What they are talking about in Kerala

By John Cheeran

Congress in Kerala is in all sorts of trouble. Group war is raging in the party and the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) is seeking the ouster of chief minister Oommen Chandy. The saving grace is that CPM itself is divided over bringing down the United Democratic Front (UDF) government thanks to the internecine rivalry between party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and opposition leader V S Achuthanandan, who is now seen as the last communist in Asia, including China.

Consider the charges against Chandy. It has been alleged that Chandy is party to a series of frauds committed by a private company, Team Solar, which swindled people of money to the tune of Rs 10 crore (the official figure quoted by Chandy is Rs 1 crore).  Serious among them is an accusation levelled by Sreedharan Nair, a provincial Congress leader and industrialist, who says he had received an assurance from Chandy that Team Solar is a venture that needs to be encouraged, which made him part with Rs 40 lakh to Saritha S Nair, a femme fatale associated with the solar firm.

Chandy says Sreedharan Nair had parted with his money a week before he met him last July. All Malayalis are now debating whether the femme fatale, Saritha S Nair, was with the Nair Who Had The Money, when he met the chief minister. Chandy, who streams visuals from the chief minister’s office live (Is he the world’s first politician to do so? Will have to check Limca Book of records) says visuals of his meeting with Nair are not available. And the incorruptible Chandy has now appointed a panel of Malayalam speaking Sherlock Holmes to retrieve the lost visuals, sift through them and spot whether there was a sexy Nair, apart from the Money Nair. 

Rivalry among Congress A and I groups has ensured that details were leaked to the media about extensive telephone conversations that Saritha had with chief minister’s office, his assistants and an entire spectrum of Congress leadership in the state, including home minister, members of Parliament and Kerala Pradesh Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala. And remember Kerala’s chief minister did not have a cell phone in his name till now and has been making use of his flunkeys’s phones to stay connected!  

There is no denying that both Saritha and her partner, Biju Radhakrishnan, had a criminal past, before they hit upon the ruling Congress establishment with a seemingly credible and fashionable scheme of solar energy at homes and industrial units.

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Who is the greatest living author in Malayalam?

By John Cheeran

Who is the greatest living author in Malayalam? That tag would easily be applied to M T Vasudevan Nair, known as MT, who celebrates his 80th birthday today (July 15).

For beginners, MT has written short stories, novels, screenplays and edited the prestigious literary weekly Mathrubhumi. MT is also an acclaimed film director (six movies) and won the best national feature film award for his first movie, Nirmalyam, in 1973.

The weekend witnessed a deluge of encomiums to the writer, free from critical assessment of his works and that is not unusual. In Kerala, bitching among writers is conducted a little subtly, away from print and sound bites.

MT has written 87 short stories (that’s one count) and the last one (Kazhcha—Sight) was in 1998. He has written nine novels but all that was ages ago. Still there will be few who would not have read MT classics like Manju, Nalukettu and Iruttinte Aathmavu.

Lyricism was MT’s hallmark. But MT’s concerns were limited. He bemoaned a way of life, mostly depicting crumbling Nair joint families and trying on the mantle of the outsider in such circumstances. MT also encouraged the Malayali’s penchant for nostalgia and the beedi smoking author carefully cultivated his aura.

Unlike many of his generation, MT’s struggles have been few and patchy. MT never lived or worked outside of Kerala unlike some of the modern greats of Malayalam literature such as O V Vijayan and Vaikkom Muhammed Bashir. While Bashir pulled off all sorts of tricks while pitching tent at various parts of India, Delhi shaped Vijayan’s writing. Both have written powerful novels that addressed concerns beyond the parochial and maudlin.

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Is Muslim League a dead horse?

By John Cheeran

There is little in common between Jawaharlal Nehru and Ramesh Chennithala. The former is India’s most celebrated statesman-prime minister, the latter a khadi-clad Peter Pan in Kerala.

Last week Chennithala, president, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, tried to emulate Nehru when he said the rump of Muslim League in Kerala (what is variously described as Indian Union Muslim League Kerala committee, Muslim League, etc) has become a liability for Congress.

It was Nehru who dismissed Muslim League as a dead horse in the post-independence euphoria in 1957. (It is another matter that, two years later, he keeled over and the state unit of Congress struck an alliance with the League in Kerala). Now the dead horse is galloping faster than Congress in Kerala, threatening almost to wreck the United Democratic Front (UDF) coalition.

