Sunday, July 15, 2012

Nitish Kumar: Prime Minister

2014 will give India a new Prime Minister.

There are three poles. One is the ruling Congress Party, and its masthead is Rahul Gandhi. The BJP might push Narendra Modi. But I think there is a very real possibility that 2014 for the first time will see a major non-Congress, non-BJP alignment in Indian politics and someone like Nitish Kumar is going to become very appealing.

I am a Bihari, so I admit to a Bihar bias. But I think it goes beyond that. For Nitish Kumar to manage a 13% growth rate for Bihar is really something. He has beat Modi in that growth department. But then Gujrat is like California, Bihar is like Arkansas. The Bihar economic miracle story is more remarkable.

India deserves to become the next China, a country that grows at double digit rates year in year out for decades. Nitish Kumar at the helm is just what the country might need.

Nitish Kumar, Bihar
Rahul Gandhi
Narendra Modi

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Nitish Kumar, Bihar

The Economic Times: Bihar to spend in 5 years what Gujarat did in 50 years: its GDP expected to grow at 13%. The projection seems realistic as during the 11th five-year plan, Bihar's economy expanded an average 12% when all other states grew in single digit, including Gujarat (9.6%) and Maharashtra (8.6%)...... Bihar has promised to fund a major part of its huge expenditure, Rs 1.60 lakh crore or 59% of the total plan outlay during 2012-17, through its own resources and 20% through borrowings and the remaining 21% or Rs 56,394 crore through central contribution. ..... On other parameters too, Bihar has performed well. The state's fiscal deficit was 2.9% compared to the Centre's 5.7% in 2011-12..... Bihar is banking on a rainbow revolution, aiming 7% increase in agricultural production to achieve its target growth while continuing its focus on infrastructure development and industrialization. A Delhi like Metro network for capital Patna and a brand new airport are some of the planned infrastructure development initiatives the state has in mind. ..... It has already secured committed central assistance of Rs 20,000 crore for the 12th plan period. The state's social sector spending will constitute at least 35% of the total plan outlay in education, health, drinking water supply and sanitation.

Slumdog Millionaire: A Movie About My People Wikipedia: Nitish Kumar:The kind of win his Alliance registered during 2010 Bihar Assembly is viewed amongst the biggest ever election win by anyone in Indian elections, where the entire opposition was almost wiped off.... It is a status which currently only Nitish Kumar enjoys, something a rare feat in Indian politics where someone achieves respect and appreciation from opposition along with landslide public support from all sections of Society. Forbes India Person Of The Year:Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has turned the fortunes of the state around since he came to power in 2005. He has come down hard on corruption, has improved infrastructure and infused new life into a creaking state machinery. ...... "The most obvious trait of Nitish Kumar in his younger days was the simple manner in which he lived, sharing a one-room shelter with a friend in Patna, and the amount of tireless groundwork he used to do in his constituency," says Amar Ujala executive editor Arvind Mohan, who has known Nitish from his days with Jayaprakash Narayan...... Bihar was virtually at the bottom of every development ranking until Nitish Kumar took charge in 2005..... The state's economy grew an average 11.35% each year between 2004 and 2009, compared with 3.5% in the prior five years. In the past five years, social spending in the state rose from 30.5% to 41% of overall expenditure. The administration built 2,400 km of roads the last year alone, compared with just 415 km in 2004....... In order to make it clear that he meant business, Nitish Kumar first cranked up the criminal justice system. According to one bureaucrat, it took only a one-line administrative order which said that every FIR had to result in a charge sheet within 90 days and the police officer had to appear before court whenever asked to. The result: 54,000 criminals convicted in the past five years. The number of murders reported has fallen by three percentage points between 2005 and 2008. ..... Kumar and Lalu Yadav started their political careers together during the Jayaprakash Narayan movement in 1973-74. While Yadav was known as the crowd-puller, Kumar was a deft communicator who could explain to outsiders what the movement was about. ...... Officials say that the financial turnaround during the Yadav years was possible only due to the substantial work in improvement of railway lines and time-keeping of passenger trains that was done during the Kumar regime. ........ "The turnaround of the Railways was actually set in motion by Nitish Kumar who carried out substantial asset replacement which helped the succeeding Lalu administration move more goods on the track,'' says R. Sivadasan, former member of the railway board....... While his work at the Railways went rather unnoticed, fame was awaiting him in Bihar. Kumar understood that development could be good politics too. Since Bihar was at the bottom of the pit, even small efforts would look dramatic and could be vote-catching. One of the significant decisions that Kumar took soon after coming to power in Bihar in 2005 was to reserve half of the seats in Panchayats for women.......... He faced a lot of revolt within the party on this. But he stood his ground ....... The most popular scheme devised by Nitish Kumar targeted girls. The Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana helped over eight lakh girls buy cycles in the past four years. Under the scheme, the government handed out cheques to girl students studying in high school. The scheme was later extended to boys as well, and now according to government estimates, close to 12 lakh students have been gifted bicycles. ....... The move paid off handsomely during the recent polls when 10% more women turned up at polling booths. ...... A state commission constituted to identify sub-castes for targeting government help, recommended 21 out of 22 sub-castes to be classified as Mahadalits. The Dussadhs also known as Paswans, led by Ram Vilas Paswan, who form 31% of the 1.3 crore scheduled caste population in Bihar, were left out of that list. ........ His most formidable political achievement, however, was the manner in which he managed to wrest Muslim votes from Lalu Prasad Yadav. ....... The Pasmanda Muslims are considered to be lower caste and account for close to 80% of the Muslim vote in the state. ........ "Nitish took up our cause for Scheduled Caste status for Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians in Parliament. He did this despite being supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party. In fact he was opposed by the BJP on the floor of the house. But he stood his ground," says Anwar. ....... The bearded Kumar made another politically sensitive move by expediting the inquiry into the Bhagalpur riots of 1989 which led to the conviction of 14 people in the case that involved the massacre of 116 people, including women and children. Many of the accused in the case belonged to the Yadav caste which was thought to be a reason for the lack of enthusiasm on the part of Lalu Yadav to get the case going. ........ He has brought in a law to strip officials off their assets if they are found to be disproportionate to their income. He is also planning legislation to make government services a citizen's right. ....... Only Bengal and Kerala have managed to redistribute land to the poorer sections, that too with limited success. ... It will be Nitish Kumar's most important political achievement if he manages to pull off land reforms in the state without violence and erosion of his painstakingly built political equity.

