യം ഉണ്ടാകും . അക്രമ വാസന കൂടിക്കൊണ്ടേ ഇരിക്കും . തൃപ്പൂണിത്തുറയിലെ ആദർശ് സ്‌കൂളിൽ ഒന്ന് വന്നു നോക്കുന്നവർക്ക് കാര്യങ്ങൾ ബോധ്യമാകും . കണ്ടു ബോധം കേട്ട് പോകാതെ കരുതിയിരിക്കണം എന്നെ ഉള്ളു .
അതൊക്കെ ദൈവ വിധി എന്ന് സമാധാനിച്ചാണ് രക്ഷിതാക്കൾ ഇതൊക്കെ സഹിക്കുന്നത് . ജീവിച്ചു തീർക്കുന്നത് . ദാ ഇപ്പോൾ കോടതി വിധി . പത്തോ പന്ത്രണ്ടോ ആഴ്ച കഴിഞ്ഞാൽ നിങ്ങൾക്ക് ഇങ്ങനെ ഒരു കുട്ടി ജനിക്കും ജനിക്കണം ഒഴിഞ്ഞുമാറാം എന്നൊന്നും നോക്കേണ്ട വളർത്തണം വളർത്തിയെ പറ്റൂ ഇത് ഞങ്ങളുടെ ഉത്തരവാണ് .
അയർലണ്ടിലോ മറ്റോ ഇതിലും വൈകി അബോർഷൻ ഈയിടെ അനുവദിച്ച കാര്യം മറക്കാം . നമുക്ക് നമ്മുടെ സംസ്‌കൃതി കാത്തു സൂക്ഷിക്കണമല്ലോ . വ്യക്തി സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തിന്റെ കാര്യവും മറക്കാം . സിനിമ തീയേറ്ററിൽ എഴുന്നേറ്റു നിൽക്കണം അറ്റെൻഷൻ ആയി നിൽക്കണം എന്നൊക്കെ കേട്ട് പരിചയം ആയി തുടങ്ങി അനുസരിക്കാനും പഠിച്ചല്ലോ . ഇനിയും പലതും പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കുന്ന കാലമാണല്ലോ . പക്ഷെ ഇത്രയ്ക്കു വേണോ ഈ സാഡിസം . അത് വേണോ ?
ഇന്നേക്ക് 12 കാഴ്ച കഴിഞ്ഞു തുടങ്ങി ജീവിതാന്ത്യം വരെ, ഒന്നുകിൽ നിങ്ങളുടെ അല്ലെങ്കിൽ നിങ്ങളുടെ കുട്ടിയുടെ, ശിക്ഷിക്കുന്നു . വീട്ടു തടങ്കലിൽ അനുഭവിച്ചാൽ മതി . കുറ്റമോ ? ഗർഭം ധരിച്ചു 24 ആഴ്ച കൊണ്ട് നടന്നു 20 ആഴ്ചക്കു മുൻപ് ഒന്നും കണ്ടത്തിയില്ല അത് തന്നെ . കണ്ടെത്താനാകുമായിരുന്നോ എന്നൊന്നും ചോദിക്കേണ്ട നിയമത്തിന് അങ്ങനെ ഒരു ബാധ്യത ഇല്ല .
ഈ അബോർഷൻ അനുവദിച്ചു പോയി എന്നു കരുതുക . വലിയ ഒരു misinterpretation ലൂടെ. എന്താകുമായിരുന്നു നമ്മുടെ രാജ്യം നേരിടുമായിരുന്ന പ്രതിസന്ധി എങ്ങനെ കര കയറുമായിരുന്നു ആർക്കറിയാം

Saturday, February 17, 2018

pnb fraud

 pnb fraud is astounding . as usual system failure is evident. and as usual the whole thing may end with the crucifixion of a manager or two . and that in brief is the biggest malady banking industry is facing . nay the country is facing . the country has been facing . the country is likely to face for ever .


  rbi 

let us start at the top. what exactly has rbi been doing ? modi's should be one of the the biggest loan accounts in the branch . there is no way rbi can skip this account in its inspection. did they ever comment on the risk of default of this giant borrower ? did they suggest any precautions ? did they study the performance of diamond industry as a whole and try to interpolate modis for a comparative analysis ? or are these things too much to expect from an rbi inspection ? if they indeed are , isn't it time to scrap this exercise ?