Will the high command in New Delhi agree about what Nehru said in 1957?

Why do Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi flog the dead horse? The Gandhis can hardly displease the rump of Muslim League in Kerala, for the Oommen Chandy-led UDF ministry leads a precarious existence even with the support of the League. So they will acquiesce, and League will continue to press their arguments.

It is important to realise who flogged Nehru’s dead horse into life.

With a 25% Muslim population in the state, both the UDF and CPM-led LDF are wary of alienating Muslim voters. But one cannot understand the need for a Muslim League, in Kerala’s cultural and social context, in electoral arena. Both Congress and CPM are quite accommodative of Muslim aspirations, so why strike a divisive note on the basis of religion? The answer should come from the Muslim community. League, however, has realized that only thing that matters in a first-past-post democracy is numbers in a given geographical area.

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Look beyond scoreboard; trophies are not the truth

By John Cheeran
The scoreboard is important in cricket, but then you learn to look beyond the scoreboard when you regard sport as more than a pastime. The tragedy in Indian sport is that very few have the courage to look beyond the scoreboard.

That explains the glee that washed over the sport pages of newspapers, magazines and talk shows in myriad television channels after India creditably won the Champions Trophy in England, although contests were less than bloody battles, when you appreciated how famished the Australians and poor Pakistanis looked on the field. But, let us grant that a win is a win is a win.

Much pretty prose was thrown at the readers to yet again anoint Mahindra Singh Dhoni as India’s greatest captain, notwithstanding his gambler’s move to bring an expensive Ishant Sharma into the attack to break the burgeoning England partnership while the hosts were chasing India’s target.

Again, Dhoni succeeded, India succeeded. India have become champions. Yes, Dhoni deserves credit for handling his players well and scripting the tournament victory, away from home.

But victories on the field should not be a licence to fix deals off the field. You can get away with inexplicable decisions on the field, as long as you pull it off. But you cannot apply the same logic, or better still, tactic, off the field while making decisions.

That’s why despite being India’s ‘greatest ever captain’ Dhoni has to answer questions on what has been going on in the IPL, throughout all its six editions, and explain his conflict of interest by running a sport management firm that looks after the pecuniary interests of Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Prgyan Ojha, three India players, while remaining as Team India captain.

These are irksome questions. But India needs answers for these questions from Dhoni. It is a pity that India’s feckless sport writers have yet again failed to raise these points while gaping in wonder at the scoreboard.

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Do Muslim girls want to marry at 16?

By John Cheeran

Getting married still remains a big deal in India. Kerala is no exception. These days a few Malayalis do not marry at all, but prefer to be in live-in relationships. But this is not about them.

It is about how girls are still pushed into marriage in Kerala much before they attain the age of 18, among Kerala’s Muslims, who constitute more than 25% of the state’s population. These are nothing but child marriages.

The Child Marriage Prohibition Act, 2006, unambiguously defines a “child as a person who, if a male, has not completed 21 years of age, and if a female, has not completed 18 years of age.”

A circular issued on June 14, 2013, by Local Self Government (LSG) department of the government of Kerala has sought to reassure unconvinced registrars across the state that Muslim marriages involving a male aged less than 21 and a female aged less than 18 is legal.

The circular violates provisions in Special Marriage Act 1954. As per this Act, if a marriage has to be solemnized, the man has to be 21 years old and the woman must be 18 years of age. Both the Child Marriage Prohibition Act and Special Marriage Act are applicable to the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

At the moment, a debate is on in Kerala about the intent and logic behind the Congress-led UDF government’s move to sanctify such child marriages among Muslims.

The LSG department is headed by an Indian Union Muslim League minister, M K Muneer, an MBBS doctor, who told The Times of India (the TOI led with the story on June 20 in Kerala which has triggered a state-wide debate, forcing rest of the newspapers and news channels to amplify the story) that he is personally against the move to encourage child marriages among Muslims.

But the government, harried by allegations against chief minister Oommen Chandy’s office of nexus with a set of financial fraudsters, is adamant and not ready to withdraw the circular. Muslim League has 20 MLAs in the assembly and the government runs on two-seat majority in the 140 member assembly.

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The importance of revealing rape victim’s identity

By John Cheeran

Is there life after rape? Should a woman live in a purdah rest of her life, if a maniac forcibly violates her privacy? Should she conceal her identity and the identity of those who are near her and next to her?

