Rs 20 railway pass will give mobility to poors

On her first day in the office, though in eastern office in Kolkata, railway minister announced this scheme to provide pass for Rs 20 for poor workers. This is a welcomed step without going into the details that this scheme might already be in final phase during the previous railway minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav. This scheme will serve two purposes. First, this will provide mobility to the poor and needy people. They can go to cities and other places for better work opportunities and social networking or whatever. Second, many of the people who commute by train without ticket because of lack of money can afford this pass and will have right to commute with dignity rather than travelling in toilets or listening the abuses of the TC.

Though this scheme will have its challenges as well for its implementation. At the first place how to find people who are really poor and earn below Rs 500 a month? the best way can be use the ration card and application approved by a officer or MP/MLA/district administration as per rules for other application in similar circumstances. Other challenge is to communicate this new scheme with the poor. If they do not know about the scheme then there is no way they can benefit from it. Biggest challenge will be to accommodate the increased number of passengers that the popularity of the scheme can bring in. Many of the routes are already over crowded. I have travelled a lot on Delhi-Moradabad-Rampur route and find every train is overcrowded and filled till door steps. Express trains have generally only 2-3 general compartments and they can not accommodate all the daily commuters on busy routes.

If the capacity is not increased then popular schemes can bring havoc for the railway staff and uncomfortable journey for the reserved class passengers who already face ire of tired and exhausted daily passengers.

Indian government schools facing challenges

When was the last time we noticed a government run school, particularly primary and upper primary, in our city? Probably we may find it difficult to recall. There are thousands of schools run by central government, state governments and the district administration. For example in UP alone, there are over 9000 secondary and higher secondary schools affiliated to the UP board and millions of students are registered in the primary schools. These schools have been backbone of our education system for years but now they are losing the glory of being an education institute, unfortunately very fast.

These days, a lot of government run schools are considered second class in quality and social status. We can not ignore the social system in India, at least in the current scenario. Anyone who can afford, or even find it difficult to afford, will send their kids to a private school. No doubt a lot of them are not better than any government run schools. I have seen hundreds of these privately run schools from very close distance. A lot of them are operating from the empty houses of the big families. Spotting good returns in this business a lot of rich and semi-rich people have bought land and started schools. For them formula for running the school is very simple. Charge each students anything that his/her parents can afford and pay just Rs 500-1000 to each teacher. A lot of unemployed and generally unmarried girls are ready to this job on this low salary. This salary is not their main objective for these ladies to work. Their main objective is to come out of the ghetto they are living in otherwise. They have no chance to come out of the home and socialise with anyone other than the family or extended family. But still these schools are able to attract parents to queue outside their premises for admission of their kids. Why is this so?

One of the reason, I think is the apathy of the teachers to provide education. No doubt a lot of government run schools do not have necessary infrastructure, (e.g. proper toilets, drinking water, electricity and sometime even classrooms) but this should not stop, though it can demoralise, the teachers from performing their duties. I have seen teachers weaving sweater in the class rooms or talking about their daughter-in-law or vice-verse. I have also seen some teachers who are over 75 or 80 years old and can not move or stand for half an hour but they are on payroll because they gave false birth certificate to get job. It is very difficult to motivate them but they are very afraid of getting absent in the school registers. They can be controlled by extensive inspection all round the year.

Other reason is the growth of students from lower caste in the government run schools in recent past because of government push. Two of the schools I went to in my early education were considered as lower caste because they had very large number of students from lower caste. These were untouchables and now, I believe, more schools are becoming untouchable. This factor is pushing the parents of middle class and/or upper caste away from government run schools.

It is challenge for the government run schools to prove that they are equal, if not better, in terms of quality of education and facilities to all section of the society to become center of education for all.

Should Binayak sen ask for appology and compensation from government?

After almost 2 years Dr. Binayak sen has been granted bail by the supreme court of India. The bench of the court took less than a minute to decide. This raises doubt on all the allegation against him by the government and the state police. Though he will still have to stand the trial but he can breath some fresh air and work for the cause he was working for.

