India's most popular deities

IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism

Godspeed for podium finish

The most vocal view during the brainstorming meeting for this current issue was: “Really, who cares about Obama?” We know you must have been fed an overdose of Obama and Indo-American relations by the time you pick up this issue and read this story. We thought you have probably been bloated on a diet of scams, political controversies, catfights and the allegedly mutual dislike between Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi. Diwali was looming. And hey presto, we thought: why don't we ask fellow Indians to rate their favourite deities (Gods and Goddesses, if you like)? The idea sounded bizarre initially but appeared more and more tantalising as we started speculating about who actually would be India's favourite deity. As we debated over the matter, it looked as if hacks like us had chosen Lord Ganesha as the unquestioned odds on favourite. Many were also convinced that it would be Hanuman who would fly away with the trophy.

So we all waited with nervous excitement for the results of the CVoter opinion poll to come in. And boy, were we surprised! As you will read in the subsequent pages, it is the God of destruction and regeneration, Shiva, who emerges as the favourite deity, Durga garners the second position and Hanuman comes third while Ganesha, the bookies' favourite, could manage just a fifth place. It should not surprise you but Jesus Christ emerged 11th in the rankings.

Frivolity apart, the exclusive TSI-CVoter opinion poll that talked to 5,312 respondents across India does reveal many interesting facets about the Indian society and Indians in general. Take this one for example: More than one per cent of Indians spend more than Rs 50,000 a year per capita on God and religious activities. Adding it all up for India as a whole, we could say that rich Indians spend more than Rs 50,000 crore a year on God – much more than the annual budget for NREGA. But don't for a moment think that it is only rich Indians who appease God to assuage their guilt. The fact is that a majority of Indians are overwhelmingly religious, a fact the followers of Marx and Mao still seem to forget. More than 95 per cent of Indians regularly pray to the deity of their choice. And about 60 per cent of Indians pray not for material benefits but for peace of mind. That most Indians still respect family values is clear from the fact that 50 per cent of them consider either their father, mother or teacher to be God-like. But the wives don't cut much ice, with just 0.5 per cent respondents putting them on a divine pedestal. And did you say blind faith? Close to 60 per cent say they are not firm believers in astrology, Vaastu and similar stuff.

Enjoy this rare and unusual religious journey in subsequent pages!!

Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
GIDF Club of IIPM Lucknow Organizes Blood Donation Camp
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....

Dr Malay Chaudhuri, Founder Director IIPM, tells TSI why the IIPM Awards are in a league of their own
Bollywood's No.1 Mum Kajol: Step ahead MOM!
Katrina Kaif: A British Indian Actress Born on July 16, 1984
IIPM Professor Arindam Chaudhuri on 'OBAMA and OSAMA'

The upcoming parliamentary election in Egypt has already lost its legitimacy as major opposition groups call for a boycott

IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism

We tell them it is a bull, they say milk it", goes an old Egyptian proverb. The reality of the Egyptian regime under Hosni Mubarak is no different. For all practical purposes, the regime is dead. It is merely the aphrodisiacs of American interest that has made it perform till now.

The election aura though has infused a few shots of excitement in an otherwise mundane Egyptian life, but sadly it's the most it can do...nothing more! Hence, it is not surprising that observers and experts are taking November 28 parliamentary elections as merely "another incident” in its not-very-illustrious electoral history. By now it is a forgone conclusion that the incumbent National Democratic Party (NDP) will easily bag two-thirds of the seats, which means that it can unilaterally come up with a bill and get it passed easily too. As far as the opposition is concerned, they are trying hard to play the second fiddle. In fact the going has only got tough for them since the last election five years ago. As you read this story, the civil society in Egypt is locked in a battle of nerve with the regime. However, privately, even they agree that they won't be successful in receiving full credentials and would at the best be allowed a limited access to the polls. As far as international observers and monitors are concerned, they have been given a cold shoulder by the Mubarak regime yet again.

And still, there is something very significant taking place in November. The Egyptian political existence is being tested as the nation draws close to the culmination of three decades of Hosni Mubarak’s presidency. President Mubarak and other higher-ranking figures in the regime and the National Democratic Party (NDP) have been thwarting both internal and external demands for overhaul of the political system. On the regime's part, the argument is that it is carrying out the reforms. The pace of the reforms is in complete harmony with Egypt's mundane pace of doing things. So, not surprisingly, the observers are finding it difficult to see any reforms!