Are the media and legal system doing the rape victim and her family a favour by not making public her identity? And withholding all references that may point to her identity?  

I do not think so. By not naming the rape victim, you are not favouring her but perpetuating the shame and stigma that is associated with the heinous act. Rape is not the fault of the victim. By treating rape as an unmentionable crime, the media are treating the rape victim as an untouchable, someone who is different from you and me.

How does the fact that the public do not know her name, help the rape victim handle the trauma that she is undergoing? The fact remains that she has been assaulted, privacy violated. Those who done it deserves to be hanged, after establishing their crime in a court of law.

But why the victim has to be always on the back foot? Why are we shrouding her identity, apparently, in an ethical effort to help her?

In fact, in every rape incident, everyone who knows the victim at an individual level knows that she has been subjected to the crime, however long, and however hard, you try to pretend so. In the latest incident of rape – of a medical student at the Manipal Medical College in Udupi in Karnataka, all the students in that campus now must be familiar with the name of the victim. Knowing the name is not the crime, but in the age of surreal connectivity, there are no secrets left among us. To know is the human urge, especially if it involves someone’s misfortune and misery, such are rape incidents. So would be the village or town that the rape victims come from. Her relatives would know. So would be all her classmates. All of them talk. In a free society, where people are free to gossip, and their fare idea about what is happening around the world will continue to do that, unless we want to be a society where news should be always treated with an ethical pen.

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Is Sreesanth an Ajmal Kasab?

By John Cheeran

Is S Sreesanth a terrorist? Is he a criminal? Is ‘spot-fixing’ a crime? Is he a Sanjay Dutt? Should Sreesanth be tried under sections 3 and 4 of Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA)? These are important questions, because we are in danger of slipping into a police state, where an accused person has few options to prove his innocence. MCOCA takes away one’s right to be on bail. As per the act, anything that the police claim as confessions to a superintendent of police (SP) level officer in writing or recording will be admissible before a court of law.

What is applicable for Sreesanth also holds true for the two other Rajasthan Royals cricketers, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila. As of now, for me, Sreesanth is a cricketer who has erred grievously. Delhi Police till last Tuesday (June 4) had charged him with cheating offence Under IPC 420. Under Indian Penal Code, there is no such offence called ‘spot-fixing.’

Of course, Sreesanth has committed a mistake. With a sense of drama, which is richly deserving in this case, you can say Sreesanth has betrayed cricket. Sreesanth’s crime is that he broke the agreement he had with his IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals and the BCCI, the owners of IPL, by indulging in ‘spot-fixing’ and thereby besmirching the reputation of IPL and cricket.

Sreesanth has done something that is indefensible, going by the Delhi Police’s initial argument, that he took money from bookies and bowled as per their instructions. If it is so, it is an act that is unpardonable by a cricket enthusiast. It is nothing more. And I presume Delhi police, too, know this aspect of the case, including police commissioner Neeraj Kumar.

If that is so, why are the police applying MCOCA against Sreesanth and other accused?

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When India is a metaphor for BCCI

By John Cheeran

So who won? There may not be a definitive answer to that question but there is no doubt about who lost in the Chennai Test on Sunday –the Indian cricket fan. It was a victory for N Srinivasan and his brinkmanship, it was a victory for Arun Jaitley and his political nous, and it was a victory for Jagmohan Dalmiya and his sense of opportunism.

If you have been a cricket lover, you can henceforth love BCCI. What a beautiful four-letter word it is. You can use it now to let your steam out – ‘BCCI You.’ This is the only message coming from Chennai. Whatever the outraged public say, BCCI is a realm, where you are not given entry. You can buy a match ticket, enter M A Chidambaram Stadium, or M A Chinnaswamy Stadium or for that matter Eden Gardens. That’s it. (As much as you can cast your vote during elections but your tryst with democracy ends there.) You cannot walk into the portals of the BCCI. We will fix the game for you, that’s the message coming from Srinivasan, Jaitley and Dalmiya. We are in it together. We will run this as a private organization (which in any case, it is) and let no one come forward to clean-up our act, say the entrenched forces in Indian cricket.

