Political crisis an opportunity to seal the loopholes.

Recent crisis in Uttarakhand and similar situation in Arunachal Pradesh three months ago give us an opportunity to introspect the current status of functioning of the parliamentary democracy. We have adopted representative form of democracy in center and states. As per the constitution CoM in Center and State is collectively responsible to Loksabha and Vidhansabha respectively. This implies that the leader of party or alliance enjoying absolute majority should be appointed as PM or CM. The common sense says that the leader should be elected by members of Loksabha and Vidhan Sabha. However it has been observed that such leader has been nominated by party high command especially in case of National Parties. This practice of high command nomination is substantially responsible for the current crisis.

One significant drawback of high command nomination is that such nominated leader will be accountable to high command rather than to legislature. It creates two centers of powers and super cabinet.It gives rise to centralization of governance and thus against the federal structure. What if a leader is more popular among the elected members of the party than one nominated by high command? Now due to anti-defection law which requires cohesion of atleast two third members of the party for any split. This forces elected members either to comply with the high command or to get disqualified from the membership.

Opposition parties get an opportunity to lure dissenting members. This leaves a hiatus for horse trading. In Uttarakhand constitutional machinery was subverted during budget session. The speaker was aware about intentions of rebelling MLAs from ruling party. When a government fails to get apppropriation bill passed, it is assumed that it has lost confidence of the LS/VS. in the instant case of Uttarakhand, if speaker had allowed division of votes, then there was possibility of it getting defeated. Thus current government would have been compelled to resign. Further as per tenth schedule of constitution, these MLAs would have been disqualified. This sequence of events might have averted the current political crisis.

Instead speaker decided to go by voice vote and rule that the appropriation bill has been passed. Reliability of voice vote is another contentious issue. It is very subjective. There should be provision that even if a single member asks for division of votes, it should be granted. It will be beneficial in two ways. First it will remove all doubts over validity of votes and also it will help voters to know the stand of his representative on a particular issue.

In this context, anti-defection law should be improved upon. Firstly scope of this law should be limited on the issues which affect the stability of government like budget, confidence, no-confidence motion etc. It will help to improve quality of debate as members as individuals may differ from their parties on certain policy  matters. Secondly requirement for merger should be reduced to just more than half of total membership of the concerned party rather than 2/3.

Now coming to question whether imposition of president rule is justified or not. It is up to judiciary to decide whether denial of division of votes amounts to failure of constitutional machinery or not. In my opinion speaker's decision to disallow division saved the government which was set to fall. Thus it amounted to failure of constitutional machinery.

Constitution has enough checks and balances. This proclamation has to be approved by parliament within two months. Since ruling party at center lacks majority in RS, it seems difficult that it will last for more than two months. Whatever be the political outcome of this crisis, it is time to improve upon the current practice.

Cricket not just a game

It was great game of cricket not only from game's point of view but it gives important life lessons. First it teaches the self belief. Bangladesh showed confidence in their batting line up by opting to field first against strong looking Indian batting. They almost succeeded in their game plan. Be confident and have self belief, success awaits you.

Second lesson we can learn is power of mind. Bumrah after mis-fielding and dropping a catch  gave 16 runs in an over. In his short career he has given these many runs in his full quota of overs. Finally he succeeded in delivering two overs with quality yorkers in the death. It was possible only when he came over his failure in power play. Every moment is fresh moment. Forget the failures of past and one can achieve unthinkable.

Further we should appreciate importance of positive attitude When It seemed that Bangladesh was cruising towards victory, Dhoni brought in slip fielder, and it was not the tactics to apply just pressure on batsman as he put in his one of the best fielders in that position. And he got out a set batsman and which can well be considered as the turning point of the game. Almost all captains would have gone with defensive field at that moment. So optimism almost always delivers.

