Is private sector really superior to public sector?

The big crib about the 2009 Union budget is that it doesn’t send out any signal whatsoever on “reforms”. That there is no talk of disinvestment, no talking of parting with the family silver. And this despite the Left parties not having any role in or control over the new UPA government.

The negative reaction of the chattering classes is what has forced Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee to bend backwards to reassure investors and the stock markets since B-Day.

Siddharth Varadarajan argues in today’s Hindu that privatisation of public assets is not a panacea for plugging the fiscal deficit or for stemming the perceived ineffciencies of the public sector. Reason: “privatisation” is predicated on the presumption that public ownership of industry is inherently inferior to that of private.

“In his recent book, Privatisation in India: Challenging Economic Orthodoxy (RoutledgeCurzon, 2005), by far the most comprehensive and rigorous study of the issue in the Indian context, T.T. Ram Mohan of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, conclusively debunks the assumption that the private sector is more efficient than the public.

“After carefully reviewing both financial performance and input-output related physical productivity in the two sectors, he concludes that “the evidence thus shows that the perception that the private sector is uniformly superior to the public sector … rests on a weak evidential foundation.” This does not mean other aspects of the reform package are necessarily bad.”

Read the full article: Go easy with the family silver

Also read: Three reasons why everybody loves to hate IT

“When I grow up, I want to be a sub-inspector”

Lok Ayukta raids unearthing “assets disproportionate to known sources of income” have long since ceased to surprise. But they also seem to have ceased to cause fear.

This little hut  belonging to—wait for it—a sub-inspector, yes, a sub-inspector in the State excise department was raided by the Lok Ayukta team in Ajjanapalya in Bangalore on Wednesday. Sub-inspector Ramachandrappa, smart chap that he is, rents it out for shooting purposes.

Photograph: Karnataka Photo News

Where were you when Fedex was serving an ace?

E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: Roger Federer and Andy Roddick played perhaps one of the greatest Wimbledon finals ever on Sunday.

Federer, who had never broken Roddick’s service during the four-hour, five- set match, did so only once to win the championship. It was a match memorable for the event as also played in front of some greatest tennis players of the game Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver, Manuel Santana, Ilie Nastase along with Sampras.

When the whole world was watching the match, what were Indians watching?

Our sports minister Manohar Singh Gill probably had a ringside seat at centre court like last year. How did his countrymen who depend on Doordarshan watch the match?

They didn’t.

It is a crying shame that the Wimbledon men’s finals was not scheduled to be shown at all on our so-called “National Network”.

What was scheduled was the live telecast of the 4th one-day international between India and West Indies. India already had a 2-1 lead in the series and even if they had lost the match, would have leveled the series at 2-2.

Tennis was shown on DD only because play was stopped in the rain-affected ODI, and finally the cricket match was abandoned. This is the fate of international tennis final vis-a- vis an inconsequential cricket match.

It is true that sports channels like ESPN or Star Sports show these matches live. But should those who do not subscribe to the cable network miss such matches because of shortsighted policy of DD mandarins? Who decides on such issues anyway?

DD has a ‘dedicated’ sports channel which was showing some badminton match from the files.

In all fairness, DD had telecast live the ladies single the previous evening. But when it comes to cricket, every other sport, has to suffer the ignominy of playing second fiddle.

What if Leander Paes had reached the finals?

Feng Shui and the lost art of cricket commentary

The return of the Ashes means the return of Test Match Special, the BBC’s informed but irreverent commentary team of “Aggers“, “Blowers” & Co, that leaves you wondering about Mandira Bedi and other corruptions that have become par for the course in Indian cricket commentary in the name of the lowest common denominator.

Besides the words, the TMS team is best known for the cakes, and the riotous laughter that the unintended gaffes like “the batsman’s Holding, the bowler’s Willey” induce.

Brian Johnston’s giggling fit—sparked by Jonathan Agnew’s quip that Ian Botham “couldn’t quite get his leg over” after Botham had dislodged the bails with his inner thigh—was voted Britain’s favourite piece of sporting commentary of all time.

A recent gem involves the mercurial left-arm spinner Phil Tufnell.

After a batsman had had his stumps flattened, Tufnell turned to Christopher Martin-Jenkins and said, “He’s been feng shui’d.”

CM-J didn’t understand: “Feng shui’d? What do you mean?”

To which a delighted Tuffers replied, “He’s had his furniture rearranged.”

Photograph: courtesy BBC

Also read: ‘The genial halwai serving sweets with a wink’

Who killed (good) cricket writing?

Mirror, mirror on wall. Who’s fairest of them all?