And mind you, BCCI is the most professionally run sports organization in India. It only shows how poorly managed our other sports organizations are. You cannot criticize BCCI on certain counts. For example, former and current cricketers are taken care of financially by the board. There is no breakdown of administration. Indian board flexes its muscle and money at the International Cricket Council. It vetoes ICC proposals and takes on the perpetrators of imagined insults to the nation and its cricketers. BCCI may be a mafia, it is a mafia that gets things done. Like what? When Srinivasan was around, India regained the World Cup, in 2011, 28 years after its first title triumph. The board’s coffers are full. It religiously conducts all domestic tournaments, and on the face of it, there is a degree of process (however skewed it may be) involved in its decision making. To a large extent, this explains the silence of the satraps of the state associations in the working committee meeting in Chennai on Sunday.

But when it comes to big decisions, there is opacity, deceit, subterfuge, arm-twisting and mutual back-scratching. Very rarely we see the ‘back-stabbing’ attempted by the western lobby, led by one of the most ambitious politicians around in India now.

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Why cricketers never suffer from backbone injuries?

By John Cheeran

Have you ever wondered why cricketers never suffer from backbone injuries? Read Sachin Tendulkar’s statement to the media on Friday, and you will understand. The man who conquered the best of bowlers, slow and fast, is still uneasy about fielding questions. Hence a convenient, anodyne statement, that does not tell us anything, does not take a position on anything that is germane to the malaise that afflicts Indian cricket.

Let me quote the great batsman: “During this difficult phase, I join every cricketer, from the boys in the maidans across the country to those who represent clubs, states and the country, who trust the

authorities to take sincere steps to get to the root of the issue.”

So what’s the issue, Tendulkar?

It appears you are too terrified to utter the word ‘fixing’. And significantly, you still have trust in those who employ you, that is Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), when you say “you trust the authorities to take sincere steps.”

Ahem. This pearl of wisdom comes from the elder statesman of world cricket, who has played international cricket since 1989.

Is Tendulkar living in denial? Why? Does he think the BCCI has failed in keeping cricket clean and corruption-free in India? Does he think that the BCCI should subject itself to an overhaul? There are no answers.

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Is M S Dhoni Team India captain or India Cements captain?

By John Cheeran

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a great communicator. Dhoni, usually, prefers to talk with his bat. On the eve of the IPL 6 final in Kolkata, India’s most valuable cricket brand (yes, stronger than Sachin Tendulkar, on pure form) was invisible. He just did not turn up for the pre-match media interaction. May be Dhoni has a headache.

But who is Mahendra Singh Dhoni? Is he the captain of Chennai Super Kings, or the captain of Indian team? Or the captain of India Cements? Or the captain of Team BCCI?

Dhoni has let himself be cornered and devalued by keeping his silence ever since the spot-fixing scandal involving his former India playmate S Sreesanth broke out on May 16. And that silence has become unbearable after Vindu Dara Singh was nabbed by Mumbai police for his close contacts with bookies. Pictures of Vindu in the company of Sakshi, Dhoni’s wife were splashed across the front pages of newspapers throughout the country. Later Chennai Super Kings CEO Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested for his association with Vindu and for allegedly trading inside information regarding the Super Kings team strategy, etc. BCCI has on Sunday finally ‘suspended’ Meiyappan’s further role in the team management of Super Kings. 

Now, why Dhoni is not speaking up?  Read the full story

What makes BCCI chief Srinivasan defiant

By John Cheeran

Finally, we have heard from N Srinivasan, president of Board of Control for Cricket in India. He has said in Mumbai on Saturday that he will not allow ‘forces’ to bulldoze or railroad him into quitting as the BCCI president. It is certain now that the game has just begun. This will not end with the IPL 6 final between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on Sunday in Kolkata.

This post is to understand why Srinivasan remains defiant when you and I are convinced that his position as BCCI president has become untenable after his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan has been arrested by Mumbai police for indulging in betting (which is illegal in India) and his links with Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh and bookies. Vindu has been accused of shielding bookies and placing bets on Meiyappan’s behalf. Till now Meiyappan has been described as CEO and team principal of the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, a team that has performed well in the tournament. CSK, former IPL champions, has also entered the final of IPL.   

Can Srinivasan afford to remain cocky, as both Mumbai and Delhi police teams are unearthing more information regarding betting and spot-fixing in IPL and Indian cricket. It is no longer three rotten eggs by the names of S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan.

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Will the real Modi step up please?

