Operation Derail Anna!!

Through Internet and news channels, I tried to collect Baba Ramdev’s demands. Since I have lot of spare time, I tried to dissect with the knowledge and common sense that I possess.

Tough Lokpal Bill, with a provision for death sentence for the corrupt, especially corrupt officials

Isn't this what Anna Hazare fasted for? A Lokpal panel was formed and started functioning by touring states of Gujarat, MP etc. On the other hand, he demands Capital Punishment for the corrupt. Doesn't it contradict the age old debate of need for abolishing Capital Punishment??

Immediate return of all black money stashed away in tax havens abroad to the country

As prime minister rightly said, there is no magic wand to bring the money back. Even if such things happen, how is the Indian Economy going to respond to this?

Declaring all wealth in foreign countries being held illegally by Indians as national property and charging those with such accounts under the sedition laws

Alright!! This can be explored to a certain extent

Abolishing Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 currency notes

Cant comment on this!!

Disabling the operations of any bank which belongs to a country that is a tax haven

Again, how is the economy going to respond to such a drastic step?? Are we looking forward to be economic Super power or Undo the efforts of Dr.Manmohan Singh and go back to the age of Pre-liberalization?

Replacing the British-inherited system of governance, administration, taxation, education, law and order with a swadeshi alternative

This is absolute bull shit. He wants british inherited law and order to be replaced with Swadeshi Alternative. Does it mean he wants acts like Sati to be back in fashion or wants the NCERT books to be changed to satisfy personal egos? Pramod Muthalik must be happy because as per Ramdev's demands, he will become the minister of State for Moral Policing and ensure that every boy & girl who roam around gets married then and there. If such scenario appears, he will be the Diggi Raja of Babaji's government.

Reforming the electoral system to ensure that the Prime Minister is directly elected by people

I think this is in direct reference to Dr.Manmohan Singh. This one is understandable to a certain extent. But then, are people willing to shed the multiple political rights that they enjoy within the country. Can a Andhrite surrender his political right with all its privileges in East Godavari district to accept a political right in Telangana?

Ensuring that all citizens declare annually their incomes

Good if this can be implemented but certain spiritual gurus who have their turnovers running into hundreds of crores can do that with appropriate tax deductions. For example, Baba Ramdev has a turnover of 1000 crores with an island in Scotland while Devi Amrita has a turnover of 300 crores. There is also a Satya Sai trust and Art of Living foundation in the list. Can these people declare their source of income without charging govt of playing with religious sentiments of people.

Bringing income-tax details under the Right to Information Act

I am not sure about this.

Increasing substantially the Minimum Support Price of grains

Looks like Babaji wants the principle of Demand & Supply to be rewritten in a way that pleases him. MMS, Rangarajan's and Montek's of India should bury their knowledge, resign from their posts and appoint Baba Ramdev as Finance/Commerce Minister and Chairman of Planning Commission

Making wages of different categories of labourers uniform across the country

Shouldn't there be a consideration for quality, quantity, nature and type of work? Shouldn’t there be a merit involved in whatever work a person does and what he gets paid for? Doesn’t it erase competition and bring imbalance to the society? Isn't it yet another case of reservation where a person who is working hard gets a same wage as a person who is working comparatively less harder?

Revoking the Land Acquisition Act, as farmers should not be deprived of their land for industry

Revoking the Land Acquisition Act altogether is not a solution. If baba has any implementable ideas about how to support Industrialization without affecting Agriculture then he is most welcome to do so. Anyone can throw in problems but when Babaji is aware of a problem he cannot merely restate it. Instead he should come up with a solution.

Promoting Hindi at the expense of English.

This is the joke of the millenium!! All TV channels should take a poll with the question "Should Hindi be promoted at the expense of English - Yes/No?" During 2009 Lok Sabha Elections, Mulayam Singh Yadav put forward a similar plan which was supported by Paswan & Lalu. All these netas were ridiculed by the public and the media. Now why is no one talking about Ramdev??

While Anna Hazare’s agitation made sense to lakhs of people of different strata of society, Ramdev’s agitation appears to be a hoax. The dias of Anna was occupied by eminent people like Kiran Bedi & Swami Agnivesh, the dias of Ramdev was occupied by Babri Masjid demolishers.

Looks like UPA has found a way to derail Anna by creating Baba. Or is it do an MNS on NDA at the national level?

Whatever be the reason, Congress has given us a reason to believe that they are the Super Kings of Indian Political League.

Beyond Triple Talaaq & Burqas……

Now the title might give enough fodder for the critics of Islam and for some it could be an opportunity of life time. Sorry to disappoint you guys because I am not interested in discussing them either. This post of mine is inspired by observations of last 15 years and a class room discussion on the concept of Triple Talaaq. Though it has been mentioned umpteen times that there is a process to be followed for Triple Talaaq….logically, yet it is projected as the loop hole in the principles of Islam. What my observation says is that people (many non muslims & considerable no. of muslims) think that Islam is all about Triple Talaaq, Enforcing Burqas & Jehad. So here I would like to highlight few more things to enlighten my friends what else Islam has to offer. Mind you that this will not be an exhaustive list.

