Twenty-four years ago, the Chernobyl nuclear explosion in Ukraine released four hundred times more radioactive fallout than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima! Despite heroic efforts by the firefighters, whose boots melted in radioactive mess as they battled flames, 4,000 people died in the surrounding area. People were affected as far north as Ireland. In the Ukraine alone, those confirmed as permanently disabled by the Chernobyl accident crossed the 100,000 mark.

Twenty six years ago, the Union Carbide plant of Bhopal leaked a cloud of 42 tons of toxic chemicals into the air of the densely populated city. The worst hit area was the slum next to the factory. Most of the victims were poor people from villages who had moved to the city in search of jobs. Many, including children and the elderly, died in their beds as the gas seeped into their homes. Others, including women clasping babies, fled only to collapse in the street. Many were later found, huddled, sick and dying in the city’s doorways. Herds of oxen lay dead and the bodies of goats and sheeps littered the roadsides where they used to roam!

Some days back, the nuclear liability bill of India cleared parliament. Are we heading for another Chernobyl? Another Bhopal?

Lets rewind – It was only a year ago when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came to India with a deadly agenda. No one accepted, but the fact was clear – India was afraid of a blot in its relations with the U.S. under the new Obama government. A few days later, Hillary was reported saying, “We have just completed a civil nuclear deal. If it is done through proper channels and safeguarded, then it is appropriate. The two countries would proceed with agreements initiated by Bush on military issues and civilian nuclear deals.” Hillary added, “The sites for two nuclear parks for U.S. companies have been approved by the government. These parks will advance the aims of the U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement, facilitate billions of dollars in U.S. reactor exports, and create jobs in both counties, as well as generate much-needed energy for the Indian people.”

Not many of us know that one of the two sites is in the region of Andhra Pradesh, a Moaoist stronghold. The second site is in Gujarat where the political party at the center lacks a stronghold. If a disaster occurs in any of these states, the center will have nothing to lose and lots of people to blame! Rings any bells?

Sovereign French institutions, Areva and Rusatom, were already in the race to supply nuclear plant equipment to India. In the event of a Bhopal-like disaster, it would be an issue between the governments of India and France. Private players from U.S. like General Electric and Westinghouse grunted that they will not invest until India ensures that the entire liability of any potential catastrophe is borne solely by Indians. We know what governments do. In 26 years, nothing has been done to address the liabilities of the Bhopal disaster, either by the U.S. or the Indian government. Most of us have even stopped expecting. Well,  the bill has been passed on their terms and conditions, and the country seems to be more interested in Katrina Kaif’s next film!

What are the possible hazards of Nuclear mines or plants in India? Well according to Frontline, the renowned US investigative documentary makers, there is a risk of exposure to ionizing radiation at each stage of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining to fuel fabrication, and from the operation and maintenance of nuclear reactors to the handling or reprocessing of spent fuel. Radiation is a unique and long-acting poison that causes chromosomal damage even in small doses, and ultimately cancer and genetic damage. Radiation cannot be neutralized or destroyed. And there is no threshold below which it is safe. Nuclear power generation, as well as the transportation and handling of nuclear materials, inevitably exposes occupational workers to radiation. It is also fraught with routine emissions and effluents that are hazardous to the public in the vicinity. It leaves behind wastes, which remain dangerously radioactive for tens of thousands of years despite an economic lifespan of only 30 or 40 years for a nuclear reactor!

The bill has cleared parliament. The politics behind it are clear. The potential disasters have been emphasised in black and white. No wonder the world is ending. The question is – can we save it?

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Land acquisition and access to resources: two important pillars needed to keep India on its current growth trajectory, if it is to catch up with China and fulfil its promise as an emerging economic power. Both highlight once again the ongoing tension between India’s need to grow and the people it will leave behind or displace in the process. Two recent events bring these issues into sharp focus.

The Indian government recently rejected plans by the London-based mining group, Vedanta, to extract bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills in the eastern state of Orissa. This story made the international news headlines, even being compared to director James Cameron’s recent blockbuster film “Avatar”, as the mining company came into direct conflict with a few thousand tribals who call the hilly region home. Citing concerns that this would affect the tribal people’s right to their way of life and the ecosystem in the region, the Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, also said the project had violated India’s environmental protection laws.

