cogitoergosum
2010-06-01 22:26:48 UTC
Governance is Good, Covenant is Better: Sid Harth
http://navanavonmilita.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/governance-is-good-covenant-is-better-sid-harth/
BJP meet on 'good governance' next week
TNN, Jun 1, 2010, 03.49am IST
Tags:Narendra Modi|BJP|Nitin gadkari
NEW DELHI: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will give the keynote
address at a BJP stock-taking meeting to be held near Mumbai next
week.
"Named `Suraj-Sankalp' (commitment to good governance), the conference
will focus on review of some very noteworthy and innovative welfare or
development initiatives (taken in the BJP-ruled states)," former Goa
CM Manohar Parrikar said here on Monday.
Asked why Modi was chosen for delivering the keynote address, Parrikar
said the decision was taken keeping his "good" track-record of
governance in mind as well as the fact that he is the "senior most"
BJP chief minister.
Parikkar has been made in-charge of the conclave which will be
inaugurated by BJP chief Nitin Gadkari.
"This is a conference and not a workshop. The good deeds of everyone
will be discussed there... Slips will be discussed too but weaknesses
will not be made public," Parikkar said, when asked how the convention
was planned.
A report card on good governance of the BJP chief ministers and
accountability in their states will be prepared at the convention.
Parrikar argued that if performance in any aspect was bad, it did not
mean the party should not aspire for good governance. BJP is in power
in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal
Pradesh and Karnataka. The party is a junior partner in Bihar and
Punjab.
"Issues like meeting the millennium development goals in education,
employment, health, agriculture, rural development, panchayats and
urban infrastructure will also be discussed," Parrikar said.
Other issues to be discussed include implementation of the party
manifesto, coordination between party organisation and government as
well as keeping alive the link with party's support base.
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha will present a `charter on good
governance'. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj will
speak on relationship between the ruling party and the opposition
while her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley will dwell on
administration and management issues.
BJP Parliamentary Party chairman L K Advani will deliver the
valedictory address.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/BJP-meet-on-good-governance-next-week-/articleshow/5995871.cms
UPA 2 report card: Climate change measures highlight of UPA report on
environment
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 09.05pm IST
Tags:UPA|environment|Climate|report card
NEW DELHI: Launch of National Action Plan on Climate Change, the
passage of a bill for early disposal of environmental cases and
unlocking of Rs 9,900 crore green fund lying unused for last several
years, were the highlights of the UPA government mentioned in its
annual report card.
The "Report to the People" released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
on the environment sector talks about the eight missions of the NAPCC
of which solar mission has already been launched.
Three others namely Himalayan Ecosystem, Strategic Knowledge on
Climate Change and Enhanced Energy Efficiency have already been
approved "in principle".
"The Jawahar Nehru National Solar Mission has set an ambitious target
of creating a capacity of 20000 MW grid solar power, 2000 MW off-grid
solar applications and 20 million square metre of solar thermal
collectors by the year 2022," says the report.
One of the objectives is to reduce cost of solar power so that grid
parity can be reached by the end of the mission period it says adding
that the first phase is expected spur development of indigenous solar
manufacturing and technology.
The report said that to operationalise the National Mission for
Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEE), a joint venture company has been
set up with equity investment of Rs 190 crore by four public sector
units.
State governments have also been asked to prepare state-level action
plan on climate change to deal the issue at the domestic level.
On the green fund, it said, states have been asked to set up panels on
Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management & Planning Authorities
(CAMPA) for enabling release of 10 per cent of the Rs 9,900 crores for
the next five years.
One of the major achievement on the green front was the passage of the
National Green Tribunal Bill, 2009, providing for establishment of a
tribunal for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to
environmental protection, conservation of forests and other natural
resources.
It would also ensure enforcement of legal rights relating to the
environment, and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons
and property, the report added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/UPA-2-report-card-Climate-change-measures-highlight-of-UPA-report-on-environment/articleshow/5999964.cms
UPA 2 report card: Naxalism will be dealt with firmly, prices
controlled
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 09.02pm IST
Tags:Manmohan Singh|UPA|Naxals|Maoists|report card
NEW DELHI: Presenting his government's report on completion of first
year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today vowed to fight terrorism
"root and branch" and enforce the writ of the State in dealing with
naxalism and political extremism.
He identified price rise as one of the major problems and said
necessary corrective steps would be taken to rein in inflation.
Making it clear that he was "conscious of the tremendous challenges"
lying ahead, he said the government will seek "new frontiers and new
directions" to strengthen social and economic foundations during the
remaining tenure of four years.
Singh referred to the various initiatives taken for economic growth,
social upliftment of people and empowerment of children in terms of
education and said such efforts would be taken further to provide an
"effective, purposeful and responsive" government.
'The Report to the People -- 2009-10', which was unveiled by Singh and
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi,
highlighted 12 major themes of the government's priority.
These cover areas like economic resurgence, internal security,
education, health, child rights, food security, empowerment of women,
weaker sections and minorities, rural renewal and foreign relations.
Speaking while releasing the 68-page report, he expressed his
government's determination to fight terrorism "root and branch" and
deal with naxalism "firmly" while addressing developmental issues.
He also asserted that the government would fight the scourge of
communalism and "political extremism".
"We will ensure that this great, liberal and plural nation of ours is
not weakened by hatred and bigotry," he Singh asserted.
He said "one of the major problems that we face at present is the
pressure on prices" which he attributed to the large extent to the
aftermath of the drought.
"But it needs firm action. We have taken a number of steps to contain
inflation and to protect the vulnerable sections of our society," he
said.
"I am happy that prices have shown a moderating trend in recent weeks.
I am hopeful that this trend will continue. We will continue to
monitor the situation very carefully, and take whatever corrective
steps are necessary to rein in inflation," Singh said.
Readers' opinions (4)
Sandy CA 01/06/2010 at 10:37 pm
We need to tag Naxals are terrorists and start dealing with the issues
right away.
Agree (1)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (1)
Raj India 01/06/2010 at 10:35 pm
Do not expect much from these statements. These are just to fool the
public. If goverment wanted to take the tough actions against the
nexals, it would have been taken by now. Mr. PM is good in making
statements but for actions he is nil..Nexals have continued their
crimes but our government has been making statements only..
Agree (1)
Recommend (1)
Rupert Canada 01/06/2010 at 10:12 pm
It is high time, the government declares full fledged war on the
terrorists naxals. At the same time, there are another kind of
terrorists, the greedy babus, MP's and Ministors who are economic
terrorists, who take bribes and other frauds and amass wealth. The
government should be on war footing with these elements, and
confiscate their illgotten wealth, and distribute it among the poorest
of the poor. This would solve the naxal problem to a great extent.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/UPA-2-report-card-Naxalism-will-be-dealt-with-firmly-prices-controlled/articleshow/5999951.cms
UPA 2 report card: Govt committed to enacting food security Act
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 08.58pm IST
Tags:Manmohan Singh|UPA|report card
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the Food Security
Law — promised by the Congress in its election manifesto — is under
formulation and a draft would be released for public debate.
Singh, however, did not give any timeframe for enactment of the law to
provide cheap food to the poor.
"The Food Security Bill is under preparation and it is proposed to
place it (draft) in the public domain for scrutiny and wider
consultation," the Prime Minister said.
Under the proposed Bill, the government intends to provide 25 kg of
rice or wheat at Rs 3 a kg to people below poverty line (BPL). A Group
of Ministers is working out the details to make it another flagship
programme of the UPA after the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Consultations have been held on the proposed Bill with states and
union territories and other stakeholders.
Singh also said that the UPA government is committed to giving
priority to the agriculture sector. "Agriculture and the well being of
India's farmers will receive priority attention."
Highlighting the achievements, the report card of the first year of
the UPA government said, "The nation faced a severe drought in 2009.
The government approved assistance amounting to Rs 4,806 crore from
the National Calamity Contingency Fund to help mitigate the effects of
the drought".
Almost half of the country was affected by last year's drought— the
worst since 1972 — resulting into a massive production loss of
foodgrains, which dipped to 218.19 million tonnes in 2009-10 from
234.47 million tonnes a year-ago.
"Various measures were taken to deal with the (drought)
situation...The impact of drought on crop production was mitigated,"
the report said.
Introduction of nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) policy for all
fertilisers other than urea and cheap farm credit were other major
highlights of last year. NBS aims to balance use of fertiliser and
ensuring soil health.
During April 2009 to January 2010 period, farm credit worth Rs 2.66
lakh crore was disbursed. The target for the entire last fiscal was Rs
3.25 lakh crore.
The government said it provided additional one per cent subvention to
those farmers who repay their loan on time in the last fiscal. The
effective rate was six per cent for them.
The report said that Rs 3,761.43 crore were released during 2009-10
under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.
"Due to interventions under the National Horticulture Mission,
production of fruits, vegetables and spices has increased by 25.6 per
cent, 22 per cent and 11.9 per cent respectively during 2009-10 over
2005-06," it said.
Readers' opinions (2)
pawan bhiwani 01/06/2010 at 11:07 pm
i want to know that on one side govt is starting new schemes for sc
st's but on hte other hand there mishups like mirchpur are taking
place .Not even after the protecion sc family's are thritten by jaat
communities to take there case back .So i want to know from govt that
how can a man servive in this kind of society
raminder Newdelhi 01/06/2010 at 09:26 pm
The Congress has remained in the power for most of the years in post
independence era and is responsible for the awesome position of the
PDS system. When the system is there for so many years and the
position of the food grains has remained far above satisfactory in so
many year and country is progressive why the PDS is failed lot.Why
there is need to such act. The answer is simple the ways and means of
PDS were so poor that it became akin to corrupt practices of the
officials and vendors involved in it. There were no stringent laws and
so many loopholes were left for making money out of it. Why big houses
do not come forward and take the PDS system in their hand when there
is no dearth of capital/ market
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UPA-2-report-card-Govt-committed-to-enacting-food-security-Act/articleshow/5999937.cms
UPA 2 report card: Sustained improvement in disease control programmes
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 08.42pm IST
Tags:UPA|health|disease control programmes
NEW DELHI: Sustained improvement in disease control programmes,
specially tuberculosis, and perceptible improvement in rural health
care are the highlights of the UPA-II's report card in the health
sector.
In the 'Report to the People' released here today by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, the government said, during 2009-10, more than 36,000
village health and sanitation committees were set up, over 1,300
facility-based Rogi Kalyan Samitis were formed and over 53,000
accredited social health activists (ASHAs) were selected and trained.
Apart from this, more than 20,000 doctors and paramedical personnel
were added to the public health system.
Over 4,984 new health sub-centre buildings, 254 primary health centre
(PHC) buildings and 102 community health centre (CHC) buildings were
completed, 3,246 sub-centre buildings, 732 PHC buildings, 264 CHC
buildings and 28 district hospital buildings were upgraded or
renovated.
The report said all disease control programmes have shown sustained
improvement, adding, there was reduction in mortality due to malaria,
kala-azar and dengue, as well as reduction in the incidence of
filarial infection.
Regarding tuberculosis, a cure rate of 87 per cent has been
maintained, while the case detection rate has increased from 70 per
cent in 2007 to 72 per cent in 2009, it said.
The document mentions the scheme for augmenting nursing personnel by
setting up 269 new auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) and general nurse
midwife (GNM) schools in backward and under-served districts of the
country, which has been started at a cost of around Rs 2,000 crore.
This will create additional capacity of 16,000 trained nurses
annually, it said.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), work orders
have been issued for the medical college complex for six AIIMS-like
institutions, taken up under the first phase, the report said.
For promoting alternate systems of medicine, a modified scheme for
mainstreaming of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy has
been sanctioned and is under implementation at a total cost of Rs 675
crore.
As part of this mainstreaming activity, 2,368 doctors and 2,184 AYUSH
paramedic staff were appointed during 2009-10.
The government says in the report that the H1N1 pandemic was also
managed effectively.
More than one crore in-bound passengers were screened at international
airports, new laboratories for testing H1N1 cases were established,
the drug Oseltamivir was supplied to state governments free of cost,
and vaccines were imported and supplied to state governments for
vaccinating health workers, it said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UPA-2-report-card-Sustained-improvement-in-disease-control-programmes/articleshow/5999853.cms
UPA 2 report card: Rs 36,000 cr for basic services to urban poor,
slums
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 08.21pm IST
Tags:Manmohan Singh|Rural Development|UPA|Poverty|poor|report
card
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said his government
will invest Rs 36,000 crore in programmes for providing basic services
to urban poor and development of slums.
In the annual report card of his government's performance, Singh said,
"Of the projects sanctioned under the JNNURM so far, an investment of
around Rs 36,000 crore is devoted to the programmes for basic services
to urban poor and development of slums."
The UPA-II aims to make the country slum-free in the next five years
under the Rajiv Awas Yojana for slum dwellers.
"Construction of around 1.5 million houses for the poor and slum
dwellers has been approved," the report card states.
Under RAY, affordable housing would be provided to the urban poor and
they would be given property rights as well.
Readers' opinions (4)
Shekhar new york 01/06/2010 at 10:30 pm
why is that every government project is named after RAjiv or Indira or
Nehru?
Agree (1)
Disagree (1)
Basab Roy Durgapur 01/06/2010 at 09:54 pm
The UPA2 Report Card has detailed the achievements recorded from the
date it has resume its duty after taking Oath. The achievments are
more or less satisfactory, and it is hoped that the UPA2 will achieve
better results. Curiously it has not highlighted the Constraints it
faced during the period. In addition to Maoists problem, it would be
better should it record the absence of 'Joint responsibilities'
noticed among the Ministers and the proposed remedial action to be
taken by UPA2. The Media was kind enough to bring all those
constraints in public. So, hiding the fact doesnot increase the
'Confidence Level' among the Citizens.
Agree (1)
Dhruv Dahiya Northern Ireland 01/06/2010 at 09:27 pm
Slum-free within the next 5 years?
Shanthver PUne 01/06/2010 at 09:15 pm
There are still somany jobless people . I don't understand why PM is
giving false statements . Let him provide full details of employement
and How 36000cr gone wasted.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UPA-2-report-card-Rs-36000-cr-for-basic-services-to-urban-poor-slums/articleshow/5999779.cms
UPA 2 report card: School facilities expanding rapidly
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 08.18pm IST
Tags:Manmohan Singh|UPA|Education|schools|report card
NEW DELHI: Expanding educational facilities to children, the UPA
government has opened nearly 20,000 elementary schools across the
country after it came to power last May.
According to a report card, released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
today, 19,247 primary and upper primary schools have been opened in
2009-10 till December end.
These facilities include 7,400 primary schools and 11,847 upper
primary schools. Over 35,000 teachers have been appointed in this
period and 9,708 additional classrooms constructed.
Similarly, 26.62 lakh teachers have been provided in-service training
and 9.54 crore children given textbooks, the report said.
Government has launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan with the
objective of improving access to secondary education. Clearance has
been given for setting up of 2,478 new schools and improving 6,998
existing schools under the scheme, it said.
These initiatives assume significance in view of the enactment of the
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, which makes
education the fundamental right of every child. The Act came to effect
from April one this year.
To promote girls' education, government has started a scheme for the
establishment and management separate hostels for them in the
educationally backward blocks. During 2009-10, approval has been given
to set up 379 such hostels in 11 states.
Similarly, in higher education, the government has embarked upon a
number of initiatives like setting up of 16 central universities, six
IIMs, two IITs and ten NITs.
The IIMs will be set up at Rohtak, Raipur, Ranchi, Tiruchirapalli,
Kashipur and Udaipur.
Comments (15)
True Indian India 01 Jun, 2010 11:30 PM
Does these include the number of schools destroyed by Moists as
well :)Agree (1)
Recommend (1)
kalyan hyderabad 01 Jun, 2010 10:57 PMYes it should not be on papers
the schools should perfectly run by themAgree (1)
Recommend (1)
Vijay Muscat 01 Jun, 2010 10:53 PM
All these cannot be said an achievement. 1/3 rd of the people below
poverty in the world is in India. Maoists are gunning down the
innocents as well as Jawans. Terrorists are entering into our country
and storming hotels like Oberoi, Taj etc. So what security is for the
citizens. So what for this Government. Sad performance of Job. People
loose confidence in our present system. In nutshell the system will
collapse. AnarchyAgree (1)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (1)
Mr.D Bangkok 01 Jun, 2010 10:43 PM
A minor step to lead in better way. We need much more than this.
Anyway, thank you.Agree (1)
Disagree (1)
MumbaiBoy Atlanta 01 Jun, 2010 10:40 PM
Alongwith Report card the PM should publish all details as to where
these schools are opened, what are the school names, so that people
can scrutinize these claimsAgree (1)
Recommend (1)
Rohan Mumbai 01 Jun, 2010 10:22 PM
I hope this number is not only on papers, but are implemented on
groundAgree (1)
Recommend (1)
Sham Central America 01 Jun, 2010 10:18 PM
what a great deal? India should have taken all these initiatives at
the time of independence itself. Time for congress to correct its
mistakes and give what is due to its citizen and what they were denied
because of congress's elitist policies.Agree (1)
Disagree (1)
INDIAN INDIA 01 Jun, 2010 10:08 PM
CONGRESS HAS CHANCE TO BECOME NO.1 PARTY. BUT FIRST CONGRESS SHOULD
FULFILL ALL HER POLL PROMISES. THEN CONGRESS WILL WIN IN MAJORITY AND
WILL BECOME NO.1 NATIONAL PARTY. "RIGHT TO EDUCATION"Agree (0)
Indian India 01 Jun, 2010 10:48 PM
Not sure if my response is going to be live, but i am trying -Agree
(0)
Adnan Bangalore 01 Jun, 2010 09:56 PM
this interesting news..but only if the report card is true
vishu muscat 01 Jun, 2010 09:52 PM
Can we have the list / details of the 20,000 new schools opened by
UPA...!!! How many teachers are employed and from where they came
from..? Are they fit to teach the children....? Is it a joke...!!!!
1Agree (1)
Recommend (1)
Ram USA 01 Jun, 2010 09:46 PM
increasing number of educational institutes is highly appreciated
howeverAgree (0)
Praveen Canada 01 Jun, 2010 09:42 PM
Thats a wonderful report. And mind it, it is not an expenditure, its
an investment. Give them education, make them good citizens and its
the right apporach rather than gifting them jobs under reservation.
Along with offer them free books, stationery, uniform, food and extra
coaching. Sooner than later, you will find India jumping by bounds.
Hats off.Agree (0)
BIJOY ASSAM 01 Jun, 2010 09:30 PM
UPA should also let us know how many innocent lives were lost due to
Nuxal and Jihadi terror attacks during their tenure. Both sides of a
coin make a real coin and before blowing their trumpet we the UPA
should answer these questions.Agree (1)
Desai USA 01 Jun, 2010 09:13 PM
On paper?
UPA govt report card is propaganda, not reality: BJP
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 08.50pm IST
Tags:Manmohan Singh|UPA|report card
NEW DELHI: BJP today dismissed as propaganda the UPA government's
report card and said the Centre has failed to check prices, is
confused on how to fight Maoists, has corrupt and irresponsible
ministers and lacks an independent foreign policy.
"I think it is important for a government to be judged by the people
rather than judge itself. What has been released today is propaganda,
not a reality," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley
said.
The senior BJP leader alleged that the UPA regime had failed on all
fronts.
"The reality is that prices have remained unchecked, there is
confusion on how to fight Maoists, corruption of some ministers is
going unchecked, there is irresponsible ministerial behaviour, and
there is absence of pursuit of an independent foreign policy," Jaitley
said.
The senior BJP leader labelled the UPA regime as an "incoherent and
non-performing government".
Readers' opinions (2)
Sandy CA 01/06/2010 at 10:34 pm
I agree with Prashant. It is so easy to finger point at your
opposition. Corruption and inefficiency is another side of any
government even in the most developed economies. It exists everywhere.
However, I am pretty impressed with the UPA report card so far. If BJP
is jealous of this they can start a healthy competition by really
doing something positive and please for god's sake forget Hinduism.
We, Indians have gone past that era long back!!!
Agree (1)
Recommend (1)
prashant india 01/06/2010 at 10:03 pm
the govt is doing a fine job in trying to bringing transparency, by
coming in front of public on its own with the report card which deals
with development issues and not the non issues like caste, religion
etc which are the staple diet of BJP.. as for being judged by the
people, the people have judged exactly one year ago and the result is
known as much to Mr arun Jaitley as to any one else in the country..
as far as maoist issues are concerned... its agreed that shivraj patil
was an impotent home minister and even advani who was home minister
before him didnt do any good, they just turned a blind eye to the
issue,, however Mr Chitambaram has taken the bull by the horn and the
disturbance you see are the result of that.. but i m sure he is taking
steps in right directions and not being an impotent home minister like
patil and advani( so much for being the lauhpurush)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UPA-govt-report-card-is-propaganda-not-reality-BJP/articleshow/5999901.cms
UPA2 has a bad case of teen acne
M J Akbar, 04 April 2010, 01:52 AM IST
2010 is still in its adolescent phase: is that the reason for a sudden
rash of acne on the government’s face? Nothing serious, nothing
incurable; just a sense that life would be so much better without the
itch and cream-resistant spots. In January, the government looked
invulnerable. March became a month of stumbles and at least one spill
on a banana skin.
Stepping carefully into April, Dr Manmohan Singh spoke to the nation
on the undeniable virtues of compulsory education, a commitment that
is possibly six decades overdue but welcome nevertheless. His
sincerity was apparent (he is a professor, after all) but one wonders
why his speechwriters are chained to trite phrases, impervious to the
magic of change, possibility and new ideas. Think about it: the
mobile phone can become the latest driver of literacy. Aspiration as
much as need is taking the mobile to villages. Its functions include
SMS, which requires literacy. Technology and its relationship to the
market can be so easily harnessed into a vision of upliftment.
