The Vivekean Times

The charges and counter charges between Kapil Mishra, Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP only reveal that there are no honest politicians in India today – only two-faced hypocrites. It is extremely foolish of the BJP and Congress to take a ‘holier than thou’ stance since they do not practice cleanliness in their electoral politics either. Yes, you're guilty even if you accept dirty money for your kin or party. If some politicians are still considered clean, it's usually due to the takeover of media houses, lack of evidence, U-turns of eye witnesses (with money changing hands), bungling or complicity of investigating agencies, or the existence of labyrinths (such as a network of shell companies) created to conceal the scams. Have you ever stopped to think why no political party is now asking for the full implementation of the Lokpal Act? Because it suits them all. Aam Aadmi fought for the Lokpal Act. The Congress and BJP promised to deliver on TV debates, but now all of t...

GST will almost certainly be passed in the monsoon session of parliament. It will be wonderful news for the union and state governments, the economists, the political parties who will rush to claim credit (not input credit) for its passage and the businessmen who will no longer be harassed by multiple tax authorities and will find the new tax system extremely streamlined with fewer hassles. But what's in store for the consumers? Not very good news, I m afraid. The tax rates for goods and services may be 20% or higher and it is bound to lead to inflation, at least in the short term. GST may have a profound impact on Indian eCommerce as all online transactions would be subject to this tax. Then there is the recommendation of 40% GST on aerated drinks as a form of sin tax since these drinks are considered unhealthy. I found this a ridiculous argument as it will open a pandora s box and make taxation in India arbitrary, judgmental and discriminatory. And finally the most stupid recomm...

Hey, now it's officially confirmed that India is a Banana Republic. The details of the  Essar Leaks scandal have finally blown the lid off the subterfuge. Our democracy is a joke! In fact, it is actually a THEM-OCRACY. Read in sync with the Radia tapes controversy and recent press reports, I declare that whichever government is at the helm, whether it is a BJP, Congress, Left, AAP or any other formation, India will still remain a Banana Republic, at least for a while. And here's why I say this: 1) The details of the Essar and Radia scandals reveal that even Union Budget decisions, ministry formations and important government policies are decided by big corporates . What's more? It shows that even the judgment of a supreme court judge was bought in the 2G corruption case (We already know that the CBI director had taken money from guilty parties in the case) and journalists are being paid to write news articles in favour of politicians and large bu...

Today I visited the local fish market and was surprised to hear fisherwoman bargaining in English using words like “fresh”, “expensive” and “twelve hundred.” Yet, nearly a month ago, I saw several participants getting punished for using English phrases during day-to-day conversations in India’s premier reality show, Big Boss. Why is this anti-English idea being mooted on popular television shows when most of the world has adopted the language as their own and the world has gone truly global? Are TV show producers steadily succumbing to the paranoia of the medieval mindsets.   And, by the way, what is a medieval mindset? In the period following the collapse of the Roman Empire from the 5 th century right up to the sixteenth century religion ruled the roost. All the major religions of the world came into prominence during this period but culture declined. The followers of these modern religions were just as brutal and barbaric as their pagan counterparts. The Christian ar...