Curiously, a day later, in a different part of the country, in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India’s Hindi-speaking heartland, thousands of farmers marched more than a hundred kilometers to the nation’s capital, gridlocking Delhi. This was to protest against a putative takeover of their land by the state government to build important new infrastructure, the two hundred kilometer Yamuna expressway from Agra to Delhi, budgeted to cost over $2 billion. The farmers have been demanding more compensation for land that the state government has been trying to acquire, stating that what they are being offered is half the market price of about $20 per square metre.

While the two episodes have a superficial similarity, they point to fundamentally different issues. The farmers in U.P. were not objecting to the acquisition of their land per se; they simply were asking for a fair price for it. The statutory authority under which the Indian central and state governments expropriate land is a relic of British colonial days, and allows government to take over land with little or no compensation. A proposed new law, which would require government to pay a fair market price for land and compensate the displaced in other ways, has been languishing in Parliament for several years. Seen in this light, there is nothing especially radical or subversive about the farmers’ demands: they simply don’t want to be short changed by the state government, but, if the right amount of cash is on the table, are willing to play ball.

Now, shift about two thousand kilometers east to the land dispute in Orissa. It is striking that the tribals were not holding out for better compensation: they simply didn’t want to be part of the system, period. To them, the hills are sacred, that is where they live, and no amount of money would ever be enough to get them to leave. Money, in fact, is beside the point for them. The analogy with “Avatar” is apt.

The Vedanta dispute points to a far more fundamental fissure in the modern development paradigm: what happens when modern economic progress runs up against a totally different civilization and culture that wants no part of it, but which sits atop resources that may be vital to the development project itself? Bauxite, after all, is the most important of the ores which when processed become stainless steel, a key input for manufacturing industry, a central driver of growth in developing countries whether India or elsewhere.

What results is a “clash of civilizations”, to borrow a phrase used in a different context by the late Samuel P. Huntington. The value systems of the two worlds are simply incommensurate: the modern economy is offering money as compensation to the tribals, who in turn have no value for money or what it can buy, and simply want the land they live on and don’t want to be disturbed. There is no possibility of gainful exchange here, to put it in economic terms.

In this particular case, the Indian government supported the tribals, and has blocked the project. Not that we should necessarily impute a great deal of virtue to this decision: the Congress-led central government has an eye to state elections, and standing up for the tribals, and against the state government of Orissa, led by a different party, may be good electoral calculus. Nor should we forget the threat of Maoist rebels, known in India as Naxals, who are an ever-present danger in Orissa as, indeed, they are, in about a third of the country’s districts. The Naxals, latter-day Robin Hoods, stand up for the poor and dispossessed, and are challenging government authority in a wide swathe of central and eastern India. While the Indian government’s hawkish Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, is pressing for an aggressive strategy to root out the insurgency, other elements within the Congress Party are pushing for a more tempered approach. Most notably, Mani Shankar Aiyar, a former minister in the government and self-proclaimed Marxist, has repeatedly pointed out the economic underpinning of the Maoist insurgency, and the fact that it it is no accident that it has taken root and thrives in the most background regions of the country, amidst those that have been left largely untouched by the growth miracle that has led to India’s recent skyrocketing growth rates and booming stock and property markets, to say nothing of its IT industry known worldwide.

All of this is a timely reminder that modern economic development, while empowering those who benefit from it, simultaneously disenfranchises others who don’t share its capitalist and market-oriented premises. The farmers in U.P. will probably get a little more money for their land, and should make out OK in the end. The tribal people in Orissa have been spared, for now, but it’s only a matter of time before another mining company encroaches on their land, with or without the government’s permission, or before someone else discovers even richer reserves of bauxite somewhere else in the country, and clamours for mining rights, whether or not someone happens to live on the land. And so development marches forward.

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Welcome to the first edition of NRI News Network’s non-celebrity talk show “Don’t walk the walk, just sit and talk”. I have with me today one of the most important characters in Indian Politics – The eternally humble, perennially suffering and functionally illiterate aam aadmi in the form of a young man from the slums of Andhra Pradesh and we feel it’s an honor and privilege for him to be around here.

