Ansari Shows true colors-IBN-30May2007

Politicians dont change their character or nature. They are loyal only to their selfishness.Atleast they are predictable that way.The suspicion that Ansari was a Trojan horse-BJP horse in Kumaraswamy camp-isproved.He has proved it by subsequent event claiming support of thrity BJP members thatKumaraswamy will continue in power come September or October.Kumaraswamy has not denied it either. It is the Modus operandi exhibited by JDS Supremo HDD Gowda towards his mentorR K Hegde earlier. History repeats itself.

Bangalore is fighting a win or die vahanasura Kaalaga-IBN-29 May 2007

Bangalore is fighting a vehicle demons in a win or die battle. 2.6 million of them increasing at 1000/dayWe at TEST(Traffic Engineers and Safety Trainers-an NGO) are doing our mite by conducting seminars for professional multinational,public transport, call centre, driving school instructors, principals, police, students,etc. Our seminars cover defensive driving, fighting stress, signage's, regulations, what to after accidents etc. We have trained thousands.The ignorance and indifference to laws is amazing. At an individual level, I have a crusade of reporting offenders registrations weekly (over 1300 in the past 6 months) to the traffic police. Just now I was in a public spat, a driver blocked my gate. He argued no space to park, no signboard (mandatory no parking zone) wait at the gate to tell us not to park ,etc. This led to the possibility that as he a professional was not aware of the basics of driving, I had serious reservations of his capacity to see, read, comprehend and comply. He was disobeying a silent zone board just over his head. Many bystanders were defending HIM! This public attitude of defending wrongs- is no less than lying in this land of Mahatma Gandhi.Aware of this paradox, one of them justified it, this is India and this is the way we are.He was expressing a reality which I was unwilling to see. We do put up signs 'Do Not urinate, defecate' near temples & public places! usually unheeded. With 30 percent literacy, we should make these visual instead of text. It is no wonder, we are where we are instead of being where we could be as a nation. We additionally assassinated the Mahatma and with him what is right and wrong. We are not even ashamed of murdering right & truth.

Police go hitech-IBN28May2007

We judge the cops too easily, casually and very unfairly.They operate under severe stress, not knowing what kind of influence andpressure any violation stop can bring.They do not know which pit has what kind of snake hiding.Depending on the INFLUENCE RAJ the drunk driver wields besides driving under the influence of alcohol, he may pay or the cop can get suspended or transferred .Under these circumstances, we aam admi would not have done 1/100th the job we criticise the police are doing.We should stop to think: would we have jeopardized our daily job to catch some idiot foolish enough to endanger himself and everyone else by his indulgence to alchol.One of the ways of dealing with insufficient police personnel is by encouraging the society to report violations and prosecute them through automation centres.Public reported violations are immune from influence raj as the complainant is not subject influence pressures as a government servant can be.Many American cities offer upto 40 percent of the fine collected by citizen reported vioaltions as reward to the complainants. Here in India it can be added to the violators burden as an incentive to be more law abiding.A portion of the fine collected from traffic offences, convicted cases can be plowed into a corpus fund.Such a fund has grown to US dollar 1 billion in ten years in Newjersey.This can be used for funding NGO efforts of Traffic Engineers and Safety Trainers and others for driver training rehabilitation etc.

Stink over alcometers-TOILEDS28MAY2007

As a teetotaller, I fail to understand the arguments offered by those stopped by the police for

driving under the influence of alcohol.(TOI page 3 'Stink over alcometers' -28May2007)
Why are we always proud , anxious and eager to violate rules and laws of civilized society?

There is no sense of shame at all in being the least law abiding or most corrupt.
The 'INFLUENCE RAJ' is at the root of this evil.
It is the western standards presumably which we need and follow in this regard.
It is the duty of the officer, to prevent the suspected drunk driver from futher endangering persons and property by whatever means necessary.
It generally means impounding the vehicle or detaining the driver till he is sober.
It is better he is subjective in the larger intersts.
It should be his primary duty to prevent danger and damage to the rest of the society by any means necessary.
Understandably this is solely at the discretion of the officer.
Those who drink and drive should realize that they are a dangerous NUISANCE to themselves and
more importantly other innocent road users.
If they can afford to drink, they owe it to the society to afford to take an auto or taxi home.
Media should not be a sympathetic party to propogating their imaginary grievances.
The rest of the society should not have to pay a very high price for this serious social evil.

Hindol Sengupta's article-IBN21May2007

Your timely, well written ,article , represents and fulfills a vital important function of a blog, namely create ripples in the intelligentsia on the repurcussions of ordinary events unnoticed or disregarded by even the discerning and intelligent. Please keep up the perspectives.

