Education Vs. Ministers

There has been a lot of talk about the educational status (or lack of) of the Ministers of Kerala. Most of them are said to be school dropouts or attempted degrees. I wonder why we should worry about it.

For the kind of activities that take place in the Assembly (and for that matter, the Parliament), what is the need for so much of education? The Ministers, most of them, read out what their Secretaries have given them in writing and the opposition walks out. All that the Ministers need to know is to put letters together in the form of words while reading; the opposition doesn’t need even that.

I have no doubt that Mr. A K Balan is a prodigy. As the electricity minister, he electrified the otherwise sleepy assembly with his stunning statement. That put everyone on the alert and the opp. gratefully accepted another opportunity to walk out. But the gist of AKB’s message is still missing – do people go to temples to see the depiction of Kamasutra or to worship gods? Or, are these naked statues worshipped by people like AKB? Again, which of the Hindu Gods are supposed to move about without clothes? Just like another esteemed minister said, the priests do not cover their nakedness well. I feel, if you go to a temple to see God, you will see him. If you seek the balls of the priest, you will have enough chance to see that.

Aren’t there some good things happening in Kerala?

Yes. There are many good things taking place in Kerala - Promises of umpteen commissions to look into so many atrocities and welfare of the people. The ministers spell out hundred of new steps to reform the well being of Keralites. I am taking stock of the offers made. By the time the reports of the commissions come out and gather dust, the next election will be due.

Smart plans for the State

All on a sudden, there are many offers jumping out for Smart City. Where were these people all these days when the Government was sorting out issues with DIC? It is usual with land developers. Once a deal is settled with someone for sale of land, there suddenly appear a few offers suggesting that ‘we would have given so much’. Let us wait and see.

It is confirmed that Kerala is the first in per capita consumption of liquor. To make this doubly certain, the new Abkari laws will make sure that liquour is within the reach of every individual. The limits for storage of Arrack/alcohol will be raised to 25 litres and the fines for illegal storage reduced to a minimum. What a fine policy to help the suffering and the poor! So, hereafter, farmers don’t have to commit suicide – they can wallop in liquor and forget everything.

One doubt remains. Why should there be any restriction on public drinking and drunken driving? Selling maximum quantity of liquor is Government’s policy, so that the State coffers swell with excise and taxes; then, why discourage people from drinking in public? Drunken driving is a sure way of containing population explosion during these days vehicle proliferation and limitations of roads. The more the vehicles crash, the less will the roads be crowded. We can also save a lot of money on road-building! The taxes for the vehicle for fifteen years will already have been paid – so there is no loss in that account.

A silver ray

After waiting for so long and talking all about the damage caused by hartals, here is a silver lining in the cloud, though only a faint one. Manorama reports that the unit of Vyapari-Vyavasayi Co-ordination Committee of Bharanikkavu, a small village near Kayamkulam has come out against these frequent hartals. The traders there have realized that, in addition to the State-wide hartals exhorted by major political parties, they are forced to close shop for even minor incidents, sometimes twice or thrice on the same issue. If not complied with, even man-handling takes place. They now suspect the hands of some anti-social elements in organizing hartals frequently and are now decided on resisting the forced closure of shops. So far so good. At least, people in a small way are realizing the menace called hartal and are showing signs of protest.
In a significant move, one Jewellery bigwig who has branches all over the world has come up with the declaration that he will not open another branch in Kerala. In his opinion, it is impossible to run business in Kerala because of the tax norms and frequent hartals. He plans to shift his head office to Bangalore shortly and none of the thirty new branches to be begun will be in Kerala.
Some bad news, isn't it?
No confirmation about the Smart City still!