Until a few days ago, I wasn't aware of how much the lawmakers of our country were paid to 'run' the world's largest democracy.
Farmer suicides are treated only as a nuisance, but when cities are threatened, only then is Dilli worried about farmers on the rampage. Whether Mayawati's reconciliatory moves will appease angry UP farmers, whose land is being acquired for the Yamuna expressway project, still remains to be seen, but the threat will be diffused quickly is the current assessment.
Ever since Nandigram, few governments are keen to arm-twist farmers into giving up their land, but Mayawati obviously believed she could pull it off. The heavy-handed reaction to protesting farmers spun the situation out of hand. Now with farmers in Jharkhand up in arms over land acquisition for a proposed steel plant, the Centre is keen to check the fire before it spreads further.
Of course, having a clear policy on land acquisition and compensation would be immensely helpful to everyone, but somehow no one still seems to think it necessary!
Something's rotten!Dilli is quietly cheering that the rats are still around - it's proof that the ship is not sinking, as one wag quipped. In India, rats are not only around, they seem to be doing better than humans. A respected boffin has revealed that rodents in the country are actually healthier!
With reports of lakhs of tonnes of grain rotting away for lack of storage facilities space, no wonder the rats are feeding better than the average Indian. And again, unlike the average Indian, they don't have to worry about soaring food inflation either!
Except for some clucking sounds of disapproval, we haven't heard a squeak from the government yet. With the Supreme Court now castigating the government's inability to provide food security and demanding action, India's grain will go to feed the poor rather than rot or fill the bloated bellies of rats.
