Bharat Nirman Ads - Bogus Claims Of Jobs And Growth

It has been almost 9 months since India's tax payers money is misused to a wide extent to bombard Indians that a massive "Bharat Nirman" (India building) is happening. Every print or visual advertisement will surely have Sonia Gandhi (no one is sure what is her active and constitutionally sanctioned role in the government) and PM Manmohan Singh. More or less all these ads are hypes and I have spent time debunking many of them earlier.

Over 100 crores are clearly burnt in various Bharat Nirman ads. The one ad that always catches my attention is the Jobs related ad. The "revolution" in job creation as claimed via MNREGA has burnt crores of valuable tax money, in just the print and digital ads.

Bharat Nirman ad on jobs - source: vifindia

Keep in mind, there are three kinds of major jobs in India.

1. The regular jobs - salaried either in government or in private sector.
2. The casual jobs - like the one being advertised. These are seasonal either in private or public sectors.
3. The self employment jobs - Majority of Indians make their living in self employment or casual jobs.

"Earlier we used to search for work.. now jobs come to us" claims the young man, in that UPA ad.

Are you really sure Mrs. Sonia Gandhi?
Have you really created the crores of jobs that you claim using our tax money?

Let's explore.

Devinder Sharma, an expert in food and agriculture policy, has written a very important, fact filled article in DNA on 17th February 2014. The title of the article is Migration back to villages. If we don't understand the plight of the 60,00,00,000 farmers in India who are actively into agriculture, we just can't comment on the economy in any sensible manner. This article paints the most current picture of Indian agriculture. It not only exposes the jobs creation myth of UPA, and also exposes the hollowness of their claims on food security and land acquisition bills.

Some key excerpts from that tell us an entirely different picture.


Farmers are leaving the cities and moving back to the villages. Why? The economy has tanked in urban areas.

In the coming months, about 1.5 crore farmers who quit agriculture in the past seven years, are likely to trudge back into the villages. In normal circumstances such a massive reverse migration — from the cities back to the villages — would have been a sign of inclusive growth. But economists are taking this U-turn as a sign of economic slowdown.

When UPA talked of employment generation, it did not tell that 50,00,000 farmers of India left their farming jobs each year, to take up menial and highly unstable jobs. Who calculated these lost jobs?

In the seven-year period between 2005 and 2012, according to CRISIL an estimated 3.7 crore farmers quit agriculture. Economists view this trend as a sign of economic growth. In other words, while 50 lakh farmers are forced out of agriculture every year, growing farm unemployment is being considered as a sign of economic growth. How can pushing farmers out of agriculture sector and then finding an alternative employment for these millions displaced from agriculture constitute economic growth?

India saw mostly temporary and casual jobs that were counted as "Bharat Nirman". Here's the reality.

we are told that an estimated 70 lakh jobs are created in the non-farm sector. Considering that most of the non-farm jobs are in construction, what is not being told is that these menial jobs are temporary and do not carry any social security.

Except agriculture, everything else is collapsing during "Bharat Nirman" phase of Manmohan Singh.

At a time when there is an all round doom and gloom — industrial output failing to keep pace, manufacturing sector declining, joblessness growing, fiscal deficit mounting and the current account deficit growing to a worrisome level — it is only agriculture that provides a glimmer of hope.  

Here is a very worrying part. India emerged as the biggest exporter of rice during the years immediately after NDA government. But the so-called Bharat Nirman is almost making India an importer of rice in 3 years.

India emerged as the world’s biggest exporter of rice, and farm exports zoomed exponentially. And yet the fact remains that agriculture is the most neglected sector. Even the Prime Minister acknowledges that India is faced with terrible agrarian distress.

Already there are indications that India will turn into an importer of rice in the next three years.

UPA government is killing even the only sector that has some decent future, the agriculture.

In fact, at a time when government employees have been promised a further pay rise from the 7th Pay Commission, farmers remain at the bottom of the pile, neglected and forgotten. On an average, 2,500 farmers quit farming every day to join the army of landless workers.

UPA is not reducing the poverty, but infact making it worse. All the "garibi hatao" slogans are just eye washes, by reducing the scale with which poverty is measured.

With joblessness growing and the policy thrust on reducing subsidies for the poor and needy, the number of poor in absolute terms has been increasing. By reducing the poverty line to Rs28 in urban areas, and Rs24 in rural areas, the government can play around with figures, but the fact remains that poverty is on an upswing.

 UPA government burns public money to claim that the National Food Security Bill (FSB) is a great thing.

Food Security Bill ad - source: castingnb

But the reality exposed by Devinder Sharma is that UPA's failed policies have deliberately displaced farmers and now this FSB is just to reduce the chances of food riots when people have neither jobs nor food.

The enactment of the Food Security Act ensuring a monthly entitlement of 5 kg of rice/wheat/millet  to 67 per cent of the population or 830 million people is not only aimed at offsetting the additional burden of the unprecedented price rise, but more importantly, it is aimed at minimising the possibility of food riots that can erupt when a large section of the population is being deliberately displaced from an assured livelihood.

UPA 2 has killed India's economy. Proof.

From a high of 9.3 per cent two years ago, the GDP has fallen to less than 5 per cent in 2013.  

As opposed to UPA's Bharat Nirman claim, jobs are disappearing in India.  All the growth we saw on paper was jobless growth in totality. This is not going to help India that has 18% of the world's population.