Given these circumstances, it is difficult to say whether these polls are a real electoral progress or not. Still, there could have been some consolation if the election were freer and fairer from the 2005 polls. But as things unfold, it is becoming increasingly clear that it will not be the case.

From the regime's perspective, there are at least two developments in this election that amount to electoral reforms. The first is the establishment of an “independent” election commission and the second is the conception of a 64-seat quota for women lawmakers in the People’s Assembly.

Says Amr Hamzawy, an expert of Egyptian affairs at Carnegie Middle East Center while talking to TSI, “The election commission has replaced the clumsy method of judicial supervision but I don't see it as an improvement. In fact, far from it. The judges had integrity and were willing to call a spade a spade. The same cannot be said about the commission which has shown in the recent past that it can bend backward on any pretext.” Strong words. But evidence suggests that Hamzawy is not off the mark. If the manner in which the election commission conducted the Shura elections is taken as the yardstick, the picture is far from rosy.

The women reservation in the Assembly is indeed a welcome step. However, it is pretty evident that these nominations and elections will be manipulated to augment the ruling NDP's numbers in the house.

Let's talk about the Opposition now. In 2005, it appeared a united bunch and campaigned with all guns blazing. In 2010, many of them are boycotting the polls. The Ghad party, National Democratic Front party and the National Association for Change have decided to boycott the polls in protest of the NDP’s denial to meet their requests for measures guaranteeing the equity and transparency of the polls.

It is true that the Opposition’s past involvement has ultimately provided the regime with the accoutrement of a morganatic democracy. Participation in Egypt’s mendacious pluralism and slanted elections only secures the Opposition an inefficacious and fundamentally token existence in the government. Neither the Opposition entities nor the independent members of the Assembly have been successful in altering the legislative process. Even with the opposition’s representation in Assembly at an all-time high from 2005-2010 – it claimed over 20 per cent of the People’s Assembly seats, thanks primarily to the Muslim Brotherhood – the NDP found no hindrance in passing all of its bills and draft policies.

On the contrary, the Wafd party and the Muslim Brotherhood — the most well-conducted and surefooted opposition groups in Egypt — have decided to take part, as have Tagammu and a few smaller parties. The recent messages by the executives of the Brotherhood Guidance Bureau signal that the Brotherhood will seek to field as many as 200 candidates. The outlawed and perpetually ragged Muslim Brotherhood is inexplicably allowed to back independents who are due to contest under the shibboleth, “Islam is the Solution”, making it all clear who is behind them.

The government on its part is using every possible tool at its disposal to discourage the opposition. Just to give an example, Egypt's authorized satellite provider, Nilesat, has blocked four satellite broadcasters and 17 private channels for allegedly “transgressing standards” and another 20 channels are threatened with debarment of their permits. These channels cannot share feed from al-Jazeera which was expected to give a transparent coverage of the elections.

No discussion of Egyptian elections can be complete without mentioning the National Association for Change established by Muhammmad ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. ElBaradei tried his best to change the way things are conducted in Cairo, but he got little support from outside.

“During the presidential polls in Tehran last year, Western politicians and media censured Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and portrayed the opposition figurehead, Mirhossein Mousavi, as the lone promise for democracy. It is funny how the same sources publish uncritically about the polls in Egypt, while at the same time having very little constructive to say about ElBaradei,” maintains Ali Younes, a writer and a Middle East analyst based in Washington DC, while talking to TSI. It was not for nothing that the frustrated ElBaradei decided to boycott the elections.

The rationale for this is not hard to interpret. Along with Israel, Egypt is the primary affiliate of the Western powers in the neighbourhood, while ElBaradei has been a thorn in the flesh of the US ever since evincing his resistance to the Iraq war. ElBaradei has also been unequivocal in his opposition to American-Israeli plans for a military adventure in Iran.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
GIDF Club of IIPM Lucknow Organizes Blood Donation Camp
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
The hunt for hostel and paying guest (PG) accommodation for students
Best Colleges for Vocational Courses in India
INDIA'S BEST COLLEGES, INSTITUTES and UNIVERSITIES
Anna Hazare: My Prime Minister