Scraps Stuffs - Random musings from apun ka desh

The Dr. Manmohan Singh led UPA government seems to be asleep at the wheel in cruicial areas of governance - defence and economic affairs

Defence

1. The asinine idea of withdrawing the IA from Siachen must be the most idiotic idea that the morons in GoI have ever come up with in matters related to security. Pakistan wants India to vacate its positions on the Saltoro ridge so that it can do the same and the Siachen area can be demilitarized. The UPA government wants to trust Pakistan - the same Pakistan that thought nothing of violating the LoC in Kargil and occupying Indian territory, even when this violation was explicitly forbidden under the terms of the Shimla accord. This illegal occupation was vacated by India with much loss of Indian troops and Manmohan Singh now wants to trust Pakistan and vacate Siachen. So that the Pakistanis can move in more conveniently I suppose. There are atleast three reasons to hold onto Siachen. It is a strategic area and by being there we prevent a Pakistan-China linkup which will enable the Pakistanis to encircle Ladakh. Technological developments have allowed India to drastically reduce the loss of Indian lives there so the old notions of climate causing untold loss of life is no longer tenable. Finally the heavy expenditure incurred by the Pakistanis in Siachen is causing serious problems to them. The higher expenditure incurred by us is not such a big problem simply because we can absorb the costs better. Once we withdraw the Pakistanis can occupy tactically stronger positions that incur less expenditure to support and maintain and divert the savings to the terrorist infrastructure. Letting them bleed is a tactially sound option. India is hoping that once Pakistan agrees to delineate the actual ground position in the Siachen area, it can withdraw troops and Pakistan can do so too and any violations can then be detected. This Dil Chahata Hai hope ignores two things - Pakistanis will never agree to delineation because for years they have lied to their own people that they are in contention for the Siachen glacier. The truth is that they have already lost that battle, we occupy the whole of Siachen and the battle is now for the Saltoro ridge, westwards of Siachen. If the truth comes out the Pakistan Army will look like an army of losers. The second given is that Pakistan violates any and every agreement it signs with India so how can we trust them not to occupy the positions we have withdrawn from? Taking back those same positions will take a lot of time, effort and expenses both in material and human terms. What we have gained with blood, sweat and tears, Manmohan Singh wants to give away for the price of "Pakistani goodwill"! It would be a laughable matter were it not for the tragedy of the situation.
2. Allowing the Maoists to muscle into government in Nepal thereby virtually guaranteeing destablization of the Red Corridor in India. The politicians in Nepal are a discredited lot, corrupt and incompetent. By allowing the King to be weakened (most of it is the King's fault too) perhaps fatally, it leaves the Maoists in a very strong position. By allowing the CPI-M in India to bat for the Maoists, the UPA government has shown how totally clueless it was and is in the context of Indian security interests in our neighbourhood. By being totally wishy-washy it has close to zero credibility in Nepal. Ditto in Sri Lanka with that island nation also hotting up with the LTTE starting its terrorist activities again (as was to be expected. That murderous bunch wants to break up Sri Lanka and talks cannot stop them).

Economic affairs

1. The UPA government is trying to drive an entire industry into bankruptcy! By proposing to debar courier companies from delivering mail weighing less than 300 grams it is virtually ensuring that most of the courier companies will have to shut shop. Businesses depend on these companies to deliver their documents in 24 to 48 hours virtually anywhere in India and by proposing to let the P&T department have a total monopoly in this area, they are ensuring that businesses have no other option than to use them. A majority of the packages are under 300 grams and hence the small courier firms have no other option than to shut down. Thousands will be out of a job and all this for protecting the P&T department! Whoever came up with this idea needs to get the idiot of the century award!
2. By proposing reservations in the private sector the UPA government is ensuring that the private sector doesn't fully live up to its potential. The private sector is the last bastion in India where merit truly counts and by proposing to introduce a caste based reservation policy here, the UPA is trying to make sure that its vote band politics remains intact. Manmohan Singh has shown very poor leadership in this area. In fact it can be safely said that he's the weakest prime minister this country has every seen.

Some days back an aged actor died of natural causes in Bangalore. Said actor symbolized, nay, epitomized gentleness. Naturally his fans went berzerk and torched vehicles, stoned buildings and shops and generally created mayhem.

Way to go assholes!

After a long time I saw a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. Being Cyrus was a very entertaining and gripping movie with excellent performances all around. Even Dimple Kapadia, who the critics slammed as being too over the top, did a good job. Naseeruddin Shah was his usual brilliant self giving close attention to the subtle nuances of the Parsi accent and manner of speaking. Boman Irani was superlative as well, no problems enacting a Parsi character for him! Manoj Pahwa as the inspector was hillarious. At no point in the movie did I feel bored, the pace of the movie was just right and the direction very good too. Very good job by the first time director. The style of editing suited the movie storyline and content. Story was unusual too. All in all a very nice package. Pity there were only six people in the theatre to enjoy it all!

It probably won't be a huge hit because its in English and a little too high brow for typical Indian audiences who want their movies with simplistic themes, loud acting and standard storylines (calling it justified escapism). That's a pity because more people should watch it to realize that all Indian cinema isn't boring, crass, commercially minded or just plain irritating.