I got a tweet from Shashi Tharoor that Congress is working The Silent Transparency. When I disagreed with the fact @rachitseth asked me to tell him what is true. So it is my duty to respond him and tell what the truth is.
1) RIght to Information:
Congress claims to inventor of RTI and claims credit of it. Has UPA got the RTI? It is done upon Supreme court. UPA delayed it a few months and could have delayed a little more. On a NEWSHOUR debate when Swamy said RTI is because court insisted it, no congress member or Sanjay Jha from hamara congress opposed it. The fact is RTI was enforced in 9 states before India. Not all of them were ruled by Congress. So it was just a matter of time to pass RTI. UPA was in power when court directed government to do it.
2) Black money:
Congress claim to have a white paper on black money and did a lot on black money. It is an open secret that congress did little on black money. Everybody knows Ram Jethamilini is behind the petition on Supreme court. BJP has put bringing back to India where as UPA is never serious about it. We know how government killed poor lady Rajuvala for supporting Ramdev who was fasting to get black money back.
3) Corruption GOVERNMENT's YES counts:
UPA II is the most corrupt government since independence. 2G to coalgate, rail gate to Vodra case. Congress was pissed up with Khemka who wanted to get details of Vadra deal. If Vadra has not done anything wrong, why was Mr Khemka transferred though he has not completed two years in his current term. Worse he was transferred from his new job within 6 months. So it is well known fact that Congress or at least Hariyana Government didn't want corruption to go away, but wanted corruption to stay.
4) Lokpal bill or Jokpal bill?
Everybody knows Anna Hazzare and his supporters wanted lokpal bill. UPA government initially arrested them. UPA released them and agreed for lokpal because Anna's arrest angered public. Post that UPA ministers had meeting with Anna's team and it was recorded We the Indians deserve to know what happened in the meeting and whether congress was serious in those meeting and whether Anna was serious in those meeting or just wanted to grab headline. But it was never made public.
Now why is the lokpal bill not passed? The VP even did not allow to vote the bill in upper house and declared sine die. If the congress was serious about Lokpal, it could have been brought in 2012 or 2013. But congress never brought Lokpal bill again. Probable congress wants Lokpal bill to go to cold storage.
5) Foreign Bribery Bill
Walmart disclosed that it used 25 million in lobby in India India did not find anything wrong. Please tell me whether our law is not enough or we are not capable enough to stop foreign bribery?
This is a snap of things that happened during UPA.
Monday, 20 May 2013
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Is cricket unfair to Bowler?
I heard the discussion how cricket is unfair to the bowler. How a bowler can bowl a specific number of overs, where as a batsman does not have any restriction. How umpires give benefit of doubt to the batsman to fielding restriction and free hit all of the new laws favoring the batsman.
The above statements are true but are part of the half of the story. There is another half of the story where batsman does not have the advantages like a bowler
1) A batsman can only commit a mistake once. Say a bowler bowled a bad ball or no ball. He can be hit for a 6. But he will be given chance to correct his mistake and come back. But a batsman gets out with a wrong shot, he won't get any chance in the match again.
2)Bowling captain has the choice. Let us say we have 11 batsman bt1 to bt11 where as you have 11 bowlers bw1 to bw11. Bating side captain has to send batsman and let the fielding side know who is batting. Fielding side captain makes the choice of field positions and bowler knowing who is batting. How about turning this around and say, hey fielding side, you can make any bowler bowl for any length, but we will decide who will bat you for this over based on your bowler and field placement.
3) No bowler gets punished for obstructing the field. Hey a batsman can get out for obstructing the field, but bowler gets unpunished. Nobody says a player can't bowl further in the match (eqv to getting out by batsman) because he was obstructing the field. At best it bowler goes away with some runs or warning from umpire)
4) Run out is against batsman. I hate the run out where bowler has done nothing significant than touching the ball directly hit by the batsman and the ball removing the stumps and getting batsman out. Commentators call it unfortunate, but I call it criminal and law against batsman.