Excerpts from the interview:
This has never been done in the history of prime time television! Good Morning aam aadmi and welcome to our show. How does it feel to be here in our studio with us?
Thank you. It is nice to sit in a sofa. I never sat in one except for that one time when I went to an A.C. movie theater. I feel a little chilly because of the A.C. Otherwise it is nice and comfortable. I also had some breakfast and hot tea after a very long time, so it is a welcome change.

I normally would have increased the temperature to make you feel more comfortable but I am wearing a Ralph Lauren suit and I tend to feel a little suffocated if it is above 18 degrees Celsius, so please bear with me.
No problem, it is much better than my leaking hut in this monsoon weather anyways.

You have been invited today because one of our junior correspondents overheard you speaking against the ban on child labor in a dingy tea shop in the country side. We thought it would be interesting to listen to your point of view. But before that, tell us about your childhood.
When I was 12 years old, my father died and my mother abandoned me and my elder brother. I started as an apprentice in a mechanical workshop with the help of my uncle where I was learning to operate the lathe machine. But soon, the govt. banned child labor and I was fired.

I started working in a dhaba on the highway cleaning utensils and when I was sixteen, owner of the restaurant found someone else younger than me willing to work for 50 rupees less. So he kicked me out and I was on the street yet again.

Then I tried selling small things on the street as a vendor but that did not work out. So I got married to a woman from a nearby slum and then life got better. Whenever my wife gets pregnant, my mother-in-law lets me stay at her place. So, I always try to make my wife pregnant!

You started out as an apprentice in a workshop as a child laborer. How was your experience there?
Before the strict enforcement of child labor laws, all poor children like me used to work as apprentices in the manufacturing sector.

My uncle started as an apprentice when he was 12 and by the time he was 18, he knew how to operate most machines. He also learned to read machine drawings. That experience helped him get a job as skilled labor in a big factory.  He now lives quite comfortably. I wanted to be like him but I could not because factories stopped hiring children.

After being rescued from child labor, how did your life change?
It is funny the way you used the words “rescued from child labor”. I wouldn’t call it rescue; I was thrown out of it. Suddenly, I was on the street with nothing to eat and no place to live. As part of rehabilitation, I was asked to attend a govt. school in which teachers rarely showed up for work!

Are you saying that a ban on child labor actually worked against you?
Yes, in a way. The ban on child labor actually took away the opportunity for people like me to learn a trade that will fetch me a respectful and skilled job. Most of us ended up working in far worse conditions working in small hotels and other businesses in the unorganized sector where the ban is not enforced strictly.

I was cleaning utensils all my teens and now I do not have any skill that can get me a decent job! There are thousands like me, who’d prefer working in a factory over a dhaba!

But child labor is wrong! How can you justify it?
I am not saying child labor is good or desirable. The bottom line is that we have no other option but work. Once we’re honest about that, working as an apprentice learning some trade is better in the long run than working in dhabas doing menial chores where exploitation is just as bad.

Children should not work in dangerous conditions like in the fireworks or carpet industries. But when the government decided to ban child labor, it did so without any plan for rehabilitation of the affected children!

Did you ever consider education as an option to get out of poverty?
Yes, I went to school as a kid for 2 or 3 years but it was mostly for the free midday meals. When I was 11 years old, both my brother and me dropped out of school.

Why did you drop out of school?
My brother went to school for eight years. At 14 years of age, he was being taught math, geography, economics and civics etc. They may be interesting and essential to get further in school but govt. school teachers and trigonometry are unbearable on an empty stomach. Algebra and Indus valley did not seem very relevant when there is a family to support!

But don’t you realize that poverty is a long term problem and it will only get worse by dropping out of school?
That is the popular perception. Poverty might look like lack of education, lack of skill, lack of awareness, lack of opportunities and hence lack of ability to make a decent living. It may be a long term condition but the consequences are immediate.

Poverty is having nothing to eat for dinner. Poverty means having no medicine for your sick mother. Poverty means getting trashed by an alcoholic father. Poverty is not “a problem” to be solved; it is a constant battle for survival! Traditional school education does not fit into the scheme of things!