Media awareness regarding his case has worked in his favor otherwise he would have lost his life like his mentor Shankar Guha Neogi in 1991. These people are not actively supporting violence and the naxal movement in the region and they have ideological difference but they support the same cause - development of the area.

The state has responsibility to take care of the development of the people of these areas but they have failed for decades if not centuries. In fact, even the government owned Bhilai steel plant is as bad as any private industrialist plant in treating the local people - adivasis. Situation is bad and there is anger that is fueling the growth of the naxalites in the area. Government needs tougher law to tackle the problem at the moment but this liberty should not be misused. Government need to work on two fronts. First, it makes to sure that the development projects are implemented in the area with the support of local people that will stop the growth of naxal movement. Secondly, it need to have transparent enforcement of law against the accused of naxal movement. It can not have law to shield itself and detain someone for almost two years without any proper charge. Government may arrest people on suspicion of anti-nation activities but it can not deny all the rights for years to the accused in the name national security. At the same time, government needs to look into its policies as well. By killing or holding people behind the bar can not stop these movement. As Mr. Neogi recorded in his message just before his assassination

"This world is beautiful and I certainly love this beautiful world but my work and my responsibilities are important for me. I have to fulfill the responsibilities I have taken up. These people will kill me but by killing none can stop our movement."

After his release, Dr. Binayak may ask for an apology or compensation from the state government but it is unlikely that he will be interested in wasting his time in these legal activities. For him his cause are above personal sufferings. Supreme court ruling must have given some hope to continue working again under the constitutional boundaries. He has gained some recognition at national and international level that he can utilise to push for demands and needs of the local people.

He might be guilty of arranging bails for the naxal leaders but that can not be cause for making a judgement against him. We need to revive our laws for forest and the people living there. As our industries destroying the forests in the same region are appreciated for development but a poor adivasi taking bunch of bamboos for cooking food is asked for bribe by the forest official or face the jail for destroying the environment.

Why Aakriti's death in Modern School Delhi makes so much cry?

First of all I would like to send my condolences to the family of Aakriti Bhatia. This case became media attention before they got into election discussion and predictions. As in any other case hyped by the media, media has almost certainly found the guilty, school principal Ms Goldie Malhotra. No one is bothered to listen her case and what happened in the school? One can understand the emotional outburst from the the parents of the deceased but media should be responsible. Media is not support to deliver judgement based on the people's reaction but it should show the facts or just news without much sensation.

Biggest question to ask is why media is so much bothered at all? One should not forget that this school is privately run school and charges a hefty tuition fee each month apart from other charges. One of the reason for the media worry is apparently this 'elite' status of the school. Many of the journalist as asking question does it make sense to pay such a high tuition fee and not getting any facilities from hospitals? Well, if it is about the expensive private school then it can be ignored. but if they are asking, demanding or supporting primary first aid facilities in all the schools around the country then they need to rethink. Official data shows that most of the schools in the country do not have pure drinking water, separate toilet for girls and boys if they have any. There is no furniture or even the school building. It is laughable to demand for medical facilities in the schools.

Some Internet users are commenting that it should be made mandatory for the schools to collect health related data for the schools as it is in USA. Hmm.. are we at the level of development where USA is? A large percentage of kids is dying of malnourishment in the country and we want medical record of the students. If they suggest that Oh, no we were talking about the 'elite' schools where their relatives and friends send their kids then what can we say. We do not need to give any heed to their request. Over 70% population still live in villages and less than 1% kids go to these schools. We need to think about our masses who are suffering for ages and not the 'elites' only.

As the school mentioned that 'they are school and hospital', they are quite right in saying so. It is not legal requirement for the schools to keep all the medical facilities in the schools. First responsibility of the kids lie on the parents. It has been report that Aakriti had been in hospital a few days before her unfortunate death but she did not carry her inhaler with her to school. Why? why her parent did not care to have an inhaler in her bag? When the school, though after a delay, or Aakriti called her mother, her loving mother did not bother to come to school at first place, a driver was sent to take her to another relative's place. She was in a school and not boarding school where all or most of the responsibilities are transferred to the school.