1. There are 5 important tenets of Islam

a. Imaan – The Belief that there is none but Allah who is alone and capable of doing anything and everything in the world. This doesn’t imply that it be considered derogatory by other religions as the faith doesn’t interfere with other religions and its followers

b. Namaz – Should be offered 5 times a day, no matter what. Offering Friday noon prayers is extremely important since one cannot make up if you missed it. Only women in their periods are exempted and people who are seriously ill and cant move. However, they have to make it up once they are fine. If you are not well, you can offer it by sitting or in worst case through gestures.

c. Roza – It is mandatory for every muslim to fast in the month of Ramzan. What follows is Eid-ul-Fitr. Due to similar reasons mentioned above, one is exempted from Roza temporarily but there has to be a make up for it. That is either donate certain amount or fast later.

d. Zakat – Islam believes in distributing the wealth among all and recommends to reduce the gap between the “Haves” and “Have Nots”. People who have certain amount of wealth accumulated on his name in the form of Cash, Gold, Silver, Animals, Worth of goods etc should give alms to anyone except their own family members.

e. Haj – Haj is another once in a year activity in which people spend atleast 5 days in Mecca, Saudi Arabia and perform the rituals there. What follows is Eid-Ul-Azha (Bakrid) on the 5^th day. This is again mandatory for those who have piled up the wealth and can afford it.

2. In a typical Non Muslim family, it is impossible for a daughter to inherit her father’s wealth and everything would go to sons. However, Islam had a provision that allows both sons and daughters to inherit their father’s wealth (not necessarily in same proportions)

3. In a marriage, if husband dies…the widow is allowed to marry again after a brief period of 4-5 months from the day of funeral. This is another example of how Woman is safeguarded and empowered in Islam.

4. Islam encourages its followers to learn, educate themselves and their families including women for a better society. It doesn’t imply the other things like the tenets of Islam are compromised.

5. Fatwas have been the most important things for the English Media to raise their TRPs. Anyways, Fatwas are not judgements but opinions expressed in the light of Quran & Hadiths. It is purely the prerogative of people to follow it or not. Eg: Salman Khan was issued a Fatwa for Idol Worship. Does it affect him? NO. So there is no need to make such a hue & cry about Fatwas since they are mere opinions and not judgements.

I have tried to put in few points to start with so that every one gets to know of Islam..beyond Talaaq, Burqa and Jehad.

Thank You

My Socialist wishlist for 2011

Its the time in the night where almost all of my friends are partying hard and welcoming the new year at various places and I.. Am sitting in my room alone writing this blog.

No... wait..before you could come to a conclusion that my social life sucks, let me tell you that I too have celebrated my new year in the style that I am comfortable with. I had a sumptuous Persian food at Bandra, wandered on the overly crowded Juhu Beach having a cup of Irani like Chai and then a long walk back to hostel...totally worth it!!

In fact, the overcrowded Juhu beach with sections of people from middle class and below challenged me to think what they might want in this new year.
A middle class employee might be looking at an increment in salary or a tax exemption post annual budget...or may be marrying of their daughters who are considered to be the liabilities in the Balance Sheet of vastly educated torch bearers of the great Indian constitution.

Desires are many but wants are few. So I have tried to figure out a typical socialist wish list for 2011 and it has the mention of following things.

1. A year free from scams, terrorism (right & left wing/ local & global), communalism & pseudo secularism, naxalism & vandalism..

2. A year with over 9% economic growth with education & livelihood for all, for we are interested in development and not caste, creed and religion of our esteemed parliamentarians

3. A year that efficiently utilizes the resources of the country without wasting the tax payer's money and jeopardizing the dreams of millions of Indians who believe that their representatives sit in parliament for common good and not to boycott them

4. A year to win the world cup and bring back the glory of 1983 for Cricket is the religion that we all blindly follow.

5. A repeat of Common Wealth Games, Asian Games and similar sporting extravaganza that would imbibe interest and trust to make it big in the sport of their choice.

6. A year that will ensure justice to all with speedy trials of terrorism (Kasab and his baaps), corruption (Raja, Kalmadi, Yeddy and their followers at every level of hierarchy of any government institution) & communal/divisive politics (Leaders of Congress, BJP, SP, RJD etc)

7. A year to show the US of A, Australia & UK that they cant take us for granted and we are as good as them in technology, innovation and passion to excel and conquer the world...

8. A year for the rise of many more people like Nitish Kumar, MMS, JP and downfall of champions of pseudo secularism & communalism like Advani

9. A year bestowed with utmost responsiveness and credibility for the beholders of constitution like the Indian Judiciary, CBI, IB, Armed Forces & the great Indian Police

10. A year to be more disciplined, become modern in thoughts and not in clothes alone and to be more responsible for every responsibility fulfilled well is a service to country

11. A year to tame the capitalists and through them bring balance in the society for they have the money, reach and mind to do so

With this wish list, I am signing off in this new year hoping against the hope that at least couple of my wishes come true this year and with a couple of lines resulting out of my new found love for writing poetry

ख्वाब देखना हमारी आदत है और उनको सच करना हमारी फितरत !
अफ़सोस है के अपनों ने किया दगा वरना हमको रोकने की है किस्मे हिम्मत !!
- Mohd Khalid Hasan

khwab dekhna hamari aadat hai aur unko sach karna hamari fitrat !
afsoos hai ke apno ne kiya daga warna humko rokne ki hai kisme himmat !!
- Mohd Khalid Hasan

Wish you all a very happy, meaningful, peaceful, rational & humane new year 2011. Hope all your genuine dreams come true!!