The media houses have some really great ads these days. The Lead India Campaign “Tree” video is popular anyhow, but here are some more:
Ad about the Indian national anthem:
Aaj Tak ad on Eve-Teasing:
Aaj Tak ad on Smoking:
A video on Bombay (More nostalgic than real tho):
TOI take on a nakli 100-rupee note:
TOI hockey ad:
Commercial cricket, not a commercial on cricket:
Indian independence day (Dont know the source):
Corruption works:
‘Ultimate fighting’, a sport with few rules, has raised a storm in Germany
TOI, Bangalore Edition, Editorial page
Just when I was beginning to think that news has become boring, did something very titillating appear in the editorial pages. Apparently:
‘Ultimate fighters’ are men who maul each other with bare knuckles and feet in octagonal cages, a setting straight out of Mad Max. And they can go all out in terms of brutality. About the only thing a UFC participant can’t do is bite his opponent or gouge out his eyes.
….Why do men no longer kill each other in duels, sword fights and other blood-andgore exploits, as they once did with little or no social disapproval? The reason is a civilising process that turned man from savage to human being.COUNTER VIEW:That the level of violence on display in the mixed martial arts franchise can be difficult to stomach for some people is understandable. But the contestants are willing participants and the viewers are not coerced. They are acting out of free will and there are simply no grounds to deny them that right. Fears that it will contribute to a culture of violence are overblown.
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There is an element of hypocrisy on display as well. If Ultimate Fighting is to be reviled, what of boxing? The contestants in the latter wear gloves but it can be every bit as bloody. There are well-known instances of serious injuries and even death in the ring. Or what, for that matter, of bullfighting? It does not make it any less of a blood sport because animals, not humans, are being butchered.
One author wrote against the Ultimate Fighting sport, while the other wrote for it. I wonder how much the prize money would be for the winner of this game. And also, which ads would appear during the “breaks”.
An unfinished agenda
TOI, Bangalore Edition, Editorial page
The article is mainly about decentralizing power from Delhi, and the oft-repeated quote that democracy has to come from bottom up. It claims that the Congress will lead to increased strengthening of the Panchayat and Nagarpalia (local governments). Excerpts from the article:
It has long been obvious that India needs more decentralisation. The freedom movement required rallying an entire nation. A centralised political organisation fighting for one cause was needed. After independence, a different political pattern was required. Mahatma Gandhi convened a meeting of Congress leaders in Sevagram in March 1948 to discuss how the organisation could reform itself to meet the challenges of social and economic development. Though he was assassinated in January, the meeting was held as he had desired. The record of that meeting was published in 2007 in a fascinating book, Gandhi is Gone. Who Will Guide Us Now?
In the meeting, Vinoba Bhave made a case for a new form of organisation unlike the hierarchical entities then considered necessary for government, political parties and large businesses. It would be a network of local organisations. He explained that only such an organisation could preserve the spirit of service whereas hierarchical entities would dissipate their energies in internal matters and power politics.
Acharya Kripalani supported Bhave’s argument. “Without decentralisation, democracy is an empty falsehood,” he said. “Centralisation brings bureaucracy. Bureaucracy and technocracy are both equally the enemies of democracy.” Others in the meeting, however, wondered how activities managed in the loose manner Bhave proposed could ever be ‘scaled up’ to have a widespread effect.
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India is diverse and has huge challenges of sustainable social and economic development. Unlike China, it also has political plurality and democracy.
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But the critical requirement is to decentralise power. Rajiv Gandhi moved amendments to the Constitution to pass on power to panchayats and urban local bodies. Politicians and bureaucrats, however, will not let go of the power they have. Therefore, it is for Congress leaders to fulfil the unfinished agenda.
The writer is quite supportive of the Congress. When I woke up today morning, DD had a long infomercial about Rajiv Gandhi and the Panchayati Raj. Here is an excerpt from his speech: PDF file. NREGA is a good scheme created by the Govt. But it also has a dole out model built in. I wonder if these well-meaning ideals may turn socialist.
Hillary trashes 30 years of US policy towards Pakistan
TOI, Bangalore Edition, page 18
One more reason why humans fight:
“I think that it is fair to say that our policy toward Pakistan over the last 30 years has been incoherent. I don’t know any other word to use. We came in the ’80s and helped to build up the Mujahideen to take on the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The Pakistanis were our partners in that. The Soviet Union fell in 1989, and we basically said, thank you very much; we had all kinds of sanctions being imposed on the Pakistanis,” Clinton said at a White House event where she announced an emergency $ 110 million aid to Pakistan for the humanitarian crisis in Swat.
Nearly 20,000 slots still left in H-1B visas
TOI, Bangalore Edition, page 18
I guess one can still go to Buffalo after all !!!
7-yr-old found dead in state BJP chief’s car
TOI, Mumbai Edition, page 1
The excerpts of this article should say it all:
Maharashtra’s BJP boss Nitin Gadkari was embroiled in a nasty controversy on Tuesday following the discovery of the body of a seven-yearold girl from one of his cars and allegations that the class III student had been raped.
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a local doctor had been summoned to Gadkari’s home immediately after the body was discovered. The doctor declared the girl dead and Yogita’s body was then taken to her home in a rickshaw by her mother and sister. The girl’s father Ashok Thakre said that he was shocked when he saw his wife Vimla entering their home with Yogita’s body. “We rushed her to the Government Medical College and Hospital,’’ said Thakre. Surprisingly, no one bothered to inform the police and a case was filed only after a local activist, Kishore Ingle, intervened late at night.
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“It was hot and she (Yogita) could not endure the heat with her frail heart. All other theories behind her death are politically driven,’’
Democracy was introduced in several of our history or civics books as “Government for the people, of the people, and by the people”. The statement came from Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address. Most arm-chair politicians in India (The middle class has scores of them) have passed judgment that democracy has ceased to serve its intended purpose. But has it? Is there nothing we can do to improve upon what we have? There are several variants of democracy; some are practiced, and some are in theory (These subjects are poorly studied *). We follow a parliamentary democracy with first past the post system of elections. A few salient repercussions of our form of democracy, and how we could improve:
The US has a presidential system, and you can read about the differences with a parliamentary system here. A couple of interesting democracies are:
Direct Democracy [1]: This is a system where all citizen directly participate in the decision process for their community. A partial version of this is present in the California Government.
Liquid Democracy [1, 2]: A concept where people can transfer their votes to each other. For example, 100 people decide to give their votes to X. Then X will have 101 votes (100 votes given by others plus his own vote). X can also transfer these 101 votes to another person. Further, a voter can take his vote back at any time. Variations of liquid democracy have the ability to solve problem 1 given above, and to a certain extent even 2.
Primaries among political parties: Political parties hold internal elections to determine who their candidates for a particular constituency should be. LokSatta is one such party in India; when two or more LokSatta members wish to contest elections from a single seat, an election is held by the party in that constituency, and the member who gets most votes is taken as the candidate [Example: 1, 2]. In the US, primaries are held slightly differently; only members of the political party get to vote during the primaries. This is a simplistic explanation though, there are rules like for example senior members of the democratic party having more weight [1].
One model is better than the other in certain aspects, and some could be very useful to enhance the system in India. But until the electorate get interested in their society, no system would help.
*The formal study of politics is limited to humanities or social sciences.The low market value of these studies is stark in India, but it is equally true elsewhere. Typical US University budgets allotted to areas like the humanities are lousy; humanities cannot be “sold” unlike an ipod and this makes it a less attractive magnet for funding.