Did this speech also have something to do with the sudden reassertion
of Mrs Sonia Gandhi into governance space?
Mrs Gandhi has been the architect of two general election victories;
her role as party chief and silent front-bench MP was incompatible
with her real status. During UPA1, she used the National Advisory
Council (NAC) as the parent of social policy, with government as its
nurse. Implicit was the unmentioned recognition of Dr Singh as an
apolitical Prime Minister who needed support systems from the
political class. Egos can get easily ruffled in such a balance of
power, but one of Dr Singh’s remarkable characteristics is the ability
to keep his ego so effectively disguised that no one is totally sure
if he has one.
Dr Singh’s ego is still heavily veiled, despite the fact that the
lottery winner of UPA1 has evolved into the unquestioned Prime
Minister of UPA2. But his government has been prone to problems and
drift. Oddly, while Dr Singh is more assertive with bureaucrats, he
has become meeker towards politicians. Hands-on and hands-off are
calibrated very carefully in the capital. NAC2 does not strengthen Mrs
Gandhi because no one questioned her power before she revived it. It
does, however, weaken the UPA2 Prime Minister, who should not need
support systems after six years in office. Perception is an important
element of power, since reality is opaque. Delhi reads body language
far more astutely than any script. The Prime Minister has complained
about empty chairs at Cabinet meetings. This is not because missing
Cabinet ministers are busy serving the nation with their last drop of
blood. They simply do not care.
Would they have been absent from a Sonia Gandhi Cabinet meeting?
Dr Singh has been bled by the fact that three initiatives identified
with him -- Indo-US relations, peace with Pakistan, and economic
reform -- have stalled. Pakistan has snubbed India on terrorism and
laughed its way to American and Chinese banks and arsenals. Obama gave
dinner to Dr Singh and strategic partnership to General Kayani. China
has offered advice to Delhi and two nuclear plants, with 82%
financing, to Islamabad, even as it tries to pick up the Iranian gas
project and turns it north via Pakistan with a $2.5 billion
investment. Dr Singh stalled the Iran-Pak-India gas pipeline to
appease Washington; Pakistan has no such fears.
For five years Dr Singh accused the Left of sabotaging economic
reforms. Well, the Left has sabotaged itself; where are the reforms?
The Congress, necessarily sensitive to public opinion, has launched a
guerrilla war against the government’s civilian nuclear liability
bill, currently trapped between a rock called Parliament and a hard
place called the American nuclear industry. A resurrected NAC confirms
the distance between party, which has to win elections, and
government, which has to run the country. Its members, personally
chosen by Mrs Gandhi, will function as a virtual politburo, setting a
populist agenda and challenging the executive to find the resources,
management skills and delivery systems for implementation.
Is it too early for Mrs Gandhi to worry about an election scheduled
for 2014? She is clearly trying to bridge the gap between confidence
and overconfidence. The women’s bill strengthened the party but
weakened the government. Lalu Prasad, expert at mordant similes, notes
that it takes only four people to carry a corpse to the burning ghat
and he has four MPs. The government is not in danger, merely hobbled
by an uncertainty that will be exploited by the Opposition during
every Parliament session. It is never too early to worry.
The banana skin was the spat with Amitabh Bachchan. The Congress
pontificated while people were laughing. When you have acne, you do
tend to get cross when a smile may be all that is necessary.
Comments:
Anant P Dehadrai says:
April 04,2010 at 06:34 AM IST
It's a pleasure reading your column.But disappointed by the fact that
there is no mention of increasing corruption which is really like
small-pox and not acne!Moreover, isn't it now crystal clear that the
real seat of power is 10 Janpath!!
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mannu says:
April 04,2010 at 07:46 AM IST
this is the very irony of our so called democratic political system
that even for a slightest of change for the betterment of the nation
requires nodding of all those who have no concerns for this nation .
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vibhaas says:
April 04,2010 at 09:48 AM IST
as usual a great article Essemtially Manmohan Singh has sort of being
impractical in dealings with US as well as pakistan. Being idealistic
rather than being smart. Pakistan has outsmarted India as it has
support of two superpowers on earth China as well as US. We have none
but empty words from US. So Manmohan singh needs to see US and westerm
world with the glasses of Indian interests rather than placating them
on all counts.
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Ashok Gupta says:
April 04,2010 at 10:31 AM IST
Dr.Manmohan Singh Govt. not only got snubbed by China and Pakistan but
USA also. This has so far proved to be a vey weak Govt. nationally and
internationally both.
Indo-US Nuclear deal (Bill) is just the half commitmemt by the US to
India. The bill is not fully takes care of India's interests. There
are number of clauses which goes against India's overall interests,
which are coming up one by one. Through this bill or agreement USA and
other Europian contries will try to make India as a Dumping ground for
Nuclear waiste, without any compensation to the hazards, this is going
to create for the common man.
Dr.Manmohan Singh hardy commands any respect from his cabinet
colleagues, that is why empty chairs during a Cabinet Meeting.
The only Cabinet Minister who respects Dr.Singh Is Our Home Minister
P.Chidambaran, becuse he believes in respecting the right Chair and is
the best in the team. He is one of the Best Home Minister we have
after may be three decades. He is the one who is taking the issues
concerning the Home Ministry like Naxalism/ Terrorism/Chins/Arunachal,
head-on.
Finally Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is a politician and he appointed Dr.Singh,
not because of any love for him but because Dr. Singh has no voice of
himself.
Her ultimate aim to bring Rahul Gandhi to this Chair and waiting - him
to attain a maturity to handle this chair.
The opposition is as on today is very weak. Netas like Lalu/ Mayawati/
Mulayam Singh etc has no national Interests. The only Nationalistc
Party BJP, in opposition is in shambles, because of internal
bickerings and lack of leadership.
Rest Later.
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rohitchandavarker says:
April 04,2010 at 10:37 AM IST
Mr Singh's weakest point happens to be madame's strongest,i.e.mass
base & appeal.This was the singular reason for Singh to be appointed
PM.He would never threaten the dynasty's hold over Govt &
country.Hence he is expendable,if need be.The dilemma faced by Singh
is the extent to which he can manoeuvre & guide his vision for the
country.Far sighted aims carry long gestation periods,something
unacceptable to politicians used to 5 year terms.The nuke deal is one
of them.The benefits will accrue over the longer term hence the
pusillanimity of the Cong.to support him.
The revival of NAC is a subtle hint to reiterate the preeminence of
madame to Singh.Also the NAC could play spoiler to Singh's agenda for
reform thereby making his position untenable in the months to
come.Singh's acid test will be the nuke liability bill,a necessary
precondition for full scale nuclear commerce to begin.It will be
interesting to watch closely madame's moves in this regard.Watch for
pointers from the sycophants for learning madame's thinking.The
bonhomie seems to be slowly eclipsed by real politik & the desire to
anoint Gandhi Jr,come 2014.If Singh is given a free hand,2014 could be
construed as a referendum on the performance of UPA2,specifically
Singh's, something madame is against, as this will preclude her son's
accession.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/TheSiegeWithin/entry/upa2-has-a-bad-case
India Political Spectrum Earns A ZeroPriyanka Bhardwaj, 28 May 2010,
11:52 AM IST
Judgments are being passed on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on
completion of a full year of United Progressive Alliance Part-II in
government.
As emphasized at the press conference, Manmohan left nobody in doubt
that Sonia Gandhi is the supreme leader, and the Congress continues to
be a Gandhi bastion, with Rahul too coming of his own.
The party is supreme.
UPA-I was a success of sorts and electoral rewards of a second tenure
were not without merit. But recessionary times demand a far better
innings.
First some words in favor of Singh. In a democracy that permits many
options Singh is no doubt an understated, rational and sane voice that
rises above the cacophony of rabble rousing, regressive and divisive
politics.
Navin Jindal is promoting a primitive practice; Mayawati is lost in a
world of statues and Ambedkar themed parks; Laloo Yadav and Mulayam
Singh Yadav shamelessly play the caste-card, with nothing to show for
progress; Prakash Karat and his band wagon maintain a historic
opposition to anything new that is introduced including a rabid
dislike for America; Raj Thackrey has carved his niche in xenophobia-
laced regional promotion; LK Advani cannot but be mistrusted for his
saffron ideology more so for endorsing the Gujarat communal riots.
The list can go on.
In such a state of mess, Singh stands out as a viable and sensible
option. On the flip side, the administration seems under no pressure
for proactive or positive performance and has slipped into
complacency.
Singh has infused a new momentum into Indo-Pak talks, Foreign Varsity
Bill and Nuclear Liability Bill, yet on the domestic front, there is
much left to be done.
There are issues of agrarian crisis, inflation, rampant corruption,
internal security threats from Maoists and vast implementation gaps
that require immediate re-dressal in sectors (especially social) like
education, health, power, infrastructure and provision of basic civic
amenities.
Commitments have remained verbal, without consensus and not achieved.
In fact the Manmohan self-report card does not enumerate any list of
deliverables.
Turning back to UPA-I regime the same party headed by the same person
strove hard to outshine the BJP, who in turn tried to make a mark
(atomic tests, Indo-Pak peace initiatives) under Vajpayee when they
first came to power.
UPA-I tried to push the mandate of the Common Minimum Program, while
trying not to be bullied by the Left. Thus, big ideas such as the Indo-
US Deal, National Rural Employment Guarantee Program, etc. were
pushed.
In UPA-I Singh the author of liberalization delivered 9 % growth.
Thus, much more was expected in the first year UPA II that has instead
slipped into retaining a status quo and saving the full tenure to
build an electoral plank of stability.
Unless new ideas (such as the Indo-US nuclear deal) are pushed
through, fingers will continue to be pointed at Manmohan, his party
and also to the political opposition that has failed miserably to
provide with any minimum threshold of competition to the ruling
combine.
The past year has largely been wasted on elitist politics and elitist
scams (IPL and 3G spectrum). Growth alone cannot suffice. Estimates of
5-6% of inflation by December, 8.5% of GDP in 2010-11 and 10% of
medium-term growth target have to move beyond “feel good” effects.
Singh has realized that all is not right, “I am the first person to
admit that we could have done more,” he said.
There is a need for course correction and a direct and sustained
attack on the problems of the majority population. The government
needs to be a strong regulator to enable massive and timely public-
private investments into relevant sectors such as power.
It may serve well for Singh to go back to his speech in budget of
1994-95 when he recited Victor Hugo: “No power on earth can stop an
idea whose time has come.”
India needs new ideas, not press conferences or interviews.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in Hourglass are the author's own.
Comments:
indiamight says:
May 28,2010 at 12:22 PM IST
ur a combination of brains and beauty i must say... keep it up...its a
jingle out there...
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Sharda Bhargav says:
May 28,2010 at 02:24 PM IST
Madam, with wavering partners, govt can't be said on stable planks. It
borrows crutches just to tread in safe existence. Effective
deliverables may not be expected so long as the govt remains in
neutral gear, may be till next election.
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Amit says:
May 28,2010 at 03:49 PM IST
It was 2G spectrum....
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Prof. Ramesh Sinha says:
May 28,2010 at 04:31 PM IST
Your present post portrays transparant but true picture of prime
minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his UPA II. Congrats for balanced and
benevolent observation, specially that of ONE YEAR OF UPA II. Couldn't
it be of more relevance, had your piece contained advisaries to
challenges before the UPA II like price rise, food economy,
corruption, caste war, naxalism and ultimately terrorism ?
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VS says:
May 28,2010 at 06:33 PM IST
The private sector (people) needs to take charge; the role of the
government needs to shrink to more directional, defense and
infrastructure (selectively) related works.
In so many articles on the PM, government and the politicians there is
no mention of the private sector responsibility (or duty).
I am yet to hear of any Ambani (proxy for Tata, Birla, Modi, Jindal,
Goderej, Mahindra, Mallya, Singhanias, Infosys, ITC, JP Group, Wipro,
Times group, ICICI, Appolo, MRF and the likes) initiative beyond the
great big house and some localized charities (which get loads of
publicity) and IPL.
Maybe I have missed out, but are there any (many) scholarships,
bursaries, business schools, engineering schools, art galleries, etc.
sponsored (adopted) by them. Do they sponsor (any / many) Phd.
students? (I know there are some trusts which were formed years ago)
Are the developed countries only built by the government through
government programs? Should we just look up to the PM and hope that
he/ she delivers?
And, every time we have a poor/ weak/ corrupt/ biased/ silly PM we
take steps back as a country.
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(Reply to VS)- Raghubir Prasad says:
May 29,2010 at 12:46 PM IST
VS, the private sector is busy minting money on people's misery. It is
totally unprincipled and undependable.
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h.mani says:
May 28,2010 at 08:33 PM IST
Govt is for all the people,non-governance is not governing,get
real,goi has not governed for ages,it is a motly crowd which is just
existing from one election cycle to next,it is mere excuse to say they
have (congress)no majority,pray answer me they had plenty majority and
some during nehru and indhra,and Rajiv,pl do not indulge in short
memory and do not rewrite history.
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Rover says:
May 29,2010 at 11:44 AM IST
Since you seculars seem to have such a bee in your bonnet about the
Gujarat riots, and you cannot bring yourself to forgo mentioning it
everytime you speak/write, please share your thoughts on the Hindus
who were burnt in Godhra, and the Kashmiri Hindus who are refugees in
their own country.
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Rohit says:
May 31,2010 at 11:25 AM IST
Why does no one talk about the KAshimir Hindus ??
BECAUSE those affected were HINDUS and this country's government is
ANTI HINDU!!
Shame on us for accepting such discrimination.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hourglass/entry/india-political-spectrum-earns-a
Prime Minister disappoints, so do journalists
Rajesh Kalra, 25 May 2010, 04:01 PM IST
How many of you saw the Prime Minister’s first press conference
yesterday? If you did, and felt thoroughly bored through the 1.5 hours
of sheer torture, spare a thought for me. I was in the same hall.
Now, all over the world, the head-of-state (government) press
conferences are eagerly awaited. It allows the media to come face to
face with the nation’s chief executive, without any aides. It not only
gives us the chance to find out what is in store for the nation, and
hear it directly from the person who matters most, but also form an
opinion about the grasp that the person has of the challenges the
nation faces. Does he have it in him to steer the nation?
Dr Manmohan Singh is undoubtedly among the most qualified people
holding such jobs in the world. His excellent background in economics
has come in very handy, especially in light of the financial turmoil
the world has seen in the recent past. The same cannot be said about
his public/press dealings, unfortunately. And yesterday’s press
conference was proof enough.
For a premier who has often been accused of being weak, this was one
chance to set the record straight. He could have grabbed the occasion
to speak straight, make strong points about his handling of various
situations etc to not only shut up the pesky scribes, but even send a
signal to his team that he means business. He could have indulged in
some banter with the media, including a huge cache of international
media, to make a statement. Yes, I am in control and am not overawed
by any of you. Instead, it was a Prime Minister who seemed almost
scared to take a stand, scared to upset anyone, stonewall tough
questions with platitudes, and seem almost under-prepared to answer
tough questions, not that there were too many.
I thought he began on a good note by deciding not to read his opening
remarks that had been circulated half an hour before he arrived.
Imagine hearing him go on in his monotone, rambling, deadpan manner
for twenty minutes as he trundles through motherhood statements it
contained. But the relief was short-lived. For he did exactly that in
his responses, which, minus any accompanying energy, makes it worse.
May seem uncharitable, but the only time he seemed energetic and
excited was when a questioner asked about whether he had asked Rahul
Gandhi to join the government.
Our PM perked up, and gushed how Rahul baba was most qualified to be a
member of his council of ministers, but had been reluctant to join
because he wanted to rebuild the party. And then the tireless soldier
of the party that our doc is, added he is a member of the party and
Mrs Gandhi is the president of the party and if the party so desired,
he would step down immediately. I really wondered where that came
from, for at no point did the questioner hint that he ought to step
down to make way for Rahul G. If he is trying to dispel the perception
that he is a puppet, this unnecessary add-on response did not help.
But who knows, it may even be deliberate. I accept the situation and
if that is what keeps my position safe, so be it. In all this, the one
positive was the number of journos called upon to ask questions from
the regional language press from all over the country.
Coming back to the questions, I fail to understand why our media
cannot ask sharp, incisive questions? And more importantly, why do
they believe in sermonizing and lecturing in the garb of questions? I
remember when my colleague had the chance to interview George W Bush
before his India trip a few years ago. He had been given very limited
time, so wanted to ensure no time is wasted in questioning. He
rehearsed innumerable times before going in for the interview. The
idea was to get Bush to talk, not talk to him. Seems our scribes still
don’t get that. And while I waited for the media advisor to pick some
foreign correspondents too for some questions, he let me down. Quite
surprising, for their questions are often direct and to the point.
What was even more surprising was that I had seen the Press
Information Bureau guys take questions from some of them in advance.
Perhaps the questions were too uncomfortable to answer.
As a profession, journalism has its pros and cons. A number of people
think it is glamorous. Some find the scribe’s easy access to top
politicians and celebs a heady potion. I have also had friends ask me
if I can get them the ‘Press’ sticker for their cars. The perception
is that the traffic police are lenient if the vehicle sports the Press
sticker.
Now if you consider these as pros, I can tell you from experience that
the cons outweigh the pros any day. And one of the major cons is
attending numerous press conferences and seminars. And even among
those, not many have been as boring as the one yesterday. Mr Prime
Minister, please prove us wrong!
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maha says:
May 25,2010 at 05:39 PM IST
You said you were there.Dint you ask any questions to the premier?
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(Reply to maha)- Rajesh Kalra says:
May 25,2010 at 05:48 PM IST
There were hundreds of journalists and only a few were picked to ask
questions, at random.
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(Reply to Rajesh Kalra)- Anshuman Singh says:
May 25,2010 at 06:46 PM IST
Can you share the question that you would have asked, had you been
picked?
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(Reply to Anshuman Singh)- Rajesh Kalra says:
May 25,2010 at 06:56 PM IST
If picked, I wanted to ask about the growing indiscipline and
lawlessness in urban India and the overall impact it has on growth. It
is a lot more complicated than what can be said here.
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(Reply to Rajesh Kalra)- Sughosh Bansal says:
May 25,2010 at 06:55 PM IST
Then what were you doing. If you could not persue your question, then
you are incompetent to write this piece of story
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- Devyani Sibbal says:
May 25,2010 at 08:32 PM IST
Just to tell you, Sughosh that i totally disagree with what you have
said.Rajesh has shown guts which none of the senior journalists has
shown.
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- Juao says:
May 25,2010 at 08:38 PM IST
And what the hell are you, Sughosh Bansal?
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- Sanjay M says:
May 25,2010 at 08:38 PM IST
Sughosh ,
What do you mean by Pursue your question. R u studying in school.
Moderate article by Rajesh , I thought there is NO STING in article
either , where Some really straight forward questions india facing
today could be put up.
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- sharan says:
May 26,2010 at 08:23 AM IST
You're quite stupid in your response, and unnecessarily offensive.
That's not how things work in India. There are maybe hundreds of so-
called journalists mobbing around asking all kinds of inane questions,
and naturally those people will pick the most convenient questions to
answer. As Rajesh mentioned, they did not pick even one question from
foreign journalists, probably because their questions are well thought-
out and direct and to the point, and they are not easy to answer and
cannot be answered with general nonsense.
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- Sandip says:
May 26,2010 at 10:44 AM IST
how could he ask if not chosen? start shouting in the tradition of our
parliament!!
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- Shashidhar says:
May 26,2010 at 02:27 PM IST
Mr Rajesh, you have commented that most of the media questions were
not sharp or incisive. Sadly even your proposed question is very
general & vague. Doubt if MMS would have given any meaningful reply to
that except sermonising on it. Poor show all round.
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(Reply to Rajesh Kalra)- VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:35 PM IST
and please tell us what would have been your question??
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(Reply to VS)- Anshuman Singh says:
May 26,2010 at 09:19 AM IST
@VS - Rajesh has already specified that above, please read the trail.
@Rajesh - Thank you for sharing the question.
Also, the points made in your post are pertinent and thought
provoking.
I think the national leaders must have more principles and should be
value driven. More than anything else they must show more belief in
themselves by taking unflinching stands on the important issues.
Sadly, decision making, clarity of vision and leading by example do
not seem to feature in the trait list of our national leaders. They
continue being lazily submissive at international and national stage
where assertiveness & dogged determination is most required.
All of them look like a happy go lucky bunch acting like they are
doing India a favor by occupying the country's most important
positions.
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(Reply to Rajesh Kalra)- B.V.SHENOY says:
May 30,2010 at 10:47 AM IST
Dear Rajesh Kalra,
It is a lot more complicated than can be stated here. However, my
conjecture is that the questions were given inadvance to hand-picked
journos, who could be trusted to ask only handed-down questions.The
whole thing was stage managed.
Gautam says:
May 26,2010 at 07:45 AM IST
" And then the tireless soldier of the party that our doc is, added he
is a member of the party and Mrs Gandhi is the president of the party
and if the party so desired, he would step down immediately. I really
wondered where that came from, for at no point did the questioner hint
that he ought to step down to make way for Rahul G.".. Mr. Karla you
are wrong. You were obviously sleeping during the press conference or
writing this blog instead of paying attention. The CNN-IBN reported
specifically asked if MMS will step down before end of term and make
way for Rahul Gandhi. To which MMS answered that as a Congress person,
he will abide by the Congress' decision and make way for whoever the
Congress choses.