At a time when GDP was galloping at 8-9 per cent between 2005 and 2010, the report shows 140 lakh people were displaced from agriculture. Generally it is believed that those who quit agriculture would be joining the workforce in the manufacturing sector. But the report showed that even in the manufacturing sector 57 lakh jobs were lost. A clear pointer to the jobless growth the country is witnessing.

 And lastly,  Rahul Gandhi keeps harping about the Land Acquisition bill as a great achievement of UPA government, even though he has no official role in the government (meaning, will take credit for all positive thigns, but escapes all blame for negative things like scams).

But Devinder exposes the hollowness of Rahul Gandhi's claim:

With the new land acquisition law coming into force, more people would be driven out of their meagre land holdings and forced to migrate to the cities looking for menial jobs.

Wake up India.. It's not Bharat Nirman. It's Bharat Nirnaam (ruin) that UPA government is doing.
India needs a leader with a growth track record. Not tape records. Think and vote in 2014.

Myths about RSS

Today, I saw twitter trending #NationalistRSS in India. Social media has been a powerful medium in exposing the sinister campaign against RSS.

While reviewing some of the tweets by anti RSS propagandists, I felt it is necessary to expose some of the popular myths about RSS. A lot of people are blindly ranting against Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh, without getting proper information. You can't change everyone, but at least you can put some facts on the table. So here we go.. Note that these are not the official statements of RSS, but that of general social media population in India today. Full credit to the original thinkers and the original photographers, for the information presented here onwards.

Myth 1: RSS Killed Gandhi.
Fact 1: Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Godse had left RSS in 1930s itself. This has been reiterated countless number of times by RSS, and the recent one is from December 2010, when Ram Madhav of RSS claimed court records clearly showing RSS had nothing to do with Gandhi's murder. Justice Kapur Commission Report clearly says: "RSS as such were not responsible for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, meaning thereby that one could not name the organisation as such as being responsible for that most diabolical crime, the murder of the apostle of peace. It has not been proved that they (the accused) were members of the RSS"
Also, Nathuram, the convict was hanged within months, bringing justice to the whole incident. Blaming RSS for Gandhi's murder just because Godse was a former member of RSS, is like blaming Congress for Muslim League's mass murder and atrocities during Partition, because Jinnah was a member of Congress earlier. Jinnah was a member of Congress party between 1906 and 1920. So someone who was a member of Congress for long 14 years, was instrumental in inciting Direct Action Day and other mass atrocities against Hindus, resulting in 1000s of deaths. Will today's Sonia Gandhi's Congress claim responsibility for all the wrong doings of Jinnah, including breaking up an age old civilization resulting in millions of deaths?

Myth 2: Sardar Patel disliked RSS.
Fact 2: Sardar Patel had to take action in 1948 due to political pressure from "secular" Nehru and group. But when the ban on RSS was lifted, read Sardar's letters to Guruji, the RSS chief. Patel was the happiest man then! All the bans till date on RSS, including the ones after Sardar's death, are purely the hate that Congress party nurturers for RSS. Everyone knows that RSS does not negotiate with vote bank politics, corruption or country's soverignty. If the same yard stick was used against Congress, SP or other parties, they all should have been banned for the violence of their cadres, or the deadly riots their governments failed to stop (and in some cases helped rioters like in 1984) over the years.  Here is a partial list of nearly 150 incidents of Congress violence. If for each riot or disturbance Congress party was banned, that number would have easily gone beyond Sachin Tendulkar's international century count!

Myth 3: RSS is anti national.
Fact 3: RSS is the most nationalistic organization in India. In fact, even the most bitter enemy of RSS, Jawaharlal Nehru, invited RSS to come participate in the 1963 Republic day parade. 3500 Swayamsevaks marched on that day, in their typical Gana Vesha. During his final years, Nehru realized the patriotic pulse of RSS, that too only when his Congress party's foreign policy went seriously wrong resulting in a humiliating defeat at the hands of China. It was RSS that helped Indian soldiers and civilians greatly in 1962, for which even Nehru was forced to invite them to be a part of 1963 Republic Day parade. I am sure the icon of secularism, Nehru would not invite an anti national organization to march with Indian army during republic day. In fact, the so-called secular folks like members of Indian communist parties, were busy raising donations for India's enemy China during 1962 war! During the 1965 Indo-Pak war PM Shastri requested nationalist RSS to help control traffic in Delhi so policemen could be freed for defence duties. When Pakistanis were trying to take over Jammu and Kashmir, it was swayamsevaks who cleared the snow, so that Indian air force could land their aircrafts.

Myth 4: RSS is fundamentalist.
Fact 4: RSS is pro India, pro Hindutva. RSS' ideology says that there are only two kinds of Hindus in India. Those who are Hindu today and those who were Hindus yesterday. That makes every single human in India (and rest of Indian subcontinent), Hindus by culture, ancestry and tradition. That is the Hindut-va (Hindu essence). Tva in Sanskrit means characteristic, essence or hood - like Bhratrutva (brotherhood), Maatrutva (motherhood), Shatrutva (Enmity) and so on. RSS never preaches any religious doctrine using any sacred book with the eventual goal of converting everyone to that doctrine 100%. RSS does not believe in converting anyone to its "religion". So calling such organization fundamentalist is silly. If at all RSS has any fundamentals, it is that of calling India as Bharat, and treating her as the mother of every single human in Indian subcontinent. In fact, RSS supports uniform civil code in India, meaning one type of marriage/divorce/inheritance laws for ALL citizen, which is opposed by so called progressive parties like Communists and Congress!