The most important management lesson this match teaches is of having confidence in your juniors. With both Bumrah and Pandya having failed in the first half of the innings, most of the other captains would have gone for other alternatives like Raina, Yuvraj, Rohit, Kohli in 11-15 overs and saved Ashwin and Jadeja foor last 3. But Dhoni  reposed faith in the abilities of Bumrah and Pandya. Support of seniors encourages one to perform best.

Next we learn not to celebrate prematurely. One should wait for the final result before celebrating. BD batsmen because complacent after second boundary of the last over. They became object of all sarcasm for their celebration. Premature celebration brings complacency and overconfidence and these two are sufficient to snatch defeat from jaws of victory.

And finally one should be aware about his best trait. In the last ball Dhoni could have thrown the ball at the stumps but he ran instead..as he knew he can better run fast than aim. This insight helps one to utilize his best quality when it is needed the most.

Nationalism Vs Nazism/Fascism

It is not uncommon to see people changing the meaning of a word as per convenience. After corrupting the meaning of secularism, "nationalism" is the next target for "intellectuals" especially in India. The recent chain of events at JNU and the aftermath has started the nationalism vs patriotism debate. Many people have argued that nationalism is dictatorial, divisive, spreads hatred and so on. They have gone to the extent of equating nationalism with fascism and Nazism.  This is not being done out of ignorance but it is an attempt to malign the nationalists.

Let's start with the dictionary meanings. The Oxford dictionary defines nationalism as "Patriotic feeling". It also gives other meanings as "extreme form of patriotic feeling of superiority over other countries" and "advocacy of political independence of a particular country." Further patriotism is defined by Oxford dictionary as "vigorous support for one's nation". Let us discuss current debate in light of above meanings of nationalism and patriotism.

Firstly let us see whether nationalism is same as fascism/Nazism? The philosophy of Nazism was based upon racial superiority of Germans rather than superiority of Germany. Therefore Nazism is not nationalism but the extreme form of racism. Now coming to fascism, it is derived from Italian word "fascismo" which means "a bundle or political group". Thus fascism means superiority of particular ethnic group, and in case of Mussolini's fascism it was Italian ethnicity. Since Italy as a nation comprised of single ethnicity therefore Mussolini's fascism was confused with nationalism. Now coming to contemporary India, it has multi-racial, multi ethnic diversity. Thus Indian nationalism is neither feeling of racial superiority nor ethnic superiority. From above arguments we can infer that Indian nationalism is neither Nazism nor Fascism.

The third meaning of nationalism is advocacy of political independence of a country. So throughout struggle for independence our freedom fighter aimed at political independence of India. Thus they were nationalists. By equating nationalism with fascism aren't we calling likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Bose etc. fascist? Also, by supporting secessionist demands of Kashmir, Manipur etc. we are supporting Kashmir nationalism, Manipur nationalism. Can we afford to grant independence to our border states? Support to these demands exposes hypocrisy of "intellectuals". On the one hand they label Indian nationalism as fascism while on the other they label various state nationalism as freedom of political choices. This shows inconsistency in their interpretation of nationalism.

What will happen if people are not nationalists? If a jawan guarding the border loses the love for the nation that is nationalism he will be neutral to any infiltration or aggression into territory of the nation. Therefore, hypothetically it will lead to occupation of the nation by other power. If a diplomat is not nationalist, he will surrender the national interest in diplomatic negotiations. Thus nationalism is essential not only to maintain unity and integrity of the nation but also for growth and development. Let’s not be misguided by the propaganda of distorted meaning of nationalism. Be a nationalist, Indian Nationalist and proud Indian nationalist.

Opportunistic liberalism

After JNU incident "liberals" have been defending culprits and attacking government on following premises...(and their hollowness)

1. immature youths, misguided..(come on yaar, age of voting is 18 years, age of consent is 18 years, legal age of marriage is 18 years...so what according to you is age of maturity? 18 is not age of maturity then why the hell immature people are allowed to vote, have sex, marry, enter into contract etc.)