Ujjwal Nikam should be commended-IBN 21 May 2007

Special public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam has to be hearfelt commended for conducting a mammoth trial.Anyone Knowing the way how the wheels turn in this country would be aware of the massive amounts of pressure, patience and perseverance required of the prosecutor to carry out this trial of the century.The other comparable one was Rajiv Gandhi murder case where there were hardly any leads.The completion of this trial just goes to prove that diligence and perseverance is still alive in this country.

RTI act-IBN-21May2007

Excellent and welcome decision on the Right To Information act being applicable to corporate requests too.When you look at the ground reality the true effectiveness of the act will be more obvious in the larger context where afrah tafrahs of larger financial scale actually take place than individual levels. Therefore is more meaningful to make the government functioning more apparent and transparent.

Dayanidhi Maran resigns-IBN15May2007

Dayanidhi Maran was the only one in this family whose public perception
is that of a progressive and modern politician.
Now whatever the compulsions that drove karunanidhi to get rid of him,
this move will be perceived as nepotically protecting and encouraging criminality.
It was not just rioting, arson and violence.
Karunanidhi should have remembered that 3 people were murdered.
So it is a totally different ball game.
This willingness to violence and blood shed politics is what has kept a potential
gold mine state of India in the dark ages.

reverse progress-IBN-11 May 2007

One cannot but help wonder whether Mr Iqbal Ansari intends to take this progressive state to medieval barbarism or is he just a mythological mohini for this Bhasmasura government hell bent on preventing transfer of power to the coalition partner BJP come October?

Dr Najma for President-IBN 11 May 2007

Dr Najma Heptullah will make an excellent presence in the Rashtrapathi bhavanIt is perhaps India's unique disctinction that women are most emancipated even while maintaining the traditional role of women.We had lady prime ministers, chief ministers, governors, administrative heads, which not even UK and USA can boast of.It is time we had a lady to crown the post..

Tirupati VIPS-IBN 27Apr2007

Mythologically, Lord Venkateshwara is known for his bias towards the rich and the famous.
Since day or night time does not matter to Him,
He as the sole beneficiary of the VIP visit can accommodate them during the late night 11pm to 5am. This graveyard shift can be renamed VIP shift.
It would also be easier for the VIP security as there would be no AAM Janata to protect the VIPS from.
As far as the AAM Janata is concerned nothing else would suit them better.
Those paparazzis and fans who love to see these VIPS and be inconvenienced by them can collect around the temples for special Darshan in that shift.

Sikh Barred from Ontario Restaurant-IBN 3May 2007

Action speaks louder than words.
Discrimination overt or covert is a fact of life
as long as shades of human beings are around.
If the restaurant has a valid story to tell, they should irrespective of the consequence.
The fact they are hedging just affirms the doubts that they are concocting the story for the Human Rights Commission.

Reply to true Hindu-IBN2May2007

If you believe in your opinions why do you hide behind"true hindu" instead of your real name?is it not cowardice?Why in the world would christian missionaries be interested in whether JDS keeps its promise or not?I am not a christian. You should have some basis for your wild and imaginary allegations.If not, you should be more responsible in using a public forum. Like the clothes you wear -your opinions show who you are to the world.Do not make IBN into a sulabh shauchalaya please.

Karnataka CM wont give up the reins-IBN3May2007

Labor minister of karnataka announced a highly controversial ban on women working after 8 pm.This is supposedly in response to the "problems""they were facing".If governments acted so promptly on every 0.5% frequency complaint , we would have a veritable Rama Rajya. The errants failing the fire test unlike Sita and hopefully cleansing the arena.It is obvious, the way Mr. HDD Gowda is orchestrating, to ensure they end the stint with midterm elections. BJP should not get an opportunity to rule and possibly gain votes or popularity.

Should Modi Take Responsibility for Fake encounter killing-IBN2May2007

The buck should have a place to stop.and that should be at the top.The master is responsible for the actions of the servant as per law. So he should be tried as the master

Pastor attack is media fuelling intolerance-IBN3May2007

No.Infact, they are doing a great service highlighting the attack on the pastor.It might have been pushed under the carpet and covered up by the police and involved parties.Now it is the duty of the media to keep the issue in public memory with regular updates on the progress of the case to make sure that the guilty are punished.It is also their duty to reinforce the concept that we as a nation have survived thousands of years because of our tolerant attitude.We will go down the drain the moment we lose our live and let live attitude.