Myth 5: RSS is fascist and a terrorist organization.
Fact 5: When you show the long list of social service organizations that are a part of Sangh Parivar (family), the favourite line of Jihad supporters is that Jamat ud Da'wah also does social service. But they don't understand the basics that RSS does not preach violence in any of its shakha. It only teaches people to be proud of India's glorious 5000+ years culture and tradition. It teaches swayamsevaks (volunteers for the nation), self defence. Every human on this planet has the right to defend himself or herself. RSS never advocated for killing or converting "non-believers", like Jihadi terrorists or radical evangelicals do. If any person who claims to be associated with RSS is convicted of any crime, RSS won't play communal or victim card. RSS believes in law taking its own course and punishment for anyone who violates law, unlike Congress party that still supports a convict Lalu Yadav or those charged with mass murder like Sajjan Kumar, or those caught giving genocidal "15 minutes" hate speeches like Akbaruddin Owaisi. While Nehru was unable to stop the blood shed during partition, it was the RSS that organised over 3000 relief camps for the Hindu Refugees from Pakistan after the Partition. In short, every effort to frame RSS to a fictional "Hindutva terror" or "Saffron terror" has failed till date. Here is one such example.

Myth 6: RSS is only for Hindu males.
Fact 6: This is the favourite line of ignoramus feminists. There are two kinds of RSS setups. Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh for males, and Rastra Sevika Samiti for females. Both are thriving in India for decades. Both take out marches, celebrate India's heritage festivals and glorify India's national Hindutva icons.

Myth 7: RSS is anti Muslim and RSS is anti Christian.
Fact 7: RSS treats Muslims, Christians and everyone else in India, irrespective of caste and creed as cultural Hindus. Hindutva is an all encompassing ideology of RSS. This is the reason why RSS never has RSS Muslim shakha (daily assembly) or RSS Christian shakha. Anyone can become a member of RSS as long as they are ready to respect Bharat Mata (Mother India). RSS is against only those whose work against India's soverignty and heritage. In the famous Ranganathacharya Agnihotri case,  "Primafacie the RSS is a non-political cultural organization without any hatred or ill will towards non-Hindus", declared Karnataka High Court (then Mysore HC).

Myth 8: RSS is for Brahmins, Kshatriyas and other upper caste Hindus only.
Fact 8: Totally wrong. RSS has no caste system at all. It treats every single member, be it male or female, as equal. In fact, even Mahatma Gandhi had applauded RSS' casteless setup 7 decades ago. All RSS requires from a volunteer, is respecting Bharat Mata (Mother India) as "vatsale, Maatru bhoome".

Myth 9: RSS was anti Sikh in 1984 riots.
Fact 9: Even the most staunch Sikh supporters of 1984 time, won't claim such things. Read Kushwant Singh's writeup. In fact, RSS was instrumental in helping Sikhs in large numbers when Congress party's murderers went on rampage to kill, and their leader Rajiv Gandhi failed to stop the mass killing. 

Myth 10: Organizations like the Sri Rama Sene of the infamous pub incident, Abhinav Bharat and other organizations are part of RSS.
Fact 10: No. RSS clearly has defined who is a part of Sangh Parivar and who is not. You can't club everyone who claims to be a Hindu organization, and malign RSS because of those organizations' actions. In fact some of those ignorantly clubbed as "Sangh Parivar" with RSS, were trying to kill RSS leaders! Every attempt to malign RSS, like how Congress leaders did in case of Ajmer blast, has backfired.

Myth 11: BJP is the political outfit of RSS.
Fact 11: Wrong. RSS has always been a non political organization. It's prime aim is service to the society, character buidling of youth and nation building. BJP evolved from Jan Sangh. Many BJP leaders, like Vajpayee, Advani and Modi might be from RSS background, but that does not maike RSS a political outfit. In fact, many Congress, AAP and other party leaders are also of RSS background. It is like scores of Indian leaders today  could be from NCC, but that does not make NCC a political organization. RSS volunteers support many political parties, depending upon who is doing the best service to the society, without bias, at that time. The only non-political force that vehemently opposed Emergency was RSS. It was so feared, that Indira Gandhi, who had murdered democracy in 1970s, banned the RSS during her draconian Emergency. J P aandolan, Janlokpal aandolan and a whole lot of popular movements had RSS support. In short, there are RSS admirers and RSS opponents in every party of India. To give an example, even the most staunch anti RSS politician in India today, Digvijaya Singh, was sharing dais with RSS leaders when it suited his Congress party :)






Myth 12: RSS has a membership process.
Fact 12: Wrong. RSS has no business card or party member ID. Anyone can walk in, and anyone can walk out. The concept is that of Swayam sevak. No RSS volunteer carries a Sangh membership card. In short, anyone who wants to serve the society and Bharat Mata, can become a part of RSS, temporarily or permanently. RSS adheres to the age old saffron colour flag (Bhagwa) that was an inspiration to serve the mother land for billions of Indians over millenia.