5) Run outs where the batsman has made the run. It can be the run outs where the batsman has made the run dived and give his best effort. But third umpires check whether his bat is in air or touching the ground when the stumps are taken away. So it is not a comparison between who has made it sooner. Whether the batsman reached first or bowler/wicket keeper removed stumps first. But what happened at the moment when the stumps are removed
6) Again run out: What about run outs where batsman was made the run but pushed by fielding side unintentionally. I don't want to punish the bowler/wicket keeper who was trying to get the ball and pushed the batsman. But why will batsman be given out for some mistake that is not his own? Why should it be left to captain and spirit of play instead of bring it to the law?
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Why do we have a separate Guru Divas?
I came to know about Guru Divas or teacher's day since I was in standard one. Being a student I was happy to honour our teachers. I am happy that we remember our teachers at least once in every year. I came to know we celebrate it on the birthday of the second president of India Dr Radhakrishnan.
I asked myself why were we late in celebrating for our teachers? We call our teachers as Guru. Our puranas places teachers above gods. What was stopping us celebrating teachers day till 1962?
Later I came to know my question was wrong. Indians did give respect to teachers much before 1962.India the hub of knowledge gave respect to teachers and have dedicated a day for them much before 1962. We do guru Pooja on the eve of the birthday of Vedavyasa on Guru Purnima.
I have the next set of questions, why don't we celebrate Guru Divas on Guru Poornima but look at sep 5? I have great respect for Dr Radhakrishnan. And I have more respect for Veda Vyasa. Is it because we are more accotomed with Gergorian calender than Indian lunar one? Or it is because Vyasa is a figure in Hindu mythology and Dr Radhakrishnan is a public figure in independent India?
On one hand I am delighted that we are celebrating for our Gurus. On the other hand I am concerned that Guru poornima has lost its lusture in 1962. Will teachers' day loose its lusture after some time? Will the respect to teacher move away from our blood?
I asked myself why were we late in celebrating for our teachers? We call our teachers as Guru. Our puranas places teachers above gods. What was stopping us celebrating teachers day till 1962?
Later I came to know my question was wrong. Indians did give respect to teachers much before 1962.India the hub of knowledge gave respect to teachers and have dedicated a day for them much before 1962. We do guru Pooja on the eve of the birthday of Vedavyasa on Guru Purnima.
I have the next set of questions, why don't we celebrate Guru Divas on Guru Poornima but look at sep 5? I have great respect for Dr Radhakrishnan. And I have more respect for Veda Vyasa. Is it because we are more accotomed with Gergorian calender than Indian lunar one? Or it is because Vyasa is a figure in Hindu mythology and Dr Radhakrishnan is a public figure in independent India?
On one hand I am delighted that we are celebrating for our Gurus. On the other hand I am concerned that Guru poornima has lost its lusture in 1962. Will teachers' day loose its lusture after some time? Will the respect to teacher move away from our blood?
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Astrology and match prediction
I have seen an astrological prediction of Ind vs WI 1st ODI. It is from the biggest astrological house of India http://www.ganeshaspeaks.com/blog_West_Indies_vs_India_ODI_Series_1st_ODI_Predictions_3241.jsp
Being a student of astrology, I do not know how to predict the result of a match. So I was curious to know the methodology in stead of the end result. The blog does not describe why it thinks so. The site does not own the result, rather it is the view of the individual astrologer. The prediction has three parts.
1) Key players: I do not understand what Ganesha speaks means by key players. Does it mean they are the players who will play a key role in the said match, or Ganesha speaks took the key player's horoscope to predict the match. So I reserve my view on the prediction.
2) TOSS PREDICTION: Any random guess will make it 50 percent correct. Prediction less than than is not acceptable.I have not seen enough prediction from Ganesha speaks on toss to validate the claim. However WI won the toss and the prediction went wrong.
3) Match Prediction: This can be better than 50 percent. WI team without Gayle is most probable going to loose the match. India will win the series 3-2/4-1/5-0. So India's win has a success rate of 60 to 100 percent. Astrologer have not given India will win by wickets or runs. If so what is the margin. How the match will shape up? When will team loose wicket etc. I understand it is more difficult to give the minor details than to predict who is going to win. But minor details can make your prediction credible. Anybody with a fair interest in cricket can predict the match with more than 60 percent probability.