Who doesn’t like to look good? At least not these young women, who took part in the state-level make-up and hair style competition organised by the beauty parlours’ association at the Town Hall in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Photograph: Karnataka Photo News

Also read: Another example of commodification of women

One more example of commodification of women

Blah on the one hand and blah on the other

An octopus, it is said, can make a great economist. Reason: it can say “on the other hand” seven times more than their more than two-handed counterparts. Especially when the annual tamasha called Union budget is around.

For weeks and months, pundits, policy wonks, television talking heads and other interested parties fulminate on what needs to be done and what is to come. Numbers with a lot of zeroes are thrown around. In the end, after every “show”, it is just a lot of on the one hand and on the other hand.

Pranab Mukherjee‘s budget is no exception.

The Congress’s surprising victory in the general elections, which allowed it to form a government without the support of the Left parties, and the President’s address to the opening session of the new Lok Sabha, had lead many cheerleaders (fully clothed) to presume that the reform rath would roll out.

In reality, yesterday’s budget was a page straight out of the Kuala Lumpur Police Department manual with not a squeak to pep up the markets. Yet, there is so much thunder and lightening in the papers and television, it is difficult to understand whether it was good, bad or abominable.

But at least we heard some nice lines:

1. Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar: “The only constituencies this budget addresses are the constituency of the aam admi and the constituency of 10, Janpath.”

2. Ashok Wadhwa: “The 2,000-point jump in the Sensex when the Congress voted back to power is as undeserved as the 800-point fall after the budget.”

3. Bibek Debroy: “If con is the antithesis of pro, then Congress is the antithesis of progress.”

4. Sandeep A.: “If this is the budget of a newly sworn-in government with a majority of its own and without left support, imagine the same budget in its fifth year with an election to face.”

What’s the best line you heard? And the worst?

CHURUMURI POLL: Judge vs Union minister

The case involving the Madras High Court judge who reportedly received a call from a Union minister on granting anticipatory bail to two persons is remarkable for the u-turn it has taken—or has been forced to take.

On June 29, the judge R. Reghupathy, without naming anyone, said a Union minister tried to influence him to pass orders favouring the petitioners. According to this report, in which the reporter also mentions an off-the-record briefing by the judge after court, the minister is categorically reported to have spoken to the judge: “A Union minister talked to me. He influenced me to release this petitioner on anticipatory bail.”

The disclosure saw the usual to-and-fro from the political parties, with the BJP and Left united in their condemnation. Although the judge had not named the minister who talked to him, the BJP’s Arun Jaitley demanded that he be sacked.”The minister is not ‘a raja’ who was not accountable to anyone,” Jaitley, a Supreme Court advocate said, in a thinly disguised attempt to name the minister.

Kapil Sibal, a former Supreme Court lawyer now a serving cabinet minister, joined former atttorney general Soli J. Sorabjee, in demanding that the judge make the name public.

After the AIADMK leader J. Jayalalitha named A. Raja as the minister who spoke to the judge, the DMK chief M. Karunanidhi sought a clarification from the telecommunications minister. Meanwhile, MDMK chief Vaiko, an electoral ally of Jayalalitha, has suggested that Raja could have used another minister to pressure the judge. (The film star-turned-politician-turned Union minister D. Napoleon hails from the same area as Raja.)

A day after the incident became public, the chief justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, said “if the Minister had spoken to the Judge [as stated by him] then really it is an interference with judiciary.” Now, in an extraordinary turnaround, Justice Balakrishnan has said the judge did not really talk to the minister and that the counsel of the petitioners had held out a phone.

Clearly, there has been some hectic backpedalling. Who do you think is telling the truth?

Behind every stanza, a deep crease of learning

GAUTAMADITYA SRIDHARA captures the saxophone virtuoso Kadri Gopalnath performing in honour of Veene Raja Rao‘s shathamanothsava in N.R. Colony in Bangalore on Sunday.

Also read: The Kannadiga jazz virtuoso creating waves

How (not) to appoint a University vice-chancellor

Ramachandra Guha in The Telegraph, Calcutta:

“Some months ago, a news item in the Bangalore edition of a national paper carried this headline, “Three shortlisted for Mysore varsity post”. Since I am a former academic, and have known many past graduates and teachers of Mysore University, I read on further.

“The report continued to say that:

“…finally, the search committee has shortlisted three candidates for the Mysore University Vice-Chancellor’s post. The committee, headed by K. Balaveera Reddy, met on Tuesday. Sources told The Times of India that the shortlisted candidates are from Lingayat, SC and Vokkaliga communities. The candidates’ names have been placed before the government”.

