Sri Sri Ravi Shankar seems to be one of India’s biggest export products these days. His popularity already being huge in India itself, many positive reports in several (above all American) media outlets make the guru hugely popular world wide. His popularity reminds us of other best seller gurus before him, like Maharishi or Osho. But these examples in turn remind us perhaps that we should be cautious when it comes to multi-millionaire gurus.

Sri                                                                               Sri

Osho (formerly Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) of course tops the fraudulent and hypocritical gurus having 96 Rolls Royces while he told his sannyasins were told to renounce attachment to possession. It only takes a little research instead of blind reverence to find a lot of information about how neither him nor his ashrams were quite like he pretended. The whole ‘free love’ idea that gave him the name of ‘guru of the vagina’ didn’t quite work out all the time, he probably was addicted to laughing gas for a certain while and his organization, while based in Oregon, was even linked to murder cases.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was less flamboyant, but is nevertheless put heavily under criticism, not in the least for the question who benefits from the million dollar industry surrounding his persona. The Maharishi got his incredible fame because of his association with the Beatles. Although the Beatles turned away from Maharishi, and in a rather controversial way, his popularity did not wane. One of his following pupils would be none other than Ravi Shankar. This Ravi Shankar would later give himself the honorific title of Sri (’revered’ or ‘holy’) and double it to make a distinction between himself and the famous sitar player with the same name.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is nonetheless very silent about his own guru Maharishi. The Beatles guru is not mentioned on his personal official website or the website of his “Art of Living foundation” – although this is kind of a give away, since the book that introduced Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation to the world was entitled: “The Science of Being and The Art of Living”.

It is in itself questionable why a guru does not mention his own guru. It is only normal in Hindu spirituality to trace one’s lineage of Guru’s, like in the case of Paramahansa Yogananda, the founder of the Self-realization fellowship who was, besides Vivekananda, the first guru to bring modern Yoga and Indian spirituality to the United states.

Perhaps the rumors on the net are true and Shankar is very disappointed because Maharishi Mahesh Yogi strongly and publicly renounced him after his departure. Or perhaps Sri Sri Ravi Shankar doesn’t mention his guru because of the controversies surrounding the Maharishi. Such a stain in the image does indeed not go well with the overall clean-ness and pure-ness his sites and publications want to attach to Shankar.

To retain that image of being impeccable, much of the history of the founder is clouded in pure mystery. Again and again one can only find the official story of how Sri Sri as a little boy of four already recited the Bhagavadgita, how he had a physics degree at seventeen, and how he discovered Sudarshan Kriya in 1982.

Sudarshan Kriya is supposed to be the thing that makes Shankar so different. Many disagree on this point. The website of Art of Living says “Sudarshan kriya is a completely natural process that was cognized by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar during divine meditation”. Others claim it is simply old Yoga techniques rolled into a new and more commercial package.

In any case Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had “Sudarshan Kriya” registered it as a trademark – though this move makes it more funny than different. When reading web pages about Sri Sri’s spirituality, all of the sudden a copyright sign is seen every time Sudarshan Kriya is mentioned. It is strange for somebody who does not care for ‘worldly matters’. He himself says he had to register the trademark, because otherwise others would have done it, and made profit on his expense. But perhaps he simply learned if from his own Guru once again, as it is again something the Maharishi has done before him when trademarking transcendental meditation.

Transcendental meditation is centered around the extremely old practice of chanting mantra’s. Sudarshan Kriya is centered around the extremely old Yoga breath exercises. In both cases, although their respective promoter-gurus claim the opposite, there’s nothing new under the sun.

The art of living foundation and Shankar of course say that you have to really try and do it before you can realize what is so different. But trying it would imply paying quite a lot of money for the courses offered at the Ashram or several centres around the world. Those who choose not to pay and to just observe it from a distance see no difference with other breathing exercises that are used in older Yoga forms, in rebirthing exercises or in some of the many Osho meditations one can try at the Osho resort.

Also in the claims of its effects the Art of Living foundation goes through great lengths to show what is so special about it, but for somebody with a bit of background into yoga or meditation in general, they absolutely fail in that effort. When they’re programs promise reducing stress, reduction of depression, peace of mind and serenity, better health and well being, increased energy and stamina, making you more self-aware, harmonious relations at home and work, and so on, you can not help but wondering: in what way do they offer anything different than any other form of meditation?

Pupils from every guru and adepts of every form of meditation make the same claims as to how the encounter with the person or meditation changed their lives. From more self-confidence over energetic awarenesses to more health. And of course they claim so, as these things have exactly been the point of doing Yoga ever since its origin many many centuries ago. Sudarshan is no different in that respect.

