Common Civil Code

The internal strife and killings in Iraq, Afghanistan and a host of other countries in Africa, West Asia and other regions are a matter of serious introspection for the intelligentsia and liberal-minded social activists in the muslim community. West Asian countries who have a history of thousands of years are reeling under Shia Sunni conflicts and protecting tribal identities of the Kurdish people. In these conflicts, the victims are the common people, especially women and children. By installing a "Caliph" in Iraq, the fundamentalists are dreaming of a Caliphite which was abolished by Mustafa Kamal Pasha in 1918. The Indian Muslims should come forward to demand common civil code for the community as many of the aspects of the existing laws are practised only in Saudi Arabia among the fifty odd muslim countries in the world. 

Mandela versus Gandhi

Nelson Mandela is one among the greatest few leaders who lived and led the oppressed and deprived people in the 20th century. His epic leadership in the struggle against the apartheid regime of the minority white government is recent history. Mandela had very high respect and regard towards Mahatma Gandhi who had the opportunity to start his struggle against the colonial rulers in South Africa. As far as our nation is concerned the biggest tragedy during the last millennium is the partition of our country in 1947 and our great national leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel etc., could not prevent disaster owing to a combination of factors such as 'Divide and Quit' policy of the British and the fanatically violent agenda of the Muslim League.

In my opinion the greatest achievement of Nelson Mandela is the unified South Africa which we see today. It was the towering personality and strong leadership of Nelson Mandela that prevented the balkanisation of South Africa into several units. He was bold enough to declare that he was ready to wait for many more years to attain the freedom rather than dividing the country among Whites, Hutu tribals, ANC etc.

Bleeding Kerala ~ A Solution

Kerala state is thickly populated with more than sixty percent of the state’s population living in urbanized and semi-urbanised areas. Rapid increase in the vehicle population with in sufficient and low-quality roads have rendered the state with the highest accident rate in the country. Around 5000 fatal accidents and ten times of that being the number of non-fatal accidents place the state in a most precarious scenario. If we prudently compute the cost of these accidents such as loss to the families of the victims and the society at large, it will be to the tune of several thousand crores per year. To arrest this dangerous situation from getting out of hand, the political leadership of the state, both UDF and LDF who rule the state alternatively at five year intervals, has to act decisively. There are several areas in which the state can do wonders through good governance and dynamic policy decisions. Efficient and affordable public transport system is the best guarantee to reduce the vehicle population on the roads at daytime peak hours. Greater Mumbai with 2 crores(approx) population is the best example in this regard. Seventy five lakhs people travel in MEMU services in Mumbai and forty five lakhs people travel in public transport buses there. Precisely this is the reason why Mumbai roads are available for those who use other modes of transports for their daily needs. The  only option for Kerala is to drastically introduce MEMU services exponentially in all the electrified railway lines in the state. Comparing the benefits which can be derived from this system the cost will be much less and affordable.

C.W.G. Scam

Finally the CBI Court in New Delhi has ordered to frame charges against Suresh Kalmadi and others in the 141 Cr. Omega case. Formerly, the timing of the events were done manually using stop watches. Now technology is so advanced that costly electronic gadgets are in use in international sporting events. But the organisers of CWG in India decided to make it a 141 crore contract with forgery, deceit and criminal conspiracy which has resulted in loss to the exchequer to the tune of more than 90 crores. Considering the total expense of about seventy thousand crore, this amount is chickenfeed. Even the small case maybe sabotaged by using some technicalities. Even this small case can be sabotaged considering the track record of CBI and Govt of India. Only through relentless drive for spreading the awareness of these misdeeds of powerful people amongst the educated and youth, the democratic freedom of which we are proud of can be protected.

Wishful Thinking

If the political parties of Kerala decide to make the state Hartal Free for the coming ten years, the state will achieve unbelievable economic growth and will attain the numero uno position among the indian states. The state government need not run after the investors as the investments will come in abundance not only from within the country but from external sources also. Because Kerala is blessed with highly skilled workforce and very good climatic features. For IT and ITES, Kerala is the most ideal place as the power position and other favourable factors are superior to that of the neighbouring states such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Maharashtra.

The Government should concentrate mainly on improving the infrastructure such as water supply, electricity, roads, railways etc as more than sixty percent of the people in the state live in urbanised and semi urbanised areas, efficient and affordable public transport is essential for vibrant economic growth. Metro rail and mono rail projects are essential considering the potential growth of the state. But the urgent need of the hour is introduction of MEMU services in all the electrified routes from Palghat to Kanyakumari which will considerably reduce the traffic pressure on the roads and consequent reduction in the number of accidents and loss to human life. About 5000 people die every year due to road accidents and ten times of that are victims of serious accidents with loss of limbs and considerable financial burden due to medical expenses etc.    During the last several years, every railway budget has promised the introduction of MEMU services in Kerala. Lack of political will and sincerety on the part of the political leaders of the state is the main reason for this pathetic state of affairs.

It is high time the political parties and their leaders introspect on these issues and work unitedly for the welfare of the state.

Neros of Delhi

During the peak of Assam violence, the state government faxed a request to the Centre for deployment of army on 21st July. As the army camps were in the vicinity of the troubled area, they wanted orders from competent authority in Delhi. For three days, the babus in the defence ministry and home ministry did precious little which prompted the Assam govt to send another fax on 24th July. During the seventy two hours of inaction by New Delhi, more than fifty people lost their lives and lakhs of people had to flee their villages and settlements amidst large scale looting and burning of houses. Instead of sending fax message, the CM of Assam Tarun Gogoi should have contacted Defence Minister A.K. Anthony and Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and if necessary the Prime Minister and action should have been taken on 21st itself.

When Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister during the late eighties, in response to the SOS received from the Maldives Prime Minister, the airforce station in Trivandrum was asked to swiftly save a foreign nation from armed insurgency and possible collapse. Which the Air Force did with extreme efficiency. Compare this swift action of Rajiv Gandhi with the present day political masters in Delhi whose inaction caused untold misery to the people of Assam.