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A retrograde move
Mining mafia in UP |
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Hoping to fly
Opening up to FDI
The trip to Bandipore
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A retrograde move
When
it comes to protecting its own interests the political class stands united, forgetting daily mudslinging. Here was a chance for the UPA government to build on its creditable record of passing the Right to Information Act, which has ushered in some transparency in the administration. However, it has joined opposition parties by agreeing to move an amendment to take political parties out of the ambit of the RTI Act. It is strange the parties which aspire to form a government and pass laws affecting the lives of citizens of this country refuse to be considered as public authorities! On June 3 the Central Information Commission had ruled that six national political parties, including the Congress and the BJP, were public authorities since they were substantially funded by the government, which gives them exemption from income tax, subsidised land or housing and free air time on the government media during elections. Although the CIC gave the citizen the legal right to know how a political party was funded and on what basis criminals or others were selected for contesting elections, the commission could have taken into consideration some of the practical problems and concerns of political parties, which feared getting flooded with frivolous or vexatious RTI queries. The parties knew they were on a weak legal ground. So instead of challenging the CIC order in a higher court, they have chosen to amend the Act. The argument that political parties are monitored by the Election Commission is specious because the EC has no power to deregister a party for violations of the rules. It is common knowledge that all parties spend much more during the assembly and Lok Sabha elections than the legal limit and yet no one is ever disqualified. Political parties, which swear by democracy, are ready to submit to scrutiny by a toothless EC or pliable tax officials but not by the citizens of this country. Strange!
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Mining mafia in UP
Already
under attack for the growing lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has further diminished his stature by suspending an IAS officer who has taken on the powerful mining mafia. SDM Durga Shakti Nagpal has been suspended for just doing her official duty. She was, in fact, implementing the Supreme Court order that no religious structure should be allowed to come up on government land. The District Magistrate, who conducted an inquiry, has said that the villagers themselves pulled down the disputed wall. Durga Shakti, who has not been given an opportunity to explain her stand, is said to have seized nearly 300 trolleys of sand being illegally mined from the Yamuna river bed. Due to this crackdown, the UP government is said to have earned Rs. 54.3 lakh as fine in just five months. She got 17 FIRs lodged against the sand mining mafia. But, all of this has come to a naught, because these supposed to be laudable actions of hers have disturbed the well-oiled machinery of the political class. Now, the Uttar Pradesh IAS Officers Association is up in arms against what they call an arbitrary suspension of one of their young colleagues. They must also remember the Neera Yadavs and Akhand Paratap Singhs of their own league, convicted by the Supreme Court in cases of corruption. In the first AGM of the Association, that took place after a gap of six years in January this year, the officers had expressed concern over growing corruption and politicisation of the service. They admitted that some officers from the cadre behaved like the members of the previous ruling party. Why did they not take action to show their strength against corruption within the cadre? That would have sent a strong message to the political class. When a majority bends backwards while they are asked only to bow, things take a turn as they have for Durga
Shakti.
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Hoping to fly
UNDER its stated goal of promoting air connectivity to smaller and remote towns, the Union Aviation Ministry has approved two domestic airports at Hisar and Karnal. Any infrastructure building is a welcome step for the salutary effect it has on the economy in the short term, irrespective of whether a particular project has financial viability or not. Haryana thus far does not have an airport of its own out of which commercial flights may be operating. Of course, there were reasons for it, Delhi and Chandigarh airports being close. These factors still remain. Has there been sufficient increase in demand for air services in the state to warrant two airports? There has been no real assessment of the air traffic expected. Rajasansi international airport near Amritsar is yet to start bearing its costs, with flights being operated in fits and starts. Similar is the case with Sahnewal airport near Ludhiana, despite both airports serving major industrial and trading centres of Punjab. An airport was also inaugurated in Pathankot in 2006. Nothing has been heard of it since. While these experiences should act as cautions in planning investment on new airports, infrastructure building need not be based on immediate commercial viability alone. Capacity creation is an endeavour that may bear fruit in unforeseeable future. Often it can spur growth where not much may be expected otherwise. In Hisar and Karnal, Haryana hopes to serve the industry as well as agriculture through air service. While passenger service could take off as the two places may act as an alternative to the more expensive Delhi airport - at least for travellers from the state - fresh farm produce export is another field the state would hope to exploit. There is lobbying on for an international cargo airport too in Haryana, which may bring real benefit to the industry if it materialises. Even as state politicians bicker over credit for the airports or try and get them for their constituencies, politics would be best kept out of what should be purely commercial decisions.