Friday, July 06, 2012

Continued Push For Political Asylum


March 8, 2012: Next Immigration Court Date
http://technbiz.blogspot.com/2011/09/march-8-2011-next-immigration-court.html

Questions Prepared By My Lawyer For Immigration Court Date Tomorrow
http://technbiz.blogspot.com/2011/06/questions-prepared-by-my-lawyer-for.html

Immigration Court Date: June 6, 2011: Prepared Statement
http://technbiz.blogspot.com/2011/05/immigration-court-date-june-6-2011.html 

April 22 Immigration Court Date
http://technbiz.blogspot.com/2011/09/march-8-2011-next-immigration-court.html

December 18 Court Date
http://democracyforum.blogspot.com/2008/12/december-18-court-date.html


Rudra 7.16.12

My Push For Political Asylum
Paramendra Bhagat

My lawyer first made a case in 2008. And I have showed up for court date after court date over the years. Volunteering for Barack Obama is what landed me into trouble – I was inside for six months, they had me disappear the precise day Barack beat Hillary, I guess they were attempting poetry, and I was let out a few days after Barack beat McCain – and the guy is now on his way to reelection. See, they knew me for who I was.

Barackface: The First Time I Heard The Obama Name
http://democracyforum.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-time-i-heard-obama-name.html

I was not living in the city at the time, I was about nine months away from moving in. I was in town for a few days, staying with someone in Chinatown.

I remember exactly where I was. I was at Grand Central near the newspaper store. I overheard two women excitedly talk about the guy. I am not much of a TV guy, so I had not watched any of the ongoing speeches at the Democratic Convention. These two white women looked comfortable about how he looked, but they were more excited about what he had said. Whoever this guy was, he was some sort of an arrival. I sensed that before I learned his name, before I saw his face. I immediately walked over to a newspaper stand. There he was pointing his finger into the crowd like in a famous JFK picture. I dropped the rest of my plans for the day and headed straight home. I looked up his speech online and I watched it. I did what I do when I come across a really good music video. I watched it again and again and again. The speech was nothing short of mesmerizing.

For the next few days I went all over town taking pictures of anything and everything. The person I was staying with worked at Goldman Sachs. A high school classmate was at Citi. I did go to the many of the tourist spots, but for me it was not about that. The entire city was one big tourist spot for me.

I would take hundreds of pictures, come back home, download, go back out, take hundreds more pictures. The MTA ran a major loss on my weekly metro pass for those few days. The following evening I got told that a few police officers showed up at the door, they were let in, they walked to the roof, then walked back down and went away.