Even the claim that it could help against cancer and aids has already been made by the other Indian export product in guruism: Ramdev. In the case of Ramdev the Indian Ministry of Health government of India stepped in to rebuke the claim. Ramdev replied that his idea was misrepresented. He believed that Yoga and Ayurveda together can alleviate the suffering from aids, not cure it. In order to escape from further legal consequences he distanced himself from some over the top claims made by some of his ‘admirers’. It was nonetheless this kind of ‘admiration’ and the propaganda about the miraculous powers of the guru, his yoga and his products that proved to be the perfect marketing strategy to make his ayurvedic business very lucrative.

Unlike Ramdev, but just like Maharishi, Ravi Shankar loves to provide a huge amount of scientific research that backs up his claims about Sudarshan Kriya. On his website you can find many links to scientific articles that are supposed to proof the effectiveness of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga. The studies seem to indicate for example that it helps against depression, and that it brings better antioxidant status and lower blood lactate levels.

But, if one takes a close look, it actually does not seem to show what is so amazing about Sudarshan Kriya. Both lower lactate levels and better antioxidant status for example might simply be attributable to a better breathing pattern of the subjects and not so much to Sudarshan particularly. Depression on the other hand is something that exists in many possible forms and of which some as well are in general helped (not cured – as the articles also do not say the Yoga is a direct cure) by learning to control the mind, which again is a general outcome of any meditation.

On top of it, the research on the effect of Sudarshan on cancer does not say that Sudarshan helps against cancer because of some ‘energetic effect’, but simply because the breathing exercises seemed to help smokers to quit. “This result could mean that regular practice might reduce the incidence and progression of cancer” because of “a reduction in tobacco consumption.” The less people smoke, the less cancer they will have. Sounds logical. Nothing mysterious here. Meditation is not a miraculous healer. Learning to breath properly just helps people to leave of smoking. It should not surprise therefore that the same study researched both Sudarshan and Pranayama and concluded that they both helped just as much.

On top of it, when one turns from those research articles back to the normal web pages of the Art of Living, it is amazing to see how all the ’scientificness’ has all of the sudden gone. On the Sudarshan Kriya page it says that “this unique breathing practice is a potent energizer. Every cell becomes fully oxygenated and flooded with new life. Negative emotions that have been stored as toxins in the body are easily uprooted and flushed out.” What might ‘a potent energizer’ be in scientific terms? Energy in scientific terms is not the prana of the Yoga terms. And how does a concept like ‘new life’ relate to oxygenation of blood? Oxygenation is simply a chemical term describing the amount of oxygen in the blood. And what on earth are ‘the toxins’ that store ‘negative emotions’ in the body? A proper scientific research proving the existence of those would surely be very hard to find.

The research the Art of Foundation mentions is therefore not at all linked to the concepts that the organization uses in advertising its products. The wording all of the sudden becomes an obvious case of pseudo-scientific language when they explain it in their ‘own’ terms.

Thus, if Shankar’s Sudarshan Kriya helps, it’s because the control of breathing through Yoga helps. What is so wondrous about that? It has been known in India for thousands of years.

So what is the difference between Shankar and others. It is not the fact that he is a famous guru – many have been before him – it is not his message – because that as well sounds very similar to those before him – and it is not the technique – for many techniques do the same. Some critics claim it is the immensely good PR department behind him that helps him to (literally) sell his Sudarshan to the whole world. He’s a better businessman than the others, they say.

Supporters of Ravi will reply time and again that those critics should stop attacking ‘his holiness’ without real arguments and should look at what he has done for the world. And indeed one of the difference with Shankar and the other gurus exported to the west seems to be his emphasis on development work.

But when one again has a deeper look at the types of development work Shankar and the Art of Living is engaged in, some questions can again be raised. His organization splits up in many branches of which one is the “International Association for Human Values” that was set up together with the Dalai Lama. The real structure behind all these organizations is not really comprehensible and it is very difficult to get a decent overview of the whole.

Not minding about the structure, one can just look at the immense variety of development work the whole of the organization is supposed to be involved in. Trauma relieve after the earthquake in Kashmir or the Tsunami in Tamil Nadu, women empowerment courses, rural development, prisoner rehabilitation, youth education, promoting ayurvedic medicine, and so on make up an impressive list of which one can not help but wonder how it is possible to all be set up by one man.

