India wins at Mirpur ~ power trouble in Tamilnadu and in Delhi .... action against NGOs.

Sunday, 15th June 14 proved to be yet another hot day of discomfort. Though CM Ms J Jayalalithaa announced that there would be no more powercuts from June 1, there have been some.  Live Chennai reports that Power supply will be suspended in Annanagar area on 16.06.2014  from 9.00 AM to 2.00 PM for maintenance work. Crippling power cuts lasting for hours have been a major issue for Tamil Nadu in the last six years. Many parts of the state have witnessed power cuts  of long hours.   It is now stated that in order to counter the problem of overload or excess power demand, the Electricity Department officials have decided to impose power cuts for period of 30 minutes to 1 hour in all major cities – Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Trichy, and Salem.

Elsewhere, a power crisis situation in Delhi is forcing the BJP, AAP and the Congress to rethink the assembly polls. The assembly has been suspended since mid-February. Power cuts in Delhi incidentally have different political meaning for the three parties in Delhi—BJP, AAP and Congress. The BJP is aware that sustained power cuts mean that its electoral prospects could be affected adversely and thus newly appointed Energy Minister Piyush Goel is making all efforts to do his bit to improve the situation.  Congress ruled the State and Centre till recently and did precious little – but now is taking to streets fighting for power (this time electricity !) – AAP which sat for a while, did nothing and was made to abdicate power also is speaking on power crisis.

One news that makes good reading is the action against erring NGOs. There cannot be two opinion that all NGOs should be made accountable. They must make full and public disclosure of their funding and expenditure. They must also be made answerable under the RTI Act. The voluntary sector is a den of corruption and needs to be set straight.  The 23-page Intelligence Bureau (IB) report titled ‘Concerted efforts by select foreign-funded NGOs to take down Indian development projects’ names many eminent Indians who have either wittingly or unwittingly supported these NGOs, with or without financial consideration. While some of these prominent personalities were engaged in a variety of projects in India, others were invited abroad to attend conferences where they were briefed on how and why some kinds of mining and power projects – coal-fired and nuclear – and the construction of dams must be opposed.  It includes persons like Swami Agnivesh, saffron socialist,  who according to IB was invited to Geneva in Switzerland as one of the lead speakers in a “side event” on how “extractive industries” interfere with the enjoyment of human rights.  Elsewhere, while detailing foreign-funded anti-nuclear power activism, the IB report says that these networks are guided by eminent (often Left-wing) Indians, including Praful Bidwai, Achin Vanaik, Admiral (Retd) Ramdas, Lalitha Ramdas, Medha Patkar, Neeraj Jain, Banwarilal Sharma, Karuna Raina, Fr Thomas Kocherry, Arti Choksey and MG Devasahayam. The IB report has devoted quite a few paragraphs to SP Uday Kumar’s German “contact” and Ohio State University funding to the Kudankulam anti-nuclear protests. The report says that there are territorial networks, which are closely linked and supported by superior networks of the numerous pan-Indian organizations receiving funds and acting against National interests.

At Mirpur, Bangladesh took India's ragtag attack, with two debutant spinners and two limping fast bowlers, for 272. Left-arm spinner, IPL star  Akshar Patel  & Parvez Rasool made their debuts.   India had a very good start and when Uthappa got out after making 50 off 44 balls; they were 99 and it rained at 16.4  with India needing 173 more….  The game resumed after long - on resumption they were left a banana skin of target: 50 off 56. They lost a wicket immediately,  but Ajinkya Rahane, who along with Robin Uthappa staked a claim for the regular opening slot, sealed the chase with a cool fifty. 

Earlier, Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh captain, stated that  he didn't expect such a weakened Indian side for the upcoming three-match ODI series. Mushfiqur had said he was not upset at the quality of his opposition but felt that, by playing better cricket, his side can deliver a message to the powers that be.  Just prior to the match, the Captain wanted his team to display better body language on the field looking to break  a seven-match losing streak.  He did not succeed is another story…

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

15^th  June 2014.