By John Cheeran

Mr BCCI president, where are you? Where is your son-in-law?

We are waiting to hear from you about your ‘innocence’ and the professional manner in which you have been running the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise.

But by refusing to meet Mumbai police team that went to Chennai on Thursday, your son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, CEO of Chennai Super Kings, has put BCCI and you on back foot. Now India wonders whether there is anything for you guys to hide from law enforcement agencies in the backdrop of spot-fixing scandal. Evidently, investigation into spot-fixing by three Rajasthan Royal cricketers, has not been unfolding as per the script. Mumbai police claims that Meiyappan has been keeping close links with Vindu Dara Singh, a Bollywood actor in cahoots with bookmakers. The fact that both Meiyappan and Srinivasan kept cops guessing about their whereabouts on Thursday is a mocking move that reeks of subterfuge and arrogance. If law permits, by now, cops should be sifting through telephone conversation transcripts of Meiyappan and Srinivasan to find out the truth. And truth involves not just these two.

Betting is illegal in India. Cricket fans and public, at large, want to know about the association between Vindu and BCCI president’s son-in-law. Has Meiyappan placed bets on the outcome of IPL matches? If he has, what is the nature of those bets? If a CEO of an IPL franchise, which is interestingly being led by India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is into betting, then it sets off many questions. Those questions can wait, depending on what Mumbai police reveals after questioning Meiyappan.

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A letter to the bookie who fixed S Sreesanth

By John Cheeran

Dear bookie,

I know you have stumped Indian cricket by snaring S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan into spot-fixing during IPL 6. I know that you have your own reasons to do so. But is that the most sensible way (I’m not saying ethical way) to go about achieving your goal, which I presume is making money with minimum effort.

I’m not against betting, nor would be millions of Indians. Most of the time, we bet on our worst fears and heave a sigh of relief when we lose those ones. By all means, bet, if you want. But why are you trying to get players, cricketers, in this case? Can’t you leave them out of it?

A lot of people think that spot-fixing lends itself to betting, which you know that it is not. All you are trying to do is manipulate the odds of brackets (session betting, for eg, a team would score more than 60 runs in first 8 overs). Aren’t you?

So does it make sense to pay Rs 40 lakhs for Sreesanth to concede 14 runs in an over during an IPL match? Throughout his international and domestic career, Sreesanth has never been known for economy rates but for taking wickets even though he will be hammered around for boundaries. Giving 14 runs is something that comes quite naturally to this pesky bowler. So why waste money on him? You can always place a bet on him to bowl in an unpredictable manner and you stand to win at the stakes.  

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http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Arrackistan/entry/a-letter-to-the-bookie-who-fixed-s-sreesanth

Why is the cricket establishment silent?

By John Cheeran

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is in a blue funk. The world’s richest and most powerful cricket body has little control over what is happening in Indian cricket. Its biggest brand IPL is stumped by its worst crisis since its inception in 2008. Three of its players (technically they belong to its franchise Rajasthan Royals) are in Delhi Police’s custody. At the moment BCCI president N Srinivasan cannot defend or disown the tainted trio – S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan - completely.

On Sunday, BCCI working committee met in Chennai but could not come up with any bold suggestion to make cricket in India and, specifically, IPL T20 matches, corruption-free. One way could have been making franchises accountable for the actions of its players. If Rajasthan Royals players have been proved to have acted in a manner that influenced the outcome of the game, the team itself should be thrown out of the league.

And not just players. If anyone belonging to the team management or owners themselves attempt things that make it easier for bookmakers, the BCCI should throw the franchise out of the IPL. It would hurt. But unfortunately BCCI is not in a position to propose any such thing. Instead, it says it cannot control bookies. Srinivasan says the BCCI does not encourage betting. To quote the ‘old sport’ during the press meet in Chennai:  “We don't encourage betting, we do not encourage anything.” That’s a valid point, that the BCCI does not encourage anything.

 Read full story  http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Arrackistan/entry/why-is-the-cricket-establishment-silent

How fixing Pakistanis has been a Good Fix for India

 By John Cheeran

 There is Good Fix and, then, there is Bad Fix. We, Indians, love the Good Fix.

