for more enlightened leadership

text of the letter sent to The New Indian Express:

I am intrigued by the news report in your columns on the 28th instant under the caption ‘Couple get jobs, funds’, about a young couple from Bagalkot, both of whom are now employed in the Vidhan Soudha, the husband as a second division clerk, and the wife as a first division assistant. Apparently, this resulted from a Janata Darshan audience with the CM, who showered his benevolence on the couple, moved by their plight, suffering as they were from ill-treatment by their own folk because of their inter-caste marriage.

Now, if you ask any young person in Bagalkot, or for that matter, any where in the state, he/she will have some similar sob story to tell. The questions that arise here are

a) If the CM is going to be giving them all jobs in the government, where is the end to it all?
b) The government is terribly over-staffed as it is. Even as of now, the entire government work can be done by less than a tenth of the existing work force if it withdraws from areas it doesn't need to be in, and by going in for large-scale computerisation. Whereas the government should be looking at such options, these acts of the CM show him up as totally irresponsible.
c) Also, the only attraction that a government job holds for the youth today is the scope for making ‘under the table’ money, that comes along with it. So, in essence, what the government is doing is just corrupting the youth, if they are not already so inclined.
d) It is absolutely dismaying that the CM’s of today should still be going about like feudal lords showering largesse on individuals, rather than working for the common good, whereby many of these people will automatically be absorbed in far better quality employment.

It is time people looked out for more enlightened leadership.

judiciary to the rescue an nth time

text of a letter sent to the press:

With the Kannada chauvinists running amok forcibly re-painting vehicle number plates in Kannada, even as the police look on helplessly despite the rapidly deteriorating crime and terrorism scenario, the direction from the Supreme Court to implement the high security registration plate scheme has not come a day too soon.

There is a very popular mail doing the rounds on the net listing out our parliamentarians according to the various misdeeds they have allegedly been involved in. Going by that, it becomes fairly clear as to why governance the country over is going from bad to worse, with courts constrained to intervene every now and then. Perhaps, therefore, it is time the courts revised the eligibility criterion itself for contesting elections.

Kannada number plates

The function of the vehicle registration number plates is far from that of protecting or propagating the local language or culture. The need for their being displayed on the vehicle as per the given standard is paramount, and cannot be compromised upon at any cost, particularly given the increasing instances of hit& run, kidnapping, terrorism, etc. As such, the traffic police acqueiscing in the acts of the Kannada Anusthana Mandali, Kannada Development Authority, etc, reported in your columns recently, is highly objectionable, and perhaps needs to be checked through the dictates of the courts, if required.

Incidentally, it will make an interesting study to find out as to what percentage of our traffic police force can read Kannada numerals.

Further, while the use of the Kannada script (but not on number-plates) could contribute to the propagation of the language and thereby the culture, the numerals do not serve any such purpose. Perhaps it is time the numerals are given a decent burial in a time capsule (say, on the lawns of the Vidhan Soudha), and the state adopted the international numerals, quite like a few others have already done.

let's celebrate the ITsector

Text of letter sent to the press on 5th May, '06; regains validity in the light of Dr U R Ananthamurthy's statements reported in the press today

It is shocking and indeed bewildering the way even some people, who you would normally consider knowledgeable ( I will choose to keep the CM out of the purview of the discussion, for now), are attributing the problems, Bangalore is faced with, to the IT sector.

The problems are resulting totally out of the incompetence of the government and its various agencies in handling the developmental issues related to economic growth. It so happens that the growth is led by the IT sector. They would have been the same if the growth had been led by any of the other sectors also. Now, resulting out of this overall buoyancy, all the other sectors are also growing. Instead of celebrating it, and taking advantage of it all to improve your own conditions, if somebody wants to sit back and complain (and lament about the good old times when you could engage a servant maid for just Rs 5/- month, and things like that), well, it's their funeral. Let the world move on.

Simultaneously, let's also get the government moving, or even better, reduce its burden to the bare essentials, like policy planning, policy implementation, policing, basic health, primary education, and a few other things, so that it can do a better job where its presence is needed.

The Nikhil Gowda story

Nikhil Gowda's statements, supposedly made in the presence of his father - the CM, raise more questions than they answer.

Were the statements about 'drag racing', purpotedly made at the specific instance of the father, supposed to be in the form of a confessional? If they were, they didnt quite come across that way. There was no hint of an apology at all for a blatanly illegal activity. On the contrary, there was a hint of arrogance in the brag about his passion for fast cars. OK - the 'Hummer' may not have been his. But, even as a teenager, he still claims to possess some 5 fancy cars. While the source of such wealth is for the IT to bother with, it is astonishing the way the father and the grandfather, who claim to champion the causes of the poor, have been acquiesing in such indulgences of their progeny.

On the other hand, the children of some of Bangalore's IT czars, I know, readily travel by the BMTC buses.

Further, this progeny of the self-proclaimed 'sons of the soil', cannot read Kannada! - height of double standards, if you are looking for one.

And then, there is the attempt to palm off the entire blaim on this Syed Ehtesham of a 'guy', who had apparently been planted by the political opponents to malign the family - a story rather difficult to swallow.

All in all, this incident, apart from the many that have preceded it, clearly shows up the first family of Karnataka for what it really is. If we are ever to achieve 'Suvarna Karnataka', the first thing that needs to be done is to chuck this entire lot into the dustbins of history.