20 murders a month and counting: Bangalore's new face

Surprisingly, 20 murders even before the first month of 2009 is over does not rattle the Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidari. “This is not a new thing. Bangalore usually witnesses over 20 murders every January and there is no need to create hue and cry over it. Moreover, if we compare it with last year’s statistics, there were more murders last year,” said Bidari.

For the Commissioner sahib, 20 murders in a month is not a serious matter, especially in a city with a population of 75 lakh and which has seen 22 and 19 murders in January 2008 and January 2007 respectively. Moreover, since police cannot guarantee security to each and every individual living in the city, the citizens themselves have to make sure they stay out of harm’s way, Bidari advised. Though the Police Commissioner has assured to start the investigations soon, the promise holds little hope. The file containing a 12-year-old murder case of an elderly couple in Jayanagar is still gathering dust in the police station. Though the police have already launched their investigation in the recent double and triple murder cases in Jayanagar, they give little assurance of safety and security to the residents.

“A peaceful sleep is all we ask for. Who will provide us security to enjoy that?” Raghavendra’s million dollar question hangs in the air. ....Continue

“If I have done wrong, hang me!”

Your popularity is going up among people all over the country. A Marxist MP from Kerala was punished for praising your work. Are you aware that you have fans in all parties?
I am aware of this. Even people who publicly criticise me have noticed my work. But I am really surprised that the Kerala MP was punished.

Looking at Gujarat, many feel that you could do wonders for the nation if you were made the PM.

I have studied political science and know how such talks have ruined many top leaders in the past. I will not fall into this trap. I am content with what I am doing.

So, you do not wish to think beyond Gujarat?
I feel that by serving Gujarat I am serving the entire nation as well.

If ever you are made the PM, what would be your priority?
First of all there is no ‘if’ and ‘or’ in politics.

But you must have thought about something for the nation?
I think of the responsibilities I have, which is Gujarat, and I think of various plans for the betterment of Gujarat.

Any single economic policy which you would like to bring or introduce in India?
In Gujarat, development work is moving in the right direction. I want balanced growth, which means 30 per cent growth for all sectors: industrial, agricultural as well as service. The logic is, if there is famine, the other two sectors can contribute. During recession, the agricultural and service sectors can shore up the economy.

Somewhere you had mentioned that security-related personnel should go through forensic examination to enable the government to know if the candidate has chosen this career to serve the country or not.
I did not say such a thing. I said forensic science labs should do commercial activities. Nowadays, corporate houses study psychological profiles of potential CEOs, because people are constantly switching jobs. So, I suggested that forensic science labs can do this to grow their business.....Continue

Save the last dance

“Since the colonial times, our forefathers have been Kalandars. We too earned a decent living through bear and monkey dance performances. But about three to four years back some private organisations started harassing us. They said that we cannot pursue this work unless we have a license. We went to Lucknow to get ourselves registered and obtain licenses for our work. For some time we could peacefully pursue our work, but soon the same social organisations started taking the bears and their cubs away from us. Close to 2500 bears have been taken away from us and for some, we haven’t even been paid any money. We were also promised alternate sources of income by them, but nothing materialised. They took our bears away and gave us false hopes of a government job and opening shops or buying auto rickshaws. At that time whoever refused this bargain, was beaten up by the cops. Some of our old folks were even beaten to death!

I wouldn’t say that we haven’t got any money at all, but paying the school fees for six or seven months every two years or giving us five thousand rupees for a wedding isn’t sufficient. We haven’t been given any job yet. Around twenty-five men in our family are unemployed and I don’t know how many more are there in the entire Mathura zone. We really don’t know what to do... We sometimes set up small shops (pheri) or take the monkeys around for dance shows but this doesn’t fetch us enough money to run the house. It is not even close to what we can earn from the bears. We kept our bears like family members. Some of our bears survived for as long as twenty years. The animal was feeding our family and we never kept it unhappy. Whenever they had infections or fell ill, we gave them herbal treatment and even took professional medical help. In fact, I want to know about the 2500 bears they took from us. The two centers of this organisation don’t have as many bears. So where are they? People say that they trade their parts to international markets for good money.....Continue

Ehud's Error

Gaza offensive has cost Israel West's unconditional support

If at all one needs to find reason in insanity, then so be it. While the world expresses anger and frustration over Israel’s invasion of Gaza strip; by doing so, one man is happy that he redeemed his pride: Ehud Olmert.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s political career finished, for all practical purposes, several months before his Gaza adventure. However, his tenure will be recalled for most of his misadventures – chain of discomforting corruption accusations and the messed up 2006 campaign against Hezbollah. Clearly, through Gaza he wants to show the Israelis that he is as much capable of finishing wars as starting them, and thus reinstating Israel’s military deterrence. But watch closely and you’ll understand that he has messed it up again. By attacking Gaza and inflicting civilian causalities, Israel wanted to isolate Hamas among Palestinians by proving that it is Hamas that has brought doom on them. However, by doing so, Olmert also proved his total lack of understanding as to how Arabs think. His adventure has made Hamas hero and martyr and Palestinians are huddling around it more than ever. Moderate secular voices such as Fatah and PLO will find it impossible now to win public’s approval to strike a peace deal with Israelis.

“It is counter-productive. You cannot have peace with Fatah and Palestinian Authority alone. This is collateral damage,” said Robert Malley, head of the International Crisis Group's Middle East programme, while talking to TSI from Brussels. So, in fact, Olmert has once again sucked Israel into unrealistic expectations and a conflict it cannot win. Also, some of its acts in this strife have heavily dented Israel’s otherwise unconditional support in the west. Its attack on UN school – although it had coordinates – and use of artillery shells, with the incendiary agent white phosphorus, on civilian population has led to protests all over the world, including in countries like Norway, Denmark and, yes, Germany.

As the conflict entered its third week, the death toll has touched close to 900, most of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, have been killedin retaliatory attacks. And while Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, claims to be running “day and night” to bring in an armistice, it is pretty apparent that the Bush administration has provided Israel broad latitude to crush Hamas on the cost of civilian lives....Continue