Her parents knew that she had asthma problem but it not yet known if they had ever appraise the principal or other school authorities about the desease. Now the Delhi CM has joined the media and she blames the teachers and the nurse for Aakriti's death. She must not jump into these individual cases. She better need to look into the system and develop an infrastructure where future causalities can be decreases, be it Aakriti from elite school or Shanno from poor MCD school.

Hillarry Clinton's candid admission on Pakistan insecurity

Finally we can see some of hope of 'change' in the foreign policy of US administration. Secretary of state Clinton has admitted in her press conference at Global Press Centre that the US policy towards Pakistan has been incoherent for last 30 years. She was supporting the new humanitarian aid package of US$ 100 million to Pakistan owning, at least partially, the responsibility of current mess and insecurity in Pakistan.

Pakistan has been a key partner in south Asia for over 30 years. Pakistan provided intelligence and military support to the US cause of fighting Russia during cold war in Afghanistan. It is a known and accepted fact that the Mujaheddin were trained and supplied with arms by Pakistan intelligence services. These efforts were supported by US administration. Pakistan remained under military rule for most of the time after independence but it was most suited for the US administration as it gave more power and easy access to use military and intelligence services.

To avoid the attention of the people of Pakistan some of the evil tactics of Mujaheddin were also used against India. But after the end of cold war in 1989, US had little interest in Pakistan until 9/11 in 2001 happened and it renewed its interest in Pakistan to fight against the same Mujaheddin groups it helped in creating.

Now the Mujaheddin groups have entered the Pakistan territory and have challenged the sovereignty of the country. In fact they managed to negotiate a deal with Pakistan government to implement Sharia law in Swat valley. It did not stopped the extremists from demanding more from the Pakistan and they started cruelty against the innocents in the valley. Taliban started justice in its own way and in the video they can be seen beaten a girl of 17 years. Her fault was to go out with a man who was not her father and she was found guilty of breaking the Islamic law.



In her press conference, Ms Clinton has talked about supporting the democratically elected government in Pakistan. This is a change in the policy towards and it should be welcomed because a democratically government is good not only for the People of Pakistan but also India. How sincerely USA follow this policy will decide the future of our neighbour.

Is BJP losing ground?

BJP is discarded as a communal party and divisive force. Many people will disagree with this because all the parties have been on the same side and have done similar or worse things that BJP is accused of. Thousands of Sikhs were killed in North India, particularly Delhi, in 1984. Today, Congress says that it is history and should be forgotten as a bad dream. By same logic, shouldn't the people forget Gujrat riot by next election in 2014? This issue does not seems the real issue for poor performance by BJP.

It seems that the BJP is losing the real issues and has difficulty in connecting with the grass root workers. Mumbai attack and national security were important issue and should not be forgotten by a party that wants to play important role in national politics but these are the issues for the people who go to exercise their franchise. Only elite and middle class talk about the national security issue and most of these do not exercise their franchise because they do not like to queue or do not consider their single vote can make any difference. For a man in a small town and village, the biggest challenge of security comes from the thieves and the police. They are more worried about their belongings that constitute generally cooking utensils, some clothes, few hundreds of rupees and silver or copper jewellery (and sometime gold as well). Many of them have never heard about Mumbai attack, anyway.

BJP invested resources and time on online campaigning that does not make any sense in Indian politics. Less than 1% population of India has any interest in online campaigning and reading manifesto of the party or listening the speeches of the leaders from website. There is no need to make facebook groups, twitter discussion or any other activity because a few thousand people read or participate in these activities and as I said earlier they never come out of their apartments to exercise their franchise.

Indian population is still poor in large. We are not middle class society as America so we can emulate election strategy from them. We need some elite and educated people for discussion on the television channels but these discussion do not win elections. Local leaders needs to spend more time with the people. They need to visit the village and try to solve their problems in whatever capacity they can. Winning the trust of the people is most important to win rather than expecting the incumbency factor to work in one's favor.