So I would request the following from the Ganesha speaks team if the want to predict any further match.
1) Let the Ganesha speaks own the result predicted by their team member. The site and its owners do not undertake any responsibility for the correctness or accuracy of the same. How do the common people believe on the team and their correctness. Let us be honest and accept you are not able to give 100 percent correct result.
2) Give a brief analysis on how you concluded the results. Probable you are not interested in that as you are not here to teach astrology but to do business. Your explanation will give you more business as it gives reason behind your claim. It is not like you are making some claim which has a probability of more than 50 percent.
3) Let you predict toss for lots of match and publish it at a specific place. So one can see how many toss prediction has gone right. A single toss prediction right or wrong does not yield any value.
4) Be more clear on key player.
5) Give more detailed analysis. India will win the match is of little credibility where as WI will score something between 200 to 230. India will win it by 4-5 wickets. 3rd and 5th wicket stand will be crucial. There will be 2 half centuries. If team can give those predictions, the prediction is more credible and will sell to the people.
2)
Being a student of astrology, I do not know how to predict the result of a match. So I was curious to know the methodology in stead of the end result. The blog does not describe why it thinks so. The site does not own the result, rather it is the view of the individual astrologer. The prediction has three parts.
1) Key players: I do not understand what Ganesha speaks means by key players. Does it mean they are the players who will play a key role in the said match, or Ganesha speaks took the key player's horoscope to predict the match. So I reserve my view on the prediction.
2) TOSS PREDICTION: Any random guess will make it 50 percent correct. Prediction less than than is not acceptable.I have not seen enough prediction from Ganesha speaks on toss to validate the claim. However WI won the toss and the prediction went wrong.
3) Match Prediction: This can be better than 50 percent. WI team without Gayle is most probable going to loose the match. India will win the series 3-2/4-1/5-0. So India's win has a success rate of 60 to 100 percent. Astrologer have not given India will win by wickets or runs. If so what is the margin. How the match will shape up? When will team loose wicket etc. I understand it is more difficult to give the minor details than to predict who is going to win. But minor details can make your prediction credible. Anybody with a fair interest in cricket can predict the match with more than 60 percent probability.
So I would request the following from the Ganesha speaks team if the want to predict any further match.
1) Let the Ganesha speaks own the result predicted by their team member. The site and its owners do not undertake any responsibility for the correctness or accuracy of the same. How do the common people believe on the team and their correctness. Let us be honest and accept you are not able to give 100 percent correct result.
2) Give a brief analysis on how you concluded the results. Probable you are not interested in that as you are not here to teach astrology but to do business. Your explanation will give you more business as it gives reason behind your claim. It is not like you are making some claim which has a probability of more than 50 percent.
3) Let you predict toss for lots of match and publish it at a specific place. So one can see how many toss prediction has gone right. A single toss prediction right or wrong does not yield any value.
4) Be more clear on key player.
5) Give more detailed analysis. India will win the match is of little credibility where as WI will score something between 200 to 230. India will win it by 4-5 wickets. 3rd and 5th wicket stand will be crucial. There will be 2 half centuries. If team can give those predictions, the prediction is more credible and will sell to the people.
2)
Monday, 23 May 2011
Dream IPL team 2011
We are at the end of the group stages of the IPL 2011. Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore has progressed to the play off. This is my dream team based on performance on the IPL.
Openers
Picks: Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag
Gayle is an automatic selection with orange cap and 5 MOM award, His strike rate is around 200 percent and my choice for the Man of the series award.The other opener has to be one among Paul Valthaty, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Hussey, Virendra Shewag, breadan macculam and Adam Gilchrist. Being a die hard Tendulkar fan, my heart is for Tendulkar who had Orange cap for almost half the tournament. But Shewag overshadows tendulkar by the sheer impact. Shewag's innings against DC is the innings of the tournament and is a treat to watch.