Soon after Tom Ridge issued an alert. A few days later Bill Clinton went ahead and had a heart attack. John Kerry is the first presidential candidate in history not to have received a bounce from his convention.

I was Barack Obama’s first full time volunteer in New York City. The day of the Democratic primary in February 2008, the top Hillary event was at the Tonic in Times Square, the top Barack event was at the Tonic in Little India.

Brooklyn And Santogold/Santigold
http://technbiz.blogspot.com/2011/02/brooklyn-and-santogoldsantigold.html

Barack almost took Brooklyn during the February 2008 primary. Things were looking so bad before the primary day, Congressman Weiner urged Hillary to make an appearance in Brooklyn, and she did.

I moved to New York City summer of 2005 and placed myself in the smack center of the borough.

It is not love for the country I grew up in. I don’t have one. It’s not Nepal (there was too much prejudice against people like me in that country while I was growing up), it’s not India (I have never lived there) – although I take plenty pride in my heritage, it is not America. I don’t have a country. The Internet is my country, the closest thing to a country that I have. But Nepal happens to be the country I know better than any other with India and America close seconds. And I intend to play as big a role as possible in its economic growth over decades. Nepal is my political laboratory. And digital tools are enough, just like they were enough for my work towards Nepal democracy. Nepal is not a country I am trying to avoid. But is not safe for me to be there. That continues to be the case.

Barackface: A MLK Style Death Awaits Me In Nepal
http://democracyforum.blogspot.com/2008/11/mlk-style-death-awaits-me-in-nepal.html

There is a concrete mathematical theory called the butterfly effect. A butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon forest could be the reason a cyclone hit Bangladesh. What happened in Nepal in April 2006, January-February 2007, and February 2008 were political cyclones. I was the butterfly flapping my wings in New York City. What I did I could not have done from Kathmandu.

In April 2006, over a period of 19 days, about eight million people out of the country's 27 million came out into the streets to shut the country down completely to force a dictator out. The Maoists wanted to take credit but they had been pushing for an armed uprising all along. The seven democratic parties kept pushing for a mass meeting here, a mass meeting there, a daylong shutdown here, and a daylong shutdown there. I am the father of the concept of continuous movement in the Nepalese context. I pushed the concept from the very beginning. If there is a tortoise sitting on the fence, chances are it did not randomly get there.

All the political actors and parties that took credit for April 2006 were fundamentally opposed to the Madhesi movement of January-February 2007 that was a more intense movement than April 2006. February 2008 was the second chapter of the Madhesi movement and the third chapter to the April 2006 revolution itself. I was the one constant to all three.

When Upendra Yadav, now leader of the largest Madhesi party and fourth largest party overall after the April 10, 2008 elections to the constituent assembly in Nepal, landed in Los Angeles in July 2007 for the annual conference of Nepalis in America, his first words were "Where is Paramendra Bhagat?" They took him to the hotel. He again asked, "Where is Paramendra Bhagat?" They had to fly him over to NYC to meet me.

What has changed in Nepal? Not much so far in terms of political volatility. The country still does not have a constitution. The law and order situation is weak. The hardliner Maoists recently broke away from the mother party vowing a revolution. Many armed Madhesi groups are still at large.

Nepal Runs Out Constitution Clock, Slips into Crisis (May 27, 2012)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303807404577430741243205950.html

Nepal dissolved its four-year-old Constituent Assembly at midnight Sunday and set new elections after political parties failed to agree on the model of federalism the country should adopt in a new constitution.

India anxious about Nepal's constitutional nail-biter
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-anxious-about-Nepals-constitutional-nail-biter/articleshow/13573531.cms

Nepal: Constituent Assembly Dissolved After Epic Failure
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12257050-nepal-constituent-assembly-dissolved-after-epic-failure

BBC News: Nepal Maoists: Faction breaks away from governing party
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18504403

A hardline faction within Nepal's governing Maoist party has said it is breaking away to form a separate party.

The leader of the new grouping said the split was happening because the party's leadership had "annihilated the achievements" of the 10-year civil war which ended in 2006.

Split in Nepal Maoist party will revive relations with CPI (Maoist)
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-02/delhi/32507320_1_maoist-army-nepal-s-maoists-indian-maoists

Split in Nepal Maoists spells trouble for India
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-02/india/32507561_1_nepal-maoists-maoist-army-indian-maoists

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Narendra Modi

I spent much of yesterday watching Narendra Modi video clips on YouTube.

Godhra, Gujrat, Modi

Manmohan Singh has done well by India. Laloo did well by the Indian Railways. Modi has done well by Gujrat.