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(Reply to Gautam)- Mallika Minocha says:
May 26,2010 at 10:23 AM IST
Gautamji, if Rajesh was indeed sleeping during the press conference
(which is not true), we have to thank the mumbling, soporific, hardly
audible,& apologetic voice of our PM for that. I could hardly hear
what he said although I raised the volume of my TV. And most of the
time the expression on his face gave me the impression that he was
making a condolence speech.
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(Reply to Mallika Minocha)- gautam says:
May 26,2010 at 01:46 PM IST
Ms. Mallika, I wonder y Mr. Karla didn't recollect the question posed
to MMS. And why he did not check his notes before saying such things
on the blog. Please see http://pib.nic.in/archieve/others/2010/may/d2010052401.pdf.
The entire transcript of MMS' press conference is available and you
will see on Page 15 the specific question/answer I speak about. I have
nothing against Mr. Karla. Just a trifle disappointed that a
responsible senior journalist like him should make such irresponsible
and insinuating statements.
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(Reply to gautam)- Mallika Minocha says:
May 26,2010 at 02:28 PM IST
I suggest you read Rajesh's blog & his posts once again. he has
clarified the points. But if someone likes the dynasty rule & the
henpecked PM so much that he does not see any faults, good luck to
him.
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(Reply to Mallika Minocha)- Shashi says:
May 27,2010 at 11:34 AM IST
Mallika's observations are spot on. MMS body language was poor and his
lips movement was obscured by his facial hair. His monotonous drone
was boring while he appeared to be making a funeral speech. While his
substance was predictable, his delivery style was deplorable. Entirely
forgettable show.
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vgr says:
May 25,2010 at 09:12 PM IST
Sir, If only few are hand picked to ask questions, and those few dint
had anything good to ask then the conference becomes pointless.
How about all the journalists sit together compile all their questions
and pick the best questions among them and make a list. Anyone picked
can ask the questions in order. Just a suggestion.
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(Reply to vgr)- VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:04 PM IST
and who are you to suggest!!!
you seem too educated to be voicing your opinion.....get back to work
(or what ever you were doing).
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(Reply to VS)- Janaki Verma says:
May 26,2010 at 10:38 AM IST
Well, VS, after reading all the crap you have painstakingly written in
this blog, whatever else we can accuse you of, we can't accuse you of
good manners.
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(Reply to VS)- Raghubir Prasad says:
May 26,2010 at 10:59 AM IST
Look, VS,after reading your post, as a student of Sanskrit, I can't
resist quoting a Sanskrit proverb: Shesham kopen poorayet---he made up
for the lack of logical content in his argument by getting angry.
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(Reply to vgr)- VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:05 PM IST
"sir," well thats a wrong begining to begin with.
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(Reply to VS)- Jeevan Dhiraj says:
May 26,2010 at 11:07 AM IST
See, VS, the basic problem is that some of us , who have decent
manners, believe in addressing people as,"Sir". And we don't mind
addressing even you as , "Sir"
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(Reply to vgr)- CR says:
May 25,2010 at 11:19 PM IST
Good suggestion VGR. But do you think this is possible? A distant
dream boss. Moreover, our journalists need to learn to ask open ended
questions first. One, the questions are long, two they throw in a few
options for a question and this is foolish. Some interviews are like
as if you are watching a fight, the interviewers almost torture the
guest, they speak the most of the program....
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Verma SK says:
May 25,2010 at 04:31 PM IST
The questions were as gentle as the gentleman answering them. When
asked about 2G Telecom controversary, PM said action will be taken
against the concerned if found guilty. No body could have answered
that action will be taken even if found not guilty, or that no action
will be taken even if found guilty.
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(Reply to Verma SK)- Rajeev says:
May 25,2010 at 05:05 PM IST
His interview only proved once again that he is at best the manager of
the government and not someone who could lead a nation of 1 billion.
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(Reply to Rajeev)- Praveen says:
May 25,2010 at 10:01 PM IST
MMS was not a politician. Remember, he even lost the election. He was
especially chosen to decorate the PM's chair and vacate it as and when
asked to. He has, indeed, proved to be an appropriate puppet. Even
Sita Ram Kesri was chosen to be Congress President by Narsimha Rao to
be a puppet President, but he proved wrong because he was a seasoned
politician too. Even Sonia bit the dust, when she selected Narsimha
Rao as PM, but he proved her wrong. Our Doc PM is moving in the right
direction and that is the only reason he was selected for the second
stint.
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(Reply to Rajeev)- RK says:
May 28,2010 at 01:57 PM IST
Worst Manager from the rotten lot who compermised with divisive and
corrupt man like Lalu Yadav and Mayawati in the bargain reducing CBI
as a laughing stick.The same with Mulayam Singh Yadav.Do these kind of
people and parties deserve for our country???God help BJP to throw
them out and come back to power where every Indian will feel pround as
they did before six years before Left parties done the blunder of
supporting these jokers.
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(Reply to Rajeev)- A Gnanasekaran says:
May 29,2010 at 02:16 PM IST
Yes I Fully agree with you
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VS says:
May 25,2010 at 06:50 PM IST
If I had to choose between a prime minister who speaks well and a
prime minister who is intelligent and a good administrator I will
every time choose the latter.
No need to go over the positives of Dr. MMS.
List all prime ministers and rate them on providing stability, being
intelligent (running the govt. them selves vs. the IAS), honest,
sincere.....
Ever wonder why lord Krishna gave Geeta updesh to Arjun only and not
to all the 105 princes and other ministers.
There is another saying "bhains ke aage been bajana", and then the
bhains turn around and says it was a poor recital.
Get intelligent press and am sure will get ......
Even your article is shallower than spit in a spoon.
Agree (6)
Disagree (24)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to VS)- Sarafaroz Pithawala says:
May 25,2010 at 08:29 PM IST
VS, i am amazed that you rate the PM so high. Even by the most
generous standards, his sycophancy to the Gandhi dynasty is
despicable. The manner in which he was praising Rahul reminded me of
some second rate politicians talking during the Emergency.And one felt
sorry to see the expression of abject subservience on the face of such
a gifted person.
Agree (21)
Disagree (5)
Recommend (6)
(Reply to Sarafaroz Pithawala)- VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:25 PM IST
I rate MMS better than most (all) other options available currently
(in India).
Is he better than the PMs and Presidents globally....again I rate him
better than Obama, Brown, Sarkozy, and Zardari etc.
He praised Gandhi family....then what? atleast sonia had the brains to
make him the PM instead of herself (which i guess most others would
have done).
Rahul gandhi....well he is still working, much much better and far
superior to other ministers sons who are killing (animals and humans)
raping, stealing, defrauding etc.
but in the end even I would have made a better PM....its just that I
choose not to waste my time for the country.
Agree (6)
Disagree (13)
Recommend (2)
(Reply to VS)- Hitesh Thapar says:
May 26,2010 at 10:35 AM IST
VS, if there is anything about you which is likable, it is your
stubbornness in not biting the hand that feeds.keep it chum, you might
get a sumptuous political reward soon.
Agree (13)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (5)
(Reply to VS)- Ashok Gupta says:
May 26,2010 at 01:08 PM IST
Dear VS
What are so positives about Dr.MMS.as P.M.?
1) No control over Price Rise.Prices jumpping leaps and bounds in the
last six years.
2) Naxal Menace- No clear policy of takling: Just by saying this is
the biggest problem we have, not solves the problem, or does it?
3) No control over his Ministers. Sometimes it looks like we have ten
or twelve P.M.
4) No leadership quality? He has now become fond of seeing empty
chairs in a called cabinet Meeting.
5) Country's image : That as a country we are peceived by all others
as a very weak state Militarily/ Politically/ Diplomatically-
internationally.
AND ON ALL THE ABOVE ISSUES RAISED, HE MAY NOT BE ANSWERABLE TO MEDIA
BUT CERTAINLY ANSWERABLE TO THIS GREAT COUNTRY.
THE BIGGEST QUALITY OUR P.M DR.MMS HAS, HE REGULARLY/ PERIODICALLY/
TIME BOUND/ REPORTS TO HER MASTERS IN 10,Janpath. Which as a matter of
fact has been clearly and honestly admitted by him.
GEETA UPDESH, HE Is in no position to give to any, He is only supposed
to take GEETA UPDESH from 10, Janpath.
Reat Later.
Agree (11)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (3)
Sharda Bhargav says:
May 25,2010 at 04:37 PM IST
One thing very good about the press conference, Sir, journos exhibited
appreciable discipline.
Agree (10)
Disagree (8)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to Sharda Bhargav)- Nick says:
May 25,2010 at 05:18 PM IST
HAha...
ys, they were confined to their desks and were not haggling around.
Agree (8)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to Sharda Bhargav)- Caustik says:
May 25,2010 at 05:20 PM IST
Yeah right....they did a good job of keeping their traps shut.
Agree (12)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to Sharda Bhargav)- U S Hegde says:
May 26,2010 at 05:21 PM IST
May be many of them had a good one and a half hour's sleep.
Agree (8)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to Sharda Bhargav)- rishabh m. rao says:
May 27,2010 at 09:40 AM IST
yes,sir you are absolutely right. i think that the pm was not able to
answer a single ques properly
Agree (7)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (2)
RAMESH AGARWAL says:
May 26,2010 at 01:22 PM IST
PM MANMOAN SINGH IS VERY SIBER,HAVING A CLEAN IMAGE BUT HE IS NIT A
POLITICIAN AND APPOINTED AS HER MASTER!S VOICE BY SONIA GANDHI AS IS
THE CASE OF ALL GANDHI FAMILY MEMBERS,THEY WANT ABSOLUTE POWER.HE
TALKS ABOUT CORRUPTION BUT SHEILDING MAYAWATI,MULAYAM,LALOO TO GET
VOTES FOR GOVT. IN THE NAME OF CBI.HE CAN NIT TAKE ANY ACTION AGAINST
RAZA,ALAGIRI WHO IS ABSCONDING FROM PARLIAMENT,NON CONTROL OVER HIS
MINISTERS NEITHER FREE HANDTO APPOINT.SEE IN IPL HE SAVED PAWAR AND
PAWAR IN IPL.MAMTA SITS IN KOLKATTA MOST OF THE TIME AND SUPPORTING
MAIOISTS.DIGVIJYA SINGH ON THE BLESSINGS FROM SONIA GANDHI MET
FAMILIES OF TERRORISTS INVOLVED IN BATALA HOUSE ENCOUNTER AND
CRITICISED HM CHIDAMBARAM FOR HIS POLICY OF DEALING WITH NAXALITES.SEE
HOW CM SHEILA DIXIT TOLD LIE IN CASE OF AFZAL GURU AND SONIA IS
DELAYING AFZAL CASE UNDER PRESSURE FROM MUSLIMS FROM VALLEY TO WHOM
SHE IS SHARING POWER.MANIPUR IS BURNING AND CENTRAL AND PM IS
QUIET.AAM ADMI IS FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO MANAGE DUE TO INFLATION.PM
STATEMENT CLEARLY SAYS THAT HE IS PUPPET OF SONIAJI.ACTUALLY HE HAS NO
POWER IF HE IS SHELTERING CORRUPT PEOPLE HIS KURTA WILL ALSO BE
TAINTED.SONIA IS FOLLOWING ONE POLICY APPEASING MUSLIMS AS THEY WERE
RSPONSIBLE FOR HER VICTORY IN 2004 BY RAISING GUJRAT RIOTS AND IN 2009
86000CRORES LOAN WAS DISTRIBUTED TO MUSLIMS TO GET VOTES.SHE IS
ACCUSING BJP/NDA/NARENDRA MODI AND NATIONALOST HINDUS AND DOING
EVERYTHING FOR MUSLIMS.EVEN EXISTENCE OF BHAGWAN RAMJI AND RAM SETHU
WAS DENIED TO HURT HINDUS WHILE FOR CARTOON CASE HE TALKED TO DENMARK
GOVT AND COULD NOT SLEEP WHEN OE SUSPECTED TERRORIST WAS CAUGHT IN
AUSTRALIA.SONIAJI IS CEATING GROUND FOR RAHUL TO BE PM AND UPA IS
DOING.OUR SOME OF COLUMNISTS ARE ALSO AT FAULT LIKE KHUSHWANT SINGH,
VIR SANGVI,VINOD DUA OF NDTV,KULDEEP NAYER AND FEW TV CHANEELS WHO
CRITIISE ONLY BJP AND NARENDRA MODI AND APPRECIATE PM AND SONIA.WHY
THEY FORGET TO TALK ABPUT PLIGHT OF 5 LAKH KASHMIRI PANDITS WHO ARE
LEADING REFUGEES LIVES .WHY DOUBLE?
Agree (10)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to RAMESH AGARWAL)- sharan says:
May 27,2010 at 08:06 AM IST
Boss, learn some online etiquette: writing in all capitals is rude; it
is like shouting at someone. And also, it is very hard to read all
capital letters.
You will also need to leave a space after punctuation like comma and
fullstop, otherwise that stuff becomes even harder to read.
Agree (7)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to sharan)- RAMESH AGARWAL says:
May 27,2010 at 09:39 PM IST
MR SARAN THANKS FOR YOUR SUGGESTION I WILL TRY TO FOLLOW IN FUTURE.
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(Reply to sharan)- INDIANS says:
June 01,2010 at 06:47 PM IST
NO NEED. CAPITAL LETTERS ARE THE MESSAGE THAT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
(Reply to RAMESH AGARWAL)- kiran.k says:
May 27,2010 at 12:50 PM IST
Brother,what you want to say? Vote for BJP!!
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(Reply to kiran.k)- RAMESH AGARWAL says:
May 27,2010 at 09:43 PM IST
DEAR KIRAN K.I AM NOT ADVOCATING FOR ANY PARTY BUT MENTIONED MY VIEWS
WHETHER YOU LIKE OR NIT UPTO YOU.DUE TO OUR COWARDICENESS AND DISUNITY
WE ARE SUFFERING AND BEING TREATED AS 2ND CLASS CITIZEN.HOW DO YOU
FEEL IF YOU WERE DISPELLED FROM JK AND WERE LEADING REFUGEE LIFE?
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Disagree (2)
Recommend (1)
SAM THE MAN FROM PAKISTAN says:
May 25,2010 at 08:37 PM IST
YOUR ARTICLE SEEMS MORE BOURING THEN PRIME MINISTERS
PRESS CONFERENCE
Agree (12)
Disagree (17)
Recommend (2)
(Reply to SAM THE MAN FROM PAKISTAN)- Karuna Nair says:
May 26,2010 at 11:38 AM IST
SAM, the whole problem is that journalism in Pakistan is in such a
primitive stage that you would take some time to get accustomed to the
Indian version.
Agree (14)
Disagree (6)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to Karuna Nair)- imran says:
May 26,2010 at 04:57 PM IST
by saying indian version karuna do u mean it had to be bouring,the
tital should be"indian Prime Minister disappoints, so do indian
journalists"
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Disagree (4)
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(Reply to Karuna Nair)- Mahesh Soni says:
May 28,2010 at 04:37 PM IST
Karuna, you should read Dawn News paper. It is available on internet.
And try to compare it to any of our Indian news papers, including
Times of India
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Disagree (2)
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(Reply to Mahesh Soni)- Jeevan Dhiraj says:
May 29,2010 at 12:43 PM IST
Right, Mahesh, i read both The Dawn & Indian newspapers regularly &
let me tell you that Dawn is far inferior
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Disagree (2)
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snsdhar says:
May 27,2010 at 02:34 PM IST
This long awaited press meet of the PM heralds the decline of MMS from
a statesman scholar to a cheap politician. His boring monotonous
mumbling jumbling of weak responses and ducking of all uncomfortable
questions, are typical of a man uncertain of his position and grip.
Having served out one term as a filler for Rahul and continuing to do
so, seems to be getting onto MMS. Anyway when he knows that this is
inevitable, he should atleast enjoy it. Was MMS addressing a press
meet or a condolence meet ? Most forgettable indeed.
Agree (11)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (8)
sarthak sinha says:
May 25,2010 at 05:24 PM IST
I have never heard Manmohan Singh speaking like President Barack
Obama. So its quite irrelevant to keep expectations high about him to
speak with such energetic overtones. He, however, is a sobre, calm
politician who can not prove his point with emphatic fullness. In
order fot the head executive to get to talk, media personnel should
throw some of the very hot questions doing the rounds that could
unsettle his sobriety. The media should be acclimatised to put forth
questions that could involve the leader personally so that he could be
compelled to speak out and clear his stance without giving it a snub.
Its quite obvious for any head of the government to ignore media as
long as he can. As for him to be reticent is the best resort possible
to keep opposition at bay. No comment is to make everyone keep
guessing about his reactions and his rivals to remain deficient of the
stuanchly needed bait.
Agree (6)
Disagree (15)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to sarthak sinha)- Sughosh Bansal says:
May 25,2010 at 06:53 PM IST
with reference to "......media personnel should throw some of the very
hot questions doing the rounds that could unsettle his sobriety. The
media should be acclimatised to put forth questions that could involve
the leader personally so that he could be compelled to speak out and
clear his stance without giving it a snub. Its quite obvious for any
head of the government to ignore media as long as he can", the
prerequisit is that Media should do its own home work, should know
what they are seeking from the PM. Alas such a tribe is now a days
missing.
Agree (12)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to sarthak sinha)- VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:09 PM IST
there was this joke of big chief no shit....
Obama is all talk, not to mention he is the president of a very
developed nation (both economically and democratically).
and he speaks in his mother tongue.
Agree (5)
Disagree (8)
Recommend (2)
(Reply to VS)- Pradyumn Chattopadhyay says:
May 26,2010 at 11:10 AM IST
VS, I vote in your favour for this year's award for attaining
excellence in producing bawdy material. Congrats in advance on getting
the nomination.
Agree (4)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to sarthak sinha)- B.V.SHENOY says:
May 30,2010 at 10:34 AM IST
what a boring and confusing comment!
VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:38 PM IST
"If picked, I wanted to ask about the growing indiscipline and
lawlessness in urban India and the overall impact it has on growth. It
is a lot more complicated than what can be said here"
Mr. Kalra you are a writer...if you can't articulate who can?
Agree (3)
Disagree (8)
Recommend (2)
(Reply to VS)- Kusum Sadashiv Rao says:
May 26,2010 at 10:40 AM IST
Why, VS, some people who ought not to articulate are doing it, and
putting their foot in mouth. Isn't that clear from your contributions?
Agree (11)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (5)
SNS says:
May 26,2010 at 02:31 PM IST
The transformation of MMS from a scholarly statesman to a petty
politician is now fully obvious. It is rightly said that in the
company of pigs, even a cow starts eating filth. The old sense of
sincerity and straighforwardness has given way to blatant lies and
awkward ducking of tricky issues.
What a fall indeed ! Et tu MMS ?
Agree (25)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (15)
Amit Deshpande says:
May 25,2010 at 05:21 PM IST
When asked if his govt. underestimated the threat of Maoists in UPA1,
he gave the same rehearsed type answer that he had mentioned Maoism as
the biggest internal threat. If there had been a change in govt. then
the present govt. would have blamed the previous govt. for
mishandling. Why do we even expect better? Sigh!
Agree (29)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (8)
shekar says:
May 26,2010 at 09:16 PM IST
The weather is too hot to handle. Our Poor Man(PM) is suffering due to
the political heat. He is de-hydrated. When he visits Madam he is
rejuvenated. Mention the name of Rahul Gandhi, he is glucosed. He
wants to take rest but not allowed and so he tries to show a brave
face to the world, but his voice fails him. Many ridiculed Mr.
Vajpayee for the way he walked, but certainly he is a good speaker.
Our Poor man (PM)lacks in that area also. Walking briskly doesn't mean
he is business. Indians will live with these personalities.
Agree (12)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (6)
Peston Kanga says:
May 26,2010 at 10:49 AM IST
After reading the posts praising the PM, it is obvious that the
Congress' propaganda machine led by Mr. Tiwari, the Congress' version
of Joseph Goebbels is working feverishly.
Agree (14)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (5)
pankaj says:
May 26,2010 at 11:06 AM IST
Pardon me. There was nothing wrong with the statements or replies
given by our worthy PM on various issues confronting nation today. But
is he alone responsible to act and then take blame for most of them.
If there is corruption ; we are to be blamed, if there is naxalite
situation then somewhere we as citizens have failed too. If there is
pollution or rise in prices , again we are to be blamed. All can be
controlled only if we become more diciplined in all walks of life and
give same to our children.
Yes, This govt has failed on two fronts. First, rejuvenating india's
foreign policy and taking strong stand against terrorism in all it's
forms.
Agree (3)
Disagree (6)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to pankaj)- MJ says:
May 28,2010 at 12:36 AM IST
Well than we are also responsible for the ineffective govt we have
Agree (2)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (1)
(Reply to pankaj)- Deepak Manchanda says:
May 26,2010 at 11:02 AM IST
And, Pankaj, continuing your stream of logic, if your comment is
meaningless,for that, too, are we to blame?
Agree (9)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (3)
HARDLINER says:
May 25,2010 at 08:40 PM IST
It must be cathartic to talk about scribes not knowing how to frame
and ask questions. Although I would like to blame the education and
the training they have gone through but sadly it is also our work
culture and upbringing! Do we ever find listeners in gatherings or
meetings? Everyone is cutting each other short and making their own
point! Even if people pretend to listen, their minds are working
towards either contradicting & formulating their own responses or they
are mentally wandering somewhere esle.
Does our media even know what ‘bites’ mean? We are all victims of
verbal diarrhea on all channels without exception. It would still be
bearable if the television host had some basic idea about the subject
matter being discussed but that too is missing. Garbage in and garbage
out is what is left of media and like all the other things in this
country we will suffer this too in silence.