Middle Order
Picks: Shane Marsh, Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Both Marsh and Kohli has batted at 1st down. But we know Kohli can be a good second down player as well. He played second down in world cup and performed well. Dhoni is an automatic choice as keeper as none of the foreign keepers have done well to be among the 4 foreign players. Rayudu would be unlucky to miss it to Dhoni. Dhoni had a poor tournament at the beginning. Off late he had made it off. He would be the captain of the team. The unlucky batsmen who miss out are Rohit Sharma, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Kumara Sangakkara, Rayudu, and Manoj Tiwary.
All-rounders
Picks: Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan
Yusuf is an easy pick as he has owned more matches and bowled tightly. Yuvraj has done fair job as batsman and did well in the bowling towards the end.Shane Watson and Albie Morkel will miss the selection as there are already 4 foreign players. Else I would have picked either of them with toss of coin for Yuvraj.
Bowlers
Picks: Lasith Malinga, Doug Bollinger, Rahul Sharma, Amit Mishra
I went with two quicks and two spinners based on performances and ensuring balance in the bowling attack. Malinga is not as effective as he was in the initial games. If Gayle is the reason why Bangalore topped the group stage. Malinga is the reason why Mumbai remained in top for more than half the time though their not-so-attractive run rate. Doug Bollinger bowls at the death and brings in variety with some left-arm pace. Rahul Sharma has been outstanding with 16 wickets at just 5.46 runs per over, by far the best economy rate of the tournament. Amit Mishra is the only person to claim at-trick and a much improved player. Shane Warne has done reasonable well as a player and Warne is my favorite captain. But he missed out as there are already 4 foreign players and other spinners have done better than him. Ishant Sharma, R P Singh, Arvind and Praveen Kumar misses the tournament as spinners has done fairly well in the tournament and we can manage with only 2 pacers. Iqbal Abdulla and Ravichandran Ashwin are unfortunate to miss the 11.
Final 11:
Chris Gayle
Virender Sehwag
Shane Marsh
Virat Kohli
Yuvraj Singh
Mahendra Singh Dhoni + (C)
Yusuf Pathan
Amit Mishra
Rahul Sharma
Doug Bollinger
Lasith Malinga
Openers
Picks: Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag
Gayle is an automatic selection with orange cap and 5 MOM award, His strike rate is around 200 percent and my choice for the Man of the series award.The other opener has to be one among Paul Valthaty, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Hussey, Virendra Shewag, breadan macculam and Adam Gilchrist. Being a die hard Tendulkar fan, my heart is for Tendulkar who had Orange cap for almost half the tournament. But Shewag overshadows tendulkar by the sheer impact. Shewag's innings against DC is the innings of the tournament and is a treat to watch.
Middle Order
Picks: Shane Marsh, Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Both Marsh and Kohli has batted at 1st down. But we know Kohli can be a good second down player as well. He played second down in world cup and performed well. Dhoni is an automatic choice as keeper as none of the foreign keepers have done well to be among the 4 foreign players. Rayudu would be unlucky to miss it to Dhoni. Dhoni had a poor tournament at the beginning. Off late he had made it off. He would be the captain of the team. The unlucky batsmen who miss out are Rohit Sharma, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Kumara Sangakkara, Rayudu, and Manoj Tiwary.
All-rounders
Picks: Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan
Yusuf is an easy pick as he has owned more matches and bowled tightly. Yuvraj has done fair job as batsman and did well in the bowling towards the end.Shane Watson and Albie Morkel will miss the selection as there are already 4 foreign players. Else I would have picked either of them with toss of coin for Yuvraj.
Bowlers
Picks: Lasith Malinga, Doug Bollinger, Rahul Sharma, Amit Mishra
I went with two quicks and two spinners based on performances and ensuring balance in the bowling attack. Malinga is not as effective as he was in the initial games. If Gayle is the reason why Bangalore topped the group stage. Malinga is the reason why Mumbai remained in top for more than half the time though their not-so-attractive run rate. Doug Bollinger bowls at the death and brings in variety with some left-arm pace. Rahul Sharma has been outstanding with 16 wickets at just 5.46 runs per over, by far the best economy rate of the tournament. Amit Mishra is the only person to claim at-trick and a much improved player. Shane Warne has done reasonable well as a player and Warne is my favorite captain. But he missed out as there are already 4 foreign players and other spinners have done better than him. Ishant Sharma, R P Singh, Arvind and Praveen Kumar misses the tournament as spinners has done fairly well in the tournament and we can manage with only 2 pacers. Iqbal Abdulla and Ravichandran Ashwin are unfortunate to miss the 11.