Myth 13: RSS only concerns with Hindus.
Fact 13: RSS deals with all sections of Indian society. RSS is the first one in majority of natural disasters like 2004 TN Tsunami, 2001 Gujarat Earthquake, 2009 Karnataka-AP massive floods, 2013 Uttarakhand floods, or any rail/bus/building disasters. RSS volunteers are found from Jammu and Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, rushing to help every single natural disaster. They are also in forefront to help people in case of man-made disasters like 2012 Asom riots caused by illegal foreign settlers from Bangladesh. It was RSS volunteers who donated blood during 1971 war. RSS runs over 1,70,000 projects across India via organizations like Sewa Bharati, catering to every language, state, religion, caste, colour and creed. Go to their website to learn. RSS runs 27,041 schools (Ekal Vidyalaya) in remote tribal areas : 7,53,123 socially deprived tribal students are enrolled. RSS is in fact the world's largest voluntary service organization with over 60,00,000 active members, plus millions of supporters. RSS was one of the first to land at Uttarakhand to help the needy. They even proudly helped the organization that helps every Indian.. the national army! Watch this video.

Myth 14: RSS does not raise Indian flag.
Fact 14: RSS Sarsangh chalak (highest position within RSS), Mohan Bhagawat himself stands and respects an Indian flag during important national festivals.

There are scores of other myths being propagated systematically against RSS. For now, this list is enough. Just remember: 

R : Ready for
S : Selfless
S : Service

RSS will become stronger with availability of social media, as the malicious propaganda against the Sangh Parivar, will eventually have to die down.

सत्यमेव जयते !

Read This Before You Vote in 2014

My request to young Indians;

Please do not support Anarchy. It kills nation from within. It leads to civil wars. Anarchy dooms your future. India is toooooooooo big a nation for experimentation. Unproven Rahul, Anarchist Kejriwal or Communal Mulayam etc., are too risky.

I tell my friends to trust #NaMo4PM. Once you read this fully, you might agree with me.

Activism saying everyone is chor is good only on streets. But you need a govt for security, infrastructure, finance etc. If you don't vote for a quality party that can form government, it is as good as not voting. And those who don't vote also need infrastructure, healthcare, education, jobs, security, services and more. So please pick the least dangerous and most effective choice.

Always vote for a party that helps in job creation. India needs crores of regular jobs and  Self-employment type, and not the useless casual jobs like MNREGA. A govt should simply play a referee, rather than being an employer. It already has crores of government and public sector employees to feed, so it definitely does not need more.

Those who came to job market between 1950 and 1991 were screwed. Four decades of socialism and exessive populism of Nehru, Indira and Rajiv had emptied India's treasury and pushed it to bankruptcy. I clearly remember how the 1980s youth were so frustrated and always abusing the system and government. Mindless and excessive socialism had killed private jobs. Please don't let India slip back to it.

India has over 17% of the world's population, but is a part of under 2% of the world's trade. That's a huge problem and a clear result of failed socialistic economic policies. Support a pro-trade and pro-capitalist leader like Narendra Modi for your future. I am convinced that among the choices we have in front of us today, he is the best when it comes to creation of jobs, boosting international trade and attracting investment to India.

Watch some 1970s or 1980s films in most Indian languages:- Dictator leaders, anarchist system and jobless youth in a crime prone society. The much celebrated "Angry young man" was a product of that failed system, while many other developing countries overtook India by miles. Don't let India slip back to such mess. Making a profit was a sin during Indira Gandhi's 1970s when the upper tax rate was in 90% or more!! Can you believe it? If you earn Rs.10,000, you pay taxes well over Rs.9,000! Such system encouraged black money, hawala and in turn serious crime.

MNREGA kind of casual job creation using our tax money is also fundamentally wrong. A 25 year old, who just moves stones from one end of the road to another for Rs.140/day, develops NO skills for a productive future job. And worse, many get paid moving any stones either, due to severe corruption.  I am from a generation which saw liberalization and global trade revolutionizing job market. High paying private jobs are the ONLY way forward.

If we do not ensure a Modi win in May 2014, India may slip back to the horrible 1990 and 1991 situation - begging the IMF, pledging gold, facing humiliating conditions and more.

It hurts me when I see folks in 20s wasting their time supporting socialists and anarchists, killing their own future. Always, always remember - If a govt gives something free or at subsidized rates, it takes away YOUR own money meant for infra, security, research, jobs or healthcare.

A government should not work on creating jobs as it is not trained to do that. There are millions of private entrepreneurs who can create jobs. A government must just sit back and support them. Take an example that I have watched right in front of my eyes. 20 years ago, Bengaluru had less than 10000 IT jobs. Today, more than 4,00,000 IT/BT/BPO jobs, plus another 10,00,000 supporting jobs. The city exports Rs. 1,40,000,00,00,000 worth of software earning India a huge cache of valuable foreign exchange. That's the power of private jobs when governments just sit on the side with regulation and infrastructure development.

I hope you will make the right choice in 2014.. Say no to anarchists.. say no to the socialists.. say yes to responsible capitalists and pro-trade folks. Yes, they may not be perfect, but here is the bottom line. If your son, daughter or some other young family member can earn Rs. 20,000 as the starting monthly salary, the monthly subsidy of Rs.200 for water, Rs.600 worth of free power, 30 KG of rice at Re. 1, free mixie, and other stuff just does not matter. Creating and sustaining jobs is the best way a government can serve the society. That's the ONLY way to remove poverty. Everything else is just sloganeering..

Why Would I Hesitate To Support AAP?