Lastly please do not expect anything from our Prime Minister as he is
the right guy in a wrong job just like most others in this country.
Agree (11)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to HARDLINER)- sharan says:
May 26,2010 at 12:22 PM IST
Absolutely right. Our education lacks some important life skills like
how to listen, how to discuss something to arrive at solutions, etc.
We all just keep talking and interrupting one another. We listen with
the three Rs: reaction, rejection and resentment. Chronic verbal
diarrhoea just about sums up our ability to talk even while breathing
in, non-stop. When in doubt, talk and talk and talk.
Agree (6)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (3)
D.S.K. Avadhani says:
May 25,2010 at 05:45 PM IST
An independent prime minister would have lived upto the nation's
expectations but not one who looks up to some body for every thing &
any thing and the one who expects to get the marching orders to make
room for the prince
Agree (18)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (5)
Ryan P says:
May 27,2010 at 08:28 AM IST
This was one of the worst press conferences of PM I have ever seen, PM
had dodged all relevant issues that were raised by journalists, He was
talking like a paid corporate CEO rather than a PM of largest
democracy.Disgusting!!!!
Agree (11)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (6)
(Reply to Ryan P)- Jayprakash says:
May 28,2010 at 02:24 PM IST
Why? This is his second worst press conference. The first one was when
he was first time selected as PM by Madam.
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
venkat Raman says:
May 26,2010 at 05:59 AM IST
I agree with Mr Kalra.We have kept our ministers and Babu's in high
pedastal and hero worship them.This is one reason we do not have the
courage to ask a direct question.
So what if the PM is a Doctorate--we need strong actions from him as
also in performance.
It is very strange that he keeps telling about Rahul's potential as a
future PM--
more to appease Sonia Gandhi
so that his position is secure.
very sad for the country.
Agree (11)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (5)
Rk Malhotra says:
May 25,2010 at 05:34 PM IST
One wonders what is expected in such a press conference---a straight
question -answer session--?The calm and confident Prime minister
conducted himself in a most statesman like manner and demeanour,only
replies to specific questions and no rhetorics.Though he coud not make
any policy statements outside the Parliament, one agrees that he could
deal more on the Price-rise situation and the termites of corruption
which are eating the system from inside.
Agree (5)
Disagree (15)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to Rk Malhotra)- Hemant; Hyderabad says:
May 28,2010 at 09:08 PM IST
Real Reason is You all journalist & mediswalas are sold out.That is
why on TV channels We see Big Journalist selling Bhelpuri & Kababs at
diierent places; Comedy Circus & Serial Makings-this is only real work
all Our Newschannels & Others are capable of doing.Afterall well paid
employess obey their Masters perfectly.
Agree (4)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
spk2mi says:
May 26,2010 at 03:57 PM IST
What else can you expect from the worst PM India has seen?They might
as well have not appointed a PM.He doesnt serve any purpose, doesnt
open his mouth.Doesnt use his brains.He's the first vegetable PM we've
had.As far as our Media is concerned, the less said the better.Quality
of news / reporting/analysis is pathetic to say the least.Just like
the other arms of society - they've gone to the dogs too I guess &
believe only in supporting the highest bidder.If that means licking
the ruling party's back-side, well, so be it.If you look at how happy
the Indian Media gets when Obama calls MMS a "wise man", or Sarkozy
calls India an "ancient civilization" or someone else indulges in
similar flattery , you can understand that they absoutely have no work
to do other than serving their own interests.
Agree (14)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (4)
Daniem Perreira says:
May 25,2010 at 08:01 PM IST
Rajesh , thank God that this country has some journalists left with a
spine intact like you.This is a society with a second rate PM
performing a second rate job, and a group of chicken hearted
journalists who would rather end up currying favours with a blatantly
dynastic rule.We are a useless lot, and we deserve both this PM & the
journalists fawning on him.
Agree (19)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (4)
Sanjay Nakate says:
May 26,2010 at 07:42 PM IST
The PM's speech shows that the credit of Naxalism goes to Congress
Government.
Agree (12)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (5)
RK Santosh says:
May 25,2010 at 06:27 PM IST
All the congress Politicians will never be like the one this article
or people expect of them.They will never be dynamic leaders that our
country is badly in need of because they are all Madam's politicians
without much of warmblood flowing through them. We need dynamic
leaders to make this country a superpower in fastpace. Mr. Manmohan
Singh is pleese all man. He even wants to be nice with our enemy-
pakistan.He just doesnt want to get into any bad books of his
stakeholders!!!
Agree (20)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to RK Santosh)- A.Vaduagn says:
May 27,2010 at 12:30 PM IST
Can u suggest one dynamic leader for future India from current
political parties ?
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Disagree (2)
Recommend (1)
(Reply to A.Vaduagn)- Mahesh Soni says:
May 28,2010 at 04:51 PM IST
Yes I can say. Narendra Modi is one (forget about political
affiliation). he has principles, does not hesitate to take tough
decisions (removing of temples from streets of Ahmedabad and other
places). He acts very fast (giving land to Tatas for Nano), a good
orator and a visionary. Nitish Kumar could be another one. Silent, but
wedded to positive developments.
Agree (6)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
sen says:
May 27,2010 at 01:29 PM IST
Insipid is what our PM is. If he had any pride he should not have
accepted the position since even a child knows that he is being the
foreigners puppet. the country was perhaps never under so much trouble
than what we see now. We should be happy if we survive till the end of
UPA-2.
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (3)
Meena says:
May 26,2010 at 08:55 AM IST
No doubt the PM is a good man. But he should have addressed many more
issues in detail.
It was indeed an opportunity, as well as a duty, for the PM to talk
not just about finance but about societal and environmental issues
too. All three are vitally important for any country.
What is the condition of India from the point of view of people's
health and nutrition, education levels, job opportunities, job skills,
the health of society as a coherent unit... what is happening around
the country...terrorism, naxalites, divisions among people...problems
in the North East...Kashmir...our boundaries with Pakistan and
China...terrorism and betrayal by Pakistan, and what we are doing
about it...drinking-water crisis around the country...depleting forest
resources...overpopulation...food crisis...steep inflation...growing
corruption at all levels in government... even the Delhi Commonwealth
games...
There are many critically important issues that we need to address
yesterday. They will not disappear simply because we choose to ignore
them. They are only getting worse.
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
Junaid says:
May 28,2010 at 07:55 AM IST
Silly commentators, silly arguments, silly website. What a waste of
time
Agree (2)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (2)
mj says:
May 26,2010 at 05:40 PM IST
I agree with you Rajesh.
Considering Dr. Singh's position in the party, a CEO rather than an
owner, his elbowroom is somewhat limited. He is an able PM indeed, if
not eloquent talker. I see many glib-tongued but not sincere nore
capable. Concerning spirits of journalists, yes we want to see more
aggresive and self-esteemed breeds like their ancesters who fought for
freedom of humanity.
Agree (4)
Disagree (9)
Recommend (3)
rajesh verma says:
May 27,2010 at 02:51 PM IST
Sir, As PM says that if RG wishes then he will step down as PM. What
does it means to say that Mrs Sonia gandhi has clamency over him. I
think this also tell the nation that In the nation ,RG is only one
leader in the Congress who is only suitable for the PM remains others
are zero. I think he is thinking this because he suddenly go to the
house of apoor & eats meal. Till date RG never says in his speech what
is his DREAM of INDIA. What changes he wish to change. IT is
inveitable that he can never wash corruption in our country. This is
only this root has covered so much regime that it deep in our society
and it starts from our politices.Secondly RG has no
Agree (3)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
ashwynn says:
May 27,2010 at 03:02 PM IST
I would want Navjot Singh Sidhu to be our next PM! You would then love
your 1.5 hrs
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (4)
s chadha says:
May 25,2010 at 08:45 PM IST
It is not easy in these politically volatile and tenous party
affilitions to have completed one term without a major political
mishap , without an iota of controversy. It speaks volumes for the
style of functioning of the pm. Would we rather have a mayawati or a
yadav PM or a honest , intelligient . sincere person? I would rather
opt for the latter any day
Let us remember he is not a mass leader and has never made pretensions
of being one . So let history judge him by his work as he said in his
press conference
The press coference was a normal press conference and Pms interaction
with the press was good/ normal. These are not platforms to make or
mould public policy
What more was expected ?
Let us not rake up issues or criticise for sake of criticism alone
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Rama mohan.S says:
May 25,2010 at 05:40 PM IST
Yes could have been better as expected...The last one was on
independence day, I was hoping a much better talk like Nuclear
proliferation, Talks with PAK and Terrorism, Cross border talk with
China, Implementation on connecting national highways, But I was in
guess work way too much.
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dwj says:
May 28,2010 at 06:18 PM IST
The only time when mms shows vehemence , emphasis and harshness is
when he attacks bjp and more particularly advani
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MG says:
May 26,2010 at 10:53 AM IST
he he...sir jee !! again as i said in previous posts, u have
disappointed...look at the blog post again..no coherency..just a
page..starts from where - ends where..no connect at all...I wonder if
the title is worth it..cheers..
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Devendra Patel says:
May 26,2010 at 11:33 AM IST
So now you realised what Aam Admi has realised during UPA-1 first year
that this government is headed by weak and obidient PM. Its not a
problem if he is weak but he is making the nation and us weak. Thanks
for realisation.
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R.G.KARMARKAR says:
May 27,2010 at 10:23 AM IST
The honorauble Prime Minister has a job to do, with the help of all
clever men around him.One should understand him , it is
difficult.Think of his limitations,blind Gandhi lovers of congressmen
arround him, he is lonely with his all modesty, and sincerity above
all with his profound knowledge he is managing the show.please try to
understand these circumstances.
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Anil Kohli says:
May 25,2010 at 06:37 PM IST
All said and done reams may be written about this event. The press and
the congress party may thump each others back for a job well done.
The only notable that has come thru is that our Prime Minister has
changed tack, if at this time last year he had said that inflation
would be brought down in 100 days. Last after noon he has resorted to
astrology ala Mr Pawar our Minister for Agriculture. Who taught whom?
Should we debate this? After all the effects of the company one keeps
do start to show sooner in most cases later in some.
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Kaushal Bhatt says:
May 25,2010 at 10:49 PM IST
With reference to..." And one of the major cons is attending numerous
press conferences and seminars. "....That sounds like you simply don't
enjoy your job.To attend a press conference is very basic part of your
job, and if you consider it as a "major con"...then no press
conference will excite you, unless it has some "masala" in it and I'm
afraid my prime minister is not that masala kind...so sorry Mr.Kalra
and all the best for your future conferences.
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zafar says:
May 25,2010 at 08:16 PM IST
Dont know why media is try hard to prove that pm yesterday press
conference was a dud..i cud understand that our media is so
sensational loving even they were trying to find out masala in a press
conference like the person of Manmohan Singh.Media should try to
understand,leaders should be judge by their work and firm stand as
such done by our pm whether it is nuclear deal or women bill rather
than so call blah blah leaders.
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Manish Phophaliya says:
May 27,2010 at 07:00 PM IST
A very true representation of the current political scenario in India.
Since I was a child I have heard " Speed of the Boss is the Spped of
the team". If this was to be correct then all of you know why India
cannot compete with China on any front.
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Sughosh Bansal says:
May 26,2010 at 09:40 AM IST
Replying to responses to my comments (response to Kalra's comments),
Let me clarify that I am neither a student nor a stupid and nor a
journo. If Mr. Kalra, supposedly one of the most intelligent and
knowledgeable and powerful within the mandarin corridors, can say that
he was helpless, then he had no business to comment on PM's monotone
and the role of Media. And rightly you all have said that India is
differnet and here the most important proverb is 'Aise hi Chalta
hain'
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saket mishra says:
May 27,2010 at 12:41 PM IST
see. we all know that he is mere a puppet of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. and
Rahul Gandhi.. I am sure that in last year MMS will step down and
Rahul will become PM , just to have more votes and show his ability to
drive a nation on his own. Let not ask such question to him , Rather
to the Head of UPA, Sonia Gandhi.
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Mastermind says:
May 28,2010 at 08:31 AM IST
Its simple...Simple human beings don't make good politicians.To lead a
nation, one needs a mix of arrogance, shrewdness, smartness, decision
making skills and above all the sense of what is good for the country.
Except his thoughts on economy, I am afraid Mr. MMS does not have
anything else to offer. Just the thought of a leader should be able
fill people with energy. Unfortunately, we dont have many leaders who
can claim that.
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Santokh Singh Sahi says:
May 25,2010 at 10:01 PM IST
How can you compare apple with orange?USA president gets elected
directly by the people after many debates in the entire country. Where
we have a
nominated PM.Never got elected directly by the people.Our PM has never
been
aspirant for this job.He has been nominated by the president of the
congress party.He has admitted time and again that he is not fluent in
public debating.He
is on record that his actions speak for him.More over in India, it is
the establisment that organises such functions to speak for their
government's achievements.The invitees have little or no role in
asking questions. I have recently attended such a seminar, where all
the heads
connected with administration of justice spoke. I wanted to ask few,
but relevant questions relating to the functioning of the judiciary,
where more than three crore cases are pending and wanted to ask, how
PM'S DREAM OF ARREAR- FREE JUDICIAL INSTITUTION CAN BECOME A REALITY?
BUT I WAS NOT GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY. However I welcome the contents in
the press statement. He is candid in admitting his failings and
promises to take further steps in the right direction.Let us wish
good luck to our PM and the people of India a bright future. Let us
hope one or the other rule of law for aam admi becomes a reality.
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Sunil Malhotra says:
May 28,2010 at 10:05 PM IST
The Present Prime Minister is totally unfit and ineffective for the
job. He may have been a good economist but he is an utter failure as a
prime Minister. If he has any strength of character he should resign
immediately.The country is in utter chaos. The maoists, Naxalites and
other organisation continue their carnage unabated to kill and maime
innocent citizens and the Prime Minister looks on with amazement,
wonder and bewilderment. Indian forces are perfectly capable of
routing this menace but for some reason this government is unwilling
to bring an end to this menace. Soni Gandhi has left the nation to rot
while she is busy trying to consolidate her own position. Her
selection of the President and Prime Minister clearly shows that she
has no interest of the country at heart but her own selfish interest.
The PM and President are the face of the country. They need to be
chosen with care.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should do the
honourable thing and resign now. Soni Gandhi may love yes men but she
should think of the country first.
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Kamalesh Sharda says:
May 28,2010 at 08:33 AM IST
If the Prime Minister's performance is to be used to rate the current
Indian political leadership, then God help India. No wonder, there are
so many terrorist activities, train accidents and sabotages,
uncontrolled price rises, corruption incidences, problems with
Pakistan, China and others. I am affraid it did not look like the
performance of a leader of the next Super Power.
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Dr. Madan Goyal says:
May 26,2010 at 07:38 AM IST
This piece is very well coined to find faults where there are none. I
don’t say that our prime minister is a God, super human or Mr.
Perfect. But his personality and position are well known to the
people. The truth is that ‘We have chosen the best available person.
The duty of media should be to help nation achieve best progress in
right direction and not to indulge in useless fault finding. There is
no statement which can’t be criticized. Our prime minister is doing
best job in given circumstances. Only a person of his character can
steer through in such situations, so focused.
Our PM is from a cadre which is answerable to the law and not press.
To achieve press smartness, one has to be in different shoes. Those
shoes are not there with our PM, is a well known fact. It is a current
hard fact and in no way a fault of PM.
PM is not accused of being weak, but our MPs follow dictates of party
president. Hence he can’t and shouldn’t pretend to be what he is not.
He is straight in telling what he can do and is doing. This is his
biggest strength. Anybody, especially from media, if projecting this
as his weakness, is probably not doing justice with journalism and
nation.
Disappointment with media is more with a person, who even could not be
picked up for a question then with those who were lucky enough to be
picked up. I also do not agree with a blanket statement that
foreigners ask better questions.
The criticism in this piece is well calculated to bring out support in
the reader for our PM. It has very well served its purpose. Keep it up
Mr. Kalra.
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a says:
May 26,2010 at 06:31 PM IST
The task of Journalist in my opinion and forgive me , if I am
incorrect, is to force truth out of a person using incisive questions.
I have seen the way the anchor of a TV show makes interviewee sweat.
He has now managed to get a sweat on almost everyone he interviews. He
is ready with fact , has incisive questions and himself is well read.
You cannot have a cake and eat it too. A journalist who does not ask
the right questions , is not prepared and is not strong in tone ( not
rude though) runs a risk of getting lost in the crowd.
Most the news that is there is today is reporting ( he said this and
he said that ). There is no analysis or investigative 'Journalism'
after that.
John Stewart says in comedy central 'Politicians feet have to be put
to fire then only they understand it'. I think it is a good idea if
our reporters take cues from international media and top Indian
journalists too.
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(Reply to a)- sharan says:
May 27,2010 at 08:48 AM IST
You're confusing the issues. You are talking about two completely
different situations, as different as night and day.
In that kind of show you are talking about, there is just the
interviewee and that anchor guy. You don't have a hundred journalists
competing with that anchor. There the anchor is the boss. He decides
what to ask, and the interviewee has to respond, otherwise he looks
stupid. It is a one-on-one session, and the interviewee comes fully
prepared to be grilled. That is the rule of that game.
In this particular interview with the PM, the roles are reversed, and
the rules are completely different. It is not even an interview. It is
just a press meet. The PM sits there like the boss, choosing whose
questions he will respond to and which questions he will just ignore.
Also, there are many other journalists there, all demanding his
attention. You cannot just push your way past the other journalists
and shout your questions at the PM. They will kick you out and also
put you in jail for such behaviour, you can lose your journalist
accreditation, and your newspaper may sack you, all for nothing. At
most you can put up your hand along with the rest of the crowd, and
hope that they will look at you.
It was the job of the PM to present clear and detailed information
about the state of the nation of India to the people of India, through
the press. Have you seen the American "State of the union" address by
the President? That was what the PM should have done. It was his job
to tell the people what was happening in India on all fronts; not just
some statistics which any accountant can provide.
The fact is that our leaders are lacking in too many important
qualities to be effective on the job. Just honesty and financial
skills are not enough for the job of PM. You need lots of other
qualities too. He doesn't have them.
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(Reply to sharan)- a says:
May 30,2010 at 03:07 PM IST
Sharan,
I am not confusing the issue. I was talking about level of Journalism
and not about whether it is a conference or two people talking to each
other. I remember that in Bush era in various interviews, there was an
old lady journalist who was constantly ignored by Bush. Why because
she asked really tough question . Do you think our journalist have
that kind of attitude? They will be dying to get asked by PM to ask
allow them a question and in most of the cases will ask the questions
they will normally ask in a one to one session . The settings of the
place are slightly different when many journalists are involved. Your
question can become a basis of subsequent questions. But it has to
start with a tough question itself.
To me
- to stand out you will have to ask a tough question
- where is jail and all those things coming in picture
- I am just commenting on the blog , you are reiterating what is being
said in it.
- Questioning of qualities of PM is not required here as we are
discussing journalism and not personal traits of a PM
- It is the job of reporter to get the information from politician no
matter what and at whatever be the consequence.
allthebest says:
May 27,2010 at 01:26 PM IST
How can you compare apple with orange?USA president gets elected
directly by the people after many debates in the entire country. Where
we have a
nominated PM.Never got elected directly by the people.Our PM has never
been
aspirant for this job.He has been nominated by the president of the
congress party.He has admitted time and again that he is not fluent in
public debating
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Lohit says:
May 29,2010 at 12:18 AM IST
Looking at all the debate, i feel sonia would have been the best pm..
She is a good leader, orator n politician.. It is evident by the way
she has handled the matters from last several years.. N pls don't say
she is a foreigner.. Some great programs like nrega is her baby n as
long as she works for the development of the country we should be able
to appreciate her leadership..
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UMESH THAPPA says:
May 26,2010 at 09:09 PM IST
good one
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Aravind says:
May 27,2010 at 02:27 PM IST
Good article; our people elected Congress Party and Congress Party
authorized its President! and the President authorized... and goes on!
It is quite unfortunate that our constitution allows full term to an
unelected person - no ill feeling is meant towards our PM! but the
system allows such unhealthy practice! Regarding the journalists, the
Congress media managers would have done a smart job, knowing our PM!
After all the Congress Party has well experienced caders for 'buying'
anything!
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CJ says:
May 27,2010 at 10:54 PM IST
It felt like a setup rather than a press conference with some media
houses not allowed any question
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Hitesh says:
May 28,2010 at 07:28 AM IST
Thank you for your post Rajesh. Couldnt agree with you more. Our PM is
boring and uninspiring
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santosh says:
May 28,2010 at 08:51 AM IST
What a boring article !! ,
No wonder you get the speakers who are boring
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Ruma says:
May 28,2010 at 07:53 AM IST
after reading the comments, I can only say we have become used to
mediocrity and accept anything that is substandard from our political
class
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kulmohan says:
May 28,2010 at 02:58 PM IST
Agree with Rajesh that the PM is weak, but have my own reasons to do
so. If the PM was a Strong man and something of a startegiest, he
could have resigned protesting the long pending justice to 1984 riot
victims.This would have ushered justice to the poor victims who belong
to the same race as our PM.
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(Reply to kulmohan)- B.V.SHENOY says:
May 30,2010 at 11:47 AM IST
For a man who has served the socialist regime for forty years,
including during the emergency, submitting his resignation doesn't
ever arise. If he were of that kind, he would have resigned from PVN's
cabinet over the Babri Masjid issue saying as a secular, his
conscience didn't permit him to continue in the government.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/randomaccess/entry/prime-minister-disappoints-so-do
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BJP meet on 'good governance' next week
TNN, Jun 1, 2010, 03.49am IST
Tags:Narendra Modi|BJP|Nitin gadkari
NEW DELHI: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will give the keynote
address at a BJP stock-taking meeting to be held near Mumbai next
week.
