Gujjars are at it again. They are listed as OBC which probably stands for Other Backward Classes but want to be classified as Scheduled Tribe which will give them greater access to reserved education seats and government jobs. However the Meenas have cornered this category in Rajasthan and have been enjoying the benefits for decades. They do not want to have to share the pie which has resulted in this confrontation between the Gujjars and the Rajasthan government in which more than forty people have been shot dead by the police. Last year the government stopped the supply of food to the agitators and so forced them into submission. The Gujjars learnt and have secured food and communication channels this time. Ominously the Jats are helping them. Maybe the Jat community would also like to be Scheduled. Andhra is also seeing similar problems. Reservations were never going to help the backward communities. When vast numbers of poor children are deprived of primary education it makes little sense to reserve seats for them in IITs. It was always designed as bribes to the 'leaders' of backward castes who were already rich is the first place and were exploiting their own communities as much as the upper castes. It has led to division of society. Upper caste children who miss out on an IIT seat by one mark and see a Scheduled Class fellow getting in with much fewer marks, even though he comes to class in a luxury car, develop enormous resentment. There is no mixing between castes even if they may be in the same class for years and reserved children are referred to as 'shaddoos'. Is it any wonder that over 160 districts have Naxal problems.

A small news item two days ago said that Research In Motion, RIM, the Canadian company that owns Blackbury has refused the Indian government's demand of disclosure of its encryption codes so, at least for now, users of Blackbury devices are safe from snooping by the authorities. On the same day Deutsche Telecom set up investigation into allegations that it had been logging calls of its personnel to find a the person who has been leaking sensitive information to the press. Deutsche Telekom did not actually listen to any conversation, as the Indian police wants to do, but just logged what numbers were being called and this has caused an uproar. Unfortunately Indians are so busy trying to survive that no one is outraged by this assault on our privacy. Government officials, including the police, have given themselves the right to bug any phone without permission. The excuse is that they want to catch terrorists. Yet terrorists are able to thrive because of the help they receive from the same sarkari officials. Bangladeshis are allowed free entry into the country and no attempt is made to expel illegal immigrants. They obtain ration cards easily by paying bribes. In the Mumabi blasts case policemen were convicted of knowingly allowing trucks full of explosives to pass on being paid money. Yet after every episode of terrorism our civic liberties are curtailed. After the recent bombs the Jaipur police has ruled that all bicycles must be registered. Presumably if a suicide bomber came with explosives up his rectum they would want to register all rectums. It is hopeless.

A debate is raging between various government departments about whether to raise prices of petrol for the consumer and by how much. Oil companies which are government controlled are losing billions of rupees because they are being prevented from charging realistic prices from the customer. One way would be to cut taxes such as excise duties but the Finance ministry is unwilling or unable to do so. One reason may be that there are so many ministers with so many civil servants that they are unable to reduce expenses. Inflation is officially around 8% which means that it is probably around 12% and there is no hope of controlling this. Actually inflation has been high for a long time and the reason was the enormous rises in indirect taxation. Ever since this Finance Minister took office he has found ever new services to tax and has also increased the rates by slyly adding road and education cess. Although services make up over 50% of the economy they do not seem to figure in calculating inflation. It is urad dal, low quality rice and probably cow dung. The bubble created by phenomenal rises in property and share markets sucked in enormous quantities of dollars leading the rupee to rise to 38 to the dollar which in turn kept inflation in check. Past sins have caught up. The rupee is now 43 to the dollar and with the dollar falling may sink out of sight. The free loading press is still talking up this governement but the truth is beginning to catch up.

Seems that Barak Obama is going to be the Demacratic candidate for the Presidential elections in novemeber. He is so far ahead that Hillary Clinton has almost no hope catching up with him barring some unforeseen miracle. Much is being made of the fact that Obama is from a minority community which is African American. However everyone seems to forget that George Bush is also represents a minority of the population as did Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan before him. I am talking about men. 47% of the American population is male and 57% female. It is a shameful fact that not one woman has been found suitable for the top job. The US preaches demacracy to all and sundry and surely the first rule of democracy is rule by the majority but women are being consistently denied. Had all women voted for Clinton she would surely have won but they did not. After this Women should not whine about the glass ceiling and unequal pay. Women still look up to men. What a shame.

Of all the natural disasters earthquake is the worst. In a volcanic eruption the pyroclastic flow kills in an instant and virtually no one survives as happened in Pompeii. In a tsunami or a cyclone people die within minutes but the survivors are usually healthy and can survive if given food and water early enough. In an earthquake survivors are trapped under tons of loose masonry making rescue both difficult and dangerous. After shocks add to the danger. Trapped people die slowly and in great pain. Inspite of heroic efforts by the government thousands of Chinese have died of the recent earthquake. Although China is an enemy of India it is impossible to see the suffering of the people. In Burma on the other hand the survivors are free and can easily be reached as happened after the tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia. Unfortunately the tyrants in uniform will not allow foreign aid workers to reach the affected areas and a lot of otherwise healthy people will die unnecessarily of disease and hunger. If this is not genocide what is ? These filthy thugs are much more brutal and murderous than Saddam ever was but no one is suggesting regime change. It is ironic that this regime survives because of China so the Chinese are indirectly killing thousands of Burmese while saving their own people. Regime change in China, now that is worth praying for.

So our esteemed Health Minister has got his comeuppance at the Supreme Court which struck down the legislation designed to get rid of well known cardiac surgeon, Dr. Venugopal. He has refused to resign and the corrupt Congress will do nothing to kick him out. Since this fellow became Health Minister some four years ago he has waged a mean minded, vindictive campaign to put his own chamchas incharge of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the only premier medical institution in India. His only other contribution is trying to abn smoking in films. He has not the slightest concern that some 57% of children in India do not get adequate medical cover. Poor people are thrown out of state hospitals. A woman in labour was thrown out of a government hospital and delivered on the street outside. Both baby and mother died. One would expect that a horrified Health Minister would work day and night to see that such disgusting events are never again repeated in this country. He is very vocal about reservation in higher education for students from lower castes but does not show the slightest concern about providing basic welfare to such people. Since he has no sharam or izzat we should show him that he is a disgrace to the medical profession by revoking his medical registration. In this country of chamchas does anyone have the moral courage to say loudly ' GET OUT'.

Couple of weeks back municipal elections were held in this hill town. There was huge excitement as the usual and some unusual people registered themselves as candidates. The local cablewallah also stood and gave free connections to over two hundred families with a promise of more free connections if he won. Unfortunately he could manage less than two hundred votes so promptly cut all free connections. Clearly gratitude is seriously lacking. Political parties had cars driving up and down streets with loud speakers blaring out the name of their candidates and urging people to vote for them. Three days before election day all liquor stores were shut down presumably to reduce the possibility of fights breaking out. So political parties were distributing quarter bottles of country liquor free to anyone who wanted any. Our cleaner collected around fifteen such bottles and seemed very pleased. All shops were closed on the day of the election as parties set out tables outside various polling booths. Results were announced a couple of days later and the victors paraded around their constituencies in open topped jeeps with chamchas dancing all the way. One would expect that the elected people would be nervous about the huge responsibility thrust on their shoulders and the weighed down by promises made. Not a bit of it. All victors seemed ecstatic probably foreseeing huge gains to be made. So much for the aam aadmi.