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Punctuality is the virtue of the bored. —Evelyn Waugh
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Opening up to FDI
Immediately after the Prime Minister took a decision along with his Cabinet colleagues on FDI proposals recently, he made another announcement at an Assocham function that the government was moving to open up India's economy further to foreign direct investment (FDI). This clearly reflects that the Arvind Mayaram report on FDI is a bit let-down and the subconscious of the Indian state is still deeply rooted in the communist thought process. China may have moved on and taken the maximum mileage out of FDI, we are still in a state of inertia while our entrepreneurial energies are not being properly channelled. It is a stark fact that in the globalised world the movement of capital and human resources coupled with new technologies and markets are playing a uniquely transformative role, particularly for the backward economies of the world. To share a glimpse of world growth, it is European capital and its human resources that actually built the giant American economy, post-1870, to what it is today. In the present times FDI in China has been one of the major success stories. From $19 billion in 1990, FDI in China rose to over $1.2 trillion by the end of 2011. China thus became the leader among all developing nations. The report by the Secretary of Economic Affairs, Mr Arvind Mayaram, has chosen to go along with the already traversed path of moderation while only tinkering with the present policy. In its place a bold vision in the shape of a new policy could have been on the table of the Cabinet. While appointing the panel, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram did raise hopes of the business community for a paradigm change in thinking and execution. While he must have expected much more from the panel, his hopes have sadly been belied. Three sectors that critically need to be opened up not only to private capital but also to foreign investors are nuclear power, the Railways and real estate. India opened up with a big ambition to have nuclear energy when the civil nuclear deal was entered into. While foreign companies are supplying nuclear power equipment, they can bring in capital and R & D, besides maintaining nuclear units with utmost efficiency and safety to avoid any disaster. Similarly, the Railways, which is a monopoly of the government needs to be opened up for optimising the capacity utilisation of railway lines, wagon and passenger coaches with foreign capital and modern technology. It will help us reduce not only tariffs on goods and passenger fares, it will also drastically reduce goods traffic by road (70-80% of the total goods) to somewhat come in line with developed countries (20-25%), thus bringing down fuel consumption by one-fourth and save a huge foreign exchange outgo on oil. Limited and partial privatisation of the Railways is being attempted through the PPP model. About 350 projects worth Rs. 2 lakh crore have been pending for more than a decade. One can argue the same way the advantages of FDI in real estate as India is urbanising very rapidly. However, one may not permit FDI in other sectors like gambling, chit fund and casinos. As India is competing with the emerging economies in the world for investment like China, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, we also have to re-tailor our tax policies and come up with creative ideas. The capital gains tax has to be aligned with other countries. Taxation on the corporate sector also needs to fall in line with the Asian countries' average. The Standing Committee on Defence in its latest report has recommended that defence production should be opened to FDI limiting it to 49%. This recommendation has been adopted despite opposition from the Department of the Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence. Indian parliamentarians on the committee did not go along with this view as such a restriction has already harmed the national interest by providing a strong monopoly to the public sector units. In the last 62 years a complete ban has existed on FDI in defence production. Where has this led us in terms of domestic manufacturing as India still imports 75% of its defence requirements. We have become more dependent and vulnerable on foreign suppliers as they can exercise any sanctions of not supplying us any defence equipment as it happened when the NDA Government undertook a nuclear explosion. India unfortunately is the third largest buyer of defence equipment in the world, importing 75 per cent of its requirements. Further, since the R & D Department does not have enough resources to develop new expertise in this sector, the present technology is fast becoming obsolete. Only a combination of cutting-edge technology in defence manufacturing coupled with an economic might can push India into the league of superpowers. If one dwells further on this and start thinking logically, once foreign companies establish their units here, it will not only give India an advantage of having huge financial investment that increases national output but also enhanced R & D facilities shared with Indians. Products from these units are potentially exported to the outside world, thus creating enormous employment opportunities in the country. One need not be unduly apprehensive of abstract and illusory fears. Presently this sector is still not opened to the private sector on the assumption that such partners would indulge in passing secrets to enemies of this country. Such imaginary security concerns that only halt our march to greatness should not be allowed to tie the hands of Indian policymakers. They need to be free from such bondage of the past and allow themselves to have the freedom to think outside the box. Effectively the policy space available today must be availed of unhesitatingly, wholeheartedly and confidently. For there is no tomorrow.n