Today, I was discussing with a soft-spoken friend. The topic was the most current hot topic now-a-days. It is nothing but the English media hype for a relatively insignificant political entity like AAP, that has mere 0.68% of assembly seats in India.

And he gave some really good pointers. From that discussion, here are five category of questions to anyone who supports AAP or considering a support.

1) Arvind Kejriwal and some key AAP leaders have connections to foreign funding, via avenues like Ford Foundation. And Ford does not have a good image in India. Why do they hide or downplay their Ford funding?

Read the most reputed teacher, Prof. Vaidyanathan questioning: Is India safe–What is Ford Foundation

If you want a leftist ask the same question, here is Arundhati Roy stating: "the main reason why I am is so skeptical of Anna’s movement (now AAP avatar) is because it was a ‘copy book of the World Bank agenda’.

And don't miss this. It might sound a bit like conspiracy theory, but there are points to ponder. CIA’s Trojan Horse enters the Heart of India.

And remember the noise about NGOs to be kept out of Janlokpal ambit?

2) Fighting corruption is a noble cause. But at the expense of compromising on naxalism, jihadi threat in Jammu and Kashmir, flirting with communalism, to name a few. If you want national space, you need to be clear on contentious national issues.

Why disrespecting a court decision on Batla encounter?
Why soft on maoist violence?
Why soft on Congress CM's corruptions?
And many more relevant national issues. 

Read: 25 Questions to Arvind Kejriwal and his Fan Boys

Similarly, there is another set of 10 very direct and clear questions to Aam Aadmi Party supporters. Most have no answers for these critical national interest items.

A little introspection for AAP supporters

Credit to the original creator of the 10 set questions' image. I don't know who created it, but it is fabulous thought provoking work.

Now the maoist sympathizing segment forms part of various AAP advisory committees.

Aam Aadmi Party and the potential implications for national security.

How could anyone support Prashant Bhushan, who is openly anti Indian army, talks softly on Jihadi terror and openly supporting separatists who want to break India? Isn't his statements exact replica of Pakistani and ISI's lingo across the international fora?

"There should be a referendum on whether people want AFSPA to continue in the valley or not"

The associations of Kejriwal, the past and present, give no confidence to an Indian who believes in integrity and soverignty of India.

Statements aside, his associations tell us much more.

 Another dubious association of Kejriwal

3) Have you ever wondered why Kejriwal's corruption fighting ideas are fundamentally flawed?
Here is some food for thought.

Kejriwal’s slogan of ‘Corruption Hatao’ is in many ways not very different from what Indira Gandhi said ‘Garibi Hatao’. Both are populist slogans. Kejriwal’s ideas like Swaraj and Lokpal are fundamentally flawed.

Kejriwal & Aam Aadmi Party have made a push for Economic Policy that we left behind in 1991. i.e. Policy of Subsidies.

They offer no fresh, meaningful, productive idea. They have none, can offer none. They have Zero Experience of Governance. They stand to lose nothing. Only India stands to lose because of such Worms & Germs.

Arvind Kejriwal's methods are so medieval.

For instance, the attractive sounding schemes like “junta darbar”, which uncannily resembles the erstwhile kings’ modus operandi in the role of “dispenser of justice” through their diwan-e-aam darbars. Compare them with 21st century methods of Narendra Modi, which work.. actually work very well!

Public grievance address system: Medieval mode versus 21st century approach

4) Coming to pretending or misleading people.. Why does Kejriwal do it so often?

Didn't he know that center has to approve Janlokpal bill? If yes, why mislead Dilli?

Anna's decision becomes "my" decision!

And let's also revisit the prior blog entry in this same site.

How can anyone tolerate a party that flip-flops so quickly, even shaming chameleons?

U turns of Arvind. A complete compilation.

5) Why does AAP indulge in Congress-BJP bhai bhai nonsense? Now that it has formed a government in Dilli with Congress support, popularly known as AAPCON govt, this bhai bhai claim sounds so silly.

24 hour rhetoric of “all parties are equally corrupt” (because of their vested interests and which directly benefits Congress). 
Congress and BJP looted us for 65 years…really ?

In fact whom was Yogendra Yadav mentoring around 2009 election?

How did voters who had vitriolic hatred for the Congress suddenly agree to support Kejriwal’s tie up with that party? Simple. the entire operation is focused on stopping Modi's march.

And if Narendra Modi is removed, India will be joined in anarchy. You can write off this nation for a whole generation. 

Kejriwal has been exposed on TV screens, unable to justify some of his corrupt and dubious party members.

So much for Congress-BJP bhai bhai!

And the newest entrants into AAP have dubious credentials and corruption baggage.

Be it Bihar's Singh history sheeter rowdy Kundan Singh or Tamil Nadu's Christina Samy

Coming to clean politics, Over Rs.24,00,000 of expenses were under-reported by Kejriwal's AAP from their pre-election musical concert. Are they any different from the people they snub?

This is shown in the Order passed by the Election Officer on the discrepancies in booking expenses incurred by AAP on musical concert.

Summary:
Finally, there is a clear 10 mantra collection, called as NaMo Mantras in here. When preferring a party in 2014 election, keep these 10 mantras in mind. Even though that presentation is clearly pro Narendra Modi and BJP, you can decide in favour of anyone you want. But your nation's future at stake. Make a judicious and well thought out choice!

