कपोल-कल्पित

One fine morning, as the leader entered his chamber and positioned his leadership on the chair, the rear left arm of the chair fractured and the leader found him-self on the floor. Unable to get up, he called the chief secretary, who then helped him back on his feet. The leader, laden with anger, gave the chief secretary a severe tongue-lashing and ordered him to file a report on this accident and keep the file confidential.                Social welfare minister was to visit the leader in the morning but the leader, superstitious as he was postponed the meeting and called in the trade minister instead, the social welfare can always wait, he confided to the chief secretary. The Trade minister was worried about inflation that was caused by the rising imports of essential commodities. The leader told him that there are other organs in the government to bother about inflation and that he should concern himself with t...

I had a dream last night. That all the money I had turned into valueless papers and nobody, not even police officers were accepting it. It is not my passion to delve into the interpretation of dreams but this particular dream got me thinking if dreams really mean something. One of my friend's literal interpretation was that something dear to me will turn meaningless. But this is a rather cynical reading of things. Adding more metaphors and tweaking the obvious cynicism can create more mystery and surpass the shallow traps of everyday thinking. Then there was the pragmatic reading of another friend who pointed out that something like demonetization did happen and it’s the post-traumatic stress that’s causing the dreams. His reasoning is that dreams are a more subtle representation of how events around us impact us subconsciously. Maybe it’s the blessed feeling of nostalgia for demonetized currency which has turned into the cursed feeling of abandonment that releases stress hormone...

  If the letter (word) is a kite, the spirit is the thread, no matter how much flight a kite assumes, its fall is destined by a soft cut on the thread. The current Pandemic defines such a soft cut to the spirit of the law. It appears all letters were always dependent on their spirits. Recently, Delhi high court directed the centre to ‘beg, borrow or steal’ oxygen supply to save the lives of citizens. Surely, the spirit supersedes the letter in a pandemic situation. The letter of cooperative federalism is conciliation and not compromise. The spirit of the same is co-operation and not competition. The letter as pointed out by the central government counters the Delhi govt. scheme of home delivery of rations. A section of a certain Act requires prior approval for any change in the method of distribution. There has to be a compromise between the competing forces of distribution, i.e, a traditional mechanism of public rationing against door-step delivery of the same. The 'Delhi Sark...

Who says a leader can’t follow the crowd? Extraordinary circumstances demand survival and the restoration of the ordinary, i.e., to the detersion of abstract and circumstantial decay in governance towards a concrete leadership. The very opposite and undesirable model of governance is at the forefront of a calamity, yet to this abysmal and discouraging supply of leadership and action, many find that the leader himself is the victim of obsolete and undemanding system. The problem of post-colonial India is as usual, of the demand side.     Social mandate of the state Post-colonial India does however has too many demands, and Indian constitution summed it up as the social mandate of the Indian state. Equity, equality and other debilitating wraps to the corporate mandate. Political market triumphs, with few regional irregularities like Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Vaccine market quite aptly adjusts the social mandate of the Indian state. Diplomatic channels and protocols It is ...

    Journalist: Why are most legislators corrupt? Legislator: Tell me, would you ever do a sting on any journalist? Journalist: No, I won’t. Legislator: That’s the point, if you’re friends with the blind, you’ll have to lead them home. Journalist: We are different…we operate on morals and ethics, unlike politicians...  Legislator: Different? There’s rivalry, there’s hierarchy in journalism, tell me, if you water a flower pot for years in your own balcony, and one fine day it falls on your head, how will you feel? That is to say, if you are alive enough to feel.  Journalist: For your information sir, we just feel enough to be alive...and as for the pot, I will definitely feel betrayed…  Legislator: Exactly the same way I will feel, and imagine that pot to be your finest ethics and moral, how will you feel then…? Journalist: I will repair the pot... Legislator: and your head? Journalist: That too Legislator: First the head or the pot? See because if you were to re...

Owing to the initial arrangement proposed by the GST council, to compensate the states for GST shortfall at the rate of 14% for 5 years, the centre now owes 3 Lakh Crore to the states. Of this amount, the Centre concurs that 97,000 Crore is of GST shortfall, and that they have no obligation to compensate the remaining amount (2.3 Lakh Crore) to the states, as it has all eroded, due to an act of god. The jurisdictional squabble and allegations of partiality that gave way to GST has the spirit of co-operative fedaralism. However, on the suggestion that states must borrow the amount themselves for the shortfall, states rightly allege that centre is bypassing the constitutional structure to operate such as suits its need and convenience. In other news, the economy has also contracted by 23.9% for the 1 st quarter. The gravity of the situation was best described by a govt. official who said “The contraction in the economy has also contracted the capabilities of recovering from...

Hypersensitivity resembles the public, not the institutions. Public trust serves a purpose; it is not idle concrete on idle land, unindustrious, but is placed where it can most efficiently serve the purpose of both parties. Like for example, a Banking institution. Banks usually keep a reserve of certain amount of cash with them in the branches, on the assumption that not more 5 or 6 or 10% of customers will come on a certain day demanding all their deposits back. Banks assume this because there is level of public trust it enjoys over the safety of their deposits. The trust shakes when banks run dry, and the hypersensitivity of public, with regards to their assets is as much as regards to the justice, and justice is not running dry anytime soon. When institutions however get hypersensitive, the public panics, the trust dwindles and contempt, outside the court sets in. What really serve the purpose of judiciary is delivery of justice and not a blind trust that justice ough...

एक बाबु सरकारी पैसे से विदेश गए | इस यात्रा के लिए नौकरशाही ने एक भिन्न स्कालरशिप पेश की, इसमें अगर आप भारतीय शिक्षा लेकर विदेश जाते हो, और पश्चिमी शिक्षक बन कर वापिस आते हो तो आपको देश में विशेष स्थान मिलता है, यह स्थान पुरे देश में विदेश के लिए विशेष है| हमारे मालिक तब तक अच्छे है जब तक वो अपने आप को बदलते रहे, और उनके प्रभाव में हम भी निरंतर बदलते रहे| साम्राज्यवाद से उदारवादी और अब   नइ -उदारवादी सोच, जिसे धारण करने के बाद आप स्कालरशिप के पैसे से भी चाय, पकोड़े या देशप्रेम की दुकान खोल सकते हैं| इसमें निकटतम लाभ को लूटने के अवसर प्रदान किये जाते है, इतने निकट जैसे बसों में लिपटे आदमी, किसी आथिक बर्बरता के प्रभाव में एक दुसरे के जेब में हाथ डाल रहे हों| आपको बता दें की हमारे बाबु नौकरशाही के स्कॉलरशिप पे विदेश पहुच चुके थे| और जब वापिस आये तो उन्होंने भारतीय सिक्षा पद्दति को विभिन्न अंग्रेजी मुहावरों में गालियाँ दी| अब वह शिक्षक बन चुके थे, और सिक्षा की नीति में विशेष स्थान पर थे| भारतीय शिक्षकों और प्राधयापकों से उनका परिचय हुआ, बाबु ने बताया की बाल की बची हुई खाल क...