The writer is a former Minister of Finance, Punjab
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The trip to Bandipore HE was a strikingly handsome man and yet, after your first meeting with him, it was not his looks you took away with you but his kindliness. There was kindness in those soft brown eyes, there was kindness in the warmth of his smile, and he smiled often, and there was kindness in the timbre of his voice. Our class warmed to him from his very first lecture and this feeling grew stronger with each passing day. He would notice when one of us was out of sorts and find both the place and the time to talk to us and offer advice and comfort. If we missed class for more than three or four days, he would come home to find out if all was well. We turned to him with all our problems. He was our counsellor. Srinagar was a small place then, no matter where you went, you were likely to bump into people you knew. I would bump into Manzur Sahib often: in shops on Lambert Lane, the Residency Road, the bank, the post office and at Ahdoos and each meeting left me better informed about Kashmir and things Kashmiri. On Saturday afternoons we would often meet at the bus terminus, he to catch a bus to his home town Bandipore, I to catch a bus to visit one of my numerous friends. “Come to Bandipore,” he would say and I would promise to visit him. I never did. The years took us away from each other and then almost half a century later, through the accident of working for the same paper that his son wrote for, I found him again. When I rang him up it took a while for him to remember me, but he finally did. I spoke to him, once in a while. He did not keep too well and yet almost all our conversations ended with him saying: “Come to Bandipore” and my promising that Then work took me to Srinagar and when I reached, I called Ehsan, his son, to ask how long it would take me to reach Bandipore. “It is 57 kilometres but the road is not too good and it will take almost two hours.” There was a long pause. “But it may not be worth your coming. Manzur Sahib passed away last night”. I knew I had to go and the next day I made the trip. I saw but did not respond to the spectacular beauty of the Manasbal and the Wullar lakes, because all that was in my heart and mind were his oft repeated words: “Come to Bandipore”. In spite of the fact that he was gone, I am glad I made that trip to Bandipore. I met his sons and in my visit they saw how deep an impression their father had left on his students' minds, an impression that had weathered the ravages of both time and distance. He had made a difference — a great
difference.
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Bold and brutal THE innocuous title tells you little…But the film that delves into the dark and seamier side of life, has not been so named just like that. BA Pass comes loaded with many meanings. The obvious being what indeed can a BA pass do or hope to achieve in a country rife with unemployment? And where exactly can the lead protagonist, Mukesh (Shadab Kamal) who is yet to complete that degree, too go?
Hidden allusion of course is graduating into the lustful realm of adults where sex comes in many shapes, sizes and price tags to boot. So here he is drawn into the sordid world of sex, of dissatisfied housewives where one such married woman Sarika (Shilpa Shukla) leads him and prepares him to satiate a whole lot of them like her. As the film bares the sinful world of flesh, of a male gigolo and more, it tells the tale of this young orphan boy and his initiation as well as conversion into the grey zone of prostitution. Based on a short story The Railway Aunty by Mohan Sikka where the film scores straightaway is it doesn't flesh out any extra flab. Actually it doesn't bite more than it can chew. Instead, it focuses singularly on the predicament and the vulnerabilities of the lead character as it traces the descent of inhibited young boy into moral turpitude. Where it also scores is though it has its fair share of bold, somewhat explicit love making scenes, it stops short of titillation. Simultaneously while raking a hideous issue it doesn't evoke revulsion only introduces you to the horror of all that exists in the underbelly of big cities, in this case Delhi. Undeniably, it's a saga of murky happenings but is anything but sleazy. On the flip side of course Sarika's character, otherwise shown in varying degrees of undress, is never fully revealed.... but then that too lends the tale a mystique making it a story well told.
But if you can be comfortable with its many disconcerting moments (and we are not just talking of the erotic quotient) go for the film that has already completed its round of festival circuit and even won the Best Film award at Osian's Cinefan Festival. Clocking much less than two hours with credible performances as Adab brings the right degree of vulnerability and desperation to his character and Shukla just the hint of sexual madness and inscrutable ruthless… chances are it will have all your attention. Only remember it's not everybody's cup of tea and coming as it does with an adult certificate certainly not a family entertainer.
