Rahul Gandhi, son of Rajiv Gandhi, Grand Son of Indira Gandhi and Great Grand Son of Jawaharlal Nehru, all of whom have done great service to the nation, has been projected as the future of Uttar Pradesh by none other than our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

By claiming that if his family were in charge of the country, the demolition of Babri Masjid would not have happened he showed that he is clueless about what happened during that era. Now he has come up with some more gems which explains why every road and every building in the country is named after the Gandhi family.

Rahul said that his family had always worked for a vision for the future, but in the past too, members of the Gandhi family have achieved the goals they have initiated like the freedom of the country, dividing Pakistan into two and leading the nation to the 21st century. [Rahul: Gandhis divided Pak]

The British have their Royals who provide entertainment to the masses at the tax payers expense and now have got our own Russel Peters. The scary thing is that this comedian could one day become our Prime Minister.

During the time of the last Queen of Hawaii in 1893, the island became one of the major exporters of sugar, producing about two hundred tonnes of sugar annually. It was big business, resulting in the import of workers from China, Japan, Korea and Philippines. As the labor costs began to rise, the businessmen started looking at other countries and soon sugar was imported from Cuba, Caribbean and Puerto Rico. Left with no other option to make money, the sugarcane plantations were converted to hotels and a tourism based economy was established in Hawaii.

What sugarcane was for Hawaii is what coconut is to Kerala. Till 1980, Kerala was the major producer of coconuts with about 80 – 85% share of the market. Now Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu produce coconuts and that too of high yielding variety available around the year. The price of coconut  is falling and with the removal of the duty on edible oils, the price is expected to fall down. In such a situation, some families have started providing Bread and Breakfast type accommodations in plantations to make a living.

The transformation of Kerala’s coconut plantations mirrors a shift taking place throughout rural India. As the national economy cracks open, once-isolated pockets of the country are suddenly being exposed both to global competition and also to new economic opportunities. For some farmers, that openness might mean better prices for pepper or rubber, while for other Indians, tougher times might prompt a shift into a new industry or a move to a nearby city.

In August, Johnny Tharakan opened three rooms of his home for guests. Mr. Tharakan charges around $150 a night to stay at Ayanat House, a two-story home built 70 years ago, including all meals. Mr. Tharakan and his wife, Rani, dine with the guests, pointing out the Kerala favorites of fresh red prawns and steamed cakes with coconut shavings.

The coconut industry “is dying,” says Mr. Tharakan. “It’s only a matter of time, and that time is not very far off.”

In Kerala, the coconut is only the latest example of using aging crops to harvest tourists. A decade ago, many of the state’s rubber plantations began offering homestays amid a slump in prices, while more recently, tea plantations have become B&Bs.[India’s Nuttiest Destination (WSJ subscription reqd)]

With tourism booming, Kerala is on the way to Hawaii and if we introduce Hartals in Hawaii it will be soon on the way to be Kerala.

Technorati Tags: Kerala

After Dick Cheney triggered Musharraf’s Dopamine system, there has been lot of activity on the ground in Pakistan. CIA Special Operations units are inside Pakistan to hunt down the Senior Video Making Cave Dweller. The two terrorists holed up in Pakistan are supposed to be on the move in March when the snow melts and the CIA operatives and paramilitary officers want to capture them during that time.

The deal signed between Musharraf and the tribal leaders in Waziristan has been a failure and al-Qaeda has been gaining strength and re-establishing significant control over their franchises. It is this deal with the tribal leaders that changed everything and it was conveyed to Musharraf that US has no interest in preventing his destablization. Till now Musharraf scared Washington with the thesis that if he vanishes  along with a mango crate aboard a C-130 Hercules aircraft, then Islamic extremists would take over the country. Now the CIA is not that worried.