Final 11:
Chris Gayle
Virender Sehwag
Shane Marsh
Virat Kohli
Yuvraj Singh
Mahendra Singh Dhoni + (C)
Yusuf Pathan
Amit Mishra
Rahul Sharma
Doug Bollinger
Lasith Malinga
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Corruption in India and RTI
Anna Hazare has won his first battle against corruption. How effective will it be? When corruption is a way of life, how a bill will help us being honest? We are corrupt not because we do not have enough laws but because we choose to do so. Let me give you a few examples from my life.
We planned to go for India England match in 2011 world cup. The tickets were not available in the internet. One-day we heard all the tickets were sold. Police lathi charged at the venue where tickets were sold. Then my friends got a possible friend who can get tickets for us. He promised to try tickets of Rs 1000 for Rs 1500. All my friends were ready to pay extra 500 bucks for ticket. I said no to it. One of friend asked me whether I have never bribed anybody, and why I am saying no to it. Anyway we did not get the tickets for Rs 1500 and did not go for the cricket match.
Incident 2: My passport was expiring in Nov 2010. I went to renew it. All was well until I found I had adverse police report on my latest passport. Hyderabad police gave adverse report on my passport, and further details were not available at the passport seva kendra. Assistant passport officer asked me to go to the passport office in Kormangala. In passport office, they said they do not have the information and send a letter to Hyderabad to get the details.
I was in tension as I do not have a valid passport, and going to the government office is not an easy task. When I asked my friends for suggestion, some of them advised to apply a new passport in my native place where as others advised me to pay to some agent who knows whom to bribe and how much in stead of going from one office to another. I decided to do neither of them and asked a friend of mine in Hyderabad to expedite the process from passport office Hyderabad. He is unable to get any result.
I send RTI enquiry to passport office Bangalore, and asked about the activity details on my passport. RPO Bangalore replied in time saying it has received my application and sent for the status to RPO Hyderbad.
I send another RTI to RPO Hyderabad regarding the status of my passport. RPO hyderabad replied saying they got the fax on 4th of Feb (it has not mentioned when it received the original letter) and responded by 8th Feb. I got another mail from RTI officer saying my passport has been sent for police verification. I went to the police station for police verification.
When I went for police verification, my friends were telling different stories such as how police charges Rs 1500 onwards and if one does not pay she does not get the verification. I am able to recall the threat by Hyderabad police who came for verification of my wife. He asked me to pay Rs 500 else he will send a report saying she was not available. But I was determined not to bribe now, and use RTI instead. However police has not asked for any bribe.
Now my passport status is waiting to be delivered. Probable police has send the clearance to RPO. When we are in trouble people prefer to pay bribe and get easyway out. Whether it is RPO or traffic police or police verification or RTO. Corruption is a way of life for us. Anybody doing corruption is not looked down.
As long as we are interested to pay bribe to get work done, how can we fight corruption with a bill? Bill is definitely bring some changes. May be what T N seshan has brought to the election. Now election is not clean, still thugs win election. Money, muscle and liquor rules in election. But Seshan has changed the way we are looking at election. Similarly the Jan lokpal bill wont be able to eradicate corruption. We need to change our mindset and say no to corruption. But this bill may help to do something at the top.
We planned to go for India England match in 2011 world cup. The tickets were not available in the internet. One-day we heard all the tickets were sold. Police lathi charged at the venue where tickets were sold. Then my friends got a possible friend who can get tickets for us. He promised to try tickets of Rs 1000 for Rs 1500. All my friends were ready to pay extra 500 bucks for ticket. I said no to it. One of friend asked me whether I have never bribed anybody, and why I am saying no to it. Anyway we did not get the tickets for Rs 1500 and did not go for the cricket match.