One thing makes it more comprehensible: in most of the different problems they simply bring the same ’solution’: Sudarshan Kriya. Whether it is people having no homes after an earthquake, women that have to be empowered to face their suppression in male dominated societies, inmates in jails that need to refocus their lives or rural kids that need education, the art of living comes to teach them their meditation practices so that they can be relieved from their ’stress’ and ‘fears’.

What else the Art of Living does is a bit of a mystery when watching the promotional video’s. Most of those consist of interviews with people like kids in Kashmir or inmates in South Africa, after a Sudarshan session who say they feel ’so much more relieved’ now. Whether they are also materially and/or socially relieved from the situation that put them in their ’stressful’ situation is not known.

Anyone a bit involved in development work knows how slow it goes, how much time and effort it takes. Anyone a bit experienced in the difficulty of thorough development initiatives that have a bit of a lasting effect knows that it is rather impossible to reach “30,000 villages through personal interactions, teachings and humanitarian initiatives and to reach out to an estimated 300 million people worldwide.” like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s personal website states.

Certainly when you consider that Shankar himself is not involved in really leading the development work. He himself is conducting classes, giving lectures and traveling all over the world.

Some of the other efforts of the Art of Living foundation therefore involve Ravi Shankar personally meeting with and talking to leaders of various religious and political groups. But the depth of these talks is also questionable as he invariably proposes those leaders the same message: more peace through more friendly dialog and breathing techniques. Nothing concrete but simply a good emphasis on “love, peace and understanding” that should do the trick apparently.

Armed with this advice, Shankar headed for Iraq, and somebody in America got the idea of sending Iraqis to Shankar’s Ashram in Bangalore, India. Official reason: reduction of the trauma of the war and more empowerment of the women so that they can go back and lead their communities. To achieve this, once again, in the video news reports we could see how this translates in Shankar or his pupils teaching Sudarshan Kriya as a solution to the ’stress’ and the ‘problems’ of the Iraqis. As if the post-war situation of Iraq is comparable to the problems of an American house wife who has difficult kids in their puberty.

This oversimplification was very apparent when Shankar was in Iraq and gave an interview to CNN. He said he wanted to bring non-violence like Mahatma Gandhi and that he wanted the several parties to simply talk to each other peacefully instead of drawing arms. But that exactly showed how little he knew really of Mahatma Gandhi. The Mahatma for one had understood that the parties ‘not being able to talk’ was exactly the problem. The Mahatma at certain points knew that proposing a ‘peaceful dialog’ was simply ludicrous. At those moments Gandhi would resort to non-violent civil disobedience.

Not with flower power peaceful words did the Mahatma try to win independence, but with strenuous action. Non-violent, but with action nonetheless, and not with words or meditation. Gandhi understood the ’stress’ of the Indians not to be simply a spiritual problem but to be a material, social, political as well as a spiritual problem. If Gandhi had simply told people to meditate to get rid of their ‘anger’, he would not have gotten far in all likelihood, because it certainly was not only ‘anger’ they had to get rid of.

If Sri Sri Ravi Shankar therefore is proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize – a prize which the Mahatma never received although he was five times nominated – it makes one wonder where and how he exactly is creating peace.

His own guru, Maharishi, once went to Pinochet to propose to the dictator that if only he and others in his country would meditate twenty minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening everybody would be better off and get closer to world peace. The future showed that perhaps Pinochet just didn’t listen to well. But perhaps such an effort is also simply not very effective or comparable to the efforts of Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu or Nelson Mandela and as such not really worthy of being given a Nobel Peace Prize for it. In Maharishi’s case nobody considered to do so.

In Maharishi’s case, just like Osho’s for example, public controversies made it of course obvious that he was a bit ‘bogus’ and ‘dodgy’. In Shankar’s case the critics do not often come up with anything concrete to pin on Ravi Shankar and unmask him as a fraud, except personal stories of individual encounters and experiences.

His very commercial New Age image is far from a crime and does not at all take away the possibility that he might be genuinely wishing well for his followers and the rest of the world.

But, as the previous analysis has shown, there is certainly enough grounds for reasonably doubt as well. So he might just as well be a man on search of money, fame and glory through Guruism. His blatant exaggerations and mystifications in presenting himself and Sudarshan Kriya seem at least to point in that direction.

Or he might be a bit a fraud and a bit genuine. Again, he wouldn’t be the first in that sense either.

In any case, the whole world should by now have enough memories of encounters with various guru’s that are at least be a bit suspicious in certain cases. Certainly in cases like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s, because it involves many many millions of dollars of which nobody really seems to know where they’re going to.

