The Other Side of Kerala - October 2015

Jolt for Kerala UDF as court orders further probe against minister

Thiruvananthapuram: A vigilance court in Kerala’s capital on Thursday ordered further investigation into the bribery allegation in the liquor bar case, against state finance minister and Kerala Congress (M) leader, K.M. Mani.

Mani is facing charges of taking a bribe in order to ensure favourable terms for liquor bar owners in the state in 2014 at a time when the state government itself was contemplating a phased shutdown of all bars in the state.

The court found that there was prima facie substance in the allegations against the finance minister.

The directive comes at the most inopportune time for the ruling United Democratic Front in Kerala and particularly for the Kerala Congress (M), because the state is going to polls in four days to elect local body representatives.

http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/india/jolt-for-kerala-udf-as-court-orders-further-probe-against-minister-1.1609356

How beef became Malayalis' Object of Desire

The Other Side of Kerala - August 2015

July 2015

June 2015

Crime in Kerala 2013

Did you happen to read recent coverage of this news about crime rates in Kerala?

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/columnists/swaminathan-s-a-aiyar/keralas-riches-rapes-one-of-indias-most-progressive-state-but-crime-data-is-shockingly-bad/articleshow/20657434.cms  

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/crime-rate-highest-in-kerala/article4822947.ece 

 

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/thiruvananthapuram/Kerala-tops-NCRB-crime-list/2013/06/20/article1643521.ece

Shashi Tharoor Accepts Narendra Modi’s Charge

Recently Nadrendra Modi made a comment apparently on Shashi Tharoor. To my surprise, Mr. Tharoor has responded to Modi.

Here is what Narendra Modi said:

“There was a Congress leader who was a minister. He was accused of amassing wealth from cricket. He had said in Parliament that he is not connected to the Rs. 50 crore in the lady’s name…And then girlfriend becomes wife, we learn some time later…the issues are still not settled and he is now made a minister.”

Note that Modi doesn’t take any names.

Here is what Shashi Tharoor wrote on Twitter: 

“@narendramodi My wife is worth a lot more than your imaginary 50 crores. She is priceless. But you need2be able2love some1 2understand that”

See how he is contradicting himself in his statement. Something which is priceless can’t be called “a lot more than 50 crores.” 500 crores is a lot more than 50 crores. but 500 croroes is not priceless.

Tharoor is in fact commenting on Modi “personally”, making the childish accusation that Modi need to be in love with someone to understand that :) I can roll with laughter at this silly comment from Mr. Minister.

You can read about it here:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Chunk-HT-UI-HomePage-TopStories/Shashi-Tharoor-hits-back-at-Modi-says-his-wife-is-worth-a-lot-more-than-50-crore/Article1-952158.aspx

Sorry but Shashi Tharoor has learnt no lessons from his Holy Cow experience. First, Narendra Modi didn’t even “name” either him or his wife, but Mr. Tharoor is acknowledging Modi and his comment. Second, Modi said nothing but the fact – that money was gifted to Tharoor’s girlfriend; initially he denied having any link to the lady but after being fired by ‘Holy Cows’, he got married with the lady. Facts are facts; denial will only degrade your position. Also, if one takes gift by getting it deposited in his soon-to-marry girlfriend’s bank account, it doesn’t mean anyone pointing that out is attacking his “personal life”. It is your “public life” Mr. Minister! When will you start believing that you are a Minister (both when you were fired and now that you are repositioned without any reason). Despite having great admiration for Mr. Tharoor, I find his ways of handling controversies as totally childish. May be it is the “love” that is playing him. No extra points for being a lover in politics, Mr. Tharoor!

Keralite Mafia or Nexus – Is there something hidden from the public?

All governments keep some pretty little secrets which never come out in the public domain. These are sacred secrets. Those who try to infringe on these, are made to go in the oblivion without any news reports covering them. It is pretty common like this, in most parts of the world. But such schemes were never threatened in the way they are being made so thanks to the Wiki Leaks and one brave man called Julian Paul Assange.

Recently, WikiLeaks has made a very important revelation which raises the curtains from over the way govt of India works. Here is what the Telegraph India writes in its news title “CPM smirks at US pressure ‘leaks’”.

A cable the US embassy sent to Washington in 2005 described M.K. Narayanan’s appointment as national security adviser as an addition to the “Keralite mafia” in the PMO. Narayanan is now Bengal governor.

“Along with principal secretary T.K.A. Nair, Narayanan constitutes what is now a Keralite ‘mafia’ in the PMO,” the cable said.

It added: “In a bureaucratic culture dominated by north Indian Hindi speakers, this Keralite lock on the PM’s inner bureaucratic circle represents something of an anomaly, which could in the long term create new fault lines around the Prime Minister.”

The controversy over the appointment of chief vigilance commissioner P.J. Thomas, who too is from Kerala, has had many in government circles talking about how some of India’s top bureaucrats, particularly in the PMO, are from Kerala.

Among the Keralites in the PMO are current national security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and additional secretary R. Gopalakrishnan. The other senior bureaucrats from the southern state include foreign secretary Nirupama Rao and home secretary G.K. Pillai.

Also read: Narayanan plays down Wikileaks revelations: ET

In a way these revelations are not new to the political analysts. It has long been observed how Keralites were given priority in key roles in governments. To some extent I think it was happening because of the very talent, skills and character which Keralites brought on the board. Even though it is a generalization, but Keralites are always appreciated for their professionalism, and unbiased nature on most of the politically sensitive issues, apart from being intelligent and headstrong. But things as it seems didn’t remain unadulterated for long. When you generalize or label one particular group with some quality, the worst among the lot take advantage of the labeling to get some selfish motives fulfilled. As it happened in the case of CVC Mr. Thomas, on which Dr. Singh relied without even slightest doubts, all leading to his own humiliation by the Supreme Court (also remember my blog post challenging Kerala IAS Association of supporting tainted CVC Mr. Thomas all as a display of regional chauvinism and bias). If people are granted critical positions on the basis of something other than pure merit, the system degrades.

So the the US embassy’s observations indeed hold water. In my opinion there is no doubt on that. But I am actually worried if India and Indian media would miss the case because of the provocative title given to the lot: “Keralite Mafia”. (Reminds me of ‘Italian’ Mafia). Even the true mafia doesn’t want to call them a mafia, and to call someone so is now almost politically incorrect. So if the embassy chose some other term to describe the phenomenon, may be a nexus, group, or whatever – it would have made a stronger case to shake the polit-circles. (But in personal communications, which never imagine to be made out in the open by WikiLeaks, we are bound to be ‘honest’ and choose whatever fits our thinking better

So all I want to say at this stage is: forget the provocative term “mafia”, and think over the pattern!