BJP also need to choose their next candidate for the prime ministerial post. Sooner they choose the better it will be. It will be difficult to choose one and their will be a lot of in fighting but they need to face this reality one day. They are avoiding to chose a leader from second generation but it seems that the time has come to let the second generation to come forward. There is no point of pushing Murli Manohar Joshi or Jaswant Singh forward. Though Jaswant Singh has advantage of being liberal in the party and he can not be accused as communal but he might be little old in 5 years time.

BJP might follow the Congress strategy to choose a prime ministerial candidate who is not too active politician. It is upto the party to make right decision. Only time will tell whether the decision they make are right or wrong.

UN definition of developed or developing country

Most of the countries are divided in three sections

1- Least developed countries
2- Developing countries
3- Developed countries
4- Countries in transition (but these are mainly developing countries of east Europe and some of the developed countries dominating UN can not afford to regard these countries as developing because of similar civilization)

But there is a unsettled debate about the criteria to be used to designate a country under any of these groups. UN, officially, does not give any definition for developed or developing countries. UN website says

"The designations "developed" and developing" are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process"

Main criteria that has been used in the 20th century is the economic development. It is assumed that a country having high GDP per capita is a developed country. Though it is not always true and the high income might not be good enough to survive if the cost of living and inflation are too high. This criteria does not measure holistic development of the society and the individuals. Dr. Amartya Sen has expressed his vies in his book "Development as Freedom". He considers that the freedom is the only measurement of development.

UN is recently moving to accept 'Human Development Index' as new criteria. Bhutan has implemented its own HDI index to measure the development of its citizens.

President has important role in forming next Indian government

No single party is expecting to manage the magic number of 272 in the national election. This is a reality of Indian elections now. Next thing, coalition came into focus for last 2 decades but even this has lost the attention now. None of the three major pre-poll alliance is expected to get even 200 seat. Unfortunate thing is that all the parties have accepted these facts and have no loyalty towards any pre-poll alliance. Most of the parties have categorically declined to commit with any alliance. What they are saying is they can take decision only after the counting is over and the results are declared.

Many parties who are uncommitted to any alliance or committed to many will support anyone who is first invited by the President to form the government. The president has four options

1- Invite the single largest party
2- Invite the single largest pre-poll alliance
3- Invite the largest post-poll alliance
4- Ask the parties to show letter of support of the elected MPs

But the problem with the second and the third option is that none of the party is genuinely committed to any alliance so on what basis President can judge the pre or post poll alliance? In such a scenario president has an important role to play.

The options four has been before when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was asked to show letter of support before he is sworn in as prime minister. This option has biggest problem that the parties will go out and start 'horse trading' and MPs would be bought by paying huge money and promises to make them ministries.
But all the indication shows that this happens anyway.

Option one seems to be the best option. Though the second largest party might make hue and cry over this decision if their pre or post poll alliance has more supporters. As I said earlier both of them are irrelevant and not trust worthy so their opposition can be ignored.

President has to remember that the President's decision should not only be legally and constitutionally correct but also be free from personal bias as it will go into history and will be judged by generations to come. She has to prove that though she does exercise her franchise but she is above personal feeling when it comes to deliver her duties.

Note: I have posted some part of this on ibnlive in their "Analyse this" section. you can read that at http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/author/2480/53455/analysethis.html

Supreme court awards one crore compensation to Infosys' engineer for medical negligence

14th May: Supreme court has awarded one crore compensation to a software engineer who has become paralysed down the waist because of the negligence at the government run Nizam medical hospital. Some news papers have used term 'massive compensation' but it is not right to say massive because the person in question has become permanent disabled and can not move or do daily chores. His disability can not be compensated for any amount of money. In India disabled are considered and treated as a family and social burden. We do not even have infrastructure (e.g. low platform buses or trains and pedestrians area or other necessary things for a person who can not walk any more) for the disabled people. He will need psychological counselling as well to adjust into new life style that was not his destiny but has been imposed on him because of the sheer negligence of the hospital.