So to use a spiritual word that for once was not exported out of India, it remains to be seen and heavily investigated whether Ravi Shankar is “kosher” enough to be given the Nobel Peace Prize or even the title of Sri, and certainly when using it in double.

The most disquieting aspect of the widespread corruption in India is the fact that it is not anymore confined to politicians or the government machinery alone. It is prevalent amongst almost every section of the society at every level.

As the practice of corruption is a dishonest act, one has to think that most of the Indians are dishonest, which could be different only in degree between the individuals. As the reason for the dishonesty is greediness and the desire to get things done at any cost one can think that most of the country men are greedy and do not anymore think that the means should justify the ends. This is not a flattering statement and many readers would desire that it would not be so and such statement could have been avoided. But, the fact is that most of the Indians are involved in corrupt practices in one way or the other, either due to greed or due to so called compulsion. In any case, the willingness to sacrifice for the sake of not getting involved in corrupt dealings is conspicuous by its absence amongst the most.

Today, if one would say that any particular Indian is honest to the core, it could only be a case of exception rather than a rule.

The study of world phenomenon on corruption has repeatedly branded India as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Unfortunately, this view has not disturbed most of the Indians at all and they do not seem to care as to what others think of them; so long as the existing systems and practices would allow them to make money and get things done in one way or the other.

The irony is that India is still considered to be a very religious country and it is still widely believed that the religion is the basis of Indian life, thoughts and actions. This is obviously true, considering the fact that there are hundreds of temples, churches and mosques spread all over the country and they are all densely visited day in and day out by the feverishly praying Indians.

Is not religious ethos contrary to corruption and dishonest practices ?The unfortunate situation in India is that those who call themselves most religious are often found to have indulged themselves in dishonest practices on many occasions. Several of the religious centres, of all religions, are suspected to be steeped in nepotism, as such incidents have been repeatedly published in the press.

It does not shock Indians anymore to know that not only the politicians, ministers and IAS & IPS officers are corrupt but even the judges, professors, doctors and NGO organisations are.

Corruption is not only prevalent amongst rich who are greedy in spite of possessing enough but also prevalent amongst poor.

Now, what can be the future of the Indian society in such conditions? It can be only frustration, chaos, unrest and even bloodshed in the not too distant future. This kind of corruption in the national polity and public and private life cannot go on for ever, without disturbing the overall peace in the society. It is sad that those who are in charge of the nation today do not appear to realise this and still are merrily going ahead with their dealings unconcerned about the harm that it would inevitably do to the larger national cause.

What is very sad and extremely disquieting about this country is that Ministers suspected to be involved in murder. Chief ministers of swindling crores of public money, senior police officers of molestation charges are all living in comforts and enjoying positions, thus effectively exposing the fact that the crusade against corruption has finally failed in India.

Even as the vicious cycle of corruption would continue with one swindling the other, there could be a number of persons who would be left out of this cycle due to inefficiency or commitment to the cause of truth and such persons would be driven down to despair.

The incidents of history indicate that some of such persons who are out of the corruption loop could take up the war against corruption at one time or the other. But, they would find that in a corruption entrenched system, they would not be able to improve the conditions and therefore, a few of them may finally take to physical attack on corrupt and dishonest persons, leading to violence and bloodshed. Security, dogs and mere police rifles will not be able to beat down such determined crusaders.

The politicians and bureaucrats would call such crusaders as arsonists or terrorists. But, history would judge them differently. There are a number of determined isolated war groups already existing in the country and they are generally branded as terrorist groups and treated brutally by the state machinery, without investigating the reasons for their existence. One would shudder to think as what would happen to the peace of the society, if such groups would enlarge in size and number.

Those holding the positions of President, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of this country and Chief Ministers of the states should have the wisdom to realise the potential dangers facing this corrupt ridden Indian society. They should not remain as small people who would compromise with the aspects of good governance for the sake of remaining in power for a few number of days more.

Sathya Sai Baba (born in 1926 as Sathyanarayana Raju Ratnakaram ) is Indian guru. He is described by his followers as a miracle worker and a spiritual teacher, but all this is very questionable. He proclaims himself to be an Avatar, what means a divine incarnation sent to Earth.

According to his followers, his birth is supposed to me miraculous. His mother Easwaramma was walking one day when a huge sphere of blue light rolled towards her and made her faint. She was dreaming of a Hindu god Sathyanarayana and then found out that she was pregnant. This is just a fairytale which should convince his followers that he is exceptional, but he is just an ordinary man. When he was in elementary school, he once started behaving strangely “as if a scorpion had stung in his foot” and afterwards fell into a coma. It is interesting that such events have very “profound” meaning among his followers, but my opinion is that occult forces produced this state. Few months later he proclaimed himself to be the incarnation of Sai Baba of Sirdhi and because of that he took his name. Later he proclaimed peace with sentences like: “Love All, Serve All” and “help ever, hurt never.”