"Named `Suraj-Sankalp' (commitment to good governance), the conference
will focus on review of some very noteworthy and innovative welfare or
development initiatives (taken in the BJP-ruled states)," former Goa
CM Manohar Parrikar said here on Monday.
Asked why Modi was chosen for delivering the keynote address, Parrikar
said the decision was taken keeping his "good" track-record of
governance in mind as well as the fact that he is the "senior most"
BJP chief minister.
Parikkar has been made in-charge of the conclave which will be
inaugurated by BJP chief Nitin Gadkari.
"This is a conference and not a workshop. The good deeds of everyone
will be discussed there... Slips will be discussed too but weaknesses
will not be made public," Parikkar said, when asked how the convention
was planned.
A report card on good governance of the BJP chief ministers and
accountability in their states will be prepared at the convention.
Parrikar argued that if performance in any aspect was bad, it did not
mean the party should not aspire for good governance. BJP is in power
in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal
Pradesh and Karnataka. The party is a junior partner in Bihar and
Punjab.
"Issues like meeting the millennium development goals in education,
employment, health, agriculture, rural development, panchayats and
urban infrastructure will also be discussed," Parrikar said.
Other issues to be discussed include implementation of the party
manifesto, coordination between party organisation and government as
well as keeping alive the link with party's support base.
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha will present a `charter on good
governance'. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj will
speak on relationship between the ruling party and the opposition
while her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley will dwell on
administration and management issues.
BJP Parliamentary Party chairman L K Advani will deliver the
valedictory address.
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UPA 2 report card: Climate change measures highlight of UPA report on
environment
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 09.05pm IST
Tags:UPA|environment|Climate|report card
NEW DELHI: Launch of National Action Plan on Climate Change, the
passage of a bill for early disposal of environmental cases and
unlocking of Rs 9,900 crore green fund lying unused for last several
years, were the highlights of the UPA government mentioned in its
annual report card.
The "Report to the People" released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
on the environment sector talks about the eight missions of the NAPCC
of which solar mission has already been launched.
Three others namely Himalayan Ecosystem, Strategic Knowledge on
Climate Change and Enhanced Energy Efficiency have already been
approved "in principle".
"The Jawahar Nehru National Solar Mission has set an ambitious target
of creating a capacity of 20000 MW grid solar power, 2000 MW off-grid
solar applications and 20 million square metre of solar thermal
collectors by the year 2022," says the report.
One of the objectives is to reduce cost of solar power so that grid
parity can be reached by the end of the mission period it says adding
that the first phase is expected spur development of indigenous solar
manufacturing and technology.
The report said that to operationalise the National Mission for
Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEE), a joint venture company has been
set up with equity investment of Rs 190 crore by four public sector
units.
State governments have also been asked to prepare state-level action
plan on climate change to deal the issue at the domestic level.
On the green fund, it said, states have been asked to set up panels on
Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management & Planning Authorities
(CAMPA) for enabling release of 10 per cent of the Rs 9,900 crores for
the next five years.
One of the major achievement on the green front was the passage of the
National Green Tribunal Bill, 2009, providing for establishment of a
tribunal for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to
environmental protection, conservation of forests and other natural
resources.
It would also ensure enforcement of legal rights relating to the
environment, and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons
and property, the report added.
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UPA 2 report card: Naxalism will be dealt with firmly, prices
controlled
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 09.02pm IST
Tags:Manmohan Singh|UPA|Naxals|Maoists|report card
NEW DELHI: Presenting his government's report on completion of first
year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today vowed to fight terrorism
"root and branch" and enforce the writ of the State in dealing with
naxalism and political extremism.
He identified price rise as one of the major problems and said
necessary corrective steps would be taken to rein in inflation.
Making it clear that he was "conscious of the tremendous challenges"
lying ahead, he said the government will seek "new frontiers and new
directions" to strengthen social and economic foundations during the
remaining tenure of four years.
Singh referred to the various initiatives taken for economic growth,
social upliftment of people and empowerment of children in terms of
education and said such efforts would be taken further to provide an
"effective, purposeful and responsive" government.
'The Report to the People -- 2009-10', which was unveiled by Singh and
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi,
highlighted 12 major themes of the government's priority.
These cover areas like economic resurgence, internal security,
education, health, child rights, food security, empowerment of women,
weaker sections and minorities, rural renewal and foreign relations.
Speaking while releasing the 68-page report, he expressed his
government's determination to fight terrorism "root and branch" and
deal with naxalism "firmly" while addressing developmental issues.
He also asserted that the government would fight the scourge of
communalism and "political extremism".
"We will ensure that this great, liberal and plural nation of ours is
not weakened by hatred and bigotry," he Singh asserted.
He said "one of the major problems that we face at present is the
pressure on prices" which he attributed to the large extent to the
aftermath of the drought.
"But it needs firm action. We have taken a number of steps to contain
inflation and to protect the vulnerable sections of our society," he
said.
"I am happy that prices have shown a moderating trend in recent weeks.
I am hopeful that this trend will continue. We will continue to
monitor the situation very carefully, and take whatever corrective
steps are necessary to rein in inflation," Singh said.
Readers' opinions (4)
Sandy CA 01/06/2010 at 10:37 pm
We need to tag Naxals are terrorists and start dealing with the issues
right away.
Agree (1)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (1)
Raj India 01/06/2010 at 10:35 pm
Do not expect much from these statements. These are just to fool the
public. If goverment wanted to take the tough actions against the
nexals, it would have been taken by now. Mr. PM is good in making
statements but for actions he is nil..Nexals have continued their
crimes but our government has been making statements only..
Agree (1)
Recommend (1)
Rupert Canada 01/06/2010 at 10:12 pm
It is high time, the government declares full fledged war on the
terrorists naxals. At the same time, there are another kind of
terrorists, the greedy babus, MP's and Ministors who are economic
terrorists, who take bribes and other frauds and amass wealth. The
government should be on war footing with these elements, and
confiscate their illgotten wealth, and distribute it among the poorest
of the poor. This would solve the naxal problem to a great extent.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/UPA-2-report-card-Naxalism-will-be-dealt-with-firmly-prices-controlled/articleshow/5999951.cms
UPA 2 report card: Govt committed to enacting food security Act
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 08.58pm IST
Tags:Manmohan Singh|UPA|report card
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the Food Security
Law — promised by the Congress in its election manifesto — is under
formulation and a draft would be released for public debate.
Singh, however, did not give any timeframe for enactment of the law to
provide cheap food to the poor.
"The Food Security Bill is under preparation and it is proposed to
place it (draft) in the public domain for scrutiny and wider
consultation," the Prime Minister said.
Under the proposed Bill, the government intends to provide 25 kg of
rice or wheat at Rs 3 a kg to people below poverty line (BPL). A Group
of Ministers is working out the details to make it another flagship
programme of the UPA after the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Consultations have been held on the proposed Bill with states and
union territories and other stakeholders.
Singh also said that the UPA government is committed to giving
priority to the agriculture sector. "Agriculture and the well being of
India's farmers will receive priority attention."
Highlighting the achievements, the report card of the first year of
the UPA government said, "The nation faced a severe drought in 2009.
The government approved assistance amounting to Rs 4,806 crore from
the National Calamity Contingency Fund to help mitigate the effects of
the drought".
Almost half of the country was affected by last year's drought— the
worst since 1972 — resulting into a massive production loss of
foodgrains, which dipped to 218.19 million tonnes in 2009-10 from
234.47 million tonnes a year-ago.
"Various measures were taken to deal with the (drought)
situation...The impact of drought on crop production was mitigated,"
the report said.
Introduction of nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) policy for all
fertilisers other than urea and cheap farm credit were other major
highlights of last year. NBS aims to balance use of fertiliser and
ensuring soil health.
During April 2009 to January 2010 period, farm credit worth Rs 2.66
lakh crore was disbursed. The target for the entire last fiscal was Rs
3.25 lakh crore.
The government said it provided additional one per cent subvention to
those farmers who repay their loan on time in the last fiscal. The
effective rate was six per cent for them.
The report said that Rs 3,761.43 crore were released during 2009-10
under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.
"Due to interventions under the National Horticulture Mission,
production of fruits, vegetables and spices has increased by 25.6 per
cent, 22 per cent and 11.9 per cent respectively during 2009-10 over
2005-06," it said.
Readers' opinions (2)
pawan bhiwani 01/06/2010 at 11:07 pm
i want to know that on one side govt is starting new schemes for sc
st's but on hte other hand there mishups like mirchpur are taking
place .Not even after the protecion sc family's are thritten by jaat
communities to take there case back .So i want to know from govt that
how can a man servive in this kind of society
raminder Newdelhi 01/06/2010 at 09:26 pm
The Congress has remained in the power for most of the years in post
independence era and is responsible for the awesome position of the
PDS system. When the system is there for so many years and the
position of the food grains has remained far above satisfactory in so
many year and country is progressive why the PDS is failed lot.Why
there is need to such act. The answer is simple the ways and means of
PDS were so poor that it became akin to corrupt practices of the
officials and vendors involved in it. There were no stringent laws and
so many loopholes were left for making money out of it. Why big houses
do not come forward and take the PDS system in their hand when there
is no dearth of capital/ market
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UPA-2-report-card-Govt-committed-to-enacting-food-security-Act/articleshow/5999937.cms
UPA 2 report card: Sustained improvement in disease control programmes
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 08.42pm IST
Tags:UPA|health|disease control programmes
NEW DELHI: Sustained improvement in disease control programmes,
specially tuberculosis, and perceptible improvement in rural health
care are the highlights of the UPA-II's report card in the health
sector.
In the 'Report to the People' released here today by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, the government said, during 2009-10, more than 36,000
village health and sanitation committees were set up, over 1,300
facility-based Rogi Kalyan Samitis were formed and over 53,000
accredited social health activists (ASHAs) were selected and trained.
Apart from this, more than 20,000 doctors and paramedical personnel
were added to the public health system.
Over 4,984 new health sub-centre buildings, 254 primary health centre
(PHC) buildings and 102 community health centre (CHC) buildings were
completed, 3,246 sub-centre buildings, 732 PHC buildings, 264 CHC
buildings and 28 district hospital buildings were upgraded or
renovated.
The report said all disease control programmes have shown sustained
improvement, adding, there was reduction in mortality due to malaria,
kala-azar and dengue, as well as reduction in the incidence of
filarial infection.
Regarding tuberculosis, a cure rate of 87 per cent has been
maintained, while the case detection rate has increased from 70 per
cent in 2007 to 72 per cent in 2009, it said.
The document mentions the scheme for augmenting nursing personnel by
setting up 269 new auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) and general nurse
midwife (GNM) schools in backward and under-served districts of the
country, which has been started at a cost of around Rs 2,000 crore.
This will create additional capacity of 16,000 trained nurses
annually, it said.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), work orders
have been issued for the medical college complex for six AIIMS-like
institutions, taken up under the first phase, the report said.
For promoting alternate systems of medicine, a modified scheme for
mainstreaming of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy has
been sanctioned and is under implementation at a total cost of Rs 675
crore.
As part of this mainstreaming activity, 2,368 doctors and 2,184 AYUSH
paramedic staff were appointed during 2009-10.
The government says in the report that the H1N1 pandemic was also
managed effectively.
More than one crore in-bound passengers were screened at international
airports, new laboratories for testing H1N1 cases were established,
the drug Oseltamivir was supplied to state governments free of cost,
and vaccines were imported and supplied to state governments for
vaccinating health workers, it said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UPA-2-report-card-Sustained-improvement-in-disease-control-programmes/articleshow/5999853.cms
UPA 2 report card: Rs 36,000 cr for basic services to urban poor,
slums
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 08.21pm IST
Tags:Manmohan Singh|Rural Development|UPA|Poverty|poor|report
card
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said his government
will invest Rs 36,000 crore in programmes for providing basic services
to urban poor and development of slums.
In the annual report card of his government's performance, Singh said,
"Of the projects sanctioned under the JNNURM so far, an investment of
around Rs 36,000 crore is devoted to the programmes for basic services
to urban poor and development of slums."
The UPA-II aims to make the country slum-free in the next five years
under the Rajiv Awas Yojana for slum dwellers.
"Construction of around 1.5 million houses for the poor and slum
dwellers has been approved," the report card states.
Under RAY, affordable housing would be provided to the urban poor and
they would be given property rights as well.
Readers' opinions (4)
Shekhar new york 01/06/2010 at 10:30 pm
why is that every government project is named after RAjiv or Indira or
Nehru?
Agree (1)
Disagree (1)
Basab Roy Durgapur 01/06/2010 at 09:54 pm
The UPA2 Report Card has detailed the achievements recorded from the
date it has resume its duty after taking Oath. The achievments are
more or less satisfactory, and it is hoped that the UPA2 will achieve
better results. Curiously it has not highlighted the Constraints it
faced during the period. In addition to Maoists problem, it would be
better should it record the absence of 'Joint responsibilities'
noticed among the Ministers and the proposed remedial action to be
taken by UPA2. The Media was kind enough to bring all those
constraints in public. So, hiding the fact doesnot increase the
'Confidence Level' among the Citizens.
Agree (1)
Dhruv Dahiya Northern Ireland 01/06/2010 at 09:27 pm
Slum-free within the next 5 years?
Shanthver PUne 01/06/2010 at 09:15 pm
There are still somany jobless people . I don't understand why PM is
giving false statements . Let him provide full details of employement
and How 36000cr gone wasted.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UPA-2-report-card-Rs-36000-cr-for-basic-services-to-urban-poor-slums/articleshow/5999779.cms
UPA 2 report card: School facilities expanding rapidly
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 08.18pm IST
Tags:Manmohan Singh|UPA|Education|schools|report card
NEW DELHI: Expanding educational facilities to children, the UPA
government has opened nearly 20,000 elementary schools across the
country after it came to power last May.
According to a report card, released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
today, 19,247 primary and upper primary schools have been opened in
2009-10 till December end.
These facilities include 7,400 primary schools and 11,847 upper
primary schools. Over 35,000 teachers have been appointed in this
period and 9,708 additional classrooms constructed.
Similarly, 26.62 lakh teachers have been provided in-service training
and 9.54 crore children given textbooks, the report said.
Government has launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan with the
objective of improving access to secondary education. Clearance has
been given for setting up of 2,478 new schools and improving 6,998
existing schools under the scheme, it said.
These initiatives assume significance in view of the enactment of the
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, which makes
education the fundamental right of every child. The Act came to effect
from April one this year.
To promote girls' education, government has started a scheme for the
establishment and management separate hostels for them in the
educationally backward blocks. During 2009-10, approval has been given
to set up 379 such hostels in 11 states.
Similarly, in higher education, the government has embarked upon a
number of initiatives like setting up of 16 central universities, six
IIMs, two IITs and ten NITs.
The IIMs will be set up at Rohtak, Raipur, Ranchi, Tiruchirapalli,
Kashipur and Udaipur.
Comments (15)
True Indian India 01 Jun, 2010 11:30 PM
Does these include the number of schools destroyed by Moists as
well :)Agree (1)
Recommend (1)
kalyan hyderabad 01 Jun, 2010 10:57 PMYes it should not be on papers
the schools should perfectly run by themAgree (1)
Recommend (1)
Vijay Muscat 01 Jun, 2010 10:53 PM
All these cannot be said an achievement. 1/3 rd of the people below
poverty in the world is in India. Maoists are gunning down the
innocents as well as Jawans. Terrorists are entering into our country
and storming hotels like Oberoi, Taj etc. So what security is for the
citizens. So what for this Government. Sad performance of Job. People
loose confidence in our present system. In nutshell the system will
collapse. AnarchyAgree (1)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (1)
Mr.D Bangkok 01 Jun, 2010 10:43 PM
A minor step to lead in better way. We need much more than this.
Anyway, thank you.Agree (1)
Disagree (1)
MumbaiBoy Atlanta 01 Jun, 2010 10:40 PM
Alongwith Report card the PM should publish all details as to where
these schools are opened, what are the school names, so that people
can scrutinize these claimsAgree (1)
Recommend (1)
Rohan Mumbai 01 Jun, 2010 10:22 PM
I hope this number is not only on papers, but are implemented on
groundAgree (1)
Recommend (1)
Sham Central America 01 Jun, 2010 10:18 PM
what a great deal? India should have taken all these initiatives at
the time of independence itself. Time for congress to correct its
mistakes and give what is due to its citizen and what they were denied
because of congress's elitist policies.Agree (1)
Disagree (1)
INDIAN INDIA 01 Jun, 2010 10:08 PM
CONGRESS HAS CHANCE TO BECOME NO.1 PARTY. BUT FIRST CONGRESS SHOULD
FULFILL ALL HER POLL PROMISES. THEN CONGRESS WILL WIN IN MAJORITY AND
WILL BECOME NO.1 NATIONAL PARTY. "RIGHT TO EDUCATION"Agree (0)
Indian India 01 Jun, 2010 10:48 PM
Not sure if my response is going to be live, but i am trying -Agree
(0)
Adnan Bangalore 01 Jun, 2010 09:56 PM
this interesting news..but only if the report card is true
vishu muscat 01 Jun, 2010 09:52 PM
Can we have the list / details of the 20,000 new schools opened by
UPA...!!! How many teachers are employed and from where they came
from..? Are they fit to teach the children....? Is it a joke...!!!!
1Agree (1)
Recommend (1)
Ram USA 01 Jun, 2010 09:46 PM
increasing number of educational institutes is highly appreciated
howeverAgree (0)
Praveen Canada 01 Jun, 2010 09:42 PM
Thats a wonderful report. And mind it, it is not an expenditure, its
an investment. Give them education, make them good citizens and its
the right apporach rather than gifting them jobs under reservation.
Along with offer them free books, stationery, uniform, food and extra
coaching. Sooner than later, you will find India jumping by bounds.
Hats off.Agree (0)
BIJOY ASSAM 01 Jun, 2010 09:30 PM
UPA should also let us know how many innocent lives were lost due to
Nuxal and Jihadi terror attacks during their tenure. Both sides of a
coin make a real coin and before blowing their trumpet we the UPA
should answer these questions.Agree (1)
Desai USA 01 Jun, 2010 09:13 PM
On paper?
UPA govt report card is propaganda, not reality: BJP
PTI, Jun 1, 2010, 08.50pm IST
Tags:Manmohan Singh|UPA|report card
NEW DELHI: BJP today dismissed as propaganda the UPA government's
report card and said the Centre has failed to check prices, is
confused on how to fight Maoists, has corrupt and irresponsible
ministers and lacks an independent foreign policy.
"I think it is important for a government to be judged by the people
rather than judge itself. What has been released today is propaganda,
not a reality," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley
said.
The senior BJP leader alleged that the UPA regime had failed on all
fronts.
"The reality is that prices have remained unchecked, there is
confusion on how to fight Maoists, corruption of some ministers is
going unchecked, there is irresponsible ministerial behaviour, and
there is absence of pursuit of an independent foreign policy," Jaitley
said.
The senior BJP leader labelled the UPA regime as an "incoherent and
non-performing government".
Readers' opinions (2)
Sandy CA 01/06/2010 at 10:34 pm
I agree with Prashant. It is so easy to finger point at your
opposition. Corruption and inefficiency is another side of any
government even in the most developed economies. It exists everywhere.
However, I am pretty impressed with the UPA report card so far. If BJP
is jealous of this they can start a healthy competition by really
doing something positive and please for god's sake forget Hinduism.
We, Indians have gone past that era long back!!!
Agree (1)
Recommend (1)
prashant india 01/06/2010 at 10:03 pm
the govt is doing a fine job in trying to bringing transparency, by
coming in front of public on its own with the report card which deals
with development issues and not the non issues like caste, religion
etc which are the staple diet of BJP.. as for being judged by the
people, the people have judged exactly one year ago and the result is
known as much to Mr arun Jaitley as to any one else in the country..
as far as maoist issues are concerned... its agreed that shivraj patil
was an impotent home minister and even advani who was home minister
before him didnt do any good, they just turned a blind eye to the
issue,, however Mr Chitambaram has taken the bull by the horn and the
disturbance you see are the result of that.. but i m sure he is taking
steps in right directions and not being an impotent home minister like
patil and advani( so much for being the lauhpurush)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UPA-govt-report-card-is-propaganda-not-reality-BJP/articleshow/5999901.cms
UPA2 has a bad case of teen acne
M J Akbar, 04 April 2010, 01:52 AM IST
2010 is still in its adolescent phase: is that the reason for a sudden
rash of acne on the government’s face? Nothing serious, nothing
incurable; just a sense that life would be so much better without the
itch and cream-resistant spots. In January, the government looked
invulnerable. March became a month of stumbles and at least one spill
on a banana skin.
Stepping carefully into April, Dr Manmohan Singh spoke to the nation
on the undeniable virtues of compulsory education, a commitment that
is possibly six decades overdue but welcome nevertheless. His
sincerity was apparent (he is a professor, after all) but one wonders
why his speechwriters are chained to trite phrases, impervious to the
magic of change, possibility and new ideas. Think about it: the
mobile phone can become the latest driver of literacy. Aspiration as
much as need is taking the mobile to villages. Its functions include
SMS, which requires literacy. Technology and its relationship to the
market can be so easily harnessed into a vision of upliftment.
Did this speech also have something to do with the sudden reassertion
of Mrs Sonia Gandhi into governance space?
