Now you may have 6

The government continues to drag it's feet in the case of the black money ($1 trillion!)

It is almost two years since the German Government had passed on the names and bank account details of eighteen Indians who had stashed their alleged ill-gotten wealth in the LGT bank of Liechtenstein, a well-known tax haven nation, 190 km from Munich, Germany.

While 15 names were earlier (February 2011) revealed through Tehelka and other newspapers, curiously none of them contained Hassan Ali.

The ED has questioned Khan, facing close to Rs 70,000-crore tax demand notice from the Income-Tax Department, with regard to his past trips to various countries and his business dealings within the country.

At present, the Indian public is made to concentrate only on Hassan Ali.

Investigating officials reportedly found that Ali had so far helped a former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and other top politicians as well as film stars from south India to fund elections and movies. Sources also claimed that one of the Telugu actors is now a prominent politician whose name has been come up during the investigation.

And even though Hassan Ali seems to have revealed the names of many bigwigs, the only soul who is seen to be taken to task is Puducherry Lt Governor Iqbal Singh. Singh has offered his resignation while stating that the passport was issued under the direction of a Bihar Congress leader.

Singh, who met Chidambaram on Friday, had said he had made the recommendation for Khan at the behest of a Bihar Congress leader.

Yesterday, the government has offered to reveal 6 names, while they have yet again given the same old excuse for not revealing the rest.

The Centre has assured the Supreme Court that it would reveal the names of persons who have stashed black money in foreign banks after registering a formal case against them.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, appearing before a bench headed by Justice B Sudershan Reddy, said the government has issued show cause notices against the persons accused of having black money in foreign banks and once a case is registered against them, their names will be made public.

For the present let me wonder how they came up with the six....

Did they do a “Inky, pinky ponky” round?

Or did Sonia place a few selected names and benevolently asked MM Singh to pick up 6 out of them?

Democracy at its best!


Source:


http://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/indian-swindlers-list-names-holding-secret-account-revealed/
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main48.asp?filename=Ne120211TheList.asp
http://news.oneindia.in/2011/03/28/black-money-hasan-ali-threat-sc-ed-politician-aid0101.html
http://news.oneindia.in/2011/04/18/willresign-if-asked-to-puducherry-lt-governor-iqbalsingh-aid0126.html
http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/black-money-names-to-be-revealed-once-case-is-registered-140231?cp
http://connect.in.com/manmohan-singh/article-blackmoney-cant-reveal-names-says-govt-311-86bbefff8af5198089e1703c2d6573200cd4d6c9.html

What the !!!!!!!

Missiles, guns and robotic bomb-disposal units will be deployed in and around Mohali ahead of the diplomacy-laced India-Pak cricket encounter.


Thus screams TOI and other main stream media.

What are our leaders expecting?

When the match ends tomorrow, with no unpleasant incidents (let us all pray!), either India or Pakistan will win.

If Pakistan wins, will they arrest LeT founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed or hand over to India the wanted terrorists?

And if Pakistan loses, does it mean they secure the right to export more terrorists? After all, we hurt them again did we not?

Has the whole nation gone bonkers over cricket or is it only me?

Will Kerala show the way?

Kerala has already paved the way and if there is a will, there is a way.

I am not sure if ex-minister Balakrishna Pillai was given enough importance on the national front by the main stream media. But the fact remains that it is the first time that a minister has been imprisoned for corruption and even if it came very late, it should be applauded. And Balakrishnan is no small fry on the political and social front. He has been winning almost every election and won the first at the age of 25; a record they say. If this has not given him enough clout to thwart the law, then nothing can.

The apex court upheld the prosecution plea that the former minister has entered into a criminal conspiracy that caused a loss of over Rs 2 crore to the Kerala State Electricity Board by awarding contracts for construction of a power tunnel and surge shaft of the Edamalayar hydro electricity power project to contractor Paulose (now dead) at extra ordinarily high rates.

The apex court, upholding the appeal filed by the then opposition leader and present chief minister V S Achuthanandan, said the high court had committed a grave error by overlooking the clinching evidence marshalled by the prosecution and the conviction rightly awarded by the special court in Kerala.

Personally, I have nothing against him and am not comfortable with the fact that a person at his age has to face this. But then I also hear that there is no “hard labour”, if this is of any consolation to his dear and near.

When I look at the current scams and the way the congress party thwarted the will of the people or democracy as they say, nothing offers me consolation expect this sentence.

Was it not disgusting to even imagine sacks of money being hauled around to buy votes?

