Minister, Minister go away!!!

What: Most of the India has had scarce rainfall this season so far and prospects for rest of the season are not very bright. A minister in the Indian state of Karnataka had a brilliant brainwave that he should order all temples in the state to conduct prayers and rituals (poojas) to please the rain gods. Here is the report in The Hindu.

Why its here: Spending Rs. 17 crore of public money on performing poojas to please rain gods? As the report says, this is not the first time the BJP government in Karnataka has indulged in wasting money on religious / superstitious causes. They have allotted funds to bring water of Ganges for special Pooja in every temple every year and there is a circular which orders temples to conduct daily Poojas for well being of Chief Minister and every time they change Chief Minister (and hence retake oath of the office), they do poojas in their respective ministries. Whats going on?

Give me your money!!!

What: If you have a lot of money to waste and are looking for ways, here are some methods. Thanks to Devdatta Bhise for sending me this link.

 

 Why its here: "Science of attracting money" is real. The person conducting this workshop is really attarcting money to himself. Although what happens to his student's money is different question altogether. One day workshop to "read coffee cup" and "crystal gazing" can be nicely achieved with right kind of beverages. Throw away the coffee in the cup and pick up the bottle, if you catch my drift. But I wonder why a bottle of soothing beverage should cost 8000 Rs. Some expensive variety perhaps?

Guwahati case through their eyes

All know what happened in Guwahati. A 17 year old girl went to pub with some friends. They had some arguments with pub owners and hence they left the pub. The voyeuristic mob outside stripped the girl and a news reporter caught the incident on camera. But thats already well known. It is actually a more enriching experience to see how the so called authorities and guardians of public morale see this incident. I had missed these bits. Thanks to Ashish Shakya's blog for bringing my attention to it.

What: See this story first. District Collector of Guwahati says: "We are planning to take action against the bar owners if they are not following the norms. The bars are supposed to be closed by 10 pm."

Then look at twitter feed of Dr. Kiran Bedi. She claims: "Pubs attract hooliganism and violence just as holy places attract peace and devotion! Its in the nature of environment!" and then "there is a big difference between vibes at both places! Pubs breed lust, holy places reduce it (ofcourse exceptions exist!)"

Why its here: Does the collector mean that if the said pub had closed at 10:00pm, all those part of the mob would have suddenly turned into saints? Or just that they would have considered the time before 10:00pm as inauspicious for any molestation? For Ms. Bedi, as Ashish Shakya rightly says, "I’m sure devdasis, altar boys and people in Ayodhya would agree."

Whats with these people? What is the real issue here and what are you talking about?

Khap Panchayat

Khap Panchayats have been functioning to fulfil an important role in India. Common people need their daily dose of comedy, news channels feel constant need for sensational news and Khap Panchayats provide these. A widely reported news from last week about a Khap Panchayat must have been seen by all. Here is a source for reference purpose.

What: Khap Panchayat in Baghpat, UP (incidentally Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's constituency) issued a following "guideline" for women below 40 years of age:

• They should not wear jeans.
• They should not use mobile phones in public spaces including roads and by-lanes.
• They should not go for shopping unescorted.
• They should not go unescorted anywhere after sunset.
• No love marriages are allowed in the village.

Why its here: The diktat is obviously hilarious. Its aftermath is even more worrying. Apparently, when Police were forced to arrest some of the Khap members (after a lot of hue and cry in national media), villagers arranged a protest march against the arrest, disrupted traffic on a national highway, assaulted the police official investigating the case.They claim that it is not a diktat but a "guideline" for women as approved by all communities in the village.

Changing Times

What: Here is a story coming from Chennai. The US based weekly magazine "Time" called prime minister Manmohan Singh an underachiever. The youth wing of PM's congress party staged a protest against this branding in Chennai today.

Why its here: In the protest, they burned copies of "Times of India" newspaper, thinking the "Time Magazine" belongs to the same group. Apparently, the mediapersons present at the protest pointed this gaffe to them. But they wanted to burn something to make a show and could not get the original magazine copies. So they ignored the "new wisdom" imparted on them.

The Inversion!!

What: Senior Music director Hridaynath Mangeshkar received "Anil Mohile Memorial Life Time Achievement Award" yesterday. Here is a story in Lok Satta about the function.

 late Anil Mohile

Hridaynath Mangeshkar

Why its here: Two reasons. First, award in the name of Anil Mohile to Mangeshkar? Anil Mohile started his musical career later than Mangeshkar and I believe also assisted Mangeshkar in a couple of projects. It would be improper for Mohile Memorial Trust to offer the Award to Mangeshkar and it would be even more improper for Mangeshkar to accept it.

Secondly, Mangeshkar is known to put his foot in his mouth by indiscreet talk. In his acceptance speech, he said "I am getting award instituted in the name of the person, who should have got award instituted by my name". If he understood he was senior than Mohile, he should have politely declined the award. If not then he should kept his mouth shut and should not have embarrassed the organisers. And to top it off, self-proclaiming that there would be award by his name in future, is arrogance to the max.

Education for masses

What: It has been known to many people for many years. Many state level entrance examinations for engineering and medicinal courses do not set the minimum performance bars and allow candidates with ridiculously low scores to qualify. Here is a story from IBN-Live about EAMCAT, which is Andhra Pradesh state entrance examination for professional courses. It says 78 candidates getting zero marks in the test have been declared as eligible for taking admission. The story adds that some of them might have simply returned the paper blank. So essentially they qualified by just marking their attendance.

Why its here: This is an established monetary racket under the guise of "affirmative action". Several politicians and other educational mafia have built way too many engineering and medical colleges than there are interested candidates. When the seats in these colleges remain vacant, they don't get profits from their investment. As justifying low qualifying score for merit based admission would be difficult, they play this game of "no minimum qualifying score" for groups availing benefits of affirmative action.