If you still need to think, read through or see/hear, all the links provided above. For a person with "Nation First" intention, there will be ample clarity after going through them.

Good luck!

AAP: Lies and U-Turns

AAP is the latest novelty factor in India. TV Media is going 24*7 abuzz with how cool the bunch of activists turned politicians are. Print media is writing laurels for "aam aadmi" finally governing Dilli. Media "pundits" are going ga-ga as to how Arvind Kejriwal's phenomenon will be changing India's political landscape, dislodging the established players like Narendra Modi. And social media's AAP fans are all out to prove how great is this new find for India.

And then I asked after one week of Aam Aadmi Party's government in Dilli, to list out some of their lies, and outright u-turns. Within 2 hours, I got enough material to write this blog. These were tweeted mostly with #AAPLies hash tag on Twitter. Since they are coming in large number, you can check out the tweets with that tag, for the latest info.

All the material provided here are courtesy my Twitter friends. If any item has untruth or half truth in it, please post a comment with the correction. I will review it.

Here we go.. listing the top 10 sections of lies and u-turns.

Section 1: Master lists

Tweep @bechaara openly challenges folks to counter him, after listing some #AAPlies.

‏@SaffronZeppelin shares a very interesting video.

Arvind Kejriwal's famous lies get exposed, amongst others:
"I will never fight elections in my life" 
"I don't want to hold any post in my life" 

Then @shaksingh shares an elaborate list of 15 #AAPlies.

He's quite well versed with these topics, so feel free to challenge him for links, if you feel any of these are incorrect.

Then @ArinKamath shared 5 key u-turns of AAP, proving that they are not necessarily AAM. The most damning one is the #AAPCON government they formed with Congress support.

Section 2: AAP Taking Corrupt Congress Support

‏@RPrasad_7 asked: Why AAP is cheating people that BJP has offered them support? Only Congress offered support, not BJP particularly, when you focus on Congress giving unconditional support to form the government.

Another friend shared a video of Arvind Kejriwal & Yogendra Yadav being caught red-handed by Subramanin Swamy. Hilarious.. watch it.

Then @Purple_Truth shares the real truth of AAP & Congress relationship, poupularly known on the social media as #AAPCON government.

@SachsR also shared a similar #AAPCON drawing, this time from the funny Amul Baby.
"Hand in hand, Aam in Arm?"

Section 3: AAM Hesitating On Sheila Dikshit Corruption Cases

‏@nationalizer shared the most damning thing about how AAP has connived to save Sheila Dikshit's Congress corruption.

AAP had a page on its website called "Pol Khol" meaning expose them.
http://aamaadmiparty.org/PolKhol/Electricity.aspx

At the time of writing this blog, the page was missing. Hence producing the archive that @nationalizer provided.

Why would AAP remove this critical page from their website?

@niranjanprabhu shared a video where Kejriwal is exposed on his flip flop on Sheila.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152108859596346

Another similar expose shared by @chotivalebaba on Dr. Harsha Vardhan's charges and Kejriwal making a disgusting u-turn.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qxI_xdOUuY

@dreamthatworks asked.. AAP said Congress corruption will be probed in 7 days and it is alraedy the 8th day, nothing happened. Why "Mr. Clean"?

@LostProphet77 asked the same. "Sheila Dikshit would be in jail within 7 days of AAP forming Delhi Govt". What happened?

Section 4: "Free" Water

@IamSrivatsanV saved an AAP Busting detail about water.

@gk125 asked - Is AAP Delhi water formula full of leaks?

"The people of Delhi may be in for a rude shock, following the new water pricing formula of AAP. They may have to shell-out 2-3 times more. Where meters are faulty, cost will be even higher"

Read the analysis: http://www.moneylife.in/article/aap-delhi-water-formula-is-full-of-leaks/35822.html

@IamSrivatsanV shared the Kejriwal's waterfront by Surjit S Bhalla, which talks about Reverse Robinhood episode where poor will pay for rich people's water consumption.

"Aap Ki Amir Party" Indian Express writes..

Read analysis here: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kejriwal-s-waterfront/1215340/0

@ArinKamat shared the so called terms and conditions which make the application of this free water stuff difficult.

Of course, by now, most AAP supporters will be trying to find some material against BJP, instead of trying to defend the drama of AAP.

Section 5: Electricity

@IamSrivatsanV shared a comparison with older tariff. Unless you are very carefully watching the electrical meter, even one unit above 400 units can make you pay more. So this is not truly a power tariff cut that aam aadmi would understand or monitor closely.

Section 6: Rakhi Birla's car being "attacked"

@PawanDande claims, Rakhi Birla planted story of attack on car, while it was hit by cricket ball, even boy apologized, still nautanki & FIR

@TrustBJP shared a video explaining this more:

Why this drama Rakhi ji? First day shared auto, then sleeping in assembly, then getting Innova car, then no security claim, then this drama for personal car...

Section 7: AAP's Anjali Damania, known as "land shark" on social media.

‏@ArinKamath shared the details from Kejriwal's Headlines Today show in March 2013 and what was actually on AAP website (contradiction).

‏@gk125 shared the same video where Kejriwal lied about Anjali Damania. In fact the person who asked the question, tweeted to me on the same!

" She is a volunteer" drama exposed. 