lou have most probably been issued in the past too . ( luckily they didn't devolve on the bank). did rbi look for a credit appraisal and ensure a proper sanction ? did they see what the securities are ? did they confirm that the goods expected to be imported did arrive and was properly hypothecated to the bank in these past lou . did they rule out the chance that past lou were cleared just by book adjustments ?


   pnb  head office

let us come down to the bank head office . credit monitoring set up in ho should have done all that rbi inspection is supposed to have done. in fact they should have done it first. it is the basic responsibility of the on line monitoring group , the inspecting officers and the sanctioning authority . rbi's role comes in much later.

incidentally it will be interesting to know what exactly the terms of sanction of this lou facility to the company are . what are the securities ? what are the other conditions if any ? what is the time frame for completing the underlying transaction , viz imports ? or is it possible that this facility was never mentioned in the credit reports submitted to the sanctg authy and therefore never sanctioned by an appropriate authy ? 

most glaring omission however is that this lou facility was kept outside core banking solution platform . is it the case that non fund based facilities are not enabled in cbs ? or is it that only lou are outside cbs ? for technical issues ? or other considerations ?

most surprising thing however is that the ho probably had no means to know of transactions done out side cbs . given the fact the every bank had a system of getting regular reports of transactions done outside cbs . and if pnb was an exception that needs to be explained


   pnb  branch

let us come further down ,to the branch . isn't there a way for the branch in charge to know what facilities are being enjoyed by one of the biggest loan customers of the branch ? isn't it his duty to send credit reports to higher authorities for sanction? and to ensure that terms and conditions of sanction are adhered to ?

just as a test case will the branch in charge reveal how many times he visited the unit , inspected the stock ? or reviewed the stock inspection reports of his juniors ? and whether he ever noticed any comment regarding imported goods being stored separately ? or not found at all ?
are we to believe that br in charge never knew of the swift messages ? and that he has never heard of lou ?  lou originating from his branch



   govt 


let us go up now to the topmost layer , the govt. i deliberately kept it for the last as it is the most difficult stake holder to handle. it is that part of the sky where unprofessional lies fly around. for example note that this fraud originated in 2011. this lou which devolved on the bank in early 2018 had its origin in 2011 . this lou which was issued for a period of one year fraudulently , as against the normal validity period of 90 days, dates back to 2011 !

 then the silence on the claim by a whistle blower that he sent an alert in 2016. then the explanation that in international meetings anyone can barge into the group photos with the pm and that it doesn't imply anything . and the unexplained coincidence that every one of the big enough defaulters left the country just in time to dodge the law enforcement agencies of this country.

and the declaration that no loan which could turn npa was sanctioned after his govt assumed office . and most interestingly the stubborn silence since then. and probably his vow not to break it on mundane things like a bank fraud of a few thousand crores.


   media

finally a word on the media . they are the people who give us stories. they paint it in choicest colours.

initial breaking news was that it originated in 2011 . and we waited for the links to  nehru or at least his family .

then came the expert opinion that one year validity of the lou is what the fraud is all about . had it been the normally permitted 90 days nothing would have happened .

then the story broke that a manager sitting at his desk for unduly long period managed it solo . using his swift password. and understandably nothing else.

waiting for more breakneck news


   conclusion  

 pnb fraud is astounding . as usual system failure is evident. but the whole thing may end with the crucifixion of a manager or two . as usual .

 and that in brief is the biggest malady banking industry is facing . nay, the country is facing . the country has been facing . the country is likely to face for ever .

Thursday, February 15, 2018

ഞാനൊന്നു കുളിക്കാൻ പോണു.....നീ നിന്റെ വീട്ടിൽ പോ ചെക്കാ

ഞാനൊന്നു കുളിക്കാൻ പോണു കൂടെ പോന്നോ ചെക്കാ നീ
എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ പെണ്ണേ എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ
തോട്ടിനപ്പുറം പാടത്തു മേയുന്ന പോത്തുകുത്താതെ നോക്കണ്ടേ

ആടിനെ തീറ്റാൻ പോണുണ്ട് ചെക്കാ നീയും കൂടെ പോന്നോളൂ
എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ പെണ്ണേ എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ
എന്റെയുള്ളം കാലിൽ മുള്ളു കൊള്ളുന്നെങ്കിൽ ഊരിയെടുക്കാനാരുണ്ട്