“The report mentioned the names of the shortlisted candidates, from which one could discern their respective caste affiliations. Remarkably, the news report did not carry any details on the qualifications of those who aspired to be the new vice-chancellor of Mysore University.

“What were their areas of academic expertise? What were their plans for reviving a once-good university now gone to seed? Apparently, these matters did not matter to the newspaper, as they did not to the government that was to make the appointment. Perhaps they were of no concern to the candidates themselves.”

Read the full article: The chancellor’s vice

Also read: Graduates of Indian Universities need not apply

Maybe, he’s just pissed off at Pawar’s suggestion?

It took 10 years to build. It cost Rs 1,600 crore. It was opened on July 1. It is the cynosure of all eyes. And to help everybody identify it easily (at Sharad Pawar‘s suggestion), it has been named after Rajiv Gandhi. Still, a motorist finds it irresistible to leave his imprint on the newly opened 5.6 km-long Bandra-Worli sealink in Bombay.

Photograph: via E.R. Ramachandran, source unknown, will be acknowledged

Also read: Kissing isn’t a part of our culture. Pissing is?

What Mayawati can learn from Bhakta Prahallada

E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: Ajji was reading Praja Vani near the Tulsi katte, as usual. After sometime, she flung the paper aside in disgust instead of her usual practice of neatly folding it and keeping it aside.

Ajji’s demeanour resembled Manmohan Singh’s anger against his agriculture minister who was still flogging the Twenty20 horse in London when the country was getting desperate for monsoon rains.

“Yenaaaythu Ajji; anything bothering you?” I asked.

“Ramu! Years ago I told you about Bhaktha Prahallada and Hiranya Kashipu. Do you remember the story?” Ajji asked.

“Yes, as if it happened in front of my eyes. I especially remember the scene when the demon-king Hiranya Kashipu ridicules Prahallada when he tells him God is omnipresent.”

“Yes.”

“Hiranya Kashipu shows a pillar and derisively asks whether Vishnu was present in that pillar. Prahallada informs him that God is present everywhere including the pillar. When Hiranya Kashipu tries to break the pillar with his mace, Vishnu himself comes out through the crashing pillar and ultimately kills Hiranya Kashipu,” I said.

“Vishnu is present everywhere for his Bhaktha who can see nothing else,”

“Ajji! I also remember your story of Krishna telling Arjuna that he will be reborn in the world whenever dharma is in danger and the evil forces have to be put down.”

“I am glad you remember that. In fact in the Bhagavad Gita the stanza is:

“Yadaa Yadaa hi Dharmasya…… Sambhavami yuge yuge”( meaning: “Whenever there is decay of righteousness and rise in un-righteousness, I shall manifest and make myself evident; chapter 4 -7)”

“Ajji! You had made us all by heart the entire stanza as well as the story of Prahallada. But what made you recollect all that now?”

Ajji paused for a while.

“Do you know something? Just as Vishnu appeared in the pillar to prove God is everywhere, now Mayawati is trying to show Dalits that she is Goddess and omnipresent with her statues all over Lucknow and UP!”

“Oh, Ajji!’

“Isn’t it shameful that a human being equates herself to Goddess and constructs her own statues all over using public money even as she proclaims herself as the messiah of the poor? Even Bhima Rao Ambedkar who did so much for the cause of Dalits did not call himself God. If any, he was one of the downtrodden and fought his way through education and later fought for their rights and condition in society.”

“That is true, Ajji.”

“Why, our own Bahubali who had won everything renounced his kingdom and his statue in Shravanabelagola stands there as a symbol of renunciation, sacrifice built not by Bahubali himself but his brother Bharatha.”

“That’s right.”

“Idu vinasha kale vipareetha buddhi kano! Once, Indira Gandhi had displayed this when she clamped Emergency. Congress learnt the lesson and gave a public apology. L.K. Advani, in a moment of madness did a similar thing when he led kar sevaks to the Babri Masjid and reignited the Hindu-Muslim conflict. I don’t care what that retired judge Liberhan, who made a second career out of his commission, has to say on that. Now Mayawati, the megalomaniac  equating herself to Goddess, squanders thousands of crores of public money to build her own statue all over UP. Along with the corruption charges leveled against her in the Taj corridor case, spending crores of public money can only mean one thing.”

“What is it, Ajji?”

“The spark of indignation and revulsion that all feel against megalomania will result in removal of the ghastly statues lock, stock and barrel as also Mayawati herself as CM. Then only dharma can triumph against such evil forces,” concluded Ajji.