2. Being anti-India is not sedition...(Indian Express article quotes privy council and SC to say that merely speaking against government isn't sedition but incitement of violence is sedition. Exactly the same I want to say but these people are confusing India with Indian gvt. Slogans were to break apart India not the Indian gvt. Further words like "lad k lenge aazadi" "Bharat k tukde honge hazar" are amounting to incitement of violence)

3. Freedom of expression, article 19(1)a...a fundamental right..(These people should take pain to read article 19(2) that restricts

the freedom of expression)

4. Whole university is being maligned for misdeeds of few..(No sir, we are not, its you who are projecting crackdown on some secessionists as attack on whole university and intellectualism)

5. Theory of proportion...JNU issue is blown out of proportion....(Come on boss, its you opposition leaders who lined up in JNU giving it unnecessary importance. However where was theory of proportion when death of Akhlaq became symbol of tyranny of majority over minority?)

6. lecture on Patriotism and nationalism...saying patriotism is good, but nationalism leads to dictatorship.(What is you opinion on Kashmir Nationalism...is it patriotism? Further these opportunistic patriots should be reminded that had it not been Nationalism of Sardar Patel, there would have been one India with 8-10 states and many small failed countries with some foreign enclaves in place of current India.)

Never Give Up

Midnight Silence of the hospital was breached by irritating continuously blowing horn. "Hurry up...stretcher..stretcher....", shouted three persons in chorus.

There was a middle aged man lying lifeless in the backseat of a car with his trousers wet with urine, mouth wide open, flaccid neck oscillating with movement of car. On clinical examination there were no signs of life, also there were no signs of death too. He was candidate to be declared brought dead at most of the hospitals.

"He seems to have expired.....".

"No..no..doctor do something....save my father, he was alright in the night, had chest pain and collapsed just 15 minutes ago...", his son interrupted.

"We will try our best but chances are almost nil", I primed them.

In the mean time cardiac monitors showed ventricular fibrillation, first DC shock was given on the stretcher, chest compression was started, and in the meantime help arrived in casualty from critical care, cardiology and anesthesiology teams.

After 8 minutes of CPR, for the first time pulse returned but it did not sustain for more than 2-3 minutes. Thereafter pulse kept on playing hide and seek game for next 2 hours. Also cardiac rhythm kept on varying from VF to VT to sinus in between.

At one point of time electrical, chemical cardio-versions, ionotropes seemed to be failing. Everyone decided to stop the resuscitation. I don't know from where I got the guts to oppose 8-10 years senior doctors from different departments. In between I was reminded of various international protocols regarding the time period of giving CPR by them. Finally after around 2 hours, sinus rhythm and pule sustained, also BP improved and then patient was shifted in ICU.

"you have just postponed the death declaration. It will be wastage of one ICU bed for no outcome, You are handing me over a dead body.", said the intensivist while taking hand over of the patient.

Interestingly patient improved neurologically over next 10-12 hours. Next day angiography was done and revealed blocked coronary artery (LAD). Angioplasty was done. After 48 hours, patient improved sufficiently enough to be put off the ventilator. Further after two days he was discharged from hospital in conscious, oriented condition and left hospital walking.

Life and death are the mysteries, we will never understand. Man made protocols can never holistically cover natural events. Unfortunately most of the hospitals in order to avoid mortality, medico-legal issues do not try to resuscitate and declare brought dead or refer the patient to other center. Also due to specialization and super specializations, many practicing doctors do not know about resuscitation protocols. One thing taught in our medical schools is to focus on common things and ignore rare things. Since successful resuscitation of unwitnessed cardiac arrest is rare, it is rarely focused upon. However, it is always matter of bringing life from the jaws of death. Therefore never give up...let the patient die rather than be declared dead.

The Suicide, that wasn't!