This ruling will set an example for the hospitals in the country. Private hospitals those are mushrooming in the country need to be afraid of financial liability if they do not take care of their patients. Currently private hospitals are run like a sugar mill to make profit and still being considered as an institute of social welfare.

In this case the hospital can argue that they are a government run hospital and they get lots of patients every day and they do not have enough resources to take care of all the patients. But these arguments can not be considered valid and justifiable. This compensation will eventually be paid by the government. This will force the government to think what they want? Do they want to improve the infrastructure and facilities in the hospital or pay compensation to many patients?

Though the pain of the engineer cause of his disability can not be reduced but he has set and example for the society and has forced the hospitals to recognise their liabilities towards patients.

BT plans to exit Tech Mahindra

British Telecom (BT) has been a long term partner in the Tech Mahindra venture but current financial crisis in the home market of BT, Britian, has forced it to think about exiting the venture and get much needed cash from this deal. BT has released it annual report and has reported a loss and it is planning to make another 15000 employees redundant in Britain. Market situation is not improving, in the telecom domain at least, so BT has to arrange for cash from somewhere and its investment in Tech Mahindra now worth hundreds of millions.

BT and Mahindra has become heavily dependable on each other for the technology related work. A major portion of the IT related work goes to Tech Mahindra and BT contracts contribute almost 60% to the Tech Mahindra's revenue. Though the situation has changed after the acquisition of Satyam Computers by Tech Mahindra. Contribution to revenue from BT operation will go down to 25% for the combined entity.

In the near future BT can not move its operations away from the Tech Mahindra even if they part their ways from the venture. Tech Mahindra has gained advantage of developing and implementing most of the IT software and infrastructure for BT so it will remain preferred partner for BT. Mahindra does not have much choice here. Though Mahindra might not have cash to buy the BT stake in the venture but if it does, it will give Mahindra complete freedom in running the combined entities. Since the overall dependence on BT has down so the relation will not go sour and they should contitue to consider each other equal partner.

Will regional parties play important role in Indian national election?

There is no doubt that none of the national party can get the magic figure of its own to form government. Every one is waiting for the number to come out on 16th to make next move. But it is very much clear that the third and forth front do not exist any more. Most of the parties that were considered part of these fronts have shown their willingness to support or oppose BJP coming into power. DMK is with congress and Jayalalitha has said that she is getting invitations from all the parties but she is waiting till 16th May to respond to them. TDP has come with NDA and Mulayam, Paswan and Lalu have lost any hope for the third front government. Mulayam is ready to support any government that dismisses Mayawati's government from UP.

All this scenario has made it clear that the next government is going to be led by Congress or BJP with the support of allies from different states. Most of the parties are still saying that they would like a secular government in the centre but, in fact, every party is secular except BJP so the point comes down to supporting or opposing BJP.

Naveen Patnaik, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Jayalalitha and Mamta Benerjee are the only regional parties available in market to shop from. These regional parties have not shown interest in any of the national alliance yet so they are expected to play important role once the numbers are released for each party. Mayawati, Jayalalitha and Mamta are the three ladies who have been with both the national alliance and it is expected they will move with the alliance that will apparently form the government. There is also a joke about Ramados in the politics that whichever party forms the government he will be health minister so there are many small parties waiting to jump and be part of next government.

Are Indian politics and election becoming candidate focused?

In recent time, Indian elections are becoming more individual-focused than the party-focused. In fact, regional and the small parties are gaining more votes in the national elections because they know the local people and can field appropriate candidates. Realising the change in the system, prime minister manmohan Singh described the independent candidates as spoilers and requested the people to vote for national parties.

This change in the way people choose their candidates can be criticised on one account that it has given rise to the coalition government and we have noticed difficulties in running the coalition and lack of commitment to proceed with policy issues that might hurt any party.