Mrs Gandhi has been the architect of two general election victories;
her role as party chief and silent front-bench MP was incompatible
with her real status. During UPA1, she used the National Advisory
Council (NAC) as the parent of social policy, with government as its
nurse. Implicit was the unmentioned recognition of Dr Singh as an
apolitical Prime Minister who needed support systems from the
political class. Egos can get easily ruffled in such a balance of
power, but one of Dr Singh’s remarkable characteristics is the ability
to keep his ego so effectively disguised that no one is totally sure
if he has one.
Dr Singh’s ego is still heavily veiled, despite the fact that the
lottery winner of UPA1 has evolved into the unquestioned Prime
Minister of UPA2. But his government has been prone to problems and
drift. Oddly, while Dr Singh is more assertive with bureaucrats, he
has become meeker towards politicians. Hands-on and hands-off are
calibrated very carefully in the capital. NAC2 does not strengthen Mrs
Gandhi because no one questioned her power before she revived it. It
does, however, weaken the UPA2 Prime Minister, who should not need
support systems after six years in office. Perception is an important
element of power, since reality is opaque. Delhi reads body language
far more astutely than any script. The Prime Minister has complained
about empty chairs at Cabinet meetings. This is not because missing
Cabinet ministers are busy serving the nation with their last drop of
blood. They simply do not care.
Would they have been absent from a Sonia Gandhi Cabinet meeting?
Dr Singh has been bled by the fact that three initiatives identified
with him -- Indo-US relations, peace with Pakistan, and economic
reform -- have stalled. Pakistan has snubbed India on terrorism and
laughed its way to American and Chinese banks and arsenals. Obama gave
dinner to Dr Singh and strategic partnership to General Kayani. China
has offered advice to Delhi and two nuclear plants, with 82%
financing, to Islamabad, even as it tries to pick up the Iranian gas
project and turns it north via Pakistan with a $2.5 billion
investment. Dr Singh stalled the Iran-Pak-India gas pipeline to
appease Washington; Pakistan has no such fears.
For five years Dr Singh accused the Left of sabotaging economic
reforms. Well, the Left has sabotaged itself; where are the reforms?
The Congress, necessarily sensitive to public opinion, has launched a
guerrilla war against the government’s civilian nuclear liability
bill, currently trapped between a rock called Parliament and a hard
place called the American nuclear industry. A resurrected NAC confirms
the distance between party, which has to win elections, and
government, which has to run the country. Its members, personally
chosen by Mrs Gandhi, will function as a virtual politburo, setting a
populist agenda and challenging the executive to find the resources,
management skills and delivery systems for implementation.
Is it too early for Mrs Gandhi to worry about an election scheduled
for 2014? She is clearly trying to bridge the gap between confidence
and overconfidence. The women’s bill strengthened the party but
weakened the government. Lalu Prasad, expert at mordant similes, notes
that it takes only four people to carry a corpse to the burning ghat
and he has four MPs. The government is not in danger, merely hobbled
by an uncertainty that will be exploited by the Opposition during
every Parliament session. It is never too early to worry.
The banana skin was the spat with Amitabh Bachchan. The Congress
pontificated while people were laughing. When you have acne, you do
tend to get cross when a smile may be all that is necessary.
Comments:
Anant P Dehadrai says:
April 04,2010 at 06:34 AM IST
It's a pleasure reading your column.But disappointed by the fact that
there is no mention of increasing corruption which is really like
small-pox and not acne!Moreover, isn't it now crystal clear that the
real seat of power is 10 Janpath!!
Agree (43)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (7)
mannu says:
April 04,2010 at 07:46 AM IST
this is the very irony of our so called democratic political system
that even for a slightest of change for the betterment of the nation
requires nodding of all those who have no concerns for this nation .
Agree (29)
Disagree (5)
Recommend (5)
vibhaas says:
April 04,2010 at 09:48 AM IST
as usual a great article Essemtially Manmohan Singh has sort of being
impractical in dealings with US as well as pakistan. Being idealistic
rather than being smart. Pakistan has outsmarted India as it has
support of two superpowers on earth China as well as US. We have none
but empty words from US. So Manmohan singh needs to see US and westerm
world with the glasses of Indian interests rather than placating them
on all counts.
Agree (31)
Disagree (12)
Recommend (7)
Ashok Gupta says:
April 04,2010 at 10:31 AM IST
Dr.Manmohan Singh Govt. not only got snubbed by China and Pakistan but
USA also. This has so far proved to be a vey weak Govt. nationally and
internationally both.
Indo-US Nuclear deal (Bill) is just the half commitmemt by the US to
India. The bill is not fully takes care of India's interests. There
are number of clauses which goes against India's overall interests,
which are coming up one by one. Through this bill or agreement USA and
other Europian contries will try to make India as a Dumping ground for
Nuclear waiste, without any compensation to the hazards, this is going
to create for the common man.
Dr.Manmohan Singh hardy commands any respect from his cabinet
colleagues, that is why empty chairs during a Cabinet Meeting.
The only Cabinet Minister who respects Dr.Singh Is Our Home Minister
P.Chidambaran, becuse he believes in respecting the right Chair and is
the best in the team. He is one of the Best Home Minister we have
after may be three decades. He is the one who is taking the issues
concerning the Home Ministry like Naxalism/ Terrorism/Chins/Arunachal,
head-on.
Finally Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is a politician and he appointed Dr.Singh,
not because of any love for him but because Dr. Singh has no voice of
himself.
Her ultimate aim to bring Rahul Gandhi to this Chair and waiting - him
to attain a maturity to handle this chair.
The opposition is as on today is very weak. Netas like Lalu/ Mayawati/
Mulayam Singh etc has no national Interests. The only Nationalistc
Party BJP, in opposition is in shambles, because of internal
bickerings and lack of leadership.
Rest Later.
Agree (52)
Disagree (10)
Recommend (22)
rohitchandavarker says:
April 04,2010 at 10:37 AM IST
Mr Singh's weakest point happens to be madame's strongest,i.e.mass
base & appeal.This was the singular reason for Singh to be appointed
PM.He would never threaten the dynasty's hold over Govt &
country.Hence he is expendable,if need be.The dilemma faced by Singh
is the extent to which he can manoeuvre & guide his vision for the
country.Far sighted aims carry long gestation periods,something
unacceptable to politicians used to 5 year terms.The nuke deal is one
of them.The benefits will accrue over the longer term hence the
pusillanimity of the Cong.to support him.
The revival of NAC is a subtle hint to reiterate the preeminence of
madame to Singh.Also the NAC could play spoiler to Singh's agenda for
reform thereby making his position untenable in the months to
come.Singh's acid test will be the nuke liability bill,a necessary
precondition for full scale nuclear commerce to begin.It will be
interesting to watch closely madame's moves in this regard.Watch for
pointers from the sycophants for learning madame's thinking.The
bonhomie seems to be slowly eclipsed by real politik & the desire to
anoint Gandhi Jr,come 2014.If Singh is given a free hand,2014 could be
construed as a referendum on the performance of UPA2,specifically
Singh's, something madame is against, as this will preclude her son's
accession.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/TheSiegeWithin/entry/upa2-has-a-bad-case
India Political Spectrum Earns A ZeroPriyanka Bhardwaj, 28 May 2010,
11:52 AM IST
Judgments are being passed on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on
completion of a full year of United Progressive Alliance Part-II in
government.
As emphasized at the press conference, Manmohan left nobody in doubt
that Sonia Gandhi is the supreme leader, and the Congress continues to
be a Gandhi bastion, with Rahul too coming of his own.
The party is supreme.
UPA-I was a success of sorts and electoral rewards of a second tenure
were not without merit. But recessionary times demand a far better
innings.
First some words in favor of Singh. In a democracy that permits many
options Singh is no doubt an understated, rational and sane voice that
rises above the cacophony of rabble rousing, regressive and divisive
politics.
Navin Jindal is promoting a primitive practice; Mayawati is lost in a
world of statues and Ambedkar themed parks; Laloo Yadav and Mulayam
Singh Yadav shamelessly play the caste-card, with nothing to show for
progress; Prakash Karat and his band wagon maintain a historic
opposition to anything new that is introduced including a rabid
dislike for America; Raj Thackrey has carved his niche in xenophobia-
laced regional promotion; LK Advani cannot but be mistrusted for his
saffron ideology more so for endorsing the Gujarat communal riots.
The list can go on.
In such a state of mess, Singh stands out as a viable and sensible
option. On the flip side, the administration seems under no pressure
for proactive or positive performance and has slipped into
complacency.
Singh has infused a new momentum into Indo-Pak talks, Foreign Varsity
Bill and Nuclear Liability Bill, yet on the domestic front, there is
much left to be done.
There are issues of agrarian crisis, inflation, rampant corruption,
internal security threats from Maoists and vast implementation gaps
that require immediate re-dressal in sectors (especially social) like
education, health, power, infrastructure and provision of basic civic
amenities.
Commitments have remained verbal, without consensus and not achieved.
In fact the Manmohan self-report card does not enumerate any list of
deliverables.
Turning back to UPA-I regime the same party headed by the same person
strove hard to outshine the BJP, who in turn tried to make a mark
(atomic tests, Indo-Pak peace initiatives) under Vajpayee when they
first came to power.
UPA-I tried to push the mandate of the Common Minimum Program, while
trying not to be bullied by the Left. Thus, big ideas such as the Indo-
US Deal, National Rural Employment Guarantee Program, etc. were
pushed.
In UPA-I Singh the author of liberalization delivered 9 % growth.
Thus, much more was expected in the first year UPA II that has instead
slipped into retaining a status quo and saving the full tenure to
build an electoral plank of stability.
Unless new ideas (such as the Indo-US nuclear deal) are pushed
through, fingers will continue to be pointed at Manmohan, his party
and also to the political opposition that has failed miserably to
provide with any minimum threshold of competition to the ruling
combine.
The past year has largely been wasted on elitist politics and elitist
scams (IPL and 3G spectrum). Growth alone cannot suffice. Estimates of
5-6% of inflation by December, 8.5% of GDP in 2010-11 and 10% of
medium-term growth target have to move beyond “feel good” effects.
Singh has realized that all is not right, “I am the first person to
admit that we could have done more,” he said.
There is a need for course correction and a direct and sustained
attack on the problems of the majority population. The government
needs to be a strong regulator to enable massive and timely public-
private investments into relevant sectors such as power.
It may serve well for Singh to go back to his speech in budget of
1994-95 when he recited Victor Hugo: “No power on earth can stop an
idea whose time has come.”
India needs new ideas, not press conferences or interviews.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in Hourglass are the author's own.
Comments:
indiamight says:
May 28,2010 at 12:22 PM IST
ur a combination of brains and beauty i must say... keep it up...its a
jingle out there...
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Sharda Bhargav says:
May 28,2010 at 02:24 PM IST
Madam, with wavering partners, govt can't be said on stable planks. It
borrows crutches just to tread in safe existence. Effective
deliverables may not be expected so long as the govt remains in
neutral gear, may be till next election.
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Amit says:
May 28,2010 at 03:49 PM IST
It was 2G spectrum....
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Prof. Ramesh Sinha says:
May 28,2010 at 04:31 PM IST
Your present post portrays transparant but true picture of prime
minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his UPA II. Congrats for balanced and
benevolent observation, specially that of ONE YEAR OF UPA II. Couldn't
it be of more relevance, had your piece contained advisaries to
challenges before the UPA II like price rise, food economy,
corruption, caste war, naxalism and ultimately terrorism ?
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VS says:
May 28,2010 at 06:33 PM IST
The private sector (people) needs to take charge; the role of the
government needs to shrink to more directional, defense and
infrastructure (selectively) related works.
In so many articles on the PM, government and the politicians there is
no mention of the private sector responsibility (or duty).
I am yet to hear of any Ambani (proxy for Tata, Birla, Modi, Jindal,
Goderej, Mahindra, Mallya, Singhanias, Infosys, ITC, JP Group, Wipro,
Times group, ICICI, Appolo, MRF and the likes) initiative beyond the
great big house and some localized charities (which get loads of
publicity) and IPL.
Maybe I have missed out, but are there any (many) scholarships,
bursaries, business schools, engineering schools, art galleries, etc.
sponsored (adopted) by them. Do they sponsor (any / many) Phd.
students? (I know there are some trusts which were formed years ago)
Are the developed countries only built by the government through
government programs? Should we just look up to the PM and hope that
he/ she delivers?
And, every time we have a poor/ weak/ corrupt/ biased/ silly PM we
take steps back as a country.
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(Reply to VS)- Raghubir Prasad says:
May 29,2010 at 12:46 PM IST
VS, the private sector is busy minting money on people's misery. It is
totally unprincipled and undependable.
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h.mani says:
May 28,2010 at 08:33 PM IST
Govt is for all the people,non-governance is not governing,get
real,goi has not governed for ages,it is a motly crowd which is just
existing from one election cycle to next,it is mere excuse to say they
have (congress)no majority,pray answer me they had plenty majority and
some during nehru and indhra,and Rajiv,pl do not indulge in short
memory and do not rewrite history.
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Rover says:
May 29,2010 at 11:44 AM IST
Since you seculars seem to have such a bee in your bonnet about the
Gujarat riots, and you cannot bring yourself to forgo mentioning it
everytime you speak/write, please share your thoughts on the Hindus
who were burnt in Godhra, and the Kashmiri Hindus who are refugees in
their own country.
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Rohit says:
May 31,2010 at 11:25 AM IST
Why does no one talk about the KAshimir Hindus ??
BECAUSE those affected were HINDUS and this country's government is
ANTI HINDU!!
Shame on us for accepting such discrimination.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hourglass/entry/india-political-spectrum-earns-a
Prime Minister disappoints, so do journalists
Rajesh Kalra, 25 May 2010, 04:01 PM IST
How many of you saw the Prime Minister’s first press conference
yesterday? If you did, and felt thoroughly bored through the 1.5 hours
of sheer torture, spare a thought for me. I was in the same hall.
Now, all over the world, the head-of-state (government) press
conferences are eagerly awaited. It allows the media to come face to
face with the nation’s chief executive, without any aides. It not only
gives us the chance to find out what is in store for the nation, and
hear it directly from the person who matters most, but also form an
opinion about the grasp that the person has of the challenges the
nation faces. Does he have it in him to steer the nation?
Dr Manmohan Singh is undoubtedly among the most qualified people
holding such jobs in the world. His excellent background in economics
has come in very handy, especially in light of the financial turmoil
the world has seen in the recent past. The same cannot be said about
his public/press dealings, unfortunately. And yesterday’s press
conference was proof enough.
For a premier who has often been accused of being weak, this was one
chance to set the record straight. He could have grabbed the occasion
to speak straight, make strong points about his handling of various
situations etc to not only shut up the pesky scribes, but even send a
signal to his team that he means business. He could have indulged in
some banter with the media, including a huge cache of international
media, to make a statement. Yes, I am in control and am not overawed
by any of you. Instead, it was a Prime Minister who seemed almost
scared to take a stand, scared to upset anyone, stonewall tough
questions with platitudes, and seem almost under-prepared to answer
tough questions, not that there were too many.
I thought he began on a good note by deciding not to read his opening
remarks that had been circulated half an hour before he arrived.
Imagine hearing him go on in his monotone, rambling, deadpan manner
for twenty minutes as he trundles through motherhood statements it
contained. But the relief was short-lived. For he did exactly that in
his responses, which, minus any accompanying energy, makes it worse.
May seem uncharitable, but the only time he seemed energetic and
excited was when a questioner asked about whether he had asked Rahul
Gandhi to join the government.
Our PM perked up, and gushed how Rahul baba was most qualified to be a
member of his council of ministers, but had been reluctant to join
because he wanted to rebuild the party. And then the tireless soldier
of the party that our doc is, added he is a member of the party and
Mrs Gandhi is the president of the party and if the party so desired,
he would step down immediately. I really wondered where that came
from, for at no point did the questioner hint that he ought to step
down to make way for Rahul G. If he is trying to dispel the perception
that he is a puppet, this unnecessary add-on response did not help.
But who knows, it may even be deliberate. I accept the situation and
if that is what keeps my position safe, so be it. In all this, the one
positive was the number of journos called upon to ask questions from
the regional language press from all over the country.
Coming back to the questions, I fail to understand why our media
cannot ask sharp, incisive questions? And more importantly, why do
they believe in sermonizing and lecturing in the garb of questions? I
remember when my colleague had the chance to interview George W Bush
before his India trip a few years ago. He had been given very limited
time, so wanted to ensure no time is wasted in questioning. He
rehearsed innumerable times before going in for the interview. The
idea was to get Bush to talk, not talk to him. Seems our scribes still
don’t get that. And while I waited for the media advisor to pick some
foreign correspondents too for some questions, he let me down. Quite
surprising, for their questions are often direct and to the point.
What was even more surprising was that I had seen the Press
Information Bureau guys take questions from some of them in advance.
Perhaps the questions were too uncomfortable to answer.
As a profession, journalism has its pros and cons. A number of people
think it is glamorous. Some find the scribe’s easy access to top
politicians and celebs a heady potion. I have also had friends ask me
if I can get them the ‘Press’ sticker for their cars. The perception
is that the traffic police are lenient if the vehicle sports the Press
sticker.
Now if you consider these as pros, I can tell you from experience that
the cons outweigh the pros any day. And one of the major cons is
attending numerous press conferences and seminars. And even among
those, not many have been as boring as the one yesterday. Mr Prime
Minister, please prove us wrong!
Comments:
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maha says:
May 25,2010 at 05:39 PM IST
You said you were there.Dint you ask any questions to the premier?
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(Reply to maha)- Rajesh Kalra says:
May 25,2010 at 05:48 PM IST
There were hundreds of journalists and only a few were picked to ask
questions, at random.
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(Reply to Rajesh Kalra)- Anshuman Singh says:
May 25,2010 at 06:46 PM IST
Can you share the question that you would have asked, had you been
picked?
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(Reply to Anshuman Singh)- Rajesh Kalra says:
May 25,2010 at 06:56 PM IST
If picked, I wanted to ask about the growing indiscipline and
lawlessness in urban India and the overall impact it has on growth. It
is a lot more complicated than what can be said here.
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(Reply to Rajesh Kalra)- Sughosh Bansal says:
May 25,2010 at 06:55 PM IST
Then what were you doing. If you could not persue your question, then
you are incompetent to write this piece of story
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- Devyani Sibbal says:
May 25,2010 at 08:32 PM IST
Just to tell you, Sughosh that i totally disagree with what you have
said.Rajesh has shown guts which none of the senior journalists has
shown.
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- Juao says:
May 25,2010 at 08:38 PM IST
And what the hell are you, Sughosh Bansal?
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- Sanjay M says:
May 25,2010 at 08:38 PM IST
Sughosh ,
What do you mean by Pursue your question. R u studying in school.
Moderate article by Rajesh , I thought there is NO STING in article
either , where Some really straight forward questions india facing
today could be put up.
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- sharan says:
May 26,2010 at 08:23 AM IST
You're quite stupid in your response, and unnecessarily offensive.
That's not how things work in India. There are maybe hundreds of so-
called journalists mobbing around asking all kinds of inane questions,
and naturally those people will pick the most convenient questions to
answer. As Rajesh mentioned, they did not pick even one question from
foreign journalists, probably because their questions are well thought-
out and direct and to the point, and they are not easy to answer and
cannot be answered with general nonsense.
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- Sandip says:
May 26,2010 at 10:44 AM IST
how could he ask if not chosen? start shouting in the tradition of our
parliament!!
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(Reply to Sughosh Bansal)- Shashidhar says:
May 26,2010 at 02:27 PM IST
Mr Rajesh, you have commented that most of the media questions were
not sharp or incisive. Sadly even your proposed question is very
general & vague. Doubt if MMS would have given any meaningful reply to
that except sermonising on it. Poor show all round.
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(Reply to Rajesh Kalra)- VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:35 PM IST
and please tell us what would have been your question??
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(Reply to VS)- Anshuman Singh says:
May 26,2010 at 09:19 AM IST
@VS - Rajesh has already specified that above, please read the trail.
@Rajesh - Thank you for sharing the question.
Also, the points made in your post are pertinent and thought
provoking.
I think the national leaders must have more principles and should be
value driven. More than anything else they must show more belief in
themselves by taking unflinching stands on the important issues.
Sadly, decision making, clarity of vision and leading by example do
not seem to feature in the trait list of our national leaders. They
continue being lazily submissive at international and national stage
where assertiveness & dogged determination is most required.
All of them look like a happy go lucky bunch acting like they are
doing India a favor by occupying the country's most important
positions.
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(Reply to Rajesh Kalra)- B.V.SHENOY says:
May 30,2010 at 10:47 AM IST
Dear Rajesh Kalra,
It is a lot more complicated than can be stated here. However, my
conjecture is that the questions were given inadvance to hand-picked
journos, who could be trusted to ask only handed-down questions.The
whole thing was stage managed.
Gautam says:
May 26,2010 at 07:45 AM IST
" And then the tireless soldier of the party that our doc is, added he
is a member of the party and Mrs Gandhi is the president of the party
and if the party so desired, he would step down immediately. I really
wondered where that came from, for at no point did the questioner hint
that he ought to step down to make way for Rahul G.".. Mr. Karla you
are wrong. You were obviously sleeping during the press conference or
writing this blog instead of paying attention. The CNN-IBN reported
specifically asked if MMS will step down before end of term and make
way for Rahul Gandhi. To which MMS answered that as a Congress person,
he will abide by the Congress' decision and make way for whoever the
Congress choses.
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(Reply to Gautam)- Mallika Minocha says:
May 26,2010 at 10:23 AM IST
Gautamji, if Rajesh was indeed sleeping during the press conference
(which is not true), we have to thank the mumbling, soporific, hardly
audible,& apologetic voice of our PM for that. I could hardly hear
what he said although I raised the volume of my TV. And most of the
time the expression on his face gave me the impression that he was
making a condolence speech.
