Expressways are not built from our taxes

How will Govt build expressways without taxes, is commonest refrain to justify squeezing taxpayers further as if these ventures are welfare schemes of govt. No. If built using taxpayers' money these would have been toll free.

Facilitating public by building roads and expressways is inherent actions for development and no one denies that, but for private firms who contract to build these highways, the real motive behind this disguised facilitation is always business. The fact is the expressways are business ventures being built to earn profits for private firms, for which they collect tolls. The thousands of crores which private firm invest on these roads are borrowed from public banking institutes funded by public. Why will a private firm undertake to be part of these ventures if not for any profit? 

Besides tolls, manyfold collateral gains accrue on secondary townships and facility developments along the route which are most of the times real but surreptitiously hidden treasures for these firms and for govt too.

Kerala and Cochin Shipyard

Kerala has pride of place in India which many so called self proclaimed advanced states would struggle to compete in skills, professionalism and integrity. During period 1991-98 for seven years I had been to Cochin several times and happen to stay one to two months each occasion on assignment for dry docking at Cochin Shipyard ( @cslcochin) for vessels owned by my company. Those were times when private sector in large scale ship building and repairs had not really built capacity and pubic sector Cochin Shipyard was perhaps one of the largest and best available. CSL employed hundreds perhaps thousands of workers, and engineers working simultaneously on several ships on its dry-docks and jetties. Whole experience of workmanship, integrity and discipline I encountered at CSL during those days had been unique and unforgettable to this day. Our ship was specialised technical vessel built at France for saturation diving and geotechnical investigation and several expats used to work onboard. It was pleasingly astonishing to see simple ordinary appearing workers possessing world class professionalisms providing successful solutions which that time we used to consider hiring from abroad otherwise. I remember one rigger Manoharan who used to install critical heavy equipments like thrusters with such an ease and dexterous accomplishment that all that used to appear magical and we used to watch those installations with awe like sitting in a theatre. Much later after decades I learned that Manoharan had won several accolades including for work on aircraft carrier.

Malayalis indeed were way ahead of national average on skills and integrity metrics those days and must be even more ahead of those days today.

Why Himachal and Uttarakhand pay for your pilgrimage, tourism and your evironment

While every other state in plains have million opportunities to expand horizon of growth, hills of Himachal, Uttarakhand and other Himalayan states have restrictions. Unlike other states HP can't use its natural resources unrestrictedly because they have responsibility to ensure good weather and rains for the people of plains in rest of India.

We don’t let Himalayan states start lucrative timbre or mining industries in large scale for fear of environmental consequences knowing that these states take this responsibility as custodian for protecting environment for all of India. Does it get compensated for?

People of hills do need good roads but bringing multilane expressways through fragile mountains only benefits people from far of places in Gujarat, south, Punjab , Bengal etc who want to spend good time for their recreation or for seeking salvation at remote pilgrimages where they want to reach faster, more conveniently and in larger numbers. They want even railroads tunnelled through hills to reach Badrinath and Ketharnath quicker. Left to them locals will not need these expressways and trains needlessly. These activities of heavy construction using massive blasting and mega boring through mountains have broken and damaged the very foundations of the hills which are now susceptible to landslides after getting soaked with heavy rains as is being experienced now. Do these states like Himachal get compensated for by people of the plains who reach in millions as tourists and pilgrims up the hills and for whom needless infrastructures need be created mindlessly. 

While these states and people of plains expect and demand restriction on industrial commercial activities on hill states to save their own skies, should centre and other states not consider suitably compensating them, who find even needs at times of disasters difficult to meet because of the lack of funds. At times of difficulty like being experienced this season, every state from plains should be held responsible and made to pay large cess proportionate to number of people who travel to hills from these places. 

All unnecessary large construction activities must be stopped which benefit only large contractors and may be corrupt enablers of these projects but proportionately very few commoners. Tourism and pilgrimage must be enjoyed in natural convenient setting. It can't be pilgrimage being able to drive your SUV from Surat right to the doorstep of Kedarnath or enjoying extra cool weather reaching Shimla one hour earlier while causing miseries to local people. Let's stop all this.

Baalak buddhi: Ridiculing opposition are designer tactics

This is the tactic of schoolboys. Caricaturisation has become a institutionalised weapon to show opponents in poor light and make them items of ridicule. As is often seen in school children, they bully their opponents by making them the object of ridicule, and find it better to win a dispute by ridicule rather than arguments. 

It is well thought out strategy   of cunning to make others look unworthy so that the public has no choice but to elect them, even if they do not like to do so. It is a clever political ploy. Remember that in schools, bullies if they cannot come up with any other argument to win, they taunt their opponents on their clothes, belly, teeth, height even family, class, caste, colour and background, so that they feel defeated. It is unfortunate that a section of the general public enjoys such childish and senseless antics.

But such games never last long. By successfully facing these small but ugly political oppositions, a person grows up, gains confidence and emerges a winner.

यह आज़माई हुई स्कूली बुल्लीज़ वाली रणनीति है।Caricaturisation, व्यंग्य चित्रण, विरोधियों को उपहास का पात्र बनाने का सफल संस्थागत हथियार बन रहा है।यह दूसरों को अनुपयुक्त दिखाने की चतुर राजनीतिक चाल है ताकि जनता के पास चुनने के लिए अपने अलावा कोई विकल्प न बचे। जैसे स्कूली बच्चों में अक्सर देखा जाता है  कि बुल्लीज़ अपने विरोधी को मज़ाक़  का विषय बना कर धमकाना, और  किसी विवाद को जीतने के लिए तर्कों की बजाय उपहास  उड़ाना ज़्यादा बेहतर समझते हैं।स्कूलों में बुलीज़  अगर तर्क  से आगे नहीं बढ़ पाते हैं तो वे अपने विरोधियों को उनके कपड़ों, मोटे पेट, दांतों, छोटे क़द, यहां तक ​​कि परिवार, वर्ग, जाति, रंग और पृष्ठभूमि तक पे  ताना मारते हैं, ताकि वे खुद को पराजित महसूस करें। 

लेकिन ऐसे  खेल कभी ज़्यादा दिन नहीं चलते। ऐसे  भद्दे राजनीतिक विरोध  का सफलतापूर्वक सामना करने से व्यक्ति बड़ा बनता है, आत्मविश्वास कमाता है और  विजेता बनता है।

Journalism in India is all in dumps

Classical Journalism as profession with discernible  and identifiable ethics is all gone. We are left with only individuals having professional access to public media calling themselves journalists. They are no more bound by those values for which journalism was once a profession independent of national, racial and religious affiliations. 

The most important training a journalist must learn to possess is the neutrality particularly when reporting on a conflicts, social, religious or economical,  where only NEWS should outflow not the running commentary colored with personal biases and instinctual national or ethical prejudices.

US lost Vietnam war not because it fell weaker against locals but because of strong US media which reported  atrocities of US forces and uselessness of war. They were never called antinational. Some were even  honoured. Let consumers of the news judge. Independent doesn’t mean no scope for errors or intrusion of bias. It must not be part of a policy. Contrast this with policy driven biased, sold out news houses in India which are spewing venom everyday as policy of management and politico-business exigencies.