It is not just the Americans who are disappointed with Musharraf. President Karzai has been shouting from the roof of the Minaret of Jam that religious schools in Pakistan are the source of terrorism and NATO commanders in Afghanistan have agreed with him. Even Iran, a terrorist sponsor is upset by the terrorists from Pakistan. The growing violence in Pakistan has also raised concerns that Musharraf is losing grip.

When Pakistan is getting squeezed from all directions to end its support for terrorism, guess who is their biggest buddy now? India.

Yet, even by that standard, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s surprise embrace of military-ruled Pakistan as a fellow victim of and joint partner against terror puts India out of sync with the growing international focus on that country’s descent as the fount of transnational terrorism.

As in May 2001 when the sphinx-like Vajpayee blithely helped lift Musharraf’s international-pariah status by inviting him all of a sudden to Agra, India is out of step again. It has eased the pressure on Pakistan just when the rest of the world is beginning to exert pressure over its metastasizing terrorism. Since Singh made Pakistan a joint partner against terror, Western officials increasingly are speaking up about the Pakistani terrorist threat.

One expected New Delhi to insist that the US, in response to Musharraf’s dubious anti-terror record, suspend the sale of lethal, India-directed weapons to Pakistan. But mum is the word. Indeed such is the salient incongruity that a US protégé, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, speaks plainly about Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism while India toasts the terror sponsor as a partner. Is it thus any surprise that India is not even among the 12 nations identified as victims of terror in the White House’s national-security strategy report? [Out of sync, out of mind ]

Manmohan Singh is committing the same mistakes which is predecessors did, hoping that if you feed Musharraf enough Biriyani  in Delhi, he might turn a new leaf.  All that joint terror commission and demilitarizing Kashmir does not remove the fear of India from the Pakistani mind. The biggest fear, yes fear, that Pakistanis have is being encircled by India. With India actively participating in rebuilding Afghanistan, and with the Indian air base in Tajikistan, the Pakistanis have found that they have no where to run.

“I have the impression, when I’m travelling through Pakistan particularly that they have a very real fear of being encircled by the Indians, which, to most observers, seems to be ridiculous. “However, it’s very real out there. And many of their policies might have little to do with Taliban, al Qaeda or anything else, Karzai, et cetera. It’s the old great game between the Indians and the Pakistanis,” Senator Reed maintained.[ Pak feels India`s Afghan role inimical to its interest: US ]

Once the Americans get their men from Pakistan, they will walk off and the pressure on Musharraf will be off. He will then turn to the Eastern border and we will have to sacrifice many more Indian lives. Instead of exerting pressure on Musharraf to turn off the terrorism tap, we are giving him a rope, which he will use to hang us later. Why are we so adamant that we will not learn anything from history ?
 

While the Congress led UDF was ruling Kerala, there was so much infighting that the opposition spent most of their time watching soap operas on the television. Now that Communists are in power, they are pretty much doing the same, providing entertainment to those Malayalees who are still there.

The Kerala Government’s ruling party circus is playing out many more scenes. The ADB loan issue has been entertaining the people for quite some time. The Chief Minister’s group and Mr Vijayan’s supporters have been fighting it out in the open on the signing of the loan agreement. The Chief Minister has openly said that he was kept in the dark on the Cabinet note approving the loan that he had opposed tooth and nail while he was the Opposition leader. But Local Self-Government Department Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty, who was earlier projected as Chief Minister by Mr Vijayan, had given direct orders to his officer to sign the agreement.

Mr Vijayan has termed his critics in the party who opposed the loan as “irresponsible ideological fossils” and “Left extremists”. He recalled how topmost CPI(M) leader EMS Namboodiripad had warned the party against both these “deviations” – Left extremism and Right socialism. Though he did not mention who these “Left extremists” were, it was obvious to his listeners that the reference was to the Achuthanandan group that remains opposed to the loan.