Was it not disgusting to even imagine that our PM was aware of such grand schemes?

And now we do not have to imagine anymore; we may remain disgusted.

Maybe, yes maybe, we shall see those in power behind the bars. And only then can this nation move forward.

Source:
http://www.keralanext.com/news/2011/02/10/article127.asp
http://www.canstockphoto.com/illustration/burglar.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Balakrishna_Pillai

Today it is me...and tomorrow you...

Death affects you, how much ever you try to remain stoic. It forces you to look more deeply to this life that we live, knowing well that this life and so also these feelings about death are only fleeting.

There has been three very important men in my life; my Father, my FIL (Achayan) and my Hubby and one of them has left this earthly abode. It is from them that I have learned to understand, love and respect the men folk.

Our Achayan passed away in his sleep early morning of 17th of February. Hubby was with him in the palliative care centre until 10:30 PM, the previous night. It was my MIL along with the home nurse who was staying the night. Soon after coming home, Hubby called me and shared the day’s events. But he also started crying while seated on his Father’s favourite easy chair. He said he imagined Achayan walking through the gate. Coincidently, it was at the same time that Achayan breathed his last in the hospital. Being the youngest, he was much attached to his Father and his death has affected him a lot. I consoled him and asked him to get some sleep. We were still up here in Kuwait and the next call at 11:30 PM or so sounded ominous and I knew in my heart that the news was going to be bad. It was my Hubby calling to inform that Achayan had passed away at 1:05 AM and that he was proceeding to the hospital. A few days back, one of his relations asked Hubby if there were any birthdays or such other occasion in the family. Upon enquiring why, he said that recently he has been seeing deaths happen on these occasions and he asked Hubby to be prepared. And true to his prediction, Achayan died on our wedding anniversary. Call it a quirk of fate or a loving Father’s good bye to those who loved him a lot. The funeral was held on 20th and me and kids were able to attend it. It was a blessed occasion and all whom Achayan cared for, were there to bid him good bye.

It would be our desire to have our loved ones beside us as many years as possible but I guess God has His own plans and we can do nothing but accept it. But we are thankful that Achayan was spared from pain and discomfort, and the days that he lived on this earth, he lived it in his own terms.

God of the faithful and the faithless

First of all let me wish every Indian a very Happy Republic Day. Let me also echo/copy the sentiments of a friend.

Wishing all my friends greetings on the occasion of the Republic Day of a prosperous, compassionate, developing India with an active judiciary, neat governance and a vibrant democracy to lead the world into the new times of change and growth accessing technology and advances in Science for the benefit of mankind, flora and fauna all over.

I shall soon be boarding the plane to let our children have some time with their grandfather (Hubby’s father) who may soon bid adieu to this world. Later, they would need to get back to their studies and their world full of promises and so also heartaches. They loved their grandfather like every other grandchild and I am not sure how they shall deal with such inevitabilites of this life. As for me, let me gather my strength and hold onto to my own faith in the Almighty. One needs it all the more at times like this.

The following is an email forward from my blogger friend and many may have read it. It is just another bid to try and convince a few who hold on to their faithlessness.

GOD
A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.
"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving a God who would allow all of these things."
The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept.
The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked o n you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."
"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me."
Exactly, affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

God's own country

God’s own country has once again acted like God.

With no mercy, it has taken away the lives of more than a hundred and all because they sought solace from the Almighty.

Like many, I think it was an avoidable disaster. Everyone, including those in authority knew that lakhs were using this route to reach Sabarimala, yet they were not stopped. But stopping them would not have been easy either since it would then having been akin to hurting religious sentiments. Yet, something could have been done especially since there is no lack of money pouring in.

But then there are Hindus who think otherwise too. For them, a pilgrimage to Sabarimala has always been a penance. They take Vritham (fast) for 41 days and undergo many trials to reach the Sannithanam. In earlier days, this journey was even more dangerous since there were also wild animals to face. Yet, they undertook the journey even if they had to face death. Having lived in the high ranges, I have seen pilgrims from the state of Tamilnadu walking a whole lot more distance in earlier days, to reach Sabarimala.

After the 1999 tragedy at Sabarimala, as usual, there were discussions and commissions and recommendations from well meaning people. But nothing was done.

I am not sure if it is only the increase in population in India, but overall there is an increase in the number of people thronging to religious places, be it the Church, Temple or Mosque. As for Christians, there are now more thronging to places and people outside the traditional Church. I think people have lost faith in humanity and are desperately seeking God. May the Almighty Himself give us a solution?