Lokpal: A superflous and dangerous institution

What the Lokpal is:
More bureaucracy. It isn't as if there are no constitutional provisions against corruption. You can always lodge a complaint with the police. To those cynical people who believe the police have no power whatsoever, there's the CBI. For those anarchists who don't trust the CBI either, I don't see why you would be ready to put all your trust in the Lokpal. 


Either you have a democracy, or you have a system that recognises merit and nothing else. The problem with the latter is that everybody's definition of "merit" is not the same. Who would you want to head the Lokpal? Anna Hazare?


If not him, how is it to be decided who forms the Lokpal? Elections? Why, then, do we not trust our Parliament which is, after all, popularly elected?


The proposed Lokpal bill states: 

1. Members will be appointed by judges, Indian Administrative Service officers with a clean record, private citizens and constitutional authorities through a transparent and participatory process.
2. A selection committee will invite shortlisted candidates for interviews, videorecordings of which will thereafter be made public.

Who decides what a clean record is? Which private citizens are allowed to apply? Which process is more transparent and participatory than elections on the basis of UAF? Who decides which people comprise of the selection committee?

The point is, let's not get out on the streets for an institution that will have the powers to lord over everyone in the nation, including our judiciary. How difficult do you think it is going to be to stall the process of speedy justice by simply wailing at the Lokpal's door? That is precisely why the Constitution provides so many safeguards for the judiciary.


Image source: http://www.news4u.co.in/

India Today - 2

1.) What will increase Hina Rabbani Khar's prestige?
Being renamed to Hina Rabbani Colaba.

2.) Why isn't Yeddyurappa resigning?
He still hasn't finished reading the almost 30,000-page Lokayukta report against him. How slow of him. And then they wonder why court cases drag on in India.

3.) When will Sachin make his hundredth hundred?
Hopefully before Chetan Bhagat stops making lists, because that means never.

Also check out: Predicti-wood and India Today
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Don't rename it, please.

It all started like this. We were in a History class, studying the Maratha period.

History teacher: What is Churchgate called?

Us: Churchgate.

History teacher: You got that one wrong. It's called Ahilyabai Holkar Chowk.

For one thing, that solved a mystery. I had wondered in vain why my BEST bus tickets always said Ahilyabai Holkar Chowk instead of Churchgate. It never struck me that that was Churchgate.

I've been noticing that renaming streets and localities is often ridiculous. Did you know that Marine Drive is now called Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Marg? Are we supposed to say, "Look, we have a free lecture. Let's go to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Marg!"? Apparently not, beause they very smartly shortened it to NSC Bose Marg.

Calling the road that linked Andheri to Kurla the "Andheri-Kurla road" was a very sensible thing to do. But no. It got renamed to Sir Mathurdas V Marg. Now there is a very slim chance that we may go home and Google Sir Mathurdas, or Nashikrao Tirpude, or Nathibai Thakersey. Or even Dr. Deshmukh (that being a little difficult). Very slim. But it is so much easier to just tell the taxi driver to take you to Pedder Road. While I haven't been brave enough to tell one of them to take me to Dr. Deshmukh Road yet, I'm sure they're going to ogle, nastily.

Do you think it's a sense of misplaced patriotism that leads to this? It isn't 1947, after all. What the British built the British built. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has nothing to do with it.

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It's Jaai

I have a love-hate relationship with A. R. Rahman. I love him because he made people forget a very popular nickname of mine: Jai Mata Di. I hate him because he gave me another: Jai Ho. (Pretend you know nothing about rap.)

The worst part is that I cannot legitimately blame anyone. My lawyer will simply look all crestfallen and tell me, in a nearly inaudible whisper, that my name is indeed spelt Jai. Officially. On all the documents that matter. But it is spelt Jaai on Facebook, I'll tell him loudly. What's Facebook? he'll say. I'll fire him.

I don't deny that it is an excellent conversation-starter.
Hi, my name is Jaai.
Zaai?
Yes.
How do you spell it?
J-A-I.
Jai?
No.
*awkward smile*

And this is how introdutions happen:
Hey, meet my friend Jaai. Her name is spelt J-A-I. *maniacal laugh*

Sigh. I'll get back at you all.

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What makes your life interesting?

Maybe it is because colleges are reopening shortly and I have done nothing at all of any consequence during the holidays, but I'm thinking a lot about whether my time on earth has been, will be, worth anything.

When one thinks about what makes one's life interesting, one usually remembers one particular habit, achievement, memory or person. What if that habit, achievement, memory or person did not exist? Would your life still be interesting? Would it, for example, make a fascinating, or at least inspirational, book? Have you any funny or thrilling anecdotes to one day tell your grandchildren? Could you rival How I Met Your Mother?

Philantrophy is a possible answer. I remember attending this Philosophy lecture where we all agreed that one good deed done everyday can make the world a better place to live in. It can also make your life a more eligible topic for conversation.

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How to get admission into the college of your choice

Or do anything at all, really. Five foolproof methods:


1.) Get caught by customs officials: Try to carry super-expensive shoes or sackfuls of jewellery out of the airport. Get investigated by customs officials and praise them for good measure. Get printed. Now you are famous enough to bag a management seat.

2.) Watch an India versus West Indies match: You'll immediately be catapulted into the rarest of rare status. Get in through the sports quota.

3.) Demand an environment quota: and insist you must get a seat though it because you wrote a blog post on World Environment Day.

4.) Throw a shoe at the admissions official, and miss: Not the expensive shoe you carried out of the airport, though. Get media attention and cry in front of the cameras. Say you are a journalist in the making. Your admission process will be magically completed.

5.) Go on a hunger strike: Ensure that you have less than 50,000 followers or the government will beat them up. Demand a fundamental right to admission in your preferred college. You'll get it.

Image source: www.jamespot.com