The people of Kerala have no choice but to watch the Communist circus even if its Government cannot provide them with bread. Kerala has the maximum number of unemployed and the consumer boom in the State is largely built on remittances from the Gulf and other regions of the world to which Malayalees have migrated in search of jobs. Few are keen on reposing faith in the State as trade unions and environmentalists have together ensured that nobody invests there – anyone who dares to invest is driven out under the pretext that it would have adverse effects. Meanwhile, the people can forget about the bread and butter and seek entertainment in the ongoing circus.[CPM circus in Kerala]

The other day, Kerala High Court struck down certain provisions of Self Financing Professional Colleges Act enacted by the Communists. According to the court some of the provisions of the act were unconstitutional and would violate the fundamental rights of the petitioners.

The sections declared null and void include admission to professional self-financing colleges through a single entrance exam.

The government’s power to decide the minority status of institutions providing reservation to SCs and STs and deciding fee structure have also been struck down.

This is a setback for the CPM led government, which had taken on the private professional college[Kerala HC slams private college’s rule]

Delivering the verdict the court gave a lecture and said that such private colleges should be encouraged and the Government should stop interfering in their business. I though the court would send copies of Lexus and the Olive Tree to the Honorable Ministers, but it did not.

One man, Kerala School Teachers’ Association (KSTA) general secretary A.K. Chandran went so far as to tell the High Court of Kerala that this was against the “spirit” of the constitution. Since the judiciary has turned down something you would think the natural course would be to appeal the decision till all options are exhausted. Then that would be very un-commie.  Public life has to be disrupted and some agitation has to be planned.

Terming the High Court Division Bench’s judgment revoking certain key sections in the Kerala Professional Colleges Act “a verdict against the collective will of the people in the State,” the Students Federation of India (SFI) State leaders have warned of an intense agitation on the issue.

SFI State secretary M. Swaraj and president P. Sindhu Joy said at a press conference here on Thursday that the SFI would organise student marches to the High Court and 13 district courts on January 15 to protest against the judgment, which, they alleged, favoured commercial interests in the education sector. [SFI plans agitation]

The idea of private businesses free from Government control must be more shocking to the Communists than Saddam’s hanging. If this were China, then all this court business could have been avoided, but thankfully we live in a country where there is a sensible judiciary.

It was the best of times

Sidestepping political and ideological differences, American and Indian diplomats as well as Left bigwigs are preparing the ground for what will be a pathbreaking first official visit by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the Marxist Chief Minister of West Bengal, to the US sometime next year.

In fact, Industry Minister Sen had last December made a presentation to major US oil companies at a top hotel in the Capital on the setting up of a chemical hub in the state. Bhattacharjee was also present at the meeting.

On the IT sector front, Minister Debesh Das wants Bengal to provide 10 to 15 per cent of the country’s total IT revenue — it now stands at around 3 per cent. “We are late starters in IT, but we have the advantage of infrastructure in terms of power, housing and connectivity,” Das said. [In clear signal to investors, Buddha, team plan US trips]

It was the worst of times

The don and the goon are sublimating God, in His own country. Police say the gangs could run into “a few thousands”, with capital Thiruvananthapuram alone home to some 700 gangs. In the three years to 2004, when the menace began to peak, there were more than 39,000 cases of goonda attacks. Police are still processing figures for the last two years.

No longer is the goonda a semiliterate blunt instrument working for the neighbourhood assault or extortion outfit. Kerala has equally virulent political goons, corralled in legitimate jobs and put to use when required. Migrant labourers, farm hands, even college students, including those in professional courses, are known to moonlight for work that needs only threats. Then there are the so-called tie-wearing goondas, who work for, banks, loan sharks, mobile service providers.