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God save us!
It’s a wedding drama of the Hum Aap Ke Hain Koun variety but without the sass, sweetness or music that made the Rajshri film an all-time winner at the box-office. This film directed by Amrit Sagar (Sagar Brothers of 1971fame) has a central conceit that is tasteless, confounding and denigrating to the fairer sex. Women are shown to be dumb and willing for anything that men throw at them. So even ageing geriatrics with one foot in the grave are shown cavorting with young maidens while keeping their wives clueless. In order to live a happily married life one must cheat on one's wife and make her feel guilty for suspecting is the basic ideology behind this enterprise. When the wife (Susmita Mukherjee) of one of the uncles' (Paresh Rawal) sees her husband cuddling or in bed with a Pretty Young Thing (PYT), the tables are turned on her and she is made to think of herself as suffering from a mental illness. She is even given psychotropic pills for the same. Contrived plotting, a narrative more suited to the idiot-box, unappealing song and dance routines, unenergetic performances make this attempted comedy a little too dull and uninteresting to warrant a visit to the cinemas.
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Stay away from
these Smurfs Fortunately I missed the original Smurfs but those who did see it were none too happy about it. This one The Smurfs 2 in 3D is really pathetic. The most repulsive of them is Hank Azaria, who plays the villain Gargamel, a balding ugly man who reminds one of James Coco. And he's after little cute Smurfette (voice of Katy Perry) to reveal her magic formula, claiming to be her dad. Papa Smurf is her actual dad and she has a cartload of brothers. But there is also a family of real folks like Pat (Neil Patrick Harris) and Grace Winslow (Jayma Mays) and Pat's step-dad Victor (Brendan Gleeson), who has the misfortune of being turned into a duck. Smurfette feels alienated and Pat and Grace do their best to help. But the film covers an unduly vast canvass and the first half is downright dull. If one stays on after the intermission it improves only marginally. The script is banal with "holy smurfs" and other smurf adaptations repeated like a river in spate.
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In the right spirit Linda Blair attained star status for her performance as the possessed girl in The Exorcist in the late 1960s. But in The Conjuring the newest scary movie on the subject Ms Blair's adventures seem like Sunday school stuff. Yet, for all the newest FX they do not ring really through, "Less is more" should be the guiding principle.
As usual Hollywood picks on a true life story of a family of seven living in Hansville, Rhode Island but uses creative license in recounting the havoc wreaked by the spirit. Director James Wan begins promisingly as he zeroes in on the evil spirit and it starts with a weird-looking doll in the basement but the script adds that "spirits don't possess objects, they possess people."
The screenplay by the Hayes brothers is at best mediocre with the narrative beating around the bush instead of making headway which leaves the audience groping in the dark and speaking about the dark there are enough of such scenes aptly captured by cameraman John Leonetti but may be horror film aficionados will not mind these glitches. There's not much of this genre these days. Recommended essentially for those fans.