ഇന്നു ഞാൻ പോണതലക്കാനാണ് കൂടെ പോന്നോ വേണേല്
എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ പെണ്ണേ എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ
വൈകിട്ടു പെയ്യും മഴയത്തു കുഞ്ഞു വാഴയില വെട്ടി ചൂടണ്ടേ

വിളക്കു വയ്ക്കുവാൻ നേരമായ് ചെക്കാ മുറ്റത്തടുത്തായി നിന്നോളൂ
എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ പെണ്ണേ എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ
കാറ്റു വന്നു വിളക്കു കെടുത്തും നേരത്തു നോക്കാനാരുണ്ട്

നല്ല പുളിയിട്ട മീൻ കറിയുണ്ട് അപ്പുറത്തേക്കു നീ വന്നോളൂ
എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ പെണ്ണേ എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ
മീൻ തല മുള്ളിന്റ കൂടെ പെറുക്കി പട്ടിക്കു നമ്മൾ കൊടുക്കണ്ടേ

ഞാനൊന്നു മുറ്റത്തിരിക്കാൻ പോണു നീ നിന്റെ വീട്ടിൽ പോ ചെക്കാ
എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ പെണ്ണേ എന്തിനതെന്തിനെടീ
കാലത്തെ നേരത്തെഴുന്നേറ്റു വന്ന് കാണണ്ടേ നിനക്കെന്റ കണി

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

rafale deal ... a little more clarity please

rafale deal can benefit from a little more info from the govt.

1. apparently referring to the question why hal was dropped in favour of reliance group company , minister replies that no indian offset partner has been selected by the vendor ( dassault aviation ) so far.
but foundation stone for dassault reliance aerospace limited manufacturing facility in midhun nagpur was laid on 27 oct 2017 . that press release mentions that the facility will manufacture several components of the offset obligation connected to the purchase of 36 rafale fighters from france, signed between the two govts in sept 2016.

2. this deal is better reiterates the defence minister. but no details. or answers . here are the questions again .
i. how is the present price of 1600 cr per plane better than the 500 cr in the original plan or the escalated cost of 700 cr per plane ? ii. is exclusion of transfer of technology clause one of the betterment that the minister is referring to ?

3. minister says security agreement signed in 2008 forbids revealing details of the rafale deal (to be) signed in 2016.
will the govt specify the agreement ?

4. upa also refused to disclose details of defence deals, claims the minister.
upgrade costs of mirage 2000 aircraft were disclosed , explained and justified in reply to a parliament question in 2013, to cite one example .

5. revealing item wise costs will compromise our national security .
if this argument is taken forward, no govt will need to disclose defence purchase details ever. or the details of any deals . if this covenant is interpreted with a little imagination.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

recapitalisation of banks


    1. the second biggest thing in the 2018 budget of govt of india is probably re capitalisation of banks. let us stand up and clap. finance minister is an economist and a genius.
      the first place of course goes to modi care . the program to raise health of every indian citizen to international standards. and maintain it at that level .
      clap ? not yet . there will be opportunities galore . at least till the next general election. nothing is going to happen till then. this red moon will shine bright in the horizon well past the election festival. directing , inviting, cajoling people to the promised land filled with electronic voting machines.
      let's come back to re capitalisation of banks. what exactly is the need ? simple. becoz the capital which it had went down the drain. not exactly . went into the leaky pockets of a handful of our countrymen. in neat loan packets of a few thousand crores of rupees each . by a mechanism rechristened by our finance minister a few months back , as 'balance sheet adjustments'. till then it was known by the name 'write off' .
      where do these funds that go into recapitalisation of banks come from ? from the tax that we the malleable citizens of this country pay . one of the many uses of tax which we are aware of . there are quite a few which are in the secret domain.
      aren't the banks collecting charges for withdrawing our own money ? yes. keeping money elsewhere is illegal. every transaction above a certain limit , rs 20,000 before the present budget, should be by way of bank cheques only. by cash is a crime. and to withdraw our own money from the bank we should pay penalty nick named processing charge, atm charge , transaction charge etc. ( minimum balance penalty is excluded for brevity. )
      get all the money into the bank by force . appropriate a portion to the bank every time anyone takes his money out. great. but not enough to pull the banks out of the quagmire they are in , affectionately called npa , which in fact is nothing but forgone loans.
      can this process of recapitalisation run for ever ? oh no. no need . we will sell off these public sector banks . after cleaning up the balance sheets by recapitalising a few more times. depending on how many chances we are likely to get in the govt.
      will anyone bid for these banks ? sure enough , yes.  if they understand the monopoly chance lurking just a few years away. if planned and executed properly they can hope to have a monopoly of sorts in indian banking a few years from the sell off or let's call it the buy out.  and of course the fact that they will have to pay just a token price. after all it is the govt who is the seller.
      so recapitalisation is just a small step in the long trip. hold the stand up clap. emulate the main opposition party . keep mum. or follow the leftist stalwarts. pretend to look the other way . come back with protests and processions when every thing is over.
      grin and bear it . believe me. we can.