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(Reply to Mallika Minocha)- gautam says:
May 26,2010 at 01:46 PM IST
Ms. Mallika, I wonder y Mr. Karla didn't recollect the question posed
to MMS. And why he did not check his notes before saying such things
on the blog. Please see http://pib.nic.in/archieve/others/2010/may/d2010052401.pdf.
The entire transcript of MMS' press conference is available and you
will see on Page 15 the specific question/answer I speak about. I have
nothing against Mr. Karla. Just a trifle disappointed that a
responsible senior journalist like him should make such irresponsible
and insinuating statements.
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(Reply to gautam)- Mallika Minocha says:
May 26,2010 at 02:28 PM IST
I suggest you read Rajesh's blog & his posts once again. he has
clarified the points. But if someone likes the dynasty rule & the
henpecked PM so much that he does not see any faults, good luck to
him.
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(Reply to Mallika Minocha)- Shashi says:
May 27,2010 at 11:34 AM IST
Mallika's observations are spot on. MMS body language was poor and his
lips movement was obscured by his facial hair. His monotonous drone
was boring while he appeared to be making a funeral speech. While his
substance was predictable, his delivery style was deplorable. Entirely
forgettable show.
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vgr says:
May 25,2010 at 09:12 PM IST
Sir, If only few are hand picked to ask questions, and those few dint
had anything good to ask then the conference becomes pointless.
How about all the journalists sit together compile all their questions
and pick the best questions among them and make a list. Anyone picked
can ask the questions in order. Just a suggestion.
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(Reply to vgr)- VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:04 PM IST
and who are you to suggest!!!
you seem too educated to be voicing your opinion.....get back to work
(or what ever you were doing).
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(Reply to VS)- Janaki Verma says:
May 26,2010 at 10:38 AM IST
Well, VS, after reading all the crap you have painstakingly written in
this blog, whatever else we can accuse you of, we can't accuse you of
good manners.
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(Reply to VS)- Raghubir Prasad says:
May 26,2010 at 10:59 AM IST
Look, VS,after reading your post, as a student of Sanskrit, I can't
resist quoting a Sanskrit proverb: Shesham kopen poorayet---he made up
for the lack of logical content in his argument by getting angry.
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(Reply to vgr)- VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:05 PM IST
"sir," well thats a wrong begining to begin with.
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(Reply to VS)- Jeevan Dhiraj says:
May 26,2010 at 11:07 AM IST
See, VS, the basic problem is that some of us , who have decent
manners, believe in addressing people as,"Sir". And we don't mind
addressing even you as , "Sir"
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(Reply to vgr)- CR says:
May 25,2010 at 11:19 PM IST
Good suggestion VGR. But do you think this is possible? A distant
dream boss. Moreover, our journalists need to learn to ask open ended
questions first. One, the questions are long, two they throw in a few
options for a question and this is foolish. Some interviews are like
as if you are watching a fight, the interviewers almost torture the
guest, they speak the most of the program....
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Verma SK says:
May 25,2010 at 04:31 PM IST
The questions were as gentle as the gentleman answering them. When
asked about 2G Telecom controversary, PM said action will be taken
against the concerned if found guilty. No body could have answered
that action will be taken even if found not guilty, or that no action
will be taken even if found guilty.
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(Reply to Verma SK)- Rajeev says:
May 25,2010 at 05:05 PM IST
His interview only proved once again that he is at best the manager of
the government and not someone who could lead a nation of 1 billion.
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(Reply to Rajeev)- Praveen says:
May 25,2010 at 10:01 PM IST
MMS was not a politician. Remember, he even lost the election. He was
especially chosen to decorate the PM's chair and vacate it as and when
asked to. He has, indeed, proved to be an appropriate puppet. Even
Sita Ram Kesri was chosen to be Congress President by Narsimha Rao to
be a puppet President, but he proved wrong because he was a seasoned
politician too. Even Sonia bit the dust, when she selected Narsimha
Rao as PM, but he proved her wrong. Our Doc PM is moving in the right
direction and that is the only reason he was selected for the second
stint.
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(Reply to Rajeev)- RK says:
May 28,2010 at 01:57 PM IST
Worst Manager from the rotten lot who compermised with divisive and
corrupt man like Lalu Yadav and Mayawati in the bargain reducing CBI
as a laughing stick.The same with Mulayam Singh Yadav.Do these kind of
people and parties deserve for our country???God help BJP to throw
them out and come back to power where every Indian will feel pround as
they did before six years before Left parties done the blunder of
supporting these jokers.
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(Reply to Rajeev)- A Gnanasekaran says:
May 29,2010 at 02:16 PM IST
Yes I Fully agree with you
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VS says:
May 25,2010 at 06:50 PM IST
If I had to choose between a prime minister who speaks well and a
prime minister who is intelligent and a good administrator I will
every time choose the latter.
No need to go over the positives of Dr. MMS.
List all prime ministers and rate them on providing stability, being
intelligent (running the govt. them selves vs. the IAS), honest,
sincere.....
Ever wonder why lord Krishna gave Geeta updesh to Arjun only and not
to all the 105 princes and other ministers.
There is another saying "bhains ke aage been bajana", and then the
bhains turn around and says it was a poor recital.
Get intelligent press and am sure will get ......
Even your article is shallower than spit in a spoon.
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(Reply to VS)- Sarafaroz Pithawala says:
May 25,2010 at 08:29 PM IST
VS, i am amazed that you rate the PM so high. Even by the most
generous standards, his sycophancy to the Gandhi dynasty is
despicable. The manner in which he was praising Rahul reminded me of
some second rate politicians talking during the Emergency.And one felt
sorry to see the expression of abject subservience on the face of such
a gifted person.
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(Reply to Sarafaroz Pithawala)- VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:25 PM IST
I rate MMS better than most (all) other options available currently
(in India).
Is he better than the PMs and Presidents globally....again I rate him
better than Obama, Brown, Sarkozy, and Zardari etc.
He praised Gandhi family....then what? atleast sonia had the brains to
make him the PM instead of herself (which i guess most others would
have done).
Rahul gandhi....well he is still working, much much better and far
superior to other ministers sons who are killing (animals and humans)
raping, stealing, defrauding etc.
but in the end even I would have made a better PM....its just that I
choose not to waste my time for the country.
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(Reply to VS)- Hitesh Thapar says:
May 26,2010 at 10:35 AM IST
VS, if there is anything about you which is likable, it is your
stubbornness in not biting the hand that feeds.keep it chum, you might
get a sumptuous political reward soon.
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(Reply to VS)- Ashok Gupta says:
May 26,2010 at 01:08 PM IST
Dear VS
What are so positives about Dr.MMS.as P.M.?
1) No control over Price Rise.Prices jumpping leaps and bounds in the
last six years.
2) Naxal Menace- No clear policy of takling: Just by saying this is
the biggest problem we have, not solves the problem, or does it?
3) No control over his Ministers. Sometimes it looks like we have ten
or twelve P.M.
4) No leadership quality? He has now become fond of seeing empty
chairs in a called cabinet Meeting.
5) Country's image : That as a country we are peceived by all others
as a very weak state Militarily/ Politically/ Diplomatically-
internationally.
AND ON ALL THE ABOVE ISSUES RAISED, HE MAY NOT BE ANSWERABLE TO MEDIA
BUT CERTAINLY ANSWERABLE TO THIS GREAT COUNTRY.
THE BIGGEST QUALITY OUR P.M DR.MMS HAS, HE REGULARLY/ PERIODICALLY/
TIME BOUND/ REPORTS TO HER MASTERS IN 10,Janpath. Which as a matter of
fact has been clearly and honestly admitted by him.
GEETA UPDESH, HE Is in no position to give to any, He is only supposed
to take GEETA UPDESH from 10, Janpath.
Reat Later.
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Sharda Bhargav says:
May 25,2010 at 04:37 PM IST
One thing very good about the press conference, Sir, journos exhibited
appreciable discipline.
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(Reply to Sharda Bhargav)- Nick says:
May 25,2010 at 05:18 PM IST
HAha...
ys, they were confined to their desks and were not haggling around.
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(Reply to Sharda Bhargav)- Caustik says:
May 25,2010 at 05:20 PM IST
Yeah right....they did a good job of keeping their traps shut.
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(Reply to Sharda Bhargav)- U S Hegde says:
May 26,2010 at 05:21 PM IST
May be many of them had a good one and a half hour's sleep.
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(Reply to Sharda Bhargav)- rishabh m. rao says:
May 27,2010 at 09:40 AM IST
yes,sir you are absolutely right. i think that the pm was not able to
answer a single ques properly
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RAMESH AGARWAL says:
May 26,2010 at 01:22 PM IST
PM MANMOAN SINGH IS VERY SIBER,HAVING A CLEAN IMAGE BUT HE IS NIT A
POLITICIAN AND APPOINTED AS HER MASTER!S VOICE BY SONIA GANDHI AS IS
THE CASE OF ALL GANDHI FAMILY MEMBERS,THEY WANT ABSOLUTE POWER.HE
TALKS ABOUT CORRUPTION BUT SHEILDING MAYAWATI,MULAYAM,LALOO TO GET
VOTES FOR GOVT. IN THE NAME OF CBI.HE CAN NIT TAKE ANY ACTION AGAINST
RAZA,ALAGIRI WHO IS ABSCONDING FROM PARLIAMENT,NON CONTROL OVER HIS
MINISTERS NEITHER FREE HANDTO APPOINT.SEE IN IPL HE SAVED PAWAR AND
PAWAR IN IPL.MAMTA SITS IN KOLKATTA MOST OF THE TIME AND SUPPORTING
MAIOISTS.DIGVIJYA SINGH ON THE BLESSINGS FROM SONIA GANDHI MET
FAMILIES OF TERRORISTS INVOLVED IN BATALA HOUSE ENCOUNTER AND
CRITICISED HM CHIDAMBARAM FOR HIS POLICY OF DEALING WITH NAXALITES.SEE
HOW CM SHEILA DIXIT TOLD LIE IN CASE OF AFZAL GURU AND SONIA IS
DELAYING AFZAL CASE UNDER PRESSURE FROM MUSLIMS FROM VALLEY TO WHOM
SHE IS SHARING POWER.MANIPUR IS BURNING AND CENTRAL AND PM IS
QUIET.AAM ADMI IS FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO MANAGE DUE TO INFLATION.PM
STATEMENT CLEARLY SAYS THAT HE IS PUPPET OF SONIAJI.ACTUALLY HE HAS NO
POWER IF HE IS SHELTERING CORRUPT PEOPLE HIS KURTA WILL ALSO BE
TAINTED.SONIA IS FOLLOWING ONE POLICY APPEASING MUSLIMS AS THEY WERE
RSPONSIBLE FOR HER VICTORY IN 2004 BY RAISING GUJRAT RIOTS AND IN 2009
86000CRORES LOAN WAS DISTRIBUTED TO MUSLIMS TO GET VOTES.SHE IS
ACCUSING BJP/NDA/NARENDRA MODI AND NATIONALOST HINDUS AND DOING
EVERYTHING FOR MUSLIMS.EVEN EXISTENCE OF BHAGWAN RAMJI AND RAM SETHU
WAS DENIED TO HURT HINDUS WHILE FOR CARTOON CASE HE TALKED TO DENMARK
GOVT AND COULD NOT SLEEP WHEN OE SUSPECTED TERRORIST WAS CAUGHT IN
AUSTRALIA.SONIAJI IS CEATING GROUND FOR RAHUL TO BE PM AND UPA IS
DOING.OUR SOME OF COLUMNISTS ARE ALSO AT FAULT LIKE KHUSHWANT SINGH,
VIR SANGVI,VINOD DUA OF NDTV,KULDEEP NAYER AND FEW TV CHANEELS WHO
CRITIISE ONLY BJP AND NARENDRA MODI AND APPRECIATE PM AND SONIA.WHY
THEY FORGET TO TALK ABPUT PLIGHT OF 5 LAKH KASHMIRI PANDITS WHO ARE
LEADING REFUGEES LIVES .WHY DOUBLE?
Agree (10)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to RAMESH AGARWAL)- sharan says:
May 27,2010 at 08:06 AM IST
Boss, learn some online etiquette: writing in all capitals is rude; it
is like shouting at someone. And also, it is very hard to read all
capital letters.
You will also need to leave a space after punctuation like comma and
fullstop, otherwise that stuff becomes even harder to read.
Agree (7)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to sharan)- RAMESH AGARWAL says:
May 27,2010 at 09:39 PM IST
MR SARAN THANKS FOR YOUR SUGGESTION I WILL TRY TO FOLLOW IN FUTURE.
Agree (2)
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(Reply to sharan)- INDIANS says:
June 01,2010 at 06:47 PM IST
NO NEED. CAPITAL LETTERS ARE THE MESSAGE THAT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
(Reply to RAMESH AGARWAL)- kiran.k says:
May 27,2010 at 12:50 PM IST
Brother,what you want to say? Vote for BJP!!
Agree (2)
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(Reply to kiran.k)- RAMESH AGARWAL says:
May 27,2010 at 09:43 PM IST
DEAR KIRAN K.I AM NOT ADVOCATING FOR ANY PARTY BUT MENTIONED MY VIEWS
WHETHER YOU LIKE OR NIT UPTO YOU.DUE TO OUR COWARDICENESS AND DISUNITY
WE ARE SUFFERING AND BEING TREATED AS 2ND CLASS CITIZEN.HOW DO YOU
FEEL IF YOU WERE DISPELLED FROM JK AND WERE LEADING REFUGEE LIFE?
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SAM THE MAN FROM PAKISTAN says:
May 25,2010 at 08:37 PM IST
YOUR ARTICLE SEEMS MORE BOURING THEN PRIME MINISTERS
PRESS CONFERENCE
Agree (12)
Disagree (17)
Recommend (2)
(Reply to SAM THE MAN FROM PAKISTAN)- Karuna Nair says:
May 26,2010 at 11:38 AM IST
SAM, the whole problem is that journalism in Pakistan is in such a
primitive stage that you would take some time to get accustomed to the
Indian version.
Agree (14)
Disagree (6)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to Karuna Nair)- imran says:
May 26,2010 at 04:57 PM IST
by saying indian version karuna do u mean it had to be bouring,the
tital should be"indian Prime Minister disappoints, so do indian
journalists"
Agree (3)
Disagree (4)
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(Reply to Karuna Nair)- Mahesh Soni says:
May 28,2010 at 04:37 PM IST
Karuna, you should read Dawn News paper. It is available on internet.
And try to compare it to any of our Indian news papers, including
Times of India
Agree (2)
Disagree (2)
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(Reply to Mahesh Soni)- Jeevan Dhiraj says:
May 29,2010 at 12:43 PM IST
Right, Mahesh, i read both The Dawn & Indian newspapers regularly &
let me tell you that Dawn is far inferior
Agree (2)
Disagree (2)
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snsdhar says:
May 27,2010 at 02:34 PM IST
This long awaited press meet of the PM heralds the decline of MMS from
a statesman scholar to a cheap politician. His boring monotonous
mumbling jumbling of weak responses and ducking of all uncomfortable
questions, are typical of a man uncertain of his position and grip.
Having served out one term as a filler for Rahul and continuing to do
so, seems to be getting onto MMS. Anyway when he knows that this is
inevitable, he should atleast enjoy it. Was MMS addressing a press
meet or a condolence meet ? Most forgettable indeed.
Agree (11)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (8)
sarthak sinha says:
May 25,2010 at 05:24 PM IST
I have never heard Manmohan Singh speaking like President Barack
Obama. So its quite irrelevant to keep expectations high about him to
speak with such energetic overtones. He, however, is a sobre, calm
politician who can not prove his point with emphatic fullness. In
order fot the head executive to get to talk, media personnel should
throw some of the very hot questions doing the rounds that could
unsettle his sobriety. The media should be acclimatised to put forth
questions that could involve the leader personally so that he could be
compelled to speak out and clear his stance without giving it a snub.
Its quite obvious for any head of the government to ignore media as
long as he can. As for him to be reticent is the best resort possible
to keep opposition at bay. No comment is to make everyone keep
guessing about his reactions and his rivals to remain deficient of the
stuanchly needed bait.
Agree (6)
Disagree (15)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to sarthak sinha)- Sughosh Bansal says:
May 25,2010 at 06:53 PM IST
with reference to "......media personnel should throw some of the very
hot questions doing the rounds that could unsettle his sobriety. The
media should be acclimatised to put forth questions that could involve
the leader personally so that he could be compelled to speak out and
clear his stance without giving it a snub. Its quite obvious for any
head of the government to ignore media as long as he can", the
prerequisit is that Media should do its own home work, should know
what they are seeking from the PM. Alas such a tribe is now a days
missing.
Agree (12)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to sarthak sinha)- VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:09 PM IST
there was this joke of big chief no shit....
Obama is all talk, not to mention he is the president of a very
developed nation (both economically and democratically).
and he speaks in his mother tongue.
Agree (5)
Disagree (8)
Recommend (2)
(Reply to VS)- Pradyumn Chattopadhyay says:
May 26,2010 at 11:10 AM IST
VS, I vote in your favour for this year's award for attaining
excellence in producing bawdy material. Congrats in advance on getting
the nomination.
Agree (4)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to sarthak sinha)- B.V.SHENOY says:
May 30,2010 at 10:34 AM IST
what a boring and confusing comment!
VS says:
May 25,2010 at 10:38 PM IST
"If picked, I wanted to ask about the growing indiscipline and
lawlessness in urban India and the overall impact it has on growth. It
is a lot more complicated than what can be said here"
Mr. Kalra you are a writer...if you can't articulate who can?
Agree (3)
Disagree (8)
Recommend (2)
(Reply to VS)- Kusum Sadashiv Rao says:
May 26,2010 at 10:40 AM IST
Why, VS, some people who ought not to articulate are doing it, and
putting their foot in mouth. Isn't that clear from your contributions?
Agree (11)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (5)
SNS says:
May 26,2010 at 02:31 PM IST
The transformation of MMS from a scholarly statesman to a petty
politician is now fully obvious. It is rightly said that in the
company of pigs, even a cow starts eating filth. The old sense of
sincerity and straighforwardness has given way to blatant lies and
awkward ducking of tricky issues.
What a fall indeed ! Et tu MMS ?
Agree (25)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (15)
Amit Deshpande says:
May 25,2010 at 05:21 PM IST
When asked if his govt. underestimated the threat of Maoists in UPA1,
he gave the same rehearsed type answer that he had mentioned Maoism as
the biggest internal threat. If there had been a change in govt. then
the present govt. would have blamed the previous govt. for
mishandling. Why do we even expect better? Sigh!
Agree (29)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (8)
shekar says:
May 26,2010 at 09:16 PM IST
The weather is too hot to handle. Our Poor Man(PM) is suffering due to
the political heat. He is de-hydrated. When he visits Madam he is
rejuvenated. Mention the name of Rahul Gandhi, he is glucosed. He
wants to take rest but not allowed and so he tries to show a brave
face to the world, but his voice fails him. Many ridiculed Mr.
Vajpayee for the way he walked, but certainly he is a good speaker.
Our Poor man (PM)lacks in that area also. Walking briskly doesn't mean
he is business. Indians will live with these personalities.
Agree (12)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (6)
Peston Kanga says:
May 26,2010 at 10:49 AM IST
After reading the posts praising the PM, it is obvious that the
Congress' propaganda machine led by Mr. Tiwari, the Congress' version
of Joseph Goebbels is working feverishly.
Agree (14)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (5)
pankaj says:
May 26,2010 at 11:06 AM IST
Pardon me. There was nothing wrong with the statements or replies
given by our worthy PM on various issues confronting nation today. But
is he alone responsible to act and then take blame for most of them.
If there is corruption ; we are to be blamed, if there is naxalite
situation then somewhere we as citizens have failed too. If there is
pollution or rise in prices , again we are to be blamed. All can be
controlled only if we become more diciplined in all walks of life and
give same to our children.
Yes, This govt has failed on two fronts. First, rejuvenating india's
foreign policy and taking strong stand against terrorism in all it's
forms.
Agree (3)
Disagree (6)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to pankaj)- MJ says:
May 28,2010 at 12:36 AM IST
Well than we are also responsible for the ineffective govt we have
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Recommend (1)
(Reply to pankaj)- Deepak Manchanda says:
May 26,2010 at 11:02 AM IST
And, Pankaj, continuing your stream of logic, if your comment is
meaningless,for that, too, are we to blame?
Agree (9)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (3)
HARDLINER says:
May 25,2010 at 08:40 PM IST
It must be cathartic to talk about scribes not knowing how to frame
and ask questions. Although I would like to blame the education and
the training they have gone through but sadly it is also our work
culture and upbringing! Do we ever find listeners in gatherings or
meetings? Everyone is cutting each other short and making their own
point! Even if people pretend to listen, their minds are working
towards either contradicting & formulating their own responses or they
are mentally wandering somewhere esle.
Does our media even know what ‘bites’ mean? We are all victims of
verbal diarrhea on all channels without exception. It would still be
bearable if the television host had some basic idea about the subject
matter being discussed but that too is missing. Garbage in and garbage
out is what is left of media and like all the other things in this
country we will suffer this too in silence.
Lastly please do not expect anything from our Prime Minister as he is
the right guy in a wrong job just like most others in this country.
Agree (11)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to HARDLINER)- sharan says:
May 26,2010 at 12:22 PM IST
Absolutely right. Our education lacks some important life skills like
how to listen, how to discuss something to arrive at solutions, etc.