In 1944 he built a small temple near his village, and in 1948 he started to build a shrine Prashanthi Nilayam, for those that have devotion to him. He also built a University with three Campuses and two Hospitals.

On 6 June 1993 six people were killed in this shrine. The “official version” of this event was that four of Sai Baba’s devotees who were living in this shrine, went to his residence with knives. They were stopped by four Sai Baba attendants before they came to his room. There was struggling and two of his attendants were killed. Sai Baba escaped through a back stairway and raised the alarm. The assailants ran and locked themselves up in sai baba’s bedroom. These people were found dead later. The police report stated that they attacked the police with knives when they entered the room.

The Central Investigation Department stated that the police report was full of lies and inconsistencies. Others, including V.P.B. Nair (Former Secretary to the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh), Sanal Edamaruku and Basava Premanand claim that these people were deliberately shot and that political influence of Sai Baba kept the investigation from proceeding.

Connoly Larsson used to be a close devotee of Sai Baba for 21 years and Leader of the Swedish Sai Baba organization. He broke away from the movement, later , outraged on witnessing the Baba’s behavior of a sexual nature with a young boy and then the boy’s own mother who was waiting outside being deceived by a sleight-of-hand “materialization”. On his website he describes what really happened in Prashanthi Nilayam. All 6 students were deliberately murdered by the police. They were displaced later to back up the story that four of them attacked Sai Baba, and two of them died defending him. That is a lie. All 6 students were his devotees and they were coming from families that were engaged in selling Sai Baba pictures, rings and other things. There was disagreement between various families in Puttaparthi because some families had certain advantages. That was the reason that they intruded on Sai Baba. All of these student knew that Sai Baba was sexually abusing children so they had something to blackmail him with. That is what made Sai Baba angry and he locked them in his bedroom and called the police.

Considering that Sai Baba already had a large political influence he ordered the police to kill them. The bodies were found later with gunshot wounds through the eyes and palms of hands (there are photos on internet that prove this). It is impossible that they attacked the police with knives because they couldn’t have such wounds. These people were murdered and then displaced in order to set up the scenery to back up the police story. One policeman later confirmed that knives didn’t even belong to students. You can find all about this events on Conny Larsson’s website.

BBC created a documentary “The Secret Swami” which shows true face of Sai Baba. BBC journalist Tanya Dutta states: “Some police officers were arrested but never charged. The case was eventually dropped. Sai Baba has always had a close relationship with the police. Even today, senior officers are special guests at the Ashram. With friends in such high places Sai Baba seems to be untouchable. Any attempt to investigate the goings-on at his Ashram — even, murder — appear doomed to failure.

There was another case of alleged murder. On 20 February, 1987 they found a body of a student at a college run by the Sathya Sai Trust in a semi-charred state. This case was dismissed as suicide. Narendra Nayak, writing in the Indian Skeptics Journal, opined that the “powerful force around the Baba got the [police] inquiry turned into a farce.” He notes that circumstantial evidence did not support suicide being a plausible cause of death.

Basava Premanand, one of India’s fake-guru busters, claims that he is not just a fraud but also a dangerous child abuser. In his letter to Shri M.P. Veerendra Kumar he described other murders that were connected with Sai Baba. Here are quotations from these letters:

“The first murder I came across was the case of a business man found hanging in the ashram premises. Then another hanging by a girl at the Satya Sai Women’s College at Anantapur and the then principal of the college Mrs. Damayanti Doongaji resigned from the institution.”

Another of his disenchanted followers is Tal Brooke. After his studies he explored religions from Far East and red books of many Hindu gurus like as Sri Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo, Paramahansa Yogananda and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He travelled to India in 1969 and in 1970 he encountered Sai Baba. He became his follower with several other devotees from western countries. He was disenchanted with Sai Baba when he found out that he had sexual relations with several of his male devotees. These devotees also told him that Sai Baba could change into a woman instantaneously and that a man had sexual intercourse with Sathya Sai Baba as if Sai Baba were a woman.

After that he left his “spiritual teacher” and converted to Christianity. Tal Brooke wrote a book “Lord of the Air” in which he describes Sai Baba’s “spirituality”. He published his book also in India under the title “Sai Baba, Lord of the Air”.

All these cases show that Sai Baba is a fraud and that his spirituality is not just a fake, but also very dangerous.