Education ensures stability and job security. Everyone from the UNO to the local NGOs agree that education is the only way out of poverty. You can’t deny that!
Did any of the organizations that endorse education explain what kind of education will take me out of poverty? They never mention that part of it do they? There is a government school in my neighborhood but the teacher barely shows up for work. Even if I manage to put myself through school, what am I supposed to do with a high school degree?

But education does not have to stop with high school. In fact…
Are you suggesting college? May I ask which college? Did you mean the elite govt. colleges that admit only the top 3 – 5%? Or the private universities that are way out of our reach? Were you suggesting rural govt. colleges where degrees have no value and graduates have no prospects!

The whole “education is the only solution to poverty” sounds great as a concept but who is going to feed me while I attend college? There are now organizations that give IIT-JEE coaching to kids who have nothing to eat. I don’t understand that. We do not need IIT degrees. We need food, drinking water and other basic things!

The govt. is trying to promote education among the poor and there have been reports suggesting that the poor are not eager to send their children to school. Why is education not appealing?
The govt. does not have a policy to make education appealing to people like us. Like I said earlier, poverty is a bunch of immediate problems that require immediate attention and quick fixes. If education cannot provide them, then it will not be appealing.

Schemes like midday meals and Right to Education act are all soft, sweet, cosmetic measures that at best impresses the media and  a few urban well-to-do people whose only exposure to rural India is through the tinted glass window of an AC train compartment! You cannot attract students with free midday meals and expect them to stay motivated till they complete college!

May be schools should have a supplementary curriculum to teach vocational skills which will give us an ability to earn a meal or two on our own. There should be some sort of a positive reinforcement for us to believe that education is indeed rewarding.

Are you suggesting that the poor should have different schools?
The poor already have “different schools”. They are called govt. schools. The rich and middle class children don’t study there!

Coming back to child labor, do you support legalizing it at least in some sectors?
Banning something like child labor is easy. It is just curing the symptom, the disease being poverty. Fighting the disease needs a lot of planning and a series of well executed processes.

No govt. is serious about implementing anything more complex than a mid-day meal scheme in high schools which is useless because with high school education, you cannot get anything done today. The ban on child labor forces us with only one option out of poverty: to go and complete college, which is out of the world given our economic status!

What do you think are the steps that need to be taken to solve this problem?
I am illiterate and I live in a slum! Are you asking me to suggest public policy? I am only here to tell you what is happening.

Statistics might say that I am unemployed, but reality is I am unemployable. I am not alone, there is a whole generation of unemployable youth like me – no skill, no prospects, no future; angry, frustrated and a volatile potential for crime and violence. The media is not even aware of our existence! We are the result of half-baked politically correct public policy and sooner or later, you have to deal with us!

Thank you Mango Man, let us conclude the first part of this interview here. A lot of interesting questions were raised. I am sure more such things will come up in the next part of the interview. Until then, we sign off with this audience poll.

What is your opinion on aam aadmi’s line of argument against the ban on child labor?
A. Sahi tho keh raha hai
B. Ullu bana raha hai

Don’t SMS the answer, just leave it in the comments section below

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The key takeaway from David Cameron’s India visit was his obsessive ‘special relationship’ references to Indo-British ties. One may of course question the so called ‘special’ nature of this relationship, but the fact is that this was an all out attempt by the British Prime Minister to reinvigorate Britain’s ties with its old colony, now an emerging economic giant and a future superpower. In fact the British media’s spectacularly over the top coverage of this visit, along with Cameron openly flaunting an entourage of cabinet ministers, officials and bureaucrats to woo India Inc, was testimony to how serious he was in winning over India as a key strategic and business partner.

At a time when the UK economy is stagnating and jobs are a key concern, this was indeed a desperate effort by Cameron to renew economic links with a nation that will provide future opportunities for growth. But as Britain rejoiced over this renewed love affair between the two countries, India’s remarkable lack of interest in Cameron and his buddies was apparent on several fronts. While the Indian media was more interested in exploring the rationale behind a down-market reality TV star’s failed 2nd marriage, New Delhi put Cameron firmly in his place by turning down a request to address parliament. The Indian public meanwhile couldn’t care less. They will probably tune in only when Obama comes down, a few weeks from now.