Now the same "volunteer" Anjali, who is accused of being a land shark, against whom Kejriwal refused any probe internally, is Nagpur AAP's candidate in Maharashtra. If Anjali had some self respect, she would not be contesting from the party which disowned her on national TV!

Section 8:  Election Commission Clean Chit

@rameshnswamy shared the truth that EC never giving any clean chit, as claimed by AAP after getting exposed with that Sting operation against Shzia Ilmi, Kumar Vishwas and a few more.

Read: http://news.oneindia.in/new-delhi/election-commission-quashes-aap-claims-of-being-given-clean-chit-1348855.html

According to Election Commissioner HS Brahma the commission has not verified the veracity of the tape. He also added that unless the AAP challenges it legally, no clean chit can be given to it. The party had earlier claimed that the EC had given a clean chit to the party and declared that the sting operation CD was doctored.

Section 9:  Where is JanLokpal?

@ArinKamath asks, where is Jan Lokpal? This was asked on 31st December, but we can understand the delay in forming the government. At least by 6th January some movement should have happened? That too after using Anna Hazare's name in spite of him clearly saying don't use?

Section 10: No Government Car

Coming to Arvind Kejriwal's famous tweet about "we never ever" part of government transport.

@masala_chaas busts that lie too quickly.
In Apr 2013: See the conditions in this video, put by AAP for giving tickets.

And  now in Jan 2014, giving gas guzzling Rs. 15 to 18 lakh (upper range) costing, foreign brand lavish cars to AAP ministers.

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party Ministers of Delhi, except Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, were today given Toyota Innova cars as official perks.

A number of ministers, including Manish Sisodia, Rakhi Birla and Saurabh Bhardwaj, came to Delhi Assembly complex in official cars.

Asked if coming by such cars was reflective of practising austerity, Kejriwal downplayed it saying the party never said it's ministers will not use official cars.

How convenient!
I have 100s of other tweets and information shared by online friends. But this is enough for now..

Can we really trust such political chameleons?

Strange Ways AAP Gets Surveys Done

I came across this week, a survey on the new Aam Aadmi Party's website. 47% of Dilli folks want to give AAP a chance.. Impressive for a new kid on the block.

But the surprise did not long for long. Started reading it through a bit.

The AAP website said further:

Aam Aadmi Party commissioned Cicero Associates(www.ciceroassociates.in), a New Delhi based consultancy firm, specializing in public opinion polling and survey research, to carry out the second round of a Delhi wide survey of a representative sample of Delhi’s voters.  The first wave of the poll was conducted in February 2013, while the data presented here is from the second wave.

Wait a minute.. we have seen this Cicero name somewhere on Twitter. So it took me to the second step. The website of Cicero Associates. Strangely, they are still "upgrading" the most vital piece of their website, the people who own the company.

That made me more curious, because that survey company claimed that their advice is based on results, and not intentions. If the intention is not important, why is the team page empty? Started searching.

Next I landed up on a news paper website.

Twitter was abuzz with charges about how AAP is a Congress front because it chose a company, which has a Congressman as one of the two directors. In the third phase of the survey, AAP had given itself a 28% vote share and Kejriwal as popular preference for the post of chief minister.

A link leading to an article “Proof that Aam Aadmi Party is a front of Congress, survey is false" on a web-based newswire site claimed that one of the two partners of Cicero Associates & Consultants is an office bearer of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC). The DPCC website on Wednesday showed Madhur’s photo and his Badarpur address.

By now it was truly amusing to me..  How can a company seemingly owned by a Congress person (party or fully), can do a survey projecting "massive" opinion in favour of the new kid in political arena, this AAP? The next step was even more better.

Landed up in that page quoted by the newspaper.

For the past few months, we are being bombarded with a survey in which Aam Aadmi Party has claimed victory in Delhi elections. The survey was done by Yogendra Yadav, using an unknown agency called Cicero Associates & Consultants Private Limited. The numbers claimed in the survey were hard for any agency to achieve. They claimed that the survey was carried out between September 5 and October 5 among all 70 assembly constituencies, covering 1,750 polling booths and 34,425 respondents.

As a data scientist, I am quite aware that modern market research is a science and the results cannot differ much from other surveys done by reliable agencies like AC Neilson. Conducting more than 1,000 surveys in a day seemed to be a no mean feat.

The website of Cicero Associates, which was registered just on May 30, 2013, lists their address as A-166, First Floor, Defence Colony, New Delhi, Delhi, 110024. So the company did not have a public face before May 30, 2013. The snapshot of the page on that day by Archive.org lists a freshly hosted domain. I am quite familiar with Delhi and know that A-block of Defence Colony cannot house so many field agents to conduct a massive survey. So I decided to investigate.

Registrar of Companies data reveals that the authorised signatories of Cicero Associates are Sunit Kumar Madhur with the address of GA-34, Block GA, Pulpeladpur, New Delhi 110 044. The other Director is Dhananjay Joshi with the address of A-7/3 SFS Flats, Saket, New Delhi 110 017. An authorised signatory is the Karta Dharta of the company.
A simple Google Search reveals that A-166 First Floor, Defence Colony has the office of Langjobs, Interpreters India and other businesses. It certainly didn’t look like a market research entity.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee Site lists one of the Directors of Cicero, as a General Secretary - Shri Sunit Madhur, GA-34, Pul Pahladpur, Badarpur, New Delhi-110 044, 9311012007 as a General Secretary. His own twitter profile describes himself as: “Congress worker. Entrepreneur. Only the people who have to compromise& be pragmatic in their daily lives know the value of idealism and romanticism....”