If there were not evidence enough, look at this. One place where the fitness factor is most critical but  is often ignored  is  our police force. The police force in Karnataka, Chandigarh, Maharastra, and Punjab at the very least seem to have problems with fitness, obesity and alcoholism though I am sure these state polices are by no means the exception. In fact, we of late have become so fixated with the odd, glamorous encounter specialist that we seem to have forgotten that the fat, obese policeman armed with a stick and huffing after the culprit who has been caricatured plenty of time before I countless Hindi films is really the norm. This is even other wise a common enough sight in urban policing.

 Can India afford the luxury of its babus? In the past three and a half years, our bureaucrats – often accompanied by their spouses – travelled on international junkets to the collective tune of 5.65 crore km, which is equivalent to 70 round trips to the moon. Who paid for such high-flying extravagance? The taxpayer. Which means you.

This is far from all. In March 2008, an unseasonal Santa Claus in the guise of the Sixth Pay Commission  handed out goodies to the tune of Rs 12,500 crore for the financial year (plus Rs 18,060 crore for arrears) to 45,000 central government employees. If the Centre gives, can the states be far behind? Certainly not. Under pressure from state government employees, states too have  substantially jacked up salaries, never mind that the aggregate states’ budgetary deficit in 2004 was already a humungous Rs 1,16,000 crore.

The Pay Commission’s largesse is in stark contrast with export-related private sector industries, like IT, which in the face of a US recession (and a domestic slowdown in terms of infrastructure and tight monetary policy) have had to pare down pay and personnel to keep themselves in business. There is no denying that the private sector, by and large, still pays far more handsomely than the government. However, in order to be economically viable, the private sector must ensure that each employee brings more to the company than that employee takes out. Private sector employees have to perform or get the push. Despite the proposed performance related incentive scheme (PRIS), our babus are far less accountable. Our babus’ ‘performance’ is not assessed by the public — whom they supposedly serve, but in reality routinely stymie — but by another member of the self-serving super-scheduled tribe/caste known as babudom.

Private sector employees are subject to an implacable assessment based on CTC (cost to company). The moment an employee’s CTC outweighs the benefits the company derives from that employee, the employee is out. CTC takes into account everything from the employee’s pay and perks, to the paper clips and office stationery that the employee may be pinching for personal use.

If we want to make our babudom truly accountable, the public sector should also be made to adopt the CTC formula – cost to country. In the case of babus, CTC would include not just pay, DA, subsidised housing, etc, but also, and far more importantly, the costs incurred by the delays and time overruns caused by bureaucratic inertia or inefficiency.

Several years ago, a guesstimate exercise suggested that if the delays in all the country’s public sector projects were to be added up, they’d total more than 500 years. Which means that, theoretically, we should all be living at the time of the emperor Akbar, or thereabouts. The fact that we are not might be attributed to the get-up-and-go of private enterprise. And, of course, to the efforts, against all odds, of the relatively few, dedicated, hard-working and incorruptible public servants the country can be proud of, and who are, sadly, the exceptions that prove the misrule.

The extent of this misrule – the result of an unholy nexus between an exploitative political class that patronises sycophancy and a complaisant bureaucracy – can be gauged by the fact that of a total of 890 central infrastructure projects (power, railways, petroleum), 267 are currently running between two months and 16 years behind schedule, at an estimated delay-cost to the exchequer (apart from the budgeted cost) of Rs 20,948.69 crore. While many of these delays can be attributed to problems like shortage of funds, land acquisitions, controversies and law and order issues, ultimately most of these bottlenecks can be traced back to a lack of anticipatory thinking and forward planning on the part of the administration.

NGOs and local self-help groups, using the Right to Information Act, have been conducting ’social audits’ of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and in many districts have stemmed the corruption and misuse that has been rampant in the programme.
Perhaps what we need now is a larger ’social audit’ of our babudom – not just to affix blame, but, equally importantly, to identify and reward praiseworthy performance, using the cost to country rubric. The only problem is that the babu audit would be run by – who else? – babus. With the result that it might end up costing the country too much to figure out just how much our babus are costing the country.

Indian Police Brutality; The So Called “World Largest Democracy”.

Rampant adulteration of milk poses a major threat to India’s nutritional needs, researchers and experts said on Saturday.

A week ahead of World Milk Day June 1, the Indian Dietetic Association (IDA) in collaboration with Tetra Pak organised a national awareness seminar at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.