But we can not ignore the benefits of individual-focused elections. When there is lot of criminalisation of politics and some of the parties are full of dreaded criminals, it is difficult for the humble and sincere candidates to join those parties and contest election. But they have option to join a party that is not popular in a particular state and still win the election. If people keep voting for the "good" candidates irrespective of which party they represent, this will force the parties to field "good" candidates. More or less the citizens of India are free to exercise their franchise to any candidate of their choice. So even in case of all the candidates are not so "good" they can elect the less bad option out of all.

This gives freedom to individuals to join BJP or Congress in West Bengal, a left state, or BJD of Orissa in UP and support the cause of poor Oriya people. So as they say change is always for good, we might assume this change is for good as well. But only time can tell if it is true.

Should you move to India for jobs?

It is very difficult time for the students to find a job in the developed countries. Economy started collapsing since 2007 when the sub prime problem hit the US banks and then the high oil prices. A very large number of student go to USA, UK and Australia every year in the hope that they will finish their one or two years degree and find a "good" job. Very few of them have any idea what does it mean by a "good" job. Anyway they were able to find some well paying job in the recent past. The more people got jobs in these countries after the education, the more students started coming in. But suddenly the economic boom busted and this cycle of finding "good" jobs has disappeared all together. In reality there are no jobs for anyone with a degree in engineering or management or social sciences. Some of the jobs are there for mechanic and physical labourers but this is not these young students come to work for. Even the governments are not encouraging, if not discouraging, to recruit foreign workers.

On the contrary, companies in India are not doing that bad. Though the export growth has slowed in many sectors but domestic consumption is keeping the economy from shrinking. Reserve bank is still expecting over 5% growth for next year. That is impressive considering the global recession. There are news that the some of the companies in India have started laying off people based on the performance but that part of normal process. Some companies will take advantage of this time layoff the less efficient people. But most of the companies have not stopped recruiting though they are more cautious and selective in these times.

Some of the companies are planning expansion of their operations in India. Vodafone, Reliance and public sector companies are some of the examples. It will be hard to imagine that one can get job and the perks as expected but finding a job should be priority at the moment and with education in a developed country and proficiency in English language it should not be difficult. At the moment priority should be to earn some experience and improve domain expertise rather than wishing for good perks.

Other option is entrepreneurship. If you have an idea and wanted to work on that than this is an ideal time. There are very few jobs so it is hard that may like your work in a company so much that you can forget your idea. You have ample time and you can make best of it.

Ram Jethmalani advocates most controversial cases in India

Ram Jethmalani is not only the most successful criminal lawyer in India but also known as Mr Controversy for his professional role in the high profile cases. He has defended his right to advocate for his clients in many forums but every time he takes a new client media is after him.

If media is so sure that the accused are criminals and must be punished and this does not happen then it is not the fault of Mr. Jethmalani. In fact his success in the criminal law practice is a question mark on the investigating agencies of the country or states. In many controversial cases, he has not been able to get his clients acquitted but he has been able to delay the judgment and get the bail for his clients. None of these things is a crime, morally or legally. In fact, every accused has a right for a fair trial and that is what Ram Jethmalani demands for. We should not forget that he is not only a lawyer but also a supporter of human rights that constitutes a fair trial.

The evidences presented before the court by the investigating agencies are of such poor quality that they become questionable. In many cases the site of crime is not kept untocuhed for recording the situations. Records of the related accused are not sealed. Many of the evidences are in fact lost because the long time it takes in the trial courts. In many cases the investigating agencies don't even follow the processes. It is not to say that the agencies do not know the right processes but they do not have will or the resources to do their jobs. They do not have will because of the political pressure and there are so many crimes that needs many more resources, human and infrastructure, to deal with.

It is not he is helping the criminals - as the media projects them - but he is helping the society to know that the system is flawed and need to be changed or repaired. We need honest and efficient investigating agencies so that the cases do not keep waiting for over 20-30 years in the court rooms. Such a long time just loses the interest of any party involved in the case.