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Movies on TV
Rowdy Rathore SET MAX 9:00PM Rowdy Rathore is an action comedy film directed by Prabhu Deva and produced by Rajat Rawail, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Ronnie Screwvala. It features Akshay Kumar in double roles opposite Sonakshi Sinha and Paresh Ganatra, Yashpal Sharma, Gurdeep Kohli in supporting roles with Tamil actor Nassar as antagonist. ZEE CINEMA 7:58AM Loha 11:01AM Sher- E- Hindustan : Warrior 2:07PM Return of Chandramukhi 3 5:16PM Ram Lakhan 9:00PM Abcd: Any Body Can Dance INDIA TALKIES 9:30AM Desi Boyz 1:00PM Mother India 4:30PM Vaada Raha... I Promise 8:00PM Aap Ke Deewane ZEE STUDIO 8:00AM The Haunted Mansion 9:55AM Shanghai Knights 1:00PM The Mummy Returns 4:00PM Mission to Mars 6:15PM Mr. Magoo 8:05PM I Am Number Four 10:30PM The Waterboy STAR MOVIES 8:00AM Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End 11:09AM The Front Row with Anupama Chopra 11:39AM Brave 1:35PM King Kong 4:35PM The Bourne Legacy 6:47PM Ghost Rider 9:00PM Margin Call 11:13PM Kung Fu Hustle SET MAX 7:00AM Waqt Hamara Hai 10:30AM Vaastav: The Reality 2:00PM Haunted - 3D 5:30PM Dhoom 2 9:00PM Rowdy Rathore STAR GOLD 9:45AM Krishna 12:35PM Ek Tha Soldier 3:30PM Taqdeerwala 6:40PM Hero No. 1 9:00PM Mar Mitenge (2012) FILMY 9:00AM Sarkar 12:00PM Astitva 3:00PM Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya 6:00PM Raaj Tilak 9:00PM Zalzala ZEE ACTION 7:00AM Yeh Kaisi Hukumat 10:30AM Pukar 1:30PM The Gentleman 5:30PM Bhai: The Lion 8:30PM Baazigar SONY PIX 8:33AM Arthur Christmas 10:36AM The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D 12:28PM Hancock 2:14PM The Terminator 4:10PM Robocop 2 6:38PM Meet the Fockers 9:00PM Shrek 10:55PM Paranormal Activity 2 Gladiator STAR MOVIES 12:05PM Gladiator is a British-American epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed (in his final film role), Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays the fictional character, loyal Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when the emperor's ambitious son, Commodus, murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murder of his family and his emperor. ZEE CINEMA 7:55AM Chandni Chowk To China 11:14AM Chandramukhi ki Pratigya 2:04PM Nayak 5:29PM Players 9:00PM Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana INDIA TALKIES 9:30AM Aap Ke Deewane 1:00PM Heyy Babyy 4:30PM Dhadkan 8:00PM Partner ZEE STUDIO 8:00AM Shanghai Knights 10:30AM The Waterboy 12:30PM TV Products 1:00PM National Treasure 3:30PM I Am Number Four 5:45PM Robin Hood 8:30PM Hostel 10:30PM Bedtime Stories STAR MOVIES 7:28AM Margin Call 9:45AM Just Go with It 12:05PM Gladiator (2000) 2:34PM Kung Fu Hustle 4:41PM Terminator Salvation 6:59PM Tangled (2011) 9:00PM Hellboy II: The Golden Army 11:20PM Land of the Lost SET MAX 2:00PM Dhoom 5:30PM Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi 9:00PM Sooryavansham STAR GOLD 6:10AM Batwara 10:10AM Kaalo 12:00PM Tees Maar Khan 2:55PM Bandhan 5:55PM Ek Aur Ek Gyarah: By Hook or by Crook 9:00PM Son of Sardaar FILMY 9:00AM Abhimaan 12:00PM Rangeela 3:00PM Dil Maange More 6:00PM Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam 9:00PM No Entry ZEE ACTION 7:00AM Eena Meena Deeka 10:30AM Ek Joshila 1:30PM Ganga Tere Desh Mein 5:30PM Aaj Ka Goonda Raj 8:30PM Dalaal
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In fact, the fait accompli of its protagonists sets the tone of the tragedy in the offing… yet there is no unwanted rona dhona, no overt sympathy for the characters. No this film will not offer you your catharsis in the movie hall… nor raise your goosebumps even when it portrays the brutal shades of human nature. However, it is likely to trail and haunt you once you are outside it. Gripping, albeit not scathing, searing and not dazzling, here is a slice of unsettling reality we would rather not hear or talk about.
As for the dulha's (Akash Chopra) philandering cousin (Arshad Warsi), it appears that his one ambition in life is to teach his younger cousin the tricks to wedded bliss, ones that have stood him in good stead so far. The dulha, who is initially unwilling, conveniently falls in with his brother's plans and finds himself floundering in deep water. The narrative tries to redress the imbalance by involving a Tauji (Raj Babbar in impervious style) to teach the young man that bhaichara/ brotherhood' is a pit that most married men fall prey to. But the lesson may have come too late. 
Director Raja Gosnell tries to mix real folks with animation figures so we have variety but it surely isn't the spice of life.
And the Perron family has them in large numbers, Roger (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn (Lili Palmer) and their five girls between the ages of eight and eighteen. Enter Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga), experts in this exorcism field and their assistant Drew (Shanon Cook) with their electronic equipment to monitor the spirit and we have a full house.
