Long Time No See

Hi there!!

It’s been a while since I posted something on the blog. It’s not as though I didn’t have much to say about anything but that I just have been really busy and couldn’t pull out time to pour it out on paper (or should I say MS Word). I have been wanting to speak out on a number of issues though, the Mangalore attacks and Pink Chaddhi Campaign being one among them as also the Satyam scam and Lead India / Jaagore campaigns.

To start with the Mangalore attacks, I felt really angry and frustrated to see the video clips on the slew of news channels showing a group of hooligans brutally attack the poor decent looking girls caught unawares. Those girls looked as just normal girls like me and to classify them as loose, fast and characterless just because they were partying in pub is the most atrocious idea ever. And to add insult to injury, they are actually insisting that all girls who dare to live an independent lifestyle are immoral and are going against our culture. Who are these hooligans to become our moral police? Besides does our culture allow men to become monsters and go women bashing whatever be the reason? Then, sorry to say, there is not much difference between the Shri Ram Sene and the Taliban. Watching the Shri Ram Sene ‘activists’ in action wasn’t much different from watching numerous YouTube.com videos of Talibanis thrashing women in public. These hooligans too are Male Chauvinist Pigs having the same ideas of keeping the women “under control”. Watching their leaders speak how women going to pubs is like watching the popular YouTube.com video of the Talibani Maulana speaking of “The right Islamic way to beat your wife”. It’s horrific and insulting.

That brings me to the Pink Chaddhi Campaign. I am actually all support for the ‘Consortium of Loose, forward and Pub-going Women’ though I have not officially joined the group. I would like to clarify why I support them. I am not too fond of Pubs, Nightclubs, Discos, etc. In fact, I have never been to one till date. I don’t drink alcohol, don’t smoke and am actually totally unlike the women who formed this group. BUT, that is so out of CHOICE. I don’t do all that stuff because I don’t want to, because I choose not to, and not because I am not allowed to. I come from a family which is relatively liberal in mindset and propagates dislike with respect to smoking and drinking because of health hazards. Then, if you don’t smoke or drink, you have much less initiative to go to the pubs, nightclubs, etc. Besides, I am more of a morning person than an evening person. But the point is that I don’t do all such activities out of choice and every woman should be allowed that right of making a choice irrespective of what she chooses. That is her right as a human being to be able to choose what she wants in her life. If men can make choices, so can women.

Then there was the Satyam Scam which, to be honest, bowled me over. I have not been able to follow the story as much as I want to but I know the basics. For a fraud to take place at the level it has, there has to be an involvement of a whole bunch of people from top to bottom in the company along with quite a few third parties. It is easy to say that Raju was responsible for all that happened solely by himself but common sense would make you think otherwise. First thing first, as an auditor, the easiest thing to check is cash and bank. Apart from a cash count, and bank confirmations in the year end, the auditors do check Bank Reconciliations, Cheques in Hand, Stale Cheques and bulk cheques reversal and it is impertinent to state that the auditors relied on Management Representations for the same. I shouldn’t really be making judgements on the case because I am not aware of all the facts but it is not easy to gulp the fact that auditors were not hand in gloves with the defrauding management. Then again, there has to be reasons for the audit fees increasing manifolds (I think, eight times) in a mere span of four years. But no revelation takes the cake other than the fact that Satyam had about 3,000-5,000 fake employees. That seems to be the limit to having the intention to defraud.

I also want to share my views on the Lead India and Jaagore campaigns. They are actually really good initiatives especially since they can and they have led to a rise in the number of people coming out to vote. It was basically the educated classes that have been losing interest in selecting the leadership for the country and the youth were just as disillusioned with the sole belief that no matter what, the leadership is not likely to change. It has to be the same corrupt and illiterate chap at the helm. But yes now more and more people are accepting that every single vote counts, thanks to these campaigns. However, I feel these campaigns should also generate more awareness regarding the Rule 49-O of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961. (Refer http://lawmin.nic.in/ld/subord/cer1.htm). The Rule states, “49-O. Elector deciding not to vote.- If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.” Rule 49 (O) of the Conduct of Election Rules 1961 gives the voter the right to register at the polling booth, get his/her index finger inked, but cast a “protest vote” i.e. refrain from casting the vote in favour of any candidate. The electoral officer is bound to make an entry under the rule in this regard. Although there are many interpretations of the repercussions of majority voters opting to exercise this right (i.e. protest votes being in excess of the votes in favour of the candidate with the most votes), the most obvious and popular solution is where a re-election is ordered, but the candidature of all the candidates who previously contested from that constituency be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision against them. Besides, a side effect of casting this vote is that nobody can fraudulently cast a vote on your behalf because your vote has already been registered.