We all just keep talking and interrupting one another. We listen with
the three Rs: reaction, rejection and resentment. Chronic verbal
diarrhoea just about sums up our ability to talk even while breathing
in, non-stop. When in doubt, talk and talk and talk.
Agree (6)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (3)
D.S.K. Avadhani says:
May 25,2010 at 05:45 PM IST
An independent prime minister would have lived upto the nation's
expectations but not one who looks up to some body for every thing &
any thing and the one who expects to get the marching orders to make
room for the prince
Agree (18)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (5)
Ryan P says:
May 27,2010 at 08:28 AM IST
This was one of the worst press conferences of PM I have ever seen, PM
had dodged all relevant issues that were raised by journalists, He was
talking like a paid corporate CEO rather than a PM of largest
democracy.Disgusting!!!!
Agree (11)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (6)
(Reply to Ryan P)- Jayprakash says:
May 28,2010 at 02:24 PM IST
Why? This is his second worst press conference. The first one was when
he was first time selected as PM by Madam.
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
venkat Raman says:
May 26,2010 at 05:59 AM IST
I agree with Mr Kalra.We have kept our ministers and Babu's in high
pedastal and hero worship them.This is one reason we do not have the
courage to ask a direct question.
So what if the PM is a Doctorate--we need strong actions from him as
also in performance.
It is very strange that he keeps telling about Rahul's potential as a
future PM--
more to appease Sonia Gandhi
so that his position is secure.
very sad for the country.
Agree (11)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (5)
Rk Malhotra says:
May 25,2010 at 05:34 PM IST
One wonders what is expected in such a press conference---a straight
question -answer session--?The calm and confident Prime minister
conducted himself in a most statesman like manner and demeanour,only
replies to specific questions and no rhetorics.Though he coud not make
any policy statements outside the Parliament, one agrees that he could
deal more on the Price-rise situation and the termites of corruption
which are eating the system from inside.
Agree (5)
Disagree (15)
Recommend (3)
(Reply to Rk Malhotra)- Hemant; Hyderabad says:
May 28,2010 at 09:08 PM IST
Real Reason is You all journalist & mediswalas are sold out.That is
why on TV channels We see Big Journalist selling Bhelpuri & Kababs at
diierent places; Comedy Circus & Serial Makings-this is only real work
all Our Newschannels & Others are capable of doing.Afterall well paid
employess obey their Masters perfectly.
Agree (4)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
spk2mi says:
May 26,2010 at 03:57 PM IST
What else can you expect from the worst PM India has seen?They might
as well have not appointed a PM.He doesnt serve any purpose, doesnt
open his mouth.Doesnt use his brains.He's the first vegetable PM we've
had.As far as our Media is concerned, the less said the better.Quality
of news / reporting/analysis is pathetic to say the least.Just like
the other arms of society - they've gone to the dogs too I guess &
believe only in supporting the highest bidder.If that means licking
the ruling party's back-side, well, so be it.If you look at how happy
the Indian Media gets when Obama calls MMS a "wise man", or Sarkozy
calls India an "ancient civilization" or someone else indulges in
similar flattery , you can understand that they absoutely have no work
to do other than serving their own interests.
Agree (14)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (4)
Daniem Perreira says:
May 25,2010 at 08:01 PM IST
Rajesh , thank God that this country has some journalists left with a
spine intact like you.This is a society with a second rate PM
performing a second rate job, and a group of chicken hearted
journalists who would rather end up currying favours with a blatantly
dynastic rule.We are a useless lot, and we deserve both this PM & the
journalists fawning on him.
Agree (19)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (4)
Sanjay Nakate says:
May 26,2010 at 07:42 PM IST
The PM's speech shows that the credit of Naxalism goes to Congress
Government.
Agree (12)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (5)
RK Santosh says:
May 25,2010 at 06:27 PM IST
All the congress Politicians will never be like the one this article
or people expect of them.They will never be dynamic leaders that our
country is badly in need of because they are all Madam's politicians
without much of warmblood flowing through them. We need dynamic
leaders to make this country a superpower in fastpace. Mr. Manmohan
Singh is pleese all man. He even wants to be nice with our enemy-
pakistan.He just doesnt want to get into any bad books of his
stakeholders!!!
Agree (20)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (4)
(Reply to RK Santosh)- A.Vaduagn says:
May 27,2010 at 12:30 PM IST
Can u suggest one dynamic leader for future India from current
political parties ?
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Disagree (2)
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(Reply to A.Vaduagn)- Mahesh Soni says:
May 28,2010 at 04:51 PM IST
Yes I can say. Narendra Modi is one (forget about political
affiliation). he has principles, does not hesitate to take tough
decisions (removing of temples from streets of Ahmedabad and other
places). He acts very fast (giving land to Tatas for Nano), a good
orator and a visionary. Nitish Kumar could be another one. Silent, but
wedded to positive developments.
Agree (6)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
sen says:
May 27,2010 at 01:29 PM IST
Insipid is what our PM is. If he had any pride he should not have
accepted the position since even a child knows that he is being the
foreigners puppet. the country was perhaps never under so much trouble
than what we see now. We should be happy if we survive till the end of
UPA-2.
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (3)
Meena says:
May 26,2010 at 08:55 AM IST
No doubt the PM is a good man. But he should have addressed many more
issues in detail.
It was indeed an opportunity, as well as a duty, for the PM to talk
not just about finance but about societal and environmental issues
too. All three are vitally important for any country.
What is the condition of India from the point of view of people's
health and nutrition, education levels, job opportunities, job skills,
the health of society as a coherent unit... what is happening around
the country...terrorism, naxalites, divisions among people...problems
in the North East...Kashmir...our boundaries with Pakistan and
China...terrorism and betrayal by Pakistan, and what we are doing
about it...drinking-water crisis around the country...depleting forest
resources...overpopulation...food crisis...steep inflation...growing
corruption at all levels in government... even the Delhi Commonwealth
games...
There are many critically important issues that we need to address
yesterday. They will not disappear simply because we choose to ignore
them. They are only getting worse.
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
Junaid says:
May 28,2010 at 07:55 AM IST
Silly commentators, silly arguments, silly website. What a waste of
time
Agree (2)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (2)
mj says:
May 26,2010 at 05:40 PM IST
I agree with you Rajesh.
Considering Dr. Singh's position in the party, a CEO rather than an
owner, his elbowroom is somewhat limited. He is an able PM indeed, if
not eloquent talker. I see many glib-tongued but not sincere nore
capable. Concerning spirits of journalists, yes we want to see more
aggresive and self-esteemed breeds like their ancesters who fought for
freedom of humanity.
Agree (4)
Disagree (9)
Recommend (3)
rajesh verma says:
May 27,2010 at 02:51 PM IST
Sir, As PM says that if RG wishes then he will step down as PM. What
does it means to say that Mrs Sonia gandhi has clamency over him. I
think this also tell the nation that In the nation ,RG is only one
leader in the Congress who is only suitable for the PM remains others
are zero. I think he is thinking this because he suddenly go to the
house of apoor & eats meal. Till date RG never says in his speech what
is his DREAM of INDIA. What changes he wish to change. IT is
inveitable that he can never wash corruption in our country. This is
only this root has covered so much regime that it deep in our society
and it starts from our politices.Secondly RG has no
Agree (3)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
ashwynn says:
May 27,2010 at 03:02 PM IST
I would want Navjot Singh Sidhu to be our next PM! You would then love
your 1.5 hrs
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (4)
s chadha says:
May 25,2010 at 08:45 PM IST
It is not easy in these politically volatile and tenous party
affilitions to have completed one term without a major political
mishap , without an iota of controversy. It speaks volumes for the
style of functioning of the pm. Would we rather have a mayawati or a
yadav PM or a honest , intelligient . sincere person? I would rather
opt for the latter any day
Let us remember he is not a mass leader and has never made pretensions
of being one . So let history judge him by his work as he said in his
press conference
The press coference was a normal press conference and Pms interaction
with the press was good/ normal. These are not platforms to make or
mould public policy
What more was expected ?
Let us not rake up issues or criticise for sake of criticism alone
Agree (4)
Disagree (7)
Recommend (2)
Rama mohan.S says:
May 25,2010 at 05:40 PM IST
Yes could have been better as expected...The last one was on
independence day, I was hoping a much better talk like Nuclear
proliferation, Talks with PAK and Terrorism, Cross border talk with
China, Implementation on connecting national highways, But I was in
guess work way too much.
Agree (6)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (3)
dwj says:
May 28,2010 at 06:18 PM IST
The only time when mms shows vehemence , emphasis and harshness is
when he attacks bjp and more particularly advani
Agree (5)
Disagree (5)
Recommend (2)
MG says:
May 26,2010 at 10:53 AM IST
he he...sir jee !! again as i said in previous posts, u have
disappointed...look at the blog post again..no coherency..just a
page..starts from where - ends where..no connect at all...I wonder if
the title is worth it..cheers..
Agree (3)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
Devendra Patel says:
May 26,2010 at 11:33 AM IST
So now you realised what Aam Admi has realised during UPA-1 first year
that this government is headed by weak and obidient PM. Its not a
problem if he is weak but he is making the nation and us weak. Thanks
for realisation.
Agree (11)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (4)
R.G.KARMARKAR says:
May 27,2010 at 10:23 AM IST
The honorauble Prime Minister has a job to do, with the help of all
clever men around him.One should understand him , it is
difficult.Think of his limitations,blind Gandhi lovers of congressmen
arround him, he is lonely with his all modesty, and sincerity above
all with his profound knowledge he is managing the show.please try to
understand these circumstances.
Agree (2)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (2)
Anil Kohli says:
May 25,2010 at 06:37 PM IST
All said and done reams may be written about this event. The press and
the congress party may thump each others back for a job well done.
The only notable that has come thru is that our Prime Minister has
changed tack, if at this time last year he had said that inflation
would be brought down in 100 days. Last after noon he has resorted to
astrology ala Mr Pawar our Minister for Agriculture. Who taught whom?
Should we debate this? After all the effects of the company one keeps
do start to show sooner in most cases later in some.
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
Kaushal Bhatt says:
May 25,2010 at 10:49 PM IST
With reference to..." And one of the major cons is attending numerous
press conferences and seminars. "....That sounds like you simply don't
enjoy your job.To attend a press conference is very basic part of your
job, and if you consider it as a "major con"...then no press
conference will excite you, unless it has some "masala" in it and I'm
afraid my prime minister is not that masala kind...so sorry Mr.Kalra
and all the best for your future conferences.
Agree (5)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (2)
zafar says:
May 25,2010 at 08:16 PM IST
Dont know why media is try hard to prove that pm yesterday press
conference was a dud..i cud understand that our media is so
sensational loving even they were trying to find out masala in a press
conference like the person of Manmohan Singh.Media should try to
understand,leaders should be judge by their work and firm stand as
such done by our pm whether it is nuclear deal or women bill rather
than so call blah blah leaders.
Agree (3)
Disagree (9)
Recommend (4)
Manish Phophaliya says:
May 27,2010 at 07:00 PM IST
A very true representation of the current political scenario in India.
Since I was a child I have heard " Speed of the Boss is the Spped of
the team". If this was to be correct then all of you know why India
cannot compete with China on any front.
Agree (6)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
Sughosh Bansal says:
May 26,2010 at 09:40 AM IST
Replying to responses to my comments (response to Kalra's comments),
Let me clarify that I am neither a student nor a stupid and nor a
journo. If Mr. Kalra, supposedly one of the most intelligent and
knowledgeable and powerful within the mandarin corridors, can say that
he was helpless, then he had no business to comment on PM's monotone
and the role of Media. And rightly you all have said that India is
differnet and here the most important proverb is 'Aise hi Chalta
hain'
Agree (3)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (2)
saket mishra says:
May 27,2010 at 12:41 PM IST
see. we all know that he is mere a puppet of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. and
Rahul Gandhi.. I am sure that in last year MMS will step down and
Rahul will become PM , just to have more votes and show his ability to
drive a nation on his own. Let not ask such question to him , Rather
to the Head of UPA, Sonia Gandhi.
Agree (3)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
Mastermind says:
May 28,2010 at 08:31 AM IST
Its simple...Simple human beings don't make good politicians.To lead a
nation, one needs a mix of arrogance, shrewdness, smartness, decision
making skills and above all the sense of what is good for the country.
Except his thoughts on economy, I am afraid Mr. MMS does not have
anything else to offer. Just the thought of a leader should be able
fill people with energy. Unfortunately, we dont have many leaders who
can claim that.
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
Santokh Singh Sahi says:
May 25,2010 at 10:01 PM IST
How can you compare apple with orange?USA president gets elected
directly by the people after many debates in the entire country. Where
we have a
nominated PM.Never got elected directly by the people.Our PM has never
been
aspirant for this job.He has been nominated by the president of the
congress party.He has admitted time and again that he is not fluent in
public debating.He
is on record that his actions speak for him.More over in India, it is
the establisment that organises such functions to speak for their
government's achievements.The invitees have little or no role in
asking questions. I have recently attended such a seminar, where all
the heads
connected with administration of justice spoke. I wanted to ask few,
but relevant questions relating to the functioning of the judiciary,
where more than three crore cases are pending and wanted to ask, how
PM'S DREAM OF ARREAR- FREE JUDICIAL INSTITUTION CAN BECOME A REALITY?
BUT I WAS NOT GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY. However I welcome the contents in
the press statement. He is candid in admitting his failings and
promises to take further steps in the right direction.Let us wish
good luck to our PM and the people of India a bright future. Let us
hope one or the other rule of law for aam admi becomes a reality.
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Sunil Malhotra says:
May 28,2010 at 10:05 PM IST
The Present Prime Minister is totally unfit and ineffective for the
job. He may have been a good economist but he is an utter failure as a
prime Minister. If he has any strength of character he should resign
immediately.The country is in utter chaos. The maoists, Naxalites and
other organisation continue their carnage unabated to kill and maime
innocent citizens and the Prime Minister looks on with amazement,
wonder and bewilderment. Indian forces are perfectly capable of
routing this menace but for some reason this government is unwilling
to bring an end to this menace. Soni Gandhi has left the nation to rot
while she is busy trying to consolidate her own position. Her
selection of the President and Prime Minister clearly shows that she
has no interest of the country at heart but her own selfish interest.
The PM and President are the face of the country. They need to be
chosen with care.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should do the
honourable thing and resign now. Soni Gandhi may love yes men but she
should think of the country first.
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Kamalesh Sharda says:
May 28,2010 at 08:33 AM IST
If the Prime Minister's performance is to be used to rate the current
Indian political leadership, then God help India. No wonder, there are
so many terrorist activities, train accidents and sabotages,
uncontrolled price rises, corruption incidences, problems with
Pakistan, China and others. I am affraid it did not look like the
performance of a leader of the next Super Power.
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Dr. Madan Goyal says:
May 26,2010 at 07:38 AM IST
This piece is very well coined to find faults where there are none. I
don’t say that our prime minister is a God, super human or Mr.
Perfect. But his personality and position are well known to the
people. The truth is that ‘We have chosen the best available person.
The duty of media should be to help nation achieve best progress in
right direction and not to indulge in useless fault finding. There is
no statement which can’t be criticized. Our prime minister is doing
best job in given circumstances. Only a person of his character can
steer through in such situations, so focused.
Our PM is from a cadre which is answerable to the law and not press.
To achieve press smartness, one has to be in different shoes. Those
shoes are not there with our PM, is a well known fact. It is a current
hard fact and in no way a fault of PM.
PM is not accused of being weak, but our MPs follow dictates of party
president. Hence he can’t and shouldn’t pretend to be what he is not.
He is straight in telling what he can do and is doing. This is his
biggest strength. Anybody, especially from media, if projecting this
as his weakness, is probably not doing justice with journalism and
nation.
Disappointment with media is more with a person, who even could not be
picked up for a question then with those who were lucky enough to be
picked up. I also do not agree with a blanket statement that
foreigners ask better questions.
The criticism in this piece is well calculated to bring out support in
the reader for our PM. It has very well served its purpose. Keep it up
Mr. Kalra.
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a says:
May 26,2010 at 06:31 PM IST
The task of Journalist in my opinion and forgive me , if I am
incorrect, is to force truth out of a person using incisive questions.
I have seen the way the anchor of a TV show makes interviewee sweat.
He has now managed to get a sweat on almost everyone he interviews. He
is ready with fact , has incisive questions and himself is well read.
You cannot have a cake and eat it too. A journalist who does not ask
the right questions , is not prepared and is not strong in tone ( not
rude though) runs a risk of getting lost in the crowd.
Most the news that is there is today is reporting ( he said this and
he said that ). There is no analysis or investigative 'Journalism'
after that.
John Stewart says in comedy central 'Politicians feet have to be put
to fire then only they understand it'. I think it is a good idea if
our reporters take cues from international media and top Indian
journalists too.
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(Reply to a)- sharan says:
May 27,2010 at 08:48 AM IST
You're confusing the issues. You are talking about two completely
different situations, as different as night and day.
In that kind of show you are talking about, there is just the
interviewee and that anchor guy. You don't have a hundred journalists
competing with that anchor. There the anchor is the boss. He decides
what to ask, and the interviewee has to respond, otherwise he looks
stupid. It is a one-on-one session, and the interviewee comes fully
prepared to be grilled. That is the rule of that game.
In this particular interview with the PM, the roles are reversed, and
the rules are completely different. It is not even an interview. It is
just a press meet. The PM sits there like the boss, choosing whose
questions he will respond to and which questions he will just ignore.
Also, there are many other journalists there, all demanding his
attention. You cannot just push your way past the other journalists
and shout your questions at the PM. They will kick you out and also
put you in jail for such behaviour, you can lose your journalist
accreditation, and your newspaper may sack you, all for nothing. At
most you can put up your hand along with the rest of the crowd, and
hope that they will look at you.
It was the job of the PM to present clear and detailed information
about the state of the nation of India to the people of India, through
the press. Have you seen the American "State of the union" address by
the President? That was what the PM should have done. It was his job
to tell the people what was happening in India on all fronts; not just
some statistics which any accountant can provide.
The fact is that our leaders are lacking in too many important
qualities to be effective on the job. Just honesty and financial
skills are not enough for the job of PM. You need lots of other
qualities too. He doesn't have them.
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(Reply to sharan)- a says:
May 30,2010 at 03:07 PM IST
Sharan,
I am not confusing the issue. I was talking about level of Journalism
and not about whether it is a conference or two people talking to each
other. I remember that in Bush era in various interviews, there was an
old lady journalist who was constantly ignored by Bush. Why because
she asked really tough question . Do you think our journalist have
that kind of attitude? They will be dying to get asked by PM to ask
allow them a question and in most of the cases will ask the questions
they will normally ask in a one to one session . The settings of the
place are slightly different when many journalists are involved. Your
question can become a basis of subsequent questions. But it has to
start with a tough question itself.
To me
- to stand out you will have to ask a tough question
- where is jail and all those things coming in picture
- I am just commenting on the blog , you are reiterating what is being
said in it.
- Questioning of qualities of PM is not required here as we are
discussing journalism and not personal traits of a PM
- It is the job of reporter to get the information from politician no
matter what and at whatever be the consequence.
allthebest says:
May 27,2010 at 01:26 PM IST
How can you compare apple with orange?USA president gets elected
directly by the people after many debates in the entire country. Where
we have a
nominated PM.Never got elected directly by the people.Our PM has never
been
aspirant for this job.He has been nominated by the president of the
congress party.He has admitted time and again that he is not fluent in
public debating
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Lohit says:
May 29,2010 at 12:18 AM IST
Looking at all the debate, i feel sonia would have been the best pm..
She is a good leader, orator n politician.. It is evident by the way
she has handled the matters from last several years.. N pls don't say
she is a foreigner.. Some great programs like nrega is her baby n as
long as she works for the development of the country we should be able
to appreciate her leadership..
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UMESH THAPPA says:
May 26,2010 at 09:09 PM IST
good one
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Aravind says:
May 27,2010 at 02:27 PM IST
Good article; our people elected Congress Party and Congress Party
authorized its President! and the President authorized... and goes on!
It is quite unfortunate that our constitution allows full term to an
unelected person - no ill feeling is meant towards our PM! but the
system allows such unhealthy practice! Regarding the journalists, the
Congress media managers would have done a smart job, knowing our PM!
After all the Congress Party has well experienced caders for 'buying'
anything!
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CJ says:
May 27,2010 at 10:54 PM IST
It felt like a setup rather than a press conference with some media
houses not allowed any question
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Hitesh says:
May 28,2010 at 07:28 AM IST
Thank you for your post Rajesh. Couldnt agree with you more. Our PM is
boring and uninspiring
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santosh says:
May 28,2010 at 08:51 AM IST
What a boring article !! ,
No wonder you get the speakers who are boring
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Ruma says:
May 28,2010 at 07:53 AM IST
after reading the comments, I can only say we have become used to
mediocrity and accept anything that is substandard from our political
class
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kulmohan says:
May 28,2010 at 02:58 PM IST
Agree with Rajesh that the PM is weak, but have my own reasons to do
so. If the PM was a Strong man and something of a startegiest, he
could have resigned protesting the long pending justice to 1984 riot
victims.This would have ushered justice to the poor victims who belong
to the same race as our PM.
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(Reply to kulmohan)- B.V.SHENOY says:
May 30,2010 at 11:47 AM IST
For a man who has served the socialist regime for forty years,
including during the emergency, submitting his resignation doesn't
ever arise. If he were of that kind, he would have resigned from PVN's
cabinet over the Babri Masjid issue saying as a secular, his
conscience didn't permit him to continue in the government.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/randomaccess/entry/prime-minister-disappoints-so-do
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