Incident 2: My passport was expiring in Nov 2010. I went to renew it. All was well until I found I had adverse police report on my latest passport. Hyderabad police gave adverse report on my passport, and further details were not available at the passport seva kendra. Assistant passport officer asked me to go to the passport office in Kormangala. In passport office, they said they do not have the information and send a letter to Hyderabad to get the details.
I was in tension as I do not have a valid passport, and going to the government office is not an easy task. When I asked my friends for suggestion, some of them advised to apply a new passport in my native place where as others advised me to pay to some agent who knows whom to bribe and how much in stead of going from one office to another. I decided to do neither of them and asked a friend of mine in Hyderabad to expedite the process from passport office Hyderabad. He is unable to get any result.
I send RTI enquiry to passport office Bangalore, and asked about the activity details on my passport. RPO Bangalore replied in time saying it has received my application and sent for the status to RPO Hyderbad.
I send another RTI to RPO Hyderabad regarding the status of my passport. RPO hyderabad replied saying they got the fax on 4th of Feb (it has not mentioned when it received the original letter) and responded by 8th Feb. I got another mail from RTI officer saying my passport has been sent for police verification. I went to the police station for police verification.
When I went for police verification, my friends were telling different stories such as how police charges Rs 1500 onwards and if one does not pay she does not get the verification. I am able to recall the threat by Hyderabad police who came for verification of my wife. He asked me to pay Rs 500 else he will send a report saying she was not available. But I was determined not to bribe now, and use RTI instead. However police has not asked for any bribe.
Now my passport status is waiting to be delivered. Probable police has send the clearance to RPO. When we are in trouble people prefer to pay bribe and get easyway out. Whether it is RPO or traffic police or police verification or RTO. Corruption is a way of life for us. Anybody doing corruption is not looked down.
As long as we are interested to pay bribe to get work done, how can we fight corruption with a bill? Bill is definitely bring some changes. May be what T N seshan has brought to the election. Now election is not clean, still thugs win election. Money, muscle and liquor rules in election. But Seshan has changed the way we are looking at election. Similarly the Jan lokpal bill wont be able to eradicate corruption. We need to change our mindset and say no to corruption. But this bill may help to do something at the top.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
World cup win by India
India won cricket world cup 2011. I am happy like many others. Then many of the state government started showering gifts to the cricket players. Media started writing how India conquered the world.
Did India conquer the world by winning the world cup? I do not know how. We have not so exciting record in the athletics. With more than a billion people we are not the top 2 or 3 medal takers. We are good in science and technology, but our institutes are not the best. We look at Europe or US for high tech products. Is the world cup cricket win take us closer to that? It won't, so how do we conquer the world by winning the world cup? We were at the same place where we were 2 months ago.
Now cricketers are hero in people's mind, and government is giving gifts cash and real estate to the cricketers. None of the government has surplus money. All the government is running in deficit. How do they arrange the gift money? Worst KA government never gave any plot to the local heros who did well in Olympics. Most of the government diverted money that needs to be spent for the welfare of the people and gave cash prize or otherwise. Are cricketers poor people who need support from the government? My answer is no. They earn in crores from the ad of cola, junk food, liquor etc. Some people may say we need to support the sports person as they are national icons. Then why only cricketers? Why not the people who own medals in Olympic?
Did India conquer the world by winning the world cup? I do not know how. We have not so exciting record in the athletics. With more than a billion people we are not the top 2 or 3 medal takers. We are good in science and technology, but our institutes are not the best. We look at Europe or US for high tech products. Is the world cup cricket win take us closer to that? It won't, so how do we conquer the world by winning the world cup? We were at the same place where we were 2 months ago.
Now cricketers are hero in people's mind, and government is giving gifts cash and real estate to the cricketers. None of the government has surplus money. All the government is running in deficit. How do they arrange the gift money? Worst KA government never gave any plot to the local heros who did well in Olympics. Most of the government diverted money that needs to be spent for the welfare of the people and gave cash prize or otherwise. Are cricketers poor people who need support from the government? My answer is no. They earn in crores from the ad of cola, junk food, liquor etc. Some people may say we need to support the sports person as they are national icons. Then why only cricketers? Why not the people who own medals in Olympic?
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