Yet despite this tepid response from the hosts, on the economic front Cameron did manage to clinch an $800 million Defense contract at Bangalore even as the British Business Secretary Vince Cable announced that deals worth billions of dollars could be in the pipeline as the UK begins to issue licenses to its civil nuclear firms to export equipment to India. On the political front Cameron reiterated his strong support for India by backing Delhi’s demand to become a permanent UN Security Council member. And in what was clearly a political statement, he also ruffled feathers across the border by claiming that Pakistan promoted the export of terror, which in fact led to its intelligence officials, cancelling their visit to Britain.

On the flipside though, immigration is still a bone of contention between the two countries, and possibly the most important issue for Indians wanting to work and study abroad. And there clearly wasn’t much headway on that front. Also while a few deals have been struck here and there, what’s important to note is that trade between the two countries has been consistently on a downslide for many years now. Britain was the fifth largest exporter to India in 2005 but has since then fallen to 18th position and it will take a lot more than ‘special relationship’ proclamations from Cameron to resurrect that.

This visit of course is a start to what could possibly be a renewed and more fruitful bilateral relationship between the two countries. But more importantly it has been an eye opener to how remarkable the decline of Britain in the average Indians’ consciousness has been over the past 50 years. And it’s going to take a helluva lot to reverse that.

The tables have turned and HOW!

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NRIs have been able to vote for Indian reality shows like Indian Idol for a long time now. This year, even NRIs from the Middle East region could chose whom they want to listen to. It made me wonder when we would get to have a say in who rules the roost of our nation.

The rights for NRIs to vote during national elections has been debated for ages and having worn its course, is finally being pushed for implementation. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hopes that the system would be in place by the next general elections in 2014. While the move has been met with common assent, there are several people who are questioning whether NRIs really deserve to have voting rights, the right to chose the ruling government.

The point of contention here is, when someone isn’t even staying in the country, why should they be able to sway election results. NRIs don’t face the issues that common resident Indians face on a day to day basis. They don’t have to suffer the power outages, water crisis, bad roads and poor infrastructure, corruption, riots and many such social illnesses that haunt the resident Indians. And NRIs don’t even pay tax! They are the ones who have left the country for the sake of a fatter paycheck. They are the deserters who would rather serve another country than stay in their own and face its problems head on. So why should it matter which political party the NRIs want to vote into power. Besides, they are barely aware of the political scenario in India and depend on skewed, second hand reports to for their opinions, so their voting judgement cannot be relied on anyway!

This is the general opinion of the people opposed to NRI voting rights. (NOT my opinion, so please don’t shoot me!)

Alright, we may agree that some of these points are true. In some cases ALL of them are true. However, a whole lot of the NRI community is seriously concerned about the state of affairs in India. Regardless of which country we may be residing in now, we may one day have to return to our homeland. We have several members of family who reside in India. We have investments in India. It is our homeland, just because we don’t LIVE in India does not make us NON-INDIANS.

Besides, a whole lot of resident Indians who have the voting right don’t use it! That’s the reason why voter turnout during general elections is so poor compared to developed countries. The middle class doesn’t turn out to vote and the rural votes are bought off, literally. Tax evasion is common place, which is why the government has to go on a massive campaign to encourage people to file taxes every year. NRIs don’t work in government departments, they are not the ones taking bribes. The government is chosen by resident Indians so the blame of choosing corrupt leaders falls on their shoulders. Resident Indians, it can be said, enjoy the so called ‘benefits’ of citizenship, have all the rights and still shy away from their duties. They are now being popularly described as RNIs, Resident Non-Indians, because though they live in India, they don’t fulfill their duties as an Indian. This is the case that NRIs build against RNIs.

Having heard both sides of the story and seeing that this blame game and accusation match can go on forever, we need to decide on what is best for the nation and its people. Like it or not, NRIs are also citizens of India and should be treated as equals to resident Indians. The political scene of the nation affects them too and they have a right to decide which party, according to them, would serve the nation better. There will always be people in both the resident as well as NRI groups who will not fulfill their duties as Indians but we cannot and should not deny this right to those who ARE true patriots and care for their country regardless of their residential status. There are plenty of religions and castes and states dividing our country, we do not need differences in rights based on residential status to take further toll on national unity.

