How to fail tests with dignity

This is outright hilarious!

Why Chiru should tackle corruption

Can we achieve all round prosperity?

Difficult but do-able. Andhra Pradesh is already on the path to higher prosperity, thanks in large part to the previous two administrations. True, there have been obstacles and distractions on the way that we could have done without. And there is rampant corruption that has become deep rooted in the administration that is preventing more rapid development. There have been difficulties that regular people have had to face all along this path and much of this has been the result of rampant corruption.

This is where Chiranjeevi should focus his efforts. This role will not only be a continuation of what he has depicted in a multitude of films (thus making it easier for him to bring this topic to the fore), but dealing with it will also help our state come to the front of the ladder when it comes to overall development. Corruption has been the root cause of many of the problems common people have been facing since independence. To effectively take care of this animal, Chiru has to live for the fight day in and day out. Sure, there will be people within his party and amongst his close family and friends who might already be salivating at the prospects of having a go at a piece of the corruption pie and that is what Chiru will need to address up front. Like the saying goes, cleanup begins at home. Half the battle would be won if he makes it clear that he will not tolerate any corruption from any of his party members. With that out of the way, he will be able to campaign on the anti-corruption slogan.

Once Chiru gets settled down in his new role (that is our hope and objective right?), he should concentrate on efforts to weed out corruption in any shape or form. He might convey his seriousness by forming an anti-corruption ministry and giving it all the powers that it needs to help wipe out corruption from the state, city and local government wings. Incidents of corruptions should be treated as offences against the state and officers indulging in it should be punished. This maybe done by using a graded approach structured on the lines of the point system which is used by police across the world to write up offensive motorists. Offenders can be given points and the number of points earned would determine the severity of punishment. Punishment can range from warnings to demotions to termination with a bad rec. Such a standard should be worked out during the campaigning itself thus letting everybody know that Chiru means business and that he is willing to walk the talk.

 Most Indians are aware that enforcement is a problem anywhere in India and Chiru should signal that he is not going to allow that to happen under his watch. Setting up an anti-corruption ministry whose sole purpose will be to collect information/complaints from the citizens and to act on them by investigating the charges and enforcing the corruption-point system if needed will send a signal to the repeated offenders that they will not be able to get away from the law this time. Consistent enforcement, will over time, make sure that corruption will be reined in thus opening the doors for a more prosperous and happy Andhra Pradesh. Hopefully, this will set an example for the rest of the nation to follow. And Chiru will, forever, become another visionary leader that our state can feel proud of!

Is Obama the medicine America needs?

With but a few weeks to go for the final vote to be cast and the verdict to be sealed and most polls suggesting that Americans are leaning towards an Obama presidency, one cannot but stop and wonder why, for the first time, the US is on the cusp of choosing the most socialist and communist administration in its history.

From another perspective, the recent economic crisis more than anything else, seems to have dwarfed this fact and turned the tide in Obama’s favor; for now. Once the dust settles down and Americans take the time to ponder over their choice, they will realize that by choosing Obama, they have indeed chosen more of the same vis-à-vis Jimmy Carter. And as time goes by, they will realize that more of the same a la George Bush (though, in my opinion, McCain is more liberal than George Bush) would have been way better for their day to day lives than more of the same a la Jimmy Carter. Of course, by then, it will be too late for them to reverse their choice, at least for another four years. Atleast they would have figured out that Obama might as well been referring to himself when he was suggesting 'more of the same' while on the stump.

The US would be in for much worse conditions with the Obama socialists taking control of the markets and maybe even the daily lives of regular citizens pretty much like what Chavez has been doing in Venezuela over the past few years. This might be the exact medicine that is needed by Americans to jolt them out of the make-believe world that they have been relentlessly prodded into both by a swooning media as well as the fluffy words of Obama that he will deliver them from all the difficulties that they have been facing with a worsening economy. So taken in are they that they don’t have the inclination to go over Obama’s ‘non-achievements’ over the past two decades. We need not dig deep to realize that Obama has mostly been more about sound words and speeches rather than sound judgment. It is no secret that he is the most liberal Senator in the current Congress. There is the prospect that Obama’s USA can, for the first time in history, be positioned as being more socialist than Putin’s Russia or Wen’s China. It looks like none of these arguments will matter for now as most of his supporters tend to paint such arguments as a racial slur rather than take them at face value.

Obama’s tax and wealth redistribution policies might work well in countries where people have been subjugated for generations together, but in a country like the USA where entrepreneurship is rampant, they are deemed to fail. But before they fail, it is going to look like they are succeeding which will prompt him to up the ante. When he does that, the economy is going to take a turn for the worse and Americans will begin to realize the foolhardiness of their decision of electing Obama - albeit a tad late. The souring economy will act as a medicine to rejuvenate regular Americans to wake up and take action at the next elections, but not before putting up with a lot of pain and hardship; a bitter dose of medicine that an Obama administration will force upon them.

It will be much more difficult to turn the country around after four years of a Jimmy Carter like economy, but if Americans could stomach the medicine doled out to them three decades ago and still bring into office a man who single handedly turned around the economy, they can sure do it again. But they will need to elect (pun intended) to take their medicine first.