I have been aware of the BJP background of Modi. But if you believe in democracy as I do you are at peace with people from different ideological backgrounds.

I tried to zero in on Godhra and the aftermath. India has had a long history of cycles of violence where Hindu and Muslim extremists take turns committing heinous acts of terror.

Godhra happened. Right after Modi as the sitting Chief Minister urged calm. But riots followed regardless. Out of control mobs came into the fore and committed major crimes. It was wrong and unfortunate.

Both Godhra and the aftermath were wrong. The aftermath had to be prevented as much as possible. It will remain a blight on India's image.

But I don't think Modi was a Hindu KKK figure actively orchestrating the aftermath. He was not actively involved, although he should have done more to try and control it.

But then there have been Hindu-Muslim riots in Bihar, just not on Laloo's watch.

What Modi has done for Gujrat's development is commendable. Water, road, electricity, broadband. He has focused on the basics and has beat China's growth rates. Gujrat has seen 11% growth.

Going into 2014 Modi is obviously BJP's strongest contender for the PM post. As a distant onlooker I am surely curious as to how 2014 might play out for India. I do think Modi is a strong contender. That is my political observation.

I am also impressed with Modi's modest middle class background. The guy does not have a bank account. For a politician to not be corrupt is a big deal for India.

My number one observation on Modi is to do with development. And there he gets an A+ grade.

As to what will happen in 2014, two years are a really long time in Indian politics.

Friday, March 23, 2012

2012: The Year The Republican Party Could Die

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 16:  An Occupy Wall St...NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 16: An Occupy Wall Street protester sits in Zuccotti Park a day after it was cleared of the Occupy Wall Street camp in an early morning police raid on November 16, 2011 in New York city. Hundreds of protesters, who rallied against economic inequality in America, have slept in tents and under tarps since Sept. 17 in Zuccotti Park. A New York judge ruled Tuesday that the protesters could return to Zuccotti Park but couldn’t set up tents or sleep in the park. Zuccotti Park became the epicenter of the global Occupy Wall Street movement. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)The Right To Peaceful Assembly In New York City

There is no stopping The Occupy Movement, TOM. Winter is over. Spring is here. And that is all the movement was waiting for. (Occupy Wall Street Could Legitimately Go Indoors) If the movement had not known the winter was going to be as mild as it was, there was never even going to be a break.

The Democratic Mayors of America have a choice to make. Granted the Mayor of NYC is not a Democrat, but he is a former Democrat. And every other elected official in the city is a Democrat, pretty much. The Democratic Party has a choice to make. Either the Occupy movement will breathe new life into the Democratic Party, or it will end up being its own political party.

America might continue to be a two party democracy. But one of those two parties might as well be the Occupy Party. Not now. But who knows where we will stand a year from now?

All the Democratic Mayors have to do is facilitate and celebrate the Occupiers' right to peaceful assembly. If they can't do that the Occupy movement is going to split from the Democratic Party and create its own party.

Total campaign finance reform within the first 100 days of Barack Obama's second term is the only thing that will quench the Occupy movement. Nothing less will. Should that goal be met, then the leaders of the Occupy movement could move on to running for elected office all over the country at all levels of government, armed with nothing more than social media. A new breed politician is about to be born.

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The Right To Peaceful Assembly In New York City

Occupy Wall Street protesters have taken over ...Occupy Wall Street protesters have taken over Zuccotti Park as a base of operations. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)It blows my mind that Zuccotti Park is private. It absolutely blows my mind. While we are at it why don't we privatize Central Park as well? Maybe The Donald will buy it. What about Prospect Park? I mean. Isn't there a budget deficit or something? What are parks for?

This city needs to buy back Zuccotti Park at the earliest, like this year. And give it to the Occupy people. The Occupy people put New York City on the world map last year like nobody and nothing else. That has to be honored. It is called saying thank you.

Ends up there is no right to peaceful assembly in New York City. There is a right to peaceful assembly in New York City just like there is a right to free speech in Syria. Assad was asked about free speech a few years back. He said, there is free speech in Syria. As long as people are respectful and decent in what they say. Otherwise you will have chaos, he said. Imagine that. Chaos.

There are people in this city who think the Occupy people doing their 24/7 thing in Zuccotti Park last year was chaos. Do they smell? They asked. It took a Time magazine to see the Occupier's worth, and people running this city still don't get it.

And this city is supposed to be the progressive capital of the world? I am not feeling it. I am not feeling the love.

10 million people joining a Facebook group could not have done what 200 people camping out 24/7 in Zuccotti Park did. It had to happen in person. It had to happen 24/7. It needed to happen in a public place.
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