After repeated failures, his morale met the same fate as that of a sea wave reaching the shore. While turning the pages of newspaper, though reluctantly, pictures of big politicians visiting house of a student who had recently committed suicide caught his eyes. After reading the whole story he came to know about hefty compensation paid to the family of the deceased student and various proposals to institute awards in his name. I didn't get what I deserve even by fighting against all odds and he gained so much by surrendering to the circumstances. Cowardice is being worshipped and bravery is being stamped with failures repeatedly. He got lost into the vacuum of the sky contemplating his journey of life.

Mesmerized by the name and fame earned by surrendering, he too decided to try his luck into life after death.

"Why did you end your beautiful life prematurely, my son?" A strange voice awakened him from his illusory life.

"Because I wanted to earn name and fame, which I couldn't do despite my best efforts. But who are you?" He enquired

"I am the prime mover my dear." The invisible source of voice replied,"I am here to gift you the realization."

His mind was too confused with the events to comprehend the situation. "Do you belong to historically oppressed class? Do you have great struggle story so that your death can make news worth selling?". The voice interrupted the toxic silence.

"No, though I belong to upper caste my father hardly earned enough to afford both bread and butter. I have had tough time in childhood to get the textbooks. I had to ask my seniors for the books. I started teaching tuitions in my college days the help my father financially....."

"No, no my son this is not struggle in Kalyuga. Today struggle means that you are born in a caste which is recognized as oppressed caste irrespective of current economic status. You may go to the best school, college, with best of coaching and books to your service but your life will be labelled as great struggle because some hundreds of years ago your caste was backward."

"That's very unfair", he murmured

"Yeah, every unfair thing is fairly fair in Kalyuga. Ok now tell me do you belong to the community one which can constitute significant vote bank?"

"Yeah, " he said in excitement;" I belong to the religion which constitutes 80% of the population....."

"Ohhh! You are so innocent my dear child." He was interrupted again," electorally important community is the one which is in minority and can be easily projected as victim. Since you belong to numerically dominant religion, you disqualify from earning attention."

"So, my suicide has gone in vain?", he asked in frustrated voice

"I have full sympathy with you, but since you belong to general category you have the least importance in your society. Your struggle is really great, you have the one of best intellect, and it is the failure of the system that you still don't matter."

The darkness of silence engulfed his hopes of getting name and fame after committing suicide. His heart was racing like a sprint runner, he was sweating profusely in anxiety. His life was a failure and his death also proved to be non mover. He kicked in air in frustration.

"Ouch! Can't you  mind your legs during your sleep."

This familiar voice interrupted his journey into death. After stupor of few seconds he smiled and said, "sorry darling."

A nightmare showed him the futility of his dream of suicide.

Odds of odd even

Finally Delhi government's much hyped odd even trial ended. Initially there were many hoardings, audio-video advertisements asking people to follow odd even and now there are big hoardings thanking people of Delhi for complying with the said program. The first beneficiary of this policy seems to be advertising industry. It is undoubted fact that Delhi is one of the most polluted city. Causes of such high level of pollution are complex ranging from climatic conditions to traffic congestion to industries. Traffic congestion in Delhi despite of world class metro services is due to lack of last mile connectivity, increasing proportion of upper middle class and consumerism. Odd even policy has been poorly thought without backing of scientific reasoning as far as pollution is concerned. If government is serious to tackle pollution then it should take steps to pull people towards public transport rather than pushing them into public transport. Let's analyse impact of odd even policy with respect to traffic congestion, public transport, politics and pollution.

It can not be denied and should not be denied that traffic congestion came down to some extent during first week of January 2016. Heavy penalty of 2000 Rs for violation has been responsible for this to significant extent. I have not seen any enthusiasm among car owners to follow this rule. However traffic congestion increased in the second week as people got settled with the policy by means of car exchange, getting CNG stickers and even number plate tampering can't be ruled out. This decrease in traffic congestion helped exempted categories like VIPs, CNG cars, single women drivers, bikers, commercial cars and people having two cars. Therefore this policy got thumbs up from certain sections of society who got benefit of the policy without sacrificing luxury.