 There has been an avalanche of protests, shocked expressions of fans, former players, commentators and administrators (read the BCCI) in the wake of Delhi Police – mind you, it is a police force that cannot keep rapists under check and cannot rein in the overflowing male testosterone on the streets of Delhi—exposing former India player S Sreesanth and two other cricketers from IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals as having colluded with bookies in instances of spot-fixing in IPL 6. But isn't it quite ironic that no one has taken seriously the charge that India’s semi-final against Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup was fixed? Why?

 Because it was alleged to have been fixed in India’s favour. And it was against our enemy, Pakistan. That was a Good Fix. Winning against Pakistan, by hook or crook, does matter and you better not ask any questions on that. And India won the World Cup after 28 years, so you better shut up and cheer our cricketers. And in any case whose fault is it if Pakistani cricketers had taken money to drop catches and throw their wickets cheaply, even though the tournament and the particular match itself was staged in India, and organized by BCCI? Didn't you know that all Pakistani cricketers were on take from the bookies? And mind you, we won, and our cricketers are clean.

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Kerala’s Big Idea: Vision 2030 aims for Nordic norms

By John Cheeran

Here is a state government thinking different and thinking big. Moving away from band-aid concepts of development, the UDF government has unveiled broad contours of what it calls Vision 2030, an ambitious plan that focuses on improving the state’s healthcare, infrastructure and quality of life to the level of Nordic nations by 2030. It aims to combine growth with social security.

And, hold your breath, making Kochi, which is staring at a civic nightmare without enough drinking water and poor sanitation, a global city is another key result area of Vision 2030.

Chief minister Oommen Chandy and state planning board vice-chairman K M Chandrasekhar say political consensus is an imperative for implementing Vision 2030, with the state having a history of coalitions of divergent development and political perspective alternating every five years in power. Chandy says the UDF will discuss with all stakeholders to arrive at consensus by end of July.     

As the UDF government led by Chandy completes two years in power, Chandy wants to bring healthcare as the hot topic in Kerala. He says the UDF government will take steps to make Right to Health for every citizen its top agenda in the remaining three years and will seek the Centre’s support in this.

Read the full story at

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Arrackistan/entry/kerala-s-big-idea-vision-2030-targets-nordic-norms

Does, and should, IAS attract the best and brightest?

Does, and should, IAS attract the best and brightest?

By John Cheeran

Are the best and the brightest of Indian minds getting attracted to Indian civil service? Last week, Union Public Service Commission announced the results of the civil service examination and since then there has been much feting of winners, including down to the 500thperson on the rank list.

In Kerala, especially, since candidates from the state won the first, second and fourth positions in the examination.

Now that the brouhaha over the winners and the “achievement” is slowly fizzling out, it is time to take a hard look at the ‘civil serpent’ obsession.

The Indian civil service is no longer the ‘steel frame’ that British Raj claimed it to be. And India is no longer a nation of limited opportunities, where the best was a sarkari job. Post-1990s, youngsters have a variety of options to choose from the job market. Information technology, media, entertainment, finance, telecom, service, and infrastructure sectors offer unlimited opportunities for career growth as well as remuneration. Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) and Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) are global brands and a significant chunk of India’s best and the brightest make a beeline to them. Youngsters topping CAT are never feted the way IAS toppers are envied and felicitated.

And here is a larger question. Why are we placing so much importance on coming first in examinations, whether it is IAS or CAT? What does coming first, signify?

Read the full story: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Arrackistan/entry/does-and-should-ias-attract-the-best-and-brightest

How Congress won Karnataka

By John Cheeran

Now it is certain that Congress will form the government in Karnataka. The party has secured a simple majority in the 223-seat state assembly. Political pundits are, however, quick to point out that Congress has not succeeded in cashing in on circumstances ripe for a massive victory. The verdict is that Congress has nothing to build on from the Karnataka election results. The party has failed to deliver the killer blow.

Is it so simple? Congress fought a very difficult election in the state. Of course, with a BJP chief minister going to jail on corruption charges, and the same influential leader breaking away from the party, splitting the Hindutva votes, it can be argued that Congress should have an intimidating majority in the assembly.

It is true, but only up to a point. B S Yeddyurappa’s KJP split votes that BJP should have garnered naturally. Being a Lingayat leader, a section of votes that bolstered the BJP’s MLA kitty in 2008, Yeddyurappa contesting elections and winning a significant number of seats has hurt the saffron party.

Read the full story at: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Arrackistan/entry/how-congress-won-karnataka