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It is that time of the year Mumbaikars both dread and await with bated breath. As the parched earth receives its first showers after three long summer months and lifts tired spirits, it doesn’t take long for the cries of joy to soon turn into wails of dismay. Water logging, open sewers flooding the roads, derelict buildings crumbling to debris taking lives and a perplexing stench in the air that remains all through the monsoon months; it isn’t exactly a romantic picture although many convince themselves otherwise. Every year, we in Mumbai dread the thought of a repeat of 26 July 2005 when the city was brought to a standstill after floods disrupted daily lives and killed a 1000 people.

It’s ironic then that with the rains playing such a big role in the lives of Mumbaikars, water shortage should be one of Mumbai’s gravest future concerns. The city currently faces a shortfall of 650 mld of water. The coming years could prove even more difficult as demand increases and sources of fresh water supply dry up due to heavy contamination. In fact reports suggest that most cities in India will face a ‘terrifying water crisis’ by 2020 with the per capita availability of water depleting sharply. A World Bank study ranked Delhi, India’s capital, as the worst performing city when it came to water availability in Asia followed closely by Mumbai coming second.

For India as a whole, this will pose a huge challenge. With 85% of water currently being used for agriculture, the source livelihood of 60% of our population, a further depletion in water supply could gravely jeopardize agri-production and thus put a question mark on the food security of millions of people. What’s more experts also say a water crisis could be a big blow to India’s industrial future and push those already suffering due to lack of safe drinking water into further desperation if a time comes when fresh water has to be imported.

As India rapidly develops and urbanizes, demand for water will escalate beyond our imagination and it is imperative that the government readies an action plan for effective water resource management. Rain water harvesting along with other water conservation methods of course could be one solution given the ample rainfall the country receives. But more importantly what is needed is to urgently halt the mismanagement of water which could soon lead to an urban disaster. A majority of India’s rivers are unfit for drinking as pollution due to sewage and industrial waste disposal have rendered them useless. Therefore it is high time India put in place stringent laws holding those responsible for such gravely irresponsible acts.

Ultimately as the world debates the truth behind the perils of global warming, this is a real problem staring at us in the face, a fact not a supposition to be discussed over the dinner table. The challenge for India is huge; the only thing is it seems absurd and preposterous, especially when it is pouring cats and dogs outside your window.

This past week, we Indians have been forced to relive scenes from one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Despite having wreaked utter havoc over an entire population, the site of the infamous Union Carbide Factory’s gas leak of 1984 is reportedly still contaminated today. It’s been twenty five years and some of the victims of the tragedy were not even born at the time of the catastrophe. However, many of them are now either blind or physically handicapped as a direct result of the calamity. And yet what makes the disaster even more horrifying is the light verdict that was finally delivered after years of waiting for justice.

Announcing the verdict in a local court, Chief judicial magistrate Mohan Tiwari stated that “An American corporation cynically used a third world country to escape from the increasingly strict safety standards imposed at home.” After these strong words, which appeared to give an indication of the sentencing severity to come, the court went on to convict the seven accused guilty of criminal negligence. And what was the sentence? A fine of 100,000 rupees each and jail for two years! To add insult to injury, the convicted walked out within hours of the sentencing as they were all granted bail. Is this justice? Is this, by any means, just compensation for the lives of over 20,000 people wiped out in the world’s biggest industrial disaster? It was little wonder that a collective gasp of disbelief ripped through the population at how justice had been played out in the Indian court.

This is not the first time that justice has been delayed and then denied to the Indian people. Apart from token apologies and political resignations, nothing was offered to the relatives of those who fell victim to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Those responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the subsequent Bombay riots walked scot-free too. And many an election has proved that riots leading to the widespread killings of a specific community, are not reason enough to stop voting the ‘guilty’ party back into power. It seems like justice is something that we Indians should stop clamouring for.

