Thursday, February 17, 2011

I still cannot believe it

I am still not posting about education reform because I am yet to arrive at a proper solution or even the makings of a proper solution.  Dr. Y. S. Rajashekhar Reddy seems to have left behind a legacy of muck and filth.  It is so saddening to see that private educational institutions providing, MBA, MCA and Engineering courses have been having a stand off on the fee reimbursement issue.  They are threatening to close down colleges indefinitely.  It had to happen.  I think YSR has left behind a tiger on which the Congress government is riding and it cannot get off.  My deep sympathies with Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy who seems to have occupied the hot seat at a time when it is scorching.  When I look at the state of affairs in the country and in Andhra Pradesh, I feel terribly dismayed and depressed.  The Central Government is in the centre of a storm of corruption and money laundering and the State Government is clueless about anything.  The Prime Minister and the Chief Minister seem to just wander around looking for some opening that will take them away from their troubles.  This is a nation of one billion plus people and we do not have alternatives.  The alternative to the UPA is the NDA, another coalition with equally corrupt people in all parties that form the coalition.  On record, in India, all people with criminal records are ineligible for election, but off it, only they are eligible.  All other people are happy to give all this a miss and get on with their life as if this whole muddle is an insignificant sideshow.  Complicating matters are useless campaigns such as "Jaago Re" thought out by some stupid advertising agency.  Such campaigns only take the seriousness out of the situation by offering silly, simplistic and improbable solutions to what are actually deep rooted problems.

What is happening in Andhra Pradesh today is even more dismal.  Since Mr. Rosaiah took over as Chief Minister, it is as if there is no administration in this state.  Today, the 17th of February, is the day which is supposed to be the beginning of the non-cooperation movement where people will attend to places of work without actually working.  So what is new in this?  Isn't that what always happened?  I see traffic police constables sauntering around and chatting on cell phones when there is a huge traffic snarl right under their nose.  Osmania University and other state universities have long stopped functioning.  In government offices, work is done only if bribes are given.  With the non-cooperation call, the amounts to be given as bribes will quadruple at the least, meaning an increase in corruption and the rates of corruption.  Prices that are up will not come down in this country and we all know that through experience.  It was amusing and saddening to see a statement by an electricity department worker who said that they will attend to duties if people put a Jai Telangana flag outside their house.  Yet again K. Chandrashekhar Rao talks about "Self Rule", vocabulary used by the freedom fighters when they asked the British to leave.  Next I suppose will be "Quit Telangana" and "Sri Krishna Commission Go Back".  How does Mr. KCR propose to establish the nativity of Telangana people?  I assume that the first criterion will be that they should belong to his family and next to his extended kinship.  In all this rubbish, national resources are being wasted.  Difficult to say, where all this will lead, but somehow it doesn't seem like it will lead to anything good.  Fatalists that we are, we shall accept whatever comes our way, saying we don't like dirty politics. And so we will deserve that which we get.  Then at least, let us have the gumption to not complain.

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