A name and address like that is unique so both are the same set of people.
The other Director is a property dealer running a firm called Intouch Associates revealed from his profile at 99acres.com.

For Aam Aadmi Party, which is dead against Congress, it seems quite strange that it has to choose a dummy market research company, which is owned by a known Congressman to conduct a survey!

By now I was clear as to what was all this fake survey and worse.. the role of AAP as the B team of Congress as so many people on Twitter say. I initially didn't pay much attention to such theories, but looking at the details here, it was not hard to believe so any more. And this screenshot of research posted on that website, with data from Ministry of Corporate Affairs website confirmed that they had indeed a perfect research done. And you can spot at the left bottom corner of the image, a clear solicitation to get someone to youth or main Congress party. Download and zoom the image if you wish to read thoroughly.

And by the time I got to the twitter account of this Sunit Madhur, Director of this mysterious Cicero Associates, it was probably late. He has no bio there.

Now that you have read till here.. tell me honestly. If you were going to topple Sheila Dikshit's Congress government, why would you get your survey done by a firm owned (partly or fully) by a Congress regional General Secretary? Will you get a survey done by a firm owned by BJP General Secretary (hypothetically), if trying to topple Narendra Modi's government in Gujarat? Will you get a survey done by AIADMK affiliate's company if trying to challenge Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu?

Whom are you trying to fool with such "farzi" surveys, Mr. Kejriwal? Worse.. are there still some people who believe that there is no mysterious "hand" behind this sudden hype of a new kid on the block called AAP? :)

Mysuru Dasara Procession - Some Tidbits

Today is Mysuru (Mysore) Dasara. After 9 nights worshiping Goddess Chamundi, the 10th day or the Vijaya  Dashami day, Mysuru city in south India, gears itself for the world famous Dasara (Dusshehra) procession.

Here are some tidbits about this procession, that I am lucky to have witnessed many times. Some of the pictures posted are rare, and don't forget to click on them to see the full size spectacle.

The world famous Mysuru Dasara procession is happening continuously for 403 long years! This picture is from 1930s. The Dasara festivities started in 1610 CE.

Image: itslife.in

Here is a rare video footage of Mysuru Dasara 45 years ago, when the Maharajah was at the helm of pooja affairs. Now Maharajah's family's private Dasara is more symbolic, as the state of Karnataka has taken over the dasara celebration as Nada Habba (State Festival). My mother's generation people say that the grand spectacle of 1950s and 1960s is not there anymore, but hey.. life moves on!

For the 9 Navaratri nights plus the finale Dasara procession night, Mysuru palace is lit with 1,00,000 bubs. If you have never been to Mysuru, definitely visit during the next September/October period. It will be very crowded, but the spectacle of a 1 lakh bulb lit palace is worth seeing from all the four sides.

Image: blogspot

To know a bit of  history of what is Mysuru Dasara, what are the local practices, an ever green Kannada song "Mysuru Dasara, Eshtondu Sundara" from 1970 will help. The dance is a bit funny , but lyrics are very meaningful.

Video: http://www.weedioh.com/Video.aspx?VideoId=13447


Elephants are the main attraction of the Mysuru Dasara. The finale is called Jambu Savari (Jambu meaning elephant, Savari meaning Ride). It literally means the Goddess Chamundi's Pratima (idol) is taken for a grand ride on an elephant. During earlier years, the Maharajah or King also would sit on an elephant, but that does not happen anymore. And since is a world famous event with lakhs of people turning up, 14 disciplined elephants are finalized after practice walks in city. The lives of these elephants is great. They are pampered for most part of the year in thick jungles and all they have to do is to behave well and walk elegantly during the all important Navaratri festival.

The mock drills are to ensure that only the elephants with patience and people friendly attitude are picked, as even one elephant going rogue can be very dangerous during Dasara.

Image: newindianexpress

Then one elephant is made the king of the group. For the year 2013, Mysuru Dasara's main elephant carrying the 750KG golden ambaari (howdah) of Devi Chamundi, is Arjuna. He is 45 years old and weighs a massive 5600 KG!

Image: TheHindu

Arjuna is accompanied by two female elephants on either side, to keep him calm and focused. He has to bear the tremendous weight of 750 KG+ for nearly 3 hours, and in the middle of lakhs of humans all around him! That involves tremendous training.

Mysuru Dasara is among the world's longest running traditional processions. From 1610 CE, EVERY single year, on a grand scale! Here is a panoramic view of the elephants marching with Goddess Chamundi, amidst a sea of humans. Remember, each of these elephants weigh 60 to 80 times an average human!

Image: halobackwaters

Mysuru Dasara is like a mini Indian Republic day parade in Dilli. It brings out 100s of rare cultural and folk dances and performances. Here is one snippet.

Image: akamaihd.net

Finally, after an almost full day of fun on Vijaya Dashami day through the streets, Mysuru dasara culminates with a torchlight parade & show at a ground.

Image: TheHindu

If you haven't seen Mysuru Dasara in person, mark your calendar for the next year. This is one spectacle in India, that you should really see. A combination of centuries old culture and tradition, that is rolling year after year entertaining the people. This is how the city glitters during Navaratri nights!!

{Image: akamaihd, Photographer: Vikas}

Jai Chamundeshwari!