    Friday, January 26, 2018

    wake me up lest i sleep sleep for ever

    hug me tight kiss me light
    i know you are sixty
    and a little more

    pull me close hold me loose
    you know i am  forty
    and all alone

    press me hard pat me soft
    my man is gone
    gone for ever

    wrap me up spread me wide
    he was sick in bed
    a decade and more

    call me rose feel me rise
    he was friend
    yours and mine

    drain me out fill me in
    he just kept all the pain
    just for me

    push me down hold me there
    take me out from
    grief and pain

    lift me up throw me down
    i need the bump
    to live and love

    wake me up kiss me hard
    lest i sleep sleep
    for ever

    Tuesday, January 23, 2018

    നയപ്രഖ്യാപനം മുഴുവൻ വായിക്കാതെ ഗവർണർ


    നയപ്രഖ്യാപനം മുഴുവൻ വായിക്കാതെ ഗവർണർ.

    നന്നായി.

    ഗവർണറെ കൊണ്ടു വായിപ്പിച്ചേ നയം പ്രഖ്യാപിക്കൂ എന്ന കീഴ്‌വഴക്കത്തിനെന്താ അടിസ്ഥാനം?സത്യത്തിൽ Speaker ടെ മുകളിൽ ഒരു സ്ഥാനത്തല്ലേ ഗവർണറെ ഇരുത്തേണ്ടത് ഒരു super speaker ആയി ഒരു third umpire ആയി ?

    അല്ലാതെ എഴുതി കൊടുക്കുന്നതൊക്കെ തെറ്റില്ലാതെ വായിച്ചു കേൾപ്പിക്കുന്ന പണി അങ്ങേർക്കു കൊടുക്കുന്നത് ഒരു നല്ല എർപ്പാടാണോ? പിന്നെ ഒരു പണി കൊടുക്കാം ഇതു വരെ സർക്കാറിനിട്ടു പണിതതിന് എന്നാണെങ്കിൽ ....

    ഗവർണർ ചെയ്തതു നന്നായി വായിൽ കൊള്ളാത്തതൊക്കെ വായിച്ചു പരീക്ഷ പാസാകേണ്ട ഗതികേട് ഒരു ഗവർണർക്കില്ല പാടില്ല എന്നു തന്നെയാണ് ഞാൻ വിശ്വസിക്കുന്നത്.

    സത്യത്തിൽ സംസ്ഥാനത്തിന്റെ നയം പ്രഖ്യാപിക്കാൻ കേന്ദ്ര സർക്കാറിന്റെ നോമിനിയായ ഗവർണറെ നിയോഗിക്കുന്നതിൽ യാതൊരു ഔചിത്യവുമില്ല. അതും എഴുതിക്കൊടുത്തു വായിപ്പിക്കുന്നത്. പ്രത്യേകിച്ചും സംസ്ഥാനവും കേന്ദ്രവും തികച്ചും വ്യത്യസ്ഥമായ നയങ്ങളിൽ വിശ്വസിക്കുന്ന പാർട്ടികൾ ഭരിക്കുമ്പോൾ.

    ഗവർണർ കേട്ടിരിക്കട്ടെ സംശയങ്ങൾ ചോദിക്കട്ടെ മറുപടി പറയാനും വിശദീകരിക്കാനുമുള്ള ബാദ്ധ്യത മുഖ്യ മന്ത്രിക്കുണ്ടാകട്ടെ അതല്ലേ ഒരു better arrangement