The thing is then, who exactly are we expected to put our faith in? Our law enforcement agencies are not exactly reputed to be the most efficient as far as fighting crime is concerned. We have all heard the stories of officers refusing to take action against high profile criminals and requesting a ‘greasing of the palm’ to make a case move forward. On the other hand, stand our politicos. Elected representatives of a people who possibly believe that this might be the vote that gets them the leader that changes the way things are done in their part of the country. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure there are a handful that do. But the majority of them are just fake smiles and bodies dressed in Khadi kurtas, stereotypically corrupt to the core and indifferent to the plight of the common man that enabled them to sit on their political seats in the first place.

We all know that the corruption associated with political leaders is not an exclusively Indian phenomenon. But even then as we look to the West, to their reactions on environmental disasters and then back to ours, the comparison could not be starker. As American President Barack Obama visits the Gulf of Mexico for the fourth time and puts the blame squarely on BP’s shoulders while insisting on action, the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh is yet to comment on the Bhopal verdict. The only action he has taken is to form a group of ministers who have been asked to review the situation surrounding the verdict and revert back to the cabinet in ten days. Although, how does another ten days matter when the victims have waited for justice in vain for twenty-five years?

Yes, there have been protests from the common man and the trading of insults amongst political leaders as they try and exploit the pitiful verdict for their own gains. But then this just makes it just another high-profile case that has bagged all the headlines. What makes it different is that this appears to be the last straw on the proverbial camel’s back. After a slew of cases where justice has been one of the last priorities, it seems like we have finally realized that the judiciary is one of those pillars of our society that we cannot lean on any more. And the less said the better about the media and the press that moves on from one news story to the next depending on television ratings and circulation figures.

However, as depressing the thought is that we may just have to get used to injustice, we need to look at the one unofficial pillar that might just be our ray of hope. That fifth pillar that consists of ‘We the people’, without whom a democracy would not exist! In times like these it is up to us, the ordinary citizens no matter where we are, to band together and keep these issues alive and in the public eye. Then the idea of justice in India may not become a myth after all.

Last week was a big one for the Indo-US relationship as Foreign Minister S M Krishna kicked off the inaugural round of the US-India strategic dialogue in Washington. Leader after leader reaffirmed India’s growing importance as a key ally of the US in addressing critical global challenges. But the final assertion of this strong partnership came from President Obama himself as he addressed a reception held for Krishna by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and officially confirmed his plans for a November visit.

This was a huge step forward for an association that was on shaky ground after Obama’s very obvious anti-outsourcing stance. The general misnomer among political pundits that Obama was ignoring India in his bid to strengthen ties with Beijing and secure US military objectives with his Af-Pak strategy. For a partnership that had flourished under the Bush era, what with the Indo-US nuclear deal being inked, this was almost like new life was being breathed into the relationship after a long period of estrangement.

But even as the new wave of this political alliance takes off in style, what’s really happened to the Indo-British love affair? Does India’s “gen-next” really care about Britain anymore? After all we share a long history with the United Kingdom and whatever is said and done we are immensely proud of our colonial past, whether it’s through our use of the English language, our constitution and judiciary or the long established tradition of our students going and studying at Britain’s well respected universities like Oxford and Cambridge. Has that awe and reverence for anything ‘British’ so apparent among the previous generations waned with the fading impact of the Raj?

Not quite! But our general apathy and lack of interest in Britain was discernible during the recently held general elections. A survey conducted by a leading newspaper here in India revealed that majority of the respondents questioned (except in Calcutta, the last capital of British India) did not even know Britain had an impending general election. About half the population surveyed in various metros couldn’t care less who took over as the next prime minister and there was a general lackadaisical attitude towards the whole exercise, pretty much contrary to the excitement we saw building up in India when the presidential race was going on in the United States.

On the positive front though, 79% of those polled said India’s relationship with Britain was an important one and from what the findings suggest, there is still that sense of intrigue when it comes to other quintessentially British things like the royal family, an obsession with etiquette and manners etc. Indians also held Britain in high esteem when it came to things like cleanliness, good education, architecture etc.

Of course with more and more Indian students going to the UK to study each year, a large and successful diaspora and a long legacy through the commonwealth of nations, Britain will always matter in India’s scheme of things & vice versa. But on the geo-political front at least, the next few decades will be shaped by strong Indo-US bilateral ties.