Whispers Forum

I wish to share with fellow surfers my disgust and anger after reading Arundhati Roy's latest novel "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. I hope you all have heard the name of this lady who won the Man Booker Prize for her first book in 1997.She came out with this second book after 20 years. I found it among the New arrivals in the India International Centre Library and picked it up to read. What a waste of time ? The book is neither a fiction nor history. It is simply a tirade against India for 'occupying Kashmir' and killing innocent Kashmiris by torturing them. According to her innocent boys are caught by our security people ,tortured and killed for awards and medals. In the long conflict in Kashmir some aberrations have taken place but Ms. Roy has portrayed our uniformed men worse than devils out to kill harmless ,innocent people. For her other innocents killed by jihadis do not matter. For her India is forcefully occupying Kashmir through her military. The stories of torture in her so-called fiction narrative are too gory to absorb. She is outright insulting our present Prime minister by calling him "Gujrat ka Lalla' , Manmohan Singh is Trapped Rabbit. She has insulted many leaders by using humiliating expressions for them. The book is a real trash bordering on vulgarity for use of four letter words too often and some filthy abuses too. There is no plot. Starting with a story of a hijra she rambles on to Kashmir and politics. It is disgusting to find that the book has been included in the list for Manbooker Prize again. What will foreigners think of India after reading it ? Already in a review in the "New York Review of Books' conclusion has been drawn and I quote "Roy seems to be saying: This is the country i live in. This is a nation whose citizens are capable of greed, corruption, indifference, horrific mob violence" etc. Kashmiris and Pakistanis will of course adore her for what she wrote. She has all through supported Maoists and now militants in Kashmir endorsing what Pakistan wants. My advice to her, 'please leave this country. Go live elsewhere’.
Aarti Khosla

Prime Minister's experiments are failing because he is surrounded by IAS officers, who have tried to give an impression that they are the only Civil Servants of the country. They are also other Civil Servants in the country. A Deputy Secretary level IRTS officer posted in the Charkradharpur Division of South Eastern Railway gains more experience than any IAS officer of the country. He has 10000 people working under him/her on 24 hours basis. He has to deal with 2 steel plants, several iron ore mines, several coal mines, power houses and last but not the least his own Department wherein people work and train runs on 24 hours basis. No feudalistic mentality IAS people are bothered about the welfare of other services. On one hand they say that as that are shortage of officers at the level of Director and Deputy Secretary in the central Ministries/Departments , they need to induct people from out side but on the other hand hundreds of Central Secretariat Service Officers are waiting in the wing to get promoted since long. The Ministers give commitments but they are unable to honor the same as they are reigned in by the IAS officers. The CSS officers propose to take very soon a step of mass scale VRS. As a result the working of the Government of India is going to come to a stand still.
Nivedita

The two are not comparable. The psu officers have security of job, where they can continue in their jobs, irrespective of output. Does not apply to private sector executives. If they are so keen, let these psu officers opt for private sector,they will know the difference, when they get pink slip in no time!
Samir Chatterjee
Date with RTI
After the enquiry is over, the complete details should be provided to the public or at least the concerned officer. After all, what is there to hide? If it is a judicious process, the facts should be brought out in open and available for scrutiny. The information commissioners should sit together and take a common call rather than taking differing decisions which leads to conflicting decisions and confusion.
Umashakar

I would like to request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discard the use of word like Dalit, Backward Class (BC), OBC etc. Is it not a blot on a gentleman of India who is also first a human and last an Indian citizen. All Indians have equal rights, of whatever caste he may be. I watch media showing that atrocious deeds are being made against Dalits whereas the same may happen with any person. This use of word takes the communal happenings in India. Government should take measures to stop use of the same and must come out for some respectable word by making the people to know and understand. As on date if something happen with a Dalit/BC/OBC, it is highly highlighted which creates all the mess in India. Nowhere in the world these types of casteism remarks are seen or read. Hope we Indian will understand and themselves would come forward to stop calling Dalit/BC/OBC etc.
Ram Kumar Garg
Different yardsticks for different services in GoI
This colonial era discrimination must end sooner than later to adhere to 'Sab ka saath, sab kaa vikas'.
Parth