The prostitution racket, including organized girl running to service the Gulf markets, is another money spinner; after the land and real estate operations. Though state intelligence estimates peg the sex and land mafia’s turnover at about Rs 15,000 crore, police sources say this could really be “many times more.”[Goon trouble in God’s own country]

The goonda menace did not start instantly after the Communists took power in the state, but trouble has been brewing for sometime. While they were in the opposition, the Communists were harping on this point. They organized marches to various police stations to protest against the break down of law and order in the state and blamed the Congress Govt. for turning a blind eye. The Congress Govt. introduced the Kerala Felonious Activities (Prevention) Bill – 2005,’ would empower the police to keep suspected anti-social elements under preventive detention up to six months, but the Communists dropped it as it had some undemocratic provisions. How much ever the public suffers, the Govt. has to make sure that a poor goonda does not suffer from some undemocratic treatment.

If such measures do not make Kerala an investment paradise, then I don’t know what will.

When an NGO lab came up with test results that 11 soft drink brands had pesticide residues more than permissible limits by BIS standards, Kerala State Govt. banned the production and selling of Coke and Pepsi. The State Govt. did not validate the data for itself nor did it wait for results from any other lab. The companies then filed a case in High Court and the court lifted the ban citing that the State Govt. did not have the authority to enforce such bans. The court also noted that the Communists in Kerala did not even bother listening to the companies point of view.

When you live in a country like India, where there is a rule of law, you obey them. But not for the Communists. No, Sir. Following the High Court verdict, the foot soldiers of the Communists attacked godowns stocking cola products.

Around 50 members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), ransacked the PepsiCo godown opposite the CPM district office. According to eyewitnesses, close to 50 per cent of the stocks were destroyed by the activists. The police arrived late and by that time the DYFI activists had dispersed. No arrests have been made.

When reports of this attack were flashed on TV channels, suspected DYFI activists yesterday evening barged into godowns at Kozhikode in north Kerala and inflicted heavy damage by destroying cola products.

In Palakkad, activists attacked around eight lorries that had come to lift stocks from the Coca-Cola unit there and smashed their windscreens.[Pro-Left activist attacks Kerala cola warehouses]

Fortunately followers of this murderous and anti-national cult and did not kill anyone this time. Mind Curry put it best when he wrote

And the leaders of DYFI and AIYF gave a statement today to justify their acts: “We are just making the “people’s voice” heard”. Isn’t that the lamest reason you could ever hear in a state that gloats under the umbrella of 100% literacy? If the people have a voice why don’t we let them decide? We can just choose to NOT DRINK it, or DRINK it. We don’t need third rate scoundrels or their parties, or even the government, make such decisions for us. I have a right to think, consider facts and decide which is safe and what I want to drink. It is unacceptable that a party makes that choice for the people. The people should have the right of choice, and that is what would have made us seem more literate, democratic and cultured.[Yehi Hai Right Choice]

Once when some farmers in Kerala decided to plant some other crops instead of paddy, the Communists descended on their fields and destroyed all the crops. It was a warning to the farmers that the the Communists were the new Zamindars who would dictate what the farmers should cultivate in their fields. The leader of that movement is the current Chief Minister of Kerala. Koko the monkey might design a spacecraft and go to moon, but still these Communists will never understand the concept of personal freedom.
Update 1 Vinod writes

To furthur insult the intelligence of the people of Kerala, the CM seems to assume that the Colas are a problem affecting the common man. Pray, how? In a state where safe, potable water is not available for the common man, is the CM playing Mary Antoniette and assuming that the common people are now drinking Cola in Kerala? However much I try to extend my imagination, I fail to make a connection between the “common man” and Cola in Kerala, except maybe with Rum.

Update 2 Siddhartha Shome analyzes the anti-Coke movement in India
Update 3 Kuttan writes

This has to be the icing on the cake. Kerala now has a chief minister who not only condones violence but also justifies it publicly. According to him if you dont agree with the judiciary of the land you can take matters into your own hands and run amok destroying private property. He condoned it when SFI resorted to violence against self financing colleges and destroyed property of the colleges now he went a step further justyfing the people who attacked the cola companies.
By saying that he has knocked down one pillars of the constitution and has indirectly called out for an all out war against juduciary. Im not a legal expert but if this doesnt constitute contempt of court I’m not sure what what would.