Experts conducting research on milk adulteration and nutrition converged to discuss “a crisis like situation” brewing from rampant adulteration and a need for a strong policy framework for the same.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who was the chief guest at the event, said: “We have a huge challenge before us. We need more laboratories to test milk. India being largely a vegetarian society relies on milk rather than meat for its nutritional needs.”

Anuja Agarwala, president IDA, spoke about instances of adulteration and contamination of milk. “Consumers are paranoid about the contamination of other food products but continue to ignore milk probably because of the sanctity attached to it.”.

V.K. Batish, head of the dairy microbiology division of National Diary Research Institute, Karnal, emphasised the need for enhancing shelf life of milk.

“Milk preservation is the key to driving increased milk consumption today. Owing to lack of scientific knowledge, thousands of litres of milk is wasted,” Batish said.

“Innovative ways of ensuring longer shelf life” was required, he said.

Asif Ali Zardari, self-proclaimed mad and champion corrupt, who became the President of Pakistan taking the advantage of his wife, Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, is gradually exposing his ugly face, which possibly will push the fate of Pakistan’s fragile democracy, once again inside the military’s grip.

Extreme tension is already prevailing in Pakistan, with snatching off the countrywide cable network of popular Geo TV as well as resignation of Information Minister Sherry Rehman. Zardari government has denied the fact of forcing cable operators to snatch off Geo TV from network, saying, “It was a result of dispute between the management of Geo TV and the cable operators.”

Pakistan information minister Sherry Rehman resigned from her post on Saturday. “Sherry Rehman met Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and tendered her resignation. The minister was angry over the crackdown against the media,” a government official said. Some channels, including Geo News, Aaj TV, were taken off the air in several areas on Friday and Saturday.

The telecast of Pakistan’s Geo News television channel was blocked in some parts of the country on Friday, the channel’s website said.

The channel broadcast has been blocked in parts of Karachi, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Quetta, Multan, Rawlakot, Muzaffarabad, Deepalpur and Sargodha cities, it said.

According to the channel, government officials have directed the cable operators to place Geo News channel at the ‘tail end’, making it difficult for the viewers to watch the channel.

Opposition leaders including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz [PML-N] chief Nawaz Sharif, Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan and Muttahida Qaumi Movement [MQM] leader Babar Khan Ghauri condemned the blocking of Geo News.

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid [PML-Q] general secretary Mushahid Hussain said the channel was “being punished for airing the truth”.

The Reporters Without Borders has also condemned the blocking of the channel, according to The News newspaper.

Zardari’s advisor for interior affairs, Rehman Malik has categorically stated that the Government will not allow the long march and sit-in on the Constitution Avenue. “All elite agencies have given information that there is danger of target killings and series of bombings including suicide bombings by the enemies of the country during the long march.”

Official said the government has decided to restrict the Sharif brothers to Raiwind to prevent them from participating in the march and that their security has been beefed up. “The Sharif brothers will not be allowed to go outside Raiwind. They will be unofficially under house arrest,” an official confirmed, adding they would be allowed to go to Islamabad only after the permission of the federal government.

Meanwhile, Mia Nawaz Sharif sharply reacted to government’s plan to stop the long-march saying, “We will go ahead with the long march. No one can stop it. It will be a milestone in Pakistan’s history”.

Earlier Sharif said the march would not stop despite hurdles put by the government on the way.

Under mounting pressure from the United States and amidst escalating political standoff at home, the Pakistan government on Saturday decided to challenge the disqualification of PML [N] chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from contesting elections in a bid to defuse the crisis but the opposition party rejected the move. On a day of hectic developments, in what looked like a compromise with its estranged ally, the government of President Asif Ali Zardari decided to move the Supreme Court with a review petition challenging the apex court’s decision barring the Sharif brothers from contesting elections and holding public offices. Shahbaz Sharif was unseated as the Chief Minister of Punjab province and Governor’s rule imposed there by the Zardari government.

The government’s package of concessions to Nawaz Sharif came in the wake of a telephone call from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Asif Ali Zardari when she told him that Washington wanted to see stability and democracy strengthened in Pakistan.

According to latest report, a day before the Long March to Islamabad, the Sharif brothers have been put under house arrest for three days by the Pakistan government. Former cricketer turned politician and Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader Imran Khan has also been arrested in Rawalpindi. The arrests come after Nawaz Sharif rejected President Zardari’s offer for talks. This latest development has surely placed the fate of Pakistan’s democracy into total uncertainty. It is expected that, military intervention has become imminent in order to save the nation from the carnage of a corrupt man like Asif Ali Zardari.