Also read: Is even B.R. Ambedkar safe in Mayawati‘s hands?

Almost like Obama, but also kinda unlike Obama, too

A leader whose time has come to cross her legs?

For the doyen of downtrodden, assets is all maya

Small step for majority is giant leap for minority

On a day when India did what many advanced democracies cannot find the gumption to do—legalise gay sex among consenting adults—sexual minorities celebrate the Delhi High Court verdict at the Theological College in Bangalore on Thursday.

“In our view, Indian constitutional law does not permit the statutory criminal law to be held captive by the popular misconception of who the LGBTs (lesbian gay bisexual transgender) are. It cannot be forgotten that discrimination is the antithesis of equality and that it is the recognition of equality which will foster dignity of every individual,” the bench said in its 105-page judgment.

Photograph: Karnataka Photo News

Also read: Gay sex decriminalised in India

It pays to catch them young to keep the faith?

The latest issue of Tehelka has a superb story on the translocation of tribal children from Meghalaya to Karnataka by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to indoctrinate them in the Hindu way of life and to “defeat the Christian missionary forces” active in the 70 per cent Christian State.

Hindus comprise 13.27 per cent of Meghalaya’s population, and “others” are pegged at 11.52. It is to prevent the “others”—possibly indigenous tribal religions—that the RSS has embarked on this social engineering campaign.

The magazine’s Bangalore correspondent Sanjana (in picture, left), and photographer S. Radhakrishna, investigated 35 schools in the State and found 1,600 children who had travelled 3,370 km from four districts of the northeastern State.

The children are largely located in schools on the west coast, which has emerged as the karmabhoomi of communal politics in Karnataka, but a fair few of them are to be found in schools run by influential ashrams such as the JSS Mutt in Suttur (Mysore district), Adichunchunagiri Mutt in Belur (Mandya district), and the Murugarajendra Mutt in Chitradurga district too.

Tukaram Shetty, the RSS organiser responsible for the programme, tells Tehelka that indoctrination of cultural values and discipline is the first step:

“It is important that children imbibe these values early on. It will bring them closer to us and away from the Christian way of life. We teach them shlokas so they will not recite hymns. We take them away from meat so they will abhor the animal sacrifice that is inherent in their own religion. Ultimately when the RSS tells them that the cow is a sacred animal and that all those who kill and eat it have no place in our society, these children will listen.”

Obviously, such well thought-out plans to protect Hindu civilisation comes at a price.

The children—most of them from poor families—travel 50 hours to come to Karnataka. Many come only with the oral OK of their parents, a violation of the juvenile justice Act, and siblings are separated and sent off to separate schools because “it is easier to discipline them”.

Plus,  there is the physical and psychological impact of studying in school environments diametrically opposed to their culture, language, religion and food habits. The children have trouble acclimatising themselves to the local weather. And then there are cases of children being laughed at because of their strange names and faces.

Read the full story: A strange and bitter crop

Photographs: Six-year-old children from Meghalaya chanting shlokas at the Thinkabettu higher primary and secondary school in Uppur, 500 km from Bangalore (courtesy Tehelka, top); and Karnataka Photo News

Also read: How girls pissing in their pants protect Hinduism

Just how is this dress an affront to Hindu culture?

Kissing isn’t a part of our culture. Pissing is?

T.J.S. GEORGE: Can these venomous buffoons even spell Bharatiyata?

3M: Ma-maati-maanush=Meira-Mamata-Mukherjee

Any fool can write on the budget after it is presented, and most do. Bibek Debroy imagines Mamata Banerjee‘s railway budget before it is presented, in The Indian Express:

“Madam Speaker, I rise to place before the House the Railway Budget for 2009-10. “The real power in politics — is it manpower? Alas! In a real sense it is money power.” Members may not know this quote is from a poem titled “Politics” I penned while I was putting finishing touches to this speech.

“Madam Speaker, this is a budget and it is about money. But I will come to that later. This is a historic occasion. Never before in history has the Railway Budget been presented by a lady before a lady speaker. The Yadavs in this House need reminding I was India’s first lady Railway minister in 2000.

“Even as I speak, my mind is on my next poem and it will say, “Three Ms bring power and make the others cower.” I do not refer to Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing. That is “No-No”. I mean “Ma-maati-maanush”, with Meira-Mamata-Mukherjee as a sub-strand. That is how we will transform our “Jaago Bangla” message to “Jaago Bharat”. In celebration of this trinity, I am sending a shawl to Ram Vilas Paswan. As in 1997, I would have thrown it at him in this august House. But unfortunately, he lost the elections.”

Read the full article: On a different track