'No to Bangalore and Yes to Buffalo' will not do good to America

Some of the changes in the tax structure proposed by the USA President Obama are not only controversial but also counter productive. For last two decades international community is supporting free trade and economists have argued the benefits of the globalisation for the people living under the line of poverty in the developing and the under-developed countries. With the spread of benefits of globalisation to less developed countries, number of middle class has increased by hundreds of millions. This population has started consuming products and for many companies they are becoming major markets. For the mobile companies India and China are growing markets. Vodafone has made one of the biggest investment in India.

Using the term 'American' companies is wrong in itself because unless a company is public company (owned by the government), a company can not and does not have nationality. Companies operate to make more profit by operating in many geographies and transfer resources to growing markets. A law can not be formulated that says that these particular jobs by these particular companies can not be performed in these particular countries. In this scenario, these proposed changes only decentivised the companies to have headquarters in America. Jeffrey Immelt of GE has openly expressed his views that the future growth of the company is possible in the developing countries. But this is not only about the developing countries only, each and every big company based in USA has some sort of operations outside America. It can not be imagined that a company will go to France, India, China or Brazil but still produce everything in America. Companies need to run their operation in an efficient and effective way to make more profits. Even if they do not pay taxes in America, they will have bigger and fatter balance sheet that allows America to borrow from different countries and run the economy in deficit.

Rather than taxing the companies on foreign operation, companies should be provided incentives to move operation into America regardless of the location of their headquarters. A Japan based company if creates jobs in America and pays its legitimate taxes on income, it should also have access to tax benefits. America need to realise and face the reality that if GM or Chrysler do not operate efficiently but have headquarter in America then this is not merit for a company to survive for ever. It need to die.

Though the proposed changes will be effective from 2011 so there is plenty of time to revise and make appropriate changes or even drop once the economy starts recovering and Obama does not need populist policies.

Mumbai did not vote even after 26/11 Mumbai attack

Thursday 30 April saw very low turn out of the voters though out the country. No doubt one of the reason is the soaring temperature above 40 degree in many of the areas. Other reason was the apathy of the voters. Mumbai was target of all media attention because of recent terrorist attack in the city. For some strange reasons, exercising their franchise by the voters was linked to the terrorist attacks and patriotism.

It is difficult to understand why the common man should be more bothered about the election after the terrorist attacks? This attack was much highlighted and hyped in the media because it happened in the Taj hotel where some of the richest and famous people were staying. For a common people all these things are normal part of life. They have seen it time and again since Bombay blast in 1993. Today when a local train commuter goes for work then she is not sure of coming back safe. A large number of population (over 55%) is living in slums. (See slum map). They fight for drinking water and sanitation everyday. They have to struggle to commute and spend long hours outside their home for earning livelihood. They know how corrupt and inefficient their leaders are. They see the situation of road not improving and sewage lines not working properly. When there is rain, they also face flood like situation. City has been flood many times now. No one has taken any initiative to solve the problems. It does not matter which party is in power in city, state or the parliament, there situation does not get better. This is one of the biggest reason, people do not come out to vote for any candidate. They are indifferent to these things. They know they have to work and struggle to lead their lives.

There was too much media projection of the middle class youth. It was expected they will come out in large number to vote but this did not happened. These are the people who can talk about the problems in the system and make a group on the facebook or twitter and talk about politics but they will not care to stand for 3-4 hours in the 40 degree temperature for 2-3 hours to exercise their franchise. People who really care and can come out to vote are the people who live in slums or are so-called 'common man' and we ignored them this time. These are the people who have lost faith in this multi-party coalition government where parties join and leave government for some dubious reasons e.g. secular parties and national interest etc.

As I have argued at other place (How to choose Next Prime minister of India?) that it is time to rethink that we need Prime ministerial candidate directly chosen by the people of the country. This will revive the confidence in the system or individuals again and people will be ready to queue for hours because they know someone is personally responsible for promises made to them and the promises will not be lost in "Common Minimum Program" of the coalition.