Until his marriage with Benazir Bhutto on 18 December 1987, Zardari was a unknown figure on the political scene of Pakistan. He became a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan and also served as the Minister of Environment during his wife’s second term as the Prime Minister [1993–1996].

In 1990, Zardari was accused of threatening to kill a businessman with a remote-controlled bomb unless he withdrew money from a bank as pay-off. Zardari earned the nickname, “Mr 10%” following allegations of corruption. Zardari was released from jail in 1993 and became a government minister. From 1997 to 2004, Zardari was kept in jail on corruption charges and accusations of murder. Pakistani investigators accused Zardari and his wife Benazir for embezzling as much as US$1.5 billion from government accounts. He was also accused of allegedly plotting the murder of Murtaza Bhutto, the brother of his wife Benazir Bhutto. He was later cleared.

A New York psychiatrist found in March 2007 that Zardari’s time in jail left him with memory impairments. Zardari claims to have been tortured. When Zardari stood for the Pakistani presidency in 2008, the Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, said that Zardari had no current mental condition requiring psychiatric help or medication.
New York-based psychologist Stephen Reich reportedly said that the PPP leader was unable to remember the birthdays of his wife and children, was continually apprehensive and had even had suicidal thoughts. The other, psychiatrist Philip Saltiel, who examined Asif Ali Zardari in March 2007, apparently said his years in jail had left him suffering from emotional instability and concentration and memory problems that he did not believe would improve for at least a year.

Zardari was accused of money-laundering activities in a US Senate report on private banking and money-laundering.

Zardari was under criminal investigation in Switzerland over receipts of kickbacks from two Swiss-based companies while his wife, the late Benazir Bhutto, served as the country’s prime minister in the 1990s, a Swiss judge and two Swiss lawyers close to the case told Newsweek.

In Britain, the decade-old civil proceedings focus on Zardari. Zardari is accused of using illicit funds to acquire the 365-acre Rockwood estate, a $6.5-million property featuring a Tudor-style mansion and two adjoining farms in the Surrey district. The estate was bought and refurbished in 1995 through trusts in the Isle of Man and Liechtenstein, in addition to firms in the Caribbean linked to Bhutto, Zardari and the alleged kickbacks, according to the lawsuit. According to British court records, Zardari steadfastly denied ownership until January 2006, when he acknowledged he owned the property. The judge did rule that there is a “reasonable prospect” of proving that funds used to refurbish the estate were “the fruits of corruption,” according to the documents.

Pakistan’s political fate is now completely in the hands of a mentally sick President, who has suicidal tendency, according to psychiatrists. And, possibly, the most corrupt and mentally ill Asif Ali Zardari will cause in once again suspension of democratic process in Pakistan thus pressing the fate of the nation towards another millitary rule. Many analysts even feel that, although millitary rule is not appreciated by the international community, in special circumstances, for the sake of independence and sovereignty of any nation, it may even become unavoidable.

The lack of anti-graft laws makes Pakistan one of the most corrupt nations in the world and is coming in the way of foreign investments in the country, global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) says.

‘How can one expect from any donor to come forward to assist Pakistan from its current financial crisis, when there exists no law against corruption?’ TI said in its 2009 Global Corruption Report released Wednesday.

 Unveiling the report here, TI Pakistan chief Adeel Gilani said anti-corruption efforts in the country had taken a 180 degree turn since then president Pervez Musharraf issued the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) Oct 5, 2007 granting immunity to politicians, army officers, bureaucrats and others charged with graft.

 Among those who benefited from the NRO, issued 56 days after the ratification of the UN Convention against Corruption, were former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her widower Asif Ali Zardari, now the president of Pakistan.

 ‘The timing for the release of the TI report would be embarrassing for Zardari, whose government’s credibility is already seriously questioned internationally because of (his) own as well as many of his government’s key players’ past plagued by serious corruption charges,’ The News daily noted Thursday.

 Quoting from a joint World Bank-Planning Commission of Pakistan study on the country’s infrastructure implementation capacity, the TI report says 15 percent of corruption occurs at the procurement stage, costing the exchequer over Rs.150 billion.

 This apart, the World Bank’s Control of Corruption Indicator in 2007 ranked Pakistan a lowly 21.3 out of 100.

 Then, the Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 ranked Pakistan 101 out of 130 countries and found that respondents pointed to corruption as the second most problematic factor for doing business in the country, after government instability.

‘The instability of the political situation in Pakistan cannot be underestimated as a factor in permitting corruption in the private sector to flourish. Despite Musharraf’s claim to be committed to fighting corruption, little headway has been made, and it is still considered to be pervasive and deeply entrenched,’ The News said.