Rush in metro trains was unprecedented especially in the first week. Supporters of this policy commented that rush is not alarming. Their definition of alarming isn't clear. It seems they are waiting for casualties to label it as alarming. Further there is need to find out impact of odd even policy on business of auto rickshaw and taxi industry. If people leave their petrol cars at home and travel in diesel run taxis then it will increase the pollution. Also personal cars undergo regular servicing and are less polluting than commercial vehicles.

Politics has been main beneficiary of odd even policy. Various campaigns especially TV add showing a person in muffler is blatant violation of SC guidelines. It shows self promoting attitude of Delhi government. Further during initial days of odd even media theatrics of going by bicycle, e-rickshaw was performed. If Delhi government is serious about leading by example then why don't its ministers, officers use these means throughout the year. Also false non-scientific data production claiming reduction in pollution has been cheap measure to mislead people. Also it has been equated with Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, forgetting that latter is concrete 5 year program including public participation, building toilets, solid waste management etc. Yeah in terms of money spent on odd even in 15 days it might exceed budget of SBA for 15 days for whole nation. Therefore odd even policy seems to be means to make political ends not to curb pollution.

Now coming to the most important aspect that is pollution. Data from Delhi pollution control committee suggests that there has been no significant effect on pollution during implementation period. Following is data of ambient air quality index comparing 13 day period of odd even and 13 days without odd even. Sundays being odd even free day have been included in non odd even days. Therefore based upon following data it can be concluded that there has been no reduction in pollution after odd even.

Date	PM 2.5	PM 10
1-Jan-16	600	976
2-Jan-16	397	566
4-Jan-16	613	978
5-Jan-16	331	707
6-Jan-16	370	890
7-Jan-16	550	1030
8-Jan-16	197	381
9-Jan-16	91	445
11-Jan-16	282	817
12-Jan-16	282	576
13-Jan-16	442	648
14-Jan-16	252	428
15-Jan-16	161	266
Average	351	669

  

Date	PM 2.5	PM 10
24-Dec-15	454	630
25-Dec-15	262	450
26-Dec-15	796	912
27-Dec-15	374	527
28-Dec-15	283	410
29-Dec-15	326	1019
30-Dec-15	351	874
31-Dec-15	450	627
3-Jan-16	230	807
10-Jan-16	236	615
16-Jan-16	218	427
17-Jan-16	321	541
18-Jan-16	302	588
Average	354	648

Now let's examine the consequences of odd even is made permanent. People who can afford will new cars. It won't be difficult for a Mercedes owner to buy another Honda City. People those who can not own new car will go for second hand cars which will definitely be more polluting than their new cars. Further those people not affording second hand cars will go for motorcycle and so on. Also there will be hoarding, black marketing and misuse of CNG stickers. In long terms this policy will increase number of vehicles not otherwise.

Now coming to constructive solutions to tackle the problem of traffic congestion and vehicular pollution. Strategy should be two pronged. First people should be pulled towards public transport by providing last mile connectivity. DTC bus routes should be improvised, frequency of metro trains. number of coaches should be increased. Auto-rickshaws should be governed in better way. It seems being a vote back auto drivers are protected by government and given a free hand to loot, and harass. traffic police should be proactive in curbing such loot. Further e-ricksaws should be promoted. E-Rickshaws have social, economic, and environmental benefits. Second prong of strategy should be to deter people from using personal cars by increasing parking charges, congestion charges. Also use of no-entries, one ways be made to tackle traffic congestion.

Also phased transition from BS-IV to BS-VI norms be made to reduce emission. CNG cars should be incentivised by provision of low parking charges, subsidy in taxes etc. All commercial taxis should mandatorily be converted into CNG cars. 

Environment is collective responsibility. It is unfortunate that pollution control has been reduced to theatrics and political gimmick. It takes away the seriousness of the issue. I hope that government will take a reasoned decision with respect to environmental pollution.